I have a black metal word that I found in Sudbury last week to hang on my wall. It says "simplify". Today, as I was scrambling around, being the procrastinator that I am, in an effort to make the living room and kitchen more usable before B comes home tomorrow, I thought of that word. I have no idea where I’m going to hang it, whether it’ll be in the back entrance, kitchen, or living room, but it made me take a look at the living room in particular.

As I’ve previously mentioned, I am planning to put a dining table (once I find a suitable one) on the new framed half-wall once it’s done and painted.

The plan was also for that couch in the left corner of the above picture to be sold as the living room is a decent size but the wall space is broken up by windows and doors and a very short hallway to the bathroom and space is at a premium.

The love seat was pushed in front of the door to make room during my cleaning frenzy.

While struggling to visualize just how to arrange the room in the near future, "simplify" crossed my mind and I had the sudden thought to purge the TV from upstairs, thereby eliminating the need for the cabinet. I like the cabinet even though it’s just a cheap one from Sears. I like the shape and height and without it, the room is all the same height - the height of the furniture. I took the TV, VCR (yes, we still have one and use it), and DVD player downstairs and set it up in the rec room, swapping places with the flatscreen one from down there. The flatscreen TV has a built-in DVD player so, while I plan to make a cover for it and store it under the cutting table in my sewing room, if the need for it upstairs ever arises I’ll be able to just pull it out and plug it in.

Once the TV cabinet is gone (I’ve listed it), the arrangement doesn’t get any easier. I’m still not sure what to do. I know the paint colour is going to change but that doesn’t help the layout. There needs to be enough space around the dining table to not look cramped. yet still give me a living room that looks complete. It needs to be a dining area, not just a dining room table plunked down in one end of the living room.

The second picture shows the armchair in the corner, which had previously been beside the entertainment unit. I absolutely love the placement of the chair by the window. It hasn’t seen much use but I know I would sit in it all the time if it were to stay where it is. It would be the perfect curl-up-and-read spot. I like the love seat in front of the door too, although I would hide the door if I left it there by blacking out the window (black construction paper?), putting  another curtain rod centered between the windows, and hanging first a solid white curtain to cover the door and frame and then hanging another set of panels to match the ones on the windows. I’d then push the love seat back into place. I think. I think it would look okay. I’m not sure whether I’d use curtains to match the existing ones or contrasting ones. It all sounds like something they might do over at Young House Love, a completely awesome design blog by a couple so young, cute, and talented that they’ll make you very envious.

If the love seat stays where it is and the couch goes, I can almost visualize a papasan chair with a nice red cushion in the new reading corner, the armchair pushed down a bit, and a small end table set between the two or possibly a bookshelf to add a bit of height to the room and to house the requisite books. Another armchair could go on the wall where the TV had been, angled a bit into the corner where the end table is in the picture above. Another bookshelf could go next to that or a table of sorts (a low sofa table?) as long as it doesn’t hinder access to the bathroom hall. I’ll need a few surfaces to put the plants on and wouldn’t mind a large potted plant or tree on the floor somewhere in the room.

Decisions, decisions. And oh, the hair pulling! Such a stressful thing, this room rearranging. I welcome any tips or ideas.

The renovations are on hold on Tuesday but here’s what the current project, the half-wall, looks like at the moment.

See the slope in the floor under the new wall? Baseboard will hide that.
There’s also one at the window wall and the ceiling. Nothing in this house is square.

There used to be a half-wall in that same spot but it was just a piece of wood stained to match the cupboards. I wanted it made of drywall and the thickness of an interior wall so it would separate the two spaces better visually. I also wanted that extra piece extending up to the ceiling on the window wall so I can paint the kitchen and living room different colours. I’m still trying to decide what to do for the shelves that will go between the last cabinet and the new wall though. Initially I thought of making it like a cabinet but without the doors so the top could match the existing cabinets and be framed to the ceiling. Then I thought of floating shelves so the wall colour would show through on the back and left side; I have the piece of wood that sat on top of the cabinet at the end so I could close off that hole that way. Then I thought it might look more like the shelves belong there if the trim above the cabinets extends all the way to the new wall. So now I’m considering extending the trim and putting a "ceiling" at the bottom of it so the blown ceiling doesn’t show through and then doing the open shelves; I’m just not sure yet how to fully do that. Shelves can be decided once everything is done and painted though so there’s no pressure for that yet.

