Home Office Ideas...

I am at it again.  I want to gut my office and redo it.  It just doesn't function like it should, and the clutter is growing because I do not have a place for everything.  I plan to take the month of June to do a major purging and re-decorating of my office - especially since I am now sharing my office with Mum.

The image above is what I'm looking for but to put this together would cost a lot more money than my budget allows and a lot more space than my home affords.  So, I've been searching for ideas.  So far, my attention have been caught by a few images.

I do like this desk set up.  It would be easy to purchase two of these and put the desks back-to-back.  However, I do not like the white finish.  While it is bright and would add additional brightness to a potentially dark room, I'm not a fan of the color.

I also like this set up.  I have a lot of office machines such as a big copy machine, several printers, a couple of scanners, blah, blah, blah... And all these items are necessary for my work and need a place in the office.  This set up would allow for that.

So, I'm searching for ideas.  Anyone got any? I'll keep all of you posted on my home office redo - including posting photos.  Fingers crossed it will be a success!

Ordinary to Extraordinary

I have been thinking a lot about changes I want to make in my little house.  I do this every six months or so... It's like an itch.  Once I've changed things up, the itch has been scratched.

So, I've been on the hunt for ideas.  I don't want your typical, cliche kind of ideas.  I want something transformational.  Like this coffee table.  How fabulous is this?!?!?  I'm completely in love.

Random Acts of Kindness

Yesterday I went to a meeting I had scheduled with my co-presenter.  Since we live about 60 miles apart, in two different cities, we meet at a coffee shop at the half-way mark between our houses.  As I walked into the shop, I saw she had already secured us a table in the overly-crowded shop and once I plopped down on my chair and dropped my heavy bag onto the floor, she handed me a box.

Fun With Color

The other day I was at the craft store looking at photo frames.  I didn't find anything that I could find at any other store, which was a major disappointment.  Who wants what everyone else does?  Of course, there is always the option of making my own photo frames, but I have neither the time nor the inclination.  But then I found these little photo holders.

Lilac Time...

I love this time of the year because the lilacs come out to play.  Last year's weather was so wet and cold, the lilacs struggled and what little did blossom didn't last long nor were they really worth the trouble.  However, this year the lilacs have more than made up for last year's disappointments.

We have three giant lilac bushes bordering part of our patio.  The provide not only an amaing fragrance when we're outside relaxing, but they also make a similar noise to bamboo when the wind pushes through the branches.  The combination is almost lulling.

Even better, we're able to cut stems and bring them into the house - filling each room with their own fragrant bouquet.  I love having lilacs in the house.  It reminds me of my Grams.  Mum's mum loved lilacs and often smelled like them (that and freshly baked bread).

How gorgeous is this bouquet?  Makes all the time in the garden pruning, trimming, weeding, and fighting all those bugs worth it.  Fabulous.

Just Browsing...

I appreciate the art of browsing.  Simply strolling through a store, examining the wares and what-fores... It's fun.  Yesterday I took Dawn to the store to look at a few things, and we got caught up in the browsing - which wasn't easy considering how many sales women were hovering around us.  These are a few of the treasures we saw (though didn't purchase).

The Garden Center

We went to one of our local garden centers to look for two things:  cilantro seeds and mosquito pellets (they kill mosquitoes and mosquito eggs in standing water).  Mum's had serious problems with trying to grow cilantro in her herb garden, so we thought we would simply purchase seeds and try going cilantro in our mini greenhouse from seeds.  Well, at least I thought we should give it a go.

5 Things I Never Leave Home Without

While I am not big on rituals, I am a creature of habit.  And whenever I leave the house, there are 5 things that I never leave without.  I don't necessarily leave the house with a purse or a bag.  I don't necessarily even have a wallet or money on me.  But I always have these 5 things.  They are...

