MSM

You've heard it said many times. Your mom told you, your doctor tells you, the cereal companies tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. However, some people (and I'm not pointing fingers, because I'm busy typing and I don't really know for sure) don't eat breakfast. Say it ain't so! "I don't have time, I'm tired of the same old same old, I'm lactose intolerant"...ok the last one is legitimate. However, I’ve got a few ideas for breakfast that are fast, delicious and some don’t even involve milk.
CEREAL: Alrighty then. Soggy cereal is a problem. It’s right up with global warming. Your morning can go from perfectly fine to completely ruined when your crispy goodness becomes a soggy soupy mess. Now, I usually Kashi Go Lean Crunch and it would probably take an hour to become soggy, however some people don’t like that cereal. So then, my favorite breakfast is to use plain Greek yogurt (Fage is really good and ridiculously thick) and mix it with my cereal. Granola-ey cereals are fantastic in yogurt, but flake based cereals handle the yogurt well too. (such as special k) Now, you’re not limited to plain yogurt. Yoplait flavored works great too, but depending on your cereal of choice the flavor of your yogurt may not mesh well with your cereal. So then, you’re probably asking yourself, “self, why wouldn’t I just use milk?” I am so glad you asked. Yogurt is higher in protein per serving than milk, which will keep you fuller longer and it doesn’t slosh around like milk does. Thus, your dash out of the door won’t be prohibited by having to change your shirt last minute because you sloshed milk on it.

EGGS: Ok Amanda, I am tired of cereal, give me something else, something involving eggs that I can cook in a mug at work or at home. You’ve got it! Hungrygirl.com is a great resource for healthy swaps for all sorts of meals, but this particular suggestion is quite delicious and easy! All you need is;

1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original or southwestern flavor)
One wedge The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese, or weight watchers I think has a version, cut into pieces.
Spray a large microwave-safe mug lightly with nonstick spray. Add egg substitute and cheese and stir. Microwave for about a minute. Stir gently, and then microwave for another 30 - 45 seconds, until scramble is just set. Stir and enjoy!

She’s got other variations on this recipe if you’re feeling adventurous. It’s really good and quick, and all you have to clean is a mug and a spoon!

PANCAKES: Now then, my last favorite breakfast idea takes a little work ahead of time. We like waffles and pancakes, but they take some time to make. Yes, I realize they’ve got a freezer section devoted to just this predicament, but those aren’t homemade. I will make a batch all at one time and freeze the extras. Let your pancakes cool then stack, layering a piece of paper towel in-between each cake, and wrap in aluminum foil. Pancakes work out of the freezer, I promise! Just microwave for a few seconds and you’re good to go!

Make Something Monday

Best ever Chocolate Cake...from a box!
Ok, well maybe you're all chocolated out from yesterday, but let's pretend you're not and we'll make a fantastic chocolate cake, and yes it's from a box mix!  Okiedokie, here's what you'll need
One box of chocolate cake mix (Duncan Heins preferably)  it can be swiss, dark, devils, milk, whatever
the stuff from the back of the box
plus....
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 small box of pudding mix (if you don't use duncan heins you won't need this, but weirdly the others don't come out as good..)
1 tsp extract (I like vanilla but you can use orange or coconut or almond)
1 small bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350
Mix everything together in/with a mixer (except for the chips) until well blended.  then stir in the chips
Pour into two 8" round cake pans, or a 9x13.  bake for 50 min or until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.  Let cool and ice.  It tastes incredible with buttercream mixed with 2 Tbsp of raspberry spread/jam/preserves as the filling.  No one will guess it's from a box, it's so delicous!

Happy Valentines Day

MSM part deux

Alright you doubting doubters!  You nay-saying nellies! You  poo-pooers of painting!  You can do this and I’ll show you another shortcut.  No one is expecting you to be Claude Monet.  Don’t put pressure on yourself to make something “perfect.”  That takes all the fun out of painting!  So, you can’t draw a straight line!  Who can?  That’s why we have rulers and straight edges!  If you doubt your drawing capabilities, trace your shapes.  Here, I’ll show you.  Again, I’m using the Ken Bailey dogs.  The prints are simple shapes and solid colors, which are a great thing to look for if you’re nervous about making custom art.  This is what you’ll need.  (my canvas is a little big, but my plain smaller ones have paint on them, so I couldn’t use those for this purpose. ) You need your canvas, scissors, a pencil and your print of choice.  Now, if you’ve got a nice print, I wouldn’t recommend cutting into that.  Make a copy, or find a high resolution version online and print it out.  Or, trace around it on computer paper.  If your canvas is larger than your print, you can just go to Kinko’s or something and make an enlarged print for a matter of a few cents.

