Kids Chore Chart - Boy Version

 

Last year I shared my daughter's kids chore chart that I made for her as well as an altered clipboard.  I also mentioned that I would make a chore chart for my son as well.  Time seemed to have gotten the better of me, but I finally have a boy's version; though it's kind of regal with beautiful swirls and crowns, but I loved the color!  :)  Click here to download.

 

You can check out my previous post on how our system works using these chore charts.

 

My son just turned 4 in January, so he now has a few more responsibilities added to his chore chart.  Believe it or not, he loves to help vaccum and scrub the toilets!  Tonight he even set the dinner table all without any prompting from us!

And incase you missed the Kids Chore Chart - Girl's Version, here it is:

Kids Chore Chart - free printable!

 

I have so many other things I would love to share with you, but life is so busy right now that I just can't promise I will be posting daily or even weekly; but I do appreciate each and every one of you for sticking by me and reading my blog!!

 

Thank you so very much for your loyalty and support!  Please feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment!  :)

 

 

The Scrapbooking Housewife is an interactive resource providing ideas and inspiration for everyday life with kids; including papercrafting, organizing, free printables, tutorials, kids activities and parties, to name a few.

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Merry Christmas!

 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

All the Best for 2013!

Emergency Disaster Preparedness Kit & Plan

Is your family prepared? Do you have an Emergency Disaster Preparedness Kit? A Family Disaster Plan?

I have been putting off making an emergency disaster preparedness kit for quite some time. But since the recent earthquake and tsunami warning close to our area, it has made it very real so I thought it was about time I organized my emergency kit and preparedness plan.

This was originally going to be posted as part of my How to Organize a Household Binder blog series; but I figure now is as good of a time as any to share this, whether you live in an earthquake zone or not.

In this post I will go through my Emergency Category in my Household Binder, and I will also provide you with information sheets and free printables to get you started.

Here is what I include in my Emergency Category in my Household Binder:

• Family Disaster Plan (see below)
• Before/During/After Earthquake Information (see below)
• Emergency File (see below)
• Emergency Disaster Kit Purchase List (see below)
• ID's
• Health - Immunizations, etc.
• CPR Instructions

I have put together an Emergency Disaster Preparedness Information Sheet to give you some ideas and help you prepare, see below.



Emergency Disaster Preparedness Information Sheet (click here to download)

There are many ways and places you can store your emergency supplies.  Some store their supplies in backpacks or even rolling suitcases and store them in a closet close to the front door.  I saw a large storage chest on sale at Walmart in the automotive department (see picture below) and knew it would be perfect for our emergency kit!  I have decided to store ours in the garage.

So now that I have the storage chest, what now??  How do I start, what do I store inside??  I had all sorts of questions, which is why I had been putting this off for so long!

But I have done a lot of research and have compiled a purchase and inventory check-list of items for my family's Emergency Disaster Preparedness Kit.  Please keep in mind that this will be different for every family, only you can decide what is best for your family.  We will go through our camping gear and use some of those supplies to stock our kit, and the other items I plan to purchase throughout the next few months.

These are great check-lists that will keep track of purchases, inventory and expiry dates where applicable.  You can even mark an annual reminder note on  your calendar to change out your water, food, and batteries.  Some people even have a picnic annually with the near-expired items!

Download your free check-list here or dowload a blank check-list here.
 

Emergency Disaster Preparedness Kit Purchase List (download here)

(Click to enlarge)

 

Emergency Disaster Preparedness Kit Purchase List - Blank (click here to download)

Public Safety Canada provides free publications on emergency preparedness you can download for free on their website at http://www.getprepared.ca/.

Is your family prepared?  Do you have an Emergency Disaster Preparedness Kit?  If so, what types of things do you have in your kit?

The Scrapbooking Housewife is an interactive resource providing ideas and inspiration for everyday life with kids; including papercrafting, organizing, free printables, tutorials, kids activities and parties, to name a few.

 

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Left-over Turkey Casserole Recipe

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  The weather here has been amazingly sunny and hot!  Not like autumn at all!!  We had to take advantage of the great weather yesterday, so we went to the lake and had a picnic!

If you had turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, you may be wondering what to do with all of those turkey leftovers?  I have been making this Left-over Turkey Casserole recipe for years and it is super yummy!  We were also able to add our vegetable and stuffing leftovers to the casserole.



 

 

Left-over Turkey Casserole

 

¼ cup butter or margarine

1pkg (120g) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Turkey (or left-over stuffing)

1 can (284mL) Cream of Mushroom Soup

½ cup sour cream

1 can whole baby carrots – drained (we used our left-over carrots)

1 can water chestnuts – drained

2 cups diced turkey or chicken

2 green onions, sliced

 

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350F.

2.  Melt butter/margarine in 2 quart casserole in oven.

3.  Remove from oven and stir in contents of stuffing mix, reserve 1 cup.

4.  Blend soup and sour cream in large bowl.

5.  Stir in remaining ingredients then spread over stuffing crumbs in casserole.

6.  Sprinkle reserved stuffing mix over top.

7.  Cover and bake 35 minutes.

8.  Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes.

