Creating a Pretty Atmosphere

For many years my kitchen focus has been on function, on making sure things are practical and work well. Pretty never came into it. I didn't have time or energy, and frankly, pretty things were too often a risky idea for lots of reasons. We have now entered a new season.

On a personal level I am no longer struggling to keep up with my kids and my home and just trying to get by. I have time to stop and smell the roses, or in this case, stop and look at the containers.

As a family, the kids are older and in a safer stage so we can have breakables out and be reasonably assured they will not be used as catapults.

 I took a trip to Value Village yesterday and bought a couple things. These pretty crocks now sit on our kitchen cabinet. They look much nicer than the Tupperware one we used to have. Plus, as a bonus, with Michael such a budding chef, we have more implements, and they weren't fitting very nicely in the Tupperware utensil caddy. Don't they look nice here?

While I was in Value Village I also spotted this lovely jug. You cant see the details very well, but tit has lots of lovely green and purple trim in my colours. I loved it but wasn't sure it would match my kitchen. After much debate, I decided to get it anyways because it was pretty. When I got home it clashed withe the kitchen but Michael realized it would be perfect by the front door. Isn't it pretty?

Oh, how I love creating a pretty home!!!

Creating... an Island of Opportunity (Literally!)

Anyone else have a wish list of what they would like in a house? And if you tell me no, I'll know you're lying! LOL We all have that list of things we wish our homes had, or that we would like to have "someday" in the next house, or when we renovate.
One of the items that has always been on my dream list is a kitchen island. Whenever we looked at those fancy contest houses, or flipped through magazines, islands were one of those things I was always pointing out to my hubby.
Our last home had a tiny galley kitchen. If we had put an island in there we would have had to remove the rest of the kitchen first. I don't think so!
Our new home, however, has a beautiful huge kitchen that came with a big open space. Michael immediately started planning all the ways we could put in an island. I wasn't so sure. I was afraid that an island would crowd our kitchen, making all our nice airy space disappear. He also noticed how our kitchen was huge, but because our pantry was so deep, as were all our big corner cupboards, I was actually wishing for more accessible space, especially drawers. Then my darling hubby came up with the perfect solution. He gave me an island for Christmas.

Isn't it cute? This little darling sits in the middle of our kitchen providing lots of extra drawer space and a great extra little counter to work on. I must admit, I wasn't sold on the idea, even on Christmas morning when I opened it. However, later in the day, I noticed that even though we had tons of counter space, we all gathered around our tiny island to prep dinner for the table. Since then, I have come to wonder how I ever lived without it! And that was just the surface and the top drawer! The other two drawers only got loaded yesterday!

Now to show you the planning and prep Michael (who is usually a December 24th shopper) put into this island, and how easily you could do one without breaking the bank!
First Michael visited a demolitions place and bought a used cabinet set (one with drawers obviously). Other places you could get them are Craigslist, Freecycle, talking to renovations contractors, or by asking around your friends and neighbours.
Next he got a melamine board and melamine strips from Home Depot and used them to enclose the back. He measured and cut the board to fit the back, then used the strips to cover the wood that still showed along the sides at the back.
For the top he attached a small kitchen countertop. We are lucky enough to have a friend who works at a cabinet shop and was able to match it pretty close to our kitchen counters, and to make it for Michael. Michael then just drilled it into the spots provided on the cabinet. Other options for a top would include using a large wood cutting board and attaching that, or cutting an old countertop to size and covering it with melamine like for the sides.
Now I have a lovely island in the middle of my floor, and it can even be shifted to clean under it! LOL

Michael says he has other home ideas up his sleeve. I am looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next!

Creating a Kitchen that Works

We have been here over three months and I have been amazed at how quickly we have gotten the house in order. It looks amazing.
However, the one room that has continued to be a challenge is the kitchen. Compared to our last one it is HUGE, plus Michael made me an island for Christmas - more on that tomorrow.
Yet in spite of all this space my kitchen was in continual chaos and I couldn't fit everything in.
Today a friend came over and we started pulling the cupboards apart and rearranging them in a way that made more sense.
It was AMAZING how much room we actually had! In fact we had so much room that the crockpot and rice cooker are both off the counter. My new 18 quart roaster has its own designated cupboard. Amanda's Easybake oven even got its own shelf in a cupboard!
After we got the dish and cookware organized we tackled the pantries. By the time we were done they looked fabulous, items were grouped in a way that made sense, and there is even an empty shelf. Oh, and that empty shelf is AFTER making another entire shelf into a chocolate shelf (because it only contains the chocolate chips and the leftover Christmas chocolate!)
Thank the Lord for a roomy and organized kitchen. We are blessed to have space and blessed to have organization!
Now my next mission will be to make my organized kitchen into a beautiful kitchen!

Creating... the Yummy Way

We have had a fabulous food day in our house today!

