The Glass Half Full - A Wicked Raven Up Cycle

A few years ago I got a glass cutting board - I came across it - I can't even remember where and i loved having it.  Super easy to clean and I never felt like there was junk stuck in the grooves that knives make on the wood and plastic ones and you can use them for a serving tray or or for a casserole trivet if you need to.

I liked it but my husband did not!  It was very loud when using it as a cutting board, and he felt that it was very bad for my nice knives - it dulled them he said.  My dad made us a beautiful wooden cutting board with an "H" in it - done with beautiful inlaid wood, and Hubby also got a couple of the big heavy plastic ones to do our game processing and so I retired the glass one from a cutting board to a menu board!

I started by using a Sharpie Marker to draw sections.  There were 8 total - one for each day of the week and then an extra I labeled "e-rations" meaning emergency rations.  Its a space that I have a list of what we can have if I dont get the weeks menus done or if one of them doesn't work well because of a schedule change.  Things like "breakfast", Tuna Helper (I always have one in the cupboard), Chili ( I have home made canned chili also in the cupboard) and so on.  I like to do menu planning two weeks at a time but sometimes get busy and I can't get it done at all.  The "e-rations" help as does having the menu board visible on the counter.

Here it is half full of menu items for this coming week.  One of the great things that the menu board does is it lets folks know what we are having so they aren't eating the menu ingredients and so that they know there is a plan in place!  

I decorated my board as well with a little set of left over stickers from a laptop cover - Vera Bradley.  It adds beauty and whimsy to the menu board as well.  

To write on it I use a dry erase marker and wipe it off when I need to with a damp paper towel.  It makes it easy and adds some color as well to the board.  

Watch the thrift stores for your own board or if you already have one this is a great use for it and you can still use it as a trivet or tray when you need to!  The stand it is on is a cookbook stand but I have also used a stand that is designed for a decorative tile.  I think if you had room (my kitchen does not) you could also use picture hooks and just hang it on the wall!  

Bon Apetiti!

Be Gracious and Grateful

My mother had, all through my growing up years, reminded us to "be Gracious".  I would jokingly most of the time say "I am gracious that I am not....(that person, that issue, etc)"

gra·cious

ˈɡrāSHəs/

adjective

1. 1.

   courteous, kind, and pleasant.

   "smiling and gracious in defeat"

   synonyms:

   courteous, polite, civil, chivalrous, well mannered, mannerly, decorous; More

My mother was asking for me to have grace - be gracious and kind (teenage girls are often not kind and yes I am guilty of unkindness as well).  It has not been until lately that I have REALLY understood that what she was really asking was that I also be grateful.  

Since the passing of my oldest son, I have struggled to be an upright human being and go forward and actually do anything.  As I said before "we are bad asses for getting out of bed"!  I have also done a lot of thinking about how to be gracious and grateful in a world where the meaning of everything has changed for me.

I work in a school where often the things my co workers do go unnoticed, or at least very unappreciated.  The children are more often than not ungracious.  I, more often than not, need a good reason to get out of bed in the morning and go to face them and try to be gracious with them.

My mother also taught me the importance of writing a good thank you note.  Hand written is best unless the circumstances are special and you can't do a handwritten one.

So I began a gratefulness project with my co-workers and some others who have helped me to get up every day and find something to be thankful for.

I am not done with it yet, but eventually each of my co-workers and those other special folks will receive a hand written thank you note from me letting them know why I am grateful to have them in the world and thanking them for helping me to get up every day.

Some days I get three or four done, and sometimes I dont get any done.  But each day I think about my co-workers and friends and I think about why I am grateful for them.  I am not doing the easy ones first, nor the hard ones - some ARE easier than others, but I am going in alphabetical order with my co -workers.  For each of them there is something about them that makes me feel gracious and grateful.  I think for some of them it will be weird, but sometimes it's weird for people anyway - they don't know how to treat me and they really dont know what to say sometimes.  Sometimes my gratefulness might be perceived as a bribe maybe of some type, or a cry for help.  It is not any of those things.  Just my way of having reasons to get out of bed and face the day and the building full of ingrates. :)