What's for Christmas Breakfast?

I wanted to share this recipe with you... one of my family favs! We'd also love to hear what your favorite Christmas Morning Recipes are! Please share them in the comments!

OVERNIGHT FRENCH TOAST

Day old French bread in 1 inch slices
5-7 eggs
3/4 cup milk
brown sugar
1/4lb melted butter
cinnamon

Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Sprinkle brown sugar on bottom of the pan. It should be 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with cinnamon (I use a lot). Pour melted butter over this mixture. In separate bowl, beat eggs and milk. Dip bread in. Allow bread to absorb egg mixture (I count to 20). Place in pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 375'. Turn bread bieces over (VERY IMPORTANT). Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY! I'm also experimenting with a layer of creamchees and fruit in the middle... I'll let you know when I have a real recipe!
D.

Green Christmas

{photo source: Tree Hugger}

One of my least favourite things about Christmas is all packaging. Aside from the usual injuries getting through all those plastic toy holders and twist ties the bags of garbage and recycling sends my guilt-o-meter spinning quickly.

Here are a few ideas to keep the packaging down and your Christmas a little greener.

1. Re-usable bags. If you are crafty and can sew just a straight line you can make them yourself and if not, purchase them. {a couple of Canadian sources are Love a Tree & Etsy }

2. Use the wrap as part of the gift. For example, is anyone on your list getting a Snuggie this year? Wrap that bad boy around another gift (may I suggest a new telephone that the lucky recipient can talk for hours on, while wrapped up warm in their new Snuggie?) Other items you can use for wrapping would be scarves (they are ALL the rage this year, no?), towels and leftover fabric.

Check out this video tutorial:

Furoshiki Japanese Wrapping

3. Instead of bows and ribbon what about bringing nature in?

{photo source: Country Living}

We challenge you to use one of these ideas for your Christmas wrapping this year! If you have any other green wrapping ideas, please leave a comment and share with us!

Try This at Home

If you don't stop to think about all the germs on the utensils and the potential for contamination, I love a good salad bar.

Kinda lame, I know. But there's something about having choices and control and the ability to make my salad my own that makes me happy.

Setting up a simple "salad bar" at home is really easy and gives everyone a bit of a choice. With all the great pre-washed greens out there all you need to do is add the extras. If you have some cooked chicken or bacon on hand, the salad bar can be your whole meal. A couple of salad dressing choices are nice to offer... balsamic is always a good go-to when in doubt.

Green Ideas:

Spinach, Spring Mix, Romaine

Protein ideas:

Pre-Cooked Chicken*, Bacon, chopped ham, tuna, salmon

Cheeses:

Feta, Goat, Shredded Cheddar or Parm

Extras:

Sliced Grapes, Strawberries, Craisins, Dried Currents, mixed seeds & nuts, Pomegranates

*Last time I brushed balsamic salad dressing onto 4 breasts and oven roasted them. This gave me plenty of chicken meat for salads for a day or two.

Simplifying the Gift Front

We're all for spending less and keeping it simple around the tree. A few years ago we heard of someone who uses this system for gift giving with each of her kids:

Something to Wear.
Something to Play.
Something to Read.

Three gifts.

Pretty genius.

Check out this link for some prize winnning reads for kids.

Airplane Essentials

Having just stepped off a plane for a short trip to Edmonton, (more on that later), I wanted to post a couple of ideas for the next time you're traveling by plane.

A few things to keep in a medium sized ziplock:

- Your own earphones
- sanitizer & chapstick inside a smaller ziplock
- granola bars
- oatmeal cereal packages and a plastic spoon, (because you can always find a cup of hot water if you get really stuck and starving in an airport.)
- a pen for filling out immigration forms

Anyone have any other ideas? Post 'em in the comments!

Happy Travels!

T minus 44 days...

Christmas is coming! Hard to believe it's here again already.

For all of you crafty types, check out this cute handmade Christmas planner





found at Miller's Ink

organizing the world,

one closet at a time...





A little peek at a recent job we just completed.

We Love Puppies

We do. It's true.

And I recently came across a really great little invention, created by a local gal who happened to be one of the fabulous Ortho techs responsible for my new, gorgeous smile!


