Measuring Spoon Chalk Board Display

I've been wanting to do this project for several years. I received several cool sets of measuring spoons in bridal showers, and have inherited several sets from special people. I knew I wanted to display this special heritage in a special way. I've just never been in the right place or had a right feeling idea. With our new home came both the place AND the idea. I wanted them to hang on the cabinet face perpendicular to where we were planning to hang the generations of rolling pins. I also wanted them on a board or rack that could be removed (No holes in the cabinetry. I don't care if we own it.) I decided a thing board would be good and that it would need to be framed as to "class it up." Framed chalk boards are all the rage and the chalk board idea carried appeal because then I could label the sets of spoons AND come up with a doodley changeable quote.  First the frame:

Michaels was having a 40% off frames sale. AND there was a 15%off already on sale frames coupon. Double bam. The helpful sales accociate helped me locate some that might work with my dimensions. I picked two options with mats hoping that the rom for a mat would give more room for wood. Luke voted for the more simple one, and I knew if I went for the fancy one and didn't have enough room, I'd get the loathsome "told you so."

Upon entry to Michaels, my first question was "Where is chalkboard vinyl?" I'm not fond of waiting for paint to dry these days  and I saw a Pinterest tutorial where they just dropped the vinyl in the frame. Done and done. Sign me up. Several secret employee walkie talkie conversations later and I was looking at Cricut chalk board vinyl and then the manager came hustling over and handed me this product and says, I just used this. You want this. It's awesome. Sold. I used my 50% off coupon. 

Where are the chalk pens? This one worked pretty well. There's totally a learning curve. 

I had some of these L Hooks from a previous project. 

Last but not least I got 12 lb Velcro command strips for hanging my creation hole free. Yaaaaay!

This piece of pretty1/4 inch plywood was left in our garage. I think they used it for cutting things on with a razor. I just needed it as a base for my hooks to screw into. I tried cutting it with a razor blade. No go. Luke ended up hitting it with the circular saw. Thanks to the frame, a rough cut was fine. 

It did no want to fit in the frame with the back. I took it out front to hammer the edges to hopefully make them thinner and a better fit. I worked. Luke helped me stick the surprisingly not so sticky vinyl on (the key part may have been that this vinyl isnrepositionable) and squeeze the layers into the frame like when I put on skinny jeans. Here are a few of the layouts I contemplated. 

We settled on the last one so I'd have room for a quote. I marked my drill spots with pencil utilizing a handy dandy wilt ruler. Love these things. 

I used my smallest drill bit and sunk it pretty far into the holster to keep myself from drilling too deep. 

The pencil marks rubbed off okay enough and once I "seasoned" the chalk board it was a non issue. 

In went the hooks and row one was done. 

On the second row I went ahead and put my straight line in and then measured my points. I liked this method best. In retrospect I should have put all my lines on before putting hooks in but I was kind of still experimenting. 

Once the hooks were in I seasoned the board. I rubbed the chalk on it.  

Then I rubbed it in with a dry paper towel.  

I drew light lines in chalk to give me guides for my lettering. Then I used a chalk pen for my actual lettering. I'd seen warnings online about some chalk tearing the vinyl. Be warned. Once the chalk pen had dried I was able to rub the guidelines in with my dry paper towel. 

I followed the command strip mounting instructions and voila!

Proof that Goodness Comes From an Oven

Our baking day turned out to be a great success. 

 I am a firm believer that the the desire to learn comes from a knead to know. (I couldn't resist.)
Particularly in Junior High (or middle school as they call it here) when no one can see beyond there nose. (I can say this because I too have spent time in that state of mind.) Lessons must be relevant.
Through this lesson we were able to discuss qualities of an organism, cell division, limiting factors, carbohydrates, proteins and lipids and more!

It was also a lesson in patience, measurement, fractions and multiplication, culture and language, the idea that practice makes perfect (student tray on left, my tray on right, booyah) time management, and even hygiene and food safety. By the end of the day other adults on staff at my school had even come in for a lesson, to share a story, and to even grab a quick snack.  What a great way to continue to pass on my mom's legacy, both in teaching AND in baking.

Empanadas

Remember back here I made these things I called pulled pork and black bean goodness. My friend Jamie reminded me that they're empanadas. She also gave me a couple other dough recipes to try out. The first one was a LOT easier to work with than swiebach dough and kind of acted more like a tortilla when being baked. (I'm opting for the lower cal baking route.) I'm able to roll the dough very thin and they're very crisp when done. One drawback when using them as freezer lunches is that they do produce more crumbs. (Said the messy eater.)


Here is that dough recipe:

2 cups flour, 1/3 cup
shortening or butter, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2-2/3 cup water (just enough for the
dough to come together and be soft and pliable). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap
and refrigerate an hour or two before using. You could also freeze the dough.
Should make 10 2-inch circles, or 5 bigger ones!

Then, yesterday I tried a different recipe to see if I could get the same pliability but maybe a little softer. The recipe can be found here. The ingredients are 

• 3 cups flour (plus a little more for kneading)


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 cup cold water


• 1 egg


• 1 egg white


• 1 teaspoon vinegar


• 3 tablespoons shortening

This recipe was a bit softer when baked, but didn't look as nice or roll out as easily. 

