MPM # 49

Ahhhh... Sunday evening - we just finished supper and munched on an overcooked bite-sized brownie. TroubleMaker is watching a new DVD and my honey is sitting with his feet up (napping). I had a fantastic weekend at my Mom's. My sister and niece came up with TroubleMaker and I on Friday. As usual, my Mom spoiled us and it was great to be a kid again... I love going home to my Mom's. She cooks, cleans and takes such good care of us - I really do feel guilty for indulging myself that way! Mom's are great and I feel recharged and refreshed!

Coming up is Easter... And a houseful (I hope) and a revision to the menu I had planned.

Here's what's cooking around our house this week...

April 18 to 27
Monday: Chicken Burgers
Tuesday: Santa Fe Shepherd's Pie
Wednesday:Tater Tot Casserole
Thursday: Pork Chops
Friday: Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Saturday: New Recipe (TBD)
Sunday: Turkey?

For more great ideas, check out the Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! Thank you for stopping by and we'll see you again soon.

52 Week Challenge: Week 15

Week 15 - I can't believe I've been at this challenge for 15 weeks. That's staying power! I'm mostly keeping on track - although this week, my planned challenge did not happen.

You see, it's April - the middle of April and one would think that by this point in the year, it would be safe to change the winter coats for spring coats and winter boots for rubber boots and runners. But Alberta is a tricky place. So, this week, my plan and goal was to clean out the front hall closet. I wanted to pack away the winter coats and bring out the spring wear. Change winter boots for rubber boots and bring out the sandals and runners and stow the mittens, toques and scarves. I wanted to organize the picnic gear and sort the extra things we store in closet (like facial tissue). I had a plan, I had a goal, I even had the motivation.

I went to work this morning, plan in mind for when I got home.

But then it started. And it's been more than 12 hours now and it still hasn't stopped.



I've lived here all my life and the only month I've not seen snow fall is July. April storms are not an unusual, 12 to 30 cm of snow is.



So my planned task didn't get done. However, I have planned a trip to my Mom's with my sister and our kids... And I thought wouldn't it be a nice surprise if I made my "Week 15 Task" an organizing task for my Mom? Since I started the challenge, she's been inspired and has started her own list! So, tomorrow, when we get to Mom's, I'm going to tackle something on her list! Check back tomorrow evening for my update!

Evening update... We arrived safely at my Mom's... I set out to organize something and her reply to me... "Well, that would be great but the only thing that needs organizing right now is my cluttered mind..." So, since I'm an Interior Designer and not a psychiatrist, I looked for another task. My talented (yet oddly annoying) sister said if I really wanted a challenge, I should come and organize her house. That is a job not even Laura could (or would want to) tackle...

So this, I tackled my wallet. Sounds simple enough until one realizes I hoard things in there too... Like all the cards marking my prenatal appointments. I was pregnant in 2007...



There were also some requisitions for blood work... So long ago, I can't remember where they were issued. Many, many receipts (dating back to 2008) and the typical things like gift cards, store point cards and my bank cards. Also OLD business cards (mine and others) and remnants of sticky notes with partial phone numbers.



After a brief discussion with my Mom about the age of my wallet, it was unanimously decided that tomorrow, I will be buying a new wallet. For my current wallet is likely 15 years old. Now that it's tidy and organized and purged of many of the pieces of paper, it will be a joy to move it all to a new and shiny wallet!



Laura also asked some questions this week and it seemed to be the week for organizing closets... So my plan for next week is the front hall closet - the snow can't last forever... Can it? And the one habit I've managed to build since starting the challenge is remembering to always try to put things back where they belong. And although I struggle with this, my three year old TroubleMaker handing my wrist watch to me on Wednesday and saying "Mommy! Put this away where it GOES!"

For more inspiration, check out Laura and all the great people participating in the 52 Week Challenge! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!

We-Design-Day: Design Boards - part one

Throughout my interior design education, I had a love/hate relationship with design presentation boards. They have a purpose, I don’t doubt that but what I do doubt is their efficacy to properly present the design solution. It is easy to get caught up by the glitz and glamour of a well created board but miss the entire point of the exercise which is to present the solution to the problem.

If you’ve ever spent much time watching home renovation TV, it isn’t very often that you see a board – and when you do, it’s usually fairly basic in its design; more often, the presenter has heaps of fabrics layered together and some paint chips. The purpose of the board is to illustrate the drawings (of the space) and a few finishes.

