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Spring cleaning: Not just for the basement

We can walk it out.

It’s finally spring. Although, for the most part, we had a pretty mild winter here on the prairies (in Saskatchewan we keep our fingers crossed until early April). But even with spring-like weather all winter long, there’s still a different feeling when real-deal, official spring comes. You can tell when it happens. The days are longer. The air is filled with the smell of growth and the songs of birds you haven’t hear in months. The sound of running water reminds you of when street streams were battlefields and race ways for toothpicks and anything we could get to float. It’s glorious. And the snow’s gone for good, too (fingers still crossed). However, it has left a mess in its wake. A mess beyond the dirty piles of gravel on our lawns and the dog poop stew made in the park all winter long by inconsiderate pet owners (for my dog poop diatribe, read The Dog Days of Spring from my kids’ poetry blog).

In response, our minds turn to cleaning out our houses, both inside and out. We rake lawns, wash windows and empty basements, looking to do away with the debris we’ve accumulated over the winter months. But what about the debris that’s attached itself to our bodies?

You know what I’m talking about. The box(es) of Pot of Gold at Christmas. The beer every week with friends. The sitting on the couch. It adds up. We shouldn’t forget this accumulation either. But that doesn’t mean you have to go buy an expensive gym membership and a compression-everything wardrobe right out of the gate. There are simple activities you can do with the whole family and set an example for your kids that being healthy can be fun. And it doesn’t require a Wii board or anything. Want to know what it is? Ok, here we go:

Go for a walk.

Earth shattering, isn’t it? But it’s proof positive that one small change can have a huge impact. My wife and I decided to make sure we went for a walk with the boys and dog every night, right after dinner. We drive to different parts of the city and walk different paths every night. And it’s been awesome. I’ve heard it takes 21 days to create a new habit, but this was instantaneous. We all love it and look forward to it every day.

Dog day evening

And there are many opportunities to change it up and get a real workout with the kids. We always stop at the park after a half hour or so and play tag. The kids love it, and I get my heart pumping by running through gravel and climbing monkey bars.

Leaf fight

I'm IT!

It also makes bedtime a lot easier – the boys fall asleep right away.  It feels good to be away from the TV. And it feels great to be able to set a healthy example for the kids, while getting to have actual conversations with the people I love the most. Everybody wins.

So get out there with the family and put one foot in front of the other. Go to parks you’ve never been to, big and small (don’t underestimate the power of any new playground on your children, regardless of its size or quality). Just keep on truckin’.

Off into the sunset, together

You’ll be happy where it takes you.

Know The Warning Signs Of Farming

It has happened, one minute I’m the girl who has never had a garden and next thing you know I am three blog posts deep into gardening mania.

What Have I Become

Last week I gave you some tips for the garden. This post is for those who don’t have a garden but want to either have a hand in a harvest, or still eat well. Like a reformed smoker, I am gonna go all preachy on you and rave on about the benefits of organic food. You have probably seen this little fridge magnet:

This chart shows you the benefits of organic growing – I’m convinced.

This is a link to a list of community gardens all over Canada. This is the way to grow your own organic produce for far less money that it costs to buy it in the supermarket. After calling a few of the places in my locale, I learnt that there are allotments available to rent all over my fair city (Victoria) as well as community gardens where everyone literally mucks in together. Over at The University of Victoria, not only can the students apply to rent an allotment plot but there are also communal spaces for people to have hand in harvesting, not just for their own bellies, but also for people in need. Andrea Zittlau, UVIC’s gardening coordinator says, ‘We do always have a number of common spaces where people who don’t necessarily have their own plots are welcome to help out and harvest, such as permaculture plots, berry crops, herbs, and “Giving Gardens” (for food bank donations). We have weekly workparties to take care of those. A number of the allotment plots are also rented out to different campus groups and classes, so those are taken care of in a more communal way as well: the Women’s Centre, Students of Colour Collective, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, UVic Sustainability Project, the campus daycare, Indigenous Governance and an Ethnoecology class.” I don’t know about you, but that warms the cockles of my heart.

