Finished

Its official I'm 98% done with the hall tree!  Basically took me one month to do from my last post!  We ran into a few snags along the way.  But the last 2% I'm not entirely sure as to whether or not I'm even going to do or not.  I have the wood if I want to do it, just not sure.  Gonna have to sketch it out and ponder over it.  I did a lot of pondering as to what I should and shouldn't do.  So for your viewing here it is:

My 2% is whether or not I want to cover the bottom half of the radiator with wood, just not sure yet.  I still need to paint the ceiling grid as you can see it is still brown.  I did however finally put lace inserts in the livingroom windows!  I found an old lace table cloth at our local good will that I cut into forths, hemmed, and hung.  I like the texture it adds to the space.

I picked up a old mail sorter at a rummage sale in Wisconsin this month for $2.50 this is what it looked like before:

This is what it looks like now as it hangs next to our front door:

I bought some wood cutouts at our local home improvement store that I put on and then spray painted.  The color ties in perfectly with the colors in our diningroom bench cushions.

So needless to say I may not have posted very often but I have been keeping busy.  I acquired another chair that needs to be reupholstered but its not a rocker, its quite comfy, its missing a chunk from the padding on the arm rest, the only reason I haven't started this project yet is because I need to find fabric to recover it in.  I also have to reconfigure a frame I bought at a thrift store to put our family photo in.
Oh and I did a really cute set up in our bathroom too, I'll have to remember to take a picture tomorrow!
Well, I have my plate full for tomorrow.  Good Night.

 

A few snags

Well, I've run into a few snags with the hall tree project.  We cut what I thought was needed from the bottom of each door to fit behind the radiator.  However, I'm continually reminded that old homes aren't square, level, or even.  So now I'm thinking we have to cut even more off of the doors and then anchor them to the wall before I can continue to work on it.

Hoping to get a better start on the project tomorrow.

Project Day

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  Life has been a little crazy!  Though my husband's work week is over so I'm hoping on getting a lot done today, being it his first day off!  My main project today will be working on making the hall tree for our livingroom.  I finally got all the hardware off of the old doors that I no longer wanted, but when I tried what I initially thought I was going to do, the doors were too tall.  So I need the hubby's help to trim about a foot off of each door.  I'm building the hall tree to go around our radiator and will double as a radiator cover.

If you look in the corner of this picture where the recliner is sitting.  That is where the hall tree will be, just behind it.  You can see one of the doors sitting there.

I'm so excited to start this project!  I'm hoping on putting a shelf on the top and then some smaller ones on one door or some baskets and the other door will have hooks.  Then there will be a bench.

This project also makes me think of what to do about "uncluttering" the bathroom.  We don't have a lot of space or storage in our bathroom and currently we use a tall small shelf to hold everything, buts really just a huge eye sore.  I've been looking pinterest as of late for ideas.  There are a lot of great ideas but we have a window and a partially slanted ceiling our bathroom so of course there is no easy fix.

I'll try to post pictures later today on how far we have gotten on the hall tree!

Dreaming of Spring

I am ready for spring to be here and winter to be over!  We have a sidewalk next to our house that we never use.  We also have a paved alley on the other side of our house so people usually just walk up the alley vs use our sidewalk.  The sidewalk needs some help as there are a few sections that need to be leveled.  The side of our house with the sidewalk is a large vacant condemed house.  The guy who owns it tells us he's going to tear it down and offer the land to us, but I'm thinking that's never going to happen.  So I have been dreaming of putting in a garden gate at the front of our house for where the sidewalk is.  Let's see if I can find a picture of the front of our house so you can see where I mean...

You can't really see the sidewalk between our house and the one next door.  But from where the front of the porch is, is where I'd want to line up the new garden gate with.  I was looking for the kind that is shown in the next picture that is in front of their fireplace, but I can't seem to find one like that:

So then I started browsing around ebay and decided a full size door would look pretty good there.  Not a solid door but like an old farmhouse screen door.  However, a new idea sparked in my head when I was trying to find old metal garden gates on ebay.  It seems people must use old metal headboards and footboards for garden fencing.  The lady we just went to see in Maple, WI on Friday where we bought our new to use vintage double bed has two metal twins forsale.  I just can't decide if I can make her twin headboards and footboards into a garden fence, what do you think?