 

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite recipe that uses leftovers?

The Scrapbooking Housewife is an interactive resource providing ideas and inspiration for everyday life with kids; including papercrafting, organizing, free printables, tutorials, kids activities and parties, to name a few.

 

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Breakfast Cookies - Great for School Lunches or Snacks!

Mmmm, more wonderful baking treats for breakfast on the run, or a great snack in the kids' lunches!

These cookies are packed with protein, fibre, and heart-healthy canola oil, nuts, and seeds!  Cookies can be wrapped and stored in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.  Just add fruit and yogurt and you have a complete breakfast!

Breakfast Cookie
(this recipe is slightly modified from the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation)

Ingredients

• 1½ cups (375 mL) brown sugar
• 2 cups (500 mL) quick oats
• 3 cups (750 mL) all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) baking soda
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup (85 mL) ground flax
• 1/3 cup (85 mL) semi-ground almonds (I like a bit of crunch in my cookies!)
• 1/3 cup (85 mL) wheat germ (I used wheat bran) 
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) canola oil
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) applesauce
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) water
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (250 mL) craisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C).  Prepare 2 cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, flax, almonds and wheat germ.
3. Make a well in the centre and add canola oil, applesauce, water, eggs and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
4. Stir in craisins.   
5. Scoop out golf ball sized cookies onto cookie sheets. Flatten with the back of a spoon. These cookies will spread when baked.
6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven.  (Mine took a bit longer as I made larger cookies.)  
7. Once the cookies have cooled, individually wrap the cookies in saran wrap and store them in a freezer ziploc for up to 2 weeks.

My Notes:

• I may try using a bit less sugar next time.
• The original recipe called for ground cloves and ginger, however, I substituted cinnamon instead.
• I only had vegetable oil on hand and they still turned out great, just not as heart-healthy.
• I didn't grind the almonds completely, I liked the crunch from the odd larger pieces of almonds.
• I am not a huge fan of raisins, so I substituted craisins, and they were delicious!
• I never line my cookie sheets, nor do I spray them with cooking spray; I find this ruins the non-stick coating over time.
• The original recipe states that they do not spread when baked, well, they most certainly do.  I had a bunch of extra large yummy cookies!
• I found that my batch took a little longer, as my cookies were a bit larger.
• Once cooled, I wrapped them up individually with saran wrap and stored them in a freezer ziploc bag in the freezer.  They are actually great eaten right from the freezer!

What type of on-the-go breakfast solutions do you enjoy for those extra busy days?  Do you have a heart-healthy snack idea that you'd like to share?

The Scrapbooking Housewife is an interactive resource providing ideas and inspiration for everyday life with kids; including papercrafting, organizing, free printables, tutorials, kids activities and parties, to name a few.

 

Be sure to sign up to receive blog updates via RSS feed or sign up via email to get my blog posts directly sent to your email! The Scrapbooking Housewife is also on Facebook, so be sure to "Subscribe" to our page!

Making an Autumn Wreath

 

 

Autumn is here and what better way to get into the fall season than to make an autumn wreath!  I originally got the idea & instructions here, but when I went to Michael's the whispy wreath was a little out of my budget, especially since I wanted to get my hands on all of those fabulous fall stems at 60% off!!  And, lucky for me, I found the branch wreath on sale for only $4.99 - what a bargain!

 

I also purchased some floral wire (22 gauge).  The only wire they had at the thickness I wanted was in a huge bundle and green; but I managed to hide the wires in with the foilage when attaching the stems to the wreath.

 

I finally had a use for my cute mini wire cutters from my jewellry making days, and I started off by cutting all of the branches off the main stems.  I then just started to tuck the stems into the branches of the wreath and play around with placement until I was happy with how it looked.  I then used the floral wire to keep everything in place.

 

I loved how my autumn wreath looked, however, something was missing and I knew I wanted to include some mini gourds; so I went back to Michael's to see what I could find.  The mesh bag of mini gourds was a bit more than what I wanted to spend, so I ended up buying a small decorative fall stem which included foilage and two small pumpkins for under $2, so I was a happy camper!  I just cut the two pumpkins off the stems and placed them into my wreath!  Done!

 

I would love to decorate the front porch with pumpkins and beautiful planters full of plants, but that may have to wait until next year.

Be sure to check out my Pinterest boards for other inspirational ideas for your home and more!

Do you have a fall wreath for your front door?  How do you decorate for fall?  I would love to see!

The Scrapbooking Housewife is an interactive resource providing ideas and inspiration for everyday life with kids; including papercrafting, organizing, free printables, tutorials, kids activities and parties, to name a few.

 

Be sure to sign up to receive blog updates via RSS feed or sign up via email to get my blog posts directly sent to your email! The Scrapbooking Housewife is also on Facebook, so be sure to "Subscribe" to our page!

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