Take a look at GRAB BAGS FOR PETS for a really great way to keep poop-bags, (that is the technical term, right?) on your leash. They work really well and there are loads of different looks to choose from. Support a local lady entrepreneur and pick up a functional and fun gift for you or someone on your list.

Branching Out

As most of you know, Cheryl and I have become closet designers! We work with a distributor for Stor-X Organizing systems. We've been having SOOOO much fun working with this Canadian product. If anyone is interested in some design ideas and a quick, free quote, we'd be happy to chat with you.

Here's a quick little video to give you an idea of this great, simple closet system.

64 Days

... until Christmas that is!

Between now and then we'd like to offer a few ideas to keep the chaos down in those last few days! Christmas should be about everything but stress and pressure.

So, for starters... we suggest a conversation with the fam.

We know that many families, for many reasons, are looking to keep this Christmas less expensive. We're all for it! Start the conversation now with the kids and the extended family and whoever else is involved in your goings-on. Don't be afraid to be the first one to say, "What if we scaled back a bit this year?" We'll bet that others in your Christmas huddle are thinking the same thing. Draw names, give to a charity, set reasonable limits... just do something to lessen the financial burden and the focus on "stuff".

Enjoy the freedom that a fresh approach to the season might bring and let us be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Mmmmm.... bacon.

I'm confessing to a new addiction.

Bacon.

Yes, there might be healthier choices out there, but well.... bacon has a hold on me.

The upside is that a little bacon flavor goes a long way, so you can use it sparingly and still get loads of flavor. I've been in this shady relationship with bacon for a month or so and I've found so many simple meals in which to feature my prized pork pieces.

To save yourself time, money and mess you can try these two menthods:

1) Costco sells big bags of cooked bacon for about $10... a good amount and I think it tastes great.

2) Take a package or two of bacon, freeze it to the half way point so that it's easier to cut, and chop it into about 1/4 inch pieces. Scramble fry till it's well cooked, drain and pat the oil off with a paper towel, then put the cooled pieces in a ziplock bag in the freezer. You've made one mess and have the potential for many meals.

Meal Ideas with Baconygoodness (yes, that's one word.)

• Spinach Salads (my other binge)... sprinkle a little bacon on some pre-washed spinach with a bit of goat cheese or feta, a finger pinch of seeds or nuts, some chopped apples or pears and a drizzle of vinagrette -- DELISH!


• In scrambled eggs or omlettes


• Baked in quiches


• On a toasted tomato sandwich


• Pasta carbonara


• In a big Caesar Salad with some fresh garlic bread


• Sprinkled on perogies


• In a quick corn chowder or minestrone soup

The possiblities are endless.

May the pork be with you.

Happy Day After Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.

We were especially thankful for friends that fed us this weekend, which while leaving us leftoverless made us feel loved.

And speaking of leftovers....

Did you know that you can freeze turkey dinner?

It's true!

When the boys were little we used to cook an entire turkey just to split up into different containers to pop in the freezer to enjoy at a later date.

Time saving AND delicious.

And now here's a little eye candy for your Tuesday morning.

This pantry leaves me a little weak in the knees.

My pantry looks nothing like it.


It does inspire me to get at my pantry, wipe it down and get it cleaned up a little.

We challenge you to do a 15 minute clean up in the pantry and let us know after you are done!

AND WE'RE BACK.

After a very long summer (and half of fall) hiatus, we're happy to announce that we're back on the blog and looking forward to a new season of ideas & inspiration to help us all live simply.

How did we spend our summer vacation?

Cheryl conquered the West Coast Trail with her man and some special friends.
Dawn took a chilly cruise to Alaska with her extended in-laws.

Cheryl floated around in her new pool.
Dawn helped her mother-in-law prepare to downsize and took 6500lbs of junk to the dump.
(Someone is a little bitter about those two points.)

Cheryl and family flew to Ontario to celebrate a Granny's big birthday!
Dawn and family celebrated her parent's 60th birthdays and 40th anniversary.

Cheryl's kids read about 200 books.
Dawn's kids did a triathalon.

