My Wish for My Creativity

I had originally intended on saving this particular picture for when this project would be finished.  It was going to the ‘before’ for the ‘before & after’ shots, but then I saw this week’s Wishcasting post by Jamie at Starshyne Productions and I just had to pop it up here today!

My (first)* wish for my creativity is SPACE!  Dedicated, respected, properly organized and appointed space.  It doesn’t have to be a lot of space, but somewhere I can have a project sitting out and my supplies organized.  After all, I am a ‘little crazy’ who usually makes little projects, I only need a little space.

I’ve never actually had my own creative space even though I know fully well how important it is (my mother had her own painting room as far back as I can remember).  I’ve had creative stuff, that’s lived in boxes, or been crammed in drawers, and never really been properly organized or fully utilized.

The picture above is supposed to be my eventual crafting space.  It’s in the kitchen, right next to the arcade cabinet.  Part of what is creating the clutter there is some tools and supplies that were/are being used to build the arcade cabinet.  I keep waiting for the arcade cabinet to be ‘finished’ so that I can start working on organizing my own little space.  Really, it’s just an excuse I’ve put up to not work on the project.  Like I need more excuses than the fact I don’t have a lot of free time to keep up with the clutter that builds up everywhere! 

This year I’d like to transform this space into one that is bright and organized.  A place where my creative implements are easily accessed so I can just grab them and spend my time playing.

*I say first wish, because I’m sure there will be more as I go through the steps in The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women.

**Here’s a little game.  It’s like one of those Eye Spy books that I love so much.  See what objects you can find in the picture above: a case of pop, a corded drill, a bag full of empty boxes, a little spritzer bottle, cases of wine, tea towels, a video game with a bright orange sticker, a case of cider, three boxes of tea light candles, a level, a novel, a pincushion, an empty water jug, a pencil and a pen.  If you’re very lucky, you might be able to see the edge of my two plastic drawers, which have all of my craft stuff shoved in them, but the ancient sewing machine is completely covered.

Check your smoke detectors!

I don't just mean the batteries people. You should check which kind of smoke detector you actually have - dual sensor, ionizing, or photoelectronic. If you want the full details, read this article. If you just want highlights . . .

Three out of four times, smoke detectors with photoelectric sensors sounded long before the ionization smoke detectors, providing as much as 26 minutes of extra escape time during the smoky fires.



In some cases, the testing room was filled with thick smoke and dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide gas before the ionization smoke detectors sounded.





. . .



Ionization alarms can be purchased for as little as $5, while smoke detectors with photoelectric technology cost between $10 and $15. Dual sensor smoke alarms (sometimes called combination alarms) containing both types of technology cost around $25.

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Meal Planning and Cooking

As many of you know, I am not naturally predisposed to the chore of cooking. There are a few things I enjoy making, more for the satisfaction in the end result than anything else. The actual process I usually find a bit tedious probably because I am not very practiced in cooking. But, things are getting better.

In Fall 2006, when Lance began his CGA program, we sat down and discussed changing our normal meal planning methods. Up until this point it consisted of Lance whipping up something delicious and (usually) nutritious while I did other things, usually chiming in to ask if help was needed at the precise moment that he was reaching for plates to serve. (We now call this the "helper-Jenn" maneouver). Now, I do most of the cooking during the week with a few exceptions.

I find it very difficult to think of things to eat. I think if I'd never met Lance, I'd probably be eating cereal for 2/3 meals a day and be having pbj sandwiches the rest of the time. There's a few things that I've found that have helped.

I'm a very organized person so I realized that it would be easier for me to have a plan ahead of time, rather than try to come up with dinner ideas at the end of each day. So, I started doing meal plans one week at a time. For inspiration, I check out Meal Plan Monday hosted on Organizing Junkie. You can also check out Organized Home or FlyLady for basics of meal planning. (I just linked to the home page, you'll probably need to dig for some meal planning info).

