a peek inside the fishbowl

When I first got my iPhone I spent a lot of time shopping for apps. I was in awe of how many awesome things my phone could suddenly do. I must have downloaded a hundred different little apps, for everything imaginable. And you know what, I never opened most of them every again.

I was reorganizing my apps the other day and I thought it’d be cool to share a few that I’ve been using lately… not including photography and social media apps, because those are kind of a given around here. :)

I wrote about my top iPhone apps back in March (and that list still applies) but these ones are new on my list. And you know what, they do make my life easier!

The Ottawa Public library app is AMAZING, and I use it all of the time. I check library hours, browse the catalogue, renew items, place holds, see when my books are coming due, check fines, and more. And did you know that the app keeps a copy of the bar code that’s on your library card? You never have to carry your card with you ever again!

The City of Ottawa Collection Calendar is ridiculously basic, but it does what you need it to do. I find myself consulting it very week because we can’t ever remember if it’s black box or blue box day.

The Powercents app for hydro usage is also useful because I am incapable of remembering when peak periods for hydro begin and end. You can set it to send you push notifications, which comes in handy so you can set the dishwasher to go off at the right time. For people who work at home during the week you can end up saving mucho dinero just by getting into the habit of timing your hydro usage at off peak times.

The Timehop app is a personal time-capsule app of sorts, and it is charming. You enter your blog/FB info and it tells you what you were doing on this day last year, or the year before, or the year before if you’ve been online that long, and it sends you push notifications to that effect. It’s like a Happy Memory Reminder Machine!

The iHandy Level and Flashlight are two very utilitarian iPhone apps (outside of the calculator and the unit converter) which I find myself using fairly regularly. Speaking of calculators, did you know that Siri can do math? I often use Siri to add up a column of numbers because it’s easier than tapping it out with my chubby little fingers.

I don’t play many games on the iPhone, but two that I do like right now are 7 Little Words and Icon Pop Quiz. Both are great little brain games, and the kids have gotten into them too. (In fact, these games require a team effort sometimes!)

What iPhone apps are you loving right now? I’d love to hear about them!

It’s Friiiiiiday! *jazz hands*

That means it’s time for another instalment of Good Eats Friday. I thought this week it’d be a good idea to post a recipe or two that will give our families some good GET UP ‘N GO. You know, because it’s Winterlude and we all need as much GET UP as we can muster.

Check out this recipe for slow-cooker Chicken Tortilla soup. It has all the flavours I love and it looks very family-friendly. Imagine putting this in ye ‘old crock pot before you leave for a day of skating and wintery fun and coming back to THIS:

Kinda perfect eh?

I’m also eyeballing this recipe for healthy breakfast cookies. It seems like a pretty good snack to pack up and bring with you while you’re skating the Rideau Canal Skateway, don’t you think?

What are you cooking up this weekend? I’d love to hear about it!

Do you like my dust bunny? :)

The issue of CHORES has been on my mind since we moved back into our house this past fall. The renovation added an extra 700 square feet to our living space – which was great – but that also meant there was more to clean. But it’s more than just the extra space. A brand new white kitchen and gleaming black counters meant that I was suddenly a lot more interested in keeping the place sparkling.

The question remained, how should I tackle chores in such a way that it doesn’t (a) kill me and (b) involve hiring help?

I’ve written about household tidying routines before. Some of you may remember the Focused 15, and it still works although we haven’t been initiating it as often as we used to. (If you are looking for a great way to involve younger kids in keeping the house clean, THIS IS IT.) We recently decided to take things a step further and start a chore jar.

CUE MOANING SOUNDS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY.

The kids aren’t thrilled, but heck, neither am I, but we (correctly) figured this was the easiest way to get the house clean and KEEP it clean. And at 11 and 13 the girls are more than capable of wielding a toilet brush and/or floor mop. (Heck, in pioneer days girls this age were mucking stalls, sewing their own clothes, tending to the fire, and chopping wood. I think ours can scrub a toilet.)

Here’s how it works. There are four slips of paper in a jar. They are as follows:

• BATHROOMS (a complete cleaning of all three bathrooms)
• VACUUM and mop the whole house
• Miscellaneous TIDY (pick up everything, empty garbages and recycling, dust)
• KITCHEN scrub down (empty/fill the dishwasher, wipe down counters, clean sinks, polish appliances, tidy fridge)

Everyone draws a job and we do it all in one go on a Saturday or Sunday morning. It takes a few hours to finish, but then it’s DONE. I personally like doing the chores on Sunday, because it means that we start the week off with a clean house.

We’ve discovered a few things along the way. Bedrooms need to be done first, regardless of who draws what chore. The TIDY person needs to get started first, because the VACUUM person needs a clear floor, and the vacuum person needs to tackle the bathrooms first, because the bathroom person needs to get in the bathrooms etc.

Amazingly, it works. Our house ends up clean. It’s not perfectly clean, but it’s clean, and I’m not the one having to do it all. (!)

You’ll notice that laundry isn’t on that list. I tackle clothes-related laundry on a different weekend day. I take care of the sorting and washing, and everyone puts their clothes away themselves. The sheets are usually done sometime during the week. (Sidebar: I iron our sheets! After this post I started putting them on the bed while still damp from the dryer and ironing them in place.)

I’ve been obsessing about shiny kitchen sinks lately. I read this years ago and the ferocity of it has always stuck with me. But there’s some truth in there too. There’s something about an early morning encounter with a cluttered and spotty kitchen sink that is off-putting for me. So I put the question out on the Fishbowl Facebook page (hoping I wasn’t alone in my quest) and this is what you said:

Alan Viau: “Ha ha. The post reminds me of my mother. She’d say that she loved a clean environment – just give her enough Mr. Clean and Ajax. All those chemicals down the drain! With a stainless steel sink, rubbing with steel wool does wonders. I like coming down in the morning to a clean kitchen. Seems like the right way to start a day.”

Carrie: “I love a clean kitchen, but something tells me Flylady has more time than the rest of us.”

Alicia: “I do love a shiny kitchen sink. It makes the kitchen feel clean even if there are dishes piled beside it I don’t always make it shine but when I do I just use a drop of dish soap and a splash each of vinegar and baking soda.”

Marla: “I’d love shiny. I’ll be happy with empty. Voltaire: Dans ses écrits, un sàge Italien dit que le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.”

Er. Maybe I AM alone in my desire for sink sparkle. What about you? Do you insist on shiny, or just plain empty? :)