I Set Fire To The Toaster...

Em here, so I am supposed to leave on a wonderful week long trip to visit family tonight, and well I haven't packed yet and unfortunately our car broke down this morning...which gives me THAT many more things on my to do list today...but first and for most is today's Pinstrosity!

This is an old one but a good one, and apparently one that we should feature again because, well it is a good warning to others. Maddy sent us this Pinstrosity and it is quite literally a level 5, check it out:

The Original

http://www.thekitchn.com/lunch-tip-from-jamie-oliver-to-144021

Grilled Cheese in the toaster!! Genius your thinking right!? This is true, if it's in the right toaster...if it's not however...

The Pinstrosity

This is what Maddy's toaster looked like after it caught fire, and she had to put it out with a fire extinguisher.

I feel like we need to do one of those commercials where we show a picture of a toaster and say "This is your toaster." and then show the Pinstrosity picture and say "This is your toaster on grilled cheese. Don't toast and grilled cheese. This commercial brought to you by The Foundation For A Safer Toaster". 

My family has LOTS of experience with this one, and you can find the original story I posted on this topic where my dear sweet husband caught our kitchen on fire here: http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2012/02/not-so-grilled-cheese.html

Can I mention that was his second kitchen fire in 6 months? I can? Awesome. That was his second kitchen fire in six months. Bless his heart he tries to help me out and sometimes things just get a little out of hand. But I digress. 

Here is the problem:

If your toaster has a toast "cage" then this generally doesn't work...also you run into problems when the cheese melts off the side of the bread (which is the whole point of grilled cheese, melty yummy gooey perfect cheese), so if you are going to do this, have your fire extinguisher ready, your tongs to pull out fire bread and be ready to handle smelling burnt cheese every time you use your toaster for at least the next six months.  If you  MUST experiment with this and are unsure how your toaster will react take this one outside, that way if it does spontaneously combust your house doesn't smoke up.

With that being said I need to add that this doesn't happen with every toaster, but the ones that it doesn't work on it will literally catch on fire. The fire stems from cheese on the bottom of the toaster that gets to hot and catches on fire, also when you turn the toaster over on it's side and turn it on the heat has no where to get out, because it is trying to go up and it can't and so it causes a fire.

Now that I have told how to do this without catching your house on fire ( I hope) I would recommend NOT grilling cheese in a toaster.  Heaven forbid you put it in, and then see your kid is choking the cat and has gum in his hair while running naked to the new neighbors house and you get distracted for even one minute and your kitchen catches on fire. I think it's better to keep the grilled cheese on the grill for safety's sake.

Have a Happy Wednesday Pinstrosipeeps! I will try to pop in during the next week, but who knows what kind of shenanigans we will be getting into so no promises, but Marquette will be sure to keep you busy with her fabulous posts this week! See ya soon!

Tips and Tricks from Our Halloween Party

With the Frankenstorm raging on the east coast, we thought we'd give you a Frankenpost...are you ready for this?

Last night was our Halloween Party extravaganza. It turned out well and we had a lot of fun with our friends and family. When we decided to do this party we naturally started pinning ideas and recipes. We tried out pins, tweaked pins, got rid of pins, and then created some of our own ideas. We'd like to share some of those with you and some tricks and tips that we figured out along the way. 

The Original Pin

http://day2daywithhollyj.blogspot.com/2010/10/magical-color-changing-drinks.html

We were pretty excited about these. We had Sprite, clear Koolaid, and water as our party beverages so that the color change could be noticed. The night before the party Cameron and I set out all the cups on the counter and dropped in the food coloring. We tried for just one drop a cup (the instructions called for 2-3 drops, but that just seemed like more than necessary), but a few got 2-4. I figured that would be enough time to dry, and it was...for the red and the yellow. The blue and the green hadn't dried out yet by the time the party started. So lesson number one...prepare these cups probably at least 2 days in advance so the food coloring has time to dry out all the way. 

Then when the party started going, I got filling the cups with ice and people wanted to come help...but I knew they'd look in the cup and see a "dirty spot" and think the cup wasn't good so I finally just had to pick one or two people to help ice up cups so the surprise wasn't spoiled for everyone. With the ice in the cups, you can't see the food coloring spot on the bottom. We started to take drink orders and bring them their cup, but the drinks started changing color so fast that by the time we handed them the drink the color was already changing...so lesson number two: just ice the cups and let people pour their own drinks. We got the drinks served and watching everyone's reactions was fun. It was a hit with everyone, adults, college kids, teens, etc. 

The Original Pin

http://kirstycolquhoun.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-137-witches-broomsticks.html

Witchs' broomsticks.

Our Version:

 Em followed the directions and very carefully tried to poke holes in the Reese's mini cups with a carving fork, but the cups kept splitting. So she got creative and just made small indentations and then stuck the pretzel sticks to the Reese's cups with orange frosting. In the end she added orange frosting to all of them because we liked the look of it better than just the plain broom. They're not identical to the original site, but we made them work and they were a hit. We probably could have warmed up the carving fork and it may have made better holes without breaking the Reese's, but this ended up working just fine. 

