Another First of Many

I absolutely love quotes. A problem, issue,  joy, anticipation, event, moment, you name it can be summed up in a quote either by you or by someone else. In English or really any class, the professor most always wants you to be able to say what you want to say in the shortest, most impacting way. Most novels I get wrapped up in is because of this very reason; most sentences can stand alone as saying something significant and needed. I think that many sentences we string together in every day language can be omitted. Learning how to speak in a meaningful way and learning to use words that are not chosen haphazardly, but have value is such a beautiful goal and achievement. 

Whew.. all of this to say.. I have chosen some quotes that are significant to me and I hope that they will be uplifting and significant to you as well. I have these quotes hanging all around in my home to remind me that life is short, and language can often fail us if we are not cautious and wise. Enjoy :) 

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Cake in a Mug!

Cake. Mug. Microwave. Go!

Want cake but don't want to go through the rigamorole of making a big, involved cake? I have the perfect solution! Cake in a Mug. 

This is where I got the exact recipe.

The Recipe

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons whisked egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips

1 small splash of vanilla extract

The Method

This is probably the easiest thing you'll ever make. Combine the flour, sugar, and cocoa in the mug. 

Add the egg, milk, and oil and mix until COMPLETELY combined. This is a situation in which you want zero lumps. Next, stir in the vanilla. 

Side Note: If you're a cheapo like me and can only afford real vanilla extract occasionally and all you have is the imitation stuff, be extremely careful. Your easy cake in a mug will taste absolutely horrible if you put more than just a couple of drops of imitation vanilla extract.

Now, put in two of the three tablespoons of chocolate chips and stir until they are  well-incorporated in the mug. Lastly, sprinkle the remaining one tablespoon of chocolate chips on the top -- don't mix it in the batter.

Pop your cup in the microwave and set the timer for two minutes and thirty seconds. Watch your cake grow!

 Voila! This is your end result! By the way, I doubt you'll ever make a 'real' cake unless you have to make one for someone else. 

Side Note: If you use a tall, slender cup like I did, cook the cake for fifteen seconds longer. If you use a shorter, more round cup then the cooking time will stay the same - two minutes and thirty seconds.

Have a happy, yummy cake day!

The First Teacher Freebie

I hope I have many, many posts like these. 

A little known fact about me is that one of my dreams is to be a teacher, along with counselor (which is what I'm studying to be), artist, author, singer, and about a million more things. My roommate (and best friend!) is a fourth grade teacher who rocks!! Let's call her Miss C. Miss C so graciously uses some of the... things...  I make her for her class or the few ideas that I suggest. Let's be real -- I live vicariously through her and her job. Whew, okay we're good now. So back to the freebies. Miss C is apart of a community called Teachers Pay Teachers where teachers contribute their lesson plans, printables, units, tests, quizzes, etc. either for a small price (i.e. $1, $3, etc.) or for free. Yep, I said it again. Free. What a beautiful word to happily frugal people! As everyone knows, Pinterest is chalk-full of great free printables for just about everything. So,  I've decided that every printable, for now, that I make I'll offer up for others to use here on my blog and eventually on Teachers Pay Teachers. Yay!! 

First up:

Math Corner Board Work

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I found the idea for this on Pinterest, but I tweaked it to fit Miss C's needs. I laminated the page so that all Miss C has to do is tape it to her 'Board Work' section of her board and use an Expo marker to add the numbers everyday. Easy peasy lemon squeasy! Now, Miss C will always have a math portion of board work every morning. Side note: to make extra special, try printing it on colored paper!

Multiplication Bingo 

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Who doesn't love Bingo? No one, I tell ya! So, Miss C needed an extra center for Math and wanted to let her students play Bingo with multiplication facts. Her students are stuck on their 8's and 9's. Therefore, this is Multiplication Bingo with ONLY 8's and 9's. 

How to play:

There are five bingo cards (I suggest laminating them if you want more than one use out it) and one answer sheet. One of the Bingo cards and the answer sheet is shown above. Cut out all of the answer sheet's squares and shuffle them. Have the 'caller' call out the multiplication operation (i.e. 9 x 0), not the actual answer! The answers are arranged like in the normal Bingo game so that when the caller checks the player's board, no cheating can occur. Yes! Easier explanation: if the caller calls out '9 x 0' the ONLY answer is B 0. It could not be I 0, N 0, G 0, or O 0 -- only B 0. You can use traditional 'chips' or cut-out circles yourself, but Miss C is going to let them use Expo markers which is such a perk to laminating these puppies! To make extra special, try printing these on colored paper.