Our two grade sixers are ready to move on to middle school next year.
This will be Dawn's graduation from elementary school and Cheryl's introduction to the world of sex, drugs and jr. high. Ahhhh.... we're really growing up.

We are REALLY looking forward to being in touch with you this year. We'd love for this blog to be interactive and invite your comments, questions and ideas. Thanks for reading and joining us on the journey to being free for what matters, by living simply.

Hope you all had a FANTASTIC summer and that this fall is full of fun and adventure for you!

Simply,
Dawn and Cheryl

JULY CONTEST WINNERS!

Hello friends! As you have noticed, we've decided to talk a little summer break from the blog, but can't forget our July Contest for our Followers!

In the spirit of relaxation and sharing, we'll let Melissa F. in on this little draw too! Thanks all of you for sharing some fabulous summer recipes! LOVE the sound of all of them and look forward to tasting them too!

So, without further adieu...

Melissa F., Melanie F. and Christine will each receive this handly little note-pad, decorated by us.

... and Melissa M. had her name drawn for our "big" (tiny) prize of handmade gift tags, in a little holder!

Thanks for playing and we hope you enjoy!

ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR SUMMER EVERYONE AND WE HOPE YOU'LL CHECK US OUT AGAIN IN THE FALL!

JULY FOLLOWERS CONTEST!

With all the beaching/picnicing/entertaining, we though it was high time for recipe sharing. For our follower's draw this month, we'll enter your name not once (all followers are automatically entered in our monthly draw), but THREE, count them THREE times IF you kindly take a few minutes to post a favorite summer recipe for the beach or the backyard :-) Just share your recipe in the comments area... thanks for helping build our Life Simplified Community experience!



SUPER BONUS REWARD PERK PRIZE GIVE-AWAY...

Everyone who posts a recipe WILL RECEIVE a cute little prize, made by us... promise it'll be worth your while :-)

Great Summer Recipes

Time to start sharing some great summer recipes for BBQ's and Picnics... and to be a part of the mind-meld, stay tuned to our July Followers' contest! Until then, here's one of our favorites...

Santa Fe Salad (From the Best of Bridge)

Ingredients:
Cilantro Lime Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp. cumin
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Salad:
19 oz. can black beans (turtle beans) rinsed and drained
1 red bell pepper, diced
12 oz. can kernel corn, drained
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

Instructions:
In medium bowl, whisk together oil and lime juice.
Add cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper and mix well.
Stir in salad ingredients and correct seasoning.
Serve at room temperature.
Serves 6

Avoid Pre-Beach Hulabaloo

If you've got big plans to beach it this summer, make it a little easier on yourself by having your beach bag at the ready!

Don't forget to include:

- sun screen

- hats

- sunglasses

- towels

- a large ziplock with a selection of paper plates, napkins, cutlery for whatever you might be bringing in the cooler.

- empty plastic bag for garbage

- hand sanitizer (naturally :-)

You could also stock up on a few long-lasting snacks so that you've always got something ready to grab and take with you if you aren't packing a lunch-ish meal, and want to avoid the old "pop and chips" stand-by.

- freeze juice boxes and they double as ice packshelp keep anything else cool by .

- stock up on granola bars or make your own and wrap individually

- try some trail mix type treats with nuts and dried fruits

- pretzels are a great alternative to chips and a big bag can be divided into smaller, zip-locked portions

- make and freeze healthy muffins, individually wrapped

- freeze partially-full water bottles (without the lid), then top them up with water and pop the lid back on... your icy cold water bottle is ready to go the distance in the heat!

Got any more ideas? Please post them in our comments!!

Happy Sunshine!

D & C

pretty ponies, all in a row

How delicious does this look?



What a fun way to keep those cords labeled!

(source www.store.cordotz.com)

hello, my pretty

Are you in the middle of organizing something?

Check out this link at this inspirational blog for these CUTE printable organizing labels.



(photo source: www.justsomethingimade.blogspot.com)

Just Something I Made

Have a great day!

Dawn & Cheryl

And the Winner is...

Nikks2!
Congratulations!

Nikki, give us an e-mail at life-simplified@shaw.ca so we can get this in your hands :-)

Enjoy your planner/organizer!

