Around my house

 

(as inspired by Brooke)

In my fridge you'll always find:

Milk (1%), yogurt (various fruit flavours), baby carrots, and a Brita pitcher with water chilling  
 

Favorite family recipe:

My mother makes a snack that involves a butter & brown sugar, melted together & poured over a cookie sheet lined with graham crackers, topped with nuts (chopped walnuts or slivered almonds) and baked for a few minutes. It's so simple but people just go ga-ga over it;  they disappear very quickly. The recipe came from my grandmother's neighbour and has been around almost as long as I have. I've seen a variation on this recipe that includes a layer of chocolate too. :)
 

Favorite junk food:

Popcorn or potato chips  
 

I'll do anything to avoid:

Mopping the floors. I even bought one of those electric steam mops after a friend raved about hers, thinking it might be incentive to do the floors more often. Ummm, nope. :p  
 

My secret cleaning weapon is:

Vinegar and baking soda -- one or the other works on just about everything. Also, I love my Swiffer duster. :)
 

Before company arrives, I hide:

The pile of books and magazines sitting beside the loveseat where I sit. And close the door to the front room/office, where I have piles of scrapbooking supplies (sadly unused for some time now...).
 

I love to shop for:

Jewelry, makeup & skincare products (although I don't wear much makeup these days!). The day I walked into my first Sephora, I thought I'd died & gone to heaven. ;) And, while there was a time I never thought I'd write this, I love shopping for cute outfits for the two little Princesses.
 

I hate to shop for:

Bras (which is why I put off doing it for so long... I finally got some new ones last summer. I won't tell you how old the old ones were...!).
 

Bad habit:

Procrastination
 

I just learned:

I have a fourth cousin who is married to a famous Canadian author, and another fourth cousin who is a Canadian country singer. :)  Never knew they existed until this week and they wouldn't know me either, but it's stuff like this that makes genealogy fun. :)
 

Stuff I can't live without:

Chocolate, a supply of mints in my purse, my Filofax, yoga pants (and did I mention chocolate?).
 

Weird housekeeping compulsion:

I finish off each housecleaning session by taking a Lysol wipe & using it on all the light switches, door knobs, computer mice & keyboards, and remote controls in the house. I've been doing this for a couple of years now, I think since the big avian flu scare about five years ago, and I've noticed that both of us have been sick a lot less. 
 

On bed making:

I remember Mel polled her readers awhile back about whether they make the bed every day. I have to admit I was SHOCKED by how many people said they do not make their beds daily. I mean, I know some people don't (my sister, for one, probably hasn't made a bed since she left home, lol), but I was honestly surprised just how many people admitted to it. Dh & I always made our bed in the morning right after breakfast, before we got dressed & headed out for work -- and while we're not heading out to work anymore, we still make the bed in the morning. The house just looks neater, and as Brooke noted, it's just so nice to pull back the sheets and climb into a neatly made bed at night.
 

Personal motto/mantra:

Life is what happens while you're making other plans. (John Lennon)
 

I wish I could tell my younger self:

Lighten up a little.  :)
 

What's always in your fridge? What advice would you give your younger self? Spill it.