52 Week Challenge: Week 13 - A Recipe for Disaster

What a crazy week the Barefoot D house had last week... TroubleMaker turned 3 and even though we swore off birthday parties after the boy turned 2, I went out on a limb and planned not one, but two parties... The rationale being that if we split them up, it would be easier to take.
How can one refuse that face?

I was really wrong.

None the less, we had an amazing weekend celebrating our son's third and my first dance recital. However, my organizing task got pushed aside in favour of sewing on my costume, the making of dinosaur bones and being hit by a wicked cold. Did I mention the six children we entertained followed by a supper for some very excited grandparents?

This week, I'm mostly in recovery mode, however I realized that a few weeks ago, I organized - well, mostly purged, my recipe box. I've had this recipe box a good majority of my life. When I received it, I don't remember (that's a sure sign I'm getting old, right?) and it's been falling apart for the last 10 years. The recipes went from organized and indexed to stuffed in where ever there was a spot. I haven't closed the lid on it in at least a decade and there were nails, thumb tacks and $0.13 in the bottom of it.

I had numerous recipes printed off, folded and jambed in the box as well as at least one neatly written recipe on one of the many different kitchen stationary pads my Mom has used over the past six years (I always check her magazines and cookbooks for new recipes when I visit). Those were transferred to the binder I use for my Internet print-recipes and from the electronic master index I started over a year ago. The cards were neatly put back together and returned to the box.



I still can't close the lid but I know I made progress as on Wednesday night, I was able to find (for the first time in months) my fettuccine Alfredo recipe! No more trying to remember the recipe from my head - which I can do but it's far easier to read it on paper than access the deep recesses of my cluttered mind!



Eventually, I hope to do away with my recipe box all together. I intend to type all my recipes in a nice electronic document, print them and put them in page protectors and have one neatly organized and divided binder on my counter. But until that happens, at least I'll be able to easily find my husband's favourite cookie recipes!

For more inspiration and organizing tips, check out all of us participating in the 52 Week Challenge over at the Organizing Junkie's website. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!