Ten Easy Steps to a Clean Fridge

Do you feel like your fridge is a mess?  Here are ten easy steps to get your fridge clean.  Read below and get your refrigerator clean for the fall and winter.

What You Need

A sponge
Dish soap
Dish towels
Glass cleaner and a paper towel or two
Plenty of counter space for organizing food
A trash can
An old toothbrush (optional)
If you have a stainless steel refrigerator:
Stainless steel cleaner, vinegar, or oil and a soft cloth
If you have an enameled steel refrigerator:
A multipurpose cleaner

Instructions

1 (optional) Unplug the fridge. If the interior needs serious scouring, you can do this to save some energy while you're cleaning. I left mine plugged in because all the shelves were removable, the rest of the interior wasn't that dirty, and I closed the doors in between steps. If you do decide to unplug your fridge, though, rest assured that this whole process won't take long enough to harm any of your foods.
2 Take everything out of the doors and start using up that free counter space I mentioned. You could take everything out at once, but I found it was easier to do this in stages.
3 Get rid of expired products and consolidate doubles. I really didn't need two jars of sambal oelek or that quarter bottle of cooking wine that had been in the fridge for two months. This is also a good time to group like with like. I had several beers hiding out in the door, and the rest were on the other shelves, so this was when I put them all together on the counter.
4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the rest of the fridge. Then repeat them with the freezer.
5 Remove all shelves and drawers.
6 Wash them with warm soapy water. I'm fortunate enough to live in a place with a large double sink and a retractable hose, but if you aren't so lucky, then there's no shame in dragging those bins and shelves to the bathtub. Even in my giant sink the produce drawers got pretty unwieldy.
Dry them with dish towels and set them aside. At this point, I also chose to use some Windex on the glass shelves to get them extra clean and streak-free.
7 Wipe down all the fridge's interior spaces with a damp sponge or towel. For those of you looking for a really deep clean, if there are any shelf seams or rubber seals with buried bits of grime, an old toothbrush will get the job done. Put the shelves and drawers back in and admire the transformation.
8 Replace all your food, wiping down any sticky jars before putting them in your newly clean fridge. I found it helpful to keep all my items grouped by use, which is a task I completed as part of step 3. If you need help organizing the fridge, check out these helpful tips. Stick in a new box of baking soda, and if you unplugged the fridge in step one, don't forget to plug it back in.
9 You're almost done! Now that you've cleaned the inside, be sure not to neglect the exterior of the fridge. If you use magnets, tidy up the items they're holding and discard any outdated coupons, etc. Then give the exterior a quick wipe down with your product of choice. If you have a stainless steel fridge, use a stainless steel cleaner and wipe with the grain of the steel. Alternatively, you could use vinegar and a microfiber cloth or olive oil. For enameled steel fridges, a multipurpose cleaner will do the trick.
10 Admire your clean, happy fridge. 

For more information see Apartment Therapy.

Army Rangers Perform Jump

Jumping out of a plane is terrifying for most people.  However, jumping out of a plane into a lake is just another day of work for the Army Rangers.  The army rangers have been training for eight weeks for this exercise.  On Friday, they jumped from an airplane more than a quarter of a mile into Lake Lanier.

A jump from more than a quarter of a mile above Lake Lanier may not be a normal person’s ideal Friday morning.

But for a U.S. Army Ranger, it is just another day at the office.

On Friday morning, about 90 Rangers parachuted from 1,500 feet above the waters of Lake Lanier during a water jump training exercise.

“One of our hazardous types of landings that we prepare for during our jump preparations is landing in water,” said Lt. Col. Bob O’Brien. “If guys ever land in water, they have some familiarity and training of having done it before.”

Soldiers from the 5th Ranger Training Battalion, based out of Camp Frank D. Merrill in Dahlonega, piled into two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, which traversed the airspace over the lake, dropping off its human cargo six at a time.

“It started out just like a typical jump,” O’Brien said. “You get a slight falling sensation and then you can feel the tug of your parachute coming in. But it’s very different coming down not seeing solid ground — just seeing the lake beneath you.”

But, O’Brien said, about eight weeks of preparation went into Friday’s exercise, including coordinating with local authorities to help with the jump.

“One of the awesome things about today is we have been able to incorporate a lot of the local authorities,” he said Friday. “They’re helping out, so it’s a good training exercise for us from a coordination standpoint, too, because this is the type of stuff we have to do overseas.”

