Daily Declutter #16 - Cupboard of Scary Stuff

Waaaay up high in one of my cupboards was assorted dangerous, scary items.  Bug spray.  Ant traps.  Raid. Lighters.  And bird food (not quite so scary, but definitely messy.)

Of course, with a shelf you can barely reach, it quickly ends up looking like this.

I realized a lot of the bug killer was expired, (who knew Raid expired?) so I got rid of that.  Felt good to get rid of poison!  The birdseed was difficult and messy to pour into the feeder from that big bag, so I funneled it into a clean, empty milk jug.  The rest just fit into a sturdy, little, mini-orange box.  Nothing fancy, but certainly easier to reach, and less messy.

One shelf, drawer, room, etc. at a time!

Slow Cooker Chicken, Brown Rice, & Veggie Soup - Swimming Lesson Night Supper Salvation

I was able to get all three of my girls into swimming lessons on the same night, around the same time.  Miracle! However, that means we are at the pool from around 4:15 PM - 6:00 PM.  And if you've got kids in swimming lessons you know that they will be STARVING and needing food asap.  To avoid the, "Let's just hit the drive-through", I use my slow-cooker on those nights.   My friend, Lisa, shares how to feed a family a healthy diet on a tight budget, on her blog, Cardinal View.  It's all about using what you have!
Since I had a chicken stock & leftover meat from our roast chicken supper on Tuesday night,  I planned ahead what to make.

On tonight's menu:


Chicken, Brown Rice, & Veggie Soup
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups leftover chicken pieces
1/2 onion, diced
2 large carrots, cut into coins
1 celery stalk, diced
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 cup uncooked brown rice

Mix everything together in crock pot, heat on low about 8 hours or until rice is cooked.

Really, there is no real recipe for soup.  Use what you have - toss it in & heat it up!

Feed starving, chlorinated children, and enjoy.

Crafting for The Clueless - Free Valentine's Printables

One awesome thing about the interwebs is that it is filled with lovely, artistic, design oriented people who are passionate about creating things.  And sharing the things they create.  For FREE.

For Clueless Crafting people like me, who'd like to make make your house special for Valentine's Day, but don't have the time or ability to craft, and don't want to get sucked in at the dollar store & fill yet another bin full of decorations that you have to find a home for the other 11 months of the year....

Behold!  The PRINTABLES!

A simple, sweet decor over my desk.

I had my three girls pick out which printable they wanted.  Don't they go wonderfully together?

All it takes is a click and a print and you've got some lovely, fun decor.  You can put them in a frame like I did, or stick them wherever you like!  On your front door!  On the fridge!  On the washing machine!  On your child's lunch bag!

At the end of the season if you don't feel like keeping them, it's no biggie.  Stick them in the recycle bin, or have your child enjoy cutting out the shapes and letters.  Just a frugal tip though - obviously, the ones with more colour will cost more to print.


THE LINKS!
Here's a site I used with lovely, free printables.  Leave her a kind comment if you used any.  I found another here!   Annnnnnnnd....  last but not least!

Thank you so much lovely, designing, crafty, generous people for sharing....I heart you.

Daily Declutter Challenge #15 - The Bell Has Tolled for Tole Painting Art

Just a super quick declutter today as I'm off in a few minutes to teach a group of young adults I mentor about relationships.  Tonight's topic - Character Counts:  AKA - It's All Gonna Sag Anyway.  It's been such a busy week that I've thought about going to once weekly declutters, but I'm on a roll, and even if I do just a little area a day, then I can make more progress.  Posting it on the blog keeps me very motivated and accountable.

Got rid of one thing today!

Sometimes you just get so used to something being on your wall that you forget it's there.  Then you stare at it one day and think aloud, "Where did I get that?  A garage sale 10 years ago?  Do I even like it?  What IS that thing?"  And when your husband replies, "It's a rabbit with a bonnet on it's head", those words are enough to make you think, "Am I drawn to the kind of art that features bonnet-wearing rabbits?"

Nope.

Then I realized I had a lovely print my mom (who lives in the far North of Canada), sitting in a cupboard because I had nowhere to put it.

