Menu Plan Monday - Easy Menu Week

This week's menu isn't very inspiring. Sometimes when I plan our menus, I get tired of the same old stuff and things requiring much effort from me. I suppose everyone feels that way now and again!

Quick and easy - that describes my plan this week! Without fanfare, here it is!

June 13 to June 19
Dinners
Monday: Thai Satays & Thai Slaw
Tuesday: Tuna Melts w/ veggies & dip
Wednesday: Chicken Caesar Wraps
Thursday: Crockpot Meatballs w/ Egg Noodles
Friday: Chicken Fajitas
Saturday: At My Mom's for a BBQ
Sunday: ?? (I misread my print-out on the fridge and made next Sunday's supper tonight)

What's on your menu this week? For more great ideas, check out the Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! Thanks for stopping by!

What flavour are you?

Today I went to the Pride celebration in my city. I worked as a volunteer for one of the many organizations helping out with the festival - I worked the beer beverage tent. I helped set up all the umbrellas on the picnic tables and then I helped stock all the tubs of alcohol.

Then I had the honour/joy of being a "Beer Tub Girl". An honour usually reserved for skinny, barely 20somethings hotties. But I was one of the 'chosen ones'... So I (wo)manned my station in the blistering heat and served their beer (and Big Rock Dry Cider) with a smile, some wit and always a "thank you!" It was a fabulous way to spend a few hours outside on a sunny afternoon. The plus was NO mosquitoes!

I hadn't volunteered at Pride before but I'm so glad I did. I like volunteering but I'm an introverted extrovert and I often find new situations awkward and uncomfortable... But this event was just so much fun - and it had nothing to do `with the crowd`- it was just the volunteering - being out, doing something positive and lending a hand. I ended up worked part of a `double shift` because many volunteers didn`t show up - I didn`t mind. It was a few hours from my day and I got to talk to many people, laugh, see some fantastic performers and just have a good time.

I even got told I was the `best lesbian ever` - I just smiled back when that was said. I love people, all people, and Pride, for me, is about celebrating diversity. We are all different - and that`s a positive thing.

How boring would the world be if we were all the same flavour of ice cream?

52 Week Challenge: Week 22 & 23!

This week, Laura proposed that every home needs a “command centre”. I myself had been thinking about this very thing. Last year, we implemented a family calendar – which has been an amazing addition to keeping our lives on track! Although previously, we had been digital, it didn’t always work because:

1. We’d forget appointments

2. We’d forget to invite each other so it would show in the others calendar

3. No access when the computers weren’t on

So we use “THIS” family calendar and it’s good. It’s got lots of room to write and it fits perfectly on our broom closet door (which is adjacent to the kitchen). We keep a pencil clipped to it and all appointments, meetings, classes, get-togethers, play dates and days off work get written on it. It is the bomb! My only wish is that we could amalgamate it with our phone desk. Although the phone desk doesn’t get used as a desk (remember week xx?) I like the idea of pens, note papers, address books, phone books and other implements of a good command centre all is in one place! However, until we get there, our Family Calendar keeps us organized and on track!

For my organizing chore (really, it is a chore for me – one I don’t mind, but all of it seems so laborious – thirty some odd years of disorganization will do that to a person) I’m working again on my magazines. In theory, I’ve did this last week too. I did the big box from my Mom but I still had five magazine holders of my own to do.



As I mentioned here, the session I attended with the professional organizer, stated that most people misuse magazine holders. They are not to be for long term storage – one should look through their magazines and pull out the pertinent sections. Only those should be filed in the holder. The rest of the magazine can be recycled. I thought this was sound advice.

Last Sunday, I went to the stationary store and purchased page protectors, a large binder and reusable dividers. Tonight, I finished going through the last of the holders. It's taken two weeks - working a couple hours each night - and I even went through some of the ones I did initially in Week 20 and got rid of a few more pages I thought I would keep! I am getting rid of over 100 hundred magazines and about 10 craft books. It was a tough choice to get rid of the books but most of them date back 5 or 6 years and I haven't opened them since they arrived in the mail!



I'm really working on letting go of stuff. It is stuff. It brings no happiness, joy or even use. It takes up space and reminds me of all the things I've not done (that I wanted to). But there are so many things (like making Barbie furniture out of plastic canvas) that even if I did make, I'd have no use for. My niece is getting older and the dinosaurs my son plays with don't have bendable knees to sit on furniture! Furthermore, I want to spend the time I do have (for crafting - if I ever get the basement renovation completed) doing the stuff I love!



Each week it's getting easier to let go - I just wish I had more time (and energy) to devote to it! The picture above is what I'm passing on... Sure, there might be crafts I'd like to try in those pages, but the reality is, I don't have to do the things I love - when would I find time to do the ones I might like to try???