If you have no desire at all to garden, in most cities there are organic farming distributors who will deliver straight from the farmer’s door to yours. Here in Victoria, we have Local Food Box, Share Organics and Island Eats to name just a few and many of the community centres also offer a similar service. I know my local community centre, Oaklands, does.

Remember last week we talked about wine? Well let’s talk some more. Howsabout when you go out for a tasty glass of red and some local eats, you support your local farmers and those taking time to feed you a full cycle menu. In Victoria, places like Nourish at Glendale Gardens and Sooke Harbour House are growing their own ingredients, and have huge beautiful gardens to prove it. The HaT, the new incarnation of The Mountain View Inn on the Malahat are also aiming for something similar, starting with herbs and growing from there. Many more local restaurants are committed to using local ingredients and if I could list them all here I would.

The view from Sooke Harbour House Gardens. Mmmm a great place to grow.

The Gardens at Nourish, Glendale Gardens. Just beautiful.

We likely all know the benefits of organic food but we also know how expensive it can be, one of the reasons I’m growing my own. If you don’t have the space, think about contacting a community garden or asking a neighbour if you can help with theirs. Or who knows, maybe your workplace has the space, I know Larsen Music here in Victoria has shared veggie plots, which is such a great idea.

I’d love to hear about any at-work garden plots that staff share. If you have such a thing at your place of work, let’s see some pictures so we can all swoon!

What can you do with a giant bottle of vinegar? A heck of a lot!!

Now you’re probably wondering what would possess someone to buy such a huge bottle of vinegar and the answer would be, “Because it was on sale, of course!”  You might also assume that this is also the reason that I bought this monstrous bottle of vinegar, being the ultimate deal junkie that I am. But you’d be wrong! The real reason? My mom…

You see, I was over at her house on the weekend and she had decided to clean out her pantry of items she knew she wasn’t going to use. I learned most of my frugality from my mother who taught me some basic lessons on saving money;  the most important one being –  always stock up on items when they go on sale. Unfortunately the other part of this lesson that you’re supposed to follow is to only stock up on items that you will actually use and not just purchase something because it’s “such a great deal” even though you know you will never use it.  Well, my mother obviously broke this rule and while digging through the pantry, she came across this gigantic bottle of vinegar and realized that she would never be able to finish it in her lifetime. She shamefully admitted she bought it at Costco only because it was “such a great deal!” Don’t worry, I forgive you Mom!

She asked if I would have any use for it and I said “Sure,” thinking that I would challenge myself at finding some fun and useful ways to use up this bottle of vinegar before it went bad (Turns out that vinegar is actually a product of wine gone bad. In fact the word “vinegar” is from the French words vin aigre which translates to “sour wine.” Now there’s a little bit of useless trivia that you will probably never get to use, but don’t you already feel smarter now that you know this!!!)

I started asking my friend Mr. Google for ways of using up this monstrous bottle of sour wine (if only you could just drink it like wine! Heck, that bottle would be gone by Friday in this house!) and turns out there are a ton of ways vinegar can be used in your daily life.  Here are some of the ones I thought were useful and/or surprising:

1. Cleaning your house. Turns out vinegar is a main ingredient in most of the daily household cleaners we can make at home.  More and more these days, people are trying to find ways of staying away from harsh chemicals and saving money and so making your own homemade cleaners has become really popular.  You can use vinegar to clean your fridge (using equal parts water and vinegar), clean your mirrors and windows (2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap) and even clean your dishwasher (run 1 cup of vinegar through the whole cycle once a month.) As well, you can clean soap scum and mildew from your bathtub and shower tiles by simply wiping the surface with vinegar and washing it off with water. And imagine how much money you’ll save by eliminating all those expensive and harmful chemicals from your shopping list each month. Not to mention the excess shelf space minus a dozen bottles of cleaners!

