This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

January Cure

December 31st, 2017

A few years ago, I did the Apartment Therapy January Cure with a friend. We’ve been doing it and loving it ever since. Basically, It’s a month long focus on clearing out the clutter and cleaning. Every day there’s an e-mail with task, generally they take between 15-30 minutes. Each weekend there’s a bigger chore, which takes a little longer.
Typically, I stay on top of cleaning/organizing throughout the year. I’ve developed habits that work for me. Last year, with all the traveling and my mom’s illness, I got a bit behind in the deep cleaning, decluttering chores that I did in big blocks of time. This year The January Cure will help me get back on track.


Every January my friend and I do the challenge together. As I was telling another friend about it yesterday, I realized it would be fun to do as a group. If you’re on facebook, join us during the week of January. Each day I’ll post photos of my cure project and you can post your photos in the comments of the Chiot’s Run facebook page.

Do you have a specific time of year you clean and declutter, or do you do it throughout the year?

Brrrrr……..

December 29th, 2017

This morning our bedroom was 47 when we woke up, and that’s in the new part of the house with good insulation and windows. There was frost on the inside of the windows.

The lows during the nights have been around -10, next week they’re supposed to get down to around -20. That’s a bit cold. Since we have an old, fairly drafty house, when it gets this cold we find ourselves covering the windows with blankets and the bottoms of the doors with towels.


This helps tremendously with the draftiness and typically helps keep the house 5-10 degrees warmer during these very cold nights.

How cold is it getting in your garden this week?

Life with Cats

December 28th, 2017

During the summer, all of our cats spend most of their time out in the garden hunting for rodents. In the winter, they mostly spend it indoors getting into mischief. They follow me around throughout the day, stealing my warm chair, begging me for food, and getting in my shots when I’m trying to take photos.




They’re a fun bunch and definitely keep life interesting.

Do you have indoor pets?

Holiday Feasting

December 27th, 2017

This past weekend we didn’t do a lot. Since our families both live back in Ohio, we travel back at Thanksgiving and celebrate Christmas at that time. That leaves us with a very low-key holiday on our own. Typically, we spend the time with our neighbor’s, but the all had the flu this year, so we stayed away. That means we spent our days reading, eating, plowing all the snow from the blizzard, eating, watching movies, and eating some more.

I made Swedish cardamom rolls, which have been a favorite since our trip to Sweden last year. They just might become a new holiday tradition, we enjoy them so much more than cookies. For Christmas dinner we roasted a duck, one of our Muscovies that we raised and slaughtered earlier in the years. The majority of the sides came from the garden as well, which certainly makes Christmas dinner a meaningful meal.


Eating is a big part of our holidays, which is the way it should me. Food can be such an important part of our lives and celebrations. Perhaps since we don’t have lots of parties and lots of gifts, we notice the food part of our holidays more. Either way, food is such an important part of holidays, we wouldn’t have it any other way!

What are some of your favorite holiday foods?

Friday Favorite: Espresso

December 22nd, 2017

Here at Chiot’s Run, we brew espresso and drink it with steamed milk. Every day, we brew two cups and thoroughly enjoy them, down to the last drop.

Every morning I’m happy as can be to be enjoying a delicious cup of steamed milk and espresso, what a wonderful way to start the day. Coming from Colombia, I started drinking coffee in the womb and never stopped. It’s been one of my favorite things for as long as I can remember.

Are you a coffee drinker?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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