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Are You Ready To Make Life-Changing Decisions?
Storing Your Thanksgiving Leftovers
- Don’t Try To Stick an Entire Leftover Turkey in Your Fridge or Freezer – I don’t cook turkey myself, but my Mom would have me divide the bird into turkey bones for Bone Broth and put the turkey slices in Ziploc (store enough to serve 4)
- Store Leftover Cranberry Sauce in Glass or Plastic – if you store it in a glass container instead of pouring over the turkey before storing it will stay fresher longer.
- Remove Stuffing From Turkey Before Refrigerating – to avoid cross-contamination it should be removed from the bird before storing it.
- Don’t Bother Freezing Those Cooked Potatoes! – Mash potatoes freeze well, baked and roasted don’t!
- Contrary to Popular Belief, Pumpkin Pie Freezes Just Fine – You can store a baked pumpkin pie in the freezer and, although the texture might be slightly affected, it should taste exactly the same.
- Apple Pie Can Be Left Out For a Couple of Days, Not Pumpkin! – Leftover pumpkin pie needs to be refrigerated almost immediately, but this isn’t the case with apple pie.
- There’s Nothing Wrong with Freezing Leftover Wine – I’m not crazy . . . it may not maintain the same body or bouquet, but refrigerated or frozen wine is still a perfect cooking ingredient, especially over the colder months in soups, stews, and sauces. (I learned this years ago from Julia Childs – that chick knew wine!)
- Don’t Keep Bread in the Fridge – It’s perfectly fine to leave bread out, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with freezing it, but the bread shouldn’t be refrigerated because doing that will make it dry out and become stale. (I learned this from my “Bread Baker” husband!)
Peace Harmony & Bon Appetite’
XO Cheryl
How To Stay Organized This Holiday Season
3 WAYS TO STAY ORGANIZED THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
The holidays can be a joyful time of fun and cheer, but the season can be stressful and exhausting too. Between shopping, entertaining, decorating and celebrating, it can be hard to stay on top of all your to-do lists. Having your home organized ahead of time is a great way to eliminate some of the . . . shall we call it, festive frenzy!
- Making a List & Checking it Twice. One of the most important things you can do to keep your holidays organized is to have a list of all the big and little things, such as, cleaning, shopping, meal preps, activities, and decorating. A list not only ensures you don’t forget, but checking each item off the list gives you a feeling of achievement and that you have clarity in the holiday chaos. Next, add all items to your calendar so you don’t overlook anything. Guests arriving? Holiday music concert? Holiday work dinner? Add it to the calendar. Many families find an electronic calendar that can be shared with family members keeps everyone on the same page. An organized holiday is a Peace & Harmony holiday!
- Do a Deep Clean & Pre-Decor. Before bringing out all the holiday decorations, do a thorough pre-decor cleaning. It’s so much easier to clean before you pull out the holiday decorations and make getting ready to entertain all that much easier. If your home has already been deep cleaned, it shouldn’t take long to run the vacuum and dust off the furniture before guests arrive. Perform a quick home walk through and jot down all the rooms that need to be cleaned and what needs to be done specifically in each room. This is a great time to enlist the help of your family or to hire a cleaning or concierge service for a one-time cleaning. Got clutter? Now’s a great time to sort through the piles and move out anything preventing you from properly cleaning and organizing. This includes mail piles, counter clutter, kids’ toys, and clothes, decide which items to donate or toss.
- Meal Plan & Prep is a Must. Whether you’re hosting big holiday meals or events, doing holiday baking or having guests stay with you during the season, plan out all the meals you’ll be preparing. Don’t forget to count quick breakfasts, snacks, and lunches along with the main holiday meals. Add these meals to your main checklist and note the foods you’ll need to purchase (especially if there are allergies). Print off any recipes you’ll be using to have them at quick reach so you can cross-check the ingredients needed against your shopping list. Double-check your pantry and freezer to see what you already have so you don’t buy double. This is a great time to clean out, clean and organize your fridge and freezer to make room for incoming holiday foods.
Peace Harmony & Being Organized!
XO Cheryl
Black Friday Online Sale
The Concierge Has You Covered!
