A Can of Paint and a Little Bit of Chalk Dust

A can of paint and a little bit of chalk dust can spice up the small, forgotten spaces of your house. 

One of my favorite items for house crafts is chalkboard paint. It comes in a small can for around $10 - $15. When we move I'm sure I'm going to find loads of new creative ways to incorporate it. But for now I've used it in two small ways. 

Via

First, I used it on a vase I purchased for $2 from Goodwill. I bought the vase to decorate the top of our dining hutch. It's still not my favorite look. I just didn't like how it looked bare. The space looked too empty.  

Before: The two candle holders usually go on the table top, they were just sitting up there while we had the table set for diner.

After. The other items I also purchased from Goodwill. 

The vase had a circular little painting on it. I didn't care too much for it. So I painted over it with the chalkboard paint. It is important to clean the surface area first and paint using a foam brush.  Once it dried I wrote a cursive A on it (A for Amador). 

Waiting for the paint to dry.

I've also used the chalkboard paint on three little glass containers I use in my bathroom to hold cotton balls, cotton swabs, and q-tips. I just painted them and wrote the names of the items on each. I placed them on the top of my toilet. There they are out of the way, giving us more free room and counter space. I got the containers at Dollar Tree. So they put me out a whole $3 + change. 

I think I need to practice my handwriting when using chalk. I'm excited to move soon and see what new projects I can use this paint for. Have you used chalkboard paint for anything before? Please share! =) I love new ideas! 

I think I might like to paint a section or a small, whole wall with it one day. Depends on the area. Maybe in the office or kitchen/breakfast nook. 

Check out this website for more images!

Bayou Pork with 'Not Your Ordinary Black Beans'

I recently posted this recipe on another blog, oomy gooey goodness. Thought I would share it on here.

My husband comes from a Cuban family, so we often eat a combination of black beans and rice paired with a variation of protein. I love my hubby's black beans! Tonight we made the beans and rice and paired it with 'Bayou Pork'. 

Beans

You will need:

Goya black beans

Red Wine Vinaigrette

Basil Leaves

Cumin

Salt

Always start with Goya black beans. You can get them at the ordinary grocery, though sometimes only one store in your area will carry it... for example, the Kroger here doesn't have them, but Publix does.

Cook the beans in a small sauce pan. Add a few squirts of a red wine vinaigrette, two basil leaves, a dash of cumin, and a dash of salt. Stir beans periodically. We start the beans first and time them based on how long it takes the rice to cook. We cook our rice in a rice cooker. 

Bayou Pork

You will need:

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp rubbed dried sage

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

4 pork chops

This recipe is a quick, four step process! Hooray for easy meals! 

Step 1: Combine all seasonings in a shallow bowl.

Step 2: Place pork chops in the bowl, turning over so each side gets coated in the seasoning

Step 3: Heat olive oil over high heat

Step 4: Turn burner to medium heat and cook the pork chops for about 10 minutes, turning over half way through. 

The pork is under 90 calories per serving. Don't judge me for the lack of greens in this dinner... oops.

Special Needs Orphan, Timber

BIO: Timber is an 8 year old purebred male golden retreiver. As you can see, he is a handsome fellow. His story is bittersweet. He was originally turned into a golden rescue in North Carolina (Cape Fear) when he was a mere pup of 5 months old. They found a wonderful home for Timber and he was adopted. He has lived a great life at the beach and in the mountains of North Carolina. Timber lives to run like the wind and for 8 years he has been spoiled rotten, just like he should have been. Then last December, Timber tore his ACL in his left knee. His dad, who loves him very much, didn't have the money for the expensive surgery so he and Timber's vet were hoping with pain meds and restricted activity, Timber could heal. He didn't and in fact, put so much weight on his good knee, that he blew the right knee out a week ago. Timber is a big dog weighing over 100 pounds so this soon became an emergency. Timber's dad started looking for a vet who would give him a payment plan to do the surgery. No luck. They suggested he pay the $90 to euthanize Timber. There was no way his Dad would hear of that. So he went back to the Cape Fear Golden Rescue ready to give him up so he could get Timber well. Sadly, Cape Fear had just announced that they were closing their doors. Panicked, Timber's Dad called 8 other rescues and no one would take a 108 pound golden with two torn ACL tendons. Surgery and rehab would easily cost over $5,000 and be 3-4 months of extensive physical therapy. His Dad refused to give up. There was no way Timber would not get a second chance. He was in pain and that was killing his Dad. Cape Fear suggested AGA - thinking it was a long shot because we were so far away but hoped that we had greater resources than smaller rescues in smaller cities. Timber, himself, contacted us by writing us a letter asking if we would help him. His Dad was willing to surrender him to us if we would fix him. Well, we have never said NO to a golden retriever in need so two volunteers drove halfway to get Timber and brought him to Atlanta to begin his journey to get new knees and a new lease on life.

 Dad was an emotional wreck when he said "Goodbye" to his boy but he knew we would relieve his pain and make him better so he could, someday, run like the wind on a golden beach. We need your help raising the money for Timber's surgeries and rehab. We need to raise $5,000. He is in pain and will have his first knee surgery in a few days before we raise the money. His Dad handed us a check to start his fund... all he could give - but if love were money, this guy would have been paid in full! Please give to the Timber Fund today. Let's show everyone in this country that it doesn't matter where a golden lives or what is wrong with that golden ... AGA will come to its rescue and do everything in our power to give a golden a second chance.

To learn more and help out go to Adopt-A-Golden Atlanta's website: 

CLICK HERE!