last week coming up!

Jeez, this is harder than I thought.

The cure is going really well, but it’s just nog finding its way to the blog. So here comes a report of where I am at the moment, some pictures of the progress and from now on there will be more frequent posting on the blog, because it’s so frustrating to have tons of stuff you want to write about, but at the same time not wanting to write a novel about it…

here we go:

The new fridge/freezer has arrived and we love it! its bigger, gives a better overlook of what we have in it and it has a lamp that actually works!

The old one, small, noisy and no light.

Then the new one arrived and i was so happy!

And when it was installed and filled with food I was (and still am) even more happy! Just look at the light!

I’ve also been sorting through my important-papers-cabinet and got rid of A LOT of junk that I’ve been holding on to for no good reason at all, papers upon papers filled with account numbers (at least three for every account) old tax papers and insurance policies with no keep-value what so ever, bills from five years ago… yeah you get it. I needed a clean out!

I even had my cure gathering allready! Since it was my birthday yesterday i decided to make some tasty cakes (I may have spent a little over four hours in the kitchen, but it sure was fun!), made a nice bubbly punch, lots of coffee and decorated with balloons. I invited friends and family, put on some music and had a fabulous 26th birthday!

Birthday lady!

This raspberry mousse cake with liquorice jelly was a real beauty.

And this chocolate thing hid a yummy red velvet cace with blood orange cream inside <3

Yum!

We only got two tiny pieces left after the guests went home, so I guess the cakes were popular. I know I loved them anyway! So, now we’ll keep on curing the last week and then… well… there will be a lot more space in my inbox! ;)

I’ll be back sooner this time, I promise!

Time flies and the kitchen gets cleaner

Ok, I’m not doing very good on the daily blogging part of this cure, but the rest is working just fine! Here’s a little report of what’s been going on since the last time I wrote.

Assignment #6 – Prep artwork for frame and display

Since most of the art in our home already is painted or photographed by us, the art project will be, instead of finding a frame for some artwork, finding some artwork for a frame. We have a huge picture of some yellow flower in the bathroom, it’s the only picture that is not even remotely chosen with care. Just put there in lack of better things to hang on the wall. This month we will find something we love to put in that frame instead!

Assignment #7 – Flowers, Kitchen cleaning and organizing, Making a meal

The kitchen cleaning… oh is it nice to have it done, but it was a bigger project than I thought! The pantry was full of spices, dried powders of you name it and bags with almost nothing in them. The oven had stains that needed some intense scrubbing and the drawers really needed to get organized. It felt really good to have a kitchen purge and get rid of all that stuff that never gets used, like the water boiler and the maca powder for example. Here comes a before and after from the pantry, we cleared up a lot of space!

Before

After! :)

So this weekend has been all about purging, organizing and scrubbing. It was so worth it, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for the cure. So the flowers and the cooking then? Well the flowers of the week are some fresh white tulips and I may or may not have bought a pair of scissors as well, just because i fell in love with them.

Just beautiful

The cooking part of the challenge wasn’t really a challenge since we close to always cook our own meals, but we chose a new recipe and tried it out. The result was a soft and sweet beet soup with aioli and crispy bacon. And the color, it could brighten any boring grey day with it’s lovely deep shade of pink!

Beet soup from heaven!

Love, C

Celebrating good times

Bubbles, glittter straws and flowers, what better way to celebrate?

First things first: I got in! I applied for a distance course in visual communication in photography and i got in! Yaaay! So excited it’s insane. No really, can’t stop smiling and giggling.

With that said, the latest assignment from AT was kind of a no brainer. As i wrote in the last post, we ordered a fridge/freezer and it will arrive on the 16th, the day that, according to the cure calendar, will be assigned to working on your goal project and today was the day to choose a goal project. It’s supposed to be something that can be completed this month, will make a noticeable difference in our home and that we proudly could share. So our goal project is to install the new piece of lovely coldness and, just like Eleanor, change the side of the door swing!

There will be some lovely before and after photos coming up next week :)

Love, C

Seeing your home for real

My blog-spot, painting-spot and lazy-spot and the place most likely to find me if not in the kitchen

As I told you on sunday, we went out looking for a new fridge/freezer for our kitchen and yesterday we ordered it. So next thursday the y will deliver it, carry it up the stairs AND take the old one with them, still for a lower price than if we bought it in store. Guess who’s a happy girl? Can’t wait to finally get it! :)

Soon…

The cure then, how are we doing? Well, the floors were spotless on monday and then yesterday we decided to take down all the holiday decor and *poof* there were glitter and dust all over, vacuuming again today. The assignments of this week went rather smooth, the 10 mindful minutes made me realize a few things about our bedroom, like how much I really want bedside lamps and that it’s about time to get a proper desk ( I know, no office in the bedroom, but we have to have a cat free zone for studying!) instead of using my old kitchen table, even though it’s rather small. To really see my home instead of just looking at it was a really nice thing that should be done more often, so useful!