A camera.  Actually, this is my sister Dawn's camera but I always have it on me.  I prefer my cameras - tucked safely away in my camera bag - but considering my camera bag weighs a good 35 pounds, it isn't always practical to take out the door with me every time I leave the house.  But this little thing - I can take it anywhere and everywhere.

My sunglasses.  I have a problem with my pupils not contrasting fast enough in bright light.  So, often times you'll find me wearing these babies on gloomy days.  They're dark enough to protect my eyes and prevent me from getting very nasty headaches.

My mobile phone.  It's ironic that I don't leave the house without this since I rarely have it on.  However, I like having it with me in case of an emergency.  Granted, I've never had an emergency that warranted using the mobile phone, but it is one of those just-in-case things.  If you'll notice, my mobile phone is pretty old.  In fact, I still use the one I bought back in 2007.  While I may be technologically savvy in many areas of my life, the mobile phone is not one of those areas I care to be current on.

Lip balm.  I love this stuff.  I'm very particular about my lips, and apparently I'm a bit too vain to live with chapped lips.  I use this stuff daily and, so far, the Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm is the best I've every used (and I've used a lot of different brands).

The most important item in my 5 Things is SPF.  I put it on every morning before I go outside, and I reapply it often.  I am a huge advocate of SPF.  I used to wear SPF 100, but my doctor said it was unnecessary to go that strong.  Plus, the protective layer was also preventing me from absorbing important Vitamin D from the sunshine.  It's probably why I (along with Mum and Dawn) have a problem with our Vitamin D levels.  So, I bumped it down to SPF 70 (and increased our Vitamin D3 supplements) but still always have this stuff on.

I love the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer brand because it is a spray-on SPF (instead of the more traditional lotion or cream) and doesn't stink like perfume like many other brands (the more recent one - and worst smelling - that I tried was Aveeno).  It provides a good, protective layer but should be reapplied often if you sweat a lot or go swimming.

So that is my Top 5.  What about you? What do you always have when you leave the house?

A Visit from USPS

Yesterday I was out and about - doing my thing - and when I came home I had a little white box waiting for me on my doorstep.  I admit, I really like it when I have little packages waiting for me on my doorstep.  I like it when I have big packages waiting for me too.

I quickly added the package to my armload of stuff, bounded into the house, and placed the package on the table in my office before turning back to unload the rest of my stuff.  I knew who the package was from... My aunt MJ.  I had asked her to do me a favor, and she did (and in speed-of-light time).

Once I had put everything where it needed to go, I went back to my office and the package.  This is what it looks like inside...

Carefully wrapped crocheted creations.  These are slippers! There were actually 3 pairs in there, but I have the third pair on my feet right now - with no plans to take them off to be photographed.

These are the slippers my Grams used to make.  Actually, these are the slippers my Great Grams used to make.  But when my Grams passed away last year, I thought they were lost to the past.  But happenstance gave me the opportunity to visit with MJ (who lives a good 7-8 hour drive from here) last fall, and I found out she knows how to make these little beauties.  And, as luck would have it, she offered to send me slippers when I needed them.

This year I'm creating Easter baskets for Mum and Dawn, and I immediately thought of these slippers as fantastic additions to each basket.  Dropping a word to MJ, she said she would send them along.  Sure enough, they arrived.

Aren't they fabulous?!?! And comfy warm too! The purple is for Mum, while red is Dawn's color.  Neither of them know I have them, but Mum did notice that I've been wearing a pair of "Grams's slippers" that she didn't remember me having.  I thought for sure she suspected, but I said they were a pair I had tucked away and recently found them.  She bought it.  Now I'm super excited for Easter!

Thanks MJ!

More About Jars...

Can you tell I'm obsessed with jars right now?  Over the weekend, the family went to Seattle.  We did a little shopping - okay, a lot of shopping - and I found me some jars.  Yes!

We went to Storageables, and I entered Nirvana.  Here were a few of their selections...