Thank you for stopping by and to see more inspiration and great ideas, check out all of us playing along with the 52 Weeks of Organizing!

We-Design-Day: Need vs Want

The one thing I've learned in my years doing design - and even working - is that sometimes, the need must outweigh the want. Remember when I mentioned how interiors often get pushed to the back burner because the building envelope takes presidence? Well... Guess what?

First, our roof needs replacing. We've known about the necessity to do it since we bought the house (the shingles had 5 to 10 years of life left - we're at 7 now). Second, our shed... It's just a rickety old tin shed and we planned on replacing it our second year here. However, during our first winter here, we learned that our garage floods with the spring melt... Like really, freezes your tires and garage door in place floods so we spent the money we'd saved for the shed replacement and had the garage mud-jacked. Last year, the clasps that hold the doors close broke so we've had to jimmy the door in place before we lock the shed. It works - however, if there is a strong wind (which there has been several this spring), it starts to blow the both doors inwards, thus revealing all of our gardening supplies and treasures. So as we retooled the doors for the 52 time this spring, I told my husband I thought we should take half the basement renovation budget and apply it to the shed rehab.

I have sad face - mostly because of all the work I put into finding the right solution for my storage issues and the excitement I had over getting a spanking new space... But, being the eternal optimist who always looks for silver linings and was inspired by a song on the (only) children's only television station we get, I've decided to forge a slightly different path...

I'm still working out the whole plan, but if you watch the video, you'll see what inspired me why it's not all that bad to be going back to the drawing board and looking at this project in a different light!

Teaching me New Tricks

When I started blogging , I decided I should probably learn HTML. I had a very basic, very rudimentary understanding of the code – mostly I know knew how to make things bold, underline them and italicize font. I knew how to add pictures too. I had done some previous web page stuff – and by stuff I mean I posted a new header each month for an online chat group, was an administrator of another chat site and I “filled in the blanks” on a website template for my former union group. Essentially, I had no idea and knew nothing about HTML.

Last summer, I decided to do some ‘online’ training, I found a few free tutorials and worked through them – only to likely be more confused than when I started. And I’ll admit it was my (then) two year old son who taught me how to get the code from any website. But having all the code in the world didn’t matter if I didn’t understand what it was saying! I’d make changes that I thought were reasonable and accurate edits, only to once completely ‘lose’ the look of my blog – thing is I don’t actually know what I did that made it change.

So when the opportunity came up to do some actually hands on training, I jumped at the chance! And as I start Day 2, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever employ these skills enough to actually develop a website (and a “good” website at that). I kind of feel like Homer Simpson – the episode where he developed a website but just stealing bits from other sites. I keep expecting to see a dancing Jesus appear with cheesy music. I’ve done three ‘sites’ so far – all just bars of colour with columns, headers and footers. I’ve come to realize that nothing in this field works without another part stacking on top.

For instance, a few weeks ago, I took an Illustrator course, which is good in its own right but now having taken this course, website development is truly nothing unless you have graphics and short of ‘borrowing’ graphics, you require a program to make graphics. It’s all a conspiracy, I’m sure, but one I’ll likely buy into – hook line and sinker!

I also think it will be some time before I publish an actual website – I have a distinct feeling that my son will surpass my programming skills before he turns four – the interior designer’s son may not yet know red from green, but he most certainly is a child of the 21st century when it comes to understanding technology! So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go get my abacus, my Letraset and my rotary telephone and phone a friend who also remembers the ‘good ole days’!

Menu Plan Monday - When the motivation runs away with the spoon

I don't like it when I have the get behind, under the gun and have to plan everything in one night because life got to busy, I had too much wine at the barbecue and spend Sunday "recovering", was in a course all day, had heartburn and am now further behind that I was last week, husband had to survive without a menu on the fridge but they didn't starve 'cause we always got peanut butter blues.

I'm behind - so behind that I think I've spent a whole bunch of time walking backward in my sleep and it's really last week. I like menu planning - I like that I'm really in control of one aspect of my life. But I'm not. Although June ended more than a week ago, I only finished my monthly menu plan tonight and I didn't really do the entire month as we are going camping the last week and I'm holding out planning a menu until we sit down with my parents (as we are going camping with them) and plan out our meals.

My new menu planner is causing me grief too. It still has a couple of 'bugs' that I've not been able to iron out so it kind of makes planning a pain.

Oh, and did I mention that I am feeling so NOT inspired by my culinary abilities. Everything on our menu looks boring, sounds boring and in no way holds my interest. I feel like I've made everything I know how to make one million times and if I have to open one more can of soup or dice another carrot, I will, with out a doubt, expire.

I am also very tired of rotating the "chicken, beef, veggie/fish, pork, pasta, slow cooker" days of my week. I want something new and exciting that will enliven our my Menu Plan blues.