Okiedokie smoky!  Let’s get cutting.  We’ll start with the main part, the dog.  Cut that little sucker out See, easy!  Now then, put your little doggie (or whatever) on your canvas in the place you’d like it to be, and trace around it lightly with your pencil.  (no I am not left handed)There, you’ve drawn a dog.  See, you can draw.  Now then, there’s the little matter of the red stripe along the side.  Cut that out too. Very nice, now just trace along that line like so…(see, now I’m right handed…)Now, just paint inside the lines!  You can change whatever colors you’d like to make it suit your style.  The black dog licorice wouldn’t make as much sense if your dog is blue…but you can use the outline to make blue dog bistro.   Once that’s all dry and good to go, you can take a paint pen and write on the lettering if you want.  See, not so bad once you break it down a little!  No one has to know you traced.  I wouldn’t know the difference unless you told me, and I promise I won’t ask.  Mostly because that’s a weird thing to ask…   

MSM Art

It’s no secret that I like to find ways to decorate on the cheap. Usually, if I find something that I like I ask myself the following; “Do I have a place to put it?” “Do I want to move with it, and if so, will I be crushed if it…well, gets crushed?” “Is the price worth it?” “If the price isn’t worth it, can I replicate it?” So, if the first two are a yes, and the third is a no, and the last one is a yes, then I’ve got a project on my hands. That makes me happy, because I like projects. So, this week, Brandon and I are painting pictures for our kitchen.

I enjoy paintings. I love the look of canvas and the textures created by the paint. It’s just so much more dimensional than a print. However, they’re an investment and we’re not all at that stage in our lives to invest in something like that. If you are, fantastic, but we are not. However, canvas is cheap and so why not have paintings in your home, if you can just do it yourself!?

When we first moved in to our apartment, I found these prints by Ken Bailey. I thought they were just so cute, and I was able to find pictures online that allowed me to print out 5x7’s without being pixilated. You could just stop there if you’d like.

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However, if you know me, then you know that I can’t just stop there. These are available for purchase at art.com on 11x15 canvas for the low low price of $150.00. (By low low price, I mean yikes!) I can beat that! And so I have! All you need is; some paint (acrylic and a black paint pen), canvas (which can be purchased at Michaels in packs of two 11x14’s for less than 8 bucks) and some brushes. All in all (since I already had most of my paints) the total for 4 pieces of art is less than $20. (As a side note, when buying paints you do get what you pay for. In the acrylic aisle the cheaper paints are much thinner, and thus require more coats. I’m not saying not to buy them, because I have and do, but just so you know)

Don’t be intimidated by painting! If an elephant and a pig can paint, so can you! Start simple if you doubt your skills. Basic shapes and colors are modern and chic. These Bailey prints might look daunting to duplicate, but if you break it down they’re just simple shapes and colors. The lettering is by far the hardest part, but if you use the paint pens, that’s not really all that bad! Now then, how do you get started you ask? Draw it out. “But Amanda, I can’t draw!” Sure you can! I find the simplest way to replicate something that already exists, is to divide the picture into about 8 squares. Then, very lightly draw those eight squares onto your canvas. Now, you’ve got a grid system. Look at the top left square on your picture, and draw whatever is in that square on the top left corner of your canvas. Break it down, take it slow, and draw very lightly!

Once you’ve drawn your picture, start painting! Slow and steady wins the race. Don’t worry about it being “perfect” it’s your art. Acrylics are fantastic because if you do “mess up” it’s an easy fix, since the paint dries faster, just cover it up and move along!