The Original Pin

http://barbschram.blogspot.com/2009/07/witch-way-justrite-way.html

These actually were really easy to make. Em got all the supplies listed on the site and put these cute cookies together. They came out just right. The most annoying part? Unwrapping all those kisses. 

Our Version:

The Original Pin:

http://feedingfourlittlemonkeys.blogspot.com/2008/10/veggie-skeleton.html

One of our friends wanted to bring something, so we assigned them the skeleton veggie platter. 

Our Version:

This looks really cute until people dig in, then it just looks like an odd assortment of veggies. But...it was a huge hit...I've never seen a veggie tray eaten as fast as this one was. 

The Original Pin

http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/noms

I looked through page after page after page of myfoodlooksfunny.com and never did find this picture, but every link I've found online takes me to that site...so it's probably there somewhere. 

I know...this is gross...but it makes me laugh so hard.  

Our Version:

We just had to go off the picture for this one...but there really isn't much to explain. The instructions would go something like this. 

1. Carve a small pumpkin (pie pumpkins are the perfect size). 

2. Prepare/buy your favorite guacamole. 

3. Arrange so it looks like the pumpkin is vomiting the guac. 

Those are the steps we followed at least. My guacamole isn't normally very creamy or green...I like more chunky guac...so I tweaked my normal recipe for my family who likes creamy guac...but then it was pretty much white and red from the sour cream and tomatoes/salsa. So I added some green and yellow food coloring to help it out. 

The only tip I can really think of for this one is to choose your container wisely. I didn't really have a platter/dish that was quite the right size and shape, so the pumpkin head kept sinking into the guac as there was only room for it to sit on the edge. So the mouth was kinda hidden, lessening the vomitting look a little. A cake pan or cookie pan would have worked better (but by the time we were putting this together people were showing up, so we just left it at this). 

The Original Pin

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken/chicken-lady-fingers-with-romanian-romesco-dipping-sauce/

Chicken Lady Fingers with Romanian Romesco Dipping Sauce. Well..that's what the inspiration was. This one ended up being our most tweaked Pinterest inspired food item. First off...we didn't want to try and buy enough chicken to serve as many people as were coming...that was just going to be too much. So we nixed the chicken fingers and decided to go with bread sticks instead (this recipe was easy and super super yummy). Even though we changed the chicken to bread, we knew we wanted to try that sauce. Em bought the supplies and we put it together and it made about 1 cup of sauce. There was no way that was going to stretch to feed the crowd. It tasted yummy...but it just wasn't going to be enough. Not having enough supplies to make multiple more batches of the same sauce, we looked through the cupboards improvised. 

Our Version:

We ended up throwing in 2 cups of canned tomatoes (ours were whole and packed in water...but it didn't matter in the end because they got blended up), 4 oz. cream cheese, 1 TBS red pepper flakes, about 1 TBS minced onion, and about 1 1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning. We blended that up, warmed it up on the stove and served it hot with the bread sticks. Yum yum yum!

The Original Pin

http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2012/09/the-perfect-fall-cheese-ball.html

This cheese ball was easy and SOOOO YUMMY!!!! I think it was the first thing to completely disappear off the table. Just follow the directions and you're set to go. I can't think of anything I'd change with this or any tips that aren't given in the recipe. 

Our Version:

We served ours with the remaining chips and then Wheat Thins. 

The Original Pin

http://cookiesandcups.com/cream-cheese-filled-snickerdoodles/

I have been DYING to try these out and they lived up to the weeks of anticipation. They were so yummy. I tried this with the Snickerdoodle recipe given on the site and with my cousin's Snickerdoodle recipe (which I love) and they both tasted the same, but they looked different. The cookies from my cousins recipe looked like the cookies in the picture above, but the cookies from the website I followed came out way more puffy. Neither was better or worse...they were just different in shape. 

Our Version:

I do have something to say about making these. If you're wanting a fast and easy cookie to make for a lot of people...this probably isn't the one you want to make. It is a little time consuming. I was glad when the filling ran out and I could quit the whole process. But...they were scrumptious and worth the work. I'm just warning you that these don't throw together fast and easy like sugar cookies or chocolate chip cookies. 

On the tier above the Snickerdoodles are mostly-regular brownies. I was one egg short of the 4 the recipe called for, so I substituted 1/4 c. of plain yogurt. The brownies stayed soft (and slightly gooey), but they tasted great!