It’s looking good and I can’t wait until we start on the closet in the back entrance!

Today is Day Seven of a new way of eating for me. Last Wednesday I went grocery shopping after making a meal plan for the remainder of the week and stocked up on all the things I’d need for those meals - fresh fruits and vegetables to go along with the lean ground turkey, chicken breasts, and grains I already had. I did the same thing on Sunday night, sitting down and planning out my meals for the week. I’ve been doing this for awhile now and posting to the blog for Menu Plan Mondays, however I never planned for breakfast or lunch, only supper. Since beginning to eat clean I have been planning all three meals, leaving the two or three "snacks" or smaller meals to be fruit and nuts, or cottage cheese and fruit, or a hearty smoothie, or any number of other similar things. Other than flipping through more cookbooks and magazines to find recipes to use I have not found this to be any more difficult than before. At some point I will have made enough recipes and learned enough about eating clean that I will be able to make meals without a recipe but for now, as most of the recipes I used previously do not read clean, I find that "cooking from a book" works and works well.

What exactly is eating clean? Google will turn up numerous links on the subject but directly from the Eat Clean Diet site is this:

What is eating clean? It is treating your body right. It is eating the way nature intended. You eat the foods our bodies evolved to function best on, and that makes you feel – and look – fantastic. When you Eat Clean you eat more often. You will eat lean protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats. These practices keep your blood-sugar levels stable and keep you satisfied. The best part is that if you need to lose weight it will happen almost without you having to try. And yes, you can have a treat now and again.

Best of all, Eating Clean keeps you feeling great and full of energy. In fact, you can forget all about the days when “dieting” meant feelings of hunger, lethargy or deprivation.

Eating Clean is not a fad; it’s a way of life. When you Eat Clean your body will react by losing weight if you need to lose, maintaining a healthy weight if that’s where you are, and even gaining weight if you are too skinny. But regardless of whether you want to lose, maintain or gain, you will feel better than you ever have before.

Never worry about counting calories again. You will never have to diet. Eating Clean will keep you lean and healthy for the rest of your long life. Eating Clean guarantees results!

I am not in this for the purpose of losing weight although that would be a very welcome bonus. I have 10 or 15 pounds that I wouldn’t mind letting go but I am in this for a better me, a healthier me. Already, one week in, I feel better in the sense that I am rarely hungry. I don’t have those cycles of being stuffed and then empty and ravenous and then stuffed again. Everything remains on the same level for the most part if I eat every three or so hours depending on what the previous meal was. I like this feeling. I like feeling in control of my hunger instead of letting it rule me. And I love that I’m eating a much, much wider variety of fruits and vegetables than I had before starting and eating those at every meal. I had a portobello mushroom last night, which I’ve never had, with a couple tablespoons of salsa on it topped with a little bit of green onion, a scattering of shredded cheese, and sprinkled with sesame seeds and then baked for about 10 minutes. It was very good and I was very surprised. I’m not a mushroom-hater but nor do I like to bite right into one. I’d rather they just "be there" when they’re in my food (as in pasta sauce or lasagna).

This doesn’t taste anything like what it looks like.
Unless you think it looks delicious. Because it is.
Two peaches (skin on), a kiwi, strawberries, a juiced orange, and spinach.

I’m very excited to see where this takes me. I’m a little nervous, however, about how well things will go once B returns home on Sunday. I don’t expect him to eat all the things I’m eating but I don’t want to be making two separate meals. It’s hard enough making the same meal for just two people at the best of times. I hope that he will continue to be more open to trying new things - all I ask of him is that he taste something and eat that bite before deciding if he likes it or not and he’s gotten pretty good at doing that - and that’s all I can ask at this point. We don’t have junk food in the house but he does have a few snacks. His snacks aren’t "bad" per se due to his inability to handle artificial colours, flavours, and preservatives but they are still snack-type foods. Onwards and upwards and working towards forming good habits…

What works for you? Head over to We Are That Family and share your entry.

