Cookie jar review

When I was a little kid, the cookie jar was one of the centers of my world. My parents had an heirloom cookie jar that was always put up on top of the refrigerator. My parents liked to give us treats every now and then from it, but they were pretty health-conscious people. They wanted to stop us from having cookies on our own, fearing that as kids we would not know when to stop.

Looking back on it, they certainly were right. Cookie jars are such an irresistible source of temptation for kids, especially when they are well decorated like this one was. It was a pretty cookie Christmas jar, decorated with pine trees, red ribbons, and even an image of Santa Claus and his sleigh riding around the rim of the jar. I think that was part of the temptation. There is something that is always more tempting about cookies in a jar.

Don't get me wrong – cookies are best fresh off the baking sheet. They taste so good, after all, and they are so soft and chewy when they are completely new. Still, the cookie jar itself has such a beautiful and forbidden look to it – like a chest of hidden pirate treasure. It is always just out of your reach as a kid. When I think about it, cookie jars might be a pretty bad approach to things. Rather than making the cookies less tempting, they make them look like a forbidden goal, a haunting paradise just out of reach. This is why so many kids spend so much time struggling to stick their hand in the cookie jar!

Still, having grown up with a cookie jar, I kind of missed it when I moved out on my own. I looked at a lot of ceramic mason jars, but none of them worked. None of them were quite right. Then one day, I was in an antique shop when I saw it – the perfect cookies jar. It had a much different look than the one that I grew up with, but nonetheless, I knew it was right. It had an almost Moroccan design, ornamental with miniature ceramic tiles in a mosaic pattern around the circumference. It was beautiful to look at, and one glance left little doubt that the contents would be absolutely delicious. I bought it, and immediately went home. I was going to do some baking tonight!

Clear plastic boxes review

When it comes to storage, I have very little space and even less patience. I seem to have too much stuff, but I also can’t seem to part with it. I get this from my mother, but to my credit, I do not have nearly the amount of stuff saved as she does, and I do tend to throw more things away than she. However, with my limited storage, I have to stack things up in my small closets, and that makes it almost impossible to find the one thing that I might be looking for. I solved the problem (at least partially) but getting clear plastic boxes for storage.

When you see storage options in the stores, you may see a lot of the plastic tub types of boxes around. You may see green and red ones around Christmas time, and even pink and blue to go with children’s bedrooms. What you may also notice is that some of them are solid, and the rest are clear plastic boxes. When you have limited space and must cram things all together in a few chosen areas, the clear plastic boxes are always the best choice. This is because you can see what is in them without having to take them all out and open them.

When I started filling my clear plastic boxes, I had to stop and start all over again. Though I knew I would see what was inside, you can’t see all of what is inside. That meant my habit of just throwing whatever I grabbed into the same box was not going to work. Instead, I tried to separate what I had into categories - and I use the term loosely - so that I would have a better idea if I was on the right track when searching. One of my clear plastic boxes was for blankets, and the next was for books, etc. That does help deciding if I have found the right one.

I have also found that the clear plastic boxes are great for storage in the back of my car. Instead of having everything roll around back there, I have found a smaller box to put things in. That means everything I need is in the same place and is not clunking around each time I go around a corner a little too fast. Liquids like window cleaners stay upright, and I can always find things I might need in the dark right away. If you think this is something that would work for you, get the clear plastic boxes that will fit in your trunk and that have a secure lid for your car.

Las vegas garden

Las vegas garden , a photo by lvonestopshop on Flickr.

this is a picture from my outside patio, i love my garden, and this picture is from Las Vegas garden decor