Swapoween Reveal!

 

Hello, everyone! I am back to post my swapoween reveal!!! My partner was Mandy from over at Funky Frugal Mommy!!!  I had so much fun putting her package together and was so excited when her's arrived to me on Thursday! I unfortunately didn't get around to opening it until yesterday, but was so excited when I did!

Such fun accessories for dressing up!!!

Close up of my goodies. That skeleton glows in the dark, so awesome! We also now tell everyone to have a spooky day when they leave thanks to the door plaque we have hanging! 

Also I am so excited about the silly string. I always "surprise" my daughter (who's 13) with silly string...I'll randomly wake her up by spraying her with it! She saw it and was like oh my I must hide it! LOL

A close up of some of the goodies!

This is probably my single most favourite piece...a glitter skull with pink rhinestone eyes! Already planning a costume to use this next year! hahaha

Some super cool masks, some fun stickers that I'm using in my planner this upcoming week, a tattoo sleeve, and my daughter's favourite which you can't really see here are some Chupa Chyps and some orange stick on nails! Stayed tuned on instagram  where some of these goodies will be making their debut this weekend! 

Mandy really managed to put together a super fun box for my family! We love it! Make sure to go check her out and the ladies over at Chaotic Goddess Swaps, they are fantastic for putting this together!

Blog Updates....Come and follow me!

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As you can see I am doing a bit of house cleaning here! With the new name I decided I had too much going on so I am consolidating and fixing broken links from when the blog was Adjusting and Readjusting prior. I am so excited with my new look, I hope it brings new success and opportunity! So, that being said, if you want to enter your email off to the side to get my updates whenever I post something new...or click below and follow me:

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I'm gradually updating all of my pages, so make sure you follow me to keep up with what I'm up to! Also, if you leave a link to yours in the comments I will come over and give you a like, follower, or whatever is appropriate!!!

Super Cute Shopping Bags!

So here is a story of a woman who has all sorts of craft supplies yet rarely uses them. Does this sound familiar to anyone?!

Well, I live in a very, very, very small apartment in the middle of the city. I live with my husband and our teen. I love to craft, I love to collect craft supplies. However, over the years I sadly was not so great about actually doing the projects I set out to do. Well, I decided as part of my Happiness Project one of the number one things that causes me stress is the projects I haven't done. Sounds silly right?! Well, it is what it is. So, in my new found determination to take action I started working on projects. 

The project I will share with you today is a recycled project that uses one item we all have around the house: old t-shirts!!!! This project will take approximately 10 minutes or less per shirt!

I came up with this idea when the kiddo was cleaning out her drawers one day. She had tons of t-shirts that I personally didn't want her to part with because that would mean she was growing up. It would mean those sweet adorable shirts she only used a few times would no longer exist in our universe. Sappy, right?! Well, again it is what it is. So, I was determined to reuse a few of these shirts, so I created grocery bags and produce bags!!!

Here's how:

Gather old T-shirts and a pair of scissors:

Who would want to get rid of these?! Aren't they adorable?!

Now, you get to the cutting part, this is where it get fun:

First, cut off the arm holes

Then cut off the next, see those nice handles you got goin' on???

Next, cut the bottom hem off the t-shirt

Now, cut a slit up the side of the shirt right up the seem, I'd say at least 2"

Do this all the way across....You can make the cuts small like I did here, just be very careful when tying them as I've found they are much more fragile. Here is an example of another one I did where I made the cuts a bit wider:

I've found those are a bit sturdier for tying so I would definitely recommend cutting them at least a half an inch, if not a full inch apart.

Now, begin tying. 

Make sure you double knot them! Don't want those ties coming undone on your walk home from the market!

Keep going, almost done!

YAY!!! All finished!!! Isn't it adorable?!

How about this one:

100% girly approved?! Pink with ruffles and sparkle!!! I get so many compliments on this one when I'm running errands!

Here are two others I made:

(Sorry for the bad lighting for those)

Here is a smaller one I did that I use as a produce bag:

This one is great for small things like onion, garlic, etc. 

For bigger produce items like apples, pears, etc., I use these:

They are the sleeves of long sleeved t-shirts. I just cut the top of the shirt off to even them out. Then, I flatten the sleeve out to cut handles at the top. Next, cut off the hem of the sleeve at the bottom, just like you did for the shirt. Then, cut up the side of each seem (at least an inch) and make 2-3 more cuts. Tie those and you are done! On the darker one when I cut the handles I did cut slits into the sides so it had a little bit of decoration to it! 