Another week, another menu plan, and another week dedicated to clean eating. Like last week, I’ll be using the same two cookbooks and the Clean Eating magazines that I have up to this point. Snacks will be simple (eg: grapes and a few almonds, cottage cheese and fruit) and smoothies will be aplenty.

This week’s line-up is as follows:

Monday:
Breakfast - smoothie with spinach and flaxmeal added
Lunch - Mango Chicken Salad Wrap (ECD F&K, pg 239)
Supper - Baked Salmon with Orange Glaze (Spring 2008, pg 82)

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Spinach Frittata (Spring 2008, pg 57)
Lunch - Orzo Primavera; spinach salad (ECD Cookbook, pg 81)
Supper - Smothered Mushrooms, corn with tarragon (Jan/Feb 2009, pg 79)

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Omelette Wrap with Spinach (ECD F&K, pg 203)
Lunch - Warm Salmon & Couscous Salad; fruit (Spring 2008, pg 89)
Supper - Shrimp, Spinach and Mushroom Barley (May/June 2009, pg 83)

Thursday:
Breakfast - Crock-Pot Porridge; smoothie (ECD Cookbook, pg 9)
Lunch - Black Bean, Avocado and Chicken Wrap; fruit (May/June 2009, pg 31)
Supper - baked chicken breast; Quinoa with Sun-dried Tomatoes (ECD Cookbook, pg 77)

Friday:
Breakfast - Morning Hot Cereal; smoothie (ECD F&K, pg 207)
Lunch - leftover quinoa; yogurt
Supper - Chicken, Spinach and Ricotta Quesadillas (May/June 2008, pg 74)

Saturday:
Breakfast - Whole-grain Pancakes; smoothie (ECD F&K, pg 208)
Lunch - Dinosaur Kale Quinoa Wrap; yogurt; fruit (Spring 2008, pg 72)
Supper - Pasta Roll-Ups; spinach salad (Spring 2008, pg 64)

Sunday:
Breakfast - Morning Hot Cereal; fruit; yogurt (ECD F&K, pg 207)
Lunch - unknown (heading to Toronto to pick B up from the aiport)
Supper - also unknown at this point

Don’t forget to head over and check out Organizing Junkie for more ideas. By the end of the day, hundreds of bloggers will have posted their plans for the week’s meals.

Not quite before and after as far as the whole kitchen goes but pretty darn close as far as the cabinets go. Here’s the kitchen it all it’s orange glory.

And here it is 95% of the way done cabinet-wise.

I still have to pull out the fridge and stove and paint beside them. I’m dreading the thought of two coats of primer and three coats of paint all over again but at least the surfaces are flat. I’ll be able to do the edges with the brush (or tape the crap out of the adjoining surfaces) and then go to town with the roller. I’m still on the hunt for cabinet hardware in my price range (cheap) that I like. I’m thinking of using only pulls and no knobs and am debating between a brushed nickel look to match the tap (the previous hardware was shiny gold solid brass) or black (which may have too much contrast with the rest of the room). Why does hardware have to be so expensive? I need 19 pieces.

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, that half wall behind the stove is going to be replaced with a framed and drywalled one and at the far right, on that window wall, the new wall will extend up to the ceiling, creating a bit more of a distinction between the kitchen and living room and allowing me to 1) paint the two spaces separate colours and 2) enable me to put a few shelves between the last cabinet and the new wall to put my cookbooks and knick knacks on. I’ve taken off the corner shelf that you can see in the first photo and will paint that and relocate it to the back entrance. Maybe it will hold a plant and a few other things since the dresser that’s currently back there will be removed to make room for the closet opening.