The fact of the matter is, no matter how glitzy, glamorous or even how straight your board is constructed will make up (in the end) for a design solution that doesn’t fit those who hired you to create it. The other thing one must factor in is the cost to create lavish boards and all the hours spent (by the designer or tech) rendering, drawing, editing and gluing the thing together. My time is worth money and I’m not going to put together a board for a client that is anything like the ones I did in college. I spent hours – days even, making them – matching marker colours to the paint selections and then working diligently on recreating the patterns and textures. It was insane and no one is going to pay me to do that! Yes, there are places where that is necessary and if you are building a 5 star resort or an executive office tower that may be done. But for the run of the mill interior renovation, it’s not likely going to happen. Furthermore, with the advent of computer generated graphics, often a “3D fly through” (or walk through) will replace the old fashioned rendered drawing.

So what does happen? My usual presentation includes 11x17 black line drawings, perhaps a wire frame 3D drawing and a board with the specified furnishings and finishes. Simple, easy and still allows the design to shine. I may render the elevations and floor plan but it depends on the job and the time I have. It also depends on the clients need – often people have a difficult time visualizing a space from a floor plan. Often a three dimensional drawing can help bring it together and make the space real for them.

But because I have a full time job and because I have a three year old at home, my own projects don’t always get the special touch they require. I’m also having a difficult time deciding on certain finishes. I know at this point it’s about finding the solution but part of my job is to keep the budget in mind. Thus far, I’ve spent (on paper) nearly $800 on furnishings and flooring… It isn’t the flooring I really want but it’s what I can afford and I’m experiencing the same difficulties when it comes to my lighting and ceiling solutions. Honestly, I want really nice 2x2 ceiling tiles in my sewing area with good lighting. The reality is I can probably only afford to patch the existing ceiling and get new lighting. Our basement doesn’t have much in the way of power and it is obvious we need to spend the money where it counts and right now, that’s upgrading our existing electrical needs.

Design Tips Be sure your design budget includes a contingency fund to cover any unforeseen costs that may arise during construction. A good rule of thumb is 10% of the expected cost. But depending on the scale of the project, consider having a 25% contingency - if you need it, you have it but if you don't it allows you to do some extras at the end of the project or roll it over to the next project!

Today I’ve got the first board part way to completion. Before presenting, I wanted to ensure I had the storage issues put to rest! After many hours of searching, thinking and trying out different ideas, I think I’ve found one that will work for me and hopefully provide enough flexibility that it can grow with me as well.

Reality isn't always fun... What reality issues have you been dealing with on your projects? Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you soon!

Due to technical difficulties, I'm not able to share the scan of the board... Instead, I'll share one of the elevations while I work towards fixing the problem.

MPM # 48

I'm very mixed up with my days. The new menu planner I used this month has the week starting with "Monday" but Saturday and Sunday are at the end of the week... So all my menu plans had to be shifted a day which muddled me up completely!

Last week we did better at following the menu but some hiccups at home also shifted the shopping day - so we didn't catch 10% Tuesday and I had to shuffle the menu again to suit what we had on hand.

Thankfully when my husband did go shopping, we are getting into good fruit season! I'm very tired of canned peaches and apples so the juicy grapes and even better strawberries made eating a pleasure. I think if I lived somewhere other than too close to the North Pole, I'd live on fruit...

This week sees me shifting from a Sunday afternoon dance class to a Monday evening class. It's also earlier in the evening (which is perfect) but it has me home, grabbing a sandwich and dashing out again, thus leaving the boys on their own for another meal... Mondays are going to become our 'simple Monday' menu for the next ten weeks. No one minds really and this means I can get back to my culinary cooking weekends!

Here's what's cooking around our house this week...

April 11 to 17
Monday: Fried Egg Sandwiches
Tuesday: Honey Dijon Chicken with egg noodles
Wednesday:Beef & Bean Burritos (we had this Sunday - I added lots of bell peppers & some mozza before rolling them up and then baked them for 20 minutes at 350 with the Enchilada sauce poured over top and added more cheese)
Thursday: TBD
Friday: Hamburgers & chips
Saturday: Southern Fried Chicken and Gramma's Potato Salad
Sunday: Ginger beef, Fried rice & vegetable stir fry

For more great ideas, check out the Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! Thank you for stopping by and we'll see you again soon.

52 Week Challenge: Week 14 TroubleMaker's Toys (Part Two)

Last weekend, in part because of the new influx of toys from TroubleMaker's birthday and in part because of the We-Design-Day project getting closer to implementation, I decided to tackle the play area downstairs in the Family Room. Replacing the current IKEA bin toy storage has been in the works for a while. The IKEA storage unit I purchased some years ago for my sewing room was destined to be the new toy storage for the endless piles of toy cars, dump trucks, tractors and blocks. The problem has always been getting a path to and from the door of my sewing room to the unit... But that, my friends, is an entirely different post...

