We like to move it, move it

Firstly, I'm the worst blogger friend ever. It is been far too long since I posted last. 

The laundry challenge was, admittedly, a bit of a fail. Husband was much better at remembering then I was in those first couple of weeks. He's much more diligent about that kind of thing. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, right? 

So to make it a little bit better, I set myself an alarm in my phone. The first few times, it works like a charm. But eventually I started hitting snooze and then just swiping it off completely. 

What I have decided is that laundry is not my strong suit. Mainly because it's such a recurring chore, which makes me overwhelmed. So we've had of an official in-house conversation and decided that husband will be the key rememberer of the laundry and I'll be a key player in ensuring it gets done completely. Meaning he will start it and I will finish it. It's easier then to see who needs to pick up their part of the slack.

Thanks for the motivation, Allie! Without it, we wouldn't have narrowed down on a strategy and I really love having lots of clean undies to choose from!

Now, the challenge turning your way again. With the weather getting nice again (finally!), this challenge is about soaking up some valuable vitamin D and getting some fresh air mixed with exercise. I call it #shakeoffthewinterblahs. Get out for a minimum of 30 minutes every day. Seven days per week. A walk around the block, a visit to a park, reading on the deck ... The choice is yours. I'll be watching for lots of Instagram posts to show off your outings!

xo

yesss

You, my dear, are AWESOME! Good for you! Better late than never is right. Whether it's a sandwich or reheated leftovers, having a lunch strategy will allow you to ease your mind and put yourself first.

And as for the #laundryeverynight plan, I'm SO on board! The best thing about this blog is the accountability. 

Happy Friday! XO

A day late and a dollar short

So I am so far behind the 8 ball doing this post it isn't even funny. A series of unfortunate events has me posting this waaaaaay later then I had planned. As my mother would say - better late then never!!

The challenge was, on the surface, an easy one. Plan, make and pack 5 lunches (in a row) for me to have at home. But sometimes the easiest challenges are in fact the hardest challenges. Shayne isn't working right now so I have found myself saying to him "hmmm.... Not sure what I want for lunch today, how about you? Maybe you could just go get a burrito bowl for us from Burrito Jax?"  When he isn't home I would just find something to eat, mainly leftovers. But with him the temptation of sending him out to get something that I didn't have to make was too great. 

What makes this whole thing even worse is I make lunch everyday for my grown children. So you would think I would just make a lunch for myself while I was making theirs but nooooooo.... Not me. 

When I first got the challenge I managed to make lunch for two days straight but then got sick so wasn't really eating. So I had to start again. Then I got (still am) depressed which sends me into a tailspin. As much as routine actually helps me break out of my funk it is also something I balk at the most because my depression has me feeling so out of control and trying to get a rein on it is so hard. This bout is one of the worst I have experienced in many, many years. So while making lunch everyday seems like a small task, to me it is equivalent to trying to walk through quicksand with weights strapped to me while being in the middle of a tornado. 

Finally last Thursday I made lunch. Then Friday. Then Tuesday (Monday was a holiday around here... Well for me). I could see the finish line. Just two more days. Then Wednesday. Then finally yesterday I did it. I made and packed my 5th lunch. It was the equilivant of climbing Mount Everest! 

When making my meal plan this weekend I am going to add a lunch section and also plan the lunches I will. Some will leftovers. Some will be a simple peanut butter sandwich. But I will plan each one so that I can finish up the month not going back to bad habits. 

My challenge to you my dear, sweet friend is this - to do laundry every weeknight this week (if you are home). This includes wash, dry, folder and put away. Just one load a night (if there is enough to do). Let's think of it as an experiment. And that experiment is - what is easier? Doing one load a night and putting it away that night (or first thing in the morning for the boys if you can't do that night) or doing a massive laundry load in one day on the weekend? For the most part both of us do laundry in bulk and we have a pretty good idea of how that ends up which is clean clothes all over our rooms and hardly ever put away properly and feeling annoyed and angry that we spend one of our days off work a slave to the washing machine. So the thought is by doing a load a night allows for better multitasking. As supper is cooking, the laundry is washing. As the kids are in the bath the laundry is sting. As the kids sleep you fold. As you crawl into bed you out your few pieces of clothing away first. That is the thought anyway. What I want to know is which is better? #laundryeverynight

2 for 1

Hello, my name is Lindsey.

And I have a problem.

I am a scarf hoarder. 27 at my last count.

I had grand plans for the #purge11 challenge. I have plenty of things kicking around that are completely useless. Like my hairbrush, for example. I have a pixie cut. I haven't used my hairbrush in approximately two years. I did throw it away, actually, but I didn't count it toward my 11.