We offer concierge services as a solution to “Getting Things Done!”
~Personalized Packages~
- Organization: helping with mind and body by keeping the home tidy and in order.
- Cleaning: providing home or office cleaning for a healthy environment for your wellbeing
- Redesign of space: for your mindset by creating living areas that reflect your family lifestyle, assistance with relocation, or selling the home.
- Concierge Services: creating peace of mind by assisting elderly parents in their own homes, downsizing or age-in-place home modifications, party helper, holiday decorating, meeting/event concierge, help for new parents, much more…
- Errands & Tasks: help to save you time with the grocery shopping, dry cleaners, drop off items to school and other projects.
It’s so simple, visit me on Facebook click the BOOK NOW button to
book your complimentary consultation.
Peace Harmony & Happy Shopping!
XO Cheryl
~Happy Thanksgiving~
From our home and heart to yours I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I know it sounds clique but, you can always find something to be thankful for in your life. Thanksgiving Day is a good day to recommit our energies to giving thanks or just giving. May you have at the table people that love and respect you, plenty of food to feel thankful, and lots of laughter . . .
“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!” – Henry Ward Beecher
Peace Harmony & Happy Givings!
XO Cheryl
File-It! Friday
How To Get Freedom From Your Files
This is the filing system I have been using for years not only for my own Home & Office but also for my organization coaching clients. It helps keep everything in a simple system.
If you are looking for help with an Organize & Simplify System! for your home or workplace paper management. Contact me to schedule a complimentary consultation @ (860)961-6824 or email cchomeconcierge@gmail.com. Here’s a link to -> Freedom Filers
Peace Harmony & Happy Filing!
XO Cheryl
#TrendyThursday
Peace Harmony & Happy Crafting!
XO Cheryl
Tips To Being Happy
~Simply try it. A little effort can go a long way in increasing happiness. There are plenty of experimental studies that have found that simply trying to be happier could actually elevate your mood and well-being.
~Make happiness your number-one goal. People who are happy choose to make happiness among their top goals in life, according to psychologist Tom G. Stevens, Ph.D., author of You Can Choose to Be Happy. Learning good self-management skills, interpersonal skills, and career-related skills along with choosing to be in environments and around people that increase your probability of happiness.
~Linger in those tiny little, positive moments. “Our brains are wired to scout for all that’s bad — the brain is like velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones. This “negativity bias” causes the brain to react intensely to bad news, compared to how it responds to the good news. But we can counter the brain’s negativity bias — which triggers us to form stronger bad memories than good ones — by appreciating and lingering on those tiny, positive moments.” – according to Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist and author of Hardwiring Happiness.
~Choose mindfulness. The secret to happiness could be as simple (and difficult) as becoming more mindful. Meditation — a practice that anyone can do, anywhere, so long as they’re willing to sit and try to silence the mind — is thought to be a happiness-booster. I used to think that this “meditation stuff” was . . . excuse me for saying — bullshit! But, I have been using meditation since 2003. It was actually prescribed to me by my holistic doctor out of Madison, CT. The best tool I have found to calm my mind — no bullshit!
~Smile your way to happiness. The secret to boosting your mood could be as simple as making yourself smile. Fake smiling, on the other hand, results in the worse moods and withdrawal from others. It really is that simple, you create a happy environment when you’re smiling at people instead of frowning or showing a face of anger. Smiling can change our brain. Let’s say you experience a positive situation and you see a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. This means that neuronal signals travel from the cortex of your brain to the brainstem (the oldest part of our brains). From there, the cranial muscle carries the signal further towards the smiling muscles in your face — And you have a smile!
~Practice compassion. Want to increase your brain’s capacity for happiness? “Compassion is the most transforming energy in the universe with all the ingredients that everyone longs for; the embodiment of kindness, of caring, of loving. It is a skill that can be enhanced with practice, it’s not impractical or touchy-feely but a courageous state of mind and heart, with far-reaching consequences in terms of how we experience ourselves, the world and reality” (Mindfulness at Work). Try meditating on compassion.
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
~Dalai Lama
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