Monthly Archives: November 2013

Life Hacks I Love: #1 Gift Wrap Storage

It seems as though we are constantly being bombarded with new terms and jargon. I often find it hard to follow my own kids’ conversations as some of the words they use are completely foreign to me.  One of the latest terms that is circulating on the internet is “life hacks”.

What is a “life hack”?

life hack

I often browse sites that share “life hacks”, as I am always on the lookout for new and creative ways to do life in a more efficient way. Here is one that I found, tried and modified to better suit my needs.

Gift Wrap Storage

I saw this great idea for gift wrap storage on Pinterest. This hack was both easy and cheap, but I wasn’t totally impressed with it when I tried it out. The concept is simple. Cut a toilet paper roll lengthwise and slide the cardboard over the gift wrap roll to keep it secure. Unfortunately, it takes very little for the cardboard toilet paper roll to become stretched and not have enough “spring” to hold the paper in place.

toilet paper roll

This gift wrap roll is fat, so it works okay, but I can tell that with only a few uses, it would be stretched out of shape and no longer stay in place.

I was really disappointed as I thought this was a great idea. So, I came up with an easy fix. All you need are regular brads and tiny hair elastics which can be bought at the dollar store. A bag of 100 is $1. (Lets hope you don’t need all 100 for gift wrap or you may have more serious problems than how to store it).

Punch 2 holes in the toilet paper roll, stick a brad in each and stretch the elastic across to hold it securely. The great thing about this is that you can modify it by cutting out a section of the roll to make it smaller to fit around those skinny rolls of paper as well. (Otherwise, the standard size roll actually overlaps and slides right off of it). It literally takes seconds to make these and they work really well.

Cut a slit down the toilet paper roll.
Tiny hair elastic, brads and toilet paper roll.
Use the elastic to secure the toilet paper roll.

Now, if you are like my husband you might be saying….”that is supposed to be better than a regular elastic?”  Check out this spoof video on some of the life hacks that are circulating on the web.  Funny.

Often times, some of the “life hacks” seem like they are way more work than they are really worth, but I like this one because I find that tape damages the paper and an elastic often ends up cutting the paper.  Of course, if you make several of them, you can re-use them over and over again.

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P90x Island Pork Tenderloin

I originally found this recipe when I was doing the P90x exercise program a few years ago. The recipe comes in the eating plan that accompanies the program. We love pork tenderloin at our house and this is “hands-down” the best recipe we’ve ever used.  The meat is super juicy and tender and the sweet/spicy combination is absolutely delicious. One of the best things about this recipe is that we always have all of the ingredients in the house, so it’s a bit of a “no brainer” and we all need a few of those in our arsenal. We follow the pork tenderloin recipe exactly as is, but often substitute the fresh garlic with minced garlic in a jar.  This recipe can be prepped in less than 10 minutes and cooks in 20 to 25. Mmmm good!

P90x Island Pork Tenderloin

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

16 ounces pork tenderloin, lean
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon, then coat pork with the spice rub.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat and brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes.

sear pork Pork Glaze

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stir together brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco and pat onto the top of tenderloin.

Place pork in a roasting pan and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Serving Suggestions:

We often serve the pork over a bed of lettuce and use the juices from the bottom of the pan as a dressing.  It is also great with roasted vegetables or served with the original Island Pork Tenderloin Salad, from the P90x Recipe Book.

Island Pork Tenderloin

Island Pork Tenderloin served on a bed of lettuce with juices from the meat and some red onion.

Island Pork Tenderloin Salad Recipe

Cumin Vinaigrette

  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1 T fresh orange juice
  • 1 T Dijon mustard
  • 1  teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 T olive oil

(I found another variation of this recipe on epicurious.  It is very similar, but calls for curry instead of cumin and ups the oil to 1/2 cup.)

Whisk together juices, mustard, curry powder, salt, and pepper, then add oil in a stream, whisking until emulsified.

For salad

  • 2-3 navel oranges
  • 5 ounces baby spinach, trimmed (6 cups leaves)
  • 4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage (from 1 medium head)
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into thin strips
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)
  • 1-2 avocados

Prepare salad ingredients while pork stands:
Peel and cut oranges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Toss spinach, cabbage, bell pepper, and raisins in a large bowl with vinaigrette. Halve, pit, and peel avocados, then cut diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Serving:
Cut pork at a 45-degree angle into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Line a large platter with dressed salad and arrange sliced pork, oranges, and avocados in rows on top. Drizzle some vinaigrette over avocados and oranges. Pour any juices from skillet over pork.

