My Ducky Life

Do you ever have those kitchen tools / dishes / utensils / etc that you avoid using simply because they are a pain to clean? I have been in this exact position and decided I'd had enough of small crevices, dish sponges that don't get into tight spaces, getting my hands messy, and breaking finger nails by picking at stuck on food gunk! In one of my "How am I supposed to get all of this off of this grill pan?" moments, I looked up and saw my son's baby bottle brush. I had a few extra brushes in the cabinet, so I grabbed one and thought that maybe if a nylon brush would get out the little bits of gunk from a baby bottle, it might just work on other surfaces...? It worked better than I ever expected! I've been able to use a simple, $1 baby bottle brush to do a lot of quick, easy, hassle free cleaning while keeping my sanity and fingernails intact! Behold - The George Forman Grill Plates: We made pork chops with a marinade and seasonings. I always cl...

One area where I've struggled off and on is keeping myself and my family organized. There are many plans, ideas, and products out there that promise to help. As I walked down the aisles of my local mega store I saw shiny new plastic containers for just about everything. Having bought some of these in the past I found that most times they didn't quite meet my needs. I'd need to buy 2 or more, they don't fit into the space I have in mind, the items they are intended for didn't fit properly, or the containers were poor in quality and didn't hold up to long-term normal usage.  I've listed below a few things that have helped me and are very easy to do. Most are re-purposed containers, however the few that I purchased have been well worth the money!  1. Pickle and Candy Containers For anyone who has ever purchased things like Claussen Pickle halves, assorted candies or after-dinner mints in bulk you know the kind of containers I'm talking about...

If anyone has a small child who attends daycare, I'm sure you understand what I mean when I say that my kitchen has been over ridden with art projects. Everything from scribbles on construction paper, to hand prints, to various things they're studying. To help combat some of this, I hit up my local Big Lots and was able to find a pretty neat looking storage/hat box that has a pretty good capacity for small papers. However, my daughter's art kept coming in, and I was hopeful I could come up with something neat to do with it instead of throwing all of it away.  While thinking randomly about what I could try, I ran across an old photo collage at my parent's house that I had put together for my high school graduation party. Something clicked. I had layered the photos, leaving only the focus of the pictures showing and secured them together with sticky tack so I didn't have to actually cut them up or glue them. This inspired me to try something different with my ...

While studying for my Master's Degree a few years ago, I came across a technique called the '5 Whys' used for problem solving. First developed by Toyota (TPS), the 5 Why's were designed to get to the root of problems that were hindering their success. I realize the method is somewhat criticized as not going deep enough in large corporate settings, but hear me out for this one.  Not so long ago I was watching my family eat out all too often. After working a full day, it was so convenient to just drive through a window and have food given to us in exchange for money. The kitchen was in a constant state of disarray, despite hardly ever cooking at home. Dishes always in the sink, on counters, etc. The last thing either of us wanted to do at the end of a work day was deal with it. So... we didn't. Until the weekend or until we needed baby bottles/sippy cups washed - Don't worry, we'd rinse them out before chucking them in the sink so at least nothing was growin...

This is a Challenge Worth Taking! I know some of you had seen this on my Facebook page. I decided to move it over here, too. :-)  For those who may read it and do not know me, I try to keep us eating healthy as much as possible. It's not 100% (we still do the occasional fast food meal and a pizza), but I've been trying to cook and make more things at home when we can. It's saving us calories, money, and in our small city the variety for restaurants (fast food and otherwise), is slim so eating out all the time would be boring, anyway.  I also work from home for a company that is based out of my state, so I'm able to do some food prep in the morning before I begin and over my lunch break. I realize this isn't possible for everyone, but for us it works. :-) I also try to take some time on Sunday evenings to do food prep for the next few days and ensure that dishes are done so we're ready for the work week. This is what works best for us!  Now, ont...