As you can see, we’re still working on one more but you can see 3 of our paintings. The first two are mine and the last one is Brandon’s. It looks more polished to me than the framed paper, less like the afterthought that it was to begin with. (not that paper can’t be art, but ours looked a little….cheap) The Boxer Bakery is based off of the Boxer wine. We’re not big drinkers though, so I changed it. The Three Lab Bakery was my favorite, so I just copied it, the same with the Black Dog Licorice. Brandon is custom making the forth one (the one pictured above)

Testing

So, a dear friend of mine suggested trying out Windows Live for blogging purposes.  Since it’s free, and I like free, I decided to give it a go, and test out the capabilities here.  If you already have this, which you probably do, since I am very slow on the uptake, you can just ignore this post…but would you really want to?   Apparently this free package comes with family safety programs, movie maker, photo album, some sort of mail something, and Windows live writer (which is what I’m using now)  This program allows you to compile your blog in a program much akin to Microsoft Word.  Let’s see what we can do, shall we?

The main grievance I hear (and sympathize with) is the headache of  importing photos to blogger.  So, let’s post some pictures and see how it does.  Can you feel the tension, do you feel like you’re here with me trying this?  Ok, so here we’ve got a picture of Apollo, waiting for Brandon to come home.  All I did was insert and this program gives me the options to re-size, change the contrast, position, margins, borders, some basic effects, and some other options.  I have chosen the shake it like a Polaroid picture option.  (No, it’s not actually called that. )  I am a fan so far.

I hate when I’m in the middle of an inspiring paragraph and decide to insert a picture.  For some reason Blogger inserts the picture to the top of the page, and I’ll have to drag it down to where I’d like it.  It doesn’t sound like much of an inconvenience until you insert more than one picture, then you begin the mayhem.  Not so with this program!  Live writer inserts the picture where your curser is, Wee!  I’ve got the sepia tone, a tilt and photo paper effect all for the low low price of…free!  Just for the ease of inserting the pictures, I’m already quite impressed.  Have I expressed that yet?  I tend to repeat myself when I’m excited about something.

Hmm, let's see what else I can play with!!!  Ooh fonts! Do I like this font?  No, but I do like this one and I like it bold!   Oh, me oh my!  I have 374 words so far!  Did I count?  NO! 

I can also share maps, photo albums, tables, and videos with you!  Oh yes, you!  I’m sold!  Ok…it doesn’t take much to sell something to me that is free…but this is actually pretty cool.  Here’s why

1. I have numbered bullets (and the round ones, but I want to use the numbers right now.
2. I can blog at any moment in time, even if I don’t have internet access, I can just save my post until I can share my incredible words of wisdom with you
3. I can ctrl z something if I make a mistake!
4. you can have it too if you go here

msm

Happy February! We're already one month down, can you believe it! I feel kind of bad for February though, because it's kind of forgotten, like the middle child. It's short with not a whole lot goin on considering it follows December/January madness. (that and next month will be filled with big excitement) All that aside, let's make something shall we? Let me start with, did you know that if you press ctrl + you can zoom in on any webpage (and inversly ctrl - makes it smaller)? I knew that worked in Photoshop, but not on the internet. Of course, I think I'm always the last person to realize these things...anyhow, let's move on.

Did you get things for your wedding/birthday/whatever that is nice, but you don't really know what to do with it? For instance, I received a silver platter. Now, I'm sure Brandon would apprieciate his dinners presented to him on this platter, but that's not going to happen. So, I'm sure that Miss Manners will turn in her grave, but I am using it under my indoor plants (which are still alive surprisingly) to make them look more defined, (like a floor rug for your plants) and keep water that spills over from getting on the wood table on which it's sitting. Now, it is serving a purpose, and not taking up valuable storage space! You can also hang it on the wall with other plates/platters in an interesing way for free art.

Now then, do you have 14 differnt remotes? Does your husband like his gaming systems, and thus controllers sit strewn all over the house? No? Congratulations. Anyhow, if you do here's an idea, if you've got a nice little basket (or small platter...I'm stretching here with the platter idea) you can just throw them all in there and place it on your coffee/side table. Now they're all wrangled and not stuffed in the sofa cushion, and you've decorated your house. Bada bing.

Do you have issuses on where to put your cookbooks? Do you have cookbooks....? Do you have a bar in your kitchen? Do you use your bar? Do you like answering a lot of questions? Do you like popcorn? Well, if you're like me, and you've got cookbooks, and bar and no use for a bar, then you've got yourself a bookshelf! The books are right where I need them (in the kitchen) You may need to go out and buy some bookends, but you can find some cheap ones, if you don't have anything heavy enough to hold them up, but other than that, again, no wasted space and you can actually use those books!

Ok, I'm tapped out this week. Have a happy monday!