Memories Jar - for positive mental health

There’s a jar that I keep on my desk. In it are little slips of paper that have written on them happy moments that happen to me. I call it my memories jar. Each year on New Year’s Day (or thereabouts) I dump out my jar, read these happy notes, and start all over. 

I like the practice of having a memories jar for three reasons: 

1) Every January I get to read all of my little notes from the previous year, and that makes me happy. 

2) Seeing my memories jar on my desk every day makes me think of the things I have written down and stuffed in there, giving me a daily reminder that life is alright. 

3) Sometimes I look at my memories jar and realize I haven’t added any notes to it in a couple weeks. This causes me to reflect on recent weeks gone by, and assess what has gone well, rather than dwell on negative things. I then get my little slips of paper and play a little catch up. 

Shrinky Dinks with the Kiddos

Do you remember my post a few weeks ago about DIY ShrinkyDinks using any #6 plastic? Well, I brought this craft into my class at the daycare, and it was a huge hit! 

I was able to get a large take-out container from my local grocery store. It was meant for one of those huge rectangular pizzas, and the lid was made of #6 plastic! *yay* 

I cut the lid up into 24 rectangles, about 2”x3” each. I rounded the corners of each rectangle, and hole punched them each near the top. 

DIY Couch Deep-Clean

This is the story of how I saved my couch from more than a year’s worth of old, dried, stained, super smelly cat urine. Sit back, this is a long post.

If you’re a cat owner, then no doubt you know how hard it is to get rid of the smell of cat urine. A couch as bad as mine, many people would just throw out. It was B-A-D! Smell-up-my-whole-living-room-bad. The girl responsible for the smell had to find a new home because after months of vet visits and in-depth home observations, the cause of her peeing could not be identified. It was a tough decision, but she’s in a nurturing rehab environment now.

I’m going back to university in a month and can’t afford a new couch, so I found a way to clean and deodorize mine. It’s been a month of hot, humid weather (the weather in which cat stench thrives), and so far no odour!

Shepherd's Pie

If you follow my blog, you may have figured out by now that I’m a meat-and-potatoes gal. I don’t throw many spices, flavours, or wild vegetables into the mix very often. And what is one of my favourite meat-and-potatoes dishes to make? Why, shepherd’s pie, of course! 

This recipe is loosely based on a recipe that I found online years ago... Hold on to your hats people, this one is quick!