Update:

Since we moved to Amsterdam I have used these bags a ton. I am constantly getting compliments on them so I thought I would post an update about how much these suckers hold! I know, a t-shirt you may be worried it will stretch or break...but no. I can fit an entire week's worth of groceries for three of us in these and carry them 10-15 minutes back home.

Those suckers are stuffed! But the best part is once they are unloaded they go back to their original shape. Another bonus: they are washable just like you would any other t-shirt!

What do you make with old t-shirts?!

Menu Plan Monday #26: It's been a while!

Well Hello Blogland! It has been soooooooooo long since I have done a Menu Plan Monday Post! I am so glad to be back on the wagon!

So, this weekend we didn't do a whole heck of a lot, but here's a small collection:

The Happy Haunting sign can be found in my new Etsy Shop!!!! I am super excited, go over and "favourite" my shop so you can keep up with me as I get more and more inventory uploaded this week!  The top left picture is my gorgeous teenager modeling a cute peplum top grandma sent her for the fall. The bottom left was our Friday night pizza night. It was all homemade and so delicious! We also had drinks with friends at our favourite bar that consisted of a Tobelerone Martini (a chocolate martini) and an Irish Coffee. Very tasty way to end a Saturday! Sunday has consisted of some amazing cinnamon rolls and grocery shopping. 

This week I wanted to alert you all to a great ebook bundle that is going on right now: 

You get 5 different ebooks on cooking real, unprocessed food for the upcoming colder months!! I know this will be a great one for me simply because where we live I crave hot foods, but need healthy alternatives! The link above is an affiliate link so I will receive a small portion if you click and buy a bundle, any money earned goes right back into the blog though! ;)

Anyway....on to....

Org Junkie

Breakfast

Monday: Cereal

Tuesday: Parfaits

Wednesday: Cereal

Thursday: Parfaits

Friday: Cereal

Saturday: Eggs Benedict

Sunday: Freezer cinnamon rolls

Lunch

Monday: 

Teen: Ham and cheese with orange slices and spiced nuts

Me: Salad with spiced nuts and dried blueberries

Tuesday: Roasted squash and rice

Wednesday: 

Teen: Eat out

Me: Happy Birthday to my Mister, go have lunch with him!

Thursday: Egg and cheese sandwiches with salad

Friday: No School! Take a picnic lunch and hike the Grouse Grind. Homemade sub sandwiches with salad, soup, water, and beavertails for a treat!

Saturday: Leftover recreations!

Sunday: Eat up any leftovers/snack

Dinner

Monday: Egg and pancake panini's with fruit salad

Tuesday: Tacos/burrito cups with salad

Wednesday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MISTER!!! Chicken alfredo with salad

Thursday: Teenager cooks: Sausage and pepper sandwiches with leftover salad

Friday: Company Halloween Party/Game Launch Party: Carmelized chicken/zucchini and blackbean skillet with corn/broccoli, and rolls

Saturday: New Restaurant Saturday: Al Porto in Gastown (purchased off Groupon)

Sunday: Spaghetti with salad and leftover rolls (regular spaghetti for hubby and teenager, I will have spaghetti squash with a paleo sauce)

Snacks for the week:

Protein shakes: Apple Pie, Wendy's Frosty, Pumpkin Spice, Peppermint, Chocolate Peppermint

Pumpkin apple waffle-wiches, apple nachos, popcorn, leftovers, fruit, cheese crisps

Food Prep:

Ultra Creamy Hemp Seed Dressing & Delicata Squash (both are very tasty), in the middle is an Almond Creame from the Karma Chow Cookbook for parfaits.

Paleo Spiced Nuts: 1 cup of walnuts and pecan, 1T honey (I'd reduce to 1/2 Tablespoon), and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg. Bake at 350 for 10 min, continue baking if they aren't brown enough for you.

Our salad for the week! I can't wait to put that delicata squash over this with some nuts and that hemp seed dressing. Yum!

Well, that wraps up Meal Plan Monday! What are you making this week?

Sunday Social: Life

Welcome to the Sunday Social! This is my first one under my new blog name "The Diary of an Urban Housewife". I hope you'll bear with me while I make all the changes around the blog! 

In the meantime come and follow me:

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This is where you'll see all my posts about what we are doing around the city, get to see my life in pictures, and where I am selling my creations. I hope you'll join me, I love to see what everyone else is up to! :)

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1. What do you value most in life? 

