Seriously though, decoupaging is one of the easiest ways to
spruce up—well, excuse my French—but crap.
No offense to my dumpster and third-generation hand-me-down
furniture, but you furniture already know that you are not top notch.
Comic Book Table
One day, a few years ago, my then-boyfriend/now-husband and
I were leaving his apartment when we spotted a side table just standing next to
the dumpster waiting for its doom. When I investigated the table, I discovered
that this piece was totally sturdy, but the main issue was that some one (I’m
guessing child) carved mathematical problems into the wood on the top of the
side table. I thought, hey, you know what? I’m going to fix this! Lo and behold,
my future husband let me use a bunch of his old comic books to decoupage the top
of the table. Next thing you know, with the help of scissors, comic books, a
paintbrush, and mod podge, I turned the discarded side table into a rocking
(and conversation-starting) piece of furniture!
Comic Book Table Close Up
Comic Book Table Side
Coffee Table
A few years later, one of my coworkers was moving out of her
apartment, and her coffee table needed a new home. We gladly took it, seeing as
how our current one had a loose leg (not safe for baby!). This particular table
had beautiful wood, but the top was scratched and banged up. For a long time, I
thought about decoupaging it, but it was not until a month or so ago I decided
to go for it. I found some great paper from Paper-Source and got to work again—same
materials, same thing. And after some simple decoupaging work, this coffee
table that had actually been in at least three different homes looked
smashingly unique and neat.
Coffee Table Before
Coffee Table After
So if you are looking to upcycle any furniture piece, try
decoupaging! It’s a quick and fun day project.Happy upcycling!
When you are crafty like me, you love it when you find a
“fixer upper.” Two items that I recently fixed up were a dresser and a desk.
The dresser I found for free from Freecycle, and the desk (which I turned into
a vanity) came from a rummage sale.
Before, the dresser was a paint-peeling bright blue, but here it is today. This project did not require much more
than painting it. But it went from somewhat drab to clean and cute.
The desk on the other hand had a hole in the top when I
bought it. Why would I buy something with a hole in it? Well, it was a rummage
sale so I knew I could talk the price down (it had an obvious defect) and I had
the perfect solution for it.
Rummage Sale Vanity Desk
To fix it:
-Wood glue a small light board inside of top drawer under
hole
-Apply wood filler inside of hole on top
-Sand area of dried wood glue
-Paint it
Voila! Fixed and fixed!
Some other lovely items in the photo that you may have
noticed are the chair (garage sale-just needed felt pads on bottom of chair
legs to keep from scratching the wood floor), jewelry dish cat (garage sale),
and vintage clock (rummage sale).
Rummage Sale Vintage Clock
Garage Sale Jewelry Dish Cat
What I love about rummage and garage sales along with thrift
and resale shops is how many unique items you can find! Either furniture,
decorations and clothing; there is always something fun that is that perfect “as
is” or you cannot wait to bring to the tailor or get to work on in your garage.
Somehow though I doubt Macklemore wrote his song about
homemakers poppin tags! J
Making baby food is something to be proud of. You may ask, why
make food if you can buy it already made on the shelf, and taking care of a
baby is a lot of work anyway, why add more to that lengthy list? Well we
shouldn’t think of making food as adding more to our already busy schedule, it
should be part of our daily schedule.
At one point people made their food and that was that, but
today with tempting packaged foods it is real easy to buy and feed mouths. One main
problem with packaged foods is the idea of the expiration date. Let’s say you
made a great big meal for Holiday and you have lots of meat, veggies, and
dessert. Of course you never finish this big meal and it soon becomes “leftovers.”
These leftovers stay in the fridge for some days as people pick at it here and
there, but what happens to those remnants sticking to the edges of bowls and
dishes; they get tossed, they “expire.” So really when it comes to packaged
food with expiration dates think of its container as really really good Tupperware.
If you had that fancy Tupperware containing a meal from last years Holiday would
you still eat it even if its “expiration date” isn’t until next week? I mean
technically you could eat it, right? But something inside you starts thinking, “I
don’t want this rubbish! I deserve a fresh cooked meal not this old… uhhh what
is this anyway? Sheppard’s pie?” Something deep down in us,
internally, subconsciously; animalistically you want the freshest most
delicious food. We crave real food! Real food as in we know where
it comes from and we are rewarded by its deliciousness!
