Custom Roman Shades for 10 BUCKS!

I am always eager to create a cozy and well decorated living environment. When James and I moved to Portland, my spark to decorate fizzled. We lived in Portland for 18 months, and I never put pictures in the frames hanging on the wall! James and I noticed that we felt “blah” when we were in our apartment, and I have learned throughout my wellness research adventures that your living environment is one of the most important elements to your overall well being; therefore, James and I are determined to create a cozy and well decorated living space in our new apartment in Boston.

The first step in our design plan is to create a budget. We sold everything from our Portland apartment that we could not bring to Boston on Craigslist and collected a small profit! We saved the money and decided to use the money for our new apartment.

Lucky me, my friend Alyssa enjoys saving $$ as much as I do and she forwarded me an amazing “how to create low-cost Roman Shades” blog post. The same day she forwarded me the post, James and I found 2 FREE shades supplies on the side of the road!

I collected fabric at JoAnne’s and Mardens and a bottle of Fabritac and solicited some help from my friends and family at the Atkinson’s household and within a short period of time, we created this little beauty!!

Office shade

James and I worked together to create the remainder of the shades for our apartment. Each shade takes about 1.5 hours to create, and did I mention that there is NO SEWING involved!!?

Bedroom shades "roman-ed"

Bedroom shade- down

Living Room Shade- Down

Living room shade "Roman-ed"  (James is an excellent vanna)

I will share the total cost of the supplies:

1. Mini blinds (2 free)+3 more= $16

2. Fabric: $27

3. Fabritac $6

4. Trim: $4.5

5. Total: $53.50/ 5 shades= $10.70 per CUSTOM shade!!

We are on our way to a cozy, cheap, and well decorated apartment! If you are interested in creating Roman shades you can view the directions here: Little Green Notebook

Who put the yogurt in my tuna melt?

How many ways can you incorporate yogurt in your diet without eating it “straight?” With a little creativity, you would be surprised to find that yogurt is a flexible player on the super foods team! James DESPISES yogurt: the texture sickens him, the smell repulses him, and the sight makes him want to throw up! But, when we sneak yogurt into daily common foods, his animosity dissipates! Cheerleaders, can I get a “RAH, RAH”!

Last week, we hosted a little science project with our tuna fish. Now, I am not going to lie, we “experiment” with super foods all the time. Many experiments do not end up in the blog posts because quite frankly they just plain FAIL! But, the experiment to substitute yogurt for mayo in our tuna melts was a complete SUCCESS! Not only did James and I love the yogurt and tuna, but my Brother, my Sister, and my Dad loved the concoction.

We prepare a 3 day supply to save time throughout the week

We didn’t exactly tell the entire truth when we served the tuna melt “pilot” project to the family until after they ate them entirely and shared their compliments with chef James. If you want to share a little “white lie” with your family, substitute plain, non-fat Greek yogurt and a splash of ranch seasoning for mayo in your tuna sandwiches and I guarantee no one will ever find you out!

The proof is in the half eaten sandwich

For the complete tuna melt recipe (we like to stuff some veggies in our melts), click here: Live Super Cultures Tuna Melt

Snuggles from a 2 year old

Below is a story sent in from one of my blog readers and former wellness coaching client, Nikki. The story reflects a beautiful and positive lesson learned from her two year old son, Noah.


The past few weeks have been a little rough, emotionally, between work and home life. But I’m getting past it like I normally do. So the other night, Wednesday to be exact, I had tons of energy, and it was finally cooler, and Noah was sleeping. I had THE PERFECT opportunity to try and get some house work done without interruptions. Right smack in the middle of sanitizing my kitchen, Noah wakes up screaming. Of course first thing I think of: “great, I have all this stuff to do around the house how long is he going to be up?” (Horrible mommy thinking by the way!)

So I get him up, give him some yogurt and sit on the bed with him. He continues to scream and cry. I don’t know what else to do as he won’t talk.

So I say to him: “Noah, you need to talk to mumma, what do you need? If I you don’t use your words, I can’t help you” (Okay, like he understood half of that).

Here is where you’ll be proud of me :) I took a deep breath, held him tight and said: “Noah do want mumma to lay with you and snuggle”? Noah said: “yes mumma, snuggle”.

