Turning your refrigerator into a giant kitchen chalkboard is super easy.  Not only is it fun to have in the kitchen, you can write reminders on it, grocery lists, let the kids know what's in there for left overs, what needs to be replaced, write the weather on it, the next few days' schedule, draw pictures, the possibilities are endless.  The house we just moved into didn't have a refrigerator, so we had to use the one we had in the garage.  It was a mess of rust and scratches and mysterious contents.  After a good cleaning and lots of sanding, it is reborn as a loved item in our new home.  Here's what you do:

1.  Sand the entire surface of yoru fridge
2.  Lay newspaper on the floor around it.
3.  Get a small 4 or 5 inch foam roller and small tray
4.  One small can of black chalkboard paint.  I found some at the hardware place for about $15.00
5.  Tape off the handles, and apply 3 coats with your roller, leaving a couple of hours drying time in between.  That first coat will be thin and scary looking, the second coat a little better, but the 3rd coat does the trick! 
6.  MOST IMPORTANT STEP:  Once it's dry, get a big piece of chalk and run it on its side all over the fridge,
covering it all with a layer of chalk, THEN wipe it all off with your choice of a dry "eraser".  This will condition your fridge to be a chalkboard and won't leave hard to wipe off ghosting of your first scribblings on it.

Here's mine:

Who knew there were so many uses for coffee filters??  This makes me want to start a series of posts about the extra usefulness of random every day objects.  Today, it's coffee filters.  Be ready to be amazed!

1. *Diffuse the flash on a camera.
2. *Strain wine from a bottle with a broken cork.
3. *Serve popcorn or other snacks.
4. *Help with kitchen prep. (by holding cut veggies, herbs, chocolate...)
5. *Cover items in the microwave.
6. *Prevent soil from draining out of flowerpots.
7. *Prevent scuffs and scratches on fine china. (I already do this-yay for me!
8. *Protect hands from Popsicle drippage.
9. *Serve pita sandwiches.
10. *Clean windows or glass. (*These first 10 are from Rachel's own list. We're on our own from here on out.)
11. Make funny little hats. (see the silliness above)
12. Make coffee. Who would have thought?
13. Make tie-dye butterflies. (use spray bottles with diluted food coloring, and when they are dry, pinch them in the middle and wrap with a pipe cleaner for antennae.
14. Make skirts for Barbies.
15. Use as mini portable garbage cans for craft projects (thread clippings, paper scraps, glitter...)
16. Use them as potato chip snack containers as he sits on the couch. They absorb grease. 
17. Put it in a strainer and use it to dip dead bugs out of a hot tub (mini pool net)
18. Strain herbal tea
19. Strain broth when making gravy
20. Line a glass pan with them and fill with cake batter when cooking in the microwave for non-stickness. 
21. I use them to make little "bouquet garnis" for apple cider. 
22. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
23. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
24. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
25. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a filter on a kitchen scale.
26. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.
27. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. Soaks out all the grease.
28. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
29. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers
30. Very mild abrasive towlet for scrubbing delicate items. 
31. They also come in handy when making paper flowers.
32. The unbleached kind make for fun shredding material for hamsters.
33. You could fold one up and use it as a bookmark.
34. Or use one to blow your nose in a pinch. 
35. They also work great for cleaning your spectacles, I have discovered.

I used to clean my stove top with ammonia based cleaners of whatever brand, but I was always careful not to let anything fall to the floor because my pooches would always wander and see what yummy crumbs have fallen.  I certainly didn't want them to eat windex soaked crumbs, so I switched to cleaning the stove, counter, windows, practically everything - even the floors with vinegar.  And lo and behold, where have I been, this has improved things around our house immensely.  Vinegar kills most molds, germs and bacteria.  And it's  fine to let some crumbs fall to the floor for the dogs, no more over careful wiping.  I now clean from the top, down.  Counters, then cabinets, then floors.  White distilled vinegar. 

I'm this old and I finally figured this out.    

Here is a link with lots of good info and tips for using whie Distilled Vinegar all over your house:

http://www.vinegartips.com/scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7