2. Helping your garden.  I had no idea there were so many things you can use vinegar for in your garden. For instance, who knew you could kill grass and weeds on driveways and sidewalks by simply pouring vinegar directly on them?  Same goes for unwanted weeds in your backyard and in your garden.  This is such a safer way to kill weeds and  the expensive weed killing products you buy are really toxic and can be harmful to animals. Or what about that beautiful bouquet of flowers that you husband buys you each week? (Okay, so that may be just a fantasy of mine but a girl can dream, can’t she?  Hint, Hint Hubbie!) You can increase the lifespan of them by simply adding tablespoons of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of sugar to each quart of water.

3. Useful as beauty products.  Now don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you use vinegar in place of your favorite perfume or cologne (unless your significant other has a thing for fish and chips and then, by all means, dab a little behind the ears for a saucy evening! Lol)  But you can use vinegar to wash your hair. If you have dandruff, just rinse your hair with vinegar and 2 cups of water after shampooing.  Or if you’re a brunette, you can add highlights to your hair by rinsing your hair with 1 cup vinegar and warm water after shampooing. You can also use vinegar to relieve dry and itchy skin by adding two tablespoons to your bathwater. And don’t worry; with all of these uses, the vinegar smell will disappear when your hair or skin dries.

4. Miscellaneous and rather odd uses.  There’s a bunch of ways to use vinegar that I had never heard of but could be useful to some people.  Like, did you know that if you sprinkling a little bit of vinegar on your food can help dampen your appetite so you don’t over eat? “Pass the vinegar please.”

And we’ve all heard that if you get stung by a jellyfish, the only cure for the pain is have a soon-to-be ex-friend pee on you ( I say ex-friend because you’ll never be able to look your friend in the eye again after something like this) but luckily you can save your friendship by pouring vinegar on the wound instead. Whew!  Now I’m sure that’s a load off of your minds since we’ve all wondered when we’d have to step up and pee on our friend’s jellyfish stung leg, right? Uh, um, anyhoo….

This is a very strange one but if you have ever wanted to turn a chicken bone into rubber, turns out YOU CAN!  You soak it in vinegar for 3 days and the bone will bend like rubber.  Now there’s a fun science experiment to do with the kiddies this weekend… Just kidding…unless you’ve REALLY run out of things to do and happen to have a chicken bone just lying around the house! You never know!

And my favorite use for my giant bottle of vinegar is to just eat more delicious fish and chips for the next few months because you can’t have fish and chips without vinegar…that would be sacrilege!  So I will promise you that this gigantic bottle of vinegar will not go to waste whether I use it to clean my house, my garden or myself…or just simply gain 10 pounds eating yummy, greasy fish and chips…Think I’ll start right now with the fish and chips task!  Mmmmmmm! If you have any other good uses for vinegar, I’d love to hear them.

Coupon tip of the week:  This was a discussion on one of my coupon facebook groups recently which I thought I would highlight. A lot of times, companies will place coupon peelies or stickers on products which you are supposed to use once you’ve bought the product.  But unfortunately there are some people out there who will simply peel the sticker off the product and take it without purchasing the product. This is just poor coupon etiquette and essentially stealing so please refrain from doing this as it only puts a bad rap on couponers and makes it disappointing for the next customer wanting to buy that product.  Trust me; good coupon karma goes a long way!

Vacation on a Budget

Travel is something that has always been important to me. Since our early 20′s, my husband Mark and I have made our way around the globe, trying to schedule at least one international trip each year.

On Safari in South Africa

Mark & Erin in Mostar, Bosnia

After our slightly failed African adventure in 2008 (I got malaria 10 days into our 4 month journey from Tanzania to South Africa and we had to return home), travel has been a little less frequent.

Tanzania, before Malaria

Erin with malaria. Kigoma, Tanzania

Now, with a baby on the way, both Mark and I have been anxious to get one more trip under our belts before our worlds are “forever changed”.

Trouble is we don’t have much money allotted for a vacation. In fact, in a desperate moment a few weeks back I quizzed Mark: “Pick one, never travelling again, or having kids?” (A question I probably should have asked BEFORE we got pregnant). I was relieved when he answered that he’d rather have a family, but that we should still plan a trip.