The Original Pin

http://catchmyparty.com/photos/495699

While looking for the marshmallows I thought we had (to make the party favors we didn't end up having time to make) I found a mostly full bag of dum-dums in the cupboard. I was just going to stick them in a bowl, but then we remembered a pin we'd seen and decided to make a dum-dum topiary. I rummaged through my craft supplies and found 1 Styrofoam ball and started stabbing the dum-dums in it. Well...I ran out of dum-dums before I ran out of Styrofoam ball. So I found a small bowl and we had a half topiary instead. 

Looking back I should have tied a ribbon around the top of the bowl and put a bow on it...but this served the purpose just fine.You'd think this would be a really easy thing to throw together, but it didn't take too long before I had a hard time stabbing the dum-dum sticks in and not hitting another sucker's stick. It took some work to get some of those in...I can't imagine how impossible it'd start to get near the end had I had enough dum-dums to fill the whole Styrofoam ball. So if you're going to make this...get 2 bags of dum-dums and be prepared for some frustration as you try to get all the sticks to align. 

Our decorations were a mix of pinspiraions, creations of our own, and items pulled from our own personal stashes. 

For the front porch:

The Original Pin

http://craftsredesigned.blogspot.com/search/label/Halloween

Our Version:

The hardest part? Getting the tea-lights lit. I didn't have one of the handy dandy furnace lighters...so we pinned 3 clothespins together, and stuck a match on the end. We then lit that match with another match (since there wasn't time to light the match, then stick it in the clothespin) and we lit the candles that way. We tried lighting the candles and sliding them down...but that didn't work. They looked really cute lit up on the porch. We had 10 of these all lit up (but I didn't think to get a picture once it got dark...we were too busy enjoying the party). 

Then I also pulled out these from my stash from last year's Halloween party:

My sister sent me a picture of these on Facebook last year and I put them together with shoes from the thrift store, spray glue, glitter, and stuffed stockings. I used a spatula to push the leg ends under the little crack so it would look like they really were sticking out from under the house. 

Decorations inside the house:

From bottom to top:

Bloody Candles: Pinspired Project.

Dried Corn: WalMart

Troll (by the corn): Gift from Cameron's brother from his time in Norway.

 Black and White Photos: Photos my Great-Grandfather (Em's Grandfather) took.

Quidditch Photo: Personal photo project. 

Boots: From a local thrift/antique/consignment store. 

Framed Leaf: Melted Crayon Project

Yucca Ball: DIY

Metal Kaleidoscope: Gift from a friend. 

Em had the white candles already, so we bought two red tapers and dripped the wax as they burned onto the white candles. From this idea: http://www.marthastewart.com/272746/creepy-candles

More detail on the boots. I saw these in the store for $10 and had to have them. They are WAY to small for my Sasquatch sized feet, but I knew they'd make a fun table decoration. 

 

From left to right...

Witch's wreath: DIY from last year 

Mummy head topiary and Ghost: DIY from last year 

Necktie Garland: DIY from last year

Leaves: Walmart. I put them in an orange vase we found in the house when we moved in. The vase is being held up in a bowl we got for our wedding by 4 dried ears of corn. 

Halloween Silhouettes hung on a ribbon with clothes pins: DIY from last year

And then over the food table I had this:

Inspired by: http://jenikaslensblog.com/anatomy-of-a-halloween-party

A Batmobile...bahahaha, I'm so punny. I used bats from last year's porch decorations and 3 different sizes of embroidery hoops to make this bat chandelier/mobile. It cast some fun shadows at night with the light on. 

And then finally...our costumes. We were both pretty excited about our costumes. We kept them a secret from each other...it made it more exciting to not know (and mine had to be a secret or it just wouldn't have been as effective...you'll see). Last year I set up my photo booth, but the room we set it up in still smells slightly of mouse death...so we opted out of the booth and just took pictures in front of a small blank wall. Not as pretty of pictures, but hey...who cares? We don't need pretty photo booth pictures to remember how much fun we had. 

 Emilee and Chip as Tron and Quorra. I thought they did an EXCELLENT job at making their costumes. They looked super. The reflective tape they used looked awesome in the normal light, but the flash from the camera just really made it shine. 

 I made Cameron a Gentleman Pirate costume. I found the coat at a thrift store in town. It was a little torn up and plain, so I mended the tears, sewed on a collar, found awesome pirate buttons at one of the fabric shops in town and sewed them onto the sleeves, collar, and sides. I put together his pirate hat using this tutorial, and then made the sash from fabric from my scrap bag. He just wore the pants and shirt from last year's costume (tucking the troll tail in a pocket so it wouldn't show). Me? I was Emilee. And it was awesome. She had no idea. I told her I was going to be a pirate along with Cameron...had to throw her off somehow. We were hanging out one day and while she went to run some errands I raided her closet for clothes,jewelry, and the hair flower so I'd be authentic. I added the belt, the leggings, and even made a little hedgehog to go on my wrist in honor of Emilee's pet hedgehog. It took an entire can of red hair coloring to get my hair that color...but it was perfect. The look on Em's face when she realized I'd dressed up as her was hilarious. 

