Creating an Inspirational Chalkboard

The older I get, the more value I find in starting and ending each day by taking a few moments to gather my thoughts and point my mind in a positive direction.  Often this is done by writing in what I have coined my "Gratitude Journal", or reading a few passages out of a book of wisdom, such as The Daily Stoic or Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations".

It was for this purpose that I began to collect quotes and passages I felt should be read with regularity in order to imprint their wisdom on my mind.  It occurred to me that if I could display these quotes somewhere I would see them often it would help to keep them in my thoughts.

While visiting my sister recently I noticed she had turned parts of her wall into chalkboards, and it struck me that this might be the perfect medium to display these pieces of wisdom.  If I installed a chalkboard on the wall of my bedroom, not only could I read it every morning and every evening, but I could also change the passages over time.  I immediately knew it was time for another project.

To create the chalkboard I had many options.  I chose to go with Krylon brand Chalkboard Paint, which I was able to purchase on Amazon relatively inexpensively.  The only other materials required were a couple of pieces of Window and Door Moulding for the boarder, which I picked up at my local hardware store, some screws and plastic drywall anchors, as well as some white paint for the moulding which I had leftover from previous projects.


I began by preparing the moulding for the border.  I measured each piece, and cut them at 45 degree angles on the miter saw.  The moulding was pre-primed, so after the pieces were cut I applied the first coat of paint, and left them overnight to dry.

I then needed to drill and countersink holes to mount the moulding to the wall.  After all the holes were drilled I added a second coat of paint and set them aside.

I then proceeded to prepare the wall.  I measured the area on the wall where I wanted to place the chalkboard, and marked the edges in pencil.  Next, I traced a second square 1 inch outside the first one.  Since the moulding would be creating the border, there was no need to tape the edges in an attempt to create straight lines, I just needed to paint outside of the intended boarder so that the moulding would overlap it.

The directions on the Chalkboard Paint said two coats were required, but I decided to go with three coats to be on the safe side.  I used a foam brush to apply the paint liberally but evenly, being sure not to allow any drips to form.  Once the paint was thoroughly dry, as must be done on any new chalkboard, it needed to be "primed" by filling the pores in the new chalkboard with chalk.  If this is not done then the first thing written on the board will "ghost" after it is erased, and it will never fully go away.

To prime the chalkboard I held a piece of chalk on it's side, and covered the entire board with chalk.  I then rubbed the chalk into the board with a dry paper towel.  Once that is complete the board can be erased with an eraser or soft, dry cloth.

Finally, using a level and a square, I placed each piece of moulding and marked the holes for mounting.  I drilled the holes, tapped the anchors in place with a hammer, and screwed the moulding in place.

And that was it.  This project was incredibly easy and inexpensive.  It took my wife and I longer to narrow down the list of quotes for the first iteration of the board than it did to build.

If any of you have any suggestions for future messages for the chalkboard feel free to leave them in the comments.  Thanks for reading.

My Morning Routine

Good morning, and welcome back to my blog.  Anyone who has read my blog before knows, that while the topics can be eclectic, my posts typically deal with how to build something, be it using wood, electronics, computers, or a combination of mediums.  Since this is my first post after a year-long hiatus, I thought I would try something a little different and write a short post about my morning routine.  Over the past year, I have made several major life-changes, including quitting smoking, reducing my alcohol intake to next-to-nothing, drastically altering my diet, and starting a weightlifting routine.  The result of these changes are a healthier, happier me, and I would recommend any of them to anyone looking to get more enjoyment out of life.  Today I want to focus on a small, but important aspect of these life-modifications that has helped improve my life, and enjoy my days more thoroughly: my morning routine.

The way one starts and completes each day frames all of the experiences within.  By beginning the day on a positive, productive, and pleasurable note, I am able to set the tone of the day, and I have noticed a considerable difference in how I feel, and what I am able to accomplish.  The first item on the list was actually the most difficult for me, and I can't claim to be successful in this endeavor every single morning, but the first thing I strive to accomplish is to NOT HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON!  I have struggled with waking up in the morning all my life, and had formed a habit of hitting the snooze button for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (or more) after the first time my alarm sounded.  The experts say that one actually feels more tired after hitting the snooze button than they would have if they had just woken up after the first alarm.  I don't know if that is true or not, but I doubt I get any added benefit from the additional sleep I get in 5 or 10 minute increment using the snooze.  One of the advantages I can attest to is more time in the morning, resulting in less stress and more productivity.  Also, if I successfully drag myself out of bed without hitting the snooze, I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment first thing in the morning, which is a nice way to start the day.

Once I am out of bed and have made a quick pit stop in the bathroom, I head to the kitchen, and turn on all the lights to make it as bright as possible.  This helps let my body know that even if it is still dark outside, my day has started (circadian rhythms and whatnot).  I notice that I feel significantly more awake after just a minute in a very bright room.  If you find yourself continuing to feel drowsy after getting out of bed in the morning, try adding some extra light in the room you spend your first 10 minutes in, and I would be willing to bet you will feel a noticeable difference.  If the sun is up when you get out of bed, then I would recommend stepping outside for a few minutes, as the the sunlight is tremendously more effective at waking one up than synthetic light.  Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of waiting for daybreak to start my morning, so man-made light has to suffice.