Capt. Thomas Shandy, who was gearing up for the jump Friday morning, said he had “no reservations at all” about jumping. In fact, he was “just happy to do it” after the many weeks of training.

“After practicing, what we’re hoping is it becomes automatic at this point,” Shandy said. “I think at this point, we’re all just ready to jump.”

And while the Rangers were taking the plunge from the helicopters, family and friends lined the beaches of War Hill Park to witness the exercise.

Kristin Snowden, wife of Capt. Joseph Snowden, was one of those spectators.

“I think it’s really awesome to be here to witness because (Joseph) loves doing this so much,” she
said. “He’s always loved being a paratrooper, so to get people out here to witness what they do is a pretty cool thing.”

Snowden, equipped with a camera, said she had no worries about her husband’s jump.
“He’s a jump master, so he’s done this so many times,” she said. “I have faith that he knows what he’s doing.”

Actually, she said, she would like to be in the air with him.

“I would totally jump,” Snowden said. “We’re adrenaline people, so I would love to do it. If I ever get the chance, I will.”

Authorities from Dawson, Hall and Forsyth counties helped with the exercise, as well as the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Air National Guard.

“It’s a pretty big operation,” said O’Brien, who said the jump was worth all the preparation and coordination.

“It’s been a very long process — many weeks in the making,” he said. “It was a great landing. The water is awesome.

For more information go to The Gainesville Times.

Apps for Back to School

Back to school can be stressful.  These apps are made to help you transition back to school, and they can also help your kids with studying.  They cover everything from Math to English, and they are designed for all levels.

My First Day of School

Is your little one nervous about the first day of school? This interactive book for your iPhone may help. The iStoryTime Kids Book — My First Day of School features the story about a boy, Charlie, who is getting ready for his first day at school. Though he is excited, Charlie is also a little scared, but he ends up really loving school. This interactive book offers three narration options, automatic or manual page turn mode, onscreen text and more.
Price: 99 cents

iStudiez Pro

Get school started off right with iStudiez Pro. This iPhone app allows parents, students and teachers to keep track of agendas, deadlines, grades, homework, tests and more with its scheduling tools and notification system. Whether your children are in elementary school, high school or college, this award-winning app can keep them organized and on target.
Price: 99 cents

iHomework

Another very helpful app for students, iHomework allows you to keep track of homework assignments, projects, reading lists, schedule, teacher contact information and more. This school organizing app is available for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, as well as for Mac.
Price: 99 cents

FlashCards++

You can find a number of flashcard apps to help with studies, but FlashCards++ is one of our favorites. With this app, you can make flashcards on your phone, create image flashcards with your iPhone camera, or download text and images from Flashcard Exchange, Dropbox or Quizlet. You can also import cards from Excel and even listen to vocabulary flashcards with its text-to-speech functionality. Stop carrying around a stack of paper flashcards and access them on your iPhone or iPad instead.
Price: $3.99

Grammar Guide

If your kids' grammar and spelling skills have dropped off this summer, the Grammar Guide app is the perfect solution for back-to-school time. This app is a quick reference guide that will help improve any student's writing with topics on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, misspelled words and more.



For more information please see sheknows.com

Is your family ready for school to start?

Getting organized and being prepared is the best way to make your transition into starting school easy.  School starts next week in Dawsonville so getting back to school ready is priority.  Here are some great tips to make sure your family will be ready when that first alarm clock rings.

Ease the family into a school year schedule.

The first day of school is no time for a drastic adjustment of household sleep schedules. Instead, ease children back into a school year routine gradually. During the last two weeks of summer, re-introduce a school year bedtime. Begin waking late sleepers earlier and earlier, closer to the hour they'll need to rise when school begins.

Don't neglect mealtimes! Younger children, in particular, need to adapt to new meal routines before the school day demands it of them. Plan meals and snacks to accustom little ones to rituals of the school day before the school year begins.

Create Calendar Central

Each school year floats on a sea of schedules. School functions. Lunch menus. Scout meetings and music lessons. What do you do when you're drowning in paper?

Nothing calms school year chaos like Calendar Central: a centralized site for all family calendars and schedules. You'll need a family event calendar to track after-school activities, school programs and volunteer work. Add specialized calendars and schedules, and you have it: a one-stop shop for family time management.

Form is less important than function. A paper calendar with large squares lets you enter information easily. Pre-printed white board calendars are easy to revise when necessary. Color-coding entries by family member helps keep busy lives straight.