And for anyone who hasn't signed up to be a follower yet, go for it! Maybe you'll win next month's followers draw.

Good Housekeeping Tip

A Maxine Tip...
Always keep several get well cards on the mantle... So if unexpected guests arrive, They will think you've been sick and unable to clean

Be A Follower!

As a thank you to those who read our blog, we're doing a little draw each month for our "followers"... If you haven't signed up yet, you can do so by clicking on the "follow" button at the right of this page.

May's draw will be a handy dandy springy little calendar/organizer.

We'll draw on June 1st, so if you haven't signed up yet, you still have a few days!!

Happy Monday everyone,
Dawn & Cheryl

Garage Sale Basics

Spring is almost over and hopefully your spring cleaning is almost done as well.

The good weather (that we almost have...can't you taste it?) always seems to motivate me to get at those things like the garage, the catch-all closets, the storage room and our bedrooms.

Weird but true.

It also brings things like robins, flowers and garage sales.



(photo source www.savingadvice.com)

I love a good garage sale.


It's kind of my version of going to the Casino. I start with $20 and see what happens.

If you are planning a garage sale this year, I have found a printable checklist online to help you on your way. As Dawn always says, checking off a box gives us great satisfaction. I hope it makes you feel the same way.




(checklist source www.organizedhome.com)

A couple of other quick tips to keep the kiddos busy:

• have them go through their rooms/playrooms with a box to fill of unused toys - depending on their ages they may be able to do this themselves, or may need a little help. I have found that if you let them keep the money from the proceeds of their items it is a great motivator. In fact, you may have to stop them from throwing TOO much stuff in the box depending on how much they like cash. Also, encourage them to donate a certain percentage to charity if that's something that works for your family, my son, the keeper, always is more willing to let go of "stuff" if it's going to a good cause.
• let them handle the "refreshment" side of things. Help them set up a lemonade stand or make rice krispie squares or some other inexpensive treat to give away or sell at your sale. A friend of mine used to help her kids make a huge batch of popcorn, bag it in brown lunch bags and sell that along with cans of cold pop at their annual street sale.
  
• let them help make the signs, then you can check off both "make signs" and "spent a bit of quality time with the rugrats"

Good luck!

Two for Tuesday

Here are a couple of quick and inexpensive tips for getting your baby's room organized.

A great way to add space to a closet, especially if you have children sharing a room, is to buy a tension bar (they are typically used as shower rods and can be found at Canadian Tire, Zellers, Walmart) and install it (tightly!) about 3 feet off the ground.

This gives you extra hanging space for those teeny-tiny baby clothes.

Another baby space tip, is to utilize one of those over the door shoe organizers, like this one:



Throw it over whatever door you have handy - whether it be the closet door or the door to the room and fill it will those little baby essentials that seem to get scattered about.

It's great for all those little toys, rattles, soothers, and even things like baby cream and baby powder (especially once those little ones are cruising - if you have experience a little one getting into a vat of vaseline or a large bottle of baby powder, you know what I'm talking about!)

Monday Quick Tip

Got a nasty microwave?

Don't be ashamed. (Unless you own the one above, in which case, go ahead and be ashamed.)

It's a little awkward getting in there sometimes to give it a clean, so try this:

Take a glass, microwave safe bowl/measuring cup/dish and put in it about 2 cups of water and 2 tbps of lemon juice. Microwave it on high for a couple of minutes and the lemony steam will soften all the... well... chunks. A quick wipe and you're good as new.

(Just be carefull removing the dish from the microwave.)

insert drumroll here

And the winner of our April give-away is.......

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6 

Kari Eytcheson. 

Congratulations Kari!

I hope you find the perpetual calendar as helpful as I do!

Email us life-simplified@shaw.ca so we can figure out a way to get it to you!

Check us out at the Kelowna Library

(I know, I'm soooo clever, right??)

Guess who's doing a little Organizing Seminar at the local "li-berry"???

