Home Decor – Organization – Cooking – DIY – Family – Travel
There is really no right or wrong way to decorate after Christmas. Some jump into Valentines right away, some decorate for the rest of the year and while some like to ease into it with still keeping some winter decor up. Well I am one of those keep winter up people. I don’t keep any trees up but I like to keep some of the winter greens up as well as some pinecones maybe even some hints of snowflakes. This way when all the fun Christmas decor is gone I am left with cozy Winter. I do add some other greenery like boxwood to the decor because I do think it gives it somewhat of a wintery feel but one that can stay up all year.
Think fluffy pillows, cozy blankets and lots of natural winter type decor. You can even add some candles and twinkling lights to add even more coziness. I love mixing textures and adding punch of soft colors like these shown here.
In my dining room I kept it simple and most likely all the pine branches and other wintery greens will be replaced with some soft Valentines day colored stems.
I don’t have any houseplants since I have so many people and pets to keep alive it would be adding another layer of work for me, but I do love the look of them. That is why I like incorporating faux greens with the wintery greens. They make me feel alive and I tend to keep them up all year until Christmas.
If you enjoyed this post I encourage you to watch my decorating playlist over on YouTube
Sonja xo
Today I wanted to share my love for meal planning and some fun free printables that you can use for your own meal planning. I have been meal planning for a while know most of the time. There are times in my life when I really should be meal planning because life gets so busy and because of just that I skip it. I wanted to share some tips and tricks that I have for meal planning and some shelf cooking. This helps me stay on the budget and have least amount of food waste which I hate. And the benefit of all this is that you can eat pretty healthy at home.
Here are some tips and tricks
Here is a sample of my monthly meal plan
Once my Monthly meal plan is figured out I move on to my Weekly meal plan. I create my monthly meal plans at the end of previous month of beginning of the month that I am planning for. My Weekly menue I create usually on Wednesdays for the following week since my grocery day is typically Thursday
Tips and Tricks for Weekly Meal Plan
I also made a video of my meal planner flip through and all these tips and maybe couple extra ones if you want to see
For my grocery list, freezer and pantry list you can get the here
For Monthly printable
Weekly Printable
And if you would like to use ones I used in the video here is the link to weekly and monthly ones
Hope you have enjoyed this post and I encourage you to watch the video for some extra tips and tricks
Happy Meal Planning
Sonja
This year I said I wasn’t going to be doing any Halloween decorating. But here I am sharing a post on my Halloween Home decor. Since I no longer have young children at home I wanted to make it spooky but not overboard. I am going to start with my bar cart that was one of my favourite in my Halloween Decor this year. I decorated it for my Book Club since the book was a bit spooky and I though it would be the best fit for that.
I just love how awesome this turned out and mostly on the budget. The Skeleton was my most expensive piece and I got him from Spirit Halloween. He was around $70.00 CND. The rest of the decor is either my DIY or from Dollar Store.
While we are talking about the book club I also did a spooky Charcuterie set up. And not only was it spooky it was also very delicious.
Now moving on to the rest of the decor. I decorated the Rec Room in the basement probably the most since that is where my adult children hang out (age 18 and 19) with their friends.
Now for the rest of the house I kept it simple and I think elegant.
Hope you have a Happy Halloween
Sonja
I Think I love reading Fall books almost as much as I love watching Christmas Movies. I decided to search up all things Fall and come up with a book list that I am planning on reading this Fall and maybe inspire you to read along with me. Here are Four Fall Books that I think will put us in that Fall cozy feeling.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Alaska is an ideal destination for those seeking desolation—and that’s exactly what Vietnam vet Ernt Allbright wants, despite his wife and daughter’s wishes. It’s woman vs. nature in this gripping story of survival against odds and the elements.
The Year of The Witching by Alexis Henderson
The Handmaid’s Tale meets the Salem Witch Trials meets The Village (or any other sort of cult-like puritanical society). A perfectly dark horror fantasy to give atmospheric air to your autumn reads list.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Between the atmospheric isolated island setting and the murder mystery in this one, this book is definitely a fantastic Fall read for 2020 to curl up with. I listened to it on audio (via Libro.FM….my FAVE way to listen to audiobooks) and it was an incredible narration as I tried to figure out who was dead and which of the wedding guests did it in this slow burn murder mystery. (I have actually chose this book for my Book Club read)
The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
Rachel Krall, a true crime podcaster, has a reputation for inadvertently solving murders and affecting trial outcomes. Some judges and lawyers despise her.With a successful podcast and die-hard fans, listeners seek out Rachel’s help and coverage with their stories. Rachel heads to small town North Carolina for a sexual assault trial when she learns about an unsolved death that is seemingly not an accident. Caught up in the drama of both cases, Rachel risks her life for her passion and to help the victims.