These two: 

Nothing better than seeing those two faces every day ;)

2. What do you think is the greatest invention in your life and why?

Hmmm this is an interesting question. Honestly there isn't anything since I've been born that has been invented that I don't think I could live without....but if I have to pick something I'd definitely say the INTERNET! 

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This picture is completely unrelated, but without the internet we'd have never seen its awesomeness! 

3. What do you think is the secret to a good life? 

Happiness and acceptance. If you surround yourself with people and work that makes you happy, the accept you for who you are and surroundings that make you happy, and if you learn to accept people for who they are and love those you love for who they are, you really can't go wrong! :) 

4. What would you most like to be remembered for when you’re gone? 

Being a devoted wife, awesome mother, and great friend and daughter.

5. What accomplishment in your life are you most proud of? Graduating university while working full time, being a wife, and mother. I taught my daughter to read while working with my husband to keep our daughter out of daycare. While doing all of this managed to sometimes exercise and cook a healthy meal every night. Sometimes I don't know how I did all I did in those days, then I take a nap because I remember my 20's were fairly sleepless so in my stay at home mom of a teenager 30's I let myself nap ;)

See you all next week for a Halloween Themed Sunday Social!

A New Name, (Sort of) New Theme

So, I took a bit of a break from blogging. I re-named the blog. I was once Adjusting and Readjusting. I thought that name fit my blog for various reasons, but after I started writing posts I quickly learned it just didn't fit my personality. So, given that we live in a high rise in the city and I love to write about our city live: small space living, days/nights on the town, teen activities in the city, etc I decided The Diary of an Urban Housewife was much more fitting!

I am now beginning the task of changing all of my links and whatnot. So, bear with me through these changes, the blog will be better than ever! :)

Swapoween is here!

Before I get on with all my homemaking blabbing later this week I want to tell y'all about something I am so excited to be participating in for the first time every....

I've been following Chaotic Goddess Swaps for quite a while now, but due to summer and back to school was never really ready to "jump in"...well, I LOVE Halloween so I figure why the heck not join The Swapoween?!

I love, love, love sending and receiving goodies in the mail so I cannot wait to get my partner and get shopping!!! Also, it's not too late to join in, so if you head on over you can read all the details and get signed up if you want!

Happy Swapoween...I mean Halloween!!!

Menu Plan #25

Hello! Welcome to another Menu Plan Monday Tuesday...oops what happened there?! We had a heck of a weekend. It was dreary, cold, and rainy. So you may ask why didn't I get my menu up on Monday morning like usual....well, aside from the dozen (yes, literally a dozen) projects I completed the teen had a 4 day weekend and hubby took Monday off as he was very, very sick. We all know how our men get when they are sick, yes??? Well, he is no exception...so I spent most of my days taking care of him and working on project. Good news is I will have a lot to post about!

So, on to my meal plan and some prep tips:

I made the egg muffins a head of time. They are super easy. Grease a muffin pan, crack an egg in there, chop up some fillings (I used purple and orange pepper and zucchini and a little cheese), whisk them up with a fork and bake at 350 for about 15-20 min (not 100% on this so just watch your muffys). Once done let them cool for 5 minutes and store in packs of 2 for an easy grab and go meal...you can also heat them up for about 40 seconds and they are good as new. :)

 With these she usually takes a whole wheat pumpkin muffin and/or an apple.

I also made some overnight oats:

In here is a cup of almond milk (homemade), 3/4 cup of oats, 1T chia seeds, and a scoop of sun warrior protein powder, and 1tsp of pumpkin pie spice. I used up containers that had just a wee spot of nut/seed butter left in them. Very tasty!

These are banana bread protein bars...yet they have no protein powder! The buckwheat groats are the secret ingredient I suspect. They are very, very delicious ;) As an added bonus they are high in iron since the coconut nectar is a great source of iron! 

This is the last of my prep: you can see my egg muffins that were made, to the left are bags of peppers for the teenager's snacks...she loves those lol, a container full of rice, and some chopped zucchini, peppers, and onion. These will make it super speedy to throw in lunches and to whip up dinner!

Finally....

These aren't necessarily on my menu but I made a huge batch of chickpeas to freeze for use later, and I am also making a large batch of black beans to freeze and use later. These are great for making snacks, burgers, etc!

Well, I hope everyone has had a much less eventful start to the week than I've had! ;)

Linking up at Org Junkie