Chicken Pilaf

On of the small appliances in my kitchen that I simply adore is my slow cooker.  It is absolutely fabulous, especially when I have a lot to do in the day and know I will be too tired in the end to cook anything for dinner.  Luckily for me, most times I'm not the one doing the cooking but every-so-often I'm the one dawning the apron and pulling out the wooden spoons (even if I don't need the wooden spoons - I like wooden spoons).  Here is a fun, easy, and tasty recipe that you can make in your slow cooker...

Start with about 1 pounds of uncooked chicken.  We use chicken tenderloins for this recipe.  They're a lot easier to work with, and I prefer the dryer white meat than dark portions of a chicken such as the legs, thighs, etc. 

You'll include a rice.  We always use brown rice because of its nutrition value.  You'll need about 1 1/3 cup of uncooked rice.

Next, it's tomato sauce.  We actually use Prego spaghetti sauce instead of what is in a can of plain tomato sauce.  It add a little kick to the pilaf.  You'll need 2 cups.

We also add all sorts of spices and herbs... Curry, Turmeric, parsley, pepper etc.

You'll need 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder.

You'll also need 1/2 teaspoon of Turmeric.  I love Turmeric.  It's a fantastic spice that has great properties for reducing inflammation. 

Add 1 cup of bell peppers.  Use red, orange, or yellow bell peppers but not green.  Green bell peppers are too bitter for this dish and will work against the tomato sauce.  Red, orange, or yellow are sweet enough to enhance the tomato sauce.  We typically do a combo of red and orange, or red and yellow, or even orange and yellow simply because the colors add a great amount of pop to the dish.

You'll also throw in 1 cup of sliced black olives.  I love olives.  I have them on or with everything.  When I was little I used to put the olives on my finger tips and eat them off my fingers.  It drove my grandfather nuts, but I did it anyway. 

Add about 1/2 cup chopped celery.  I'm not a fan of celery but for this dish - it works.

After adding a few more ingredients like butter, water, onions, etc., you'll mix it well.  This is where your wooden spoon comes into play.  Simply put the lid on, fix your slow cooker settings, and leave it alone.

In the end, you'll have a fantastic dish you can serve alone or with a side veggie.  We usually serve it with broccoli because... well... I like broccoli.

Chicken Pilaf

1 pounds of sliced, uncooked chicken breasts

2 cups of tomato sauce

2 1/2 cups water

1 1/3 cups uncooked long grain converted rice

1/4 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped orange, red, or yellow bell peppers

1 cup black olives

1/4 cup butter

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons turmeric

1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon parsley

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker; mix well.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Jars

While browsing the Container Store website, I came across these lovely jars.  Aren't they fabulous?!?!  I love a lot of bags filled with different colored sugars for decorating cookies and cupcakes, and I thought these jars would be fantastic was of storing the sugars safely, yet still be decorative displays.  They also remind me of my grandmother.  She and my grandfather owned a cattle ranch, and I remember spending summers there - helping with the canning and butchering season.  These are the kinds of jars she stored her herbs in, and she would always have me flip the metal latch holding the lid in place - because her "fingers weren't as strong as they used to be" when she was young.  At least that was what she would tell me, but I now know otherwise.  That was her way of including me in the process of whatever she was doing.

I could probably purchase 6 of the small ones.  They're just the right size to store a colored sugar in each - and stacking them in the glass-door cupboard would provide a bright burst of color in an otherwise dull cabinet.  A fabulous find!

And, I admit, I love jars.  I prefer them far more than plastic containers.  While their heavier and liable to break, they hold a nostalgia that is worth the potential hazards.  Plus, I don't really have to worry about things like BPH with a jar.  But, I store all sorts of things in jars... herbs, push pins, paper clips, cotton swabs, etc.  But these jars... with their latches and heavy-duty lids... are the perfect combination to keep the moisture away from my decorative sugar.

What about you? What kind of jars do you store your extras in?