I’m rather excited! Not at the thought of spending more money but at seeing it all completed. Once the half wall is done, painting will begin on the cabinets, the kitchen walls (Behr’s Applesauce), the hall wall just visible to the left of the picture (Behr’s Apple Crisp), and the living room (possible Behr’s Gobi Desert or something similar). Construction of the half wall should begin tomorrow evening!

Today is my second full day of eating clean. I did have a chocolate bar last night (a Kit Kat that was split with a co-worker) but other than that I’ve been doing well. I’m just about to head for a nap before night shift tonight but am cooking up some supper to take with me. I also rescued a chicken breast from the fridge, spread it with jerk seasoning (recipe here), broiled it, sliced it, and froze it for future chicken wraps like the one I had planned to make earlier this week and didn’t.

Tonight’s supper (and portions for three additional meals, held in the freezer) is Shrimp, Spinach and Mushroom Barley from the May/June 2009 issue of Clean Eating. In one word, it is amaaaazing! Very tasty.

Shrimp, Spinach & Mushroom Barley (serves 4)

1 cup pearled barley
3 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 shallots, chopped
2 cups mushrooms of your choice, chopped
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 lb cooked shrimp, peeled and chopped
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh sage, torn
Kosher or sea salt, to taste

In a medium pot on high heat, bring both barley and broth to a boil. Cover and let simmer on low to medium heat, so liquid doesn’t boil over. Set timer and cook for 50 minutes.

In a non-stick skillet, sauté shallots and mushrooms in oil for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.

Add spinach and lightly sauté for about 3 minutes, until bright green.

At 50 minutes check on barley. When there is no more remaining broth, add shrimp and pepper to barley; turn to medium heat if not already. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add shallot-mushroom mixture, sage and salt to barley. Stir and cook 5 to 10 minutes. Best if enjoyed within 4 to 5 days in fridge, or store for 6 months in freezer.

*Note: barley can take up to 60 to 75 minutes to soak up broth. Be certain to not add remaining ingredients if there is a lot of broth left or it will never evaporate.

Nutrients per 1 1/2 cup serving: calories 320, total fat 5g, saturated fat 1g, carbs 50g, fiber 10g, sugars 3g, protein 19g, sodium 310mg, cholesterol 85mg.

This week marks the beginning of what will hopefully be a lasting change - the beginning of eating clean and of consuming only water as a beverage. This week’s meal plan reflects that. All of the recipes come either from the Eat Clean website, the two books I have (The Eat-Clean Diet for Family & Kids and The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook), or one of the Clean Eating magazines in my subscription. The page numbers are for my reference. My beverages will be one of the following: water, a smoothie, or some concoction created with my underused juicer. I will also have two to three healthy snacks. Some days it may look like I have lunch and supper reversed but those are likely days that I’ll be working a night shift and will have to take something to work already prepared.

Edit: August 12 - last night I sat down and made up two complete meal plans for this week and next. I’ll be heading out in an hour or so to pick up the things that I’ll need but am updating the menu I posted on Monday, which only contained suppers. I’m only filling in for the current and following days; I’m not back filling.

Monday: garden salad

Tuesday: Friday Night Chili (ECD F&K, pg 290)

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Oatmeal with apple; yogurt
Lunch - Quinoa, Apple & Walnut Salad with Turkey Sausage and Spicy Apple Vinaigrette (Fall 2008, pg 80)
Supper - unknown (road trip)

Thursday:
Breakfast - Potato & Egg Italiano Sandwich; smoothie (Jan/Feb 2009, pg 27)
Lunch - Mango Chicken Salad Wrap; yogurt (ECD F&K, pg 236)
Supper - Quinoa Black Bean Salad; sliced orange (Winter 2008, pg 76)

Friday:
Breakfast - Oatmeal with banana; juice
Lunch - Hummus & Veggie Wrap; smoothie (ECD F&K pg 240)
Supper - leftover chili

Saturday:
Breakfast - Oatmeal; smoothie
Lunch - Crispy Tuna Triangles; spinach salad (ECD F&K, pg 224)
Supper - Shrimp, Spinach & Mushroom Barley (May/June 2009, pg 82)

Sunday:
Breakfast - cottage cheese with apple butter; juice (Spring 2008, pg 54)
Lunch - Baked Salmon with Orange Glaze; brown rice (Spring 2008, pg 82)
Supper - Egg Salad Sandwich (ECD F&K, pg 232)

There are many more menu plans to be found over at Organzing Junkie. If you’re at a loss as to what to serve up this week, head on over and check them out.