Cheap travel always conjures up images of dirty beds, stinky buses and shady people. We’ve never been a five star couple and we’ve always travelled with a budget in mind but this trip was unique. It was relatively last minute and we wanted to try to plan a Caribbean vacation for 10 days for less than $2,500.

Our last Caribbean adventure: horseback riding in Turks and Caicos

We started by looking for the cheapest flights we could find. We found two tickets to Aruba for $1,450 combined (we’ve paid nearly that much for one ticket to the Cayman Islands).  We booked them immediately!

Then we started scouring the internet for privately-owned villas that we could rent on the cheap. And, this is where the true savings began!  We wound up finding a beautiful guesthouse walking distance from the beach for $675, for 9 nights on VRBO.com.

Aruba Villa (courtesy of vrbo.com)

Travel and accommodations are generally the most expensive considerations on a trip, so if you can save big on one or both of those, you’ll be in pretty good shape.

Our total was $2,125 for flights and accommodations. And we have a little to spare for a car rental for a few days and food to prepare using the villa’s included kitchen. Since I’m pregnant we didn’t need anything for a drinking budget and we don’t have any excursions planned. I was hoping to horseback ride on the beach again, but apparently that is not recommended while with child.

So, what I’ve discovered, in order to make a thrifty, last minute trip a success, is to keep the following in mind:

• Be flexible with your location. It’s exciting to spin the global and see where your finger lands. If you have your heart set on somewhere specific it will be a lot more challenging to plan a last minute trip. You might need to allow time to watch for seat sales and deals (or to build up those frequent flyer points).
• Consider staying in a privately-owned condo. There are some great deals to be had even at the last minute but you have to do your research. Make sure to read up on the area (do you need a car? is it safe?). Sometimes the postings can be misleading, so make sure to ask a lot of questions. Also be sure to talk to the owner. A phone call can go a long way in helping you decide if they are a fit for you. It’s sometimes hard to get a sense about people through email. Another advantage to a privately rented home, is the owner should be able to help you discover activities that are off the beaten track.  Avoiding tourist traps will save you money and offer-up a more authentic and memorable travel experience.
• Another cheap alternative is to consider a house swap. You can search your local Used site’s House Swaps category for interesting opportunities from around the world.
• If you’re on a tight budget, consider what the “must-haves” are for your vacation. If heading out for dinner and a pina colada every night is important, you’ll have to shuffle that money from another area. For us, our must-haves are simple: a BBQ on the patio and a beach within walking distance.

In 5 sleeps, we’ll be soaking up the glorious sun in Aruba!

The Problem with Pirate Treasure: Should Party Presents Be Money?

At our house, there’s a birthday coming down the pipe. For months now, the birthday-boy-to-be has been telling everyone that he’s five-and-three-quarters (!!).

You know what this means. The Birthday Party Planning Machine is speeding ahead full throttle.

Photo courtesy of Calsidyrose

You want to get a whole roomful of parents worked up and foaming at the mouth? Talk birthday parties.

Gone, it seems, are the jolly old days when eight kids got thrown in a basement rec room with boiled hot dogs and three balloons, and LIKED it. Pity.

Today, birthday parties are a political minefield of choices about inclusion and consumerism and identity and obligation. And they get pricey fast. Not to mention require the organizational skills of an event-planning ninja.

Birthday parties are an industry now: with rented venues and entertainment and activities for hire. They have themes, and de rigeur loot bags, and in the elementary-school years there’s a trend toward huge gaggles of children converging on the chosen space. Expecting Fun with a capital F.

Yeh. As a mother, the whole prospect gives me a bit of a capital F, myself. Ahem.

In other words, they give me hives.

But, let’s face it, birthday parties are not about me. They’re about the kids.

And my kid? His enthusiasm about his birthday party is a beautiful thing. So I suck it up and muddle through playing the part of Birthday Party Planning Machine every year. I even – kinda – like it. Because his excitement is catching and his delight palpable.

He’d like a pirate theme. He’d like a pinata. Can do, kiddo.

