The Ten Things I Eat On a Regular Basis and How I Survive with Style On 35 Cents a Meal.

I decided to develop an eating schedule. I’m a bit tubby right now and soft. By tubby, I mean I’m overweight, not obese. +10 pounds, give or take on any given day. I also am a desk jockey, which means I don’t flex the muscles I should. Shame on me.

 

Now I know I can’t start everything at once or it will be too much of a change and I’ll fail. This means I have to take baby steps, or at least little kid steps  

 

I found a great website where I can track the foods I eat and it logs my calories and activities all in one place; it even gives me a scorecard telling me how healthy I am eating o a daily basis and over time.

 

http://caloriecount.about.com/

 

I have spent quite a bit of time figuring out what I eat and don’t eat on a regular basis. When you get past all the spices, specialty foods and condiments I really come down to my core foods

 

Chicken, Kidney Beans, Black beans, rice, tuna, eggs, carrots, peas, bread, tortillas, and a variety of pastas. I was surprised to see just how basic my food intake was. There are a few secondary items like cheese and fruits and waffles, but I generally don’t eat them more than once in a week, if that.

 

I started out with a daily menu but realized I was wasting a lot of time making food every day and wasting energy because of it.

 

So yesterday I not only cooked up dinner, I cooked up a plan. I boiled four pieces of chicken for two different meals I was planning. The first was Chicken Alfredo, and the second was chicken pot pie. I used the broth to soak beans and rice overnight to use them for the next day. I boiled spaghetti and added peas and carrots to some chicken stock for flavor. I froze the rest of the chicken stock for another day. I made the chicken pot pie from scratch, with the exception of the cream of chicken. And I cleaned up all the cooking dishes before the pot pie was out of the oven. It took about an hour in total.

 

Here is my shopping list:

 

·        4 pieces of chicken

·        ½ cup of brown rice

·        ¼ cup of black beans

·        ¼ cup of kidney beans

·        2 cups of flour

·        2 cans of cream of chicken soup

·        ¾ cup of bertoli’s  Alfredo sauce

·        1 cup of frozen peas

·        1 cup of frozen carrots

·        3 serving of spaghetti

·        1 stick of butter

 

The chicken was frozen and I got 6 pounds of it from SAM’s Club for 10 bucks. My guess is that was my big ticket item at about 2 dollars. The rest of the food cost about 3 dollars combined.

 

I broke the food up into regular servings, based on how much a person SHOULD eat, not CAN eat. And took a tally of complete meals that I made. All of them have carbs, veggies and protein, even if its not super-duper healthy, I still made it myself, so at least I know that it’s healthier than buying it pre-made.

 

How many meals did it make?

 

Fourteen.

 

That’s about 35 cents a meal and it’s not Spaghetti-Os.

 

Next week, I will use the same items and make all new meals for some variety.  I wonder if I can improve on the food model. And get my cost under 20 dollars a month?

 

We’ll see.

The Really Really Free Market

I saw this post on Craigslist last week and decided to head out there since it was around the corner from a friend of mine. I didn’t know what to expect and I wanted to check it out before lugging stuff down there. I have made mistakes like that before.

What I found was a really nice group of people trading things they didn’t need for things they did. I didn’t get there in the first hour but I plan to next time. I will also bring some chairs and other furniture because people do need things. There were so many items that we had a lot to donate to the Rescue Mission afterwards.

Food not Bombs, cooked a free vegan stew and I found a few CDs I wanted. I will look for blankets next because I really need them.

If more people were like these people, the world would have fewer problems, I’m sure. So I’m doing my bit… I’m advertising it for them as well. Go out and see what they are doing. Bring stuff. Help people. Be a good neighbor.

The Really Really Free Market on 4th and Castle

This Apartment is Beginning to Look Like a Home

 

 

I haven’t had time to write and I’m a bit under the weather right now… just a cold and sore throat, but I’ll take some time to blog about the items the items I have acquired over the past few weeks.

pretty sweet Computer Desk, Eh? it was free!

This is the desk My Daughter and I pulled from the dumpster. Well, in front of the dumpster. Someone wanted it to be taken, so why not us? It’s a computer desk and does not have wheels. Personally I think it looks better without them. I had to reinforce the desk on the side because it wouldn’t stay together. It is solid now, but not as much as I would like. I’ll take more time with it later on this month. It has nothing on it for the time being, although I’m sure it would do well for years without me doing anything. I’m just being anal. There is also a Bamboo shelf in the picture that I got for 5 bucks off of Craigslist a while ago. It used to hold my DVD’s but I have a place for them now. I think with the green paint, the bamboo is a good fit for the room.