Considering the surplus, I opted to donate 11 scarves. It was tough, but I kept a few for spring, a few for fall and a handful of warm, wintery ones. Now they all fit properly on my scarf hanger. From now on, when one comes in, one goes out.

I really think we should do #purge11 once a month.

Then Allie, being all sneaky like, challenged me to make out with my husband. Please don't judge the state of my marriage by the fact that someone who knows us well felt compelled to challenge us to be affectionate to one another. The fact is, with two small kids, full-time jobs, long commutes, a home to look after and plenty of responsibilities, it's hard to find time to gaze lovingly into each others eyes as much as we once did.

In the interest of keeping this blog PG rated, I completed this challenge, and I'm happy that I did. This is another one of those challenges that really needs to be on the ol' to do list regularly. After all, it's just like riding a bike. Riding. Get it? Hahahahahahahaha. Man, I'm funny.

OK, girl, you're up! Since we're talking about get-fit goals lately, I challenge you to add YOUR lunches to part of next week's meal plan. Come up with some great protein and fibre rich snack options and when you're packing the family's lunches, be sure to pack your own -- one for each of the five work days next week. It's easier said than done for mamas to put themselves first occasionally -- now's your chance!

Down the rabbit hole

#ditch 11 sounded like an easy challenge. Pick a room or an area and find 11 things to purge.

Only purging is never just that easy for me. It always ends up being a much bigger thing then it needs to be and while I love the end results I sometimes get overwhelmed with the middle of the process. You see, once I start purging one area I usually end up in a purging rabbit hole. It is the thing all purgers both love and hate about purging. It starts simply enough. You pick a room and start looking through things and making a keep and get rid of pile. Then suddenly you have a pile of things that you aren't getting rid of but that belong in another room or spot. So you move them to that spot only to look at that spot and think "since I am here I might as well move these and these". Then before you know it you have 4 rooms completely torn apart with piles of stuff that you honestly can't remember what is what!

I decided that the room I would pick for this challenge would be the kitchen. I picked this room for three reasons - A. With a fairly open main floor I could work in the kitchen while the daycare was open as I could still see and hear the kids. 2. Shayne and I talked about doing this room over the holidays but we never got around to it. It drives him crazy so I knew that I could get him to help me. 3. My hernia has been really bothersome the past few months and is getting worse which means I need to limit my lifting and lugging. With the way the cupboards were organized a lot of the stuff I used a lot was in a bad spot so was hoping with a little purge I might be able to move some things around. My plan was just to do this cupboard. As you can see it has a lot of stuff in it and in order to get to most things I need to take stuff out, get what I want and put everything back in.

Shayne took everything out and since it was cleared out, he took the time to clean all the shelves (bonus for me!). One of the first things I wanted to go was gather up all the medicine and put it in a basket. But then I remembered we had medicine in the bathroom too which drives me crazy because I never know what is where. So figured I should put it all in one spot which means getting everything out of the bathroom. Which means, you guessed it, cleaning the spot in the bathroom that had the medicine. See what I mean about how quickly it becomes purging and cleaning another spot? One item in and already I am in the bathroom cleaning it out when I should be IN THE KITCHEN!

This was what it looked like when I started.

And this is what it looked like when I was done. Now that it is done I am glad I did it but it just goes to show how quickly I can get off track. Back to the cupboard I was suppose to be doing. We had everything laid on the counter so I could easily see things i knew we needed to keep, throw away or put elsewhere so I started making piles. Then I started thinking about where I could move things so that I could get to the things I used more often. This lead to other cupboards being cleaned out, cleaned up and moved around. It took about an hour and a half in total but I think the results are so worth it!

This is the cupboard that started it all. Looks pretty good don't you think? Here are a few more pictures of other cupboards that got a small makeover.

And the challenge? I think it is fair to say that #ditch11 was a success. It looks more like #ditch111!

This has given me the spark I need to start purging different areas and rooms in the house. My challenge to myself is to spend an hour a week purging. Could be a room, a cupboard, photos, my computer, anything. But after a year that would be 52 hours of purging that I have done. Can you imagine how little extra stuff you would have laying around if you did that?

Since you are gearing up for what could be a crazy few months I want to leave you with an easy challenge for this week. #nakednecking is your weekend challenge. Okay, you don't really have to be naked but you do need to make out with your husband for 15 mins. And not total, in a row. Put the kids to bed, light a candle, turn off your phones and make out on that big ole sofa you have.

The depths of the deep freeze: a horror story

Well Allie, I'm basically a detective right now ... because I have solved the mystery of the disappearing Tupperware. It's been held hostage in my deep freeze. For months. In some cases, years.

To be thorough, let's inventory this properly.