   

So what do you think?

Almost There

Last night I got pretty far on finishing up my project with the antique rocker.  I successfully with the hubby's help finished uncovering the chair, getting the arms off, and re-recovering the main part of the chair.
    
Now tonight to recover the arm rests and re-attach the arm rests.  I can't put the back on till I find some buttons to stitch in to the back rest or buy buttons to cover in the same fabric.  There is also a ottoman that goes with this piece that I need to recover as well.  This chair will be in my son's nursery.  Though one day when we have a bigger house it will resurface in the livingroom.

The "needs work and some TLC" chandelier I bid on, on Ebay arrived today.  This was the picture on the listing I bid on, on the left and how I fixed it up on the right:

As you can see in the picture on the left some of the light fixtures were broken and it was quite dirty and it was not known whether or not it worked.  So when it came today the first thing I did was to take out the clorox wipes and clean it up.  Then I wired it up to be able to plug it in to see what I was working with.  With luck everything worked just fine.  I did have to repair the fixture itselves that were broken and bought new sleeves.  I did decide not to keep it so it is relisted on ebay here.

Tomorrow we are heading to Maple, WI to finally pick up the antique bed I want very badly, looking at a chair that needs some serious help, some candle wall sconces, and a vintage mail sorter.  And hopefully pictures of a finished antique rocker, minus the buttons, not sure if I'll find those tomorrow.

Still falling in Love...with vintage

So, I've successfully sold some items on ebay and while waiting for my auctions to end I decided to take a look around.  I've fallen in love with some enamel ware pieces that I think would be fabulous additions to my redecorating.  Here is some eye candy to share with you!
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I think I'm gonna try bidding on a double boiler so I can start making homemade lotions and soaps.  I got quite the kit for Christmas that I haven't used yet because you need a double boiler.  We have one but I don't want to use our good stainless steel one for that.

Last night I cut up some flannel I had and some flannel receiving blankets we didn't really use to make reusable cloth baby wipes.  I had bought a used wipe warmer from a friend last week so I even figured out how to lay them in the warmer to come out like normal wipes.  I added water and some of his baby wash to make a solution.  They work really nice.  So I'm just gonna save his store bought wipes for on the go.

Today I'm hoping to get our taxes ready to drop off on Thursday.  Make some reusable cloth inserts for Noah's cloth diapers and maybe start recovering that chair.  We brought that chair up from the basement last week so it sits in the livingroom looking for some serious TLC.  I have fabric to cover its just finding the time and energy and know how to fix it.  So we'll see where or how far I get today!

In love with all things old

I think I'm totally in love with all things old!  We already know that I'm becoming infatuated with vintage tole chandeliers, since I fell in love with one a few weeks ago that I bought, fixed, spruced up, and is now successfully hanging and working in my dining room.

Then I fell in love with another that I also purchased and is on its way here:

Not entirely sure what does and doesn't work on this one yet or exactly what it is I am going to do with it yet.  I've been contemplating for a while now about hanging it over my desk in our bonus room at the top of the stairs that would also double as a light over the stairs since there isn't one.  Or in the back entry over the basement stairs as there isn't light there either.  But not too many people would see the chandelier there.  And then there's the front porch... but I'm not sure if it would be too big there.

Now I was doing some research on Ebay and by total accident, I promise I wasn't looking for another I found one that is no longer hooked to any thing electrical and thought, "oh how wonderful that'd be in an outdoor leisure space with candles....

See what I mean?  So you see I'm in love with vintage tole chandeliers.  But I also oh so much also love hand embroidered linens especially dresser scarfs or table runners.  Vintage fabrics, funky designs on old china, lace curtains, fun old table cloths, funky antique furniture, oh so much to love!

Speaking of old stuff.  I finally took the 2nd old door I received out of our van today.  It has a window!  Though the window will come out and a mirror will go in. Haven't decided yet if I'm just gonna put a plain mirror in or stencil around the edge first.  And one door is stained dark and the other one medium.  So I also haven't decided if I will leave them that way or sand and match them.  I almost think I'm gonna leave them as is.  We have both colors of wood in our space now.  Granted the doors will be used for a hall tree in our livingroom and they will be built in, so they won't leave with us when we leave whenever that may be.  The future owners might like them the way I design them or they can paint them! Also deciding on if I want to leave the door handles on or take them off.... so many decisions.

