Wall construction part 2

Ok so I feel like the luckiest girl on the planet tonight. The wall is framed and the door bell has been moved and the wall is insulated! Yippey! Tomorrow drywall, side lights and I think doors although they may get installed after painting. If all goes well I should be painting by Wednesday or Thursday. My husband is a machine and worked hard all day to get us to this point. Thank you Shawn!

It was a bit of a family affair at the end with our girl sweeping up the saw dust. Thank you montessori sweeping squares! My girl would sweep for hours.

I've posted a picture of a jam cupboard that we bought to repurpose into a pencil cupboard and it is being built into the wall inside the new classroom. The addition of chalk board paint on the door will be great for keeping notes or a list.

I didn't mention before but I will now, all the doors, cupboard and side lights we purchased at Renovators Resource www.renovators-resource.com

I feel like we hit the jackpot on finding doors right off the bat. It is a great place to find old doors and mouldings and I love that we are repurposing them. I could never afford such lovely doors brand new thats for sure.

We are still a long way off to putting the classroom together as there are two walls of custom cabinetry that have to be built yet. I am sure we will be right down to the wire on it. I am sooooo happy we have insulated and sound proofed as much as we could. I already notice a difference in the space. Off to bed now. Will be back when there is more to share. -m

The Reno Begins!

Your probably thinking that I am crazy and his won't be done in time and I won't be ready for orientation. Your in for a big surprise because to know me is to know I've been under bigger and tighter deadlines than this!

We just got our building permit (you can't get anything fast when you are dealing with the city) and when all this is finished, we must have it inspected in order to get my rezoning approved. All this for six more spaces! Is it worth it? You bet because I've hired another amazing teacher and the addition of more spaces is to give her a salary. This brings the total of teachers at Maple Tree to six plus our lovely music teacher. I am all about the quality and am not willing to compromise anything on our classroom space. So it will be stunning.

The first picture is of our new doors and side lights. The doors will open out and be in the middle of our new wall. The addition of the side lights is so that we can have more natural light in the new classroom. I would have added a window but I am trying to sound proof this room so that our music teacher will have her very own space to do a smaller music circle. Also, the mail slot is just an added bonus as far as I am concerned. We will be having our carpenter (enter husband Shawn) build us a collection box on the other side so that the children can mail letters to their friends. I am super excited about this! The colour of the doors and sidelights will be benjamin moore ancient ivory. The walls will be touched up with our current colour which is waters edge. I
love how soft the blue is on our walls and I think it makes for a much calmer learning environment.

You can see how we have carefully mapped out the plan with tape. that took us forever as there was so much storage to consider carefully. I had no idea just how much "stuff" we actually had until I had to move it all!

It is probably not a bad idea to purge some of it.

So guess what we are doing on this long weekend? I will post the progress as it is unfolding. I am in for a crazy busy couple of weeks but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Let them eat cake

We had some friends in for dinner last night who we haven't seen in about four years and I decided I should share my recipe for Upside down pineapple cake with them and you. The funny thing is I only ever seem to make it this time of year and never for us just company!

Needless to say, it was nice to have a break from the renovations and packing going on at the school. I have come to the conclusion that summer is really not a time off for me. The pace is a bit slower and there is flexibility in my schedule but really it is my March break that feels like vacation and time off.

Over the next few weeks I will post some of the projects I am working on and possibly some photos of the newly renovated space (depends on how down to wire it comes to)!

Upside Down Pineapple Cake

2 Tbs of butter

2 Tbs packed brown sugar

pinch of cinnamon

pineapple slices (as many as you can fit in your frying pan)

I must say I am generous with these ingredients and rarely ever measure anything and it always works out for me. I think I get that gift from my grandmother :)

After the pineapple has nicely caramelized then place them in a pan. I used a bundt pan but any pan works. Spring form leaks so don't use that unless you want a fire in your oven.

Cake Batter

1/2 C butter softened

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

11/2 c all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 C sour cream or plain yogurt(I used plain yogurt as that is what I had on hand)

Mix wet ingredients first and alternate the flour with the sour cream until mixed.

Spoon into prepared pan with pineapple and bake for 45 minutes at 350. When cake is done let rest on a cooling rack for 5 minutes (set your timer) and invert onto a cake plate to continue to cool. If you forget to do this you will never get the cake out.

-Cake is from Canadian Living

Rum Sauce

Oh yes....we had rum sauce and I will say to you that it is so Divine I don't know why anyone would make it with out!

In to a pot:

1 C sugar

1/4 c Rum, bourbon or other whiskey

2 Tbs water

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

Cook all this until the sugar is dissolved and mixture is well blended. Remove from heat and whisk into this one egg that has been beaten. Trust me, you will not make scrambled egg in your sauce but you must whisk constantly and then return your pot to the heat to cook for 1 minute or until thick. Serve warm on your cake and I might add a dollop of whipping cream!

-The rum sauce is from the Joy of Cooking

Montessori Madness

This is a new selection for our lending Library available this September! I bought it a few months ago and am only now finding the time to read it. Please feel free to borrow it and if you can't check out the YouTube link below.

I can't think of a better argument for Montessori or how better to describe what Montessori is or does for a child!