We'd love to see any of blog readers & friends come on out for an evening chatting about some tips and tricks to gettin' through the to-do lists and the day-to-day demands! Here's the Library promo piece:

Don't just spring-clean. Simplify!
Join us for an interactive session with Cheryl Overton and Dawn Kern of "Life Simplified", Organizing Consultants for Home and Life. These two women are on a mission to find a simpler, easier way to get through the day-to-day duties of family life so that there is more time and energy freed up to to what really matters. In this one hour, interactive session, you'll pick up practical ideas to help you minimize the clutter and chaos so you can maximize the fun this spring. Whether you're a parent of young children, an empty nester ready to downsize or just tired of clutter and chaos, this will be a great evening of ideas and inspiration.

When: Tuesday May 5th, 7pm.
Where: Kelowna Library on Ellis
Food: But of COURSE!!!!

It's gonna be fun... hope to see you there!

P.S. DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP TO FOLLOW THE BLOG AND HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN SOMETHING LOVELY MADE BY CHERYL OVERTON!! FRIDAY IS DRAW DAY!

Bake-a-polooza

Do you have a favorite muffin/scone/cookie recipe that you make frequently?

Save yourself some time by making a few batches of the really dry stuff (flour, white sugar, baking powder/soda, etc.) in one shot. Just line up a couple of bowls and add those ingredients into each one. Once you have your "base" recipe assembled, empty each bowl into a ziplock bag & clearly label it. Next time you want to whip up a batch of said favorite, you're already half-way there!!

This works awesome for my favorite scone recipe: (thank you ALLRECIPES.COM)

LEMON BLUEBERRY SCONES (easily adapable to other flavors... try apple cinnamon or orange cranberry....and you can put half whole wheat flour in too.)

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup lemon yogurt
1 egg
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries*

GLAZE:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, combine the yogurt, egg and butter. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm scones.

FOOTNOTE
If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter.

everyone has one...

Some homes house more than one...

It usually lurks in the kitchen...

Martha Stewart's looks like this:



Yup, I'm talking about the junk drawer.

That insidious little spot in your house that seems to breed batteries and paperclips seemingly as quickly and furtively as the dryer eats your one sock.

The nice thing about the junk drawer is that it's usually smallish. Which makes it a great place to spend 10-15 minutes organizing, once a month or so, to give you that small feeling of accomplishment or perhaps a little bit of motivation to get going on a larger part of your house that needs attention.

Here are a few tips to get that mess straightened out:

• first, dump that baby out, when I organize, everything must first come out of the space, which seems like you're just making a mess, but it's the easiest way to make your three piles: give away, throw away and keep
• clean the drawer, I don't understand people (my husband) who organize stuff but don't bother cleaning it, I usually haul out the vacuum to get in all the little grooves of the drawer in addition to wiping it with a cloth
• make sure there is nothing in the drawer that has belongs in a different area of the house (ie. bills, receipts, pennies - all the pennies in my house seem to find their way here - too bad it wasn't all the toonies)
• dividing the drawer into compartments is the most efficient, check out the dollar store for inexpensive little trays/containers ***make sure you measure your drawer before you go shopping to ensure all the containers you find will fit, including the height!***
  
• ice cube trays are a great inexpensive corral for all those little things that fall to the bottom of the drawer
• group like items together and start putting them in the containers you have
• if you keep an extension cord in your junk drawer, wind it loosely and slide it in an empty paper towel tube

Here are a couple more drawers for inspiration!

I like the way they used these little tins in this one:



The next two, while not as pretty as the previous pictures, probably look just a tad more realistic.

Follow us and win BIG prizes!

Well, maybe not "BIG" literally...
and not even figuratively, though I just spent about 3 1/2 minutes trying to figure out a way for it to be "BIG" figuratively (that was definitely time misspent)....

The corporate fat cats at Life Simplified have decided to make giveaways a monthly part of our blog. And as corporate fat cats will do, they have also decided to make you work for it, but only just a little.

Look over at the right sidebar of this page...

Do you see a little box that says "Follow" on it?

If you click on that and sign up to follow our blog not only do you get notified when the blog gets updated, but we will enter you in a draw for a handy dandy little organizer similar to the one shown in this post:

Handy Dandy Organizer

I can't count the number of times that I have told my youngest son that "the sheep get in as much trouble as the shepherd" (ie. my clever little way of saying stop being a follower!) but I think in this case following is an entirely good thing.

