In the words of a woman…

If there is one spot in my home that I wish I could blow up and redo it’s my back door/hallway.  It’s the main used entrance to our home and where the dog goes in and out.  To make matters worse, it’s small and leaves very little room for organization and cleanliness.   I’ve done everything within my means to try and pretty and organize it, but there is only so much you can polish a turd.  I had kind of resolved to the fact that it is what it is.

Then I opened up my latest issue of Family Fun and saw this great article about how to organize your entrance way and fell in love with it!

I already had an organizer, baskets for scarves and hats and a coat rack, but what I didn’t have was a message center for those little things I need to remember but because I don’t particularly like having a calendar on my wall I’m forever forgetting; for example:

Monday: Show andTell” (I suck as a Mom when it comes to remembering the Boys Show and Tell day)
Tuesday: Art project due

The article suggested shopping a thrift store for antique artwork with a fancy frame, removing the glass, backing and any artwork, spray painting the frame, wrapping the back with fabric and using dry erase markers.  Seemed easy enough!

I was out the door! I went to every thrift store I could find in a five mile radius but could not find anything that was in a pretty wood frame; even wood for that matter, anything I found was in that old 1980′s cheap gold.  Then I remembered some artwork I had bought years ago that I had shoved in the attic when we moved in thinking I’d use some day.

I had originally planned on doing the glass message board, but as I removed the backing and the artwork I cracked the glass.  After my curse-fest I began searching the internet on where to I could find custom cut glass that would not cost me a fortune, but to no avail.  Then it hit me!  Our house is 92 years old and we have a lot of extra wood in our basement from our various remodeling projects.

I would make a chalk board and you can too!

Here is what you will need

• Frame of your choice
• Acrylic craft paint – your color choice
• Black primer spray paint
• Black chalkboard paint
• Decorative scalloped wood dowel for the tray (only if your frame is square and 12″L or less in size)
• 1″ balsa wood strip for the tray (only if your frame is square and 12″L or less in size)
• Paint brush
• Craft foam roller
• Super glue
• Custom cut wood to fit your frame (visit your local Home Depot or Lowes to have them cut a piece of wood to fit – take your frame to be sure!)
• Duct tape

HOW TO DO IT

STEP 1: THE CHALKBOARD:

1. Prime your wood with the black primer spray paint.  Let it dry.
2. Paint the wood according to the chalkboard paint instructions.  Let it dry.

STEP 2: THE LEDGE

1. Super glue your wood dowel to the edge of the 1″ strip of balsa wood.
2. Super glue the strip to the underside of the frame. Be sure to leave enough space for chalk to fit.  (See the picture below)

STEP 3: THE FRAME

1. Paint the frame and the “chalk tray” with the acrylic paint and let dry

STEP 4:  ASSEMBLY

1. Slip the chalkboard inside the frame and secure inside with duct tape (no-one is going to see the back) so duct tape is the most secure option for the project.

Use the existing hardware on the back of the frame and hang wherever you’d like!

While searching countless websites for something new and exciting to do with pork; which by the way, I don’t recommend you doing, because this is what you get

I stumbled on a crock pot website.  After much searching I made my choice on what to do with my chops; and as a recommendation to the recipe I had chosen for my chops, they suggested an apple crisp.  I had no idea that making anything “crispy” in a crock pot was even possible but what did I have to lose!

I didn’t particularly like their recipe so I modified it to my own liking; cleaned it up a bit.  I hope you enjoy it!

• 2 lbs cooking apples peeled and sliced (about 6 or or 3 apples and 3 pears)
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 2/3 cup organic turbinado sugar
• 2/3 cup wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)

1. Add the sliced apples to the slow cooker
2. Combine, flour, sugar, oats, nutmeg and cinnamon in a bowl.  Cut in softened butter until the mixture is crumbly.  Sprinkle mixture over the apples.
3. Cover slow cooker with 2 or 3 paper towels and place lid firmly on top.  The towels will absorb some of the condensation inside of the cooker
4. Cook on HIGH for 2-3 hours, or untilthe apples are soft.

Serve over ice cream!

PS:  Feel free to add any of these to the apples before covering it with the crumb mixture!

• Cranberries
• Raisins
• Pecans

Enjoy!