He’d like a skull & crossbones cake. I’m thinking this one: I used fondant for the first time for my daughter’s third birthday last fall and the result was relatively cute and civilized.

Photo courtesy of Meringue Bakeshop

He’d like to have the shindig at our house, because our new place has a huge backyard, and so I am petitioning all the gods for decent mid-April weather and calling that easy-peasy. And cheap. Pirates don’t mind a bit of mud, after all, right? Especially if they’re hunting for treasure?

Dandy.

He’d also like to invite his whole kindergarten class.

Gulp.

Sure, it’s a grand idea. Nobody gets left out, which suits the messages we’re trying to impart at this age.

But fifteen tiny pirates means a whole lotta loot.

My children usually get one big present from us for their birthdays. They also have three sets of generous grandparents, plus aunts and uncles and family friends who tend to send something their way. They’re lucky.

Even if they never had a single birthday party, they’d be rolling in about ten brand new toys every time the calendar turned. That’s a lot of new stuff. A lot of packaging. A lot of wrapping paper in the wastebin. And a lot of sensory overload: even Mr. Five-and-three-quarters (!!) got overwhelmed after about Present Number Eight last Christmas.

Add in fifteen extra party toys on top of that and you’ve got a lot of excess on every front, in a life where we’re ostensibly trying to minimize excess.

What’s a Birthday Party Planning Machine to do?

Last week, a post on money guru Gail Vaz Oxlade’s site raised the issue of birthday invitations that come with a link to a site where you both RSVP and offer a credit card donation, part of which goes to charity and part to fund a present of the child’s choice.

The response in the comments was varied, but the level of vitriol took me by surprise. Some people are straight-up Capital O Offended by the idea.

And me, I’m puzzled.

I get not wanting to be asked for your credit card, sure. There’s something about it that reeks of transaction rather than relationships.

But.

Let’s be honest. The presents part of parties is a more or less obligatory form of social grooming anyway. The present stands in as a symbol of the giver’s fondness for the recipient. The origins of the practice go WAAAAY back to a time when the gifts – which were usually handmade, practical, and often consumable – served to offset some of the expense and burden of actually throwing the shindig. It’s a social practice based in scarcity.

So in a world grappling with excess, does more excess do anything to actually foster the sort of equitable redistribution that gift-giving once served? Or is it possible to redirect some of the excess to places in society where scarcity is still a very real challenge?

And is that offensive? What do you think? If gifts are a symbolic exchange, does openly converting them to the vulgarity of money make you uncomfortable?

Last spring, we attended the party of a five-year-old friend who asked for donations to the local Humane Society instead of gifts. We gave her a card and a ten-dollar bill. I didn’t need to run around town for a gift, or worry that she already had whatever we chose, or fret over whether Plastic Toy A really properly represented this little girl and our feelings for her. A card. A picture inside, drawn specifically for her. And ten bucks to go towards the cats and dogs she happens to adore.

I didn’t think it was offensive. I thought it was awesome. And so did my young pirate.

Until I read the post, we had thought we might go this route.

A treasure box at the door to collect (small) donations of coins, if people were willing to play along. No credit cards. The kids could help scoop and tally them up at the end, and we’d make sure both kids and parents knew where the gifts were going.  A picture of all the little pirates would accompany the donation. Chocolate coins for take-home loot bags, for my kids and all the guests. And the birthday boy’d still get to rip open his pile of family gifts when the festivities were all over.

Now I’m not sure. The Birthday Party Planning Machine has ground to an uncertain halt. I don’t want to offend people, seriously. I just want the kids to have fun and my birthday party hives to go away.

AAARGH, mateys.

What do you think we should do?

How would you word the invitation to cause the least kerfuffle? And would you ever consider asking for donations instead of presents? Why or why not?

Found on Used

lucky horse shoe pan? via @usedregina

Call me crazy, but this looks like a different pan all together, and not one I’d like to eat out of…

More Great Gardening Tips (Involves Wine)

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Val Norton, a Victoria master gardener who gave me a few beginner tips to starting a veggie garden. Since then, I have been stuck in green thumb heaven, getting more and more involved in the beauty of green space in and around the home. I’d like to share with you a few more tips for extending your own ecosystem and inviting the power of nature into your abode.