We will do the draw at the end of this month! Good luck!

signed,

the Secretary to LS Corporate Fat Cats

Easter Tip

Eat turkey.
With gravy.

Repeat.


HAPPY EASTER FROM DAWN AND CHERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giving Back

OK, this post is not as noble as the title.

I am one of those people who is very happy to lend anything I have to whoever needs/likes/wants/could use it.

I also don't mind borrowing stuff.

Where it all falls apart is that I'm not always the most ... emm emm, PROMPT at returning things.

So, if you're like me, here's a little challenge for you.

Grab a bin, (if you don't have one, just ask your neighbor :-), and go through your house finding anything that belongs to someone else, and make it your mission to get it back to them in the next week. At least put the bin in your car so you can return things as you see people.

I just did this last week and, as embarassing as it was, it was good to get that monkey off the back. I hereby offer a public apology to all my friends who have been without their books, exersize equipment and assorted material goods for the last months... or years as the case may be.
Good luck!

Special Dates

This little organizer was made as a give-away at the Christmas event at Trinity Baptist Church we (Dawn, while I silently encouraged her from the front row) spoke at in December.

The left side is little folders with the months of the year on them that can hold receipts, lists, cards, etc. The right side is a perpetual calendar for important dates.

A perpetual calendar is a fantastic tool to have on hand - once you get all those special dates saved there is no scramble in January (or March for some of us) to copy everything over from last year's calendar.

If anyone wants instructions on how to make it leave a comment with your email address and I will get them to you!

Friday Quick Tip - EVERSODISGUSTINGMOLD!!

OK, so I think I'm a pretty clean girl... up until this point every spring where I discover all the mold in my window tracks. I attacked it today and thought I'd, hmmm hmmm, share.
(So Gross.)

I took a little spray bottle and filled it about 20% bleach 80% hot water.
Dressed in white just incase, (and I CAN'T believe that wedding gown still fits) I sprayed/soaked all the window tracks with the bleachy solution, (be careful of drips).

I left it alone for about 10 minutes, all the while telling myself how disgusting we must be.

Then I took an old toothbrush, an old cloth and filled spray bottle with just hot-water.

The guck came off so easily after soaking in the bleach solution. A little scrapy-scrape with the brush and a little squirty-squirt with the hot water and TA-DA! Gone-zo.

That was just about my least favorite job of the spring cleaning... I'm sooooo glad that's over.

To those of you who have already attacked your windows--I salute you!
To those who have put it off as long as I have-- I don't blame you, I can think of few things more icky.

p.s. I'm in a making-up-words mood. It might be the bleach fumes.

Time Saving Kitchen Clean-Up Tips...

aka stuff you might not have thought of...

To clean a blender, squirt a few drops of liquid soap into it, fill halfway with warm water, cover and blend away the mess. Rinse and repeat if necessary. You can also use this method for food processors.

To clean all that icky splatter out of your microwave, wet a couple of paper towels and place in microwave, turn on for about a minute (keep a close eye on it!). The steam will loosen all the food particles and then you can use the damp paper towel to wipe everything up.

For lime and mineral deposits on your kitchen sink faucet, wrap vinegar-soaked paper towels around faucets for about an hour. This breaks down the mineral scale, and the chrome will be clean and shiny after buffing with a dry paper towel.

Use a toothbrush to clean up around your faucets. Those little bristles get right in around those hard to reach places.

For a sparkling white kitchen sink, place paper towels across the bottom of your sink and saturate with household bleach. Leave for an hour or so. Scrub and rinse.

Spots on stainless steel sinks can be removed with white vinegar or Club soda.

And while we're on the subject of shiny sinks I want to share a little not-very-well-kept secret called Flylady.



Flylady is a support group that offers advice, tips and humor to assist people in keeping their homes tidier, especially for those suffering from "CHAOS" (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome).

While I don't follow their whole "get dressed including your shoes" first thing in the morning, as I kind of enjoy the guilty pleasure of driving the kids to school in my pyjamas, she has many many great tips on getting you organized. I joined her website when my kids were young and it really helped me keep on top of those problem spots in my house. And while I don't subscribe to her website anymore, I still try to shine my sink every night before I go to bed.