All of the picture credits go to Luke in this post. He took all the process pictures over my shoulder and it went so much more quickly than if I had taken them all myself. With the photos I even got a bit of commentary on how my dough isn't very round when I roll it out. He says it's because I don't have enough of the culture. Punk.

The Kitchen

We have a cute little house toward the middle of town here in Garden City. I've been asked for pictures but I'm finding it dificult to use pictures to help ya'll who are far away get a feel for the flow. Here's my attempt thanks to the PhotoSynth app.

Below you see part of our kitchen. Neither Luke or I enjoy pots and pans stacked in a cupboard so Luke put some hooks on boards that match our cupboards and hung them on the wall! I love them! The hutch has been passed down from my moms side of the family, and appropriately I have four generations of rolling pins from my moms side on a interlocking wine rack above the hutch, and to the right of that we have the beautiful quilt by Cindy that goes oh so well with our Fiesta Ware!!

 I've inherited some neat old kitchen tools that I hate to just store. I think neat things like that should be out to see, enjoy and remember. I'm trying to figure out a displaying solution for above the cupboards or something. I've got old measuring cups on the shelves above the chalk board (Where I write food solutions for Luke for inspiration when he's in an eating mode.) I've been playing with different methods for popping the bottoms off wine bottles and my particular love for blue glass has turned into a sort of hanging bottle valence. 
 The laundry room is just off the kitchen. It's here that we have our very first washer and dryer! I enjoy them. A lot. I also enjoy having a shelf for kitchen appliances. This way I can try to be better about putting things away and cleaning off the counter, but at the same time, they're all accessible which means I don't hesitate to get them out and use them. I'm constantly in a battle against clutter. Sometimes I have trouble even realizing it's crept up on me.

One in Every Color-Fridge, Stove, Dishwasher

While were on the dream sewing room lets head right over to the dream kitchen. These are the dream appliances. (Made by a company called Big Chill.) I think I'd like a fridge, dishwasher and oven/stove in red. I would like black granite or concrete countertops. I would like my counter tops to be about 3 inches lower than the average counter tops. This has been run by Luke with the understanding that we'll have a very tall shower, and tall bathroom counters. Deal. I would like lighter cabinets. Luke prefers wood and that's fine. I would like a giant kitchen sink two sections, and a tall faucet with a retractable sprayer with a control button option.

I would LOOOOOVE a large island topped with a butcher block. No sinks no fixtures just  an outlet on the side. This is where Ill be doing all my baking! (I'm banking on the idea that big chill will come up with a way to install a second oven with the same look just under the microwave.)

I'll also take one of these! Probably hanging over the island for convenience, and I intend to have something like this plate rack for maybe 10 or so of my Fiesta plates to be arranged in seasonal color combinations!

Sigh....a girl can dream right? :)

Why Every Kitchen Needs An Island

I've noticed lately that my church going habit has sort of waned. Sure I've been sick, and out of town a bunch of weekends, but on occasion I have found myself laying in bed, looking at the clock, wondering why I don't get out of bed and go. I think today I started working through it. Since my mom was diagnosed, I have not attended church service without crying. Puffy eyes, tears dripping. It's not like I start out that way. Take this morning for example. I woke up, got the determination to go, got ready, had a cute outfit, got there on time (sort of, I think they were still in the first song) Even chuckled during the sermon.

During the Message Pastor James spoke of "Dinners With Jesus: Mary and Martha" which covered Luke 10:38-42 (New International Version)

At the Home of Martha and Mary 38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

So anyway I had this epiphany. If Martha and Mary had had an island in their kitchen, this problem would never have arisen. The company could have sat in stools at the island snacking on hor dourves and carrying on their conversation and both women could have heard and participated in the conversation.

But I digress.

The lights came down, the music started playing and communion began. I began to assess my life, and pray. I just started thinking about things and the tears runneth over. Its not that I don't ever want to cry. It's not that I am trying to suppress my feelings. Well, maybe I am. It is a LOT of work to cry. When you're done you feel drained, wet and snotty. You can't talk right and people look at you funny because your eyes are red.

This sort of makes coming back to church on a regular basis a tricky thing. I love my church. My church family is the most fantabulous church family ever. We wouldn't be making it right now if it weren't for our church family. They've given us meals, help getting mom to Dr. Appointments, church members have dead headed my mom's beloved flowers, made quilt blocks, made supportive phone calls, sent wonderful cards, been hard core prayer warriors...the list doesn't stop there. Maybe, during church service, I just look around and feel overwhelmed with all that love and support. It fills me up. I see mom everywhere. She's still here, she's still alive, pushing through and fighting. But maybe. Maybe church is one of the places I miss her the most. She's to vulnerable to germs so she cant attend, she can't walk very far or stand for very long, and she's so wigged out by the drugs or something it just makes me sad that she's not here as mentally sharp as she was. I know that all of these things will go away, but now, she's kind of missing.

I don't identify these tears as happy tears, or even sad tears. I identify them more as an atom bomb of emotion. Love, faith, fear, loneliness, companionship, trust...the list goes on and it explodes inside of me. All coming out at ones in big fat alligator tears.

I'm not sure what this means. I'm not even sure if my blog is an appropriate place to post all of this. I do know that many of you are probably wondering what is going on in my slightly larger than normal skull. Just trying to give you a peek in. (That and avoid more alligator tear spillage. I can't handle em.)