Babies too love the real deal when it
comes to food. Making baby food isn’t complicated. It’s a matter of deciding
what vegetable, fruit, or fun combination you want, washing it, peeling/cutting
it, blending/puree it, and voila baby food!
Zooey eating fresh!
Whenever I feed Zooey the fresh stuff she goes wild in comparison to
prepackaged baby food. In fact, she even laughs while eating it. When buying fresh fruits and vegetables look for those that come from your very own backyard, are organic, in season, and/or comes from a farmers market.
Of course if you are in a bind, use packaged. Although if you do, try to buy organic.
At one point when I was pregnant, I thought that I would
forever be a larger size. I thought that my hips and rib cage were forever
going to be the width they were, that I was permanently just getting larger (I
had heard rumors that even your feet may widen or get longer when you’re
pregnant and that they'd stay that way). So at one point I started donating or giving away
my clothes that I thought I would never in a million years fit into.
To my surprise, I am now healthier than I ever have been. And why
is this a surprise? Well, years ago, before I was pregnant, I was a vegetarian
(for over 10 years) and I thought at that time I was healthier than ever,
eating mainly fruits, veggies, and some grains. However, what I have learned is
that I was eating too few calories and starving my body of the nutrients it
needed. I was in starvation mode and looked nowhere near starving.
One evening in January, as little Zooey slept, I was trying
to find something to watch just to waste some time, and the weight loss competition The Biggest Loser was
on. I had never watched the show before, and to my surprise I really got into it. I started reading success stories and specifically Jillian
Michaels books. One of my favorites was Master Your Metabolism, which taught
me a lot about nutrition, the body, and having a healthy home. I started
following some of Michaels' suggestions or “rules,” and honestly the pounds started
falling off for me. It is funny that I am actually eating more now than ever!
At this point (being only 8 ½ months postpartum) I have lost over 40 pounds,
and I’m now even well-under my pre-pregnancy weight!
9 months pregnant/8 months after
Example Daily Menu:
Breakfast: Coffee with sugar and almond milk (45 cal a cup),
small banana (50 cal), and healthy granola bar (with high protein-140 cal)
Lunch: Veggie Wrap (Spinach or Flax seed wrap-100 cal,
spinach and arugula-15 cal, hummus-15 cal, green pepper-15 cal, tomato-15 cal,
rosemary and red crushed pepper-0 cal)
Snack 1: Raw veggies and hummus (60 cal)
Snack 2: Handful of raw mixed nuts (200 cal)
Dinner: Baked or Grilled Chicken Salad (spinach and arugula-20
cal, baked or grilled chicken-120 cal, tomato-15 cal, pepper-15 cal, and sun
dried tomato vinegrette-15 cal), a
whole-wheat bun (60 cal), and butter/margarine (30 cal)
In case you are wondering, for my height and depending on how
much exercise I get, I eat anywhere between 1,200-1,800 calories daily.
Within those calories I have some general rules I try to follow. I try to eat
food that is organic/locally grown (as locavore as you can be in the Midwest),
and I avoid high fructose corn syrup, Frankenfood, or really I just go by the
rule, “If your great-grandparents wouldn’t recognize an ingredient as food…
Don’t eat it!” One thing that you may have noticed that is missing from my diet
is dairy. I am lactose intolerant, so I need to avoid it all together. So
instead of cows milk I drink almond milk, which actually is quite healthy (I
avoid soy milk since it has added estrogen in it which can mess with your
body’s natural hormones). On that same note with drinking… I try to avoid
drinking my calories, which means I try not drinking soda, juice, and alcohol.
If I am in a “party” mood I may drink 1 serving (and that doesn’t mean 1
serving is a full glass—I measure out by the ounce). One last important note
when it comes to eating: If you are breastfeeding, make sure you are getting
enough calories (your body uses additional calories breastfeeding so make sure
you compensate for that).
If for some reason I’m low on calories for the day, or if I
just want a tasty treat, I’ll make a special smoothie inspired by my favorite
coffee house:
Ingredients:
-Sufficient ice for blending
-2 scoops chocolate protein powder
-1 banana
-2 TBSP peanut butter
-Almond milk (amount based on personal preference)
Simply combine ingredients in a blender and blend well!
Exercise is an important part of healthy living as well. Here's what I usually do.