This is a longer shot of the room

This is a longer shot of the room. The bed was my daughter’s and not used for years. The mattress was free and only used four times by a grandchild before they outgrew it and moved away. Again… Craigslist.

free TV for video game play and a bit of privacy for the boys

 

This is a smaller TV I plucked from out of the dumpster. It works and will be good for the kids to play video games on. I will assume more TV’s will show up as the country goes digital next month. I’ll find one that is a bit larger and fits the TV stand better.

The door swing fully back, but i can hide the TV when i don't want to see the technologyNow you see it. Now you don't. TV GONEThe Technology is out of sight and out of mind

This is an armoire I got at the Salvation Army. It is made of real wood and looks handmade, honestly. It was about $100 but I grew tired looking for a TV center people were giving away. I was planning on building one myself anyway so the money s squirreled away went to this one. The armoire I wanted to build would have cost me more in wood by itself.

This shot is the couch I got for free. The lag was broken and I fixed it. The wine rack top was loose and I tightened it was also free. The clock just needed a good cleaning and was from the napping cat for pennies. I think it looks nice.

Once this Chair was welded, it was in better condition than the ogiginal executive chair I purchased many years ago, and it matches my desk better as well!

This is the executive chair that was chucked because the post broke its weld. I tried to weld it myself but I suck at it. I went around the corner to a chopper shop and paid I guy 20 bucks to weld it for me. It works great now, and I have two chairs now, so I don’t need to find one for the boys’ desk.

These chairs remind me of the dining room table from my youth. They may be just as old too.

This is the set of 6 chairs I got in a curb alert off of Craigslist. They need a little TLC, and I would like to paint them but it’s really not necessary… They just need to be tightened down a bit… nothing for free ever is perfect.
My place is now beginning to look like a home and not some random collection of furniture where people keep their stuff on. It took 3 months to get this far and I’m almost done. Then I can even be choosier about what I’m looking for and perhaps give back to the dumpster gods some of my fortunate finds and someone else can benefit from them.

The 12 Days of Beans and Rice, not Christmas.

I have been feeling a little tubby lately… not bad but this last 10 pounds really kills me. I get within 4 pounds of my goal and go right back up. I don’t look bad. Currently 180 pounds and I need to lose ten pounds to lose the little soft belly paunch I have. I really don’t look bad, but I think this scene from American beauty sums it up.

 

Lester Burnham: I figured you guys might be able to give me some pointers. I need to shape up. Fast.

Jim Olmeyer: Are you just looking to lose weight, or do you want increased strength and flexibility as well?

Lester Burnham: I want to look good naked…

 

I also know that I have problems with my knees if I become only three pounds heavier. So being thinner will be easier on my whole existence.

 

It’s also the middle of the month and my budget is pretty thin right now, so what better time to lose the weight!!?!?!

 

I’m not going to stop eating, but rather, modify my eating for a while. I boiled some beans and rice up the other day and figured it cost me fifteen cents to make the dinner and it filled me up. I will have vegetables and maybe some chicken added for variety, but I think it will be the best way to make my dollar stretch without starving.

 

I also have started doing yoga in the morning again. My work routine starts early now and I have to be on the ball by 08:00. So now I get up, weigh myself, do yoga for about 30 minutes, make coffee, shower and start work. I want to add running into the mix but at this point I am working on small successes and modifications to my lifestyle.

 

Change too much and you fail completely

A Bathroom Makeover with Towel Rocks, Not Racks…

Well, at long last, the bathroom is complete. The accoutrements are not there. I still need a cabinet and a plant and a soap dish among other things, but my assault on the walls is done. I really feel like it has more of a spa feel right now so I’m pretty pleased.

Things to note:

The base paint cost 1 dollar at a garage sale. I happened to see the paint on the table and still had the paint chips in the car to match it up. It was close enough, because I knew I would be putting glaze over top of it. That is the more important step.

The glaze and mix paint cost twenty in total, but I have a ton of glaze left over for other projects. I know how to not waster it now. So I will get at least one more room out of it should I choose to do so.

The last part was to take my old towel rack off and replace them with my new Zen towel rocks… and I do mean ROCKS.

 

My towel ROCK, not towel rack…. very zen for me and cheap too!

The wood cost fifty-three cents, and the rocks were eight-eight cents. The two feet of copper cost about two dollars and the glue was the most costly at about five bucks with the bolts to hold it to the wall as a close second at about three dollars. I already had the clear lacquer spray to seal the wood and the rocks. I think they turned out well.

They are held to the wall with anchors behind the sheetrock

I took the leftover wood and made two floating shelves out of them. Note that the towel rock is lower than the candle shelf to prevent an accidental fire from starting. I will not be responsible if you do this and don’t think of that possibility in advance.

