As you might know, I’m a new mom. My little ball of joy is almost 8 months old…ahhh I can hardly believe I’m saying that. Well being new to this whole mom thing has came along with a entirely new set of challenges.

One for example is trying to maintain a household while giving 100% of your attention to this little life sucking human. When I say life sucking I mean that in the most positive way possible. They just require so much of our time and attention that sometimes it literally feels like they are sucking the life out of you. Not to mention breast feeding, talk about sucking the life out of you! BUT that is a whole other topic for another day. Back to my main point of discussion, how to clean your house with very little time.

I’ll try to break it down into a few easy steps that have worked for me….but if you really aren’t up for the task of tackling the house cleaning you could always opt out and hire a cleaning lady. I admit I have done this on occasion when my brain or body just can’t pull itself together to get the job done. All I would suggest is to hire a reputable cleaning company in Brandon that knows what they are doing and also doesn’t charge an arm and a leg. I had a great experience with my house cleaners and I would absolutely recommend them, comment below if you would like more info on them! OK back to a few tips that I find works for me.

1. Be intentionally.
   • For example, trying to put everything away into its correct place immediately. That is something I am still learning to get the hand of. I’m the kind of person who jumps around from task to task, never finishing anything from start to finish. Hey for me it works, well it used to work when I had time to finish everything. Now having my time very limited, it tends to happen that I start a few things but then baby needs something and I don’t get to finishing them or even forget that I started them! (Trust me, mom brain is real)
2. If you notice it, do it now.
   • You know that shower drain that loves to get clogged up with hair? Or the inside of the microwave that is splattered with food? Those type of things that are not very apparent to naked eye without entering into. You would never think of cleaning the drain out until your in the shower standing in a pool of soapy water. Either unclog it while in the shower or finish up then do the deed immediately. Because we all know that after your shower the last thing on your mind will be to unclog the drain, it just doesn’t work like that.
3. Use nap time to your advantage.
   • Time without a baby attached to your hip is few and far between. There is that brief window throughout the day when your little one takes their nap and you have “me time”. I know how easy it is to just want to sit down and watch an episode on Netflix, or go on Facebook for a while and see what your friends have been up to. But once you start on that slippery slop there really isn’t any turning back, and before you know it you hear cries from their bedroom and that small window you have to get stuff done is now closed.
4. Plan ahead.
   • I find it more manageable to clean the house when I plan to do it a day ahead. It’s almost like I need to mentally prepare my mind, that gives me the most productivity by far. That being said, most often then not my plans don’t always go as planned but yet I still find it good to attempt to plan ahead.

Well there you have it! Those are the four things I try do within my whirlwind of motherhood life to help keep our home clean and tidy. One of the best things about having a clean home is it really helps keep your mind clear as well. I for one feel like I can think better and am more productive when the space around me is in order. So on that note…I’m off to unclog the shower drain, since I have been forgetting to do that for weeks now! Hope these tips can help you or pass them along to someone else in your life! Have a fabulous cleaning time!

Let me start off by introducing my favourite mini person, her name is Amri and she is almost 8 months old. She is our little ball of happiness, if I could have a penny for every time that I hear someone say “that is the happiest baby ever”, trust me I’d be a multi-millionaire. She loves human interaction so much, all she wants to do is smile at everyone and connect with everyone. She’s amazing.

So the other day I was on Pinterest and I saw this photo of a blanket poncho. It’s honestly the best idea ever. Car seat regulations say that a child should not have a jacket on while being buckled into their car seat. Like traveling in our blistering Manitoban winter with a baby isn’t bad enough! Now the process for me was as followed.

1. Start the car and let it warm up for 20+ minutes
2. Dress my baby up in her snow suit/jacket and go to the car
3. Once in the car take off snow suit/jacket
4. Buckle child into car seat
5. Pile layers upon layers of blankets so she doesn’t get cold
6. Once arrived at destination re-dress child in jacket and brave the cold

Now now to mention how huge of a pain in the butt this all is, but by the end of this whole process I have a cranky baby, she really doesn’t like it. To top that all off, my child hates being in her car seat, so the more content I can make her as she goes into the car seat, the less screaming I will be hearing along the drive!

Okay, now for the goods. I watched a few youtube videos on how to make these blanket ponchos, everyone kind of had their own way of doing it but they turned out similar. If possible I like to do as much as I can without sewing, I don’t mind sewing, I just find it takes up a lot more of my time then I expect, and life with a baby you value every second. I printed a pattern that I found online, tapped that all together and used that to cut my two laters of fleece. The site craftymommyathome.blogspot.ca is where I found the best directions for this no-sew approach. I ended up sewing only the hood since I preferred that look.

Well 5 hours later I have my first attempt at this blanket poncho. I admit it took a lot longer then necessary but I was learning along the way! I now feel confident to tackle a second one of these bad boys and know it will take half the time. Another cool thing about this is that it is completely reversible. I’ll post some photos of it below so you can see how fabulous it is. I’m so in love! These blanket ponchos are honestly the greatest thing ever, its hard to believe I lived without it for half of the winter. Truly revolutionary!

The saying happy wife, happy life. Don’t get me wrong that’s all true, but there is even another saying that holds stronger truth. Happy baby, happy wife! And I for one am so happy with the ease this creation has brought me, not to mention it’s pretty darn cute!

This past weekend my extended family came to visit us, they live in Regina. They had to go to a specialist in Winnipeg so they thought they would break up the drive and see some family along the way.

It’s always one of my fondest memories as a child is driving to Regina to see them. The best part was staying at a hotel, not just any hotel, it had to be one with a water slide. To a child a water slide at your hotel is the coolest thing in the entire world, not just a pool but a water slide! So it makes utmost sense that when they come to visit us their kids always have to stay at a hotel with a water slide as well. Hey, I’m not complaining, I get to relive in childhood happy days and slide down that water slide all night long! Continue reading “A Place to Rest Your Head” →

Why hello again! Last night a friend and I were pondering what to do with our evening. Sometimes it feels like there’s just nothing to do in your hometown. Been there done that is the general attitude that tends to get us down. Well! Let me tell you about something that is generally on the newer side of things but is starting to take over like wild fire, and I can see why!

They are called Escape Rooms, I know it sounds a lot more creepy then it actually is. The objective of these is to solve a series of puzzles in order to successfully leave the room. The puzzles consist of a few different types. There are puzzle types with numbers and letters, as well riddle types of puzzles. My favourite type of puzzle that I came across was object puzzles. I don’t want to give any thing away so I will not go into describing what those are but they definitely involve some strategic thinking!

There is also a process that you must solve the puzzles in, for example, there is two different starting points where you must solve the first puzzle which gives you a clue for the second. Also, there is usually a lot of locks involved, and a variety of different locks to be exact. Some I’ve never even seen in my entire life, which makes it that much more challenging to work with.

Continue reading “Everyday Adventures” →

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog! Here is where I will be enlightening you all on the awesome things I come across in my path of life. Just an FYI, I tend to brag about the amazing town of Brandon Manitoba. It may not be the biggest place on earth but it sure does have something special about it. I can’t wait to share with you all! Readers beware: the world thru my eyes may always be freakishly positive with a touch of charm and sprinkle of humour.

So if your looking to find the best restaurant in my wonderful city or perhaps have a dirty situation that needs some serious cleaning done, stay tuned because I know the best of the best. Time is valuable, that is why I wanted to start this blog, to show everyone how to short cut right to the cream of the crop. It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy!