Table Juicing

SONG: Our House - Madness
Link: Meredith Geller- Holistic Health and Lifestyle Consultant

You know those blogs where some crafty byatch is forever creating something even more perfect in her perfect world? She's knitting the perfect meal or eating the most well balanced sweater (reverse that), and you're left to feel inspired but inevitably like a total failure? Well, in this weeks post I'm hoping to accomplish just that. Wish me luck!

Wooden side table sanded 

My first project was to sand down and paint this ugly old wooden side-table and transform it into something modern and usable. Pay no attention to my burned out front lawn. I never promised you a rose garden. First, I sanded the table down with fine grade sand paper. I had it on hand, (not sure why), but you can find it at Home Depot or any hardware store.

side view of sanded table

 Next take a can of spray paint made for wood, in the color and finish you desire. For my modern sleek look, I chose high-gloss black.

It only took me an hour to finish the table, including bringing it outside, sanding down the finish so that the paint would stick, two coats of spray paint and moving it back inside. It's probably a better idea to paint it in your backyard or driveway if you have one, but I used the closest, widest doorway. Insuring, that it looks as if I took a blow-torch to the left hand corner of the front yard. And I didn't think it could get any worse looking. Never say never.

Cardboard under dirty feet.  But look at those  sexy legs!

For my second coat I noticed that the feet of the table were, sinking into the dirt, outside of my spray can's reach and covered in soil. So I ripped up a Pampers box, and stuck them underneath. Again, probably better to just use the driveway. On that same precautionary note, you may want to slip on a pair of gloves. The spray paint did a number on my hand. But that's just another expert tip. Do you feel like a failure yet? You will after this. I'm not worried.

SHAZAM! SITTING PRETTY! 

So there's my updated table, it won't be showing up in House Beautiful, but I do think it's an improvement. Plus, putting this blog together took three times as long as doing the table, which cost under $30. all in. So, I hope you'll feel inspired. (And useless:).

NEXT! Juicing!

I have a Jack LaLane Juicer, bought for $99. in the basement at Macy*s. It's a pain in the cankles to clean, so I haul it out only under very certain conditions- snot, congestion, that weird swallowing thing that happens when you know you're getting sick and to make my friends feel less-than.  Once those conditions are met it's game on, Jack. It always does the trick. I buy my greens at the local supermarket and I'm sure to bring my resusable canvas grocery bags, scowling at the people on line who have "forgotten" but really just don't care as much about our environment as I do. Obviously. I make eyes at them saying so, this makes the experience even more fun.

Julian feeding the juicer

The kids love to juice and it's a great way to get the little whiners up on the kitchen counter tops too distracted by the sound of the machine to realize they could lose their young lives by the sharp spinning blades. Perfect!

Look Mama, no hands! (Literally!)

This green stuff is DEEEE_licious. On a serious note,  nothing is more exciting than seeing the kids drink green! I tell them it's Hulk juice. But you can say it's slime. That would make it even more exciting!

Is that Juice ready yet?

My older boys will go so far as juicing and smelling, they won't drink more than a sip, if that. But I have started baby Henry on it and he LOVES it. So I hope his brothers won't ruin our groove, he'll be set up for life. This really gets my heart pumping.

Highchairs can be just as dangerous as kitchen counters! Yippy!

I used Kale, Apples and Carrots. Just half the bunch of Kale, two Macintosh apples, (to take the edge off the bitter Kale and a carrot for some more sweetness and color), yields enough juice for the three of us. I also like to use, celery, beets and ginger. and Mayo. Just Kidding.  My go to nutritional guru Meredith Geller, suggested I make a batch yielding a couple of days worth and store it in a Mason jar in the fridge. That way I can avoid the lengthy clean-up. She has lots of other awesome tips and a great website. Check her out. 

What's better looking than this? NOTHING! Feel useless yet? :)  

Probably not. Well, that's the last time I try to out-do those chicks who know what they're doing. Holy Rolly, this was the biggest pain in the neck, from the pictures to posting the pictures (you may have noticed I'm no Diane Arbus) to describing and pricing, YUCK! So much easier to write a little jam then all that, phew! I'm sweating.  Never again. I hope. Kudo's to the rest.  

Good Week all!