Posts by Wendy S

About Wendy S

+Wendy S (also known as @mapsgirl) is a mom to two daughters. They are the inspiration of this blog.Passionate about child passenger safety, Wendy has been a certified Car Seat Technician in Ontario, Canada since 2008.

20 Kitchen Hacks to Make Your Life Easier

May 18, 2022 by Wendy S

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

As a busy working mom, I am often finding ways to make life easier by being more efficient. Sometimes it is difficult to plan ahead, and I admit, I have often failed at this. But I am human. Our family tries our best to work as a team. With work, school, sports, choir, Pathfinders, and band, things can get tricky at times. So keeping ourselves accountable and working together is key.

In general, anything that we can do to make our life more efficient helps to reduce stress. Here are some kitchen hacks that make things easier for our family:

If you’re short on counter space, try hanging a pot rack from the ceiling. It’ll give you extra room to store pots and pans, and it’ll also add a bit of style to your kitchen.
Don’t let your knives get dull – sharpen them regularly with a sharpening stone. It’s easy to do, and it’ll keep your knives in top condition.
Get organized with a spice rack. This will help you find the spices you need quickly, and it’ll also free up space in your cabinets or pantry.
Invest in a good set of baking tools – they’ll make all the difference when you’re baking cookies or cakes.
Keep your kitchen clean with a daily cleaning routine. Wipe down the counters, sweep the floor, and wash the dishes – it’ll make a big difference in how your kitchen looks and feels.
Make mealtime easier with a slow cooker. You can throw all of your ingredients in the pot in the morning, and dinner will be ready when you get home from work.
If you’re short on storage space, consider using mason jars to store food. They’re perfect for storing dry goods like flour or sugar, and they look cute, too!
Keep your fridge organized with labeled storage containers. This will help you find what you need quickly, and it’ll also help keep your fridge clean.
Prevent kitchen disasters with a fire extinguisher. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, and a fire extinguisher can help put out a small fire before it gets out of control.
Make sure you have all the essentials – a good set of pots and pans, some basic kitchen utensils, and some good-quality knives. These things will make cooking much easier.
Get a dishwasher – it’s worth it! You’ll save so much time by not having to wash dishes by hand, and your dishes will come out clean and sparkling every time.
Get a set of measuring cups and spoons so you can make sure you’re using the correct amount of ingredients. This will help you make better-tasting food, and it’ll also save you money.
Use an oven thermometer to make sure your food is cooked at the correct temperature. This will help you avoid overcooking or undercooking your food, and it’ll also help prevent accidents.
When cooking, use fresh ingredients whenever possible. They’ll taste better and they’re usually more nutritious than processed foods.
If you’re having guests over, set the table the night before so you’re not rushed in the morning. This will help you entertain your guests more easily, and it’ll also save you time.
Make sure your kitchen is well-lit so you can see what you’re doing. This will help you avoid accidents, and it’ll also help you cook more easily.
If you’re short on counter space, use your walls! Hang a pot rack or install some shelves – this will give you extra room to store pots and pans, and it’ll also free up space on your counters.
Keep a clean kitchen towel on hand to wipe up spills quickly. This will help you keep your counters clean, and it’ll also save you time in the long run.
When cooking, use a timer to keep track of how long your food has been cooking. This will help you avoid overcooking or undercooking your food, and it’ll also help you stay on schedule.
Put your shopping list on a whiteboard in the kitchen! When you run out of something, put it on the whiteboard right away. When you are ready to go shopping, take a picture of that list with your phone so you can cross-reference it while shopping.

These kitchen hacks will help you save time and energy, and they’ll also help you create better-tasting food. By using these tips, you’ll be able to enjoy your kitchen more and stress less.

So what are you waiting for?

4 Tips for Healing your Soul if you have Experienced a Loss

May 16, 2022 by Wendy S

Do you feel as though your soul is in need of some healing? Maybe you have experienced a loss but you do not know how to go about dealing with it, on a personal level. Either way, it is vital to know that there are things that you can do to try and help yourself.

Source: Pexels (CC0 License)

Be Present

It is normal for you to want to escape from the feelings of grief that you have. It is also normal for you to want to turn to things that you feel may numb you. This could include comfort food or even shopping. Instead of doing things like this, you need to try and pour all of your energy into something more positive. This could be your work or your creativity. If you can do this, you will be able to heal yourself.

