Chalkboard Wall, Astounding Amount of Apples

No, this box does not look THAT huge, But it was FULL!!!!!! And there are still WAY more than these left.

Today I started my very first "crafty Project thing" in the new house. I am basically creating a chalkboard wall just off the kitchen. I made it high enough where I could have it as like a family message board, etc, and shopping lists and things to remember but also I made it low enough where Spencer could draw pictures or practice his letters on it.

So far it is not going well.

I masked off the part where I want the board to be with a roll of blue painter's masking tape that cost me FOUR DOLLARS What is THAT about????? Then now before painting the chalkboard paint on there, I realized that the surface of this newly minted wall is kind of bumpy. The entire house has that bumpy kind of little bumps on the walls. SO in order to have a smooth chalkboard to write on, you have to sand them out. That sucks.. My husband Bill, who makes guitars right out of wood, who sands crap ALLL DAY said that A I had to go buy my own sand paper to do this, and B he was NOT going to help me. He seems to think we don't NEED a stupid chalkboard. Thanks a LOT. He probably thought this would deter me but it has not.

However, sanding is hard. I probably would not have de3dicated such a LARGE area for the chalkboard if I had known that my arm would practically fall off sanding this thing. I don't like it, and I wish Bill would lend me his power tool thingy that sands stuff but he will not. SO this project may take a looooong time. This afternoon I promised Spencer he could help me make applesauce. SO I will probably be doing that.


At the end of my street as you may know there is a Farm Stand where the some of the best fruit I have EVER encountered is sold. it is runb by the Corn lady and she is a farmer. Part of her farm used to be where our subdivision is now. About 8 years ago she sold part of her land but she still grows stuff and sells it. She certainly does NOT need the money, I guess she just loves it. She has AMAZING fruits and veggies for the lowest prices, and most of it is locally grown.. I mean its all excellent. In season you can get these Ranier Cherries the size of golf balls for like 99c a pound. Great corn, every veggie, every fruit... she even sells garlic....

That Corn Lady is sooo nice, but........ She does have a real name and it is Betty. Yesterday, I went to Betty's to get some Butternut Squash, Pears and Apples. I got two big bags of apples, and I put them on the counter and went to get the rest of my stuff. After I got my stuff she had weighed them She said " You know Liz, you have 14 lbs of apples right here and I am going to charge you 6 dollars for them. For 8 dollars you could buy a big box like over there."

I thought about this and I said, "OKAY, sounds like a good deal to me!" Shoulda looked over there, but I did not.....

SO I put my apples back, I paid her for the stuff, and took my other stuff out to the car. I told her I would be right back for my box of apples, which I had not even look at. I come back in and I said "Okay Betty, where is that box of apples I just bought?" and she said, "You are standing right in front of it."

"THIS?????????"

At my feet was this HUGE HUUUUUUGE box of Jonagolds. Delicious for eating, great for pies and sauce and lots of things but HOLY CRAP!!!! What the HELL am I supposed to do with all of these apples?????? I did not want Betty to think I was an idiot, so I smiled, struggled to pick it up and dragged it out to my Toyota. Now I am the owner of 69 thousand million apples... so if anyone has any good apple recipes now is the time to send them!!!!!


UPDATE:
1. Could not get camera to work to post pics of Chalkboard wall but it turned out GREAT!!! BILL ACTUALLY HELPED A TON!!! He not only sanded the entire thing with his like machine thing but then he also painted it!!! TWO COATS!!!! Will post them when I get my camera to work. Now we have to let it dry for like three days. I made it low enough so Spencer could write stuff and parctice his letters, but also it will be a place to chart his height, and also make grocery lists. and reminders etc. message board that kind of thing.

CHALK WALL TURNED OUT GREAT!!!!

2. Nick the Builder came over today to fix soemthing at the house and he ended up also hanging up my old stained glass thing!!!!! it looks perfect and it has a new home, exactly where it used to hang in the old house. It even looks happy to be there. iI swear it does. I ll also post a pic of that.

3. Tonight for dinner I made Pastitsio, a Greek and not at all low fat dish I got the recipe for on that EVERYDAY FOOD show. http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/recipes/pastitsio.html It turned out pretty well, but I used ground beef instead of lamb. Bill will not eat lamb here in the US he says the lamb here tastes weird and the only lamb he will eat is if he ever gets back to the UK where he loved for a couple of years. Whatever... but it was good I can post that recipe too but warning it is fattening as heck. I think I actually have a link to the recipe or I can cut and paste it.

4. with all of the apples, of course I made Nick the builder take like 10 of them. I also spent like alllll after noon making home made apple sauce, which my family insisted that they love. Then no one would eat it. Well I ate it, but that is typical in this house.. I do a LOT of gourmet cooking for the dog.


5. Spencer did his half day at preschool today. he is home for the entire weekend of course, and we plan to read books and do inside stuff, as Monsoon Season has officially started. However, since i have 8945 apples to use up I plan to make an apple crisp for my family, an apple pie for a neighbor who is having surgery, and also puree some apples to later hide in Spencer's food a la the jessica Seinfeld cookbook. http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/ ALso I have a bunch of carrots yet to puree and freeze, and one more butternut squash to roast and puree. I did three of them yesterday but that was all that would fit in my oven.

I hope to post pics of all this hideous experimental cooking asap as soon as my camera comes back from the dead.

Here are two of the recipes I plan to make tomorrow:

I am excited to try yet another Pie Crust recipe. I have seen Ina do this one on TV. SO maybe it will work? The last one turned out pretty scary. Kind of CRUNCHEWY.

INA GARTEN'S (AKA The Barefoot Contessa) DEEP DISH APPLE PIE
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/deep-dish-apple-pie-recipe/index.html

AND:

INA's PEAR, APPLE and CRANBERRY CRISP
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pear-apple-and-cranberry-crisp-recipe/index.html