 

Paper planner fans dedicate a planner section to serve as Calendar Central, while tech-savvy cybergrrrlz store the info in a smart phone or tablet and sync with multiple computers. Choose a calendar format that works for your family.

Post the family event calendar in a public place near the telephone. Use magnets to attach the calendar to the refrigerator, or tack it to a bulletin board.

Add other calendars to Calendar Central: school lunch menus, class assignment sheets, sports practice schedules. When the room mother calls for field trip volunteers, you'll know at a glance whether you're free to join the group on the bus that day.

Plan before you shop

August is the second-biggest sales month for clothing retailers. Back to school clothing sales begin as early as July! Are you prepared to run the school clothes gauntlet?

An informed shopper is a savvy shopper, so prepare before you shop. Take an afternoon and assess each child's clothing needs. Empty drawers and closets of outgrown or worn-out clothing, and either store or donate the discards.

Working with your child, clean and organize clothing storage before new garments are added--and cut down on school morning calls of "Mom! I don't have any clean . . . . "

Develop a wardrobe needs list for each child. Check for possible hand-me-downs from older siblings as you make your list. If you discuss the needs list and the family budget with your children before you shop, you'll avoid in-the-store tantrums.

Similarly, ask the school for classroom supply lists before shopping for school supplies. Forewarned is forearmed ... and helps protect the family budget.

Do shop early! With back-to-school sales beginning in mid-July, tardy shoppers have a tough time locating needed supplies among September's Halloween costumes and Christmas decorations.

Gather your papers

School entry may require documentation from immunization records to report cards from the previous school year. Athletes need proof of medical examination. A little preparation can prevent frantic last-minute searches for a birth certificate or registration confirmation.
Call your child's school or check the school district Web site beforehand to find out what paperwork will be required--then find it! You won't be sorry come registration day.

Take aim on morning madness

How are school mornings in your home? Crazed and chaotic, or calm and cheerful? Plan ahead to send your schoolchildren--and yourself!--out the door in a happy frame of mind.

Each evening, think ahead to the following morning; where can you lighten the load? Set the breakfast table as you clear the dinner dishes, and make sure breakfast foods are easy to reach. Lay out children's clothing the night before. Scan backpacks or launch pad spaces for missing homework, projects or library books. Make sure musical instruments or sports bags are packed and ready to go.

Do "bathroom wars" break out daily among the small fry? Multi-child households may need a bathroom schedule so that everyone gets equal time before the mirror.
What do you do about books and papers, lunch money and permission slips? 

Make a practice run

How will children get to school? The first day of school is no time to find out it takes ten minutes--not five--to walk to the nearest bus stop!

Before school begins, make a practice run to get children to the school on time. If they'll walk, help them learn the route they'll take and note the needed time. Car-pooling? Make sure the dry run accounts for early-morning traffic! Bus riders will need to be familiar with the location of the bus stop; print and post the bus schedule to prevent a missed bus.

Spiff up household systems

A new school year quickens the tempo of family life. Sports activities, music lessons, church programs and volunteer commitments tap parental time and put new mileage on the mini-van. Get organized! Spiff up your household systems to meet autumn's faster pace:

 

Clean house ... fast! Take a stab at speed cleaning and whip through household chores in record time.

Cut time in the kitchen: create a menu plan and never again wonder "What's for dinner?"

Streamline dinner preparations. Try a session of freezer cooking to stock the freezer with prepared entrees for stress-free dinner on sports night.

Conquer the paper pile-up. Set up a basic home filing system to track school paperwork, volunteer activities and household planning.

For more information see Organized Home.

8 Tips to Keep You Child's Room Organized

Walking into a child's room can be like walking into a war zone.  No one wants to step on that very sharp foot of a Barbie Doll or sprain their ankle tripping over a Tonka Truck.  In order to prevent injuries and chaos, a child's room should have an organizational plan that is good for the parent and child.  Organized Home has some great tips to keep your child's room in the best shape all year around.

Take a child's eye view

Get down to your child's eye level to help him or her get organized. Look at your child's space, storage, furniture and possessions from his or her vantage point. The view may surprise you!

Adult furniture and organizing systems don't translate well to children's needs. Sticky dresser drawers are hard for small hands to manage. Folding closet doors pinch fingers and jump their rails when pushed from the bottom. Closet hanging rods are out of reach, while adult hangers don't fit smaller clothing. Traditional toy boxes house a tangled jumble of mixed and scattered toy parts.