If you are looking to join me in reading some or all of these books you can find them all here https://www.amazon.ca/ideas/amzn1.account.AFFMYJZXTN5EBLWBQSKZEM7GXFMQ/2VCMXOUYG3OQK?ref=idea_cp_vl_ov_d
Happy Reading
Sonja
Hello friends. I am finally getting around to creating this post. I have had it on paper for a long time and have done many screen shots for friends so they can have it too. I though it would be best if I created a post so I can share it with friends and any one else that might need a list to follow so they don’t forget anything.
We have done Tent Camping for past 16 years. We missed on year due to trip to Europe but other than that we typically do one to two camping trips a year. The list grew each year as i always brought it with me and added thing that I felt I needed and it wasn’t on the list.
I am going to start with cooking bin
COOKING BIN
Camp Site Maintenance Bin (Tool Bin)
Personal Items
First Aid Kit
Kids Master List
Cloths Master List
Sleeping Master List
This is my camping list. You can use it as a guide. I would love to know what is one thing you pack that you can not live without and I didn’t include it. I also want to recommend that you make a menue for all your meals so you can pack only what you need. We make block ice at home about a week before so we can save a bit on ice. The blocks keep solid for a while. If you can pack two coolers one for food and one for drinks so you are not opening your food cooler to get drinks all day long.
Happy Camping
Sonja
I am back with a new August Meal Plan. Sorry that I have been a bit MIA but life is a bit different now and I was in no mood to do monthly meal plans or much of anything else to be honest with you guys. But life must go on and one way for me to keep things in order is to have my meals planned out for us. I am still including grill recipes because it is still Summer here even though it doesn’t feel that way when you go to the stores and shelves are filled with Halloween candy and Fall decor. I have also created a new Cooking Channel on Youtube and you can watch a full video on what my thought process is when it comes to my monthly meal planning
My August Meal Plan
The reason why I write it all out in pencil is because in case I want to change things around. I also wanted to share my new menu board that I created on my DIY channel. I love using it every week
Here are some of the new recipes that I will be trying out this month
Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut sauce https://carlsbadcravings.com/thai-chicken-satay-with-peanut-sauce-recipe/
Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs (because we were suppose to be in Hawaii ) https://www.cookingclassy.com/hawaiian-chicken-kebabs/
Grilled Shrimp https://valentinascorner.com/grilled-shrimp-recipe/#recipe
Santa Fe Chicken https://www.spendwithpennies.com/santa-fe-chicken-packets/
Bacon Ranch Chicken https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/bacon-ranch-chicken-foil-packets/
Chicken Sandwich (COPYCAT CHICK-FIL-A SANDWICH) https://cincyshopper.com/copycat-chick-fil-a-sandwich/
Chilli Lime Chicken https://rasamalaysia.com/chili-lime-chicken/#mv-creation-50
You can also get all of these recipes on my Summer Dinner Board on Pinterest https://pin.it/1VbmKjo
And if you need more inspirations on meal planning make sure you check out all the rest of the meal planning posts as well as my meal planning video on my Cooking Channel
Happy Reading
Sonja
I am back with another month of meal plans. This is a first one for 2020 and My goal for 2020 is to provide my family with variety of meals as well as serve up healthy and delicious meals. My family has several dietary needs and I strive to provide clean made from scratch meals as much as possible. Since most of the meals are lower in carbs I do let you know different carb options you can add to your meals since sometimes I do add them for my kids depending how many carbs they had that day. I also like my dinners to have plenty of vegetables and I always serve them with a side salad even if I don’t list the salad in my Monthly Menue.
Here is my meal plan for the Month of January
I will include the list of meals and link a recipe to any that I have. I would also like to invite you to join me on my Youtube Channel where I share many recipes, meal prep, what’s for dinner and other cooking / kitchen related content. You can subscribe here https://youtu.be/75uuF9U6Qy8
My January Dinner Plan
Just a side note my kids will eat all the salad and veggies that I serve in case if I didn’t write it in. The only difference is my husband and I eat lower carb most times.
Hope you find these meal ideas helpful and they help you with your meal planning.
Happy Reading.
Last Health Bet my team I did got up to over $1600!!! Each winner got 800 each!!
We will begin a HEALTH BET CHALLENGE where you get to bet on making your health a priority!
It’s time to say goodbye to your excuses and take control of your health! Prove to yourself that even though January is about ready to come to an end, you’re not stopping your progress!!
* $10USD buy-in
* It runs for 4 weeks.
* You pick a workout to stream from our online library and get points for logging 1 a day!
* You also get 1 point a day for being consistent with your health supplements too.
I will connect you with the tools you need to participate first and then collect your buy-in!
Here are the 2 ways you can win the cash pot l, and this time we’ll be picking 4 winners!!….
* The person with the most participation points wins half the pot.
* The other half goes to the best transformation!
WHO’S INTERESTED!?
When doing home improvements it is so easy to use up your budget. This past year we have done a full main floor makeover including Kitchen and all the floors. We have done most of the stuff ourself. The kitchen installation and tile removal were done by professionals. We have saved a ton of money by doing it ourselves and I am so grateful that my husband is as handy as he is. But even though we did a lot of work the vision that we had for our main floor was pretty extensive. Here are some of the DIY projects that brought the cost down because we did it.
