What have I been up to lately?

New resolution: blog more frequently!! I hate that it's been a while since I posted last.

Hudson has had some choppy sleeps this past week, the poor thing. I think it's a growth spurt/teething/separation anxiety phase. So coffee has been my new best friend. It feels like I am getting less and less done around the house. I am not sure why but hopefully this weekend I'll accomplish more around the house.

Great news - down 4 lbs since my start date on Family Day! I am going low carb - it's just the way I feel most motivated. Though I am finding myself really nauseous after some of the meals so I am doing some meal planning at the moment to infuse some new recipes into our diet.

I will be ordering Project Life shortly and starting that so I have really started to get into taking done of pictures that encapsulate every day life around the house.

Will be tackling some organizing projects this weekend and look forward to posting pics!

Having Trouble with the Weight!!!

I have been tough on myself about my weight! Ie. Stop talking about it and start doing it!!! It's now become a pain having this weight on me and in more of a practical way than ever before. Since I am becoming more minimalist, frugal and organizational lately...the thought of having 10 different sizes cluttering up my closet is so annoying. I am desperate to lose the weight if nothing else than to have one size in my closet!!

My goal is to be down 40 lbs by the end of the year but I am actually hoping to do this by June - August. Wish me luck!

Updates!

So I absolutely plan to blog more on here. Lately my obsession has been really honing in on our goals for the upcoming year! In order to fuel my "getting organized" goal I have become obsessed with reading other people's blogs!

Reading Jen's blog is so inspiring! I wait giddily for her email to arrive in my inbox each day saying she's updated with a new post.

There are two ideas she's really suggested that I am on board with! Through her suggestion I have ordered this Life Planner. I am a bit of a day planner junkie. I currently have one that I love and it's served me well but Erin's planner looks like it's the answer to my prayers. It's packed with colour and fun and everything a new Mum could want. I think I will be a returning customer. Her life planner is composed of monthly and weekly views, note pads, special dates, gift giving cards and so much more. It's personalized too so I can load it up with personalized touches!

The other project that Jen has gotten me into is this. I will be buying three boxes of Project Life One for us, one for my Mum and one for my in-laws. I will work on it all year and it will be their Christmas presents. I hope to do it every year for our family as well! :) I am not a scrapbooker but I do love to archive memories and this is right up my alley! I can't wait to order it and have it get here!

New Year Resolution Check In

Happy February 1st!

I wanted to check in and stay accountable for our goals and New Years Resolutions now that we're one month down in the year!

1. Loose 40 lbs by 2012 - well I joined WW and I worked out three times last week but I am still eating way too many calories it seems. I started Feb 1 (today) as my new start date. I am 1 lb down! That's still 1 lb I don't have to have on me!

2. Find a dog to keep Flanagan company - Done! Louis is a fabulous addition to our home!!

3. Financial Goals - we completed what we needed to in January to work towards our 2012 goals!

4. Keep a clean and organized home - I have been doing pretty well. I re-organized the pantry, bedroom and our front hall closet. They're now organized and neat. I have to keep up with the dishes a little more! But I am pleased.

5. Buy an outfit I feel confident in - won't do this until goal #1 is completed.

6. Lose the frump and be more girly! - I have been doing pretty well though my hair is awful...I have more makeup on. The losing weight will really help in this effort!!

Couponing!

I am pretty new to the art of couponing but from all I have read if you're a frugalista and want to save money...couponing is key in helping you towards this goal. The way I view it, if you can save money on a product then do it.

Mind you, I think it's silly to spend hours mulling over coupon sites to save .50 cents on an item. I would devote x amount of time to the process per week and be done with it.

Remember the idea behind couponing is to save money, theoretically on things you need. Toss any coupons you receive that can be used towards items you will never use. Though this sounds extremely straight forward it's tempting to use a coupon for anything you can get money off on.

Last night I did my meal planning for the week but I also knew I had to get extra items for the household and baby. I sifted through my coupon organizer to see which coupons I had available and I created my list around them. Ie. We were having lasagna for dinner and I had a coupon for Catelli smart brand noodles so I put that particular brand on my shopping list with a big "C" for coupon beside the item.

(On a side note for couponing we also shopped from our pantry. Instead of buying the tomato paste and sauce we would need for the recipe I checked to see if we had it available in the house already).

If you can combine coupons on top of existing store sales, you're really maximizing your saving capability. This is where I pick up the store flyers (both the grocery store and drug store to see what items to get where).

I ended up saving $30 with $13 dollars worth of coupons yesterday by using coupons on already existing sale items.

Eg. Royale Toilet Paper was on sale from $8.99 to $4.99 plus I had $1 off coupon

Tide was $4.99 each but I had a $5.00 off when you buy two Tide products coupons

I had a $3 coupon for Hudson's formula.

Pampers were on sale from $19.99 to $15.99 and I used my $3 off coupon.

I am new to couponing but I was so happy with my success!!

As for sites I use: gocoupon.ca, smartcanucks.ca, websaver.ca, save.ca, and brandsaver.ca

Welcoming Our New Addition!!

Welcoming Louis to our home!!

DH and I thought long and very hard about the decision to bring a new pup into our house! Flanagan has become in desperate need of a friend and companion. He got so used to our cats that without them he has really become lonely. We thought another dog would be fantastic.

After picking different breeds we narrowed down one we love: The French Bulldog!

Louis has been with us for two days and already acts as if he's been with us from day 1. He's the same age as Hudson. There's a bit of a catch up needed with potty training but he's just wonderful and I could cuddle him all day!

Kitchen Organization!

So this week I went to Solutions (an organizing store chain in Canada) and went hog wild. I am a loyal reader of I Heart Organizing Blog. She did a whole series on pantry renovations which inspired me. 

I find when our pantry is cluttered I feel almost overwhelmed!! So let me walk you through all that I did.  Our baby cupboard is one I find really overwhelming. I breastfed Hudson for the first 3 weeks and now we formula feed (though I pumped a lot in between). We are also about to start foods. So between all these and bibs...there is a lot of clutter!

Baby Cupboard Before

Baby Cupboard After - we got rid of a lot of the clutter on the top shelf and maximized the space on the upper and lower shelves

This is our tupperware storage. When we make DH's lunch in the morning we need this accessible! So happy with how uncluttered this is!

Our spice cupboard was sooooo disorganized. There was Xmas baking supplies, sauces, extra sauces that I buy on sale, spices and oils and vinegars. REALLY no method to our madness.

Before! EEK!

After! :) Spices are well organized. Some are on the lazy susan purchased at the organizing store and I bought new little spice jars and labelled them so that we no longer have loose spice packets lying around!

Pantry...AFTER! I don't have a before but we moved our extra sauces to the top of this shelf. The middle shelf are breakfast items and the last one are teas and beverages!

Lower pantry is now stocks and soups, rice and noodles and baking supplies. This is an after shot

I went label crazy and this is our front hall cupboard now! 

Close up of the spices. Labels are thanks to Martha Stewart!

More labels which I found at This awesome blog!