We had to get a picture of Em and I with her "normal hair", and not the black wig. 

So there you have it. Our Frankenpost of our Halloween Party. I hope some of our tips helped and that this helped give you ideas for any last minute party planning you're doing today! We sure had a great time and hope that you have a fun and safe Halloween. 

Diet and Exercising for Weight Loss

You can find all kinds of information on how to eat in order to lose weight, but few diets emphasize the importance of exercise. Losing weight, keeping it off and just enjoying better overall health all require exercise. Obesity is now being called an epidemic in the health community. In fact, it will soon be the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, even ahead of cigarette smoking.

Obesity leads to type two diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke and even an increased risk of cancer. With all of these health risks, as well as the general improvement in the quality of life that can occur, losing weight is one of the best things that you can do for yourself.

 No matter what we would like to believe, there simply isn't a magic solution to losing weight. The body will shed excess fat when it needs more calories to function through the demands you place on it in a given day than the amount of calories that you feed it. It's that simple.

So, in order to lose weight, you need to decrease the number of calories that you eat as well as increase the amount that you burn. There is a wide range of options to choose from when looking for a weight loss program.

 All of them often spend a lot of time explaining what to eat, in what amounts and even at what times or in what combinations. But few of them emphasize the importance of exercise – not just for losing weight, but for your general health and wellbeing. Exercise is vital when trying to lose weight for several reasons:

• First, as you start to eat less, your metabolism will slow down somewhat. Exercising helps to elevate your metabolism back to an efficient level.
• Second, as mentioned, exercise burns more calories so that you can lose weight faster and stay motivated in your efforts.
• Third, exercise actually releases endorphins, chemicals that keep your mood elevated.

Exercise doesn't have to mean spending hours at the gym or straining through exhausting workouts. In fact, in order for you to stick with it on the long run, exercising should be something that you enjoy. Start by increasing your activity level in an overall way.

Take the stairs when you can. Park further from the mall door when you go shopping. Go for a walk in the park or through a neighborhood you love and bring a dog or a friend along for company. Take dance or martial arts lessons.

 Once you become more active in general, you'll find it easier and more natural to move into regular exercise. Which you'll need to do eventually in order to get regular, noticeable health benefits. You need to raise your heart rate to a fat burning level and keep it there for at least 20 minutes, 3 times or more a week. However, if you don’t want to go to a gym, there are other options. Videos and DVDs are now available in all kinds of exercise types.

That way you can change your routine whenever you want so that you don't get bored with what you're doing. Try a range of aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, or pretty much any activity you want right in the comfort of your own home. If you have physical limitations that would keep you off from exercising, you can still find a way to increase your activity level.

 Water aerobics is a wonderful option for those who have joint problems or limited mobility because it relieves the pressure on your body that your weight provides. But you still get the resistance to challenge your muscles from the water. There are even classes and videos available that let you exercise in a seated position. Whatever kind of exercise you choose, it's important to stay motivated and keep it fun. Try gathering a group together to make it a social event.

Or get a pedometer, a device that tracks how far you walk, and see how many miles you can walk a week. Make a competition amongst your friends or family members and treat the winner with something special (not food related!). Make the experience of exercising something that you look forward to, and it will soon become a regular part of your healthier lifestyle.

By: brown Michael

We're Still Here!!!!!

We are still here! We promise!!! This past week has been insane!!! Tonight is our Halloween party that we are throwing together and so we have both been running around like chickens with our heads caught off, add to that the chaos of our normal lives and you have yourself some really crazy ladies. When the madness subsides we will be more than happy to get back to Pinstrositizing and we hope you will all be here too!!!! Tomorrow we will FOR SURE have something up, but until then please hang tight Pinstrosipeeps!!!
Much love,
Em and Marquette
P.S. If all goes according to plan we will lots of fun pictures from tonight's adventure to share with you! Happy Monday!!!

25 Weight loss tips

Here are some weight loss diet tips that can be followed anywhere, everyday:

1. Make a delicious low fat mayonnaise by combining one teaspoon of Dijon mustard or satay sauce with a low fat yogurt.

2. Do not skip meals. Skipping meals slicks the body into slowing down the metabolism, attempting to conserve calories during a period where limited fats and fuel are available. Remember that eating increases the metabolism.

3. Stuff vegetables like capsicum and zucchini with flavored fillings or minced chicken, white meat or fish. These are healthy and contain low fat.

4. Take pita bread roll ups or wraps with salad fillings.

5. Eight hours after waking up, our metabolism slows down that is why 30 minutes of exercise before dinner will increase the metabolism for about two to three hours.  This produces an increase in burned fat even hours after the work out is over.

6. Add alfalfa or mung beans to salad to get extra iron.

7. Good cooking and healthy eating begins with learning about nutrition and how to prepare healthy recipes.

8. Learn how to make the family favorite recipes and make sure that fats, salt, and sugar are cut out. Substitute non-fat yogurt for cream, stir-fry without oil and use herbs and spices instead of salt to taste.