Example Weekly Exercise:
Monday: 1-2 mile outdoor walk, Yogalates (Yoga and Pilates
Combo)
Tuesday: 1-2 mile outdoor walk, 5k jog/run, weight training
(using body for weights)
Wednesday: 1-2 mile outdoor walk, 5k jog/run, weight
training (using body for weights)
Thursday: 1-2 mile outdoor walk
Friday: 1-2 mile outdoor walk, Power or Vinyasa Yoga
(Intermediate to Advanced levels)
Saturday: 1-2 mile outdoor walk
Sunday: 1-2 mile outdoor walk, 5k jog/run, weight training
(using body for weights)
What!?! No rest day you exclaim? Well… it IS true. I don’t
typically have “rest days,” mainly because taking Zooey on a walk is a staple in
our afternoons, and honestly we both enjoy it so much that it doesn’t feel like
exercise! You may also note that I tend to go between practicing yoga and
running. I have practiced yoga for over 10 years now and love it. Not only does
it help with flexibility, but it also requires a lot of body strength to hold a
pose. As for running…running used to be hard—really hard. I thought that I wasn’t
built to be a runner, but when I stopped trying to run for speed, and started
running for me...I could run. I found a comfortable pace and started there.
When I first started running I was at a comfortable 13-minute mile pace and now
I can run comfortably around an 8:40 minute mile! Oh and a good running mantra
helps! Mine is “You are a runner.” It seems silly, but when I doubted myself I
would say, “You can’t do this. You’re not a runner.” And so sometimes when it
gets hard (if I’m in a 10 mile race, for example) I may have to tell myself my
mantra over and over again until it sticks and gives me the confidence to
finish!
While I'm no Jillian Michaels, I'm a a great example of the fact that, with healthy eating and exercise, it is possible to look and feel your most fabulous self!
You know there’s a trend or a
change happening in society when a well-educated, suburban Chicago twenty-something
decides to pass up more hours at work in order to have more time with her baby.
Yes, I am talking about me.
Zooey and I love taking walks and being outdoors!
Recently, I was offered the chance
to pick up more hours at my part time job as a children’s librarian. The job
would still have been part time, but would really just have been a few hours
short of full time. After being offered this, my husband and I poured over possible
babysitting arrangements for our 8-month-old baby daughter, Zooey, but the
decision boiled down to our beliefs about family life. Being offered more hours
sounds appealing, especially when you like your job and know you’ll be making more money,
but we thought about what we valued most. I thought, if I were to look back on
my life, what would be most important to me and us? Would it be having more
money, or would it be spending the most amount of quality time possible with
our daughter and creating a warm household? You already know I chose the
second—I picked being a mommy and running a household.
HBOs Sex and the City was filled with
images of "successful" urban women.
Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, I
saw images of strong, career-driven women laughing over martinis with
their girlfriends at clubs in cities, with all notions of domesticity thrown
out the window. It seemed that anyone who was a “stay at home mom” was
considered uneducated, didn’t know what to do with themselves, was a gold
digger, a slacker, a waste. Take Charlotte from HBOs Sex and the City. When
she gave up her career to be a full time mom, the general reaction from her
friends was that she was giving her whole life up. Of course Charlotte was not
even pregnant at the time, but you can imagine, based on how they treated other
full time moms that they would not have reacted too differently even if she had
been. The 80’s and 90’s were much more consumerist too, so the idea of cooking,
crafting, and being a mommy every step of the way had less value. It was more
about fast, quick, and convenient. Today, people still value fast, quick, and
convenient, but women are also valuing the importance of the home life at a
Crockpot-cooking pace. Being a mother and a homemaker requires wit, creativity,
and the utmost care and love.
Today, we’re experiencing a rebirth
of what motherhood and homemaking truly is. At one point in time, women ran the
household, doing everything from preserving strawberry jam, to making the
candles, to knitting sweaters, and today, women are preserving strawberry jam,
making the candles, and knitting sweaters. Well, sure, not everyone. But for
goodness sake, if backyard chickens are considered trendy, I think we are in
for a revolution!
So, considering this revolution, my
blog, Middle Coast Mommy, is here as a guide, an inspiration, a friend for all those
other mommies or homemakers who LOVE their families and love to cook, garden,
craft and create. I look forward to sharing my ideas and experiences with you
and hearing your stories and ideas in return!
