Before & After: Painted Hutch

September 3, 2012 By 1 Comment

Pretty, eh?

Well not too long ago this hutch looked completely different.

 We’ve had this china hutch for a while, along with a matching table and chair set that you can partially see in this picture.  Nothing was particularly wrong with the hutch, but I was growing tired of it.  We have three other black pieces of furniture in our combined living/dining room and everything was feeling too dark.  I spend a lot of time in here and was ready for something different.  Unfortunately, new furniture is neither realistic (our kids are still in their rough and tumble phase – does that ever end?) nor in our budget.  I had to get creative.

I had heard a lot about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on other blogs and how easy it was to work with.  I found a local stockist and went to their shop to check it out.  As soon as I was there, I was hooked.  No sanding?  No priming?  I’m sold.

 I started thinking I was going to make a big statement using the Antibes Green color with a dark wax.  Once I had put the first coat on, I got cold feet.  Fortunately I also had a can of Country Gray.  I was planning on using the Country Gray just for the inside of the hutch, but decided to paint it all over the green using somewhat of a dry brush technique.  The green peeks through here and there giving it a simple rustic look.

 This paint is so easy to use and very forgivable.  I had no idea what I was doing but I couldn’t be more happy with the result.  I started this on a Sunday afternoon and by Monday morning I was done with painting and waxing.  I just had to wait until Tuesday morning to put the piece back together.  I’m sure this could have been done faster, but I could only paint while the kids were napping or sleeping.  One coat of Antibes Green, one coat of Country Grey and finished with a mix of clear and dark wax.

I found some fun knobs at Anthropologie.  I had trouble deciding amongst all the options, so I got two different types.  I also painted our metal elephant lantern that was sitting on top.  The elephant is painted just like my original plan.  I like the pop of color, but I am really happy that I added the country gray to the hutch.

Here is a side by side before & after:

The “new” hutch brings such life into this room and now I have many more redecorating ideas.  We are going to sell our table and chairs and I have a pedestal table from family that will get a coat of paint along with some new chairs.  We are also planning on painting the room to the same neutral gray that is in our kitchen and playroom.

If you have never heard of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, here are some good resources:

Sassy Style gives a tutorial on the basics of chalk paint.

Perfectly Imperfect has video tutorials and sells paint too.

If you are in the Denver area, stop by The Little Black Chair.  The ladies there are so helpful and even offer painting workshops.

So what do you think?  Are you inspired to paint something in your home?

 

P.S. It seems I took a little blogging break this month.  I was relaxing and enjoying the end of summer.  I hope to get back into blogging more frequently now that we are back into our routine.  Stay tuned…

 

Filed Under: Family, Home Tagged With: , ,

What is Bugging Us? Could It Be Food? {Part 1}

July 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It has been a little quiet here on the blog the past few weeks.  I’ve been a little lazy with the heat of the summer, but I’ve also been thinking about some issues and I wasn’t sure how to share them.  Well, I’m finally ready to talk about it since I feel I have a good plan.

One of the major reasons why I started this blog was to focus more on how I feed my children.  I wanted to make sure they grew up eating healthy, flavorful food that would give them a good foundation of eating habits throughout their lives.  All summer we have been working on eating a real food diet, with natural ingredients and fresh, unprocessed foods.  So far I’ve enjoyed this transition and I do not see going back to processed food at all.  My taste buds have evolved and I prefer homemade foods.  I found that convenience is not enough of a benefit to sacrifice taste and health.

No one in my family has any history of problems with food, and I never thought my children would have any issues… until this spring, just after Ella turned one.

The Backstory

During the week of Ella’s birthday, I started transitioning her from formula to cow’s milk.  I mixed it in gradually in each bottle, each day using more milk and less formula.  She did fine with the transition and really enjoyed her new milk.  She had already been eating table food for a few months, which included other dairy like cheese and yogurt.  About three weeks after her birthday, I started noticing some annoying issues.  She was spitting up again after her bottles, something she hadn’t done in months.  She developed a diaper rash that wouldn’t go away.  This was worrisome, since she never had diaper rashes, only having a few as an infant.  And I also noticed more rashes on her body.  Rough patches on the back of her arms, red itchy dots on her neck.

Something wasn’t right, but I didn’t really know what.  Separately, all of these issues are common in babies.  But all at once?  The diaper rash was the most concerning, since it was itchy, red, angry and blistering.  Looking at all of the changes that had happened along with the timing, I had a hunch it was the milk.  And it clicked for me a little more when I remembered her reflux diagnosis as an infant that wasn’t helped by medication.  It wasn’t until I put her on a low lactose formula that she seemed better, which also worked well for her older brother.