I also saw a really cool thing the other day…MAGNETIC PAINT!!! Look it up… turns any wall into a magnet board! I can’t wait to try it out.

Dumpster Salvage Rights…ask and Ye Shall Recieve

Note: Some of the Hangers are still in the packaging. They were never used and they were thrown out! I'm getting more and more surprised at the waste in this world!

It’s been a little tight this past week with rent and all, but I managed to get a bunch of stuff done. I will take a picture of the fireplace in a few days. I have a glitch with the camera at the moment, especially since I want to take a good picture of it.
But that’s not what I want to talk about today.
I was hanging up my clothing and getting it all organized and I only have so many STRONG hangers and I have a lot of heavy stuff. In fact I don’t even have enough of the weak hangers to get all my shirts hanging (I have no wardrobe at the moment. All my clothing his hung or on a shelf)
Anyway. I was thinking about some basic needs of mine. Nothing extravagant, and I don’t think I have been focused on that lately because I have been able to get by without them.
So this is on my short list of things I need.
A plunger, a small garbage can for the laundry room, a broom, a two-step ladder and hangers.
What did I find this week at the dumpster? All of them! The Plunger looks like it was never used, but I still bleached it. I also was in a small blue garbage can…again… still with the stickers on it…New. There was a broom there too! There was a Rubbermaid ladder there and about 100 plastic hangers. So tonight I will re-hang all my clothing that requires it.

 

This is a good reminder to appreciate the simple things. I know I do.

 

 

Faith in Layers

Among other things, I am a makeup artist.  I teach classes on effective makeup techniques. One particular class I taught this month was on “Grocery Store Makeup” where I took common items from the food isles and made some really believable makeup effects. The last one being a nine inch slit throat on my 15-year-old victim. When it was done, it was hard to tell, even up close that I had not really slit his throat.

 

But it didn’t start out that way. It initially looked like a bunch of snot all over his neck. One of the hardest things to teach is that the layers don’t all go on at once. I’m not drawing a slit throat with red and black markers. I am putting a layer of false skin and opening it up, pulling it wide and bending it over. Half of the colors I add are counter-intuitive. They don’t make sense as the building blocks, but after I add color and blood, it looks just like the real thing even up close.

 

It seems that I need to take my own advice. I have been working slowly on the fireplace and have just about completed it. I have painted the base Gooseberry maroon and finally added the glaze to make it what they call in the faux paint world ‘smooth’ leather. I have also built the basic cover of the fireplace mantle and it makes a world of difference. I still and a bit freaked out because it’s a little darker than I expected.

 

I don’t have my farm window yet and that annoys me. I found one at habitat for humanity but they want 25 bucks for it. That’s a bit pricey for a window that wont be used as a window. I may be forced to fabricate one to work with the mantle, but that annoys me as well. I really want to find a genuine nasty, paint chipping off, weathered wood window.

 

It’s hard to imagine the window in front of the faux finish right now. I placed a few different picture frames on the mantle an that made me feel a little better, but the paint is so intense by itself, it may overwhelm the fireplace all by itself. I don’t want to do that. I will not repaint it a different color. I will just need to be content that I have not finished all the layers yet. The window and the light sconces will need to be added first and I have not found them yet for the right price. I already feel over budget with it, but I know it’s worth it. It will be the most expensive area of the room and $50 dollars. The glaze was a learning process and I learned that I needed far less of it than I made and eventually had to waste. Next time I will do better. The Bathroom is another Faux Finish and I will try and use the remainder of the glaze I didn’t waste.  Hopefully my instincts are right.

 

O already know I have to paint the rest of the room because the fireplace is such a ‘WOW], the rest of the room looks disgustingly bland and out of balance. Its hard to sit on it when I know what needs to be done, but don’t have the cash. Hopefully I will come by some of that this month.

 

Regardless of all of that, it’s still scary. I will take pictures when its done, and then again when I paint the rest of the room.

Redoing Bistro Chairs for pennies on the dollar

 

The other day I manage to pick up a two seat bistro set with a matching table for super-duper cheap. There was only one problem with it and that was that time had taken its toll on the seats themselves. The grill webbing that makes the base of the seat was rusty and falling off.

 

 

I sat and thought of ways I could replace the seat sections. And came up with the following items to ponder.

 

1)      The seat webbing could be replaced, but I would need a welder

2)      The seat webbing could be covered up and something could be bolted to the top by drilling holes in the metal and screwing it down.

3)      I could cut out the webbing and put wood UNDER the seat and make it look intentionally wooden, but I would have to clip and file every rusty edge that was exposed and it still might pinch or poke.

 

I finally decided on a fourth possibility and decided to work with a combination of options two and three.

