Blackboard Love

Ever since a co worker painted a bunch of cut sections of a 4 by 8 piece of plywood with black board paint, I have been "in charge" of changing the items on the boards.  Classes, open house and now holiday sales.  I have five colors of chalk.  The boards have a lively, expressive feeling.  Like a "party".

I am seeing chalk boards all over right now--especially in home decorating.  It seems like all the designers are painting one wall or a door or a something and letting everyone express themselves with chalk.  Menu, to do list, pictures and here--problem solving.  The guys on Big Bang use dry erase white boards.  I wish they used black boards and chalk.  My recent Pottery Barn catalogs had chalk drawings behind the sideboard in the dining room.

And, of course, my fabric art is getting a bit of "chalk" treatment as well.  I draw on the black fabric and then stitch on both sides of the chalk lines with my machine.  A simple straight stitch.  Some of the chalk disappears and some remains.  I am also going to paint a few pages in my journal with black gesso and use my new chalk pens to draw designs on those pages.

I am not as exhausted as I thought I would be today.  I got almost no sleep last night.  A combination of an active mind, coffee and chocolate and a stuffed up nose.  I stumbled out of bed and around the house in the dark to finally take an allergy tab.  It must have been 4 or 5am by then.  Alarm rang at 6.  So I slept for 90 minutes???

Still cold today but not 32 degrees.  Rain, snow and later tonight rain and sleet, but it all melts when it hits the ground.  Delightful.  And warm again tomorrow.  The parking lot at work is squishy, slippery mud.  Waiting for someone to get stuck driving their cars into that mess.

The person who received my Secret Santa gift loved the warm, soft scarf I gave her but intends to save it for special occasions.  I told her to "wear it" and not save it.  You can't wear out Isotoner products.  I have 20 or 30 year old gloves that still look good.  I just wish they kept my hands warmer.  My fingers are so cold--all the time.

I am making cake mix cookies today to take to work.  A second batch for G to eat.  DH chocolate fudge cake mix (dry) mixed with 2 eggs, 1/2 cup melted butter (one stick), 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 t vanilla.  Mix well and then add 1 cup of chocolate chips.  I am adding white chocolate chips to G's and chocolate chips to the ones I take to work.  You can also add 1/2 cup nuts.  If I skip the nuts, I add more chips.   Drop by the tablespoon on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12 minutes for chewy and 14 for crisp cookies.  Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.  I always forget to wait and the cookies get all smushed.  Still delicious but not pretty.

No cookies for me.  I did find a website with all of Candice's cookie recipes (Ticklemysweettooth) on another blog so there is no excuse for not making some SF low carb cookies.  But.  I don't want to start eating cookies.  I have plenty of SF jello to keep the sweet tooth happy.  I discovered that my 85% Lindt chocolate bars are VERY BITTER.  I have tried mixing them (melted) with any number of things and I can't get it"sweet".  I have ten bars.  I think I will definitely be making a flour less chocolate cake with the bars.