First of all check out this amazing companion growing chart from www.newscientist.com.  I had no idea that some plants could support others in this way. This is such a great alternative to weed killers and nasty chemicals.

Compatible Garden Chart from www.newscientist.com

This next one is a great chart if you want to start some plants indoors and then transfer outside as the weather warms up. This comes from a superb article on the basic how-to for getting your seeds started if you are, like me, a beginner gardener.

More planting tips from www.gazettextra.com

But I have to drink this wine if I am to save the world. This gardening article shows you how to turn your wine bottles into watering tools with the use of wire and marbles – super simple.

Recycle those bottles you lush! From www.lettuceshare.com

If you really are not green thumbed and never will be, what about these beautiful eco-systems in a bottle. Remember ships in bottles? This is the 2012 version! Watch this space, I might give these a whirl myself.

Ecosystem in a Bottle. From www.igreenspot.com

You could also frame some plants, perhaps you like art more than nature?

Green art from www.fab.com

Or maybe the plants are the frame?

Plant pot wreath from www.beeskneesbungalow.com

And if you really are pushed for space, just put your garden ON your home, and voila!

Vertical Garden from www.renewresources.com

And here is the garden that is to house my family veggie plots. Over the next few months, I’ll keep you updated with how our growing is going. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a zucchini party come July and invite y’all to join me. (Absolutely NO euphemisms intended).

This blog post is dedicated to The H Family, who are committed to increasing the wealth of their friend’s pantries and stomachs.

Who knew a living room could be so dangerous? Baby-proofing Tips For Your Home

Cleaning supplies shelf BEFORE baby.

Cleaning supplies shelf AFTER baby. Much safer!

As I watched my son start to crawl for the first time a few weeks ago, the song lyrics my mother used to sing to me before leaving a party popped in my head, “The party’s over… It’s time to say goodbye.”  Gone are the days of placing my little one on his activity mat to be entertaining by a musical light-up star and walking out of the room for a moment, only to return and find him still lying in the same spot on his mat, content with flailing his limbs to the music.

Now if I leave the room for a moment, I return to find my son pulling books off of our bookshelf or trying to reprogram the pvr by pressing every button he can find. (I swear that babies are born with an internal magnet that directs them to every single thing in a room they are NOT supposed to touch. I don’t know how many times Grayson has been surrounded by dozens of fun toys to play with but instead, he manages to find the remote control and start ordering video on demand movies!)

Caught red handed!! And he really was accessing the Video on Demand!

Before your baby is born, you plan on making sure your house is safe for your little one but as soon they can move, you find out very quickly there is still a lot of work to be done to your home; a home once thought of as a safe haven and now slowly revealing itself to be a death trap for children! Lol.

Every day my son if finding new ways to possibly hurt himself and so I thought I’d share a few ideas that may help those soon-to-be moms out there avoid some of the stresses I’ve dealt with over the last few weeks. There are the obvious ones like put away cleaning products and placing any small items out of reach but here are a few more, and possibly not-so-common, ideas to help keep your child (and your sanity) intact when mobility starts.

Best $20 I ever spent!

1. Baby Gates!!!  I can’t stress to you enough how important these wonderful inventions are.  They easily limit the amount of space your little one is able to explore and the smaller the space, the easier it is to monitor what he gets himself into.  Also they are great to block off shelves with many items that your child would just love to get their hands on!  They can be expensive so I highly recommend buying them used, especially the solid plastic ones shown here as they are virtually indestructible.

2. Hide loose cords and wires. I can’t take credit for this idea (thanks Lara!) but it’s a great one.  If there are any loose cords running alongside the wall, simply buy some white duct tape at the dollar store and tape the wires to your baseboards.  Since they are usually white, you don’t really notice the tape and your child no longer notices the chords they so desperately want to pull and chew on!