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Eating Right: Fresh versus Frozen

Well it seems as those the warm days of summer are long gone and with it all of the delicious summer fruits.  As we head into the cold winter months, you may want to consider your best options for meeting the nutritional needs of your family.  Many of the fresh fruits and vegetables in our local super markets have been grown thousands of miles away and have had to endure long trips before landing in our markets. In order to with stand the journey, most are picked long before they are ripe and thus the nutritional value is inhibited.  You may want to consider the benefits of buying frozen and stick to purchasing a majority of your fresh fruits and vegetables when they are considered to be “in season”.  Check-out this video for more information on fresh versus frozen.

 

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Last Chance: Cheap Shelf Salvage

Have you ever bought one of those cheap melamine style shelving units with the cardboard back.  The back usually lasts until you put something inside that presses up against the backing ever so slightly.  The result is that the finishing nails pop off like you karate kicked the back off.  I hate it when that happens.  As soon as the back pops off, a predictable string of events is set into motion. You know how that works, first the back pops off and then the unit gradually begins to tilt and sit off kilter like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We had originally bought this for the bathroom in our former house and it worked fine. However, it did not work so well for storing our board games.  You know push in the game, push-off the back.  I got tired of the “look” and was actually afraid it might tip because it would literally “sway” when you opened it. I decided to do something about it.

We are in the midst of a very long basement reno and have lots of old wood from the tear apart in the basement.  Much of it will need to go to the dump eventually, but I am so into salvage and re-purposing, I have been trying to reuse as much of it as I can.  I found this old piece of thin plywood in the pile and thought I could use it to replace the existing cardboard backing.

Here is the original white “cardboard” type backing and you can see how it popped off the back. Ugh!
The back is almost completely off and the shelf is on tilt. You can see how the doors are not sitting even at all.

Steps to Replacing the Back

  • Measured the old back and cut the plywood to size
  • Found some fabric in my stash to cover the interior and edges of the board
  • Screwed the back on, through the fabric, in all four corners
  • Pulled the fabric tightly across the back to get out the creases, folded it over the back to create a nice fabric covered edge, and stapled it in place
Here is the sheet of thin (1/4″) plywood that I repurposed for this project.
I had bought this for a project many years ago and never got to it, so I thought I would just use it to cover the very worn plywood.

After Shots:

The print is a gingham in a light beige and off white, so it is does not provide much impact. There are glass doors on the cabinet and once filled, the fabric backing won’t really be that noticeable.  Mostly, the heavier backing helps to give the unit more stability and the fabric backing gives it a clean fresh look. I think we’ll move it up to the kid’s bathroom for some extra storage. (I keep adding and changing things upstairs in hopes that they might actually stop using the main floor bathroom, but it is yet to work.  The extra storage is not so much a necessity, but more so another ploy to get my daughter showering and pampering herself upstairs instead of in our space.  Wish me luck!)

You can see that with the doors clothes, it is hardly noticeable.
Finished cupboard with new backing.
Close up of backing.

 

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Pan-Seared Steak with Caramelized Onions

https://dairyfarmersofcanada.ca/en/canadian-goodness/recipes/caramelized-onions-steak

This is one of our favourite recipes to use when we are not in the mood to BBQ our steaks.  We originally got it from the 2005 Milk Calendar.  The steak is tender and yummy and easy to prepare.  Enjoy!

Prep Time:     10 min
Total Time:    35 min

Pan-Seared Steak with Caramelized Onions

Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

  • salt and pepper
  • 1 lb (454 g) beef sirloin or other grilling steak (about 3/4-inch thick)
  • 2 tbsp (30 mL) Butter, divided
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried rosemary, crumbled
  • 2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) Milk
  • 2 tbsp (30 mL) soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
  • chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rub 1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt and pepper over both sides of steak. In large skillet, melt half of butter over high heat; brown steak on both sides, about 2 min per side. Transfer to plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low; add remaining butter to skillet. Stir in onions, garlic and rosemary; cover and cook, stirring often, for 10 min or until onions are very soft and caramelized. Sprinkle with flour; cook, stirring, for 1 min. Gradually stir in milk, then add the soy sauce and mustard.
 