Cuppa Tea

I do not like hot beverages.  In fact, 98% of the time, you'll find me either drinking ice-cold water (the colder the better), orange juice, or caffeine-free Diet Coke.  However, there is one hot beverage that I do drink... Oolong team.  I love oolong tea, but there are only two occasions when I will drink tea.  The first is when I eat Chinese food.  For some reason, no other beverage works for me except a nice, steaming cup of oolong tea.  The orangy black tea is the perfect compliment to my usual order of almond chicken and pan fried noodles.  The second occasion is when I am sick.  And on this Tuesday, it is the later which had me breaking out the oolong.

Organizing Cleverness

I'm in the midst of an organizing frenzy.  I'm trying to go through all the boxes and totes of stuff I have to determine what I need and how to organize it.  While looking for unique and easy-to-maintain organizing ideas, I came across these that I thought I would share...

Umbrellas...

I love umbrellas.  I think they are absolutely fabulous.  I suppose living in the Pacific Northwest, a love for umbrellas comes in handy (though we actually get a lot less rain than most people believe); however, I don't just use umbrellas for rain.  I also use them in the summer - to protect myself and my little family from the sometimes harmful (and damaging) sunshine.

All that said, I've noticed my umbrella collection isn't very... Well... It just isn't very pretty.  All of my umbrellas are either black or are on the stripy side of life.  What I mean by stripy is every other umbrella panel is a color like red or blue, while the other panels are white.  That is just as boring as black.

So, I'm on the hunt for prettier umbrellas.  Something that is fashionable and fabulous.  Unfortunately, I'm finding fashionable and fabulous is also a bit too expensive for my tastes.  However, here a few of the umbrellas I'm drawn toward...

Fresh Flowers

One of my little splurges in life are fresh flowers.  I love them.  I love how they always seem to brighten a room up - even where there it is a single stem. I usually put flowers in almost every room - including the bathroom and kitchen.  It's a small way of bringing freshness and life into the house.  As long as I keep the flowers out of direct light, they last 5-7 days.  It also helps that it is winter time, so temperatures - even in the house - are a little colder.  And while I call my flowers a splurge, it usually only takes a single bouquet so the "splurge" isn't really that spendy.

I typically use little vases (more on that tomorrow), and break up the bouquet so there are 2-3 stems per vase.  Then I scatter each vase throughout the house.  If it is a bigger bouquet, I will group 3-4 vases together - making sure I use vases that are different sizes.  Often times they are different colors, but I will always bundle them together instead of spreading them through a room.  I believe it makes a more dramatic impact.

What about you? What do you do to bring the outside in? How do you brighten a room without spending a fortune?

Cupcake Carousel

I LOVE cupcakes.  While they aren't my favorite dessert treat (that would be ice cream or baklava), they rank up right there.  I believe cupcakes are the perfect combination of sweet goodness and moderation - especially the mini cupcakes.  I'm a big fan of mini cupcakes.

The other day I was flipping through a magazine and saw this beauty.  How wonderful it is that?!?! It's a cupcake carousel offered by Horchow.  It's whimsical and fabulous.  This is definitely going on my birthday list.  It's just too bad my birthday isn't until September. 

Studio Space

I don't own the house I live in.  I rent the house I live in.  I rent a house I don't particularly like.  While it has enough bedrooms, living room, family room, kitchen, dining room, etc. I don't like that the kitchen is too small (definitely not a cook's kitchen), I've had to convert the family room into an office, and there is simply not enough room for three women to spread out and claim some space of their own - except for their own bedrooms.  This summer, when my rental lease expires, I'm hoping to fix that by finding a larger rental but because of my unhappiness with the house we live in - I often find myself dreaming of what I would like to live in.  What I would like to own.  What I would like to call my own.

Repurposing for Organization

I live a life of organized chaos.  However, I'm trying to get better.  My probably is I don't like spending a lot of money on all those organizational gadgets and gizmos.  I prefer to refuse items I already have in clever ways.  Here are a few of those clever ways that I recently found while doing research.