9. Consult the doctor before beginning an exercise or weight loss program.

10. Slowly eat and chew each bite during meals as this would decrease one's appetite.

11. Complete three small meals and two snacks everyday instead of one or two huge meals.

12. Use chicken stock when stir-frying.  This will cut down on hidden fat.

13. Buy non-toasted muesli instead of the toasted ones.  A plate of toasted muesli contains more fat than a plate of bacon and eggs.

14. As much as possible do not remove the skins of fruits and vegetables since most of the nutrients are concentrated under the skin.

15. Warm water with just a squeeze of lemon juice before breakfast get the metabolism going for the day, this also help preventing constipation and is excellent for the skin.

16. One of the best sources of vegetable protein is from soya beans or tofu. All legumes provide some protein, so include lentils, lima beans etc into casseroles and soups.

17. Look for a weight loss "buddy," club, or support mates. This will motivate you to stay and enjoy your weight loss program.

18. Though it's hard at first, try not eating 3 hours or more before bedtime.

19. Make pasta a fast food choice - preparing a pasta meal or salad will only take 10-12 minutes.

20. Chilli helps to speed up metabolism - even the milder varieties.

21. Try making omelettes without adding the yolks! A dramatic decrease in fat.

22. Substitute baking soda, baking powder, MSG and soya sauce in cooking.

23. Remove fat by dropping ice cubes into the baking tray. Fat will stick to the ice cubes.

24. Drinking hot water instead of cold water in the morning can increase the speed of your metabolism and burn more calories.

25. Eat before you go food shopping and always prepare a shopping list. Only buy food which relates to your weekly menu plan and don't be tempted to buy goodies.

Make sure that the right discipline is still practiced to promote consistency on the diet plan.  This will lead eventually to a healthy life-style and a more fruitful living without the extra fat and extra pounds on the side.

By: brown Michael

How To Avoid Sugar At Work

Controlling your sugar intake is much easier than trying to control your cravings at work. Here are a few ideas you could use to ignore your cravings at work!

Make a real effort. You know your supply of sweets at work? You need to throw them all out. No more sweets at work. Certain times of the years are also treat heavy such as Halloween or Christmas.

Avoid the desks or parts of the offices that might contain them like the pantry. Don’t go there! Instead, take your lunch and eat it outside at a park.

Tell your friends about it. There are sure to be people at work who have a similar problem to you. Find them and both of you can encourage each other to avoid junk food.

Start packing lunch and snacks to work. Substitute the junk food with whole fruits such as apple, pear and peaches. Bring a salad to work too. Fill your salad with capsicum, cucumber, lettuces, and tomatoes and top it with a little olive oil dressing. If you do need your junk food fix, you could have your choice of unsweetened and unsalted chips.

Don’t skip breakfast. Skipping breakfast will lower your blood sugar and makes you more vulnerable to your sugar cravings. Eat your breakfast before you go work. Fill it with protein or multi grained cereal to start you on your day.

Read the labels. If you’ve got a cafeteria at work, make sure you read the labels first before purchasing. They are often laden with artificial sweeteners and are considered fake food.

If you must, limit yourself to homemade treats only. If someone brought in cookies they have baked, don’t offend them. Say no to all company packed sugar foods.

Lastly, make a conscious decision today to kick your habit. Remember you can make this happen!

By: brown Michael

7 Handy Tips To Stopping Your Sugar Cravings

Sugar cravings are difficult to ignore. What is worse is that sugary treats are so easily available everywhere which makes it harder to ignore your craving. If you’re always craving for sugary snacks, you are not alone. Eating lots of simple carbohydrates i.e. sugar may only give your body a short term energy boost but they will always leave hungry and craving for more. So here a few tips to stop your body for craving for more sugar.

1_ Replace it with fruits. Keep fruits around when sugar cravings hit. Fruits are naturally sweet and full of fiber and nutrients.  Bring fruits to your work or and fill up your kitchen with fruits such as apples and pears. Those are easy to eat instead of fruits that require you to peel.

2_ Go for a walk. When you get a sugar craving, get out of the house and go for a walk. If you are at work, take a rest from your work, and walk about for 10 minutes. This will take your mind off the food.

3_ Eat regularly. If you don’t have three square meals a day, you may be craving for sugar because your body is low on sugar. So accompany your fruits with nuts, seed and dried fruits. These are protein and fiber rich food. For your three regular meals, increase your protein intake. Add an egg in the morning for your breakfast.

4_ Remove temptations. Go through your refrigerator and get rid of all the sugary treats. When you go grocery shopping, make a list of the things that you have to buy and stick to the list. After you are done, pay for it immediately instead of lingering around the sweets section.

5_ Read labels. Before you start buying food, be sure to read the label. Start being aware of content of the food that you purchased. Being aware of sugar contents can help you avoid high sugar food.