Doctors Visits and Nutrition

So I made an appointment with our pediatrician’s office.  After presenting all of the information and my thoughts, the doctor prescribed a steroid cream for her diaper rash, said her skin rash was manageable  and to keep an eye on it and then tried to send me on my way.  The doctor didn’t think milk was an issue, but agreed to order an allergy test at my insistence.  While I waited for the results, I turned to the internet and my local library to try to find more information on what was going on.  I found many resources on symptoms of food intolerances or sensitivities versus food allergies.  By the time I received results of the allergy test 10 days later, I wasn’t surprised that it was negative.  Thankfully, she had no allergies, but it is still possible to have a sensitivity.  Meanwhile, Ella’s diaper rash went away the steroid cream.  As soon as we stopped using it, the rash returned.  We used all of the cream that was prescribed and the rash still returned.  We were advised to return to get another steroid prescription.  I was frustrated that the doctor only seemed to want to treat the symptom, and not look for the cause.

From my own research, I learned that sometimes goat milk is easier to digest than cow’s milk and could help.  I was excited since it was similar in nutrition to cow’s milk.  I immediately started serving Ella the goat milk in her bottles and removed all sources of dairy from her diet otherwise.  And guess what?  Her rashes and spit up went away!  I was thrilled, but a few weeks later… her symptoms returned.

Was she finally reacting to the goat’s milk, or could it be something else?

Stay tuned for the rest of this story…where I turned for help and how a little detective work and an experiment can hopefully give us an answer.

 

Filed Under: Family, Home Tagged With: , ,

On Our Table: A Growing Garden

July 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Is it me, or is summer flying by?  I am amazed when I look behind our house and see these 4 patches of lush green garden.  Not so long ago it wasn’t much to look at.

My husband is the garden man.  He is the one to credit for our beautiful backyard.  My thumb is far from green…more like brown.  Unfortunately any plant that ends up in my care usually doesn’t last long.  I have been very little help with the actual planting of our garden.  But if he grows it, I will cook it.

Our gardening history goes way back to our first apartment together, 9 years ago.  Our balcony had the worst view of the alley and our neighbor’s garage (I cried when I saw our view – fortunately we didn’t stay there long).  We grew tomato plants in plants in pots on the balcony.  So cute and domestic, I thought.  Soon after we moved to our now home, newly remodeled with a completely bare backyard.  It had one tree and a whole lot of dirt.  We spent years working on the landscaping, and 3 years ago graduated from pots and built two 4′x4′ square garden beds.  Last year we added two more.

This year we started early in the spring with seed selection and one square planted with early crops and tented to protect them from the frost.  Everything seemed to grow so slowly, then all of the sudden there it was.  So far we have harvested peas, spinach and lettuce.  We have also been giving away tomato plants to our neighbors.

When we signed up for our CSA this year, I chose only a single share for our family of 4.  Not only did I  want to make sure we would eat it all, but I knew we would be supplementing with our own garden.  So far, this has worked out really well.

What we are growing:

  • Tomato: Roma, Cherry, Beefsteak, and one other we can’t remember (King something)
  • Jalepeno
  • Green Bell Pepper
  • Peas
  • Herbs: Cilantro, Basil, Mint, Chives, Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme
  • Spinach
  • Mesculin Mix
  • Summer squash: Straight Neck and Zucchini
  • Canteloupe
  • Cucumber
  • Corn (seeds Jackson’s grew from a preschool craft)
  • Sunflower

Jackson is a natural in the garden, just like his dad.  His favorite task is watering, which we do daily.  He is always reminding me that “the plants are thirsty.”  With Jackson’s help, I think my brown thumb might be turning just a little bit green.

I can’t wait to see how our plants turn out this year.  What is your favorite vegetable to grow?

 

Filed Under: Home, Real Food Tagged With: , ,

DIY: Painting Plastic Adirondack Chairs

June 26, 2012 By 3 Comments

A few months ago, I was looking at my dreary backyard, so ready for spring to get here.  I wanted some life and color back there, and I knew it would be a while before our blooms and plants were in full swing.  My eyes rested on a little conversation area I had created the year before.  Two old, worn plastic adirondack chairs, a rusty and faded metal table (complete with imprints of all signs of the zodiac) and then two cute kid-sized plastic chairs.

