Cooper's Sailor Room

While Cooper has been in Coudersport this month, I have been decorating his room with a sailor theme.  Since we moved, his room has been one big disaster!  So it needed some love and attention.  We came up with the sailor theme since Coop loves everything to do with the ocean and I wanted to do something a little more mature than a pirate room.  Originally I was going to build him a loft bed but my ambition ran out before I even got started.  So a sail over his bed will have to do!

It took me all month and a lot of hours to get all of the pieces in place for this big reveal.  I'll break it down for you too!

Dresser BEFORE 

The sailboat picture on the wall was a bi-product of a large frame I bought five years ago to use for a giant picture of Cooper and I.  When we moved in July, the glass broke on the frame and while taking out the broken glass I found this sailboat picture.  PERFECT inspiration for the Sailor Room!

The idea for the dresser came from Pinterest!  I have a slight obsession with Pinterest these days.   I think it turned out great!

I found this old globe at a junk shop in my hometown.  It was a lamp but I took it off the base with the idea of hanging it from the hook in the ceiling in Coop's room.  Then I decided I wanted the anchor that I found at Royal Port Antiques to hang there so the globe was moved to the shelf.   I found the buoy's at the Christmas Tree Shoppe for $1.99 each.  They came with Christmas decorations on the front but I easily peeled those off!   The oar is also from there for the bargain price of $3.00!  I tried to write Coop in rope on the front but unless you know that's what I was going for it just looks like swirls!

The sail above Coop's bed was also handmade!  I found a canopy on clearance at IKEA and it was the best deal for $12.99!

I laid it out and cut it to size and then used some GIGANTIC Sharpies to decorate it and add some detail.

The 16 stands for Coop's birthday - January 6th!

It may not be a loft bed like we had originally planned but I think it's pretty cool!  I hope Coop does too.







I wanted to add some personal details into the room for my main little man.  I ordered giant "C" above his bed and painted the red and white stripes on it to make it nautical.    The lantern came from Royal Port Antiques and the frames were all from Christmas Tree Shoppe (for less than $2 each!!)

Before Coop left for Pennsylvania for the month I found a nice desk at a yard sale.  It was a bit trashed from the teenage girl who had it before us but nothing a little elbow grease couldn't fix.  I also painted his ugly green lamp with silver hammered spray paint because it was hideous!

We've all seen the oversized black and white prints going wild on Pinterest right?  The one with the two little girls close up picture?  Well, in case you haven't here is my version!  

 This was overly simple do put together but a little less glamorous than I had originally thought.  Next time maybe I'll have to do a portrait or something more exciting.

So that my friends is Cooper's new Sailor themed bedroom.  He comes home in five days and I cannot wait to see him!!   It's been a long, quiet month!   I enjoyed my time "alone" but found myself busting my butt every weekend working on this room!  So it's a good thing it came out so awesome!

Side note: See the jar on his desk with cash in it?  I am currently reading "Cleaning House" by Kay Wills Wyma.  This is Cooper's allowance for the first month's experiment to rid our house of youth entitlement.  He will undoubtedly be less excited about that little project than he will be about his new sailor room!   But I can't wait and recommend this book to every parent out there.  Let's change this generation - one kid at a time!

BPC Day #2

Weigh in this morning: 133.2 lbs
Net loss: -2.3 lbs

I didn't have any hunger pains or anything last night.  In fact, I slept pretty well (except for a little visitor in my room around 2am!)

Today went very well.  I wasn't even hungry this morning so it was about 8:30 before I started on my first juice.  I actually found myself pounding them to get through them in time for the next.  I do admit, around 3pm I was starving again.  I did have one mini bite of chocolate zucchini cake.  I had to taste it before it was gone - I work with scavengers when it comes to sweets!  haha

I finished my last green juice around 6:30.  By finished I mean I drank half of it while I continued to unpack, hang pictures, clean and put away everything in our new house.

So here I am at 9pm just getting around to drinking my Cashew Nut Milk and writing this post.  I feel GREAT today!  I have been in the best mood all day and very energetic tonight.  Last time I did the cleanse I became a total B-witch by the second night.  I'm happy to report that did not happen this time!

I can't wait to see what my weight is tomorrow and how I feel!  I hope to be 131 lbs or less by Saturday morning.  I'm also hoping that the drop in weight loss will help me remain on track while I'm "down the shore" this weekend.  Or at least when I get back on Monday!

Good night for now!  More tomorrow!

BluePrint Cleanse ...... Again

BLUEPRINT CLEANSE!!!!

Does this feel like deja vu to anyone?  I have started another round of the BluePrint Cleanse.  This time I am doing the professional version and not the homemade kind.  I was fortunate enough to get this round for free so why not right?

My cleanse was set to arrive at work yesterday but due to a little address snafu, it was delivered to my house.  THe box had sat outside in the 100 degree sun for about 45 minutes before I got home.  I immediately called BPC and asked if the semi-cool (definitely not cold) juices would be okay and they assured me there was no problem.  I have to admit, I was secretly hoping they would have to ship me a new batch because I was not feeling like cleansing this week!  But, I soldiered on and started this morning.

