Q & A---What is Upside Down Pizza-Recipe for Upside Down Pizza

I am often asked for this recipe. It's quick, easy & a family favorite in my house.

2 1/2 pounds of ground beef or turkey (I brown & freeze mine ahead of time so I can have this ready in no time)
2 jars of pizza quick sauce
favorite pizza toppings
sour cream
pizza cheese
1 can of crescent rolls

preheat oven to temperature listed on crescent roll package
13 x 9 in pan--I use a glass one b/c the clean up is easier
Instructions
Brown meat & drain grease
mix 2 jars of pizza sauce with meat & spread in bottom of pan
put pizza toppings on
Put sour cream in lines in between pepperoni . I usuall go from top to bottom, not lengthwise (if you use a squeeze bottle of sour cream it's easier)
put your cheese on across entire pan of mixture & toppings
unroll can of crescent rolls & put on top of mixture

bake at the temperature on the crescent rolls...usually a couple of minutes longer that it says on the can. I just watch it until it's golden brown.

My kids LOVE this & their friends ask to be invited over for dinner when I make it

Q & A - How Do You....

A fellow blogger in my Cafe Mom group Blogging Moms recently asked:

Question:

I also love to organize, but unfortunately there never seems to be enough time, and I only have one child.
So how do you find the time???? Great blog!
-------------------------
Michelle

www.greenolivesandham.com

After reading Michelle's Question I decided to do a Q & A each week, providing that I get questions either via my Cafe Mom Blogging Moms group or via other blogging mommies. I will answer almost any questions...if I feel that they are objectionable or too personal, I will let you know but the questions do not have to relate exclusively to organizing, de-cluttering, etc.

Answer:

Organizing is a hobby for me, much like scrapbooking (this is also a hobby of mine) so I pick a project & set aside time to work on it. I usually try to think about what I want to do & plan it out before I jump in. If I want to spot organize my kitchen cabinets, I will often do it while dinner is cooking since I am already in the kitchen. I may only organize 1 or 2 cabinets but I have accomplished something during that time. Some of my organizing projects take several days where I have to go back to finish or tweak it. I sometimes do it in 15 minute intervals, you can organize a lot in 15 minutes....for example in 15 minutes you can do any one (or more) of the following:

• clean out & organize your purse (I sometimes do this while sitting in a waiting room or in the drive-thru at the bank if there is a long line)
• clean out 1 junk drawer
• organize 1 kitchen cabinet
• sort through a pile of magazines, catalogs & newspapers
• sort mail, shred paid bills & junk mail
• update your calendar with bill due dates & appointments
• clean old food out of your fridge
• plan your weekly menu for your family
• check & delete emails...ie. clean out your email in box
• straighten up your entryway closet
• straighten a dresser drawer

Remember to set a timer for 15 minutes! You will be amazed at what you can accomplish in 15, imagine what you can do if you can set aside 30 minutes! Always remember though...set the timer!!!

Mission Accomplished--Family Command Center

Before: This cabinet had become a dumping ground for things that didn't have a home, mail, misc. junk. It always drives me nuts. It seems like I would clean it off only too find it looking like this all over again by the end of the day.

After: The family command center:

on the top I set up a basket to keep my planner, spiral bound to do list (from Buttoned Up), outgoing mail and a sticky note pad for messages. My shredder so I can shred junk mail & bills that I don't need to keep for tax purposes as soon as they come in or are paid. My pot that Bella made for me on Mother's Day her first year of preschool (she was 2) that holds my pens, pencils and scissors and a lighter to light the grill and our phone. Above it...my trusty dry erase calendar. Each family member is assigned a color & there is a key in the upper right hand corner (by now they all know which color is them bc I have had this system in place for sometime. Of course, a clock above it all. The only thing I plan on adding is a long hanging file holder so that I can put the kids' school stuff in it that will need to go back & that I can put things that need to be put on the calendar. (I am hoping to find one of these this week.)

Hanging on the side (not sure if you can really see it or not) is a yearly calendar for me to put things on that cannot yet be put on the dry erase calendar. It's hanging over a towel bar that is on the side against the wall.

The drawers now only contain what needs to be in them...things like extra tide pens to throw into my purse, a lint brush for touch ups, paper clips, pencils, keys, sewing kit, white out, batteries, etc.

This is the bottom of the cabinet:

Bills & other things that need to be mailed out but are not ready to go to the mail box yet are in here.

Phone books, address books, note books, and other books the I need on hand are held in this basket. Beside it is a Tax Folder for 2009 from Buttoned Up (http://www.getbuttonedup.com/) which I keep all of my business receipts and all business related documents that I will need for my taxes when I make my annual visit to my accountant. There are several other Buttoned Up products in this basket, I have a book for information on the dog and a family emergency planning book. I love Buttoned Up's products in case you can't tell. My favorite has got to be the Family Agenda (http://www.amazon.com/Buttoned-Up-Inc-1064-Family-agenda/dp/B001HZD2L6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1247923691&sr=8-2) It's awesome!

In here are my control journals (one for all year & my holiday one), my folder that I keep all our flex spending receipts in as the accumlate during the month, my Vera Bradley Folio (http://www.verabradley.com/Site/Store/ProductDetail.aspx?dept=7041&sku=7030%3a1621) which I take with me often when I have appointments or errands to run. It has pockets that I can slip my receipts into, etc. so that they don't get lost in the abyss of my purse, and a Real Simple Bill Organizer.

There's my family agenda & Buttoned Up Cross It Off spiral bound to-do list. I usually toss it in my purse & use it to cross things off as I run errands. There is also a remote control in there that need to go back to Walmart on my next outing.

So there you have it....my family command center. What do you think? It took me several hours to weed through all of the junk that was in this cabinet and find new homes for some of the things, but I did it! Now I don't dread looking at this cabinet or having to dig for things like bills, cards, etc. It's all there & I know where it is. I am going to pin tags on each bin that says what it holds so that DH doesn't decide to rip through things...as he often does when looking for something...this of course drives me insane! I am hoping that this will eliminate that issue!

Emptying out the laundry room....

Before

After

The laundry room was victim (or beneficiary) #3 in this weekends organizing, decluttering, re-purposing & rearranging session. I was able to move everything to the new den area that had been in the laundry room. I now have a better pantry area set up & more room to store the economy size package of paper towels I buy at Sam's once every couple of months. My next project is to paint this room. It's going to be something bright & cheery. Perhaps a buttercup yellow.

Room #2-conversion of playroom area to den

This is what it looks like right now...there are before pics when it was the play room & now that it is a den/scrapbooking area.







Playroom

Den/scrapbooking area

Nothing was purchased to re-do this room. Everything in it was re-purposed from another room in the house. I would like to buy a nice desk or large table (possibly a kitchen table from a garage sale!) for my scrapbooking table. For now, I will take what I have & enjoy having a nice bright & roomy space to scrapbook in. I can now easily scrapbook while Bella does art projects at her own little desk. The white pantry cabinet is filled with her art supplies.

What I did this weekend.....

This was my boys' room...here is a pic of the boys a couple of years ago...it looked pretty much the same before we turned it into Bella's room.

The total cost for this room was $63. We bought new paint, Hannah Montana sheets & wall clings and a new valance. It was a lot of work but it turned out great & Bella loves it!