21 Day Organizing Challenge

Toni at A Bowl Full of Lemons is hosting a "21 days to getting organized" challenge.  What a great way to get back into the swing of things after the holidays ransack your home! I don't know about you, but my home always feels ransacked after I've had company.

....sort of.

Well I'm jumping in 10 days late - but in my defense we've been reno'ing the basement so I haven't had much time to do anything else!  Lucky for me, I tackled a few of the projects in Nov/Dec so I'm going to be sneaky and put up my old posts....instead of redo'ing it! A girl can only organize and reorganize so much! I was all ready to jump in on day 6....but it was the dresser drawers and my hubby was sleeping all day (shift worker extraordinair).  So these are the ones I have done....I'm hoping to do the other ones too.

Day 1: The Junk Drawer - check out my new and improved junk drawer.  As you can see I started a Get'er Done series in hopes that I would be inspired to tackle some of the bigger projects around the house.....as you can also see...the junk drawer is the first and last project in that series....eek.

Day 5: Under the Kitchen Sink - I had a few moments the other day and I thought I'd tackle this one - how happy was I to open my cupboard and realize that I really didn't need to do any organizing at all under there! Go me!



Check out that gorgeous wall paper under there!

I keep a spray bottle of GreenWorks concentrate mixed with water on my kitchen counter for all spills that require something other than water and elbow grease. The few bottles in the blue bin include some old dusting spray...which I guess I could toss 'cause I use a damp cloth now, some brick cleaner and some dollar store window cleaner that I got as a shower present 4 years ago!  Goes to show how often I clean my windows!  It will be replaced by vinegar and water when the bottle is empty.  The back of the bin is full of old rags and there's an old toothbrush in there too. I don't seem to need anything more than that to tackle even the worst messes!


Day 7: The Pantry  - dun dun dun.  This one needed it REALLY badly so I'm soooo glad I found a few extra minutes between coats of paint to pull everything out and organize.  Here's a before:

 My pantry is a tiny 2 ft closet - I realize I'm lucky to even HAVE a pantry, but oh how I covet those wonderful walk-in pantries with the lights and the frosted glass doors.  One day, one day, you'll see.

My biggest problem was the never-ending collection of bags.  They all had tiny little amounts of...whoknowswhat and because I couldn't always see what all was in there, I kept buying more and more.  Ugh. 

As much as I love beautiful containers, I opted to make use of what I had - canning jars, pickle jars and various plastic containers.  All my bulk items went into their own jars.  I already had a cute set of glass containers from the dollar store that I used for smaller amounts. 

I did splurge and bought two pretty bins for my flour.  I've started buying it in 20kg bags from Costco (cheap like borscht!) so I needed bigger bins so I wasn't trekking downstairs once a week to filler up.

I also bought the burgandy stackables on the right of the top shelf.  In there, I keep my tea towls, dish cloths and onions/garlic.  No more onion and garlic paper all over!



I can't get over how much space I have now! I keep trying to think of what else I can put in there to make more room elsewhere! Love it!

Haha ok, so maybe I've only done three of the days....I thought maybe I had more but oh well.  I'm in the process of tackling the storage area in the laundry room..... here's a before just so you know what I'm dealing with!

That second closet looks about the same as the first.  It needs some serious help - I don't even know what's in there anymore! The worst part about doing storage areas is that if you tackle one...you almost always have to tackle the other one(s).  We have two and I just know I'm going to have to do both at the same time otherwise I'm just gonna throw all this just into the space under the stairs!  I think I can get this done in two days - I'll call it my day 9 and 10 since I don't have toys to organize and sadly I don't have a laundry room either! Wish me luck!

Christmas Recap

I know, I know...it's almost a week into January already.  In my defense, we had "Christmas" with my family on New Years Day so I'm still in recovery mode from the holidays.

After three months of negotiating - THREE MONTHS - we managed to decide on spending 5 days at my hubby's parents place for Christmas and then have my parents and brother/wife come to our house for "Christmas" over New Years.

Holiday negotiating involves multiple phone calls between me, my parents, and my brother.....and occasionally the other two families we call in-laws. Let me clarify that hubs and I had everything alllllll figured out 'til my brother went and got married last year.  Somehow things are much more complicated now. Lord willing, we'll be able to settle into some sort of "holiday schedule" SOON!

Ok that said, our Christmas holidays went really well.  We spent 5 days in beautiful Grand Forks, BC.  Not North Dakota. B.C. Hubs and I both grew up there so it's always nice to go home and see some old faces and places.  We did some ice fishing, and snowboarding and watching movies in front of the fire.

This is how I ice fish..... Sometimes I sit down..but then I fall asleep. So standing is better.

Santa was good to me this year: 

All I need now is #16 on the back of this baby and I'm set! (That's Trevor Linden for the record)



A lot of women complain that their husbands never buy them anything good - NOT ME! My hubby always knows just what to get me! I have been wanting a Canucks jersey forever!

After a few days rest ..HA...by rest I mean frantically cleaning my house...my parents and brother/wife came on the 30th. AND IT WENT WELL! Praise the Lord, there is hope for us. 

We had so much fun playing pond hockey and games that make you do silly things. 