Starting weight: 135.6

Juice #1 - Green Juice at 8am.  I poured it over some ice cubes and ended up chewing on ice for an hour after the juice was gone.  Not as bad as the first time I tried it but still a little tough to choke down so early in the morning!

*Had some Green Tea to warm up after the ice chomping incident.  I'm pretty sure my coworkers hate me for chewing on ice for an hour! 

Juice #2 - Pineapple Apple Mint (PAM) at 9:30.  I love this one and could drink it all day!  It's like a pineapple smoothy!

Juice #3 - Green Juice at 11:30 - going down easy today

Juice #4 - Spicy Lemonade at 3:30.  By this point I was starving and really craving Twizzlers or the yummy Oreo cupcakes in my office!

Juice #5 - Green Juice at 5pm driving home and to swim lessons.  Went quick and I was actually wanting more at the end!

Juice #6 - Cashew Nut Milk at 7:30pm while baking a delicious chocolate zucchini cake for my colleagues!  I spilled 1/4 of my drink on the counter/floor so I wasn't happy about that!  I love the Cashew Nut Milk but tonight I was too full or busy to finish it.  I probably left another 1/4 in the bottle.

Overall day: Good!  Slightly hungry in the afternoon but the drinks were so much easier this time around!  I am tired though!  But that could be a combination of moving, unpacking, running around like a crazy chaotic person and doing BPC!

more tomorrow......

 

Painting furniture

This month I decided to get crafty.  I had this old dresser that was in "okay" condition but was in need of some tender loving care.  After reading a few posts from Pinterest on how to paint furniture, I opted to try it out on my old friend here.  This is the before:

Notice the broken handle on the top drawer.  What you don't see is that the drawers had lost their track holder thingy that keeps them in the dresser.  The side of this dresser was also falling off.  But, nonetheless, it was a sturdy piece of furniture and I wanted to give it a new life.

This is the post I followed with all of the instructions and details. Her piece even looks like mine (or vice versa).

The first weekend involved sanding and filling the old holes with wood putty.  Along with the requisite trip to Home Depot to stock up on the necessary supplies!

The second week/weekend involved priming, painting and second-coating the dresser and the drawers.

The third and final weekend resulted in covering the piece with polyurethane and adding the new hardware.

End result:

Not bad for an amateur furniture painter, right?

I wanted to do the two-tone as she did in the tutorial but after getting back from Home Depot without the white paint to mix with the Prescott Green, I opted out on that step.  Mind you, a True Value hardware store is less than 1 block from my house but never-you-mind that minor detail.

Overall, I am very happy with the outcome.  It turned out a little "sea foam" green but lucky for me, this piece is going into the beach themed guest room so it fits perfectly with the decor.

What do you think?

Blueprint Cleanse homemade - updated!

Update on my homemade Blueprint Cleanse:

Starting weight

4/29 - 137.8

Today's weight

5/3 - 129.8

Net loss 

8 pounds!   Wooo Hoo!

I ran out of juice on Tuesday and was still inspired to keep up with the cleanse so I made three more days worth of juice!   I also thought it would be great to use reusable glass jars instead of wasting plastic bottles on each batch.  Aren't they just too cute?  

I will admit - I cheated!  But only slightly.  Any website that talks about juice cleanses will explain the importance of using colonics while juicing.  Well let's just say that's not going to happen.  So I did my own version - Twizzlers.  For whatever reason, they always do the trick for me.  So on Tuesday night I had two (and tonight I just had 6!)

I also had a work lunch Tuesday and today so I had a salad both days and just cut out the green juice for the day and made sure my calories were still in check (they were).

I still have two more days of juice to finish so I will complete those and then move on to eating "clean" and mostly fruits and veggies for a week.  I have some travel in the middle of the week so that inhibits my juice plan a bit.  It also forces me to take a break from the juice.  It is addicting to feel this good and lose this much in 5 days!

Blueprint Cleanse - grocery list and cost breakdown

Grocery list for 3 days of the Foundation level cleanse on Blueprint Cleanse:

Produce:
24 - Granny Smith apples
1 bag - Romaine lettuce
4 bags - Celery
8 - cucumbers
2 bags - Kale
1 bag - Parsley
2 bags - Spinach
1 pineapple
1 clamshell of Mint leaves
2 bags - Lemons

Dry grocery:
lemon juice
Agave nectar
cashews (15 oz)
vanilla extract
cayenne pepper

Water bottles - 18
use the water in the lemonade and cashew milk recipes

And now for the final tally........
Grocery cost: $74.69
Per day: $24.89
Per juice: $4.15

UPDATE: when I went to buy the ingredients for round 2 I was a little more cost conscience and the per juice price came down to $3.20!  I also bought some Mason jars to put the juice in (glass is better!) so that reduced the 1-time use fee of the water bottles. 