6_ Improve your diet. Eat more protein and fat. A well balanced meal will do your body good. Have small frequent meals to keep your blood sugar level stable. Take a daily multivitamin. This will help keep blood sugar stable.

7 Lastly, if you really do have to satisfy your sugar cravings, go for quality instead of quantity. Eat a small piece of dark chocolate instead of candy bar. This treat will be more satisfying for you.

By: brown Michael

Boo Berries

Pinstrosity got to spend a lovely day on Tuesday with the ladies at Aunt Judy's Attic in Silver City, NM, where we got to teach a class all about Pinterest. It was a lot of fun to meet the women there and to talk about how Pinterest could help each of them, how to work Pinterest, and even helped a lady get set up with her own account. All in all, it was really a fun way to spend a day. 

Occasionally as we'd show them something really fun and they'd go "Ooohhhh!!" kinda like this:

The Original Pin

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Strawberry-Ghosts

Okay, I know these are supposed to be scared, but to me it looks like they could be "oohing" or surprised too. Taste of Home put together a great recipe with instructions to make these Boo Berries. 

Lindsay found the pin, made the boo berries, then sent her photo to us and said, " I think these people had tools or tiny fingers or something! Mine turned out... Well...Special."

The Pinstrosity

Emilee and I are sitting here together and Emilee said, "Hey! They look like the Pac Man ghosts! Tell her she could throw a Pac Man party and use these!" So...these ghosts don't look quite like the picture...but I bet they still tasted delicious. Let's take a look at what can be done next time to get the look of the original pin. 

• First off...I do like the shape of Lindsay's ghosts. She dipped the strawberries and then placed them strawberry side down, rather than chocolate side down. I can see pros and cons to each method. Lindsay's method gives more of a ghost shape to the creations, but it was probably a little more messy, and it might make it harder for people to pick up off a tray. The Taste of Home method doesn't really have the quintessential ghost shape, but the greens on the end make a nice little hand hold for dipping the strawberries and for people to pick off the tray. Also, the melted chocolate will form a little pool under the strawberry, making a handy little flat area to keep the strawberry sitting upright. 
• It looks like Lindsay's chocolate could have used a little bit more shortening in the mix. The directions on Taste of Home do suggest adding some shortening to thin and smooth out the chocolate a little bit, and that will help to reduce clumps and funny spots. When heating your chocolate, add teaspoon of shortening and mix it in. You can add more shortening than that if you need, but do so in tsp. increments, heating and mixing between each addition. 
• It looks like Lindsay used sprinkles as the face, which would be really hard to handle and place. Sprinkles are tiny. Props to her for getting as good of faces as she did...sprinkles and I have a love hate relationship and I don't know that I could have done that well with sprinkles. Taste of Home used  mini chocolate chips as the eyes, placing them on the strawberry before the chocolate has cooled and set completely. For the mouth, wait until the white chocolate has cooled and set up before you melt the next set of chocolate. The original site suggests using a toothpick to draw on the mouth. I've tried that before...and it's not all that easy. I've seen it done, but it'll take some practice (or at least I need practice with it...I know there are those of you out there who got it down on your first try). I spoon a little bit in a plastic baggy (making sure that there's enough shortening in the chocolate to make it runny enough) and then I cut just the very very tip off to make a tiny whole so I can squeeze the chocolate out. I find I can get better control that way when I'm drawing designs with chocolate. 

But...no matter how these boo berries turn out as far as looks go, I'm pretty sure they will taste just fine. That's one of the great things about this "recipe"...unless you get bad berries or something weird get added to the chocolate, it's bound to taste fantastic. 

Choosing The Right Diet For You

There are so many different and varied diets floating around today that it can be quite difficult to make a decision regarding which one is right for you when you feel it’s time to lose weight. Some diets emphasize low fat while others insist low calories are the way to go. Still yet, other diet gurus are adamant that in order to meet your weight loss goals you must cut out all forms of carbohydrates.

There are so many different and varied diets floating around today that it can be quite difficult to make a decision regarding which one is right for you when you feel it’s time to lose weight. Some diets emphasize low fat while others insist low calories are the way to go. Still yet, other diet gurus are adamant that in order to meet your weight loss goals you must cut out all forms of carbohydrates. One diet seems to combine factors from at least two other well known diets with claims to produce an optimum fat burning weight loss program. Then there are the various other diets that have circulated around the world for years with numerous success stories such as the cabbage soup diet and the cider vinegar diet. Which diets really work and more importantly; which diet is right for you?

One of the most important factors you must consider when contemplating any diet plan is whether you will learn how to eat healthy and nutritionally sound through the plan. Unfortunately, a number of different diets that boast incredible results do so through nutritionally bankrupt methods. Often referred to as fad diets, these weight loss programs encourage you to indulge in eating habits that can do more harm than good.