3. Borrow a toddler: What?  I know this sounds crazy but if you are unsure how baby proof your house ACTUALLY is, a toddler will be able to show you in about 5 minutes.  I had my best friend and her one and a half year old daughter over a couple of weeks ago and she showed me oh, so many things that were unsafe in my living room and kitchen. Within seconds, she found the olive oil bottle, which I thought was cleverly hidden behind a box, a loose cord sticking out from behind my television as well as the dog food which I completely forgot was still accessible. It simply amazes me what children see that we don’t…they are incredible!

4. Put baby proof latches on the cupboards — not just any latches — magic latches!  For years, I’ve been going over to friend’s houses who have children and every time, I’ve had to ask them to please open the cupboard doors for me because they have installed those annoying childproof plastic latches on them. I don’t know about you, but I think they could also be marketed and used to keep adults out of cupboards full of junk food.  I can never figure out how to open them (which makes me feel VERY special!) so I was concerned as to how I would secure my own cupboards at home without also locking myself out of them.

I spoke with some friends and it turns out there are these really cool new magnets you can install on the backs of your cupboard doors that prevent children from accessing them.  Basically there is a magnetic key that you simply have to place on the front of the cupboard door in order to unlock them.  If you don’t have the key, they won’t open!  Brilliant…just make sure to keep the key out of reach of the children (don’t cleverly hide it behind a box or something!)

5. Baby proof your animals. Unfortunately there is nothing you can buy that you can throw over your cats and dogs so they don’t get pulled, poked and hit by your child but you can make sure to protect both your baby and your pets with some help. We have a dog and a cat and they are on opposite ends of the spectrum regarding their tolerance and fear levels with our son. Our 22-pound cat, Leonard, lies next to Grayson and lets him pull and play with his tail for 20 minutes, loving every moment of it.

Our 90-pound Rotti X dog, Indie, is terrified of her own shadow so she is constantly moving from one end of the room to the other to avoid Grayson at all costs. Due to the dog’s fear issues, we’ve been concerned what would happen if Grayson ever cornered her or scared her. We’re always in the same room when the pets and Grayson are together, but sometimes you need to leave the room for a moment.  So, we invested in a Superyard XT which my husband describes as the “ultimate fighting ring for babies”.

"And in this corner, weighing in at 25 pounds....Sally the Toddler!"

It sort of looks like a baby jail but it’s really useful to place your child in with some fun toys if you have to leave the room for a second. Not only does it keep your child from getting into things he shouldn’t, but it also creates a buffer between your child and the pets, so you don’t have to worry about your little one pulling doggie’s tail or ears. We all love our pets and like to think they would do anything to hurt us or our children but they’re still are animals which means they can react if they are scared or hurt. Hopefully our dog will one day warm up to Grayson the same way our cat has (really, our cat is just a huge attention hog and so any form of touch is good, even if it’s tail pulling and hitting.)

I’ve realized that baby proofing is a work in progress as our son becomes more and more mobile, so I hope these tips will help get you started off on the right foot.  And if anyone has any more tips on making our house safer, I would LOVE to hear them.

Coupon tip of the week:  Just a really quick one to remind everyone that there are alot of coupons out there to find but it’s important to make sure to leave some behind for others to use.  If you find a coupon display at a store, only take what you will use and maybe a couple for trading so that others can also reap the savings!

The Most Fantastic Finds: old antique doors that became a new headboard

I’m tackling what I hope will become a really cool series here on the UsedBlog… profiles of awesome finds!

Take a look at this gorgeous pair of antique wooden doors that were purchased on UsedOttawa.

We don’t have any before photos to you show you (apparently the paint job was absolutely horrible), but this check out the AFTER:

I like it. I really do. The colour is fresh and gorgeous, and I love how the doors are positioned side-by-side vertically instead of horizontally. It makes the whole look seem that much more dramatic.

Our super smart shopper is Christina Lovisa, artist and owner of St. Elmo’s Fire in Stittsville. I had the good fortune to interview her for an article I wrote for the Spring edition of Our Homes Ottawa. (You can read it online here!) Her home is full of scavenged, reclaimed, and restored finds. It’s amazing, really.