Instead of waiting any longer, I started piling my stuff up, clearing a roadway. TroubleMaker and I began moving the unit out of my office. TroubleMaker then climbed on top of the unit and yelled "PULL ME!"

I started my three usual piles - keep, garbage and give-away. It was tough. Really tough - my belongings are part of identity. I'm not sure when I would ever use four packages of mobillion elastic but hey, maybe I'll have a new career sewing underwear or bathing suits... It all went into the give away bin with a bunch of other stuff I'll never use. Including a polishing cloth I bought at a home show years ago. I don't polish - I have no idea why I bought it.

So the toys... I'm not sure how our son ended up with so many toys. We've always been very restrictive with the toys. Theming his parties and having serious talks with his grandparents about how much one kid needs... But TroubleMaker loves trucks and diggers and monster trucks and dinosaurs and cars and... It's like me with buttons and my husband with his magazines. I suppose he comes by it honestly.



Next we went through the toys. Of course, we must keep everything (his rule, not mine) and thankfully, it's mostly just vehicles so they all got a drawer bin on the new unit. I had hoped to be able to put his books on the tops of the units but he has a lot of vehicles so some of the cooler trucks (the eco trucks he has) went on top. His ever growing tractor collection has a special place too.



Over all, it's a good fit. His easel is accessible and he's got lots of room to play and importantly, his toys are contained and don't spread through the major traffic areas in the family room anymore!

For more great ideas and to find more organizing inspiration, check out everyone participating in the Organizing Junkie's 52 Week Organizing Challenge! Thank you for stopping by and sharing my journey.

We-Design-Day: Decision Time!

Last week, I gave myself a deadline - to finalize the floor plan and to plan my colour scheme. I was successful - mostly. I also realized I was stressing about nothing. Furniture isn't fixed in place so even if my proposed layout doesn't work, it doesn't matter - I can move it! Although that may seem obvious to most, I realized I was creating a hurdle I couldn't get over with the path I was on. I'm expecting a level of perfection from this project because I'm sharing it. I want it to be perfect but as I thought about my colour scheme, I really became aware of the fact that I was aiming for a magazine show piece - not a comfortable family room. I'm about comfortable, flexible design that functions and pleases the users. I'm the user - and as much as I am opposed to reclining furniture, I know there is no comfort like my ugly, huge and very blue reclining chair. Furthermore, the sofa we will be using is green. Not a horrid green but it was purchased for the formal living room upstairs and coordinated with the room (and how I planned the room for the future - not thinking that I'd be moving it downstairs).

So, the basement is really a reflection of how my family uses the space. I've incorporated my sewing and design studio with a family workspace, lots of storage for my crafts and sample catalogues. I've worked in play space for TroubleMaker and storage of his toys and I even managed to squeeze in a music area! And, I realized today, that with some careful planning and incorporating the fiction library in the family workspace, we can have our much desired "games area" - complete with bar table AND stools! And it gets better, if you can believe it - this will also give us a gallery space for my husband's photography!



I’m still struggling with the storage solution but I have resolved myself to the necessity of parting with the small retail store I have grown over the past decade. I simply do not have the room to store everything I have. And as much as I have no desire to part with my things, there is no option. This makes me sad – because I have a little of everything and whenever I want to do a craft of just about any variety; I have most of it on hand. More upsetting is the money I’ve spent. But I also understand that so much of what I’ve accumulated over the years has a shelf life and I’m nearing the end of it with most things. I have an acrylic paint collection (I paint all sorts of things – ceramics, wood, use them for kids crafts, etc) but many of the bottles are starting to dry out. If I hang onto them, I will end up tossing them in the trash. By giving them away, at least they will get some use. And when I have more time to do some painting, I can get what I need.

Colour wise, I wish I could really use some great colours down here but the space is small and has no natural light. When we painted we were covering some very dark brown wood panelling so we used a light colour (it was excess paint from a previous home renovation) and I picked a coordinating sandy colour for the trim. It brightened the space considerably but it lacks flair. Since we’ve used the black-brown furniture from IKEA, I will continue that where I can and use a crisp white to coordinate with my sewing cabinetry. I may purchase or make slip covers for the existing furniture (my blue recliner definitely needs something).