I also had high hopes today of starting or to continue working on the antique rocker I have that I was to recover/reupholster.  I amazingly have fabric left over from the vintage curtains I picked up at a thrift store over the holidays that I also used for the cushion covers in our diningroom.  But I do work better later in the evening.  So maybe I'll still get around to that.  I just can't wait till its done!  But now that I saw that cute chandelier online I think I'm gonna day dream about a leisurely outside space for a while, maybe draw up some plans.  End of January and we've had -50 with the windchill all week so why not think of warm summer days?

Catching Up

This morning we conquered cleaning the oven!  I've been putting it off for months!  Though the hubby even offered to help.  I think that's what made it go so much quicker.  I read online this morning the easiest way to clean an oven the "green" way is to put baking soda on the baked on spots, spray with water and leave over night.  Then in the morning just wipe away with a cloth.  Even saw a You-Tube video.  That wasn't going to help me.  We're having Family Night at our house tonight which means we're in charge of dinner.  I also wanted to bake today!

So I got out a scrapper and scrapped what we could off of the oven.  Then I sprayed it with a homemade all purpose cleaner and some bon ami and then let it sit for about 10-15 min.  Then I took steel wool and scrubbed.  The honey scrubbed here too.  Then we just wiped clean with a wet microfiber cloth.

I ran out to our local whole foods co-op and picked up some ingredients for today's baking list that I wasn't able to find at our big grocery store.  In the oven now is simple bread from the wheat belly cookbook.  I also ran to Ben Franklin this morning to pick up some 100% wool yarn to make dryer balls to throw in with the cloth diapers but also for the rest of the laundry to cut the drying time in half.

Next on the list is to make flat bread and wraps.  All wheat free.  Later today we have to find a longer dryer vent and some creative storage ideas for home made laundry detergent, cleaners, and cloth diapering accessories!

Saving Money

Well, yesterday I bought 13 cloth diapers.  Today I purchased another 11.  I'm looking at a few more on Ebay that have velcro closure.  I tried a form of cloth diapers when my son was born but I couldn't figure them out and they always leaked and were SO bulky.  But then a ton of my facebook friends have been talking about them and formed a group within the last week that I joined and they got me started on Pocket Diapers.  So nice and easy!  Most of the pocket diapers I've boughten between yesterday and today are brand new and only $6 each!  Though I did get two at $8 each and 4 at $10 a piece.  Most of these retail for $17.95 on up.

As you know I was stressing out because of our utility bill and losing my job.  A box of disposable diapers maybe lasts us 2 weeks or so, depending on the size of the box.  Which is at leaset $25. So by purchasing cloth diapers once you only pay for them once and then just wash and reuse.  My little boy doesn't seem to mind the change and I've found out from so many other mom's that children in cloth potty train a lot sooner than those in disposables.

Thankfully my husband's paycheck had holiday pay so we were able to pay the bills and have money left over.  Now to make it stretch!

Along with cloth diapering I'll be going back to cloth wipes too.  Why not?  We have been using cloth family wipes instead of toilet paper for the last year.  We rarely use toilet paper.

I saw a great blog post some where on making reusable paper towels and having them snap to each other.  One day I'll make those.  I've also made my own luna pads, reusable sandwich bags, most everything I can actually.

Oh someone also told me about making your own dryer balls for the dryer vs dryer sheets.  Here is the link.

I'm in green mode right now, why maybe because we were broke and I like saving money.  Or I'm getting excited for the annual Earth Fest celebration my hometown does that's just next door to our city I'm not sure but in any means saving money is GREAT!

Tomorrow my plan is to bake wheat free breads since I was able to grocery shopping today.
Thinking about a great idea.  Now through April 6th I'll challenge myself as well as you to find a way to save money each day on something that has a continual savings.  Like last year we made the switch from toilet paper to family cloth so its not just a daily savings like using coupons but a lifestyle change.  Then when April 6th arrives which is the date of Earth Fest we'll total up our savings!  This can also be for doing something DIY that saves you a ton of money for something that you use for a long time.