To organize a child's room, solutions must fit the child. For younger children, remove closet doors entirely. Lower clothing rods and invest in child-sized hangers. Use floor-level open containers to hold toys, open plastic baskets to store socks and underwear.

Devise a simple daily checklist for maintenance. To organize a child's room, tailor the effort to the child.

Bring the child into the process

Resist the urge to wade into the mess alone, garbage bags flying. Gritted teeth and threats of "You will keep this room clean!" don't touch the root of the problem: teaching children organization skills and maintenance methods.

Instead, look at the organization process as a learning activity, and put the focus on the child. Professional organizer Julie Morgenstern, author of Organizing from the Inside Out, recommends that you view your role as that of organizational consultant to your child.

As his or her guide, survey what's working, what's not, what's important to the child, what's causing the problems, and why the child wants to get organized.

Partnered with your child, you stand a better chance of devising an organization scheme and system that makes sense to him or her. If they're involved in the effort, children are better able to understand the organizational logic and maintain an organized room.

Sort, store and simplify

It's a conundrum! Children's rooms are usually small, often shared, and generally lack built-in storage. Yet these rooms are host to out-of-season and outgrown clothing, surplus toys, and even household overflow from other rooms. Kids can't stay organized when the closet is crammed, the drawers are stuffed, and playthings cover each square inch of carpet.

The solution: sort, store and simplify. Begin with clothing: sort it out! Store out-of-season or outgrown clothing elsewhere. Finally, simplify! Does your son really wear all 27 T-shirts crowding his drawer? Remove the extras so the remainder can stay neat and orderly in the available space.
For younger children, a toy library is the answer to over-abundant toys. Using a large lidded plastic storage container, large box or even plastic garbage bag, entrust a selection of toys to the "toy library." Store the container in an out-of-the way place for several months.

Some rainy day, bring out the toy library, swapping the stored toys for other playthings that have lost their savor. The stored toys will have regained their interest and freshness--and they won't have been underfoot in the child's room.

Older kids can utilize higher closet shelves to "store" some of their belongings. Clear plastic shoebox storage containers hold little pieces and identify the contents.

Contain, corral and control

Toy boxes and open shelves are no place to store children's possessions, particularly those involving many tiny parts. To organize toys, think "contain, corral and control."

Contain toys and other belongings before you store. Use plastic shoebox containers for smaller toys 

(Barbie clothes, Happy Meal give-aways), larger lidded bins for blocks, trucks and cars, light-weight cardboard records boxes for stuffed animals. Use specialty organizers to corral magazines and comic books, video games, or CDs and cassette tapes.

A bonus: containers help parents control the number of toys out at any one time: "Sure, you can play with the farm set, just as soon as the Matchbox cars go back into their home!"

Make it easier to put away, harder to get out

The premier rule for efficient children's storage? Make it easier to put something away than it is to get it out.

For example, store picture books as a flip-file, standing upright in a plastic dishpan. The child flips through the books, makes his selection, and tosses the book in the front of the dishpan when he's done.

Compare a traditional bookcase, where little fingers can pull down a whole shelf faster than they can replace one book. Build the effort into the getting out, not the putting away.

Organize bottom to top

Befitting a child's shorter stature, start organizing from the bottom of the room, and work to the top. Most used toys and belongings should live on lower shelves, in lower drawers, or on the floor. Higher levels are designated for less-frequently-used possessions.

Working bottom to top, the best-loved teddy bear sits in a small rocker on the floor, while the extensive Grandma-driven bear collection is displayed on a shelf built 6 feet up the wall.

Label, label, label

When it comes to keeping kids' rooms organized for the long haul, labels save the day!

 

Use a computer printer to make simple graphic labels for young children. Pictures of socks, shirts, dolls or blocks help remind the child where these items belong. Enhance reading skills for older children by using large-type word labels.

Slap labels everywhere: inside and outside of drawers, on shelf edges and on the plastic shoebox storage containers that belong there, on boxes and bookcases and filing cubes.
Playing "match the label" can be fun--and turns toy pickup into a game.

Build a maintenance routine

The usual peaks and valleys approach to room cleaning can vex and frustrate children. Their room is clean, they play, and suddenly, their room is back to messy normal.

Help children stop the cycle by building maintenance routines into the family's day. "Morning Pickup" straightens the comforter, returns the pillow to the bed, and gets yesterday's clothing to the laundry hamper. "Evening Pickup" precedes dressing for bed, and involves putting away the day's 
toys.