I also found a few recipe sites online that have helped tremendously. Not only do they help me to find new ideas, but I'm also a very computer oriented person and I take to storing recipes in digital format much easier than flipping through actual cookbooks on a regular basis. At first I found a social site called RecipeThing. It was pretty good for sharing recipes and had tagging features so you can categorize recipes in any way you want with as many different tags as you want. There's also a meal planning section and a pantry that can generate grocery lists. The grocery list never really worked for me. Even though you enter foods into your pantry, it didn't really differentiate when you had salt, but the recipe called for "a pinch of salt." So, unless you enter in every possible measurement for common items, they still wound up on your shopping list. The meal planner was useful, except sometimes I'd want something really simple (like Kraft Dinner) but didn't want to input a recipe for it. The only option was to leave that day blank, or drag a recipe from your list over.

What I've just started using, and am absolutely nutty about, is a much more comprehensive site called Meals Matter. The start page has a bunch of tips and recipe meal ideas. They even allow you to flag certain recipes for popular categories (quick meals, crockpot, kids love it, etc.) You can enter meals into your personal cookbook that has sections more like a traditional cookbook would. The only frustrating part of the experience for me has been that they want you to specify how many people it serves and how long to prepare and cook it. A lot of the time I'm unsure about how long it takes me to prepare or it's a flexible recipe that can serve between 4-6 people. But, that is just a minor part of the whole process. The meal planning section allows you to type in a description OR copy a recipe from your recipe book. It also gives you the option of selecting "eating out" for a meal. They allow you to plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I hope they might add something in there for snacks too. The site is incredibly robust and now that I've copied my recipes from RecipeThing to MealsMatter, it's definitely what I'm going to be sticking with from now on.

A little later maybe I'll post some of my favourite online sites for finding great recipes.

Mascara Day

Yesterday was my "Mascara Day" and I thought I'd blog a bit about it.

Those who wear make-up probably already know that you should replace your mascara every 3 months. It is very important to do this so that you prevent eye infections from bacteria that may grow on old mascara. I've been doing this religiously for just over a year now. It's a bit of a treat for me since I like to try new products and mascara is a relatively cheap treat for me.

Since I was doing this every three months, I decided it would be a good way to remember to do all those other things you are supposed to do every few months but never remember to. Once I've done all these things, I get to go and switch my mascara (which I usually actually bought a few weeks ago when it went on sale and has been sitting in my drawer awaiting the next "Mascara Day").

My "Mascara Day" list so far consists of the following tasks:

-change my toothbrush (this should actually be a bit more frequent than this, but I'll start with every three months and try to improve from there)
-change my razor (I notoriously overuse dull blades, but rarely cut myself with it. The one I just replaces was missing the moisturizing strips along with parts of those plastic blades that stretch your skin)
-add rinsing agent to the dishwasher (I use white vinegar)
-wind up the emergency light/radio

That's what I've got on the list for now, but I'm sure I'll be adding more things as time passes and they pop into my head. I'm also working on a similar daylight savings time list that will have things on it like: test smoke detectors, buy new running shoes (only been able to think of those things now, but I'm sure I'll think of more, especially as daylight savings time is coming up).

So, now that my list is done, I get to try out Cover Girl's newest mascara: Volume Exact. I've been really enjoying their Lash Exact so far and I'm hoping that this one lives up to its expectations.

Living with Chores

We all know that one of the most frustrating and annoying things about co-habitating with other people can be getting all the chores done. My husband and I do pretty darn well with splitting the work fairly and getting most things done. I was reminded of our system today by this Wednesday's tip topic on Gretchen Rubin's blog The Happiness Project. I love reading this blog as I think it's full of great advice, and this post is another great collection of tips. But, it doesn't have the method that I use on it. So, here it is, for those who don't know how we do it . . .

Basically, we work on a points system. We write down all the chores on a list and assign a point value. The points come from how frequently the job gets done and how much we like/dislike it. We try to keep it to one page. Across the top of the page, we list the dates for each week. If we do something, we make a mark next to the appropriate chore, under the appropriate week. The system works because we are both a little bit competitive. Once you get enough points, you can 'cash them in' for a reward (which is whatever works for you). It also helps us to keep track of how often certain chores are getting done. Plus, you get a healthy dose of humility when you notice that your partner has done chore x 5 times more than you have.

Our system is having a few kinks right now, but it's mostly because we took a break for a while as we got settled into the new house. Plus, chores in the townhouse are a bit different than chores in our apartment, so it'll take some getting used to.