Many weight loss programs promise almost instantaneous results and for awhile at least; it seems as though your weight loss dreams may have finally come true through the presence of this type of diet. Then the sad reality sets in. You realize there is no possible way you can stay on this diet for the rest of your life. This is an important factor to consider; because ideally you should be looking for a healthy weight loss and maintenance program not a diet. Although a very low-calorie, high or liquid diet or even a diet that only lasts for a few days may allow you to initially lose some weight, you will inevitably find that your weight loss problems recur when a vengeance at a later point. Instead of looking for a miracle cure, look for a weight loss program that can help you to achieve your goals on a permanent basis.

For those of us who would prefer to avoid exercise like the plague, any weight loss program that promises we can reach our goals without that dreaded E word is a lifesaver. Unfortunately, long term weight loss simply isn’t possible without taking part in a sensible exercise routine. Sad, but true.

When considering engaging in any weight loss program or diet, always ask yourself the following questions 1. Will I learn to take part in a healthy, nutritionally sound eating plan through this diet? 2. Is this a diet I can stick with long term? and 3. Does this diet combine sensible eating with moderate exercise?

When you find a diet or weight loss program that meets all of these conditions, you know that you have found the right diet for you. As with any diet, it’s always a good idea to check with your physician before engaging in any weight loss program.

By: brown Michael

Wreath Woes

I am the Queen of eyeballin' projects. Sometimes this ends in my favor and I just get lucky, other times, not so much. In all reality it usually happens because I am just too lazy to go back to the  store...boo on my part right?! Who am I kidding, we have all been there. Anyways lately we have really been pushing the Pin Spin idea, take a project you see on Pinterest and make it your own, or if a project isn't going your way tweak it to work! For the most part we have seen some great results, until today...

The Original

http://blog.pacificmutualdoor.com/2010/11/22/thanksgiving-door-decor/

The Pinstrosity

Several thing happened here:

Annie loved this fall wreath idea (and so do I...something about colored corn that really makes the season extra exciting for me), so she bought her wreath form, and corn and went to work. Shortly after she realized she didn't have enough corn, and decided it would still look good with spaces between the corn, and well it didn't add up to all that she was hoping for. Bummer, don't you hate that? Well she did add a cute little owl, but there are some other tricks to make this end well.

Her wreath form is way too small, either that or the original used tiny corn, if that later is the case, where can I find some?! Cute!! If however it is the first problem (which is what I suspect) then I suggest when you get your wreath form (the original used a straw wreath form) make sure it is approximately the right size in order to accommodate your corn. Also Annie's is shiny, like perhaps there is cellophane or something on there still, I really like the look of a little straw sticking out here and there, but that is just me, so there is another thing to decide.

Also, if you count the corn from the first, there are 29,and depending on your corn size you might need to add or subtract one. Another thing to consider using is the fake corn you can get at Micheal's or Hobby Lobby, which the animals won't eat. Last Halloween we had a little critter slowly eat each and every last corn kernel off our several cobs on our porch display. Happy for him, sad for our porch display. I know it's on a door and all, but critters get creative when they are really hungry, so don't underestimate them!

Anyone have any critters get into your holiday display? What did you do to defer them?! 

Thanks for tuning in Pinstrosipeeps! Happy Wednesday!

Does Alli Really Work For Weight Loss?

Does alli work as a weight loss pill? The quick answer seems to be yes, but there is a downside, so read on.

Alli is the over-the-counter name for orlistat which is also available in prescription form as Xenical. If you are going to ask for it you may like to know that it is pronounced like ally, not alley. It is essentially a fat blocker. It works by preventing the body from absorbing the fat from the foods that we eat, and it is the one freely available drug that has FDA backing for its claims to aid weight loss. You might think you could eat all the fatty foods you liked and then take alli to negate the effect but sadly that is not true. It should always be used in conjunction with a low fat diet plan under the supervision of a doctor.

The amount of weight loss achieved with alli is variable. In one study involving one-year clinical trials, between 35.5% and 54.8% of subjects attained a 5% or greater decrease in body mass, although we do not know how much of this mass was fat. Between 16.4% and 24.8% of the subjects achieved a 10% or more decrease in body mass. In combination with a calorie controlled diet, the effects could be expected to be greater. It was also shown to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The participants regained an average of one third of the weight that they had lost after stopping alli, but this is typical of most dieters.

The main disadvantage of alli is the side effects which center around digestive and bowel problems. The higher the fat content in the diet, the greater these side effects are likely to be, as the undigested fat is expelled from the body. Flatulence, loose stools and bowel incontinence can result, especially in the early stages before the body is accustomed to the drug. The manufacturer's website warns, "You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work." You really need to want to lose weight to take alli!

