Printable Cleaning Schedule

June 19, 2013

Printable Cleaning Schedule from Squirrelly Minds
This is a regular occurrence in our house: hectic week, too tired to clean at all, here comes the weekend and we spend the entire time cleaning.
Something had to be done.

Printable Cleaning Schedule from Squirrelly Minds
So I’ve created this cleaning schedule to help us stay on track. The calendar shows what to do every day, with each day having the same tasks, including monthly tasks about once a week. I’ve also created a mini clipboard sized checklist version with a different page for each day. I personally find cleaning tasks easier to handle if I can see them on one sheet at a time and check them off as I go.
Printable Cleaning Schedule from Squirrelly Minds
By doing a few tasks each day, I hope to minimize the amount of massive, hours long cleaning sprees and actually enjoy our weekend instead, and I hope it will help you too! It also serves as a much needed reminder when to do those easily forgotten tasks, like dusting the baseboards or blinds.
Printable Cleaning Schedule from Squirrelly Minds

Printable Cleaning Schedule from Squirrelly Minds

Printable Cleaning Schedule from Squirrelly Minds

I must admit, dusting is my least favourite cleaning activity, so I’m really hoping this list will get me doing it more often.
What’s your least favourite cleaning chore?

      

Category: Print / Comments: 2 <3s

On the importance of outdoor play

June 18, 2013

Squirrelly Minds On the Importance of Outdoor Play
Growing up my parents could barely keep me inside. As a toddler I would often sneak out of the house (even shoving the chair under the door knob so they couldn’t follow me) and wander around the lake or visit neighbours. A little older, I would sneak into my neighbours back yard, the nearby golf course, or the nearby park, to build forts in the woods or rafts for the lakes. I would go on long bike rides, strapping a radio to my bicycle and pretend I was one of the girls from the movie Now and Then. I would pretend to be Pocahontas and destroy my friend’s mother’s plant so we could use the leaves to weave baskets (or attempt to that is).
As a kid, I had the freedom to play outside, and these unstructured playtimes are some of my fondest and most vivid childhood memories. But with the advances of technology, both kids and adults are losing touch with what’s outside. They’re forgetting how to play, leaving themselves only with memories of minecraft or some other children’s computer game with varying levels of violence.
Squirrelly Minds On the Importance of Outdoor Play
Far too often when I talk to kids about what they did on the weekend, their answer is video or computer games. So rarely do I get the answer “exploring outside with my friends”.

But don’t you remember those days when you were free to roam, even just in your backyard, and play without structure, without meaning, without trying to beat a certain score or level?
It’s so vital for children to get outside and play, yet they often stay inside because parents are working, tired from working, or the child themselves don’t think to go outside because they have so much (aka games) to do inside.

And as adults we are not helping. How often has it been a gorgeous day outside and yet you stayed in to finish that last thing on your computer? Hey, I’m guilty of it too, and it’s one of my least favourite qualities. But for the sake of our future children, I am working on learning how to balance working inside with playing outside, so I can encourage them to explore the woods, build forts, and rip up leaves to weave all the baskets their little fingers can handle. We need to encourage our children to go outside and play, because so many of them are forgetting how, and that is not a childhood worth remembering.

How often did you get outside as a kid? Do you still? Do you encourage your children to go out and enjoy the sunshine?
      

Category: Life / Comments: 5 <3s

Healthy(?) Doughnuts

June 17, 2013

Healthy Doughnuts Roundup on Squirrelly Minds

top row: mini gf banana donuts from Sweetly Raw / cinnamon sugar coated baked doughnuts from Eat Love and be Happy / baked cranberry orange donuts from Country Cleaver
middle row: baked strawberry donuts from Mary Quite Contrary Bakes / gf vegan chai pumpkin donuts from Gluten Free Foodies
bottom row: totally coconut doughnuts (gf) from Kumquat / maple sea salt doughnuts from Edible Perspective / chocolate cardamom tahini mini donuts from Purely Twins

They seem to be sprouting up everywhere. Healthy doughnuts! Baked not fried!

I can’t lie, I’m a little skeptical. Really all that it means by healthy is that it’s baked. And I mean, aren’t doughnuts supposed to be the epitome of artery clogging heart attack inducing melt in your mouth deliciousness?

But I can’t remain a skeptic for too long now. I keep pinning these healthy donuts, so it’s only a matter of time before I make one of these bad boys.
To be honest, I’m probably only trying to remain a skeptic so that I don’t bake them and end up eating the entire dozen, convincing myself that it’s ok because they’re healthy.
I’ll let you know how it goes.

Have you made healthy doughnuts? Are they just as good as the real thing?

      

Category: Eat / Comments: 3 <3s

No Sew Remote Control Case for dad

June 13, 2013

No Sew Remote Control Case for Dad on Squirrelly Minds
My dad is a tricky guys to shop for, but like most men he does have one well loved hobby – tv. And with TV and all it’s gadgets come remotes, a lot of them. To keep them all in one place, whip up this remote control case as a gift for dad on father’s day.
No Sew Remote Control Case for Dad on Squirrelly Minds

Materials:

  • Heavy felt, cut 14 inches wide by 22 inches long, or according to your remotes
  • Velcro
  • Hot glue gun and glue
  • Trim (ribbon works)
  • Scissors
  • Optional: tags and pen for labelling pockets

No Sew Remote Control Case for Dad on Squirrelly Minds

1 Starting at the bottom, glue a 5cm line of hot clue 1/2 a cm from the edge and fold over to create a folded edge. Press down on the hot glue for 5 seconds to make sure it sticks. Continue all the way along the edge and the two long sides. Don’t do the top yet.
2 Fold in each bottom corner approximately 1 cm in and glue down.
3 Bring the bottom edge and fold up to create your pocket. To judge how far, place a controller on the felt and fold up to where you want the fold to stop, approximately a 2.5 inch allowance from the fabric fold to the top of the tallest controller. Now glue down the edges to create a pocket, leaving about an inch at the top without glue (you’ll seal that in the next step).
4 To cover your seams on the flap, glue trim overtop, starting where you left that inch gap up to the top. Now you can glue your pocket down over top your trim.
5 To create pockets for each controller, place them inside the pocket and space them how you’d like. Use a pin to mark where you will need to glue down the fabric. Remove the controls then place a strip of glue where the pins were on each side (two lines) inside the felt pocket.
6 Fold and glue the top two corners and edge like in steps 2 and 3. Repeat step 2 one more time, folding the top edge over once more.
7 Glue a velcro strip on top of the top edge. Glue the matching strip on the bottom. Make sure they line up.
8 Create tags that label what each controller is and glue above (optional).
9 Voila! Present for dad.
No Sew Remote Control Case for Dad on Squirrelly Minds
This DIY is great because you can whip it up so quickly since it doesn’t require sewing. However I must admit, you will get a much prettier and sturdier result using a sewing machine. (I would have but I’ve lent it out).
No Sew Remote Control Case for Dad on Squirrelly Minds

My dad loves watching shows on history, anything non-fiction and cooking.

Is your dad a channel surfer? What’s his faves?


Due to report card season (and being up to my eyeballs in paperwork) I won’t be posting tomorrow. Wishing you all a lovely weekend and a very happy father’s day!

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Category: Craft, Holiday / Comments: 1 <3
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