So, while BPC charges $70 per day, you can make your own for approximately $25.  This does not include the cost of the juicer/blender so you'll have to figure that in as well.  If I were to cleanse every other month that would be about $9.00 additional in blender costs for one year.

I also would suggest shopping a little smarter than I did to be more cost efficient.  I'm sure you can buy raw cashews for cheaper (I spent about $18) and of course you don't use the entire vanilla extract or agave bottle while making these recipes so you can take some cost off there as well.

Good luck and happy cleansing!

Blueprint Cleanse - Homemade

After spending a week on a "diet" that had me consuming almost 1500 calories a day, I decided it was time to repeat the Blueprint Cleanse.  I am going to Sanibel in 41 days and I refuse to look like this when I go!  So bring on the big guns - it's time to get down to business.  And business = cleanse!

I pondered taking the easy route out and just ordering the juices again but at $70/day - I just couldn't stomach the cost.  So I did a little research and found a juicer/blender that I thought could do the trick!  Instead of the very pricey Vitamix that is so highly recommended, I chose a less expensive Ninja.

I made my list and hit the grocery store yesterday on our way home from rugby.  I'm going to have the grocery list and cost breakdown for you in a future post - don't worry.  I'm curious myself to see how much it actually costs to make these juices for one day.  My guess is it's about $12!

I began with the Green Juice since that is the first one you drink during the day.  I also knew, by the ingredient list, that it would be the most time consuming.  And it was to the tune of about an hour of prep and juice time.  But now I'm ready for the next three days.

Once I had all of my ingredients out and ready - it was time to get blending:

Green Juice:
5 celery stalks
1 cucumber
5 stalks parsley
2 Granny Smith apples
3 Romaine leaves
3 Kale leaves
1Tbs Lemon juice
Water

I have to say the Ninja was AWESOME!  No matter what I put in it or in what order, it just made it a smoothy!  Keep in mind you have to strain the mix so it's not going to be a pure liquid!

The recipe I was using said to use a paint strainer.  I'm not sure what that is (but I'm going to Google it for next time).  I used a fine strainer I had.  It worked okay but I do think I left behind a lot of juice by not being able to press the juice out.

End result - nine 16-ounce bottles of Green Juice.  I know the picture is not showing 9 full bottles but trust me - there are nine and they are full!  Not to worry, I am drinking the full 16 ounces of green juice.

Tips: I added a little more lemon juice to make them a little more tolerable than the BPC version.  I also realized, while ingesting my first Green Juice this morning, that they are much easier to get down when served over ice!











Up next, the P.A.M juice!  I promise it is yellow and not green like it appears in this picture.

Pineapple Apple Mint (P.A.M.) juice:
1/3 pineapple
2 Granny Smith Apples
4-5 Tbs Mint leaves
1 oz lime juice (I used lemon)

P.A.M. is one of the easiest drinks in the Foundation Cleanse.  It tastes just like it sounds - pineappley and minty!   Yum!  I will say this drink probably does not have the same nutritional value as if you ordered from BPC.  There was a lot of "pulp" and not much juice so I added a bit of water to the second batch to make it easier to juice.  But that probably detracts from the juice content too.

I'm now onto juice #3 of the day - another Green Juice.  I am actually FULL!  I don't want to drink anything else!  But alas,  in about an hour I will have a spicy lemonade!

Spicy Lemonade
14 oz of filtered water
3 oz Lemon juice
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tbs Agave nectar

I put this concoction into the Ninja too just to get it all mixed together.  I believe that is why it turned out orange, rather than a nice yellow lemonade color.  Or it could have been that I added DOUBLE the cayenne pepper than necessary!   Yes - DOUBLE the cayenne.  Needless to say, my lemonade has a KICK!  Whew!  I drank what you see in the glass but couldn't finish any more.  My throat was on fire!

On to Green Juice #3 of the day!  Thank goodness for the ice cubes!  It makes it so much easier to swallow.

Cashew Nut Milk - the dessert of the cleanse

Cashew Nut Milk - the dessert of the cleanse

16 oz filtered water
4-5 oz of raw cashews
1 Tbs of Agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon

This was surprisingly easy.  I've never made a "milk" before but this turned out just like the BPC version.  I had to strain it to get the gritty parts out but the end result was OH SO delicious!

End result....

Three days worth of Blueprint Cleanse-like juices!  All ready for the week to begin.  I have to say, the process time was LONG.  It took me about an hour to do the green juices and then maybe 20 minutes each on the others so total of about two hours prep time.  Had I planned better, I would have had everything here for the full 5 days so I could have kicked it out all at once.  I also would have had more cheese cloth.  The strainer took forever!

Next post will be the cost breakdown and grocery list.....

I hope you enjoyed the long blog post today!  Please leave me a comment if you have done any cleanses or plan on doing the BPC either purchased or homemade.  I would love to hear what you think!

Happy Juicing!