Project Simplify

Folks, I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. I feel like my to-do list is never ending; things that need to be cleaned, errands that need to be run, things to remember for the boys, gifts to buy. I look around my house and I see clutter everywhere. Jake and Ben's rooms are still a disaster area. The kitchen island is a dumping ground. The dust bunnies under our bed are almost bigger than the cats.

Yet I've done nothing to remedy any of this.

After a lot of thinking I've come to two conclusions. The first is that I have so many tasks on my mental to-do list that I don't know where to start. The second realization is that my perfectionist tendencies are getting in the way. I know I don't have the time to make things my version of "perfect" so I don't do anything at all. I need to change that way of thinking. Poking around the interwebs for inspiration I have come across two mantras that I need to take to heart; "progress, not perfection" and "don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough".

With that in mind, I've embarked on my own little Project Simplify. I am taking baby steps at taking control of the clutter, both physical and mental. Over the past few days I've taken two little steps. I've unsubscribed from all of my junk email - you know, those promotional emails you get every day because you ordered one thing from the company for a gift three years ago. They have been filling up my inbox recently making me groan every time I switch on my computer in the morning. Three days later, I have just a few emails that I actually want to read and some mental clutter is cleared. Woo hoo! I've also been taking a few things off the kitchen island every time I go into the room and putting them away, rather than trying to clear the whole mess at once. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I'm satisfied by this, rather than worrying about all of the things I didn't put away.

My goal is to have a less cluttered, more streamlined house and to-do list by the time the boys go back to school in the Fall. But it's progress I'm after, not perfection :-)

I've been reading a few blogs for inspiration. Here are some of my favorites:

Small Notebook

Simple Organized Living

Simple Mom

How Do You Control The Clutter In Your Home?

Reading, Cleaning & Bourguignon

Yesterday I had an unexpected day home from work. Jake, my seven year old, stayed from school with a fever. He spent most of the day napping and watching TV, which left me with a lot of time on my hands since my littlest guy was at preschool.

Normally, an unexpected day at home would send me on a mad cleaning spree, giving myself impossible goals for the day like cleaning out all of the closets in the house. This time, I decided to see if "baby steps" are all they're cracked up to be and assigned myself four tasks; cleaning out my (very messy) car, getting caught up on laundry, cleaning out the fridge and cleaning out Ben's cubby when I picked him up from preschool (it was full of artwork, photos, socks, etc.)

None of these tasks took me very long. I finished them with plenty of time to snuggle with Jake and read a book (God's Lions: The Dark Ruin. I'll write more about it another day. In the meantime, support Indie authors!). I thought that rather than feeling like I'd accomplished something by completing these tasks, I would feel on edge thinking of all the other things I could be doing instead of relaxing on the couch with Jake. The disaster that is Jake's room and the giant dust bunnies under the bed come to mind. I'm happy to report this was not the case at all. Completing these seemingly small tasks took weight off my shoulders and cleared some mental clutter, with not a single thought about the other things I could have taken care of.

That said, Jake's room is truly horrifying. My little man is going to have to help me take care of it sooner rather than later.

Before the day was over I made a pot of Beef Bourguignon. I do a riff on Ina Gartens version from her book Barefoot in Paris. Her version is delicious but too time consuming and wine-y for a family meal. So I've pared down the recipe and make it at least a couple of times a month (recipe below).

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to start the boys bedtime routine an then watch Zero Dark Thirty with The Scotsman. If any of you have any favorite beef stew recipes I'd love to hear about them.

Shortened (and less wine-y) Beef Bourguignon (serves 4 with a little bit of leftovers)
Adapted from Ina Garten

1 TBS olive oil
4-oz bacon, diced (sometimes I get lazy and ditch the bacon)
1.5 lbs beef stew meat, cut into cubes
salt and pepper to taste
1.5 cups baby carrots
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 bottle dry red wine
1 cup beef broth
1 TBS tomato paste
1 tsp dried thyme
2 TBS unsalted butter
1.5 TBS all purpose flour
1 cup frozen pearl onions
8-oz mushroom, quartered

Preheat the oven to 250.

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven. Add the bacon (if using) and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Dry the beef cubes with a paper towel (both Ina and my stepmother swear this will make the beef brown better. They're both excellent cooks so I believe them.). Sear the beef in the hot oil (and bacon fat if you used bacon) turning to brown on all sides. Remove the beef and place it on the plate with the bacon.

Add the carrots, sliced onions, salt and pepper to the pan. Stir occasionally and cook until the onions are slightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute.

Put the bacon and beef back into the pot. Add half of the bottle of wine (and then pour yourself a glass out of what's left) and the beef broth. Make sure there is enough liquid to just cover the beef. If not, add more wine or broth (your choice.) Add the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a boil, cover the pot tightly with a lid and cook it in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours (because of this, I usually make the Bourguignon up to this step the day or night before I want to serve it, and do the following steps on the day it is to be eaten.)

Remove the pot from the oven (or the fridge if you made it the day before.) Combine 1 TBS of butter and the flour and stir into the stew. Add the frozen pearl onions. In  separate pan (I know, another pan to wash. But I swear this step is worth it,) saute the mushrooms in the remaining tablespoon of butter. Cook until lightly browned and then add them to the stew. Bring the stew to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. Voila! You're done!

 The meat is so dark from the wine. This is  photo of the batch I made yesterday. I decided to add tiny Yukon Gold potatoes because they had been sitting forlornly on the counter for quite a few days. I added them just before I put the stew in the oven.