Life's been a bit stressful...

I haven't posted in a while, I know!  A couple of weeks ago I had to pay a rather large hospital bill from having a CT and an ultrasound done.  Insurance did pay 80% but our 20% was still around $400.  I don't like having debt nor do I like having to make payments.  I had $400 to pay it so I paid it but now its been tight to pay for other things like gas and groceries.

There is this great Facebook group I belong to called Quad City Traders for my local area.  Its great!  Its like what Craigslist used to be and before Craigslist the classifieds.  You take a photo of what you are selling, post it, say something about it, with a price you are comfortable with and where you live.  If it weren't for this group I'm not sure how we would have survived these past couple of weeks.

I lost my job the first week of January so I have no new income coming into the equation.  We also just got a $459 utility bill, biggest one we've ever had living in our home for almost 6 years.  I called and its due to the infared heater we have in our son's room.  Noah's room doesn't have a radiator.  So I've had to unplug his heater, open the valve's on the two radiator's upstairs wider to try heating his room that way better.

I've been praying that either I get approved for unemployment or I get a job that will amazingly work with my husband's schedule or he gets the Supervisor position he's applied for or his W2 comes so we can file taxes, but something.

A few years ago we attended a local Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey to learn how to get rid of our debt and live like no one else.  Well, we don't have credit card debt which a lot of people have a lot of.  We do have vehicle debt and our house.  Dave has 7 steps for financial freedom.
1) $1,000 in an emergency fund
2) Pay off all debt except the house utilizing the debt snowball
3) 3 to 6 months expenses in savings
4) Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs & pretax retirement
5) College Funding
6) Pay off home early
7) Build Wealth & Give

We are just shy of goal #1.  But getting to goal #1 is proving to be hard with limited income and a little one.  The money I'm making by selling stuff we own is going to pay for every day expenses like putting gas in the car, a few inexpensive groceries here and there, diapers, wipes, baby food/formula, etc.  Granted when winter is over the utility bills won't be so big so we'll have some wiggle room.

I have made an appointment for tomorrow to meet with another insurance agency to see if we can lower our insurance costs on our home and our vehicles.  Next is to call some mortgage companies to see if we can refinance since interest rates are so low.  Our mortgage interest rate isn't high but if we could save some money, then lets save some money!

I've also started posting items on Ebay to see if I have any luck in selling there.  Ebay offers 50 free listings each month so that's what I'm working on.  No bids yet but I have noticed that there are views and people watching.  When I find something on Ebay I watch it till it gets closer to the end of the auction before I bid too hoping no one else bids on it.  You can set it for a minium price and see if it goes up from there.

I have finished painting the livingroom.  Though I've been slacking on the curtains and the cushions. I've been awfully tired lately.  So I'm taking Vit D as I live in north eastern Minnesota and its winter so we don't get much sunlight. 

Antiquing Online

So, I think I'm addicted to antiquing online.  I have a facebook account that I use to belong to a few local and regional groups.  One in particular I use to sell a lot of stuff, I make enough money to almost be a part time job, which is good cause I don't have one and God always seems to provide for our needs.

The other groups I belong to are vintage finds.  And I've been doing a lot of browsing on Etsy and Ebay too.  My lovely chandelier hanging in my newly remodeled diningroom was a great find on Ebay for $30 and a new coat of paint with some new bulbs made it amazing.  I found another chandelier on there that
I bidded on that's also amazingly adorable.  Needs some TLC but I learned how to wire lamps in college as I made funky ones out of LP Records.  Haven't decided yet if the next chandelier will hang in the stairwell going up stairs or going downstairs.  Guess I'll decide when it gets here, I'm thinking upstairs because more people will see it.

Next Saturday my husband and I are going to visit Maple, WI to pick up an absolutely awesome vintage double bed frame!  This is it: 
Isn't it awesome!  All for only $40!  Its a steal!  Also picking up some other awesome finds from this lady.  She has a whole pole barn full of goodies.  Getting a mail sorter, some wall sconce candle holders, a scroll book shelf, and some super cute wall hangings.

