Chic Galleria » Michelle Lehman

Award Winning Lunch Today For My Boys!

Michelle Lehman — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:22:38 +0000

So like every mom in the 918 area code we are stuck home knee deep in snow. The boys went outside this morning at 8:00 am to start shoveling….and I mean shoveling. They cleared a path for the dogs to go outside and then shoveled out a “Cage Match” for the dogs to run around in when they are outside. Now mind you, this cage area for the dogs is at least 8 feet by 6 feet…their arms were so sore when they came in from shoveling.

Here I am at 10:00 in the morning they are exhausted, physically exhausted and starving to death for lunch at 10:00 am!!! I am thinking in my head this day will go on for hours before it is time for them to go to bed!

The question we all ask our children, “what can I make you for lunch, what sounds good?” Usually I get, mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese, bagel bites but no not today I got “do you think Mazzio’s delivers and can we get Pepperollies?” My answer was obvious, no and they stopped making them a few weeks ago. I got the long, sad face from my youngest son…”oh, shoot…I was really in the mood for those…that’s okay mom, whatever is easy for you to make for lunch is fine with me.” Nothing is worse than the sad long face, with a sweet voice saying whatever is easiest for me?!?!? I think it is obvious what I did next…Yes I attempted to make homemade Pepperollies!!! Not only did I make them but THEY LOVED THEM!! So much so that my youngest son asked if I could make them everyday they don’t have school this week for lunch. Guess what were having tomorrow for lunch?!?!?

Here is how I put a smile on my boys face today at lunch:

Homemade Pepperollies

Pillsbury Crescent Rolls— I put smooshed (technical cooking term) the two triangle pieces into one rectangle. This makes four rectangles from one package.

I spread a little pizza sauce on each rectangle, cut up pepperonis into fourths and spread them onto the rectangles and topped them with mozzarella cheese over all of it. Now I rolled, very slowly into a oblong roll and put the open slit towards the top a smooshed it closed a little. Repeat for each rectangular piece.

I baked them at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown. I let them cool for a few minutes and then the boys ate them in five minutes!!!!

Author Michelle Lehman of Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter” Michelle is a Professional Organizer in the Tulsa area. Her articles have been featured in the Tulsa World, The Oklahoman, Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Post-Tribune. Michelle appears on TheNewsOn 6 KOTV and Fox23 News This Morning giving organizing tips and recommendations.

Tax Time! Let’s Make a Simple Plan

Michelle Lehman — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:38:02 +0000

Every year, many people lose their tax information. I am not talking about receipts or files, I am talking about the simple statements at the beginning of the new year that are sent to you such as: w2’s, property tax, year end IRA statements and the list goes on and on.

A lot of you will just put them on your desk or leave them on the kitchen counter along with the newspapers and children’s school work. Before you know it, it is April 14^th and your scrambling to get your tax return completed and you can’t remember where half of the statements are located…you end up searching high and low ripping the house apart looking for them before you finally concede they are lost and call to have them resent to you. That won’t take long, waiting on hold for the government at tax time!!! HELLO!!!

Here is an idea, why not just grab a large envelope or gallon size Ziploc bag and EVERY tax document/statement that comes in the mail between now and tax time you PUT EVERY piece of paper in the envelope/Ziploc bag until you are ready to prepare your taxes. Do I think a file folder in your office would be better under the tax file for 2010, yes but let’s be realistic if you don’t have one now, you aren’t going to have one. So I am asking you to grab something that is easy and place it where you can find it immediately. My suggestion…how about next to your dinner plates in the kitchen? Why not the countertop of your kitchen or next to the phone? Too many papers are around or worse yet someone will grab it to move it. If you put in next to the plates, you will be able to find them immediately, you will see it almost every day and when you bring the mail in the house you won’t have to go far to “file it” in the Ziploc bag!!

Sometimes organizing isn’t about having everything labeled it’s about knowing where something important is and being able to get to it immediately. Make this suggestion work for you and your family either way, have a game plan for the tax statements that are coming in the mail as we speak

Photo credit © Jonathan Eastland | Dreamstime.com

Daily Devotion from Joyce Meyer’s “Starting Your Day Right”

Michelle Lehman — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 15:55:22 +0000

I received this daily devotion book for Christmas…well from myself , it was my gift to me. It’s kind of funny because normally, with my crazy personality I would normally not start anything at the end…I was going to wait until January 1st, 2011 to start reading her daily devotions. I decided to step outside my box and live on the edge and start it at the end. I’m crazy, I know!

