In Like a Lamb!

It has been a very mild day for the first day of March. Now we will see in 30 days if March goes out like a lion! Woody did our weekly grocery shopping and went to the library. Then later in the morning he walked back to the library to return a DVD and a book that he hadn't taken on his first trip. So his walk today was to and from the library. I am in an "organizing mode." I wonder if it is because I can sense the coming of Spring?!? Anyway, I continued on with the list of staples that we have on two shelves in our lower cabinets (our "pantry...for lack of a "real" one). I managed to enter the items, how many and on which shelf they "reside" onto an excel spreadsheet app on my iPad. And, then, miracles of miracles, I managed to transfer them over to the laptop and was able to print out the list in alphabetical order. I'm hoping that this will help us keep up with what is under there and hoping that it will save our knees...if we don't have it then we won't have to get down on our knees! I have just taken out a bag of pinto beans that I plan to soak overnight for a pot of chili...so I marked them off the list. Anyway...it as an attempt to be more organized and help me see what we have when I am planning meals/menus/recipes. I also stewed some chicken today so I will have some cut up cooked chicken for recipes. I also cleaned out half of the lower freezer drawer...even vacuumed it! I know that you are all wondering about me at the point of me vacuuming out the freezer. I will try to explain myself...that part of the drawer is where we store our bags of various kinds of flour and corn meal...so it has dry flour in the bottom of it. We had gotten new bags of whole wheat and all-purpose flour and I wanted to clean it out and rearrange the remaining partial bags of flour. And the best way to get the dry flour out is with the vacuum. I vacuumed and then wiped out that side of the freezer drawer. Another day I will work on the other side of the drawer...meats and vegetables reside there...so not as messy as flour. I just need to move them around so I can see what we have in there...never know what one will find buried on the very bottom of the drawer! After stewing the chicken, I made broth by putting the chicken bones back in along with the carrots, celery, onion, garlic that I had stewed the chicken with. So...I will have a couple more cups of broth to add to the freezer after it cools and the fat rises to and congeals on the top...it is in the refrigerator chilling now and I will scrape off the fat and freeze it tomorrow. The best thing that I made was almond and blueberry granola...snacks and hopefully my breakfast for a couple of days. It was a Martha Stewart recipe that I unearthed the other day when I was organizing in another part of our house. Lots of organizing needs to take place around here...but at least I have done a little the last few days. Welcome, March...a month of anticipating the official beginning of Spring and also a month to grow older for some of us...first to grow older is my sister--tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Cheryl...a day early...since I don't blog tomorrow...I would hate to miss rubbing in that you are now only six years younger than me...at least for a few more days!