Raise Awareness

Do not try and push the pain away. Instead, try and bring awareness to it. Try and do what you can to relax in the midst of all the chaos, and also try and use it to your advantage. Now is the time for you to try and build yourself to be a stronger person and prove to yourself that you can work through just about anything. Now may even be the time for you to look into cremation jewelry crosses so that you can begin to heal your spirit as you work through the difficult time you are going through.

Plan for a Special Day

It is an excellent idea for you to look to your calendar. Map out any days that you may feel triggered on, and also take the time to learn how to cope. Nourish and even comfort yourself on days like this and also find healthy ways to cope. It may be that you try and spend more time with your family or that you simply try and reach out more. If you can do this, then you will soon see that people are in fact there to support you, and this can work wonders if you are on a spiritual journey.

Know that Grief is Fluid

Grief is fluid. It can change over time and there is no set path that you can follow to get through it. Sometimes you may move to denial and then acceptance, but shortly after you may find yourself feeling angry again. Either way, you have to know that grief is always changing and that you are never going to experience things in a logical or linear order. The sooner you can accept this, the more leeway you can give yourself when it comes to coping and this can work in your favour in general.

If you want to help yourself, then remember that talking to someone, or a friend is always a good idea. You may find that they can then give you the support that you need and that you can also count on them to pick you up when you are feeling down, so keep that in mind if you can.

Organizing A Move Abroad In Three Simple Steps

May 13, 2022 by Wendy S

Organizing a move abroad might seem like a daunting task, and it can be, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a range of different things that you have got to get sorted, but if you can manage to keep a level head and not freak out, it’s not going to be too difficult. If you don’t know how to even begin going about this process, it’s a good thing that you have come across this article. Down below, we’re going to be looking at some helpful advice, so keep reading if you would like to find out more.

Photo by Marina Leonova from Pexels

Find Somewhere To Live

If you know that you are going to be moving somewhere new, it would make sense that you start looking for somewhere to live as soon as possible. As such, this is the first thing that we will suggest. Even if you are just dipping your toes in the water to begin with and seeing what’s out there, at least you are starting to get some sense of what to expect for your price range.

You can contact a real estate agent, tell them what you need and ask them to look at some properties for you. Then, you can arrange to go and see them yourself, deciding which, if any, are a good fit for you.

Ship Your Items To Storage If Needed

If you haven’t found a place to move into but you are no longer able to live where you currently do, we recommend getting your items shipped into personal storage in the country you are moving to. This makes it a lot easier for you to stay somewhere temporarily until you find somewhere permanent.

When you do find a place, you can hire a company such as Allied Van Lines to come and pick up your items, helping you move them into your new home. As soon as you have the move-in date you should start looking at companies like this to find out who is available.

Correct Documents

The final thing that we are going to mention in this article is that you need to ensure that you have the correct documents for travel, and the right to work in that country. Make sure that you take a look at the requirements online, fill out all of the necessary forms and wait until all of the documents are approved before you start planning a whole life in a new country. We promise you that it’s better to wait in case anything is denied or needs redoing.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now have a better understanding of how you can go about organizing a move abroad without making the process too complicated. Of course, it’s a stressful time with all the new changes that are going on, but you’ve got to keep your head on and maintain your organizational skills to avoid it all falling apart. We wish you the very best of luck and hope that you manage to keep it simple.

5 Tips For Printing Documents While You Are Travelling

May 11, 2022 by Wendy S

Image by Joshua Woroniecki from Pixabay

Gone are the days when you had to hardwire your PC or laptop to a printer to print out your documents. With the advancements in technology, the field of printing has been revolutionized. The size of the printers as well as the time taken to perform a certain print job has reduced significantly.

Most of the individuals who print regularly face a common concern regarding printing their documents while they are travelling. In order to address this concern, I am going to showcase 5 tips that will enable you to print your documents while you are on the go.

1. Mobile Applications

Mobile apps have literally changed the way we go about our daily activities. Even printing is not left untouched by them. Setting up mobile printing at your home or office by accessing your printer is quite easy. However, consider a situation where you have to perform the print job from an unfamiliar printer. There are quite a few apps that are available both in the App Store and the Google Play Store of your printer’s manufacturer. These apps will also enable you to detect any of the accessible printers which are available at places like copy shops and office stores. By paying a certain fee, you will be able to print your documents while you are on the go.

2. Mobilize Your Printer

Connect your printer to the internet over a wireless network. You can even make use of an email-based sending application that will allow you to print to it remotely. If you are using an iOS device, you can either make use of the manufacturer’s printing app or through Apple’s own AirPrint feature. For an Android device, you can make use of Google Cloud Print service. Regardless of the brand, the service will work efficiently with all of them including both old and newer devices.

