Hello!  I have been absent for some time! I am back to sharing ideas and writing about random things.  Please feel free to check out this blog but come on over to Simplebutfabulous.com where you will find new material and some old as well!  

As always, Thanks for dropping by and please leave me a comment.

Melinda

simplebutfabulous.com

Are you in Pain, Brain Fog, Stiff, Achy Joints, Bloated, Can't Sleep and Can't Lose Weight?

Are you in Pain, Brain Fog, Stiff, Achy Joints, Bloated, Can't Sleep and Can't Lose Weight?  This is EXACTLY where I was in 2018.  I had been on some inflammatory drugs for 8 months for pain and they were no longer working. I don't even like to take medicine.  There should be another way.

I am  an active 50ish year old.  I ride horses competitively, barn chores, garden, moderate exercise and all the other normal stuff.  I could sit down to watch a movie and couldn't hardly move when I got up!  Sit in a Car for 2 hours and I walked like an old person. Going upstairs, painful!  The thought process that we are older, we are going to have aches and pains is Bull Shit!  I was worried.  If I hurt this bad now, what is 30 more years going to be like.  I was seriously thinking that I needed to move our bedroom downstairs and maybe giving up my beloved riding.

My daughter kept telling me that I didn't eat enough to loose weight.....maybe I needed to see a nutritionist.  Oh, I'm thinking heck no!  I felt that I ate pretty clean.  Haha!  I didn't consume junk every day and I cook every night.  But, I had 1-2 French Cappuccinos in the morning, then water and Sweet Tea the rest of the day, then there was that 5 o'clock Crown & Coke!

I remembered something about a Whole30 diet that a doctor had suggested when my daughter was having some health issues and couldn't come up with an answer, Which was not her diet.  Then, I saw a friend post something.  So I looked it UP.  People HEAR ME, your DIET is CAUSING your PROBLEMS!!

I've been dieting since I was in my twenties.  But, at this point I was heavier than I had ever been, except when pregnant.  I was 147lbs on my scales.  I wanted to get below 140lbs.  I'm active, but I don't want to go to the gym and don't want to commit to 30 min exercises. But, I do exercise for example...I'm standing at the stove, I will do leg lifts and arm exercises.  I do some weight lifting and stretching but not all at the same time, so I'm not doing cardio. NO, getting that heart rate up to help loose weight.  I sweat messing with horses, but don't want to exercise and sweat.....Funny right?

I read up on the diet, just Google Whole30.  The list of the foods you can have, is shorter than the food you can not!  NO processed period, No Sugar or Sweeteners, No Legumes, No Peanuts, No Vegetable Oil, No Corn, No Diary-mayo, sour cream, cheese, milk, cream cheese, NO Bread, NO Bacon/Sausage-unless you find no sugar added, NO JUNK...….OH I know your thinking your going to starve! WHY!!! Is the list so long?  Because all these foods cause Inflammation.  PLEASE listen to Me.  I have been dieting since my 20's, This is the easiest DIET, I have ever done!  It is really a Life CHANGER for Life.  I never got hungry!  No calorie counting or portion measuring.  I was eating more than I ever have and losing weight. Did I have cravings? Yes, What diet have you ever done, that you don't!   The reason for the 30 of the Whole30 is 30 days of cleansing all that junk out of your body.  You CAN DO IT and you will FEEL GREAT!

Baked Brussel Sprouts & Hamburger patti

What are you going to eat....FRESH!
Eggs
Fresh Veggies, I did Frozen as well, NO Canned
Fresh Fruit
Almonds
Olive Oil, Sesame Seed Oil, Avocado Oil, Ghee
Almond Flour
Almond Butter, NO Peanuts

You can find shopping list on the web, to help you.  And So Many Recipes!

It is 30 DAYS!  You Can DO IT for 30 days!  I immediately got the Sugar headache and you will to, because we do Not realize really how much ADDED sugar we consume daily! They put Sugar in EVERTHING.  But the second week, I was already feeling better, sleeping better.  Really? was this really possible that changing my diet could do this?  Yes it was! My stomach was flatter and the scale was moving!  This was in Jan and I was NOT exercising.  The First month, I lost 6lbs.  I felt so much better, I continued on the diet.  I lost 17lbs overall.  My expectations were so small, I had only wanted to get down below 140, but instead got down to 130lbs!  And what I was most surprised by is that I carry my weight in my hips.  Usually this is the last place to loose and I was losing there as well.   And my PAIN is basically gone!  Now there are days something will act up and it is Usually because of what I ate. Woo HOO!