I have 98% of the painting finished in the livingroom.  Just a few spots here and there that I just noticed that I totally forgot!  Here's a picture on how I decided to paint the beams! 
I painted the gray at an angle at the top.  I really like it. I debated for a few days as to what I was gonna do about it and then this idea popped into my head!
This is what it looked like prior: 
My next thought is if I want to stencil the walls with a larger design in a slightly darker shade of what's on the walls.  In the picture it looks white but really its a light shade of yellow, amazingly enough.  The only stencils I could find were either damask or of chandeliers.  Neither of which I want.  So I guess I'll just have to search for a while.

I've also been deciding what I want to do for window coverings.  I've decided I want a panel of lace down the center of each window but haven't decided completely for the ends.  I've been thinking about vintage table cloths or sheer fabric but nothing concrete yet.

So many things to do and such little time!  I really need to get my sewing machine set up again so I can get the cushions done for the benches in the diningroom and get the benches stained!
Well, have a wonderful weekend!  We're headed to Brainerd/Baxter tomorrow so the hubby can take a test Saturday morning.  Please share your weekend plans below!

YAY!!!! I installed the chandelier by myself!!!

So I am very proud of myself today!  Last night I brought my chandelier to my parents home to get some assistance in cleaning it up.  Then last night when we got home I spray painted it.  My step-dad was thinking I needed help in hanging it from the ceiling because we have a suspended ceiling with a plaster ceiling above the suspended ceiling.

Well, my parents watched my son while I made a quick trip to Menards this afternoon and the guy in hardware told me also did something similar.  He got me fitted with a butterfly anchor and a long eye hook and told me what I had to do.  My parents didn't know why I was going to Menards and honestly I didn't want to tell them.

So I got out my husband's cordless drill, found my 3/8" drill bit, determinded where I wanted the chandelier to hang down from, marked a spot on the ceiling, drilled through the plaster, the lath, and a stud I think.  I had some trouble because the butterfly anchor was more like 3/4" wide then 1/2" like the guy told me.  So, I ran out to the garage and scrounged and found a ton of other drill bit type things and made the hole slightly bigger.  I then put my eye hook through the butterfly anchor, hammered it in till it butterflied out.  I did all this with the ceiling tile aside.  Then I had to measure how many inches in on two sides where the eye bolt was hanging so I could cut a small hole through the ceiling tile.  I ran downstairs, grabbed my xacto knife and just made a big enough hole for part of a chain link to fit through.  I put a shower curtain hook through it to make sure it wouldn't come out on the top.

Here are some bad pictures to give you an idea, clarity is not great when you're practically photographing blind...

So, then I grabbed chain that I had to soak over night and then spray paint an antique white.  Dropped it to where I thought would be proper height and then hung the chandelier.  I had a bit trial and error but it turned out amazing!

So this is what the diningroom looked like a week ago today.  It used to look much more blah, but this was a week ago (on the left) and what it looks like today (on right.)

I'm not done yet.  I took the day off from painting so my little boy could have playing room.  So, I still have to finish painting the accent color completely.  I'm so excited with how it turned out!
Oh and you know what else exciting happened today!  I bartered with someone on the table I made by hand that didn't really fit my vision for the diningroom for an awesome door that I just need one more of so I can make the hall tree I've envistioned!

Here are a few more close ups of the diningroom remodel, hope you enjoy...

The plate racks are on both sides of the built in bookshelf.  The plate rack on the left has some decopauged frames I made with inspirational quotes in them.  The top left says, "Grow where you are planted," the bottom left says, "My child, You worry too much!  Remember, I've got this! Love your dad, God."  The top right says, "The greast pleasrure in life is doing what people say you can't do!" (One of my favorite quotes) and bottom left says, "When life gets to hard to stand....kneel."

Project Wrap Ups

Well, today we finished assembling the benches!!! Yay!


This is the shorter of the two benches.  Its 3 feet long and perfect storage for fabric boxes, these store dvds.





This last shelf is a continuous 6 feet long.  I wasn't able to take one shot, the table was in the way.  So the center break, there is just the wider 6" board and the bench continues.  I plan on putting fabric boxes here as well to hold table cloths, place mats, centerpieces, etc.