Voila!

From...."What IS that THING?" to "Sweet Whimsical Art by a Northern Artist Whom I Admire From My Mom Whom I Love."

Daily Declutter Challenge #14 - Just 2 Things

Today has been a very full day.  Donation solicitations in the morning for a school fundraiser, preschool drop off and pick up, catching up on laundry & housework, daughter's friends over for afterschool playdate, company coming for supper, conversations with the staff from the School District who are waiting and wondering just what in the world am I planning on doing with my little one for Kindergarten this year, "If you don't register, you'll lose your spot.  Your daughter may not receive the support she needs."  Talk about pressure!

I considered skipping my declutter challenge - but in the midst of a crazy day, isn't it good to lighten up?

I looked in a cupboard and noticed I had lots of flower vases.  Not too often that I have need of those, (isn't there a Barbara Streisand song about that??).

There were two plastic, and two glass.  I didn't really like the overly fussy style of the plastic one.I decided to keep the simple glass ones, one bud vase & one for a bouquet.  The other two went into my garage sale stack which is growing by the day!

 I'm sure they'll hold flowers again one day.....hint.  hint.

I Tried It! I Didn't Like It! - Sunflower Seed Butter

I'm trying out some new foods, recipes, and products in my home.  Buying habit ruts are pretty easy to slip in to!  So to help me experiement with new stuff, I'm starting a new series on Mom Starting From Scratch called, "I Tried It!".   As always,  I'll be honest in my reviews from a regular, suburban, mini-van driving mom standpoint.

My daughter's school is "nut-free" as most are, but my 12 year old loooooves peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  So we found a great alternative called, "Pea-Butter".  A really close alternative!  It's kinda freaky, actually.  If you didn't tell someone it was made of peas, I'm sure they'd just think it was peanut butter.

But it can be hard to find, and the last time I was grocery shopping, Superstore didn't stock it.  No worries, there was another peanut buttery looking spread, called Sunbutter Spread.

I brought it home, opened the jar, gave it a taste, and whoa.

I didn't like it.

It tasted like Sunflower Seeds.  But instead of the flavour you get from eating sunflower seeds one at a time, it tasted like MILLIONS of sunflower seeds at once.  Who knew sunflower seeds had such a strong, acrid flavour?

My 12 yr old didn't like it either, and putting it on bread and hiding it with jam didn't help.

That's okay - I decided to use up some Special K cereal and turn them into Sunbutter Cereal Balls.  I added honey, cranberries,and coconut.  Sounds pretty yummy!

They're still sitting in the fridge.  Reminding me that when you pack that many sunflower seeds together to make a spread, there's just no fooling anybody.

Daily Declutter Challenge #13 - Cutlery Drawer

Today's Daily Declutter Challenge took me all of 10 minutes to complete.  The cutlery drawer is an area we see and utilize multiple times a day, so it makes sense that it should be decluttered and organized.

This was bugging me.

About a year ago I won an 8 piece setting of lovely, stainless steel cutlery.   The set in the front. It even came in a new container. I was so happy!  Forks & knives that nestled nicely!  But for some strange reason, I held on to the old set, shoved it further back in the drawer, for the times that we needed extra cutlery.  Mess resulted, since cutlery wasn't put away properly in the back of the drawer.  You know what I've realized?

I don't need two sets.

If we happen to be short a spoon (GASP!),  it's not gonna kill someone to wash one.  Or if on the occaision that we have comany, I've got a lovely box of fancy silverware that I received as a wedding gift.  That set deserves a little more use than the cheap old stuff that I bought from The Bargain Store! when I was single, and the odds and ends my husband brought along with him into marriage.

So I pulled everything out, cleaned the crumbs out of the drawer & containers, kept the newer stuff, and regulated the other set to the garage sale pile.  Then I decluttered stuff I didn't need anymore - goodbye baby cultery!  We've got big kids now.  I only extra stuff I kept in that drawer were items I use daily - the veggie peeler, can opener, and measuring spoons.  The rest went into my other drawer with items I don't use as frequently.

It just makes me feel better looking at it.