So, What do you do after 30 Days?  You might want to continue as I did for awhile till you loose desired weight.  But, what do you do after that?  You need to figure out, What causes YOUR pain.  Something or all the foods that you eliminated are culprits to your problems.  When your ready, to add things back into your diet, You add one category a day.  Say you have really missed your Dairy, on Monday have Milk for Breakfast, some Cheese on your Salad, Sour Cream on a Potato and then your going to evaluate how you feel.  Did you Bloat you, make you feel sluggish, cause Pain?  Now for the next two days, Tues & Wed, you going to eat Whole30. On Thurs, you can try a different category, or eat your Dairy again to see the effects.

The culprit to my Pain is Sugar.  No more Sweet Tea for me.  I've gotten use to Non-sweet tea.  I mean that is not even a Southern thing. Does this mean that I never have a Donut? No, I may have a Donut or a small, small piece of cake, but I don't keep eating more sugar that day and I eat clean for days. In the past when I boiled veggies, everything got a pinch of Sugar and a Tablespoon of Butter.  Not any more.  I don't even miss it.  And I fried a LOT of summer veggies, not any more.  If I do fry, I use Olive Oil. Mainly now, I will saute veggies in a little olive oil.  I got on a little cheese and cracker lunch thing one week....at the end of the week, I was not feeling to good.  And Yes, I will have a crown & coke, but usually it messes with my sleep.  So eat inflammatory foods in moderation.  Why would I want to feel pain? I feel great so I am continuing on the life change of eating better.  The Whole30 makes you very conscious of what is going in your mouth.

As of today, 2/3/20, I weigh 135lbs and I am getting back on Whole30 hard, because I've let a little weight creep back on me over the holidays and I now know it is possible for me to weigh 130lbs in my 50's.

I will try to post some of the recipes that I have tried and Love.  Like Homemade Ranch dressing.  So stayed tuned.

Good Luck on your journey!  I would love to hear from you!

Scrambled Eggs with Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms and Banana with Cinnamon 

Kitchen Renovation

This kitchen in the house, that we finally bought, after looking at 25 houses!  I think, I may have been really tired of looking, because I didn't catch a couple of things.  But it would not have mattered really, because the house was in pretty good shape and the area of town that we wanted.

I just walked in and said, oh, I least this one has been updated....... We had looked at some with metal cabinets, or just old cabinets.  Someone had extended that tile backsplash down for the countertop.  But, down there in the corner where that microwave is, it was completely different tile!

And while we were sitting in the floor scrubbing grout, my daughter says, why is that door so dark.  The one under the sink.  I couldn't believe it.  Everything is raised panel doors and that one was a flat panel.

                                                    Who knew, that the grout was white.......

We had decided that we wanted to paint them white.  Off to Lowes to look at cabinets in stock to see if we could find a color that we liked. Then we went and picked out paint chips to find something close.  We used Valspar w/primer.  When you take your doors off, number them, so they can be put back in the right spot.  I did a light sanding before we painted.

 We had painted all the cabinets.  When you looked inside the cabinets, some of the sides seemed to be off.  My husband decided he just couldn't wait to get granite counter tops. When, we got an estimate for the granite, the guy mentioned that he hoped we could get the counter tops off without tearing up the cabinets.  We did, but then I could see why things looked weird.  I told hubs, we are not putting granite on this junk.  So, every bottom cabinet on that side came out.

 And it really was a good thing, because the wall had been patched back there and not very well.  We tore more sheet rock off and put in wall insulation around all those water lines.

             
                            At least we shut the door to the mice that had been coming in through there.

                               Back to Lowes for base cabinets and another gallon of the cabinet paint.

I guess this is the only picture that I took of new cabinets going back in.  This was not an easy task.  Shims, shims and shims to make everything level from the front to back and side to side.

Here is the finished product.  We went with the granite over the washer/dryer adding more countertop space.

There was some little crappy trim across the top of the cabinets that came down.  And I replaced it with chair rail.  I looked all over for something different, but nothing that would work was to be found.

                                                            It Turned out great!

Exterior Makeover

Our Daughter got accepted to Masters Program close to home.  We were so excited! My thought was, money saved, she could live at home and help with the horses. But, when reality sunk in, with morning and evening traffic, it was an hour commute in both directions. That was time that she would need to be studying.  So, we started looking for her a place to live.  After checking out apartment rentals and the HIGH cost, we decided to look for something to buy.  Another shocker!  Location, Location, Location really is a driving point for price.  We looked at 25 houses!  The first couple we looked at, we thought may work and wanted to think about it for a minute.  The next day, there were multiple offers!!  Then this one came on the market, it fit our budget, good location, two full bathrooms, and good floor plan. We wrote an offer on the spot!  But, It still needed some LOVE!

This is how it looked when we bought it.  TV cables running down the brick and all along the house trim. Someone had closed in the carport at some time and it was just straight up ugly!