As the light begins to signal my brain that I am now awake, I turn my attention to hydration.  Assuming you do not wake up in the middle of the night to drink water, you will have gone without water since you fell asleep, and possibly longer.  As you will be able to surmise by the color of your morning urine, most people wake up dehydrated and craving fluids, whether you realize it or not.  I cannot claim credit for my morning cocktail recipe; it came from an excellent book by Aubrey Marcus titled Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex, which I highly recommend.  Aubrey's recipe is simple: water, sea-salt, and lemon.  I personally use the juice from 1/4 lemon and a pinch of Pink Himalayan Salt in about 16 oz of water.  Don't let the demonization of salt scare you away from trying this.  Unless you already have a serious heart condition, the salt is not bad for you, and will help your body absorb the water.  There is no need to chug it either.  Take your time, sip your water, feel yourself hydrating, and think about the great day you are about to have.

About this time the sun is beginning to peek over the horizon.  As sunrise begins to happen later in the morning, I may need to reorder my routine, but for now, it is time to feed the chickens and clean the coop.  Yep, you heard correctly, we have chickens.  As a matter of fact, my wife Courtney and I are planning on starting a chicken blog in the near future, and when we do, I will place a link to it here for anyone interested in taking a look at our fine feathered friends.  Anyway, the point here is not to specifically care for birds, but to accomplish some task, or set of tasks.  Some people recommend making your bed.  As long as you set your mind to doing something productive and accomplish it, you have set your brain on the right track for the day.

The next goal for myself is to get my heart rate up and get a little exercise.  Recently, this has been accomplished by taking a one mile walk with Courtney, but any physical exertion will do.  Sometimes we do a short steel maceworkout (trust me on this one and give it a try).  This is also a good time to get in a little stretching to keep the body limber and free from injury.  I don't do any serious weight lifting or cardio this early in the day, just enough to get the blood flowing.

Now that my body is nice and warm, it's time for my favorite part of the morning: a cold shower.  Seriously.  Not only has this been proven to have positive health benefits, it will also guarantee that you are fully awake.  In addition, it is one last test of willpower that will tell your mind and body that if you can endure this, you can accomplish anything today.  And in all honesty, it really isn't that bad.  I start my shower with warm water.  Since I bathe at night before I go to bed, all I do is rinse off in the warm water before I turn the knob to cold.  The key here is not to think about it.  Don't prepare yourself physically or mentally, just do it.  No need to torture yourself for too long, just a few minutes is all that's necessary.  Before I know it, it is time to get out, dry off, and head back to the kitchen for some well earned breakfast.

With all my other morning activities checked off my To-Do List, it's breakfast time.  Personally I like to have scrambled eggs loaded down with vegetables (onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, spinach, and whatever other left-over veggies or garden veggies we have that might go well in eggs.)  If eggs aren't your thing, eat whatever you like, but I highly recommend staying away from processed carbs, and certainly no refined sugar.  Anything with a high glycemic index will spike your blood sugar, and subsequently your insulin, and cause you to be hungry again in just an hour or two.  Starting your day off with an insulin-induced blood-sugar roller-coaster is a recipe for dietary disaster, not to mention the damage it can do to your pancreas, kidneys, and heart, among other things.

Last but not least, with breakfast out of the way, it is time for my morning coffee.  You may have noticed that I didn't mention coffee earlier in this article when I first got out of bed.  For over 20 years brewing coffee was the first thing I did in the morning upon getting out of bed.  If you just can't live without caffeine first thing in the morning, then an early cup of coffee or tea won't kill you, but I find with all the other stimuli I have early in the day, I really don't miss it.  Waking up without that jolt of caffeine in the blood is actually more pleasant, and if you really miss that jolt, reread the paragraph on a cold shower.

When it comes to additives to your coffee or tea, I would like to stress that I highly recommend passing on the sugar.  At no point in the day is refined sugar good for you, but I find it particularly destructive to your diet, appetite, and self-control first thing in the morning.  If you cut the large majority of sugar out of your diet all together, you will find that you no longer crave the sweetness, and things that used to need sugar will now taste fine on their own.  In addition to leaving out the sugar, if you add a little fat to your coffee it will slow down the absorption of the caffeine and give you more sustained energy instead of a quick jolt followed by a crash.  The traditional cream or half-and-half works fine for this, or you can go the more extreme route and use butter, as advocated by fans of bulletproof coffee.  Just remember, if you think using skim milk in coffee is a healthier option, lactose is just sugar, so skim milk is just sugar water that came from a cow.  Just say "no".

And that's my morning routine, for now.  As always things will continue to evolve, hopefully towards the positive.  I hope some of you were able to gain something from this post, and maybe even improve your own morning routines a little.  For everyone else, don't worry, I have several more posts on the way, including setting up a VPN using OpenVPN on a Raspberry Pi, building a bluebird-house with a built-in video camera activated by a motion sensor, building a chicken run, and live-streaming video from the chicken coop.  Until next time, stay safe and keep building.

EDIT: After my initial post, I was discussing my morning routine on reddit.com in the /r/productivity subreddit.  A user by the name of /u/iEphemeralX recommended I read the book The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8am).  Since I prefer audio books, I hoped over to Audible.com and picked up a copy.  While I can't say it was the absolute best self-improvement book I ever read, it was good enough that I finished the book in two days, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone looking improve their life.  Since reading the book, I have also adjusted my morning routine slightly.  I now get up at 5:30 instead of 6am, and I have added 15 minutes of meditation, followed by prayer, gratitude, and intentional thinking.  If you are looking for a little motivation or some direction on how improve your life, I recommend you give it a read.