3. Increase heat to medium; simmer, stirring, for 5 min or until sauce is thickened. Return steak and accumulated juices to pan; spoon sauce over top. Simmer, turning steak once and stirring sauce, for about 5 min or until steak is desired doneness. Remove from heat. Transfer steak to cutting board; let rest for 5 min. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Slice steak thinly across the grain and serve with sauce. Sprinkle with parsley.

 

Repurposing Clothes Pins

Clothes pins have been around for what seems like forever, but with all of the “life hacks” trending on the web, people are now able to share their creative uses for a simple clothes pin. As a teacher, I have used clothes pins in my classroom for organizing children into groups, securing stacks of paper, learning games and much more.  The possibilities are really endless.  A few bloggers have already researched and collected many great clothes pin ideas. Check-out the list of more than 40 uses for the traditional wooden clothes pin or perhaps you’ll find some unexpected uses for them at Real Simple.  You may also want to check out this link on Pinterest for some great ideas.

Simple Steps for Enhancing a Clothes Pin:

  • Cut out long strips of scrapbooking paper (1 cm X about 8 cm)
  • Glue the strips onto the clothes pin with Modge Podge.
  • Let dry.
  • Trim the excess paper from the edges.
  • Distress the edges.  (I like to gently sand the edges to reveal the white paper below the printed surface.  Sometimes I leave the white edges and other times I will use a bit of ink to age it slightly.)
  • Modge Podge the surface and let dry completely.
  • Embellish with buttons, paper flowers, etc.

You can leave the clothes pins in their natural wooden state or you can play with stain or paint if you’d like to change the base colour.  I have even tried adding fabric to them and that works well too.  Below are a few fridge magnets that I made.  These can be done within a few minutes, but you do have to allow for drying time.  These would also make a great little gifts for a teacher, thank you, thinking of you or hostess..  There are so many awesome ideas for how to use clothes pins for both organization and to enhance your decor, so if you can learn how to dress them up, the options are endless.  Simple, cheap and functional.  I wonder if anyone actually uses clothes pins to hang clothes on the line in anymore?  I am so glad they haven’t yet become obsolete!

I embellished one of the clothes pins as an example of what you might do.
You can see that my pieces are the proper width, but the length is random and will be trimmed later.
Flip the clothes pin over and us an exacto knife to trim the extra paper.
Printed papers can be gently sanded to reveal the white paper below the surface for a distressed look.
Here are the finihshed clothes pins without any embellishments.

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Upcycled Sweater Project

Last spring, when purging some of the clothes that I was no longer wearing, I decided to keep a few old sweaters in hopes of some day trying a sweater upcycle project. I decided to try my hand at homemade mittens and a hat.  The sweater I used for the project was a thinner knit and great to practise with.  The finished product turned out well, but will be more suitable for fall/spring weather than the nasty winter temperatures we have to endure here.  The mittens and hat are light weight and would not be very effective in keeping out the bitter cold.  Overall, I am pleased with the finished product and they were super easy to make.  What a great way to re-use some of those sweaters that are no longer in style.  I don’t own very many wool sweaters, as I find them too itchy against my skin, but I will be on the look out for nice old wool sweaters at the thrift store!

Upcycled Sweater Mittens and a Hat

  • Trace around your hands (or an old hat)Trace Around Your Hand
  • Sew with right sides together.
  • Cut along the outside of the sewn edge.

Tips:

  • Go big and then gradually make smaller as needed.
  • Use the existing seam along the bottom if possible.  (I used the finished edge along the bottom of the sweater  for the mittens, but had to use the middle of the sweater for the hat.  It worked fine, but is definitely more work because you have to finish the seam along the bottom of the hat.

Homemade Mitten/Hat Tutorial:

If you would like to check-out the instructions I used, visit A Beautiful Mess for both the mitten and hat tutorials.

Here is the set I made.  I added a few stitches to the backs of the mittens to dress them up a bit.  The entire project did not take me longer than about 45 minutes. Imagine all the cute little hats and mittens you could make for yourself and your family! I can’t wait to make a warm wooly pair.