As outboxing goes, we need to find a good box for it, but right now we use a big bag in the closet to collect stuff for a future flea market sale, it’s amazing how much stuff that never gets used! I really like the idea of an outbox so I’ll get it started up as soon as possible.

Now we just have to wait for the next assignment, zip our hot beverages and enjoy the fresh flowers. Oh yeah, and go grocery shopping…

Love, C

 

Flower power!

Today we went to look at some new fridge/freezer and fell a little bit in love with one of siemens larger models. It’s 2 m high and the freezer part has a no frost function, another good thing is that it is extremely energy effective, that’s got to give some points in becoming an environmentally friendly home. Now we just have to figure out where they can give us the best price!

As we had some time to kill before the bus would arrive to get home we took the opportunity to buy some flowers. My favorite is to buy a mixed bouquet for a reasonable price and then make smaller arrangements to spread around he apartment. Result in the pic above :)

Tomorrow is laundry day and floor cleaning day, not overly eager, but it has to be done! Especially washing the couch cover, it has become a more grey-ish white than it’s supposed to.

Love, C

Time to go green on both decorations and cleaners!

Pelargonium, the only flowers my cats don’t eat!

For the weekend we got a whole bunch of assignments to do. Since i get the mails in the afternoon thanks to time differences I’ve decided to push all assignments one day ahead to get the same amount of time as the rest of you on the cure!

1. Buy fresh flowers – I’m saving this for tomorrow since I bought fresh flowers the day before new years eve and they still look fresh. Sundays will be my flower days!
2. Vacuum all the rugs and clean ALL the floors! – Today I started my floor cleaning tour in the walk-in closet and the bedroom. First of all I had to make the food in the closet visible, it resulted in a big bag of garbage and another to go to “garage”-sale. It’s amazing what a bit of cleaning can do for your wellbeing, I feel kind of… free! It still itches in my nose though from all the dust i whirled up on the way. Now I just have the rest of the rooms and the mopping to take care of.
3. Stock up on good green cleaners – Ok, I really, really like this green cleaning idea, but I also don’t like the idea of throwing away all the cleaners they we already  do have at home. So I’m making this more of a month long assignment to look for and buy me some good green options for the future cleaning in our cured home! :)

Now it’s time for an evening at work and to take on more rooms again tomorrow. If any of you have some awesome tips for green cleaners (remember, not living in the states!) I would love it if you shared it!

Love, C

Day #1: The list of things i’ve been ignoring lately

Okay, so the first assignment of the cure arrived yesterday afternoon (Swede-time), it was time to make a to-do list, not any list but the BIG to-do list of our home. It turned out to be more stuff on the list than I initially  imagined and quite a few do cost some money, so when sorting out the things to do for the cure we had to consider costs as well as the time that would be needed.  There was a lot of wall-painting on the list, but that will have to wait until summer.

The main goal will be to fix the little things that we think about regularly but never seem to get done. for example fixing the door handle to the balcony or polishing up the mottled doorstep to the bathroom. Tiny details that make a big difference.

So, here’s the list after sizing it down to a january list:

Living room:

• Fixing the broken door handle to the balcony.
• Style up the cat bed (its an old wine box with a blanket in it) with some fancy fabric.
• Dust the nostalgia-shelf, it’s full of old tech, slinyks, rubric’s and alike, it really needs a clean-out!

Hallway:

• Find some pretty hooks and hang them on the wall for a place to hang my bags.

Bathroom:

• Buy some good looking plastic film and put it over the glass doors of the make up cabinet
• Clean the ventilation (ugh!)
• polish and oil the doorstep

Kitchen:

• Buy that new fridge/freezer that I got the money for as a christmas present
• Polish and re-paint the bottom of the upper cabinets
• Install floor under the stove (the last owners apparently decided it was too much work to take the stove out and install floor there as well)
• Attach the floor ledge next to the bedroom door
• look for a new tray to put the cat bowls on

Bedroom:

• Find a new pot for the plant
• attach the loose doorstep
• buy thicker curtains that can keep out the light from the street lamps
• Purge/organize/paint/redo the walk in closet

That closet make over is the biggest and most frightening task on my list, even though we actually have all the materials and tools already. But it’s definitely time, I’ve been wanting to do this since i moved in about three years ago!

Dear house hold gods, please give me the strength to complete this cure without losing momentum!

Love, C