Next week, I’m going to go through putting my sample/colour board together and I’ll document the process so that you can create your own board for your renovation! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!

We-Design-Day Fun With Colour update: Last Wednesday at 11:59pm, the poll closed for the four colours I selected for Paul and Michelle’s feature wall. Can you guess which colour was most popular? Was it the one you voted for?

The colour with the most votes was “Rapture” – the fiery, earthy red! I think Paul actually gave an evil genius laugh when I released the results! I’ll be meeting with Paul and Michelle later this month and will post the update and their decision soon!

MPM # 47

TroubleMaker's Dinosaur Cake - made with love by me, his Mom!

I’m having a difficult time recuperating from the Week of TroubleMaker’s birthday. I just can’t seem to get into my regular groove. It probably doesn’t help that spring has finally arrived in Alberta and the only place I want to be is not inside! We’ve been getting to +7 Celsius during the day and after a long and snowy winter; I’m ready to bare my arms to the sun! We were even discussing the possibility of trying to please the Sun Gods a couple of weeks ago as the sun had seemingly taken a permanent vacation from these parts.

In attempt to “Green” up my menu planning, I started looking for a digital solution that would allow me to plan a month at a time but still give me the flexibility to look at it in weekly sections. My general practice was to use this menu plan I custom created two years ago when I returned to work after my maternity leave. This allowed me to plan breakfast, lunches and dinners a week at a time and create a weekly shopping list that I could take with me to the store so that I could refer back to the menu before checking out and ensure I had everything required for the menu. It has worked great for us. When I do my month, I sit down with four or five copies and plan. This also allows me to bulk shop and hit sales and coordinate it all with our pay cheques.

The problem is that it isn’t very Earth friendly. Although I do write in pencil, I recycle the menu each week with the trash (I could erase and reuse but I need something time efficient too). This practice seems logical but I want a greener option that makes planning easier and still provides me with a menu I can stick up in the kitchen for quick and easy reference. Along with the planner is my spreadsheet of meals with needs updating often (as I try to include one to four new recipes monthly). So here is my needs assessment:

Green
Flexible
Easy
Hard copy-ready

I have looked at various ideas – chalk board, white board, magnetic board but I’ve found faults with each. Chalk dust is an issue for me (both mess and allergy wise), white boards invariable get TroubleMaker giddy with excitement and his hands black with felt and I have a very large repertoire of meals – too many to make a magnetic board with magnetic dinners feasible.

I’m not certain that one specific solution is the answer. I did find many great ‘online’ planners that I can download and use but then there is always the paper print out. Additionally, of the digital planners I tried, I felt they were not flexible enough and too difficult to edit or modify – even with my computer programme saaviness. The answer? Well, I haven’t figured that out yet but I did decide to try and custom create something that will work for me (and hopefully others) that incorporates ease of use with flexibility. No two people cook the same, nor do two people plan the same so I think it be a challenge but definitely worth the attempt!

This week, I muddled through while my husband played the 75th round of “Monster ‘gucks” with TroubleMaker. I rushed through and made a grocery list for them to take on their Shopping Adventure today.

And since I’m writing on Tuesday and not Monday (or Sunday), I can review the Monday night “new recipe” from Monday night. First, I continue to try the recipes from Kraft’s Canada as they are simple and easy. I don’t always like the fact they push their products but I do understand that’s the whole point, but my disappointment doesn’t come from that. It is actually because everything is so bland in taste and they seem to forget key points like adding a little sugar and some Worchester sauce to canned tomatoes in order to temper the acidity. So, as always, I made it as the recipe said and then add my own enhancements to make it palatable.

Just so you know I seasoned my chicken breasts with salt, pepper, basil and oregano (both sides). I also added about a ½ tsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of Worchester sauce and a good amount of the same seasonings I used to season the breasts. I ended up added about a ¼ cup of sour cream too in an attempt to control the heat of the red pepper flakes – I used red chili pepper flakes and it made it a bit too spicy for TroubleMaker. Oh, and added a diced red pepper. We also served it over spaghetti because I don’t care for rigatoni. I used fresh Parmesan, Asiago and Romano blend cheese and some marble cheese (as I was out of mozza).

April 5 to 11
Monday: Chicken Pomodoro
Tuesday: Boston Brutes
Wednesday: Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-upsThursday: Omelets
Friday: Nachos
Saturday: Enchilada Casserole
Sunday: Crock pot roast beef

How do you plan your menu - any tips, tricks or ideas? For more great ideas, check out the Org Junkie’s Menu plan Monday!