Santa made a second trip just for us and brought us AND my brother and wife:



Read it and weep ladies. I am the proud new owner of this beautiful new KitchenAid Mixer!

And, even though by some strange freak of nature, we had NO snow in town for Christmas, it was still full of fun and family. Plus, you can always find snow up here when you need to :)

Make it Happen Monday

Ammie at Domestically Obsessed, is taking the week off to spend with her family so I won't be linking up my to-do list this week.  I have lots to prepare for though so I need to make a list anyway!

• buy primer for our basement (woooo the drywall is finally done!)
• vacuum....twice.
• wipe the drywall dust off of EVERYTHING IN MY HOUSE
• LAUNDRY
• arrange the furniture to make an inviting second guest room out of our junk room ..eek.
• revamp menu-plan and grocery list to adapt to sister-in-law's candida diet
• clean up laundry area/storage room
• get  groceries for our New Years Christmas with my family
• chop kindling...and then clean the carport...again.
• make the pillow covers that have been on my to-do list for the last month! They will be the perfect finishing touch for our guest room.

 If you haven't already seen it, I'd like to suggest a new movie for your Christmas traditions.  The Nativity Story is a movie about exactly that. It's not a story about the life of Jesus, just the events leading up to His birth and the exodus to Egypt to escape Herod. If you're a sceptic of "religious" movies (and you have a right to be) this is not your typical low-budget, bad acting movie.  It brings to life the story that we so easily glaze over year after year. How many times have I watched the kids Christmas rendition play through my mind as I listened to the story? Not once have I really stopped to fully grasp the scorn that Mary and Joseph endured from their friends and neighbours. It brought me to tears.  This story is not a "story".  It's not about little children dressed in sheets, fumbling through script lines. It's about a girl. Not a grown women. A girl with more faith than any of us will ever have. A girl who could have been stoned to death and yet chose to believe in her Lord and Saviour. It's about a man who was put in the most painful situation - expose his fiancee and watch her be stoned, quietly anull the engagement to the woman he loves OR trust in his Lord and take her as his wife anyway. How many of us could show so much integrity and faith if faced with the same circumstances? I don't know if I could. I guess that's why He chose Mary and Joseph. Not Tim and Camille.

Watch it and remember the amazing events leading up to the birth of our King - a baby. Remember that it's not a story.

Keep Your Christmas Tree Watered While You're Away

Ok folks, one last post before we head to the in-laws for a week. 

We almost always go away for Christmas but I just can't stand the thought of not having a Christmas tree to enjoy.  This year we're gone for a little bit longer than usual AND my family will be coming for New Years so I want my tree to last extra long.  Wanna keep that yummy pine scent around as long as possible!

I did some searching and I came across this great instructable on making a watering system for your Christmas tree. Since ya'll can head to the site and read for yourself I thought I'd just touch on the important points.


I didn't bother disguising it as a Christmas present since we aren't going to be around, but what a clever idea!  I found some old hose downstairs with two regular female hose-ends and used an old 5 gallon pail we had kickin around.





FIRST KEY POINT:  Measure how deep the resevoir of your tree stand is (if you have one). I just grabbed an old measuring tape.  DO NOT FILL YOUR PAIL DEEPER THAN THIS HEIGHT. You will end up with a soggy mess when you get home.  There is physics involved....but that's not a strong subject for me. Make sure you have water already in the tree stand resevoir.

SECOND: Submerge your hose COMPLETELY in your pail of water. Jimmy it around a bit until air bubbles stop coming up. There can't be any air left in the hose for the siphon to work.

THIRD: Jam your fingers into either end of the hose creating a tight seal while it's still under water. Keep one end in the pail and move the other end to the resevoir of the tree stand. DO NOT REMOVE YOUR FINGER UNTIL THE END IS COMPLETELY SUBMERGED.  This was pretty tricky since there wasn't much room to manoever.

To test your siphon, grab a big glass of water and add it to your bucket.  You should be able to see the water level rise in the stand resevoir.  If nothing changes, take the hose out and try again. Try, try again.  It took me four tries, but the big ends on my hose made it really difficult to create a tight seal with my finger.

I thought this was pretty snazzy! Three cheers for a nice green Christmas tree when we come home!

Christmas holidays

Well folks, it's gonna get a little slow around here for the next couple weeks.  I had some posts planned around projects I want to do - except now we're a week before Christmas and I have no idea when I'm going to get those projects done.  They'll just have to wait for the New Year.  Until then, my posts will be few and far between as we spend time with friends and family.

The thought I wanted to share today is a follow up to my revelation on Tuesday.  I think it's safe to say that for the majority of women out there, Christmas is a time of high stress levels, anxiety and the like. I am right there with you.  It seems like all year I look forward to spending time with family, but when the time actually comes for us to visit (or them to come here)  I am tired, stressed out and worrying about how things look and who will start the arguement this year.  How easy it is to forget about the real reason for Christmas.

I've just started a book study called Experiencing God.  It is challenging how I believe God speaks to me and how I discern His will for my life.  It has only been a week and I have a feeling this is going to change my life.