But back to her fantastic find! To complete the look she installed antique Victorian candle sconces over the location of the old handles. Her advice? Don’t strip wood furniture! All you need to buy a really good acrylic primer. In fact, Christina recommends a brand called Fresh Start from Benjamin Moore. She claims that it sticks to everything, and that it’s amazing stuff.

We agree. And we think you’re pretty amazing too Christina! Congratulations on the fantastic find!

Would you like your fantastic find featured here too? Send a fantastic photo and a short description to andrea@quietfish.com for consideration!

My First Week With UsedEverywhere.com

While researching “coping” techniques for the first week at my new job, I came across some clever tips. Now that my first week as Marketing Coordinator for UsedEverywhere has come and gone, I’ve been thinking back to that advice and realize just how irrelevant it turned out to be.

The Marketing Coordinator position is going through an evolution, as we are now actively reaching into new markets across the country every day. In that sense, I have come into a position that has entered a new chapter. I am able to mold and shape it into what I believe it should be. This is exciting. And terrifying.

Maybe it is because of this transition and the ad-hoc nature of my job, that many of these tips were not particularly helpful during my first week.

1. Schedule a one-on-one with your boss. My boss is in Squamish, which is a ferry ride and long drive away from our office headquarters in Victoria, where I work. He is what’s called the Director of Social Research and Development (whatever that means!) and manages 2 marketers, 3 programmers, 1 graphic designer and countless social media platforms from the comfort of his own home. He is a busy guy, to say the least. Thankfully, he scheduled time to give me an orientation at our offices on my first day.

Nick, Our Director of R&D, via Google Hangout

2. Get to know all of your co-workers. Now, something to point out here is that my co-workers mostly consist of programmers. These are people who spend approximately 8 hours a day staring at code. They are not known to be the most extraverted type of people. That being said, they have been very kind and generous with their time – when I’ve been able to un-glue them from their computer screens.

The development team... developing stuff.

3. Find a trusted mentor. Well, thank goodness for Jenn. Along with her amazing sense of humour, she has helped me overcome my insecurities – “Aaah! I have too much freedom!” – and understand the UsedEverywhere culture – “I can actually read my book in the chill zone?”. Jenn is our social media guru and expert blogger. She is also a great friend.

Me n' Jenn. (not to be confused with "mean Jenn")

4. Immerse yourself in the documentation. This was… interesting. Not only am I learning how to use a Mac for the first time (which, I must say, I am confidently typing on right now), but I’m also learning all Google programs and applications. For instance, UsedEverywhere holds all their documentation on a program called Jira. This is a complicated system of tickets and issues and wikis… Oh my. Let’s just say I’m still working on this one.

Document immersion...

5. Try to fit in. I think this comes easily if you love where you work. That’s the case here. As much as I am still noticeably new – as was apparent the other day when the voice over the PA system asked UsedEverywhere to phone reception and everyone in the office but me yelled a simultaneous “NOT IT!” – I feel comfortable and confident here. UsedEverywhere is a different species of online classifieds. We (as I am now proud to say) genuinely care about our users. The other day, a man came into the office asking if someone could help him post an ad, as the site didn’t seem to be working for him at home. Not only did one of our staff sit down and go through the process with him, but later, one of the programmers followed up to see if it had been posted successfully. This kind of sincere customer care doesn’t usually happen, but here it happens every day. UsedEverywhere is also an incredibly creative company. Our staff are chosen because they are innovative, imaginative and fun. These kinds of company values allow us to truly be ourselves, and we work harder because of it.

Best advice for new employees. Be. Chill.

Finally, UsedEverywhere is “hyper” local. In this first week, I have been inundated with requests to attend multiple community events, because that is our business model and how we are known. UsedEverywhere has a long history of supporting not-for-profit organizations, charities and community programs all across the country. This is something that we love to do and want to do more of!

Yes, my post took a turn for the cheesy there, but my point is this: You can read the business plan, suck up to your boss or even put candy in a dish on your desk, but if it’s the right job, it will embrace you for who you are and won’t make you work for its acceptance.