The original sweater.
Trace Your Hands
Trace an Old Hat
Here are the finished mittens and hat.

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The 5 Love Languages and Effective Communication

Many years ago, our Pastor spoke of Dr. Gary Chapman’s book on the 5 Love Languages.  We were intrigued and discussed what we thought our “love languages” were, but never really pursued it beyond that.  However, with our busy schedules and Eden becoming so much more difficult to “read”, I thought it was time to read the book and really delve into the love languages of each of our family members.  Learning the love languages of your spouse and children has literally saved thousands of marriages and restored many broken family relationships.  Effective communication is the key to every relationship, so why not invest the time and learn the language of those you love!  If you go to Dr. Chapman’s website, you can complete an online profile to figure out your own love language as well as the languages of your family members.

What are the Five Love Languages?

  1. Words of Affirmation ~ verbal compliments or words of appreciation
  2. Quality Time ~ giving a loved one your undivided attention
  3. Receiving Gifts ~ for some receiving a gift speaks volumes
  4. Acts of Service ~ actions speak louder than words
  5. Physical Touch ~ to this person nothing communicates more deeply than appropriate physical touch

For each of the love languages above, there are different “dialects” within the language, so it is not always as straight forward as giving a compliment. You not only need to discover the love language of your loved ones, but the dialect of the language they speak.  If you can ascertain, their love language, you will be able to consistently communicate your love effectively.  Although everyone appreciates certain aspects of all of the love lanuages, one of the languages generally speaks “love” much more deeply than others.  The difficulty in relationships is that individuals often speak different languages and thus are not able to communicate their love in a way that is understood by their partner or children.  Dr. Chapman gives many examples in his book that help one to gain a better understanding of the languages, but here is a quick example.  If your husband showers you with gifts as an expression of his love, but your love language is Quality Time ~ there is no amount of gifts that will ever make you feel loved in the way you need, to keep your “love tank” full.  Like wise, if his language is Receiving Gifts and you rarely give him specials gifts to demonstrate your love, his tank will be empty as well.  The key is recognizing each others primary language and choosing to communicate in that language.

Put To the Test

In an effort to communicate my love for my husband more effectively, my daughter suggested I get the van washed today.  My husband regularly complains that I never wash the vehicles. Occasionally, I will take the car to the Mid Town Car Wash where I get to step-out of the vehicle and wait inside while they thoroughly clean my vehicle.  I never go through the “drive through” car washes.  Of course, there is a reason for this.  I get very anxious and worry that I won’t know what to do when I get in line.  My husband finds this completely ridiculous, despite the fact, that my last attempt ended in an “epic fail”.  About 15 years ago, I did take the car through the wash, but when I got home, my husband asked what I did as the car was completely covered with water spots and still covered in dirt in some areas.  I said I wasn’t sure what went wrong, but suspected the car wash wasn’t working right. He had me describe what I did and he couldn’t believe it when I said that I put in my code and then slowly drove through the car wash. I explained I was nervous and didn’t want to hold up the car behind me.  He made it very clear to me that you do not DRIVE through the car wash.  Oops!  Anyways, I have never washed the car since.  Until today that is. With Eden’s support and encouragement, I bought gas and a car wash.  I thought I might hyper-ventilate when I had to get my tires in the narrow channel at the entrance, but noticed a mirror that helped me to guide them in without a problem.  I was also very appreciative of the lady’s voice on the speaker that welcomed me and gave me the verbal instructions I needed to proceed.  Eden thought it was all quite hilarious, but I didn’t care.  I know it is pretty silly, but I felt pretty good about stepping out of my comfort zone in the name of love.  Ha! Ha! The good news is, I made it through without pressing the gas pedal and the van came out pretty clean.  (Not as good as the “hands-on” treatment at the Mid Town, but good.)

If you are interested in learning more about he 5 Love Languages, there are books written for marraige, children, teens and even the work place.  They are easy reads and well worth the time!