We closed on the house at the end of May and my daughter and roommates would move in the first of August.  Even thou the house was in pretty good shape, it took me all summer working on the inside and doing some outside.  We had to make the home secure!  This front door was not going to work.

                        
No, NO, my daughter was not staying there with a door jam that looked like that! That door really dated the house.  We wanted to Update.  The market is good in this area, so we are hoping for a good return when we sell in three years.

                                                 We wanted to go with a Craftsman look.

What a difference a new door makes.  I am so thankful that it was not a DIY project that I took on.  It took carpenters banging, prying, cutting and banging some more to get that door casing out.  They also framed out the closed in garage, for a garage door.  When, both of the doors went in, all the neighbors were paying attention.

                                                Tearing out the front wall of the garage.

After a summer of painting and cleaning the inside, I really didn't want to take on the task of the outside. The guys we hired did an excellent job.  I am not sure those wood windows had ever been scraped or reglazed around the glass panels.  Except, the ones someone had replaced with plexiglass....WHAT??  Yes, that is what I said.  I had a glass company come out and replace 10 panels of plexi with real glass!  Back to the painters, they scraped and scraped, new glaze around all window panels and caulked.  They caulked places that I would have missed and power washed the brick.  The prep took several days.  It would have taken me weeks.  Then they painted.

                                              

 We were in love!  It looked like a new house.  Now, was time to make Cedar shutters.  We've made a few sets in the past.  Easy easy.

                                                     From This TO THIS!!!

Here is the final product.  It looks entirely different than when we purchased it.  I hope this inspires you to update your home.  Your home is your castle.  The smallest projects can make a big difference.  We could have stopped at the doors and the house looked great! But the Paint Job, OH MY, It really made it Fresh.  Below, I listed our expenses, to give you an idea what a project like this will run you.  Please don't be a lurker, leave a comment and let me know that you were here! 

Run down on expenses...
New front door $225
New garage door $900
Labor to install front door, and case out opening $500
Paint house (included all labor & supplies) $2700
Husband and friend installed the vinyl siding around the garage door
Cedar shutters - 8 cedar boards, Cedar stain - We made them and installed

Canvas Painting

My daughter, Brianna decided she wanted a Large abstract painting for her study......And she asked me paint one for her.  I do not consider myself an artist of this type, although I have painted a few pieces.  I thought it would be fun!

This was the inspiration piece!

Since, I really am not an artist, I am sorry, I can't give instructions on how I did it.  People get all torn up about messing something up.  It is just Paint!  It will dry and if you don't like it, paint over again.  I can say, DO paint your whole canvas in a base color first.  I didn't do this and I knew better!  You do want several shades of the colors that you plan to use, PLUS White.  The darker tones, lighter tones give contrast and depth to your painting. The white you can mix with your colors for lighter colors.

 You have to start somewhere, so I just started out putting colors here and there.

                         I didn't like the tan color.......So it got covered up.

  Some things changed along the way.  That is what is great about paint.  Do you see the gold hands?  My daughter called it a claw......!!  I ended up adding a lot of white of gold to the bottom of it.  You can see the change in the final picture.

I couldn't get the gold, the color of gold that I was looking for.  It was redone several times.  You see below is lighter. The red got more layers of red.

The gold paint pen in the picture above, I used to draw lines adding detail.

  Then, I just played, adding layers of color, lines of color, I had to fix a little bump that I popped off!  I added little lines of Red & Gold using a Gold paint pen.

Here is the finished product.  I hung it on my wall for a few days, so I could decide IF I was done with it.  I think I am happy with it! I know....Not really like the inspiration piece.  I needed flow and movement.  When you paint just go with what you are feeling. 

As, I worked on this painting, I thought about how the painting is kinda like life.  This painting has many layers, and life is made up of many layers, some we like and some we don't.  With the painting,  it was very simple to let it dry and paint over it.  I dabbled till I was happy.  In life, we all make mistakes!  Some worse than others.  Some are forgotten, and some are remembered forever.  All you can do, is DO better, Be Better and Don't make the same mistake again.  Mistakes is what makes us grow into the person we become.  We have to keep trying to get Us the way we want to be.  We are all God's children and he will keep working with us until he is happy, IF we want him to be our artist.

I do NOT know where all that came from, but felt the need to pass the message on.

Have FUN!  STEP out of the box or mold that you have put yourself in!

Christmas Wreath Ornament

These are Super Easy to make!

Supplies needed:

Lace with holes

Beads-3 sided

Pipe Cleaners- red or green, you will not see it

Ribbon or Decorative cord

To make, tread the lace on to pipe cleaner, then bead, lace, bead until it is the size that you want.  Push everything together tight. Then twist the pipe cleaner.  Decorate with ribbon. 