I just have a single quote for today but as before, check out Toni’s blog for more Quotable Sunday contributions.

"Bad habits are easy to start, but they make your life miserable. Good habits are hard to start, but they make your life wonderful."
     — Joel Osteen

I’ve joined the Shredheads and have been paired with the wonderful (but blogless) Laura. Our jobs are to workout and to encourage each other. I’m rooting for Laura (and she for me) but I’m having a hard time rooting for myself. I think that’s partly (mostly?) because I know my history with exercise. I also think that other areas of my life are very much playing into my attitude about my health and exercise. For example, my sewing room is unusable. It is packed full of things - items moved there from the living room while the laminate was being put down and the numerous large clear plastic tubs full of fabric and yarn which have already been purged once yet need it again to further reduce the volume. This room needs to be restored to a usable state for a few reasons (maybe for sewing?), including the fact that I will be having a closet added to the back entrance, which will require a wall being built straight across the end of the sewing room about two or three feet deep. This is stressing me a little. Or a lot. It seems overwhelming to get it from the state it’s currently in to the state it needs to be in. And then there’s the kitchen, which is currently still in a state of disarray (though I did get the bottom cabinet doors on tonight). There’s so much to do in there and it won’t get better for a few weeks yet (new paint on the walls, building a wall, and the building of the closet adjacent to the kitchen).

There is also another area where there is much need for organization and prioritizing: meals, specifically the way that I eat. I don’t eat badly but nor do I eat great. My cupboards are essentially free of junky and unhealthy foods, however that doesn’t mean that I make smart choices. I still find myself ordering in Chinese and pizza when I wait to eat supper with my boyfriend when he gets off work. I still grab subs and Chinese at work on my night shifts. And I still give in to the chocolate bar basket at work (proceeds of the sales go to local charities) when I find myself bored with what I’m doing. I need to change my eating. I have all the makings of clean eating in my cupboards, what I need is the drive and stick-to-it to carry it out. Tomorrow, I plan to pick up one of the clean eating books sitting with my cookbooks and begin reading from the beginning.

That is the plan for tomorrow. To begin, with one step, the journey of decluttering my life and finding a balance instead.

I’m copying this idea from an earlier post by Sara over at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. She got it from The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Outside my window…
The sky is sunny in spots and overcast in others. It’s about 14C.

I am thinking…
About getting up to rinse out my oatmeal bowl.

I am thankful for…
Health and the health of those I love.

From the kitchen…
Breakfast was a simple bowl of oatmeal with ground flaxseed and a mashed peach mixed in. This was shared with B.

I am wearing…
My flannel pj pants and a long-sleeved red t-shirt. It’s time to wash my hair and get dressed.

I am creating…
Plans in my head for my kitchen/living room makeover and the closet to be added to the back entrance.

I am going…
To do my best to prevent any fights with B today.

I am reading…
Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen.

I am praying…
For strength, patience, and wisdom to do a better job of encouraging B instead of discouraging him.

I am hearing…
A squirrel scolding someone or something outside. Chik, chik, chik…

Around the house…
B is playing at my feet with his truck and some Mega Bloks while watching a Baby Looney Tunes DVD.

One of my favorite things…
Is a clutter-free house. So why don’t I have one?

A few plans for the rest of the week…
Soccer tonight, work tomorrow, Toronto on Friday to take B to meet my brother and fly out to Nova Scotia, and working Saturday through Monday. Plans for today are to run a few errands (kiddie Gravol, a neck pillow for the car trip to the airport, vitamins, etc), go to the park before it rains, and pack his suitcase so it’s ready to go.