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Barbie Blunders

I have really been enjoying the Mothers and Daughters in Touch course that Eden and I have been taking on Wednesday evenings.  I saw a video today and it reminded me of our class last week on body image.  This video is not unlike the message in the Dove Videos on body image.  It does a speed enhanced video of a model preparing for a photo shoot.  It is so sad to think that they take a beautiful young lady, like the model in the video, and distort everything thing to create a photo that it completely unrealistic. Check out Body Evolution below to see how dramatically photo shop can alter an image.  What message does it give our daughters?

What You Didn’t Know About Barbie?

BarbieThis video also reminded me of some of the facts that our facilitator shared about Barbie. I was able to find an article on dailymail.co.uk which highlighted many disturbing facts about Barbie’s body and how impossible it would be for a woman to ever have her proportions.  (I believe that the original source may have been rehabs.com and I have referenced it below.) Here are some highlights from the Daily Mail article:

  • Did you know that in real life Barbie would have a 16″ waist and that only 1 in 2.4 billion would have the same waist size and likely be suffering from a severe eating disorder?
  • Did you know that her 16″ waist would be 6″ thinner than her head?
  • Did you know that Barbie would be forced to walk on all fours because her 3.5″  wrists and her 6″ ankles couldn’t support her own body weight?
  • Did you know that only 1 woman in a crowd of 638,531 people would have hips equal in size to that of Barbie’s 29″ hips?
  • Did you know that you would have to search through a crowd of well over 3 million to find a human being with the same waist to hip ratio as Barbie?

This quote was taken from an incredible article written on rehabs.com:

The Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders has calculated how much an average healthy woman’s body would have to change in order for her to have the proportions of a Barbie doll.

They found that women would have to grow two feet taller, extend their neck length by 3.2 inches, gain 5 inches in chest size, and lose 6 inches in waist circumference. No woman could ever hope to achieve such impossible dimensions, and yet young girls are shown that this is a body to emulate.

The rehabs.com article also states that 42% of girls between the ages of 6 and 10 wish they were thinner and many are beginning to diet before they can even spell the word. Check-out their Barbie Infographic below and click on the image to visit the site to read the article and check-out the other charts and tables.

Barbie Infographic

If you visit the site, click on the View Barbie Infographic button.

I know many of us grew-up playing with Barbies and I am in no way saying “ban the Barbies”. Eden was never really into Barbies, but definitely received a few new ones as gifts, as well as a whole set that was passed on to her from her older cousins. We ended up garage selling them as she was never really into dolls of any sort. Having said that, I did not discourage Barbies or her playing with them at the time. I knew that Barbie portrayed the image of what many esteem to be “perfection”, but had no idea what a “fraud” that image was until recently. I believe that knowledge is power and perhaps this knowledge will enable you to make informed choices for the little girls in your life.  At the very least, it is interesting information to share with young girls, so that they know the truth behind the doll.  Who knew??

Three cheers to all of the women and young girls who love themselves for who they are and are completely comfortable in their own skin!

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Homemade Salmon Chowder

What to do with Salmon Leftovers:

I made salmon for dinner the other night, but it took longer to cook than expected and Tim had to leave for work before dinner was ready. The result was that I was left with a large amount of leftovers.  I decided to see what kind of recipe I could find to use up what was leftover. I came up with this very simple recipe on The Common Room.  I was able to whip it up in under half an hour and that included frying up a few strips of bacon for the “bacon bits”.

Salmon Chowder

Homemade Salmon Chowder

By Headmistress, zookeeper | Published: SEPTEMBER 30, 2006

QUICK ALASKA SALMON CHOWDER
1 can of salmon (or leftover salmon which is what I used)
1 Tablespoon butter OR margarine
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon flour
3 cups skim milk (I used 2%)
2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes
1 can (8 oz.) drained or 1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper (I added a bit extra)
2 Tablespoons sherry, if desired
1/4 cup bacon bits (I fried and crumbled fresh bacon)
grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Drain salmon, reserving liquid; discard skin and bones. Break salmon into chunks, set aside. Melt butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onions; cook and stir 5 minutes. Add flour; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Add milk and salmon liquid, bring to a boil. Stir in potatoes, corn, seasonings, and 2 tablespoons bacon bits. Return to simmer, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in salmon and sherry, if desired; heat through. Ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle with remaining bacon bits, top with cheese if desired.

I doubled this recipe and it turned out fantastic.  Good flavour and super easy to make.  Great served with fresh homemade tea biscuits!