 

I found wood at Habitat for Humanity and Home depot and cut several pieces to shape to be placed on top of the chair seat itself. This would eliminate any possibility of getting poked with rusty parts or pinched with the chair edge itself.

 

I then put braces on the bottom of the chair and bolted them into place. I speculated if wood screws holding it from the bottom would be enough, but sturdiness prevailed and I opted for bolts that would be visible from the top in an aesthetically pleasing way. It doesn’t look like a patch to cover up a chair that was falling apart. It looks like I wanted it to look this way. So I’m pretty happy about it.

 

October desserts

Yummi Yummy Pumpkin Pi

I have not has the cash or time to get anythign else done on the apartment, but its not a problem. When life gives you lemons, make lemonaid… or in my case Pumpkin pie… 5 minutes to prepare, an hour to cook and it should last me a while…go make one yourself.

I’ll write more on Saturday after I do some wood work and furninture tweaking for pennies on the dollar.

Dressing Up a Bland Fireplace, Part 1

 

Well I took the motorcycle downtown for the past few days to save on gas. The bike gets forty miles to the gallon, while the car only gets eighteen mpg in the city. I had nothing of any consequence to lug around, just me and a few items that would fit in my cargo bag. It just makes good sense.

 

 

I stopped at the habitat for humanity store and, of course, they had a spare wheel that worked with my bed frame and, yes, it was only a dollar. Just as I thought it would be. I’m getting pretty good and mentally pricing out what I want to pay for an item.

 

This is the most bland fireplace in the world... At least it works

 

Although, I did splurge yesterday… I have been walking around with a pantone paint chip book for the past few days and have been trying to match up colors to the walls. It’s a simple way to spruce up any living space to make it your own and I finally decided to get a quart of Wal-Mart’s cheapest paint. ‘Gooseberry’ is the color and it’s the first layer of paint to go on the wall. I will put a glaze over top of it to give a smooth leather finish.

 

The area I chose is the fireplace. I mentioned it before. It’s a working contemporary fireplace with a big block of wood as the mantle. I mentioned that I was going to paint the wall with the fireplace on it and he said “you have a fireplace?” He’s been here twice. It’s not his fault. It is just so blah it doesn’t pop like a fireplace should.

 

I gallon of paint should cover 400 square feet. The area I wanted to paint was 48 square feet. I quart should do and I should have half a can left over. No so with Wal-Mart’s cheapest paint. It took two to three coats of paint and I used almost all of it as well.

 

There are several possibilities as to why this would happen.

1) Gooseberry is a very dark maroon color and the walls are apartment color ‘off white’ so the light color showed right through.

2) The paint is cheap. I knew it would take more work, and more paint but a quart was the smallest size available and I would have about half left over anyway. Now… I used almost all of it. I don’t have to keep it on hand. I have the paint chip anyway.

3) The apartment’s generic color was sprayed on and it’s a matte finish which soaks up paint like a sponge. When I went to paint the second coat, I could feel the difference as to how it was going on.

 

The next area I want to paint is much larger so I am debating if I should get decent paint this time. I think the cost will be more expensive in the long run. Anyway… the new fireplace wall ‘pops’ but it’s obviously not complete. I have a few more things to do before revealing the before and after photos, with the steps in between. When it’s done, it should look pretty classy.

 

What’s left? Well here is the item list.

 

I need to do the glazing. Again, I only need a quart but Wal-Mart doesn’t sell glaze. I will need to spend 10 dollars for that. Ugh… still not bad to get a sweet looking fireplace out of it.

I have to cover the mantle with a wood sleeve to make it look less like a 4X4 and more like a mantle. It will not be permanently attached if I can help it and if I can’t it will take only two screws mounted from the bottom.

 

 

 

I need to find an old farm window to hang above the mantle. I think it will round out the lines of the fireplace and make it the central focus in the room. This room is built around the idea that the TV should do that job. I’m not a big fan of this design style. It doesn’t promote conversation, but rather, it drains the life from the room because people sit down and are drawn naturally toward watching the television.

I do not like when the TV is the central focus of the room.

Depending on the size of the window, I will put wall sconces up as well. The place does need some light and if I can find some at a garage sale for cheap, I will get them. But that’s only if the fireplace needs it. No need to spend any cash I don’t have to. My only regret, and its something I expected, is that it makes the rest of the room look unfinished. I will need to paint the whole room next month if I can scrape up 20 dollars. No need for glaze, just a plain paint of some color I have not decided upon yet.

 

I like the simplicity, not the color.This has better light, but is too ornate. I am hoping to find a happy medium

All in all, I think it will cost about thirty dollars to create a classy fireplace just in time for the holidays.