I felt so bad, and was so upset at myself, because I was so worried and concentrated on house work, that it took me too long to understand, and realize that my little man just wanted the comfort of his mother.

As I was laying with him, and his little arms wrapped so tightly around my neck, I hear this light snoring, and it dawns on me…..

“Nothing like snuggles with your lil man. Makes me stop and cherish the present. For the future comes so soon, and these moments will be few and far between. These precious moments make me remember how truly blessed I am, and help to forget all the negative I can sometimes focus on. It will all work out the way the Lord has planned. He won't give me anything I can't handle”

I posted the statement as a reminder on my facebook, in my journal (as a quote and header, like I have my vision statement), and right next to my computer. When little things start to impact my mood, or keep me in that negative state, I can look at this and remember that exact feeling I had that evening, when my son, who is 2, taught me one of the most precious, and valuable lessons of my life.

Do you have an optimisitic reflection to share?  Send your story to: Optimistic Reflections (if you have pictures, send them too!)

Hallelujah: 5 great reasons to STOP COUNTING CALORIES!!

Okay, I know what you are thinking: “weight loss= calories in versus calories out.” One pound of fat= 3,500 calories, to lose one pound per week you need to drop 500 calories per day…..


Yes. This is all true! However, counting calories has not led us to the weight loss success we all dream about. We will lose weight if we count calories, but can anyone really count calories forever??? No way!

The best way to stay healthy, lose weight, and maintain health and weight is to eat: 3-5 fruits and vegetables, 3 servings of grains, 5-6 servings of vegetables, 2 servings of dairy, and 2-3 servings of beans/proteins EVERY DAY!

• Everyone’s pyramid needs differ, for a personalized plan visit: http://www.mypyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx

Below, I listed 5 great reasons why I believe EVERYONE should ABOLISH calorie counting!

1. Gain nutrients: 100 calorie packs, “fat free” crackers, 70 calorie bread….they all make us feel good about ourselves like we are eating “healthy.” But, do any of these products contain “real” food, or nutrients? When we skip the “diet” food and focus on “real” food, we nourish our bodies with more nutrients, vitamins, and minerals which results in: better sleep, improved memory, coordination, concentration, endurance, better skin, cleaner arteries…the list goes on. Diet food and calorie counting will help us lose weight, but what about other health benefits? Is weight all that matters?

Photo From: http://www.nabiscoworld.com/
Not to mention these crazy foods cost WAY TOO much!!

2. Less mental freak outs: Focusing on eating according to the food pyramid is much less stressful because we think “what else do I need to eat today” rather than “what else can’t I eat today?”

3. Lose weight: Believe it or not the chemicals saturated in processed foods impede weight loss. Chemical laden foods trick the hormones in our body that control hunger and appetite; we constantly feel unfulfilled and desire more food. For example, if we fail to eat our daily fruit intake, we will experience cravings for high sugar foods such as ice cream, or candy. This is our body telling us that it needs sugar. However, when we eat balanced meals according to the food guide pyramid, our body functions optimally, we feel fulfilled, we eat less, and YAH we lose weight!

4. Maintain weight loss: Let’s face it, we cannot count calories forever. Can you imagine going out to eat with your friends when you are 60 years old and writing on your napkin: bread 120 calories, cake 500 calories….”looks like I can’t eat tonight?” No, no way! Typically, people who track calories lose weight; however, when the calorie counting stops the weight loss stops and weight gain begins. When we develop the ability to eat balanced, healthy food, we can maintain our success rather than relapse into poor unmanageable eating habits.

5. Decrease sodium and sugar: Natural foods contain minimal sodium and processed sugars which not only helps us lose more weight, but also helps us manage blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, ADHD…and seriously, I go could on forever.

When we count calories food becomes a means to weight loss, not a means to healthy living. We could say to ourselves: “this sugar-free, fat-free pudding and fat free whip cream is only 150 calories!!” But, then our body replies: “yeah, but where is the nutrition, how am I to function? How efficient is the 150 calories if I do not obtain any nutrients, energy, minerals, antioxidants…..???”