However, these side effects are reduced if you stick to the recommended low fat diet and as the manufacturers hint, the potentially embarrassing side effects can even be helpful in encouraging you to keep to your diet. Always remember that alli does not claim to work without consistent efforts toward weight loss from you. What they do claim is that it can improve your weight loss by up to 50%. That would mean a person who lost 10 pounds without taking alli would lose 15 pounds taking it. It boosts your weight loss and rewards your efforts with better results than you could get by yourself. Note though that individual results will vary and are not guaranteed.

Sadly, there is no magic diet pill that will melt away your excess pounds while you sleep, but alli is a pill that has documented results. If you are determined to lose weight and have been struggling with diets without much effect, it may be a good time to discuss it with your doctor and find out does alli work for you.

By: brown Michael

15 Highly Effective Ways To Lose Weight Fast

Want to lose weight fast? It's easy to say goodbye to 10 pounds of unwanted fat with these easy diet tips. Just pay attention to what you eat and be sure to have good tasting, fresh and healthy food including snacks, fill up on vegetables and keep your taste buds happy with fruit.

No need to make sacrifices! Just follow these simple guidelines to lose your first 10 pounds, last 10 pounds or give your weight loss program a boost when it seems to have stuttered to a halt. This is a balanced and flexible plan that you can use for as long as you want.

1. Keep a note of everything that you eat and drink. You do not need to estimate calories. Just write down what it was that you had and the approximate quantity. You will find that being more aware of what you are eating helps you to plan healthy meals and snacks.

2. Halve your intake of all pure or added fats. This means using half as much butter or spread on your bread, toast, muffins and potatoes; half the usual amount of mayonnaise or sauce on your salad; and half the oil in the frypan every time.

3. Limit treats containing sugar to three times per week. This includes chocolate, ice cream, desserts, cake, pastries, cookies, etc.

4. Include a lower fat source of protein at most meals: chicken, fish, beans, cottage cheese, or low fat yogurt. Have eggs, nuts and red meat occasionally but not every day.

5. Plan at least one lunch and dinner every week without meat or cheese. Build those meals around whole grains, vegetables and beans to increase fiber and reduce fat.

6. Reduce the fat content in your milk products. If you are currently drinking whole milk, reduce to 2% fat. From 2% reduce to 1%. Choose lower fat cheese and yogurt. When you buy yogurt, also check that it does not contain sugar.

7. Have at least two servings of fruit every day. This can be for dessert or snacks. Choose fruit that is in season.

8. Drink water instead of sodas, juices, milky drinks or alcohol. Avoid diet soda - the sweet taste only encourages you to crave sugar. Hot water with a slice of lemon can be very refreshing in the morning.

9. Include at least two servings of vegetables at lunch and dinner. If you are getting hungry, have more.

10. Eat slowly. The body is slow to register when you are full and it is easy to eat too much if you are racing through your meals.

11. Grated carrot makes a great snack. You will find that a grated carrot is much more filling than a whole carrot. Strange but true.

12. Use whole grains wherever possible. The fiber will give you a fuller feeling and also help your digestion.

13. Choose food that you can chew. Again, this will increase your fiber intake, and the act of chewing will make you feel more satisfied, too. This means eating fruit instead of drinking juice. If you have soup, make sure it is chunky.

14. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. Plan your shopping, too - make a list of what you need and stick to it. If you just grab something when you are feeling hungry, you will probably choose high calorie food.

15. Always switch off the TV when you eat. That includes snacks as well as meals. Studies have proved that we eat larger portions in front of the TV, probably because we are much less aware of what we are eating. When you eat, only eat if you want to lose weight fast.

By: brown Michael

Flower Power

I woke up two hours early today so that I could get everything done that I needed to...but today had other plans. Things have gone well, don't get me wrong, just not according to what I had planned. ~250 miles into the day, with another 6 hours to go, I've got just enough time to pause and get this Pinstrosity out to you.

Sara sent us in a Pinstrosity she ended up with while trying to make fabric flowers. Here's the original pin:

The Original Pin

http://www.digu.com/pin/t2ypaj1xt6zpo

Cute, no!? 

Sara said "I saw the cute flower tutorial and thought it could make an adorable hair-clip for my baby daughter. I know that photo-tutorials often turn into Pinstrosities, but I figured, if it didn't work out I'd just send it in to you! :) And, here it is.  I imagine if I had used a different fabric it might have turned out better. I used a satin-type fabric, because that's what I had around the house. I wasn't about to purchase anything new for an experiment. I followed the directions exactly, but since there weren't a whole lot of directions, that doesn't say much. :) If you have any other ideas on how it could've worked better, I'd love to hear them!"

The Pinstrosity

So I decided to try this out, starting first with satiny fabric like Sara used and my results came out slightly different, but not much better. I found that keeping your stitch lengths all the same is key to this flower turning out right. 

So then I pulled out some stiffer fabric from my stash to see how it fared and it went much better. 

While the thicker fabric did help a lot, I really found that what made the most difference was keeping all my stitch lengths the same; that creates a more uniform flower.