Could it be that it was only eight short months ago when we were ringing in the new year and ushering in a brand-new, shiny decade full of hope? The anticipation of the coming U.S. presidential election and Olympic Summer Games energized the country and the world. In our house, it was the beginning of the countdown to our first-born starting her senior year of high school in September and turning 18 in October. Our son was eagerly awaiting a summer of hard training for his next vigorous cross country season in the Fall. My organizing business was finally booming and my husband’s career humming along very nicely. 2020 promised to be a banner year for the Sheridan family. 

Then BAM! Seemingly out of the blue, a pandemic of epic proportions, quarantines, school closures, sports cancellations, postponed primaries...followed by murder hornets, protests, wildfires, hurricanes, fire tornadoes…and worst of all, death--lots of it, job losses, endless bread lines, potential foreclosures, and financial ruin for many...all piled up in a big heap, bringing everything to a standstill. The old saying that the only things in this life that are a certainty are death and taxes never hit more close to home. So here we are: at the crossroads of hope and uncertainty. What now? How do we merge these two seemingly divergent paths into one? How do we maintain hope amid all this chaotic uncertainty?

First, let’s take a step back to consider just why confronting uncertainty is so uncomfortable for most of us. Perhaps it’s because it threatens our need to feel in control. If we can’t see a roadblock up ahead, we can’t take an alternate route or steer around it to our advantage. Right now, most of us are just wondering when...when schools and businesses will reopen; when we’ll get financial relief; when a vaccine will be available that can allow us to resume something resembling normalcy. It’s hard to keep up with all the unexpected twists, turns and detours on Rt. 2020. Nevertheless, there are still three very crucial things that do remain totally within our control, should we choose to exert it. Let’s start there:

Self-Care 
Whether you are ill (from anything) or fit as a fiddle, the choices you make about caring for yourself will affect how you feel both physically and mentally. Tune in to your body, as well as your soul, and make changes in any of the following areas, if necessary, to improve your well-being:

• Eating well gives you the right kind of fuel for fighting an illness or working extra hours to put food on the table. Putting the right kind of gas in your tank energizes you and lifts your spirits.
• Getting enough rest allows your brain to focus more easily on the tasks and responsibilities you face without burning you out.
• Exercising regularly lowers your stress levels, helps you sleep better, and increases your energy for confronting the challenges ahead of you.
• Wearing a mask, hand washing and social distancing protects you and others around you from the dangers of potential infection. Just as importantly, you’ll be doing something proactive to help restore public health, which is empowering. Your mask can transform you from a victim into a superhero!
• Finding your center recharges you and allows you to keep moving ahead. Whether that's snuggles with the kiddos/spouse, walks alone, a long hot soak in the tub, or prayer/meditation, finding and tending to your center is essential self-care.

    
Attitude
Whether you are quarantining alone or with others, your overall attitude plays a major role in your ability to cope with your situation. Keeping your outlook positive despite your circumstances will not only boost your own spirits, it can become a beacon of hope for others who may need a reminder of all the goodness still surrounding us. Attitude is how your perspective and priorities dictate how you interface with the world around you.

• Keeping a positive perspective means choosing to see whatever hardships you may be facing as merely a temporary setback instead of an insurmountable obstacle. Just as with forming any new habit, focusing on the positives instead of the negatives takes effort at the start but becomes easier over time. Starting a gratitude journal is an excellent way to change your daily perspective. There’s always something to be grateful for, no matter how down on your luck you may be in that moment. Challenging yourself to write it down brings it into sharper focus where you can fully appreciate it.
• Prioritizing the common good over self offers you a golden opportunity to become a better person while helping others at the same time. Whether you’re volunteering at a soup kitchen, mentoring a young person struggling in school, donating food or money for the unemployed, or working extra hours as an essential worker, prioritizing your contribution to the greater good gives you a sense of purpose, of belonging to something bigger than yourself in a way that benefits everyone. Who doesn’t want that? 

Actions
Whether you are working multiple jobs as an essential worker, furloughed at home desperately seeking employment, or finding yourself in the unexpected role of homeschooling parent, your actions are always a matter of choice and thus totally under your control. How well are your actions reflecting the attitude you want to convey? Are you eating junk food on the sofa, yelling at the other side’s politicians on TV, wallowing in gloom, self-pity and self-loathing, or are you reaching out to make a positive impact, using your available time to engage in proper self-care, helping others, hopeful thinking, and positive self-talk? The choice is yours. Make a good one.