Photo retrieved from: http://brands.kraftfoods.com/jello/products/pudding/fat-free-sugar-free-instant-pudding/

I recently learned that the number one cause of cancer related deaths is related to an unbalanced diet…WOW!

So, let’s stop counting calories, start counting food groups, and start living healthy lives!

P.S. My dad lost 16 pounds since July 1 without counting a single calorie (although, he is frequently asking about calories. Hopefully, he can let his brain relax about the calorie situation soon).

My 14 year old sister "digs" super foods!

Mission accomplished: my 14 year old little sister Karrie is OFFICALLY on board with the SuperFood eating plan! Last week, James cooked “Super Suey: our new most delicious super food recipe to date! My sister reluctantly tried the meal and said: “WOW! This is delicious!”


The next day, she planned to leave for the entire day and she asked me: “hey sis, will you pack me snacks, lunch, and dinner?” Of course, I said: “CHA!!”

I packed her the following lunch:

9 o’clock snack: plum

Lunch: peanut butter & blueberry jelly sandwich on 100% whole grain bread & 1 apple

3 o’clock snack: 1 cup of carrots with home-made guacamole

Dinner: 1 serving of Super Suey & 1.5 cups steamed broccoli

Drink: water

I showed her the lunch and explained the times she should eat each food. I explained that you need to feed your body small meals throughout the day to maintain your blood sugar and energy. Our bodies are most efficient when we provide them a steady supply of super nutrients!

At the end of the day, she stated that she ate her foods as instructed; she loved all of the food with the exception of the guacamole, she said: “that was WAY too spicy for carrots, Kelley!”

Why do I care so much that my 14 year old sister eats super foods? Because I love her, and when you love someone you want the very best for them.

Click here to print Super Suey!

Click here to print Super Sassy Salsa (you will need this recipe for the suey)

What we did when getting out of debt started to SUCK!!!

Debt sucks and sometimes getting out of debt SUCKS even more!! James and I have days, weeks, and even months when we feel so overwhelmed with living a frugal lifestyle; we get SICK and TIRED of penny pinching, sacrificing, and budgeting! We have little temper tantrums and squawk little bratty beliefs: “I deserve to buy a new outfit….’I work so hard, I deserve to play golf….’our lives our boring because we can’t go out with our friends…’life is too short to worry about money… it’s just money, you can’t take it with you..”

Anyway, when times get tough and we realize that we are about to LOSE our cool, we try to return to the reason we started our financial fitness journey in the first place. Although we know that getting out of debt sometimes SUCKS, we remember that DEBT always SUCKS!!!!

Beautiful sunset in Maine

To combat our bratty attitudes and feeling of defeat, we planned an exciting evening. We packed the ingredients for home made subs, a $7 bottle of wine, 2 citronella candles, 2 lawn chairs, one pen, and one piece of paper! We went to our favorite spot and ate dinner, drank wine, and brainstormed everything we plan to and will do in our life because we: sacrifice, penny pinch, and budget.

James chopps a mean veggie!

We sectioned our goals and plans into categories: fitness, charity, vacation, career, home, fun and family.

Who says you can't have fun on a budget??

I will share some of our REALLY exciting plans:

Here's a little draft- nothing fancy, but 100% FREE :)

Fitness:

Run a ½ marathon

Complete a 1 mile swim race

Charity:

Donate 100% of one salary for an entire year

Buy a car for a deserving stranger

Vacation:

Vancouver

Australia

Medical Mission Trip

Career:

Earn our PhD

Dean of a Nursing Program

Home:

Buy a small house on the water

Build a really sweet “man room”

Fun:

Meet Oprah

Visit Rigley Park in Chicago

Family:

Adopt one child & birth one baby

Practice frequent random acts of generosity


Our debt-o-meter is up to $29,500!! James has ONE student loan left with a balance of $1,800!! As soon as his final student loan is paid in full, we will be FREE from another “man!” Our final climb is my student loans: $11,500. When I think about our future and how much we will be able to give and do once we kick our debt out the window, I am recharge and reengage: “Hey $13,300 of debt…WE ARE COMING TO TAKE YOU DOWN!!”

