My Fun Christmas Mantel

Hey there!

This morning when I got up and looked outside it was snowing.  I'm not a fan of the snow, although I've come to tolerate it over the years. (I supposed I have no choice living in Canada... in Southern Ontario... in the snowbelt... where it snows... alot!.

So I thought some Christmas decorating was in order.

I'm not quite done my new family room built-ins ( one final coat of stinky paint), but I decided to tackle my mantle.

My original plan was to re-do my mantel.  Built-in out... chunky-it-up. But time is getting away from me... and I'm seriously tired of going to Rona and looking for wood-cutting- old-guy-BFF.  So I'm going with what I've got... for now.

This is what it currently looks like...

Yes, I believe the word is "blah". I kind of like the brick (kinda/sorta) but the mantel is small... really small.

But that will be a 2012 project. And If I can dream a little, I'll add in a gas fireplace insert too.

(remember I said dream, as I think know it's NOT in the budget)

Anyhoo...

Because I didn't want to spend any money I went into the Christmas totes and gathered some supplies and went to work.

I took an old wreath that I've had for probably 13 years or so and took it apart. 

Then I found some fake poinsetta flowers in white and red and took them apart and added it to my wreath form.

I also found some flimsy green garland from along time ago as well.  I ended up doubling the garland just to make is look thicker. 

So here is a progress shot...

Then the kids started arguing about how blue the sky was or something and stopped taking any more progress pictures.

Sorry... but I'm sure you can figure out how I put the rest together.

I added lights and other different fillers that I "found" in my totes and went to town.

Here are some pretty pictures...

And one final one... ( I promise)

I kept to my red and white colour scheme (which is through out my home), and it kept whimisical by added a snowman that used to sing and dance (but someone removed the music box from it)

What are you up today?

Have you decorated your mantel yet?  If you need some inspiration check out Rhoda's Mantel Party.

First Snow Storm of the Season

Today, the compost bin under sink needed to be emptied, and H. volunteered.

Not sure if we will find banana and potatoe peels on the patio once the snow melts.

She was a trooper!  In certain spots it was up to her waist.

 I think it took her about 15 minutes to complete the task.

Thanks H.!

Tim Horton's Free Holiday Skating

Two of the best about living in Canada : Tim Horton's and skating have come together.

(just joking... there is soooo much more I love about Canada)

Check out the Tim Horton's Free Holiday Skating Schedule Accross Canada.

It's in our schedule for frugal fun during the holidays.

Thanks for posting on Smart Canucks Milo.

How I Clean My Oven & a Linky Party


How often do you use your oven? In the Fall and Winter, I seem to use it just about every other day if not every day. Are you like me?

So in my quest to get ready for winter, I cleaned my oven.

Of course I used one of my fave Shaklee products, Scour Off.

Here's the product description on my Shaklee online site .

"Scour Off™ Heavy-Duty Paste

Size: 250 g

Great for the toughest cleaning challenges

Here’s an exclusive scouring cleanser that sets a new standard. It’s a paste, so it doesn’t form dust clouds. It cleans stuck-on messes. It even cleans burnt-on food in your oven.

And it doesn’t burn off your nose hairs in the process"

Oh Scour Off, you had me at "And it doesn’t burn off your nose hairs in the process."

(My self-clean oven doesn't self clean any more and when it did, the smell in the house was disgusting.)

Here are some before pictures...

And the AFTERS!!!!

(I just put a dab on a dollar store scrubber and added water and rubbed all over the yucky messes.)

I also use Scour Off on my ceramic top stove to get cooked-on-spillovers off. 

It's magical and smells like bubblegum!

Here's a testimonial from a couple of happy Scour Off users...

Claudia C.: "I used the shaklee scrub and it worked great on my stove!"

Amelia: "I used it to clean my Wood Stove.  It was fantastic!!"

If you would like any more information about Scour Off please visit my Shaklee Site or e-mail me if you have any questions.

I'm linking up too. and also here

And now the Get Ready for Winter Party.

The Rules:

1.  Link-up ANY project you have been working on (I'm not picky).

2.Link up with the intended post not your Blog home page.

3. Let others know about it.

Getting Ready for Winter Linky Party

We've been going crazy around this place getting everything ready for the inevitable Winter arrival. 
I'm hoping it will be December before the first snowfall (Christmas Eve preferably), but usually by November we've had a really good one come down.

It seems every year, there is one or two important things that get forgotten.

People, this is not glamourous work and there is "lovely" piece of art at the end. But it needs to be done!

So far this is what we have done:

1.  Closed the pool

2. Put the cover on the Air Conditioner

(mental note: get hubby to re-strech it ;))

3. Raked a truckload of leaves.

No really.  It was yard waste pick-up so we filled a bunch of bags with leaves.

 (will probably have to do this a couple of more times)

 

  

4. Emptied and cleaned the flower pots.

5. Cleaned the Furnace Filter.

This is really gross!  This is what it looked like.

We have an Electrostatic Furnace filter that plugs into furnace
and it's suppose to remove up to "97 % of alergens from the air that passes through it."

By the looks of it... I don't think so.

I took it outside, sprayed with Basic H2 all purpose formula and then washed it down with the hose.

And then I let it dry outside.

Look!! You can actually see through it now!!

Then I went to Home Depot and spoke to "the Lady" about what else I can do get rid of more gunk from the air. And she suggest this. It's the material that the disposable filters are made of (without the frame)

I cut it down to size and put it in-between the two layers.

(sorry I forgot to take final picture of it)

Our furnace is really old... like 30 years old. 

But it still works, and "furnace repair guy" says although it's not as efficient as it could be,

 it's still in working order. I'm going to look into getting a new one and look into the government rebates available as well. Soon...

So that's what I've done this week.

(oh and I'm Linking up here too)

What have you been doing to get ready for Winter??

 Rules:

1. Link the actual post not your blog homepage
2.  Mention the party on your blog or post.

Are you ready for Winter?

I know... I know... Fall JUST started (Sept 22.).  But guess what?

Winter is right around the corner. (blech)

(December 21st to be exact, although around these parts, it will seem to be earlier)

I'm not a Winter girl at all... but I try.

Every year around this time I always seem to neglect important parts around my home (inside and out).

Like...

• Replacing furnace filters
• House plants get forgotten outside
• Put Cover back on Air Conditioner
• get Carpets cleaned
• get out Winter Clothes for kids
• get Rain Barrel emptied
• etc, etc, etc

And then the holidays hit and I've done nothing to prep for Winter.

My goal is to be done well ahead of the Holidays, this year!

So, from October 15 - November 15 I will be hosting

Getting Ready for Winter Link Party!!!

The link party will go up every Thursday.

You can link any project that involves getting your home or life ready for Winter.

Won't you join me?

Frugal Fun

This morning we woke up to a whole lotta snow. Not sure really how much fell... but it's a whole lotta.

It's the first big one we've had this year.  The kids started asking right away... "Can we go outside?  Can we go outside?"  I told them "yeap as soon as I get a cup or two of coffee into me.  As I took my last sip of coffee I turned around to see all three of them with their snow gear on. 

"Now mom?"

So off we went...

While I was out there I shoveled the drive as well.  I only did enough for my van to get out.  We bought a snow blower about two months ago, but now hubby can't figure out how to work it.  I gotta get out the instruction manual.

They had lots of fun... for free.