Let's face it: this has been a difficult year so far and the only thing we can be certain of is that yet more uncertainty surely lies around the next corner. But by staying focused on the things that are still within your control, even confronting uncertainty with hope intact can be easy peasy.

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, thenHave you ever noticed how time-consuming consuming food can be? First we have to decide what food to eat. Then we have to acquire the food. Next, we have to prepare the food. After that, we actually eat the food. And finally, we must clean up from preparing and eating the food. And this cycle never ends. Most of us perform each of these tasks several times, every single day. It stands to reason, then, that any effort to simplify our lives must include simplifying how we consume food.

Whether you are cooking for a large family or eating alone, a little planning can go a long way toward saving valuable time, effort, money and energy in the kitchen. Knowing in advance what's on the menu will allow you to take advantage of some shortcuts and ultimately leave you feeling less stressed and more satisfied by your meals. As you may have gathered, I'm a big advocate of meal planning and have created this free guide and menu planner to help teach you just how easy peasy it can be. But whether you plan a week's worth of dinners in advance or not, here are my top 20 tips for simplifying cooking and eating:

1. Keep a list of your favorite meals and add to it as you try new things. Include a few "pantry meals" that require only ingredients you tend to keep on hand for a last-minute rescue when needed.
2. If cooking for multiple people, choose dishes that can be easily modified to suit each person's diet and taste preferences to avoid feeling like a short-order cook.
3. Create a shopping list before heading to the store to ensure you don't forget key items you need and to cut down on impulse buys.
4. Eat meals that center around the same ingredients to avoid food waste and to save time on prep.
5. Prep ingredients for several meals at a time in advance or purchase ingredients that are already partially prepared. (Salad bars are a great place to purchase pre-chopped veggies for any meal.)
6. Cook extra and divide the leftovers into individual portions to freeze or refrigerate for later use.
7. Minimize the number of dishes you use in preparing food to make cleanup quicker and easier. (One-pot meals are the best!)
8. Use pre-made mixes to save time without sacrificing that homemade yumminess.
9. Create and store frequently-used herb/spice combinations in larger batches in order to save time. 
10. Use your grill! Grilling adds tons of flavor with little to no prep work and no pots or pans to wash afterward.
11. Eat the same breakfast and lunch every day (or have 2-3 you alternate between) to simplify your shopping list.
12. Identify a healthy take-out dinner alternative for nights when life makes cooking impossible. (My go-to "emergency dinner" is a rotisserie chicken, loaf of fresh-baked bread and bagged caesar salad picked up from the grocery store on my way home.)
13. Plan your cooking around your calendar. Busy days should require less time in the kitchen.
14. If you don't enjoy cooking, just keep it really simple: grilled or baked meat/protein + vegetables + (optional) starch.
15. Look for recipes requiring 5 or fewer ingredients. (Check out the recipes in our Meal Planning and Recipe section.)
16. Do a "dinner swap" with a friend. You each make a large batch of a dinner entree. Divide your batch in half; keep one half and swap the other. This way you only have to cook once but end up with two different meals.
17. Memorize your favorite recipes to save time, or create a "cheat sheet" of the measurements to hang on your fridge so that you don't have to look it up each time.
18. Involve the whole family in the cooking and cleanup to lighten the burden and teach kids some life skills. Even little kids can learn to butter bread, toss a salad, or stir ingredients together.
19. Learn and master time-saving kitchen hacks. (Follow @Blossom on Instagram for some really clever and fun-to-watch videos.)
20. Eat breakfast for dinner. (This was my mother's favorite cooking cheat. I mean, what's easier after a busy day than whipping up some scrambled eggs or a bowl of cereal?)

The most important rule of all to follow when it comes to cooking and eating your food is to simply enjoy the moment! Take a much-needed break from your daily stresses as you eat. If you're eating with others, enjoy the time together and some good conversation. If you're eating alone, enjoy the quiet solitude and time to reflect. Either way, put your phone down, turn off the TV, and give yourself some time to unwind. Eating should be about replenishing your mind and soul, as well as your body. Be present in the moment. You invested a lot of time and effort in creating it...make it worth it!

With a few tips and a healthy appetite, even keeping food simple can be easy peasy.

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Raise your hand if you’ve ever used a first aid kit, makeup kit, or sewing kit. 🙋If so, you’re already familiar with the concept of what I like to call “kit (or “task) organizing"...storing all the items you need to perform a specific task or complete a certain activity together. We tend to do this naturally with certain items, such as cooking and laundry, but there may be other opportunities you've overlooked.

Why organize this way?
Think about the steps required to complete a task...any task. Step number 1 is always to assemble all the tools and materials you need. At least it should be. Otherwise, you end up having to interrupt the task to go find what you need, and who has time for that? Well, kit organizing takes care of the first step for you. Assuming you remembered to put your tools and materials away the last time you performed the task, you only need to get out your kit again and voila! Everything you need is right there!

An even bigger benefit to organizing this way is that it’s actually much easier to put your tools and materials away when you're done. Rather than putting the scissors back where the scissors go, and the tape back where the tape goes, and the ribbon and gift wrap back where they belong, you simply put everything back in your gift wrapping kit and store that away for next time. Let’s face it...searching for the scissors and tape because they didn’t get put back in the right place the last time you used them is often the most challenging and time-consuming part of wrapping a gift. Kit organizing just simplifies the getting-out and putting-back (and consequently, the finding-of) everything you need to complete your task.

What’s the best way to store kits?
Contrary to the mental image you may have in your head, a “kit” doesn’t necessarily always involve a cute little carrying case. Many may, but what makes it a "kit" is not what kind of receptacle it's stored in, but rather that all of the items in it center around a specific activity. Some kits may include large items that take up an entire closet, while others are better stored in a small, transportable pouch. How you contain it depends on what type of task/activity it’s used for and where that activity is performed. Tasks that are always performed in the same location and have room to store the kit there don’t require a carrying case. For example, if you always put your makeup on at a makeup table with drawers, you can just use a drawer to hold the components of your makeup kit.

Conversely, if you like to do your nails at the kitchen table but don’t have room in the kitchen to store your nail kit, putting those items in a small bag you can retrieve from the bathroom makes a lot of sense. Anytime you have to carry stuff around, having everything already stored in a transportable receptacle makes it more likely you won't leave something behind by accident. Open caddies, small backpacks or totebags, lidded or open bins, baskets and zippered pouches are all great options for containing your kits. Pick the one that best suits how you use that particular kit.

Kits aren't just for home use!
Kit organizing can be particularly useful for items you use outside the home. Grab-and-go activity bags for trips to the pool, sporting events (or practice), or picnics take the stress out of preparing for fun outings. Being already packed and ready whenever the mood strikes will make you more likely to go enjoy yourself! And you'll be less likely to forget something if you've invested some forethought in what belongs in your kit and store everything together between outings. Just make sure you remember to remove anything you've accumulated during your trip that doesn't belong in the kit before you put it away.

What should go in a kit?
Chances are, you are already organizing this way for some tasks/activities. If you store all your camping equipment together, that’s a camping kit. But there may be items you can add to your existing kit to make life even simpler. For example, does your camping kit include all the "staples" you routinely take camping with you, such as paper towels, aluminum foil, and utensils...or do you still have to retrieve those from the kitchen each and  every time you pack for a camping trip? It may not always be feasible to store everything you need in your kit, due to space or financial considerations. The idea is to make your kit as complete as you reasonably can in order to simplify assembling and putting away your tools and materials before and after use. (Tip: for camping or other away-from-home activities, consider including with your kit a list of additional items you know you'll always need to take with you but for one reason or another cannot store with the rest of your kit. This will help ensure you don't forget something.) How often you use your kit will also determine what goes in it. If you go camping multiple times each summer, it may be worth investing in a second set of cooking utensils to keep in your kit; if you only go every couple of years, perhaps not. Think about the types of tasks/activities you perform most frequently and make a list of all the items you use. Begin building your kit from there.

Kit Ideas
Would having any of these kits assembled and ready to go make your life simpler?

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