OMG . . . HOW to get my kitchen to look like THIS?!
To follow up on the Underused parenting tool of MENU PLANNING let's discuss our kitchen, shall we? If we avoid cooking we might start by dating our kitchen. Say Whhaaaattt?!
1. Dress for your dates: I like to wear aprons. They make me feel purposeful in the kitchen. The action of putting it on tells my brain it's time to tidy up.
2. Give your kitchen little gifts: Buy new hand towels. Get a beautiful Le Creuset pot. Replace burnt out light bulbs. Buy new rubber gloves (with no holes, you deserve them). Replace that SOS pad. Get a new sponge. Put nice hand lotion under your sink.
3. Chuck the baggage: Don't invite your taxes (or permission slips, or bills to pay, or junk mail, or magazines to read, or coupons) on your date with your kitchen. Seriously, BOOT all non-kitchen items OUT of your kitchen.
3.5: Keep chucking kitchen baggage: Get rid of gadgets and gizmos you once use, you should use, you might use and ONLY leave gadgets and gizmos you use at LEAST once a week.
4. Lose the weight before you date: Pitch, donate, purge all the stuff you don't use; quinoa (sorry, I know I should, I don't), fennel seed for that one recipe, cookies I shouldn't eat but someone gave me, all those grocery bags stuffed and overflowing from my grocery bag holder, the copious vinegars we got as hostess gifts, the little packets of soy sauce from the chinese food takeout.
5. Wash your face: Take EVERYTHING off your fridge - magnets, photos, phone lists, to do lists, art projects. Just do it. No excuses. Live that way for a week, call me and tell me what happened.
6. Check in every night before bed: Say goodnight to your kitchen with a quick little check in. Dishes on the drying rack put away, papers that found their way on the counter corralled to their proper spot, last few dishes in the dishwasher and run it. Give it a smooch and tell it sweet dreams.
7. Buy flowers: Nothing says, "I'm worth being neat and tidy" better then some fresh flowers - $5 at the grocery store and you get a week of your kitchen dating you right back.