So Valentine’s Day is coming, and instead of spending money on chocolates for the Boy’s grandmothers I thought I would have him make them a craft that they will have no idea what to do with and will collect dust and space in their homes for months to come.

So awesome of me right?

Hey, they are grandmothers; they love that shit. Don’t they?

Anyway, I thought of just using white construction paper and having him make them cute hand print pictures and I’d put them in cheap little frames for them; but then I wandered into AC Moore for paint and found these great 8×10″ canvases for $4.97! 2 for $4.97! I am not sure how long they will offer this sale or if you have an AC Moore near you, but I was pretty stoked about the score!

I wandered over to the acrylic paint section, grabbed a couple bottles of brightly colored paints, a $1.99 paintbrush set and away I went! I was actually pretty psyched; despite the fact that I suck hardcore at crafts.

(By the way, all of this came to $12.47!/$6 per grandmother)

I laid out paper on the table, poured each color on a paper plate and away we went!
I won’t lie, as cute as the above picture looks, this time spent together was a giant fail.  The child was exhausted and wanted nothing to do with it after the first hand print hit the canvas.  So the next twenty minutes was spent wiping his hands off with one of my dish towels, shoving his hand in paint, and trying to strategically place it on the next space when all he wanted to do was smash it and swirl it around.

But after much griping and bickering I got the hand prints I needed out of him and I sent him off to Dude for a good shower.  My table a disaster.

For Grandma 1 we did flowers; she has worked in a flower shop for years so naturally she should get a picture of something she probably secretly hates by now.

For Grandma 2 we did butterflies.  My maiden name means butterfly in serbian; and while she is not serbian she has been forced to like them.

I used the paints to draw the finishing touches on each and in the end I’d say they came out cute.

So there you have it, an inexpensive Valentine’s Day craft!  I can’t promise you warm fuzzy quality time with your kid(s) while doing this but I think these would put a smile on your loved ones face, and that’s all that matters!

Have a good day!

Ladies, I’m sorry that I have been M.I.A.

Where have I been?

Well, I took a little break from writing to get through the first two weeks after my first round of chemo.  I am happy to say that I think it has gone relatively well; my biggest complaint is the major exhaustion.   It really knocked me on my ass for the first week; I missed a ton of work and slept more than I have since I was in my first trimester.

Because it was almost impossible to function, Dude and I came to the decision that I should at the advice of my Oncologist go on FMLA (Family Medical Leave) and Disability; the farther I travel down this road the harder it will become and my career needed to be put on the back burner so that I can devote 100% to my body and keeping it as rested and healthy as possible.

So, I am now home; all day every day, and I’m bored out of my ever living mind.  I do all of my cooking and the now minimal amounts of cleaning that need to be done during the day so that when the Boy gets home we can really focus on him more.

One of the areas we’ve really placed focus on is working on his letter recognition and words.  His Aunt Stella got him this super great board game for Christmas that is based on the animated show Super Why.  It’s a typical kid’s game, you move around the board, picking up cards that correspond to the character landed on; answering questions as you go.  He loves the show so it’s a really easy way to practice his learning without him knowing.

The night before last, after the third consecutive game ended he pleaded to play just one more.  I didn’t want to play just one more, he was kicking my ass and he is not an enjoyable competitor; he’s like the John McEnroe of board games, but I gave in and we began. After a few turns I could tell he was getting tired, he was spinning in circles, giving me hugs, and trying to “fix” the number he number of spaces the arrow landed on on the spinner; but we were finishing this game damnit I was in the lead!

He “spun”, moved four spaces and landed on Wonder Red.  If you’ve seen Super Why, you are familiar with Wonder Red; you know that she possesses “Word Power” and loves to rhyme so playing one of her cards will ask you to do just that.

This was his card:I read it aloud:

“Sun rhymes with Run.  Say three words that rhyme with Sun and Run.”

No response.

Me:  “Hey, goofy pants pay attention; Sun rhymes with Run.  Say three words that rhyme with Sun and Run.”

His response (which was accompanied by a sigh and an eye roll):

“Bunion, Onion, Funyuns”

Yes; onion, bunion and the disgusting “food” Funyuns.  Those are the words that he came up with; not bun, fun, won, done….

Kudos on the mad rhyming skills smarty pants, lets do it with a little less attitude next time.