My Dad lost 8 pounds in ONE WEEK thanks to Super Foods!

Who says 26 year olds can’t move back home? Not only did I move home for the summer, but I brought my Dog, my two cats, and my husband with me! My Dad thought that the herd of animals and their endless release of hair all over his house was the number one hurdle involved in us living with him, little did he realize he was about to undergo a food revolution (and become a new subject in my blog- he obviously has not released permission for today's feature).

James and I arrived last Sunday: we stocked the house with a scale, LOADS of super foods, and tossed the unhealthy foods that no one should feed their body!

SEE YA LATA LEAN CUISINE!!

Welcome to the hood beans, rice, nuts & organic pasta!!

We've been waiting for your fresh fruit & veggies!

Below is what my Dad ate last week:

Breakfast: Super Start breakfast & Green tea

Snack 1: Carrots & 1 slice of cranberry pumpkin bread & 1 orange

Lunch: Peanut butter & Jelly on 100% whole wheat bread, all natural peanut butter & homemade strawberry jelly & an apple

Snack 2: 1 cup of non-fat greek yogurt with ½ cup of blueberry, raspberry, strawberry mix

Dinner: Pizza, Sweet & Super Chicken, cheerful veggie burgers & sides of spinach & broccoli

Sweet & Super chicken beats Lean Cuisine anyday!

The first day I packed his lunch, he said: “WHOLLY COW, I can NEVER eat ALL that!” And he didn’t….for most of the week, his apple & orange returned in his lunch box. However, he did manage to eat his apple nearing the end of the week (he also managed to sneak in some bud lights and popcorn!)

This is the sauce mix for the Sweet & Super Chicken.  This meal fed me, James, my sister, my brother & my Dad for 2 nights (our grochery budget is still below $130/week for 5 adults-Planing and portion control PREVAIL!!!!)

Most of the week he complained about his yogurt stating: “it tastes like CRAP!!”But, he still ate the yogurt. Interestingly, on Friday, he called me from work to tell me: “hey, my yogurt tastes pretty good today!”

On Friday morning, he weighed in 8 pounds LESS than he did on the previous Sunday! He asked me: “jeezum, is this normal?” I explained that some of his weight loss is fat and most of the weight loss is water loss. Why? Because James and I buy 100% natural foods; we avoid processed foods at all costs which means the sodium content in our diet is significantly low. Sodium causes water retention and all kinds of other nasty health consequences that NO ONE’S body really wants!

We are moving full fledge into week two. My Dad is on board and my brother and sister are traveling slightly behind….

My sister Karrie loved the sweet & super chicken! My 16 year old brother Sean's statement: "What is this (pointing to the pinneapple)?"  "YUCK! I don't like cooked fruit in my food!" He refused to allow the cameras to capture him during his dining experience...

Emotional Homecoming: our cat survived 8 days alone in the wild!

Six summers ago, James, Kristina, and I sought out on an exciting adventure: operation Bangor Humane Society! Kristina and I desperately wanted a little kitten to join our 106 family; at the time, James was considered our “106 extension” so he came along for the ride (good thing because he ended up paying, too!!)

Family Photo! Left to Right: Kristina, Katie, Vinnie, Bernie & me (crazy morning hair)

Within minutes we all experienced “love at first sight.” Two beautiful, loving, 6 month old male orange tiger cats named Milo & Otis melted our hearts. They looked into our eyes and said: “please take us home, we promise to be the best sons you ever had.” Their purrs radiated from their dingy society cage as they brushed up against one another with loving affection.

Without thinking about the logical details (you know, having two cats in college, finding a place to live, paying for two cats, and most importantly discussing our purchase with our other roommate, Katie) we proudly adopted Milo & Otis and welcomed them into our family.

Although Milo & Otis are adorable names, we wanted our cats to have much more sophisticated and manly names. We renamed Milo: Bernard (after Kristina’s first patient in nursing school) and James named Otis: Vincent (for no particular reason except that we thought the name jived well with Bernard). Formally, we named the cats: Bernard Diesel BAP and Vincent Malone BAP. BAP stood for: Butler, Atkinson, Pinkham, my three roommates and mine combined last names. They come to “Vinnie & Bernie.”