I wanted to share with you the devotion from Wednesday, December 29th…

“Get Rid Of Distractions”

“That which is desired in a man is loyalty and kindness [and his glory and delight are his giving].”

PROVERBS 19:22

Sometimes you may just need to clear away the clutter so you can clearly see what is worthwhile. Here is a simple suggestion: Don’t keep more than you can take care of. If you have so much junk in your home that it takes you hours to dust it, get rid of something.

Find a big carton and write “Blessing Box” on the side of it. Start putting extra things into it until cleaning is more manageable. Find someone who doesn’t have much and bless them. You will be amazed at how easy it is to start your day right when you are no longer distracted by things you don’t need”

I know everyone says this over and over but trust me less is more. I even feel at times, now being one of them, that we have too much “stuff” in our house and it is killing me. Part of my problem is all the Christmas decorations are still up but honestly it’s knowing all those gifts came into our house without one thing leaving our house…everyone including me can easily get distracted by things we don’t need, maybe this will be the year we all start our “Blessing Box”.

Have a Happy New Year!!

Photo credit © Llpeizer | Dreamstime.com

Seriously, I Mean Really!?!?!

Michelle Lehman — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:01:22 +0000

Okay this has nothing to do with organizing…well part of it does but not the first part. I am so steaming MAD right now!!! I like many of you other moms out there have purchased some of my Christmas gifts online. Two reasons, one to saves time and the other because it was not located in a store here in Tulsa.

Earlier this week one of my orders came in from Amazon, I just happened to be home first. My husband picked the boys up from school to take them to basketball practice. Thank goodness because right next the front door of our home lay a box that was not wrapped in any shipping paper!! Had the boys been home first they would have seen that I ordered an indoor hockey goal and two hockey indoor sticks!! The fact that I let the boys play hockey inside our house is a WHOLE new blog and I don’t want to get into it now, just trust me that if you had boys in your house hockey inside might not be such a bad idea.

After I quickly hide the huge box of hockey equipment and calmed down, I thought to myself they must have run out of paper or the box was too big for them to wrap…NOT… but I decided to let it go! Obviously, uh?

So today, another order from Amazon comes and the really, super cool colored light fixture we got for our youngest son, who’s favorite color is rainbow, came today. AGAIN it wasn’t wrapped and my older son grabbed it at the door and ran around the house to hide it from him. OMG this is twice and between you and me…that was suppose to be from you know who!!! Now we are going to have to come up with a new idea from “you know who”. I don’t know what the deal is but I swear this time of year, one would hope people would use a little common sense when sending packages around the holidays!!! Okay…thank you for listening and I am done complaining!

Here is my organizing tidbit…if you are like me…I tend to over buy this time of year. I grab a little something here and a little something there, don’t even get me started on stocking stuffers…my point to myself and all of you, is let’s try to buy quality and not quantity. I can tell you first hand that my boys have never noticed if their stockings are filled with a 10 little things or 3 things. This might be one of those times where less is more…

Did I mention two of my gifts were not wrapped in paper or put in a brown box!?!?!?

Nike Grind…Reuse Your Shoes!!

Michelle Lehman — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:21:56 +0000

Oh my goodness, this is the coolest thing ever! I just learned about this very cool program by Nike ReUSE A SHOE that recycles athletic/tennis shoes in any condition, or any other brand and turns them into sports surfaces! They collect shoes from partnering retail stores and other shoe recycling centers. The shoes are taken apart in three sections. The rubber on the bottom, the sole of the shoe and the fabric of the shoe and they place them onto three different conveyor belts to get ground up. After it has been through the “Nike Grind” they use the material to make running tracks, tennis court’s, basketball courts and play grounds. How cool is that?!?!?

This is from their website to give you better details of the Nike Grind process….

“No matter how your shoes are processed, the end result is the same – three high-quality Nike Grind materials ready to be put back in the game:

Nike Grind Rubber, made from the shoe’s outsole, is used in track surfaces, interlocking gym flooring tiles, playground surfacing and even new Nike products, such as the outsoles of the Nike Pegasus or the Jordan XX3. It’s also used in trim items like buttons and zipper pulls.

Nike Grind Foam, made from the shoe’s midsole, is used as a cushion for outdoor basketball and tennis courts, as well as futsal fields.

Nike Grind Fiber, made from the shoe’s fabric upper, is used in the creation of cushioning pads for facilities like indoor synthetic courts and wood courts. “

Maybe now would be a great time to organize your shoes!

This article was strictly Michelle’s opinion and was not sponsored by Nike.