3. Look For Public Print Locations

ePrint by HP is one of the most sorted mobile printing solutions. Through the app, you will be able to print to machines that are at the FedEx office locations and at the UPS stores. The ePrint app is available for both iOS and Android users. The app will locate all the accessible ePrint Public Print Location printers and enable you to make printouts quickly. In most cases, you will get an access code for releasing the printout when you get to the printer. For taking the print, you will have to pay a fee. You can also find public printing at libraries, hotels, and airport lounges.

4. Office Supply Stores

If you want to get your documents printed quickly then the perfect place to go to is office supply stores. You will be offered on-the-spot printing and copying. If you are printing copies in large numbers, then you will likely get volume discounts. This will enable you to save a lot of your money along with getting the print job done. There is a wide range of other options which will be available for you which include stapling, collating, hole punching, laminating, binding, and more.

5. Copy/Print Shops

You would find a number of print shops no matter where you are traveling. These will prove to be quite handy for you in making printouts on the go. Depending on your location the print prices may vary. This is because a majority of them are owned by the local people. But still, these shops will prove to be quite handy as they will allow you to perform many different printing jobs.

In The End

I hope that all the tips which are mentioned in this post will prove to be quite beneficial for you. These will help you in getting the printing job done where you cannot carry your own printer.

Personal volleyball bests at the OVA Provincials

May 4, 2022 by Wendy S

Lauren has been playing rep volleyball for the last 2 years. The first year started during the fall of 2020 when the pandemic was still fairly new. Their team was their cohort and they practiced and practiced. Many times they stopped because restrictions changed. It was a strange season with no games against other teams.

Fortunately, beach volleyball is outdoors and the summer of 2021 was filled with lots of volleyball. Lauren’s skills continued to grow and develop. She worked so hard at the court and at our local park… getting her overhand serve was her biggest challenge. She worked so hard.

Tryouts arrived. She went. She tried hard and stayed so positive! And she made the team!

Practices were twice a week, exhibition games with other club teams, league games with other clubs, and the pièce de ré·sis·tance… OVA Provincials!

Day 1

The day started out great! Lauren surprised us all… in 8 months Lauren went from barely getting an overhand server over the new to jump serves!

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They won the first match in 2 sets — 25-11, 25-12! And the 2nd match was just as successful — 27-25 and 25-20!

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The third game was more of a fight… won 1st set 28-16, lost 2nd set 22-25, and came back to win the 3rd set… 15-10!

Day 2

The girls went into day 2 with a lot of confidence and excitement!

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First match was a tough fight which ended in a loss (Set 1 – loss 20-25, Set 2 – win 25-11, Set 3 – loss 15-13)

The girls were pretty down. Coach Shayne was great! He gave the girls time to be sad and then built them back up!

The 2nd match was so much better! The girls won both sets — 25-12, 25-20! It was so amazing to watch them play! It was great volleyball.

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The third match of the day was going to be a challenge. The team they were playing had 4 wins and 1 loss… just like them. The girls were ready!

They won both sets — 25-15, 25-23 !!

During the 2nd set, Lauren had a 6 server run… all jump servers… with one of the serves being an ACE! I was the proudest mom in the whole place.

She has worked so hard to improve and be a better volleyball player and at that moment she was a shining star!

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Day 3 – Playoffs

The girls were excited. The girls were nervous. Playoffs was going to be tough… one loss and you’re out!

The team had their ups and downs during their last game. They were playing a team that they beat on the first day, but that other team must have found their grove and by day 3 they came into their own.

We lost in 3 sets — 25-19, 13-25, 10-15.

There were a lot of tears.

But I made sure to remind Lauren of how far she has come. Personally, Lauren was a winner. The photo below is a pretty cool example of what she can do!

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A huge thanks to Coach Shayne for his amazing leadership. The way that he was able to work with a group of girls with varying strengths, encourage the girls when they were down, and have a lot of fun is really appreciated from the view of a parent. I am very happy that Lauren was able to learn as much as she did from him.

Shayne is setting out to make his own personal best… he’s on the path to being a police officer! And he’s going to be a very good one!

The end

The provincial championship is the end of the season. Some of the division 1 teams are headed off to nationals in Calgary and we will cheer loudly from Ontario.

The club will have an end-of-the-year banquet at the outdoor courts so that should be a lot of fun!

Congrats Lauren on your amazing season! Dad, Rach and I are so proud of how hard you worked and you should be proud of all you achieved!