They will be stained to match the table and then I've picked out the fabric to make a cushion for the top of each bench.  This is the fabric I've chosen, I should have enough, it was a thrift store find during the Holiday Season: 
I had to get the accent color tinted darker today.  It other wise had blended in with the wall.  My chandelier arrived today.  Needed some serious cleaning, had to take out a broken bulb that was stuck in the main light socket.  And gave it a nice new coating of antique white paint.  Also had to remove the chain, it was nasty feeling and smelly.  So the chain came off and its soaking in soapy water and we wiped down the cord.  Now just to measure the cord to make sure we will have enough length.

Tomorrow, my step dad is coming to help me anchor a hook to the ceiling thru our suspended ceiling to hang the new beauty.  It is absolutey amazing!  I will definitely post photo's once its up!

Tomorrow I also plan on finishing the accent color.  Hanging some pictures on the wall, look into new window drapery, and putting the livingroom back together!

High Chair Before & After

So I did finish re-doing Noah's new to him high chair that was a thrift store find during the Christmas holiday season.  We paid $12.75 for it.  I took the cushions off, took the yucky fabric off, reupholstered, had my step dad sandblast the tray, then I sanded it, cleaned it with alcohol, and spray painted it all.  My little boy looked so big in it when we put him in it and oh how he loved it!
So here is what it looked like before:
 
Pretty neat-o huh?!
My livingroom/diningroom remodel is coming along.  I finished painting the walls and baseboards tonight and started the accent color.  I'm thinking because we went from dark and dark to light and light, I might make the beams, window frames, and built in book shelf look worn in some places to bring the darker out for some depth.
I checked the tracking on my chandelier and its finally in Minnesota so shouldn't be too long now.
Oh I also found some really cool corbels at Menards tonight to put in our beam's corners to add some class.
This is what our beam corners looked like prior to painting: 
Now we are adding these to the corners:

I also still need to paint the ceiling, because as you saw in the picture with our beams we have a hideous looking suspended ceiling.  I'm not sure who in their right mind would paint the grid brown, but I think they were crazy!  And no it didn't come that way, you can tell if you look close it was painted that color.
Well, my back is killing me and I really want to finish assembling the benches tomorrow and finish the accent color.  My almond flour came today so I want to find time to bake tomorrow too!

Still Painting...

Well today we picked up our new to us table and chairs from Two Harbors and the antique bud vases from Duluth and we even got home before Noon!  I finished painting the main part of the walls and now just have some edges left.  Last night we picked up the accent color so I'll start that tomorrow.

Tomorrow night I'm hoping on finally finishing the benches and then stain them a gray tone.  I've decided not to spray the ceiling so I'm gonna take all the panels out, paint them with a roller and then stamp to look like a faux tin ceiling.  My chandelier is still some where in Florida.  I'm supposed to receive it by the 17th.

I got this groovy idea to make a hall tree in the entrance once in our livingroom.  So I might luck out and find some doors on a facebook group I belong to.  Once I get it sketched out I'll share.  Hoping this weekend to get a table set up in my craft room so I can re-set up my sewing machine and make cushions and cushion covers for the new benches as well as the curtains in the porch.

Oh and I finally started to repaint the newer high chair.  So I'm hoping to assemble tomorrow.  In which I will definitely have pictures to share.

I've also decided to open an E-bay shop!  I'm gonna thrift on the weekends and sell online during the week.  Works great cause I can still stay home with my little man and ship from home.

Oh and I thought up this great idea to repurpose baby food jars and be super organized as a crafter or a gift wrapper. And as soon as I make one I'll share!

Well, I'm off to check on the high chair and the drying process and then off to bed!  Lots to do tomorrow!

Livingroom/Dining Room Make Over

Well, last night I was debating.  Do I want to start painting the living room or do I want to work on Noah's new high chair?  Well, I figured the high chair really needs to get going so he can start using it but knowing it wouldn't take very much time, I decided to start painting the livingroom.  I love what a new coat of paint can do to a room, however, I HATE painting.  But I really wanted it done and I was the only one who was gonna do it and I really wanted it done before the table gets picked up tomorrow and the new chandelier arrives.    As I also want to paint the ceiling...