Starting with bread products:
1 dozen salad rolls, white
1 dozen salad rolls, whole wheat
1 loaf cinnamon raisin bread
1 bag poppyseed bagels
3 bags English muffins, white
1 loaf of some weird chocolate cherry bread that was given to me for free
1 bag of ciabatta buns
6 raisin rolls of some kind that I don't remember buying and I definitely wouldn't eat
4 random chunks of a baguette in a Ziploc bag

Meat:
1 large package stew beef
6 chicken breasts
1 dozen hot dogs

Frozen foods (yes, it's all technically frozen, but this was purchased frozen):
2 cans iced tea concentrate
1 box vegetable spring rolls
4 bags fruit
4 popsicles, 2 freezer burnt and 2 edible

The best part:
17 somewhat unrecognizable containers of homemade food

SEVENTEEN.

Have mercy.

My best guesses -- yes, some is still good -- include corn chowder, vegetarian lasagna, meatballs, pulled pork, mac and cheese, chilli and unidentifiable crap like this:

Seven items went back downstairs. SEVEN.

To say that was cleansing for my mind, body and soul would be an understatement. So. Then, because that just wasn't enough fun, I decided I better do the kitchen freezer, too. Smaller haul, of course. It's also been cleaned fairly recently so it wasn't quite so out of hand.

Without giving the whole rundown of this mess too, suffice it to say there are some ... unnecessary extras. Like a half-eaten carton of some rainbow-magic ice cream. And since my youngest ditched dairy due to allergy, my kids haven't eaten ice cream. For FIVE MONTHS. Lord.

Now, since we're on the topic of purging, my next challenge is for both of us. #Ditch11 things that we have been holding on to but really don't need. I've read a lot of purging articles lately -- 'tis the season to resolve to do things! -- and there are lots of ideas out there to get us started, like this, this and this. You go first!

How to screw up a perfectly good Sunday

Today is the day I both love and hate. The day I look forward to and dread all week long. The day that can either make or break my week and my budget. Today is meal planning and grocery shopping day. Let me just be upfront with you and tell you I hate grocery shopping. With a passion. It is one of those things that I hate to do whether it is a $5 order or a $500 order (and yes, I have had a few $500 orders in my lifetime!) Yep, it is grocery shopping day. The OCD side of myself loves it because I get to clean out all the stuff in the fridge that needs to be thrown out. I get to go through the pantry and freezer and try and clear out some of the stockpile I have, which believe it or not, I love to do. Then comes the part I don't like. If I was to be honest with you, and myself, I would say that it isn't the act of grocery shopping itself I hate. It is all the work before and after that has me in a fit of rage most times. I feel like a good part of my life is spent figuring out what to make, how to make it, getting stuff to make it and then making it only to have to start all over again the next day.

As Lindsey mentioned in an earlier post, part of the #challenge for this month was to try and use many of the groceries we already had in the house and limit what we bought at the grocery store. The second part of that #challenge was to try and keep our spending on budget and we both gave ourselves a budget for the month. My budget, if I remember correctly, was $150 for the month. Lets just say that I am pretty sure that is a challenge I am going to lose seeing as this was my receipt for this weeks groceries.

To be fair, I am feeding a family of 4 adults as well as running a daycare for 5 little people. And this week I have company coming on two of the days so the meals I make that day need to stretch a little further. I think that I really set an unrealistic goal for myself as far as what I would spend grocery wise for the month. If I could try and keep it to $400, $425 for the month for both my family and the daycare I would consider that a victory. Part of being able to accomplish that will be continuing to make sure to use up stuff I already have in the freezer and pantry and getting creative with what I have. I also need to start going to the Superstore later at night (I shop at Sobeys faithfully) and looking for their 50% off deals that they often have on things like meat, bread and even some produce. I did well this week with meal planning and trying to make recipes that not only used a lot of stuff I already had but that were fairly easy to make and prep. I am feeling a bit down in the dumps (typical for this time of year for me) so spending an hour or two a day prepping and cooking isn't something I really want to do this week. We are trying to adapt a more vegetarian lifestyle so meat is only in one of the meals this week. This is a huge challenge for me as most of my go to recipes include meat but the cost of meat is so high right now that I just can't afford to continue to buy it like I use to.

How did I do Lindsey? Did I meet my #operationmealplanning challenge? Your challenge for this week might not be as much fun for you. Your challenge is the #deepfreezechallenge. That is right, your challenge will involve your deep freeze. I want you to try and empty it out and make a list of everything you have in it. Throw away what can't be used, bring up the stuff you can start using right away and planning meals around the rest of the items. Since I do have a bit of a heart I will give you a week to get this done seeing as you have a crazy full plate and, because I am an awesome friend, I am also happy to come out and help you with this challenge.