As the rest of the garden springing to life, I knew something had to be done with those chairs.  Given they were almost 10 years old, I knew I could have easily donated them and purchased some new ones.  But I was up for a challenge and went and purchased a few cans of spray paint that would work on plastic (Krylon Fusion is the brand I used).

To prep the chairs, I just hosed them off with my nozzle set on jet, wiped them dry and allowed them to finish drying in the sun for about 20 minutes.  I completely ignored the specific prepping instructions on the can – I figured the worst that could happen is I would have to buy new chairs.

 I used 3 cans of paint per chair, and just a half can for the table.  A lot of paint was wasted with the chairs due to the spaces in between the slats.  My plastic tarp (and my toes) were covered in red when I was done.  Krylon now has a brush-on version of their Fusion line in a can, but every store I went to only had the spray paint.  In retrospect, I might have saved some money and paint if I had searched for the brush-on version, but oh well!  I wanted to test them out right away, but I kept everything on my porch for a full week to allow the paint to cure (yes, I followed that part of the instructions!).

The chairs now sit in our back bed, right next to the trampoline and water table.  It is the perfect spot to relax and watch the kiddos at play.  Overall, it was a pretty easy project.  I had a sore forefinger for a few days, but that is to be expected.  It probably would have been easier (and even cheaper) to just buy new chairs, but I’m glad I didn’t.  The end result is exactly what I wanted.

 

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Watermelon Agua Fresca Cocktail {Book & Cook}

June 12, 2012 By 5 Comments

Last night I met up with my girlfriends for our first book club in two months.  Busy schedules had kept us from meeting last month, so I was so looking forward to a fun, relaxing night.

Our book this month was Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.  The novel follows three generations of a Greek family, detailing their new life in American, their quest for the American dream and one family member’s struggle with gender identity.

I did not read the book this month, unfortunately too many things were on my plate and I never even opened the cover.  I had tried to read this book years ago and was never able to get through the first few chapters.  I think that may be why I kept pushing it off.  My friends who finished the book really enjoyed it and we were able to have some thought provoking conversation, mainly on the topic of gender identity.

I usually like to theme my menu contribution to our book, so I was thinking some sort of Greek dish.  I had purchased a large watermelon last week, and need to use it up quickly.  My first thought was a watermelon and feta salad, which would be a great Greek side dish.  But the more I thought about it, I knew we needed to relax after a busy month.  Exit feta, enter vodka.

I’ve been seeing recipes for Agua Frescas all over the place this summer and knew I could easily turn it into a cocktail.  Translating to “fresh waters,” an agua fresca is basically a fruit drink or ade.  Very popular in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, you can usually find them being served fresh on the street.

Since my watermelon wasn’t very ripe, I added a good amount of honey to the syrup.  You could easily reduce the amount of sweetener, or omit it all together.  If you don’t want to include any added sweetener, just steep the lime zest and mint in plain water to release their essence and proceed as normal.

Just a little warning, the juice was so good I barely noticed the vodka in my drink.  Go slowly!

Print
Watermelon Agua Fresca Cocktail

Ingredients

  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint plus more sprigs for garnish (one store bought package was enough)
  • 2 limes: 1 for the recipe, and 1 cut into wedges for garnish
  • 9 cups cubed seedless watermelon
  • vodka

Instructions

  1. Using a vegetable peeler, zest one lime by peeling the skin in long strips. Be careful to only remove the green skin and not the white pith.
  2. In a small saucepan, mix the water and honey on medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the honey. Once the syrup comes to a slow boil, remove from heat and set aside.
  3. Add the lime zest and chopped mint to the honey syrup and allow it steep for 15-30 minutes, while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
  4. Juice the zested lime and set aside (should produce about 1/4 cup of juice).
  5. Working in batches, puree the watermelon in a food processor or blender.
  6. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl or pitcher. Reserve the pulp.
  7. Strain the honey syrup and add that to the watermelon juice along with the lime juice.
  8. Repeat this process with the remaining pulp and mint/lime zest from the syrup. Puree, strain and add this juice to the rest of the watermelon juice. (Now you can discard any remaining pulp.)
  9. Chill your juice and vodka until ready to serve. Make sure to stir the juice well before serving since watermelon juice tends to separate.
  10. To serve, fill your glass with ice and add your desired amount of vodka.
  11. Fill the rest of the glass with your watermelon juice and garnish with a sprig of mint and a lime wedge.

Notes

This recipe makes 1 1/2 quarts. It was the perfect amount for our group of 6 people.

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http://feedingmysunshine.com/watermelon-agua-fresca-cocktail-book-cook/

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