Though now I'm thinking about a different way to paint the ceiling cause it rather intimidates me.
The one thing that already feels great about the living room is that it feels so big and bright!

I'm not ready to post before and after pictures nor am I wanting to post intermittent pictures.  So you're just gonna have to wait patiently.

On the upside I finally picked out my accent color.  Its a shade of gray but I had about 50 samples, then I narrowed it down to 6 and now finally 1.  It ties in the tiles in the dining room/ kitchen as well as the new backsplash, the kitchen hardware, the new paint color, and eventually the new accents!

So I'm sorry to leave you hanging, I'll try really hard to get this done by the weekend with the exception of the chandelier as its still in transit.

Wheat Free Living Helpful Recipe Books

My primary M.D. told me back in November when we saw her for my son's 6 month wellness check about the book, Wheat Belly.  We were discussing my endometriosis and if she thought I should go back to the diet I had been on before ever trying to have a family.  She mentioned two books to me.  Wheat Belly and Endometriosis by a Dr. Shepherdson.  I read the Endometriosis one first but that told me nothing new.  I then picked up Wheat Belly from our local Target.  That proved to be very informative.

Wheat wreaks so much havoc on all of our lives, not just those of us who have endometriosis.  I realized back in February of 2012 how wheat can make me go crazy!  I was pregnant with my son Noah at the time and I failed the first test for gestational diabetes.  So in order to confirm they make you eat 100+ grams of carbs (primary wheat) for 3 days in a row.  I was so cranky, moody, and just out right out of control.  I would get so mad at the littlest things, throwing things, yelling at my husband with no control.  I could see it happening like I was watching from outside of my body and then ding, ding, ding.  It hit me.  This used to happen to me in high school.  I'd go into these fits and I hated them yet I never knew what triggered them.  It was wheat.  In high school I ate a lot of wheat noodles in various dishes, pizza, sandwiches, etc.  I would just sit and cry afterwords.  My mom even sent me to therapy but we never figured out it was wheat.  When I realized this back in Februray I called my mom and said I know why I had all those fits in high school!  What a wake up call!

So they did confirm with me with gestational diabetes.  I learned fast that everything I was used to eating no longer could I eat as it would make my blood sugars spike.  I did a lot of online research.  I came across Elana's Pantry  boy was this a helpful site.  Recipes helped me the most in creating breakfast foods and desserts using almond flour vs wheat flour.  I ate almond flour items as much as I could and was available, so primarily in my kitchen only.

As soon as my son was born I went back to the traditional way of eating until I read Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD.  Again, that ding, ding, ding sounded in my head.  Why in the world did I ever go back to traditional eating, more or less because I was no longer gestational diabetic.  I still weigh more than I did before I got pregnant and eating wheat isn't helping lose the extra weight.  I did pretty good in the month of December not eating wheat, I lost quite a bit of weight.  Then Christmas came with all those scrumptious wheat filled cookies, bars, candies, and I gained it all back.

Christmas morning brought "The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook" by Elana Amsterdam, the wonderful lady who has Elana's Pantry.  And I had been waiting for Christmas Eve to come and go so "The Wheat Belly Cookbook, " would be released.  I just picked up my very own copy last week at Barnes and Noble.  

So what is stopping me from going full on almond flour vs wheat?  I needed to order more almond flour.  Our local whole foods co-op only sells very small quantities for the very same price I can buy large quantities online.  But don't fret, I just purchased 10 lbs from nuts.com today.  

Oh I'm so excited!!!  Between both books I should be able to bake bread, flat bread (sub sandwiches), french toast, pancakes, cookies, etc all while feeling good and losing weight!  I do have some almond flour left though the difference between what I have and what I ordered is that what I ordered is blanched meaning it doesn't have the skin on it and isn't as heavy.  The non-blanched almond flour is great for heavier baking like cookies and cakes.  I want to use the blanched for breads.

Now my only hope is that my son won't be allergic to nuts so he'll never have to be introduced to wheat and its harmful side effects!