Check it out to see if she has any tips you can use!

Friday Quick Tip - Crock Pot Love

This is the easiest dinner in the world. Kind of a sweet & sour thing.
MUST be served with rice and corn (in our family opinion.)

CHICKEN ROSA
Put enough skinless Chicken Thighs (or other skinless chicken) to feed your family in the crock pot.
Mix together the ROSA in med bowl... adjust to taste:
R - Russian Salad Dressing (and if you want to lighten it up you can find a recipe for the dressing and cut the oil down), one small bottle is good for our family of four.
OS - Onion Soup Mix (about one packet)
A - Apricot Jam (a good sized glob, depending how sweet you like things)
Pour the sauce over the chicken and let it simmer away for a few hours.... sooooo yummy.

We'd love it if you would post your favorite slow-cooker recipe in the comments!

Without further ado...

Here is a pictorial account of our latest draw for a free 2 hour organizing session....

1. print names from all the lovely readers who entered their names in our draw














2. Find lovely assistant to make the draw...
(if lovely assistant is unavailable, find small disheveled boy to act as assistant)













3. Show the lucky winner's name...













Congratulations Karen - contact us at your earliest convenience to schedule an appointment!

I hope everyone had an excellent "first weekend of spring break" and happy organizing!

I'll leave you with this photo that I saved off of the internet a couple of years ago, I thought it was such a cute and inexpensive way to store extra towels, etc in a bathroom.

Child Labour - we're all for it!

Cheryl and I met a new client this afternoon. A lovely, young mom ready to get her home sorted and settled so she can enjoy it to it's full potential. And, like Cheryl and I, she has two young men in her home.

Kids.
Part of the problem or part of the solution?

Spring break is around the corner for those of us with school-aged kids. If you've been meaning to "get to" your kids' rooms, Spring Breatk is a great opportunity.

One suggestion is to let your kids know NOW that there will be a day over spring break where you're going to work through their bedrooms. Go in there with a garbage bag for everything that is broken or missing pieces, and a box for anything that is broken and can be donated/given away. Get all the "like" items gathered together in the same drawers/bins/shelves.

Go through their clothing. Find out what's worn out or out grown. Find anything you've been waiting for them to grow into and try it on. Don't be afraid to pass on stuff they just never wear for whatever reason. If it's good stuff, just pass it on to a friend (with less picky kids). Speaking as a mom of picky dressers, it felt good to know the awesome hoodie that my Brodie never wore was considered a "thcore!" (score) by Cheryl's son Lucas!!

Make it a date for the first week of the break... promise a sizeable reward if you have to (it will be worth it), and the kids will love the results as much as you do... they'll be able to see what they have and access it much more easily. From there on in, it's all about maintanence, baby.

HAVE FUN!!! and DON'T FORGET TO POST A COMMENT FOR THE DRAW!!

Closet Connection

Dawn mentioned in an earlier post that we had recently started working in conjunction with Artesano Cabinetry
(website coming soon!) and we completed our very first install back in December.

In all of the excitement my mad photo skills failed me and I only got a couple of usable shots, but in any event, here they are!


This is a "games closet" in the rec room of a beautiful new houses. We designed longer shelves to house board games as well as higher, shorter shelves for other games (all you parents will appreciate how many children's games have weird shaped boxes that are hard to find space for - Elefun anyone?





This is the pantry that we designed for their lovely home. The chocolate pearwood finish is so rich and classic looking and one thing I love about these shelves compared to wire is that there are no cracks for things to slip through.






If you are interested in any more information about these fabulous systems or want a quote, don't hesitate to drop us an email!

We will also be drawing later this week for the gift certificate we talked about in our last post. If you haven't left a comment yet and are interested, post away!

If We Clean it, Spring will come

At this time last year my kids started wearing shorts.

What's going on this year?

Global warming, my...

In our efforts to keep the dream of spring alive, we figured:

IT'S TIME TO GIVE AWAY A GIFT CERTIFICATE!!!!

How does 2 hours of free organizing help sound?