Our front door was in so much need of either being replaced or fixed. We priced out a new door and it was going to cost us for the double door over $16000. At this time we just did not have that kind of money for it. I have seen several people do a door makeover so I have decided to doit too. I did also buy new hardware that I got on clearance at Home Depo as well as the paint was on clearance too. The stain was a full price. You can watch a full tutorial here
2. Updated Fire Place Mantel
Next project was so easy and soo cheap to do. I have purchased this fireplace few year back from I think Kijiji for $120. It is massive and it was in bright orange stain. I used few different chalk paints and gave it a brand new look. Loved that look for so many years but with a new and updated main floor it was just not working. With some Black Benjamin Moore Paint and some wood from Home Depo I gave this electric fireplace a built in look and created a new focal point for my family room and my main floor since you can see it from the front door as soon as you enter my house.
This project did go a bit over $100 because the wood that I needed was so long. Next size down wood would come under $100. I have a beam running between my family room and kitchen and I wanted it to be more that just a beam. With some wood and finishing waxes I was able to create a piece of decor that everyone talks about when visiting my home. Just an FYI you will need a few people to install the wood preferably not family members that will yell at you.
4. Laundry room backsplash
My Laundry room needed a major face lift. The paint was looking a bit dull and I wanted it to be pretty and inviting. Hoping it would motivate me to do more laundry. But the biggest impact was installing a stick on backsplash. Obviously the more backsplash area you have the more it will cost. I was lucky enough that a company reached out to me and supplied me with the backsplash but I did price it out and it would come in under $100.
This last project was probably the most labour intensive but it was probably the most cost saving. I did redo all of my staircases in my house I am only sharing the basement staircase. This one had carpet on it but no spindles. The other staircase was wood and had spindles. After I was done painting spindles I think I was dreaming spindles. I used same technique on both sets of stairs.
Thanks for reading
Sonja
Now that the Holidays are over, I am ready to get back into my routine & get ready for my
Disney trip (yes another one) that’s 3 months away!! YAY!! And I would love any ladies that need that extra push to be in my next challenge/accountability group with me!
You will get 30-minute workouts, learn the basics of Clean Eating, Meal Planning, Portion Control, and most importantly…how to make this a LIFESTYLE & not a crash diet. In the group, you’ll get daily accountability, motivation & support. Plus, it’s fun!
Don’t wait until the  warm weather is already here & wish you would’ve started sooner. NOW is the time, ladies! Spring and Summer will be here before we know it!!Â
If you are ready to rock, my next group kicks off January 16th and I can only take 10 ladies for this next group. If this sounds like something that will benefit you, apply below! Let’s do this!!Â
Hello my friends. I have just finished putting my house back together after I took down Christmas. It took me about two days to get Christmas stuff put away and then I took my time deep cleaning each room and getting some new and old decor out. I like to start with each room with a clean slate so besides furniture there is really nothing else in it. That way its like brand new space every season and I can do whatever I want with it.
This year I went with a little bit less decor than usual. It was just what I was feeling. I am far from minimalistic but I do feel comparing to previous years that my decor was minimal. I wanted my decor to feel wintery and cozy.
I started with my front foyer and living room. I brought in lots of outdoor elements mixed with different textures like wood, fabric, stone and metal. Love how inviting the foyer feels and how cozy living room is.
Once these two rooms were complete I moved on to my Dining Room and Family Room. My Dining Room barely gets used but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t look pretty. I pulled all the same elements from the living room and continued them into the dining room
The Family Room opens up to our kitchen and dinette and is also one of the most used room by all of us including my two giant fur babies. I wanted to tie in the whole house in my family room without going over board which is one of the hardest things to do for me.
I probably should have included my front porch right at the beginning but I did spruce up the porch too. Using existing Christmas planters minus the red berries and lots of white and fluffy decor my front porch now is very wintery and inviting.
The last room I decorated for Winter was my Master Bedroom. Although this decor is more all year round I still feel it is very cozy and makes me want to nap all day.
If you would like I also have a video tour and all the decorate with me videos over on my youtube channel
I hope you were able to get some inspirations from this post and I hope you have Happy Winter Decorating.
Sonja
Thank you so much for stopping by and watching my video. As a Thank You here is my free Printable. Also if you enjoy free Printable make sure you follow my blog for those as well as tons more stuff.
Free Printable
If you haven’t seen this video and how I use this printable you can watch it here
Thanks for following along
Sonja
Hi guys. Here is a Fall Free Printable for you. This is great to use with Hiipoo Waterslide decals. You can get 30% off on this by going to https://www.amazon.com/Hiipoo-Waterslide-Transfer-Transparent-Waterproof/dp/B092V22XWZ and using these codes
Heat transfer paper: MVVXPHKY
Waterslide decal paper: O8LQDZBB
Here is the free printable
Happy Crafting
Sonja