Anyway, I've been realizing that when I worry about things and allow them to consume me, I am essentially saying that I don't trust God. I am saying that God is not big enough to handle my problems, His strength is not enough for me.  How horrified I was! You have no idea how many minutes/hours/days I spend stressing about this and that - stupid little things that mean nothing in the long run.

In the same breath, how many times have I worried about God using me for his work? How many times have I answered back, "No Lord, choose someone else.  I'm not good enough. I don't speak well enough.  Why would they listen to me?"

I read a profound statement this morning:

When you believe nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have declared about yourself.

Yikes.

God cares for us.  He longs to be in the closest most intimate relationship with each one of us. Don't let your doubts and pride get in the way!  He longs to use you in ways that you can never imagine. 

So in this Christmas season, I challenge you to spend it one day at a time. Take a deep breath and remember that God carries you in the palm of his hand.  He will make sure that tomorrow takes care of itself, if only you let go.  Chances are, if you're worried about things being perfect, you've forgotten the true meaning of Christmas after all.  And in the midst of the chaos, don't forget to spend time with Him and ask Him to join you in the celebration!

I wish you a very blessed and merry Christmas!

This Week's To-Do list

I got a pretty obvious message from God in my morning devotions in the form of Matthew 6:33-34. It goes something like this:

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Heard. Understood. Acknowledged. Doesn't get much clearer than that! Isn't cool how He brings things into perspective when everything seems to be spiralling out of control? If I follow Jesus one day at a time, I will be right at the center of God's will every step of the way. Gotta get my priorities straightened out!

Alright, so last week wasn't a complete failure...but I certainly didn't get as much done as I was hoping. I don't know about you, but it seems the more I get stressed about the length of my to-do list...I get less and less done.  It's unreal. 

Last night I sat down and made a list, which unfortunately involves some things from last week but I've already managed to cross a bunch off this morning so I'm on a roll!  Here she is:

- finish meal plan for Christmas (on New Years) with my family
    ***waiting to hear back from my brother how long they will be staying 'til I can finish this one**

- clean the fireplace brick - this is really not necessary but it's on my list anyway

- clean toothbrush holder.....it was gross...and I just know a certain someone who would notice

- vacuum crumbs from cutlery tray...also gross

- wipe out fridge

- wrap presents...this is possibly the EARLIEST I have ever crossed this off my list!

- make guest bed

- mop kitchen - waiting for hubby to wake up so I can vacuum it first

- cut kindling and clean up carport (I'm secretly hoping hubby will see this on my list and do it for me :) Here's hoping!

If all these things get done then I'm hoping to start on some fancy pillow covers for my guest room and living room.  I was hoping to have these done eons ago but I have come to terms with the fact that this REALLY isn't a priority.

EDIT: Look at all the black lines up there! I am so proud of myself - I got so much done today. I might need to make a whole new list to start tomorrow!

What's on your list this week?

Christmas Baking - Peppermint Ammonia Cookies

Don't let the "ammonia" scare you away!  Back in the day, baking ammonia - otherwise known as ammonium carbonate - was used as a leavening agent, similar to baking powder. Unfortunately it's really hard to come by these days -unless you live in Abbotsford, BC!  So many Mennonite ladies have asked for this ingredient that Safeway has actually started carrying it behind their pharmacy counter! ....but only in Abbotsford.  I searched Kamloops high and low for this treasure and came up empty handed.  I had hoped to make these cookies for a baking exchange tomorrow and I didn't have time to import it from the coast!  Lucky for me, the good ladies at Mennonite Girls Can Cook found a recipe that's close enough to the real thing so this recipe will have to do for now - 'til my Mom can bring me some baking ammonia next time she comes.  Grandma's recipe also calls for Oil of Peppermint but she said regular ol' peppermint extract would be fine.  I didn't bother looking for the real stuff.

This is my Grandma's recipe for those who are adventurous and are willing to track down the ingredients.  For those who want to take the easy route this is the Peppermint cookie recipe I used - sans ammonia.

EDIT: Unfortunately these cookies aren't anything like the peppermint cookies my Grandma makes. I wrote this post before I tried the recipe. The baking ammonia really does make a difference in texture and taste.  These are much more "cakey" - if that's a word.  They're still good so please do try the recipe...just not what I was hoping!

Peppermint Ammonia Cookies

1/2 cup          butter

1 1/2 cups      white sugar

2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp        baking powder
4 1/2 cups      flour
1 cup             whipping cream
1 tsp             oil of peppermint
1 1/2 Tbsp    baking ammonia
1/4 cup          boiling water

Dissolve baking ammonia in the boiling water.  Cream the butter and sugar together thoroughly, adding eggs.  Add peppermint oil.  Mix baking powder with 2 cups flour and gradually add to creamed mixture alternating with the whipping cream. Add the additional 2 1/2 cups flour.  Mix well.  Chill dough an hour or two.  Sprinkle countertop liberally with flour and roll out to about 1/4 inch.  Use a small round cookie cutter to make circles (an empty tomato paste tin is a good size).  Bake at 375F for 8-9 minutes or until the bottoms are JUST brown....you really really really don't want to overcook these!

Photo courtesy of Mennonite Girls Can Cook