The key to weight loss and good health

So after attempting many "diets" and trying many different diet supplements I think I've figured out the key to weight loss and good health.  We all plan to stick to a diet, we make resolutions, we spend thousands of dollars on programs like Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, etc but most people don't succeed.

I my self have tried Weight Watchers on more than one occasion, I've recently tried the 17-day diet, and most currently trying No Wheat.

I love to plan, I plan and organize as much of my life as humanly possible, I'm anal about getting set amount of things done that need to be done vs procrastinating.  So yes I do get irritated with myself if I don't get my "to-do" list done.

They key to weight loss and good health is to take each day as it comes, one day at a time.  Don't plan to lose 5 lbs a week because your work out dvd states it will help you do so.  You build up expectations that within 3 months you'll be to your perfect size.  But that's based on a plan of doing it every day for 3 months.  You don't know what happens day to day.  Stuff happens and we can't stress out over that.

You and I both know that stress only makes things worth.
If we just focus on the here and now and tackle each day at a time knowing our goals of losing weight and being healthier we are better to achieve then to continue gaining or plateauing.
I'm down a couple of pounds  just by eating healthy and making conscious decisions for the day at hand.

Kitchen Backsplash...Check

So I can cross one thing off of my list.  Putting the back splash in the kitchen.  I did that tonight.  Here is a before picture and an after:  
And the after:  
Pretty shiny huh.  I bought the tiles through HarrietCarter.com and the reviews for the adhesives they send with weren't great, but when I was looking at buying liquid nails it stated it would not be adheasive to the products I was using.  I tried liquid nails just in case but it didn't work, so I did use the adhesives Harriet Carter sent with and so far no problem.  The back splash cost about $36 and I bought matching silver outlet covers at my local Home Improvement store.

Tomorrow my husband doesn't have to work a double shift so I plan on getting more screws and one more 1x3x6 for him to cut and hopefully finish assembling the benches.  And one of two of the larger projects I really want to get done is painting our living room/ dining room area before the end of the week, so that's my goal for tomorrow after my son goes to bed for the night and then finishing Wednesday in time for our new table.

Oh and even more exciting!  I did win that chandelier I posted pictures of yesterday!  Yay!
No wheat today or sugar, had a few bouts of withdrawls but made it through.  Lost a couple of pounds too!

1st Floor Remodel Project

So the remodel on our main floor is progressing.  I did some more work on the dining room benches today  but with my husband at work all day it was slow going.  My little boy tenses as the drill sounds and I can't do that to him.  I was able to drill pilot holes while he napped but then I ran out of screws.  So I'm a little further then this picture shows, but here is the last photo I took:  
I'm hoping to start painting the livingroom tomorrow after my son goes to bed for the night.  I can't paint during the day as I'm sure he'd find it fun to ram his car (walker) into the paint tray.  I found a table that I believe will work well in the dining area that we are picking up from Two Harbor's, MN on Thursday:

 I found some super cute bud vases that we are picking up in Duluth, MN on Thursday too:  

And I'm hoping to land this super cute chandelier: 

Ultimately hoping I can get the livingroom painted before Thursday.  Still have to pick out my accent color.  I'm thinking a shade of gray, which particular not sure yet, I've narrowed it down to 3 different shades.  Then there's the feat of painting the ceiling and then stenciling in a faux tin ceiling.  That's gonna be a job but so worth it!

I came up with a super cute idea for the front porch.  My dad made me a ladder shelf about 4 years ago for a store we used to own.  I've used it for displays for craft shows but that's not my thing anymore.  So instead of storing it in the garage, I'm going to take the hinges off and affix the two sides to both sides of the front door in our porch and then put two planters on the top rung on either side.  I also still have to sew the new curtains for the porch.  Sewing anything will be put off a bit as I'm converting my sewing studio in to a guest room/craft room and I can't get much further until stuff sells and furniture moves around.

And there's still the backsplash in the kitchen, that I might get done tomorrow since there is no noise associated with that and Noah might allow me to do that!

Well, I'm exhausted!  I do hope I have fasinating pictures to share tomorrow!
As for giving up wheat and sugar... I'm having withdrawls and its making me feel ill, probably why I'm exhausted but I haven't given in to eating either!