de-clutter

I hate clutter! I really do.

My house is not that big and with three kids and a husband things can sure pile up fast. If I don't keep on top of it all I end up spending more time putting things back away than spending time with my family!?

I can't say my house is sparkly clean but I do try. I hate waking up or coming home to a messy house. Sitting in a clean and somewhat organized house is more relaxing than knowing there are dirty dishes piling up in my sink.

I am constantly de-cluttering. It is like a never ending cycle here! This week I have been concentrating on things to sell at my mother & father in laws yard sale this weekend. Kids Clothes, Toys, Stuff that we haven't used in about 2 years. It's crazy what you can find stashed away in a closet somewhere.

We spent yesterday morning cleaning out the Toy Room! Man oh man I found 3 doll houses! My kids sure don't need thousands of toys, and why do I feel the need to hang on to all these clothes and stuff when other people could use and enjoy them.

It sure feels good to simplify a little bit.

Below, I’ve got a few ‘Declutter Your Home Tips’ that have helped me ease some of the stress in my life…

1. Go Through Your Cupboards – You’ll be amazed at what you can throw out in your cupboards. The old adage out of sight, out of mind has never been more true than what you have in your kitchen…
2. Clean Your Bedroom Closets – Usually, the saying says if you haven’t worn a piece of clothing throw it out (or donate it to the Salvation Army)… I find that if I keep my clothing selection sparse, I FEEL better. My mind is more clear. Try throwing out those garments that you haven’t worn in a while!
3. Clean Out Your Bookcases – I don’t know about you, but I love books. Some of these I wouldn’t part with if my life depended on it! Others were old college books that I should have gotten rid of eons ago… Well, those were the first ones to go!
4. Go Through Your Bathroom – It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how messy and cluttered a bathroom can get. Medicine bottles and shaving cream and contact solution… Throw away all the old bottles you have. Make sure to use up everything that’s almost out… Keep your bathroom clutter free!
5. Under The Bed – This part of the de-clutter your home process can be quite scary.

What about you - when was the last time you de-cluttered a room?

Another Long 'To Do List'

Hello Monday, today I have mixed feelings about you. Yes I would love to get some work done around here but at the same time the thought of another great weekend intrigues me! Once again I have an overwhelming feeling that my 'to do list' is a mile long. So here goes!

Things I NEED to do:

• Laundry, wash - dry - fold - put away
• Clean up bedrooms (new sheets included)
• Vacuum
• Phone Calls to be made (if only they would answer!)
• Clean up kitchen & bathroom

Things I WANT to do:

• Bake
• Play in my flower garden
• Take a shower!
• Visit my family for supper (this means no cooking for me!)
• Organize Toy Room

What does you list look like today?

Happy Monday!

A Green Thumb

Well I have to confess, my vegetable garden has not been planted yet. The thought and plan is there, I just haven't found the time or energy to start the process! I thought over the next few months I would post photos of my garden for all of you to enjoy. Maybe not so much this weeks photo :(

A garden is a great way to get fresh organic and practically FREE vegetables!

I am planning on growing the following:

• tomatoes
• beans
• peppers
• celery
• onions (even though last year didn't grow)
• green onions (and of course the squirrels and chipmunks ate them!)
• parsley
• cucumbers/squash

Can you think of anything else I can plant that is easy and practically care free (besides the casual watering and weeding)?



Anybody have a rototiller I can borrow?

How embarrassing!

Cranberry Muffins

I have been blessed with a mother that always put her children and home before herself. My mother is an amazing cook! She alwayed made everything from scratch and put a lot of love and effort into everything she made and makes today!

Here is one of her family favorite recipes, enjoy!

1 Package Cream Cheese

1 Cup Butter

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

4 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla (optional)
2 1/4 Cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

2 Cups Fresh/Frozen Cranberries

Soften cream cheese and butter together, cream in sugar, add eggs and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients and fold in berries. Bake in muffin pan until golden brown @ 350 for about 20 minute.

Love you Mom!

Coupon Queen!

My newest hobbies are couponing & price matching!

That's right, after watching Extreme Couponing on TLC I thought to myself 'I wish!?' (in a sarcastic tone) thinking that Canadian stores were harder to save in.

A friend on facebook one day commented on how she EARNED $$$ buying Ziploc Bags at Walmart! Crazy right! I know, but I took a look into it and tried it out the next day. I EARNED $5 and bought the store out of bags, I also went back three more times later that week and did it again! The sale was Buy 2 Save $4 - the bags were $1.48 each - allowing me to EARN .50 back!

Coupon Here: http://mrsjanuary.com/images/coupons/ziploc-canada-4off-coupon-may2011.pdf



35 FREE Ziplocs & EARNED $17.50

Last night I spent a few hours prepping for my excursion into town today. So I went prepared with my coupons and flyers to pricematch! Here are a few savings I got today!

Pillers Lunch Meat - $1 @ No Frills
http://www.pillers.com/promotions.php (50 cent coupon)
I bought 10 for .50 cents each! That's a total of $5 for 10 packages!

Scubbing Bubbles $3 @ Walmart
Coupon for BUY 1 GET 1 FREE in mail

Last week Quaker Cereal was on sale @ No Frills for $2.88
Each box has a FREE Coupon for different products
I received FREE ICE CREAM ($5 Value) & GRANOLA BARS!
Last week I received 2 FREE Ice Cream
(each was on sale for 2.50 = 1 $5 Coupon)

I recently emailed Colgate and asked if they could send me some coupons.
Received 5 $1 Coupons in the mail
Colgate $1 @ No Frills
I received 5 FREE toothpaste!

