LEAP MRT Eating Plan - Day 3 

Today is the 3rd day I've been on this food sensitivity eating plan. So, it turns out I'm super sensitive to cow's milk... who knew!? The plan is broken down into phases, with phase 1 being my "base" and I have to eat only the foods on that list for 10 days. Then, after that phase I start adding foods from the phase 2 list, one by one, day by day. :-\   This is going to be interesting. Here are my results. 

Tonight's dinner menu plans will include a grapefruit, dill, basil, s&p marinade for tilapia fillets. Then I'll grill the tilapia in our little indoor grill. A mashed broccoli from Martha Stewart that I have to tweak a bit. And then I have left over savory millet that I made 2 days ago. I will heat up the millet in a saucepan with a little grape seed oil and add dried cranberries & chopped pecans as a topping on the millet. Fingers crossed that this dinner will taste good. I'll post pictures of the dishes. :-) 

Antique Treadle Sewing Machine Table Transformation

This weekend we finally finished our cute antique Singer Sewing Machine transformation. We found this base a couple of months ago while shopping at the awesome Spade & Broom shop in Trinity, NC. It was real beat up and falling apart when we found it amidst all the other treasures that they carry. We saw a diamond in the rough with this cute thing, so we quickly snatched it up.

Rick oiled all the parts and cleaned up that base real well. He then added some wood support in the back for sturdiness, after all it is a heavy base. At first we thought we'd create a table top that had a bottom shelf, sort of like an old-school desk, but after looking at the whole thing sort of complete, we felt that the top overpowered the base. It looked unbalanced so we decided to scratch that idea and just went with a top. We chalk painted it in "Delicate White" and then I sanded it and aged it with a walnut finishing wax.

It now lives in our tiny faux foyer and I just love looking at it every time I come to the front door. 😀

coffee + spirits bar

We have been super busy this weekend creating a fun and creative area for our coffee and wine and liquor. We used to house a vintage Stanley china cabinet in this nook, but since we moved it (and refinished it) to the dining room we wanted to use this space in a fun and functional way. So, Rick got busy dismantling pallets, sanding lightly and staining with a variety of shades. He created this awesome pallet wall in the background.

We found some inspiration on Pinterest (of course) for a counter height table and used some 2x4's for legs, pallet boards for shelving, and 2x12's for the top (sandwiched together with glue and pocket screws).  He stained the top and we chalk painted the bottom.

Next, came the lighting. The cables are running inside the wall. We have our wifi router hidden up behind the nook overhang thingy. We love the vintage Edison bulbs and thought a single and simple bulb would fit the space nicely.

The floating shelf (held in place with pocket screws) holds our spirits bottles and the t-mold strips are nailed under the shelf to hold our wine glasses.

The shot glass holder on the right wall is a vintage drink bottle holder and the pallet mug holder on the left wall we made ourselves. (thinking of adding small block letters on top that spell out "coffee")

And the finished piece...ta da!!!

Comment below with any questions y'all might have. 

Love my Ladybug. She'll be 12 in 2 weeks; where has the time gone? Here she made a collage with our youngest fur baby, Bentley. Aren't those great selfies? I'm hoping she joins the photography club or the yearbook club next school year, which (gasp!) starts soon as well.

She's been working this week on teaching him a new trick: Lay Down. He's a quick learner and she's a great teacher. She loves all her doggies (4) and I pray her love for animals never dies.

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So, we finally finished the next DIY home project that we were working on. Fencing about half of our (very large) back yard for Bentley. He has so much running and playing space now. We are sure he loves his new play area...it's huge!!

On to the next home improvement project.....happy tuesday y'all!!

Hello World!!

It's been a very long while since I've blogged, years actually, but I'd like to start again at least as a journal tracking means. :-) 

So much has happened in my life since my last blog post. My children are huge and smart and talented and healthy. My hubby and I are constantly busy with home projects and family and baseball. I am now employed with the Guilford School System. I'm working with all the school psychs and I love it. 


 So, today I'd like to post about spirituality and a good article I received in my email today from my daily Chopra emails. The article is called "The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success", and in this article something was written that really resonates with me: "In the natural world, creation comes forth with ease. A seed doesn’t struggle to become a tree―it simply unfolds in grace." I love that!! 

Sometimes I find myself struggling to connect with my spirituality, but I find that it naturally connects with me when I allow it, when I hold myself open to it. I just have to keep my eyes and soul and heart open at all times in order to receive. 

The article also has some daily goals, a law for each day, thus the 7 spiritual laws, that will help achieve not only spiritual success, but they are an excellent guide for life success. Article: http://tinyurl.com/jsv9n8t 

Day 5

Meant to write yesterday, but it was a busy, busy kind of day.

Started the green drink for dinner last night....tough....but I did it. I'll have same for dinner tonight. Haven't had coffee since Wednesday...head is constantly hurting now...toughing it out.

Had the fruit smoothie for breakfast...yum!! Right now I'm eating lunch. Rice and homemade red beans and a banana-also yum. I'll have the green drink again for dinner tonight--not so yum! :-\

I feel good....a bit tired, but not as much as I thought.

Day 3

Today was not bad. I was so busy at work I didn't even have time to think about being hungry at times when I probably was hungry.

Morning smoothie was delish: almond milk, banana, strawberries, blueberries, mango and spinach.

Coffee at 9am & 9:30 - (Tomorrow is day 4, so no more coffee. I allowed myself to have some on days 1-3, but that's it)

Lunch at 12:30 - brown rice, black beans and a banana

5:30pm snack - apple

7:30pm dinner - grilled chicken salad

and throughout the day water, water, water!

energy level: moderate, not very sleepy
mood: happy & content