 

 

Toy Soldier Christmas Ornaments

 

 

I hope everyone is ready for Christmas.  I really do NOT know where my time has gone! But, I thought I would do a quick post this morning before heading out to church. It is last minute, but with kids being home for the holidays, It would be a fun project for them to do.

I think I learned to make these ornaments in 8th grade. And, I still have them on my tree!  I actually love them.

 

Supplies: Old Fashioned Clothes Pins

                Red Pom Poms

                Flat gold  cord

                Red & White or Blue Paint

                Red Pipe cleaners

                Magic marker for face

                Glue 

 

 

First Paint your clothes & Let Dry, Paint the top red, and the pants either White or Blue           

Attach gold cord, This can be done in one piece.  It will glue better, just play with it.

Glue on his hat, arms.  Draw his face and your done

An ornament hanger will attach to his hat, or you can stand him on a branch!

                      MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! 

A Bathroom Update, Zero Cost!

It ALWAYS amazes me, how basically Just Paint can change a room.  I know that is funny.  I know it makes a big difference, but then I paint....and well it is a Wow moment or it could be, What was I thinking???? 

 

We have a small bathroom upstairs on the girls side of the house, (their gone, but it is still their side).  There was nothing wrong with it, but after awhile you just need change.  And, we needed something more grown up.

 

Here is the before.....Actually I painted this and I really liked it.  But, after just the initial coat of peach, it was one those, What was I thinking.  So, I drizzled orange craft paint into the can of peach and did a dry brush technique.   I just kept working with it, till I liked it.

 

 

When we purchased this place, It was a wreck!  Where the built ins are, was just a hole and you could see A/C duct work going up to the attic.

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I didn't really have a plan for this room.  I really feel that ivory fixtures limit the possibilities.  For example, I don't think gray walls with ivory/tan would look good.  I knew I wanted something neutral.  Just happens I had extra paint in an off white....It was whiter than I wanted, So I added some brown craft paint to the can.  Not a problem, if you remember that you did that....Recently I painted another small room  and I thought...that I had enough paint in a can (I forgot I had used it upstairs) .  Guess what? It wasn't enough paint.  I purchased some more and then I was trying to figure out why it didn't match.  Then, I remembered!!

 So now that it was beige, I needed new accessories.  I went shopping in my house!  Yes, sometimes things can be moved around to different rooms and it looks like you have new things.  

The shower curtain came out the main bath downstairs (I really had to shop for new one to go there)

The picture came from down stairs, the cowboy lantern came out my daughters room

 

 And this little cute sign, came out of my daughters closet.  Yep, she is gone, but for some reason she still has things here.  Her closet is good place to go look....She came home one weekend and I had hung one of her pictures in the hall.  She said, "Hey, that is my Picture."  I said, "Yes, it is, No difference in it being in a closet or on the wall." 

 

My daughter, Megan, made the wooden sign.

That is it!  A room make over at $0 cost.  I had everything, that I used.

Wood Signs

Oh my Goodness!  I know......It has been forever since I have posted anything.  I promise you that I have been busy.  I've spent the last two nights uploading pictures from the phone to the computer. 

One of those things is Wooden Signs made out of scrape lumber...

I can tell you....These are not my originals thoughts!  Pinterest is my best friend!

I thought this was REAL cute.  Brianna has been dating Danny now for 1 year and she was wanting a collage to go over the couch in her new apartment.

I used thin strips of wood to attach wood planks together.  To paint, I used painters tape and lined out my tress.  Then I tore pieces and placed in the center to make it look like bark.  After, I painted the tree, I pulled all the tape up.  The....boyfriend loved it and said it made him want to find a tree to really carve their initials in......AWE!  He is a keeper!

 Have you ever blown a dandelion?

 More Scrapes!  I really don't know what the L is made out of....They were in my stock.  The O is made out of a piece of Tree Bark, and dry washed in White. The V is obviously a chain.  The E is Vine.  I LOVE IT!

Back to the collage....Thought we may need some fill in's......Not knowing exactly what we were going to use.  I painted several colors on the board and ran my electric sander over it.

She LOVES Arrows!  Another fill in...

Here it is!  OH I did that Believe sign as well!

I got the frames up and she had to print out some pictures to go in them.

 

Another sign that I made for me!

 

Ok, the EASIEST way that I have found to do signs.  Print out your words.  Then take chalk and cover the back of the writing.  Place the paper on your wood, or whatever your using and trace with a pencil.  The chalk will transfer to your wood and then you can paint.  I have found that the paint Pens make it so much easier!

 Color the back!

See how it transfers!  Happy sign making!  Comment and let me know that you were here!