They boys are learning equivalent fractions so we practiced by baking Brown Eyed Orange Bars while making them figure out how many scoops they would need if they only had one size measuring cup at a time! This delightful recipe is one my Mum made when I was a little girl. I don't know the origin of it but here it is:

For the squares:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup skim milk powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 c. orange juice
1 Tbsp. grated orange rind
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup chocolate chips
Heat the oven to 375°F.
Grease and flour square 9”cake pan and set aside.
Sift the flour with the skim milk powder, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Beat in the butter, orange juice, orange rind, vanilla and egg until well mixed.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Spread into cake pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes until done.
While still warm, spread with orange glaze.
Leave to cool completely before cutting.

For the orange glaze:
2/3 cup sifted icing sugar sugar
1 Tbsp. orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange rind

Mix all ingredients together. Add more orange juice as needed to make
glaze consistency. Pour over bars while still warm.

Tanner has been wanting to try making his own ginger tea for quite awhile so tonight he did it. He brewed his own ginger tea! It was way too spicy for me but he quite enjoyed it!

And finally Michael made dinner tonight - a Chicken Chow Mein recipe he picked up from watching Jamie Oliver videos online. It is delicious but we ate it all so sorry, no pictures!

Creating a To-Do List

I spent last year focusing on organizing our home and life. The difference between our home last January and this January, both in terms of physical organization and our scheduling, is huge. Not that we are ever truly done becoming organized!
I am trying something new this spring - I am mentoring a conference through our school's online discussion forum on organization. It is great to be able to continue to structure our home and school, as well as to encourage others to do the same.
As part of that I have been reading a book Organizing Your Day: Time Management Techniques That Will Work for You by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims. They give lots of great advice about how to organize yourself by managing your day, whether at work or home. The most helpful tip I have gotten so far is to make a to-do list.
Yesterday I made my list and subdivided it in to categories. I did not completely follow the authors in this area, choosing instead to make ones that match my life. I have "Computer" which includes all emails, finances, research, etc. that I need to be on the computer for; "Home" which is everything else I need to do around the house, both work and fun; "Calls", which reminds me of the people and places I need to contact when I have a few moments; and "Errands", which lets me group together all the things I need to do while I am out of the house. I also added one more, "Anywhere" which reminds me of simple tasks, like reading my magazine or transferring birthdays from the old to new calendar, that can be done when I am waiting or otherwise killing time.
This list is not a one-day list. It is an ongoing list. I then choose my priority item or items to work on first and keep plugging away until they are done, then move to the next couple.
I strongly recommend to-do lists for everyone! I was amazed at how much I was able to get done in just one day! One of the biggest reasons for this change was that when I needed a break from a project, I could see what else I could work on for a change of pace instead of just wasting time. It also meant that as things come to mind, I can write them down and forget about them for now instead of trying to hold them in the back of my mind. What a difference that made - being able to fully concentrate on the task at hand!

I challenge you all - make a to do list and see what you can accomplish today!

Creating A Home

We all, or at least most, of us are blessed with a place to call our own, to live in and rest in. But is it a house or home? And what is the difference?

My kids have pondered this question many times over the past few months as they have really struggled with the transition to a new house. Yes, they can see all the ways this place is a blessing but they still wanted to go home.

I think we have finally turned the corner. What has made the difference?
Family time, and building memories together.
We have spent time playing games. We have done lots of baking and group cooking sessions. We have had our first holiday in our new place. We went all out on the decorating at Christmas, and used the opportunity to host an open house to show our friends our new place.
We hosted Christmas dinner. We had Nona to stay at Christmas and now have Grandma here. All these things have served to weave a spirit of family and connectedness into our new abode.

Now we have taken one more step. We have put paintings up on the wall. Decorations on a wall speak of permanence, of staying in a place for a while, enough to personalize it. Our last place never really got pictures up. We got one up in the living room but had to remove it to protect the painting from little boys. No others ever got up. Now we have multiple paintings up, with a few more to be added once they are frames. And the best paintings of all? The three beautiful watercolour paintings made by our children as a Christmas present to us.

Finally, we feel we really belong. that this is our home and not just a borrowed abode.

Making Our Daughter a Room

For those of you who know us you know our daughter already has a room so you are probably wondering what on earth I am talking about.

Here is the story (and sorry, but to protect the guity there are no photos!):

Our daughter's room was the one area I had not managed to get to before we moved, so it had WAY too much stuff. Plus, it had gotten messy over the summer and when we started showing the house her things got stuffed in boxes and loaded in the closet, where they stayed until moving day. You can see the disaster already brewing, can't you?

Then we moved, which brought the blessing of new furniture for her room, a very girly set handed down from the neighbour of a friend. The trouble was that she lost most of her toy storage space.

Over the past couple months her stuff has slowly gotten unpacked, but stacked in tubs on the floor, never a good idea. Finally over Christmas, when she pulled the last boxes out looking for special clothes and shoes, the whole room erupted. The final straw was Tuesday night, when Michael could not get across her room to kiss her good night!

Last night we hauled absolutely everything out to the dining room (except for the few clothes that were still in drawers). We then spent last night and this morning sorting and purging, and Michael managed to actually clean her floor while we were at it. We gave a lot of way, threw a lot away, have hidden her stuffies in our room for sorting at a later date, and moved a couple things to the garage playroom (Barbies and Lego).

The result? We have created our daughter a beautiful room she can actually live in! Not as much fun as making crafts, but certainly a project worth making!