My $13 Chalkboard Makeover!

Let me start by saying that this weekend's chicken spaghetti was fabulous! The Pioneer Woman's first recipe was a success!

In addition to eating lots this weekend, I also spent some time on a fun project.

I successfully turned a picture frame from this

into this!


I told you in my last post that I wanted to add color to our white kitchen. I have also been wanting a chalkboard for our back wall, so I decided to be a little crafty and make one myself for $13.08! Before you say, "How could you be so unsentimental and turn your wedding guestbook frame into a chalkboard?" Just let me explain. I do confess, I'm not the most sentimental girl (my dirty wedding dress is still in a box in an attic), and the wedding frame was just sitting in our guest bedroom closet anyway. I kept the signatures and wedding picture in tact to preserve memories of our wedding, but the frame is now serving a much better purpose for the time being.

The total cost of the project included the primer, lime green paint, and chalkboard paint. I used the steel wool I already had to rough up the frame before painting.

I primed the glass and the frame. Michael doubted that I could turn glass into a chalkboard, but you can do just about anything with a can of spray paint these days!

After two coats of green paint on the frame and four coats of chalkboard paint, I let the frame and glass dry over night. I carefully re-fit the glass into the frame so it wouldn't break and then seasoned the chalkboard. I learned from other blogs and the back of the chalkboard spray paint can that you have to "season" the chalkboard before using. Simply put, you rub the chalk up and down the chalkboard to cover it and then erase before using.

My new chalkboard will go on the back wall of our kitchen. For now, it's just sitting on the floor because I plan to paint the kitchen in a few weeks. No use putting holes in the wall I guess!

I'm very proud of my new little creation, and it was very easy to do. You can turn almost any flat surface into a chalkboard, and if you have kids, this is a great project to do. For me, I just like kitchen chalkboards!

Cooking & Decluttering

YUM! YUM! Look what I get to eat tonight! Michael, the greatest husband ever, who cooked me breakfast this morning and hung out with me today at HomeGoods, Home Depot, and Bed Bath and Beyond, has officially kicked off our tour of The Pioneer Woman Cookbook with her chicken spaghetti.

This recipe could feed a family of eight, and it looks like we are going to be eating this for lunch and dinner tomorrow before freezing the rest, but it smells and looks so good! I am so excited and can't wait for it to be out of the oven in just a few minutes.

Most of her recipes are cooked in an iron skillet. I bought one on Friday (you should have seen me trying to lug that heavy thing to my car), and I can't wait to try it out. If you haven't, go get her book! Try a used bookstore like I did, and get it for a steal. I promise it is money well spent! I guess I should probably tell you that after I've tried the first recipe. Whoops!

This is my favorite part of her book. She has pictures of every step of the recipe. It's awesome, and every cook should do this in my opinion.

Here is Michael cutting up the chicken, and of course our little Sweet Pea is right under him hoping a few scraps will fall her way. On a different note, do you see how white our kitchen is? It drives me crazy!!! Our entire apartment is white, I mean everything! I am slowly working on it, and luckily we get to paint. Michael promised me we will paint before football season starts. I also started a fun project today that will add some more color in the kitchen. I will post that very soon, I promise!

In addition to my fun kitchen project, I also worked on a few decluttering projects too. I hate clutter. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Moving from a large home to a two bedroom apartment has been great in so many ways, but some spaces are cramped. Especially my closet that I now share with Michael. My mission was to go through my shoes, belts, purses, and jewelry, and I decided to donate what I haven't used in several months. Most of the things I donated haven't been used in years. Why in the world have I been keeping this stuff?

You can see Scarlett snoozing in the background of this picture. She looks thrilled doesn't she? I had a real mess on my hands, but I love decluttering. It makes me discover new treasures I forgot I had, it makes me feel good to donate nice things to people who can snag up great deals, and it relieves stress. I am a firm believer that living more simply relieves so much stress in life. After spending hours organizing and decluttering today, there is no way I want to have a cluttered life that forces me to do this several times a year. I can't really pinpoint the exact cause, but there is something about living with so much stuff that makes you feel like your drowning.

The bigger issue is learning not to buy new stuff to replace the stuff that you give away. There is a reason I gave away all those shoes. Its' probably best that I find a few great pairs of shoes and wear them out instead of buying 10 pairs of cheap shoes that just sit in my closet. Old habits die hard, but I want to learn to buy with more intention and really think "Do I really need this?" Besides, saving on clothes I don't wear will probably give us more money to buy groceries for our Pioneer Cooking Adventures!!!

I love Weekends!

Thanks to my wonderful hubby, I finally got the kinks worked out between my camera card and our computer. Though we are now closer to the upcoming weekend, I guess it's never too late to blog about last weekend. We were blessed with another great few days last weekend, and we were once again very busy. On Friday, we stayed in and made homemade fish tacos before watching Michael's movie pick for the evening Hall Pass, which turned out to be very hilarious. We got up early on Saturday and headed to the Dream Center to participate in our church's annual Serve Day. We cooked lunch for all of the Woodlawn Community and volunteers, and I participated in a prayer walk through one of the Woodlawn neighborhoods. I admit that sometimes I just want to sleep in rather than get up on a Saturday to volunteer, but every time Michael and I leave Woodlawn, I feel so blessed and much closer to God. I am so grateful for our church and the opportunity to grow and serve.

On Saturday afternoon, we took Scarlett swimming in the creek that runs right behind our apartment. So...Scarlett is almost four years old, and though she has always loved water, she has always hated swimming. Because she is a spaniel, I never imagined it would be so hard to get her to swim, but I think she gets scared when she can't touch and can find no way out of the water. We have tried and failed several times to get her to swim over the years, and then something miraculous happened. I guess the creek is the perfect length from bank to bank, and the other day she walked right in and decided to swim to the other side! We were shocked and so excited just like she was our baby who walked for the first time!!! I've been obsessed with taking her swimming ever since, and she loves it!

Here she goes!

She had so much fun, but she still looks terrified! Ha!

Her daddy was there to help her find a way out. Once he showed her how to get out on the rocks, she kept swimming back and forth. I can only imagine how many times she would have swam from me to Michael if we had treats!

Scarlett swam for about an hour then we walked home and got ready to go bowling with our friends. It has been years since I bowled, and I started off well but slowly got worse by game three. All that really matters is that I beat Michael two games to one, so I went home happy!

Me, Nicole, Jamie and Baby Eli who was so good the whole time.

He's all smiles before getting beat!

By our last game, the lights were turned off and the black lights came on. This is Nicole bowling her last game, and she absolutely kicked our butts! She called it luck, but it looked like more than luck to me. Maybe you should join a league Nicole! :)

Here's Eli in his glowing blanket. He slept most of the night and didn't seem bothered by the loud music and all the people. He is such a great baby!

On Sunday, I continued on my quest toward decluttering, which is another blog post in itself. We hung around the house all day and relaxed after a busy Saturday. I am so grateful for another amazing weekend!