For more information please see Organized Home.

Photography Exhbit at Harris Art Center shows Afghanistan Behind the War.

 Harris Art Center is hosting a unique and beautiful photography exhibit called "Beyond the Mountains: The Interior Life of Afghanistan". The special photographs give viewers the chance to see what Afghanistan is like with the war and politics being stripped away.  This exhibit is free to the public and opens August 20th.

 Harris Art Center is hosting Lisa Schnellinger’s, “Beyond the Mountains: The Interior Life of Afghanistan,” a photography exhibit, as its August show for 2012.In this unusual show, Lisa takes us with her for an inside view of Afghanistan beyond the headlines. The special series of color prints allows viewers to walk among ordinary Afghans on their own scale. Life sized portraits on satin glow and move with the light, as they drift among walls of mountain landscapes. Expanded from its first showings in Jasper and Blue Ridge in 2010 and 2011, the exhibit of 28 large photographs are arranged to make best use of the natural light and open space.

Though Americans have heard much about Afghanistan for more than a decade, few have seen it in the way that this Pickens County resident has viewed. She and her husband Tom Willard moved to post-Taliban Afghanistan in 2002 and have continued to work there over the past 10 years. They helped to create and sustain a national Afghan-owned news agency, and supported the rebuilding of a girls’ school.

The show’s sponsor, John Seibel Photography of Dawsonville, is producing most of the prints. He has donated many hours in pre-production and designing the show.

“Beyond the Mountains,” is free to the public every Monday through Friday. The show will open August 20 and run through September 14.

Lisa and Tom also will give a presentation to offer their personal insights and experience on Thursday September 6 at 6:30 p.m., followed by a reception. Lisa is a frequent speaker in North Georgia, and her talks are colored with stories of Afghan colleagues and friends whose lives have changed greatly in the past decade.

In addition, Afghan handmade pashmina shawls, soaps, embroidered purses, silk scarves and other textiles will be for sale during the exhibit. The goods are produced by two Afghan cooperatives in villages there, and all profits are returned to Afghanistan to support a girls school.

For more information go to the Calhoun Times.

Charity Ride for Griffin and Jake Prince

 A charity bike ride for Griffin and Jake Prince will be held August 11th in Dawsonville.  This ride and car show will benefit the memorial fund set up for the boys, who were in a boating accident in June.  There is a rain date for the bike ride on September 1st. 

The circumstances could not be any more unfortunate, but “Rumble in the Streets” – a police-escorted motorcycle ride and Classic Car Cruise-In — will be held to benefit the Griffin & Jake Prince Memorial Fund.

Griffin & Jake are the brothers who perished in a boating accident on Lake Lanier in June, 2012.
The 70-mile motorcycle ride is scheduled for Saturday, August 11th, with a rain-date of Saturday, September 1st.

Escorts from the Dawson County, Lumpkin County, Forsyth County and Hall County Sheriff’s offices will lead the motorcyclists and stop cross-traffic at stoplights and major intersections.

There are few things motorcyclists enjoy more than waving to smiling law enforcement officers while we legally ride our bikes through red lights with hundreds of other bikers.

A classic car show will be held in Dawsonville, GA, where the ride ends.

All proceeds of this memorial ride will go to the Griffin & Jake Prince Memorial Fund.  We will see you there!

What

• 70-mile police-escorted motorcycle ride to benefit the Griffin & Jake Prince Memorial Fund
• Classic Car Show at Dawsonville City Hall from 1-4 PM

When

• Saturday, August 11, 2012
• Rain Date: Saturday, September 1st
• Bike registration 9 AM – 11 AM
• Pre-ride meeting at 11 AM
• Kickstands up at 11:15 AM

Where

• Motorcycle ride begins in Dahlonega at the Lumpkin County Courthouse
• Courthouse address: 325 Riley Road, Dahlonega, GA  30533
• Ride travels through four counties to Gainesville, Buford Dam, Cumming and ends in Dawsonville

Cost

• $40 per bike — no extra charge for passengers
• $20 per Classic Car at the Cruise-In
• $10 Burger plates at the world-famous Dawsonville Pool Room with 50% of proceeds going to the Memorial fund

Stuff

• To keep costs low and give the most to the Memorial fund, no T-shirts will be provided.
• Music will be provided in Dawsonville by the Brian Jarrett Band

For more information on the charity ride please visit Lake Lanier.