So, there you have it, folks, the first teacher prints post of what I hope to be many. Feel free to reproduce, share, and most importantly USE!

Refrigerator Makeover

Do you have an incredibly OLD refrigerator because you live in an apartment or rent your house preventing you from have newer refrigerator (or really because they are way, WAY expensive)? Yep, that's what I thought. Me too. The fridge, as you know you call it, I have is perhaps as old as the building I live in, and I live in a historic property... literally. My fridge even has little slots that you put your eggs in. I hated it when we moved in, but now I love those little sloggs (egg slots). However, there are fourteen sloggs... we all know that there are only twelve eggs in a dozen. That pretty much drives me crazy, but other than that they're wonderful. 

To the point of this post... on Pinterest there has been this... well, I honestly don't know what to call it. It's a little DIY project where you put plastic place mats on the shelves of your fridge to make cleaning your fridge easier and to make it look ascetically pleasing to the eyeball. This is the link to the Pinterest pin (I'm not sure if that is redundant or not.. hmm). This pin shows a new or newer type of fridge that has the clear, solid shelves. And here I am thinking Darn, I have an old fridge with the metal grates. This won't work for me. I was wrong. Yay!! 

Here we go.
For my rather large fridge, I needed one mat and a fourth. I just taped the backside of them with masking tape so they would move away from each other, those lovebirds! 

Then, I just inserted. Woomp, there it is!

I had about a two inch surface my mats wouldn't cover on the third shelf, but it doesn't bother me.

Yeah, my fridge is a little bare at the moment ;) So, if you have an older-than-dirt-should-have-already-gone-out fridge, you can to these mats thingies too!

New Year's Resolutions FINISHED!

I really have to say it -- I'm proud of myself! We (my roommate and I) actually set out to do something and really accomplished it. This feeling is addicting! You should try it :) So, here is the process that I described last post.

          Think well about the resolutions you want to make.

          Write out each resolution on a small piece of paper, small enough to fit in the back of the canvas you will use. 
          Come up with short, vague ways to state your resolutions that YOU will understand.

*Blurred for privacy.

          Paint your canvas and use a paint pen to write your resolution descriptors. You can totally use actual paint to write the words, I'm just horrible at it.

          Tape your written-out, well thought resolutions to the back of your canvas.

*Blurred for privacy.

          Hang in your home so that you are constantly reminded of the promises you made to yourself. :)

The one on the left is my roommate's :)

There's one other thing I made for the New Year. I found this on Pinterest, I believe. 

This is a mason jar that I put a sticky note (without the sticky) under the rim with a slit cut in the top and '2013' written. Everyday, hopefully, my roommate and I will fill this jar with blessings and good things we received each day. At the end of the year we will be able to reflect on all of the wonderful things that happened to and for us, both small and big. Also, during the year, if we need a pick-me-up, we can open it up and look through them to remember the GOOD in our lives. I love this idea and am determined to keep up with it. I hope everyone has had a great first two days of 2013; may the rest be filled with blessings and love.

New Year's Resolutions

I have decided to set resolutions for the new year, which is a big deal for me. I usually don't set these goals for fear of not accomplishing them, but I am making a genuine effort this coming up year to succinctly set resolutions and attain them by the end of 2013.

I think it's really important to know what you're doing before you do it. So, I've looked up and recalled some things to get my mind going in the right direction. Google defines resolution as 'a firm decision to do or not to do something.' Synonyms for this term are determination, resolve, solution. When making any goals, or resolutions as we like to call them this time of year, it's important to make S.M.A.R.T. goals. I learned this acronym from my internship this past fall. S- specific, M- measurable, A- attainable, R- realistic, T- timely. Click here to see how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals. I am such a broad-thinking person at times, so for me the M (measurable) part is going to be most difficult. But I'm ready! 

So, that is what I am doing for the next three days - making resolutions. My roommate and I are going to make a few, clear goals and paint them on canvases to hang in our apartment for the upcoming year. I am hoping that this constant reminder will help me put in action the goals I've set for myself. I am pretty excited :)

Cheese Muffins de Jim-n-Nicks

I found this recipe from a friend's blog and am so excited to see how wonderful they taste!

Here is all you need.

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten well
4 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients separate from the wet ingredients. Next, combine them both and add the cheese! Butter muffin ti or cupcake pan and place them evenly. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until the top is slightly golden. You don't want it to be dark because they will become chewy.

I can't wait to try this recipe out and see how delicious they are; my friend said they taste so delicious and the exact same as Jim-n-Nicks. Yum!