All you gotta do is post a comment about spring cleaning.

Any old comment will do:

"I hate it"
"I love it"

"I want to have Dawn and Cheryl to come help me."

You get the idea.

We'll draw a name from the posters on March 15th.

Bonus: if you refer a friend to our blog and they mention your name in their post, you will get two, count them two, entries in the draw. Double the chances, double the fun.

Post away!

Good Luck!

8 meals, 1 mess.

When Cheryl and I talk about how we survived the "early years" with young kids, we fondly remember our meal swaps. The two of us and two other trusted girlfriends would do a frozen meal swap about once a month. We would each choose a different recipe and make a super large batch of it so that is could be divided into eight 9x9 cake pans. We'd share them around so that each mom took home 2 of each of the 4 different dishes. One big mess, 8 delicious meals.

If you're looking for a way to save time, money & mess in the kitchen, and have a few like-minded cooks in your circle of friends, we dare you to give it a try.

Sunday Planning Ritual

It's one of the little moments I look forward to on a weekend. (Maybe be I should get out more.)

A comfy spot on the couch,

A leisurely stroll through the grocery store flyers,

A fresh page in my note book

A big cuppa English Breakfast Tea, sweet and creamy.

I go through each store's flyer, jot down any super deals on stuff we need/use, and try to plan my meals accordingly. (I recently went on a mission to "eat through" our freezer so that I could defrost it and start over in the shopping/meals department. It's kinda nice to have a clean slate!)

I'm finding it's a good way to save money (who's with me on the small victories??), add a little variety to our menu, and plan ahead so I can cut down on the trips to the grocery store.

For example, this week, this is what I found on sale...

I only write down what I know we need or go through a lot of. (Personally, I only REALLY stockpile if it's an AMAZING deal.) And then see how I can work those deals into the menu...so I know this week we'll have:

-Pork Roast w/ cauliflower side (cheese sauce, of course--the cauliflower is just a means to an end.)

-Pasta Carbonara (Love it when bacon is on sale... I cook a whole package on a pampered chef bar pan and freeze it to use when we need it. One mess, lots of baconny possibilities

-Soup and BLTs (Does anyone else have childhood flashbacks to Habitant Pea Soup?)

Might be worth a try if you're trying to cut down on the grocery bill and get a bit of a nerdy high from list making :-)

One bookshelf, two ways

I don't have a contemporary style home, but absolutely appreciate the aesthetic of modern decor.

I've seen this shelf at various times in various places and love how it acts as both storage and in a way art.


Fun, right?

And then the other day, whilst surfing I saw it used in another way in a bathroom.

Pretty clever, huh?

Is enough to make me rethink my entire home decor?

No.

Well, maybe just for a minute...

I need.

this space.

in my house.

This is from Martha Stewart Living, the September issue.




And "need" might be a little dramatic, maybe I should change that to want.

Really, really, really want.

Virtual Clutter and How to Sweep it Under the Carpet

With the arrival of digital cameras many of us have traded in our shoe boxes filled with photos for virtual files full of photos. And because we take more digital photos than we used to take with film, these photos can quickly become a mountain of virtual clutter.

Here are a few basic tips for keeping your digital photos organized and easily accessible.

First of all, you have to figure out what works for you. Our minds all work differently and what might be the best set up for me may not work effectively for you.

I think one of the most important things to do is to remember to upload your photos every time you take a sequence of photos from a certain event.

That way you can ensure that you have a file with a clear name that will trigger the memory of exactly what resides in that particular photo. Then you won't waste time searching through hundreds of photos to find that one that you want to have printed to send to Aunt Sophie.

The way I categorize my photos is as follows:

I have a main folder for the year we are in.

example: My Photos for 2008

Then within this folder, I have sub files with the months of the year.

example: My Photos for 2008
January

Then each of the months have the photos shot within that month uploaded and named accordingly (I generally take a lot of photos so also put the date in front numerically which causes them to come up in order of date within the folder.)

example:
My Photos for 2008
January
Sledding at Crystal

or

January
01.24 Sledding at Crystal

Please don't forget how important it is to back up your photos on cds or on an external hard drive on a regular basis.