I want to taste France and Portugal and experience Far Eastern delights, I'd love to sample new and exotic flavours fused with traditional, earthy delicacies. But the reality is I've got to feed a child and a husband who knows his enemy - fishies and anything dried (like fruit). I have forty-five minutes to get dinner on the table when I arrive from work. I need simple. I need fast. I need not going to break the bank.

What is a working mother to do? Plug seven more drab meals into the menu planner and hope next week works out better! ;)

June 6 to June 12
Dinners
Monday: Perogies & sausage
Tuesday: Chicken Burgers (from last week)
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes
Thursday: Mushroom & Chicken Linguine
Friday: Barbecued Steak
Saturday: KD & Fishsticks (I'm volunteering all afternoon and the boys will be on their own)
Sunday: Pizza

I know. Never before has a menu lacked originality, variety and interest. It is boring. It is blah, it is all that I could come up with.

For other, more creative menu planning ideas, check out the Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! Come back next week and see if I've kicked the MPM Blues! Thanks for checking in!

WeDesign Day: Inspired Interiors - the paint made me do it!

Feeling Inspired?

I was when I sat down to figure out the colour palette and design theme for the main floor of our home. I flipped through the new Benjamin Moore Accent colour fan deck,I found a colour I loved. Moroccan Spice. I knew that I had to have this colour in my house. So as I sat down to figure out companion colours I remembered a book my husband gave me many years ago for Christmas. Moroccan Interiors! I dashed into my office to find it… Then I realized that my office was still in a state of disaster b/c of the renovation… I further recalled that I’d amalgamated my interior design books with the non-fiction library. In any event, I found it. And I remembered why I was so drawn to anything Moroccan or Middle Eastern inspired.
There is such realism to this style of interior design. It’s earth, homey, warm and lush – without being pretentious. It’s a style of design with simplicity of materials coupled with ornate embellishments that can be easily recreated. The colour palette is unique and warm, opulent and inviting. And who doesn’t love Moroccan tile?



This is my look and even though it in no way related to the architecture of our home, my main floor will be Moroccan inspired with modern twists.
Since the beginning of this project is focused on the Foyer (aka Back door), I wanted to make sure that what we do in that area will flow into the rest of the house. Initially I thought it would be too soon to figure out the whole house plan, once I saw that colour, flipped through some inspiration, I knew I had it. The additional bonus is that with some touch-ups, I don’t think I’ll have to refinish my existing cabinetry as the present colour is dark and rich in tone and with updated hardware and perhaps a topical treatment, they will work very well!

Because our dog is an enthusiastic wonder, the gypsum board around our back door damaged, as it the casing around the door and there is a hole in the wall behind the door because the door stop didn’t stop the door… I decided I wanted wainscoting to protect the dry wall. The standard size available is only 32” high – Max is taller than that so I’m bumping it up 4” and adding a nice chunky baseboard and am capping the top with an ornately detailed quarter round. I’ve decided to build a custom unit in the closet that will act as a seating bench and shoe storage. In addition, to free up some space, I am removing the clothing bar and installing iron hooks for our coats. Bulky or heavy coats or those without any hanging loop can be hung on a hanger and then hung on the hook. The shelf will get renewed with dark wicker baskets liked with rich materials to house the seasonal gear. I will likely rehang the existing ‘leash’ shelf and I’ve found ‘the’ light fixtures to illuminate the entire main floor design without breaking the bank! New paint, baseboards throughout and painted handrails will cap the area. I’m also installing picture shelving to begin the start of a rotating gallery wall of my husband’s photography. I’d love to replace the back door with something ornate and distinctly Moroccan but I think I’ll just settle on a nice clean white door with little detail and a window to add additional light to the space.



I like it when I get something right that excites me! I cannot wait to start the rest of the house (yes, yes – I know I have to actually finish the basement first)!
This week, I’ve my sample board to show and the rendered illustration of the Foyer – the colours may not be exact as I was using a new program to do these illustrations and I’ve not yet settled on the paint colours – when I sat down with my fan decks, I came up with 20 different colours. So my next step is to get my big chits out and pull all the colours out and look at the different combinations and view the colours in the Foyer at different times of day.



Design Tip When stepping outside of your colour comfort zone, it is worthwhile to buy sample jars of the paint and paint a small area of your room. Look at the colour throughout the day and in all the different light that will be in the space. This will help you be able to properly conceptualize the colour. Benjamin Moore sells many of their paints in small pots. If sample paint pots aren’t available, try to order the biggest chits available – most companies offer 8.5x11 sheets – often, however, only available to professionals but it’s worth a try if you’re thinking of painting your living room orange!

This week, I'm heading back into my office to continue to get ready for the basement renovation. I'm hoping to get it cleaned up enough to move my husband's existing office into my office so we can begin emptying the rest of his space and packing up so we can begin the demolition!