 Janes Coupon Here: http://www.surgele.ca/Concours/Produits-Participants/Zone-Coupons.aspx

Janes Chicken $4.99 @ Metro
Price matched @ Walmart & had $2 Off Coupon
Payed $2.99!!



Received Buy 2 Get 2 FREE Coupon in the mail
Payed $5.26

 

$2 @ No Frills
$1 Off Coupon in the mail



I recently emailed Marc Angelo and asked if they could send me some coupons.
Received 4 $1 Coupons in the mail
Marc Angelo Pork Kabobs $1 @ No Frills
I received 4 FREE!

  

No Coupon but No Frills had these on clearance for $5 with a $1 Off Coupon!
Payed $4 each (they are normally $12/$13 each!)



Artic Garden $2 @ Food Basics
Had $1 Off Coupon from same sight as Janes Chicken
Payed $1!



I recently emailed D'Italiano and asked if they could send me some coupons.
Received 2 $2.50 Coupons in the mail
D'Italiano 2/$3 @ No Frills
I payed .25 cents a loaf!

Other deals I got this week include:

• $4 Coupon for Huggies Diapers (emailed them a nice letter and asked for coupons (2 $4 Coupons)
• Purex On Sales @ Food Basics for $3.99 (Price matched @ Walmart)
• Minute Maid Frozen Juice On Sale @ FreshCo for .59 cents (Price matched @ Nofrills)
• $2 Off Coupon for Tylenol (used on Children's Tylenol = payed $4.97)

If you want to find out more about coupons check out http://www.mrsjanuary.com/

Yay for coupons!

My Housewife To Do List

Oh man, I feel like there is so much to do around here today (well pretty much every day). So maybe making a 'to do' list will help my brain sort itself out. I am a list maker, much like my family (aka you know who you are!). Some days I can make up to 4 'to do' list!

Anyways so here goes:

• dishes
• feed animals and collect eggs (what no eggs yet?!) 2 Eggs!
• clean up bedrooms (make beds, dust, etc.)
• laundry (wash & fold)
• vacuum (again for the 100th x this week!)
• clean bathroom
• bake muffins
• prep for my tasting party this weekend
• take a shower!
• make grocery list (price matching & coupons included!)
• make supper
• call and book optomistrist appointment for girls
• call gateway for affordable dentistry for girls
• call to book hotel room (for a weekend away)
• book june tasting parties!

I think that is it! I have to make sure keep my kids content and happy in between all this too! :)

Have a great productive day everyone!

Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome

I was at the park today with my girls and our fabulous new friends talking about children, birth stories, the whole shebang. Sharing my birth story is long and complicated but so miraculous at the same time.

My eldest daughter was brought into this world through my wonderful midwife in a beautiful, quiet, clean hospital. No major issues during or after delivery. We call her our 'easy child', very laid back, quiet and soft.

My twins were brought into this world through a totally different circumstance. At 12 weeks I was asked "do twins run in your family?" by my US Technician - "yes, why!" was my answer - and long in behold the shocking news TWINS?!

My midwife appointment quickly turned into doctor appointments, diminishing my hopes for a home birth. I was soon referred to an out of town doctor for testing. Not knowing what to expect my husband and I were sat down in the doctors office learning that our twins had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. We were given so many options, but with a 90% mortality rate we were to upset to make a final decision.

Were we to end one life to save another (not at all!), do we pray and leave it up to God or should we choose laser surgery to possible save the lives of our unborn children. After 100's of appointments, ultrasounds every week and trips to Kingston and Toronto (the only hospital in Canada to specialize in TTTS) my pregnancy made it past the 27 week goal! At 34 1/2 week after a trip out to Kingston I was called at 5pm to pack my bags and head back up to the hospital to prep for a c-section. Our little 'donor' Kailey had stopped growing and intervention was to be taken.

Scared, excited and alone I waited 3 days till my surgery. Knowing we had nothing ready for our new bundles of joy to come into this world and being cautioned to prepare for the worst I laid there in my hospital bed. On Friday October 17th at 11:17am Kailey Grace 3lbs 4oz and Madisyn Faith 4lbs 11oz were born, frail and silent.

This photo was taken a week after they were born,

they were finally able to share a crib and wear clothes!

I cannot for the life of me remember what happened the rest of that day or week. With complications from the c-sections I stayed in the hospital for an extra week and a half until I recovered and could find a home away from home to live in. I remember being so sad and alone, missing my Kiersten and husband at home and yearning to be with my newborn babies.

After 4 weeks in the NICU we were able to finally come home with our new little babies. And things have only been getting better!!

You would never know now that my two rambunctious girls were born into this world fighting the odds.

For more information on TTTS visit: http://www.tttsfoundation.org/ or http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002562/

It's been forever!!

So here is go!
I haven't blogged in FOREVER!

So much has been going on in life, summer is approaching faster than I could have imagined! But I am so glad, the days are longer, warmer and exciting too! My girls are old enough now to really enjoy going outdoors and playing. I love it!

Some new things that have happened include:

• We've bought 2 bunnies, 4 laying hens, 3 ducks & 2 zebra finches (pretty much a full blown farm for some ;)



• We've decided to homeschool in Setpember! (I am super excited and super nervous all at the same time)



• I've started couponing and price matching!



• My mom has given me a sewing machine - and I intend on using it!



• I've just bought Soap Nuts! Check it out: http://www.earthsberriesoapnuts.com/

There are still lots of things to do around here before summer really starts including planting my veggie garden. Last year was our first time doing a full out 'garden' and I have to say it was actually quite easy?! A little weeding here and there, some watering and presto veggies!!

Well I really need to go wake up the twins now!

But check out: http://www.mrsjanuary.com/