Our cats proved themselves friendly, loving, and accepting. However, our journey together had not been easy.

Situation #1: Our roommate Katie is from Alaska and when she arrived “home” to Maine, Vinnie peed on all the clothes in her suit case! Katie was not impressed, and she immediately said: “the cats have to go!” I threatened to move out with the cats and that night marked one of our worst fights in college (I don’t know if I mentioned, two of us had just traveled from Montana to Maine by car without sleeping for 36 hours straight!)

Just snoozing in the drier

Situation #2: We never confessed this to our parents (and if they read my blog, they know now), but we were EVICTED from one of our college apartments for exceeding the one pet per apartment limit! Consequently, we were forced to move to an apartment that cost each of us over $200/month more than our previous apartment!

Situation # 3: After college, Bernie, Vinnie, and I moved in with James and Duke (our 80 pound chocolate lab). Well, needless to say Bernie & Vinnie did not like Duke, AT ALL. Duke had no idea what to think of these two “weird creatures” in his world so he decided that the best thing to do is to bark….and bark….and bark….and two months later, he is still barking and the cats are still hiding in one room.

They love each other now!

Despite our “situations” and our challenges together, I can proudly admit that I have the two most beautiful, loving, precious cats that anyone could ever find. They accept anyone who comes into our home with open paws; they lick your tears when you are sad; they cuddle together in the cutest positions and when you look at them, there is no way that you could ever feel one ounce of stress; they purr you to sleep at night; they sit on your lap and provide you company when you are working on the computer; they whack their big Brother Duke around when he is out of line; and they provide 24/7 entertainment.

I never believed this would happen!

Last week, Vinnie escaped to the wild through our living room window in the night. Vinnie is, well I will say, “challenged.” He needs Bernie to clean him up in “private” areas (this is the type of “challenges” I am talking about). After eight days of endless searching, sleeping nights, and ongoing stress, we hung our hats and cried one last time. We accepted that there was no way that our “challenged” fat cat could survive eight days in the wild alone. We concluded: Vinnie was dead.

Vinnie's favorite sleeping position!

Four hours after our acceptance cry, we had packed up the remaining items in our Portland apartment and loaded our car to head north for the summer. We were 1 mile from our house when James’ phone rang.

I answered, and an elderly woman on the other line stated: “hello, is this the home of ‘Vinnie?’”

I could barely contain my voice, I screamed: “YES’”

She states: “oh dear, I have your Vinnie.’”

James whipped the car around and we drove to her house. Before we arrived, I started experiencing doubt. The woman said: “oh dear, there is no way this cat weighs 16 pounds…. But, come any way, you never know.’”

We arrived at the woman’s house, and she and her two older children were waiting for us at the door. I walked through the door, and I could not believe my eyes: there standing before me was my beautiful, handsome, perfect man, Vinnie. He looked cachexic and incredibly dirty, but other than that he was unharmed.

"this looks like a pretty good place to nap."

Tears of joy flooded from James and my eyes. I picked him up and squeezed him, and he purred so loud I thought my ear drums would burst.



The woman who found Vinnie had just returned from dinner with her children. She saw him walking outside and said: “oh, I remember seeing a flier about a missing orange cat.”

She lost her flier, so she went to her neighbor’s house and collected the flier. Her daughter bended low and called: “Vinnie.” Vinnie starting running toward her immediately. He was apprehensive at first, but after several minutes, he trusted the daughter enough to let her pick him up.

They transported him to their house and called us immediately.

I am FOREVER grateful to the family who helped us reunite with our precious Vinnie. They went above and beyond to ascertain Vinnie’s safe return.

After our infinite gratitude and multiple hugs, we returned to the car for our long trip from Portland to Bangor. Typically, Vinnie and Bernie MEOW like FOUR CATS in HEAT during car trips; however, this day was incredibly different. Vinnie purred in James’ lap the entire two hour drive, and after a few minutes of travel, Bernie found his way to James’ lap and laid quietly on top of Vinnie for the remainder of the trip.

*Vinnie has not tried to escape to the wild since his safe return.

A meow massages the heart. - Stuart McMillan