Fun With Avocados

Ok, so avocados are in season right now so they are super cheap, and that's awesome because they are delicious and so good for you. Here's some of the fun stuff I've done with avocados so far:

1. Black Beans and Avocados: Ok, so I don't have a picture of this one because it doesn't photograph well, but it is delicious. First: cook a chopped onion and some garlic (pressed) in a little olive oil. add a can of rinsed black beans. take off heat and set aside to let cool. Take an avocado (or two if you want the ratio to be more avocado than bean) and cut it into small cubes. Add to mixture with sime finely chopped cilantro and you have yourself a party. Put it in a wrap, serve with tortilla chips, or just eat it straight up. I got this recipe from myself, in that I made it up.

2. Avocado with cottage cheese and bacon:

Do I really need to explain how to make this? Cut an avocado in half, take out the pit, add cottage cheese, sprinkle bacon on top. I got this recipe from my friend Jack. Such a good combo.

3. Avocado Chicken:

Cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts. let cool. cut up an 1/2 onion, finely chop some cilantro, cube 2 avocados and squeeze some lime juice all into the same bowl. Add chicken. Stir. I think I found this recipe online, but I probably changed some stuff. OH, and add some sea salt. That's almost always a good call.

Ok, happy cooking!

Easter 2013: South Bend Edition

Well friends, I'm very late on my blog post about. Lucky for me, none of you expected it on time. Okay, so here's Easter with the McShanes:

 First things first: Mary Kate can fit in Lady's kennel. I find this rather impressive. James can't and I can a little, but she is full-on in there. That's amazing.

 Ok, so Friday night when we got into town, James had his fantasy baseball draft, so I hung out with Martee, MK, and Sarah. James was in the same room, but not 100% there. We had snackies. It was nice.

 Lunch on Saturday this happened. Isn't that nice? James is learning the guitar and wanted to show his hot new skills to Kevin, who already has skills. I want to frame this and hang it above the hearth. I like it that much.

 Here's James, Kevin, James' dad, Martee, Mary Kate, and Sarah having dinner on Easter Vigil. Here's a question: Why is it called Easter Vigil and Christmas Eve? Why not Christmas Vigil and Easter Eve? These are the things I wonder about when I'm trying to fall asleep.

 Here's me and James on Easter morning in our Easter clothes. I was going to say "in our Easter bonnets", but of course, James made us take our splendid Easter bonnets off for this picture. Something about not wanting the internet to know how much we as a couple love wearing bonnets on holidays. I can't remember the full reason. Anyway...moving on...

 Here's the girls on the couch with their Easter baskets/bags. Sarah's roommate joined us for Easter breakfast.

Here's the organization of the Easter picture that I don't actually have a copy of. I'm sure it looks great. I just like this picture, so I wanted to include it.

The mass we went to on Easter was surprisingly somber. I mean, they technically picked "Easter" type songs to sing, but I was totally unconvinced that the music ministry really actually was happy that Christ is risen. It felt like they kind of regretted having to celebrate. But we saw a lot of friends and we sat with family, so it was still a nice mass.

We also got to play some croquet with Joe and Sarah, the betrothed couple we are friends with. I had an early lead, but I ended up coming in dead last in the end, which just means James and I need to practice playing lots of yard games before we go head to head with those two again. They came in first and second. But yeah, other than getting owned in croquet, we had a really nice time and drank some delicious beers. Fun was had by all.

We also got to have breakfast at some friends' house, and that was made even more exciting because James is going to be the godfather of their new wee babe! That's right, James is Marlon Brando. It's awesome. So that's exciting.

Ok, I promise to blog sooner next time, ok? ok. Bye!

Smells

Hi friends. So last Friday I was walking to work and I smelt some crazy smells. Yes, that's right, this blog post is actually about smelling things. Ok, so first I'm walking around, looking at houses that I think look nice, minding my own sweet business and all of a sudden, I smell something.

 This is what I look like when I'm smelling things. Anyway, all of a sudden, in the middle of a residential neighborhood, it smells just like this shipping area I used to bike through on my way to the trucking company I worked for some time back in 2007. Now, that place smells like tons of cardboard because they're shipping things all over the place, so of course there's a plethora of cardboard. So anyhow, this smell lasts for about 2 blocks and then it's gone. So that was weird. I mean, it's not like there should be tons-o-cardboard there. But oh well, it's gone.

But then, in another 3 or so blocks, it starts smelling like older lady perfume from the early 1990s, which also makes no sense at all, because of course the area I was walking couldn't be that full of older ladies of the early 1990s without me seeing them all grouped around together. And of course I know this particular smell from being around in the early 1990s and from my constant thrift store shopping. And that's what gets me thinking this next thought: Why do all thrift stores smell like that? Let's take this to a new paragraph.

Why do all thrift stores have that same smell? Is that the smell of all thrift stores' soaps and employees, or is that thriftish smell the culmination of all human smells. I mean, sometimes you get something with a specific perfume or odor, but usually, it's just that one kinda "oh, someone's worn this, I should wash it before I do, or at least tell people I did" smell. It's just interesting to me that EVERY thrift store seems to smell the same way. I can only assume that that's what people as a whole smell like if we all put our smells into a big pot and just stirred it around a little.

Ok, that's really all I wanted to talk about. Bye!

The Blue Twig Wreath: Part 3

Ok, let's be honest, since finding out about our moving date, I've been less and less concerned about decorating for the seasons. I realized today that snowflakes and hearts were not March or April appropriate, so I fished out the following bunnies from storage:

I found these at a thrift store for 50 cents. Lucky they didn't ask for 50 Cent, because I have no idea how to get a hold of him. Anyway, Normally I would go to Hobby Lobby and buy the $1 ribbon and 25 cent felt that I needed to make this wreath all that much cuter, but alas, I have to put this wreath in a box sometime in the next month and a half, so do this I did not. Rather, I was lazy on this wreath (the flowers aren't even tied in place, I just kinda shoved them in there).

 Imagine it with leaves of felt and maybe it'll seem less crappy to you. I'm not going to apologize for my lack-luster work, I'm just going to be honest: I did not try very hard. Just give me a C and move on.

This is what Lady looks like today. She is kinda depressed because she got to spend all last week with my parents (who she is in love with) and she's bummed that she's back here with just us. She's been sleeping and moping around all yesterday and today. Sorry, Lady, all spring breaks must come to and end.

My Kitchen

Hi friends. Sorry it's been such a while since I've written, I've been packing. It's official, James and I are moving back to MN early this May. So yesterday I packed 2 bins and today I packed 2 bags and 4 boxes. It's been a weird rush. Anyway, since we're leaving this apartment soon, I'd like to share some of my favorite things in the kitchen. Here we go.

 This is a collage-type-frame that I bought on Black Friday for $8. Nothing says "wedding day bliss" like finding a frame on sale at Target. By the way, if you click on the pictures on this blog, they'll show up larger for you, just fyi.

 We bought metal shelves from either Menards or Target when we moved in because our kitchen looks big, but actually, there's really not a lot of storage space at all once you put your dishes away, so we had to find a food storage solution. Anyway, this is not a stylish shelf, but I did put tiles down(so you could stack spices on it without them falling through) and used boxes and packaging in fun ways, so I am proud of it's usefulness.

 This is a random piece of decorative at from Target, and two whiteboard-type surfaces I've created. One is a calendar that I made by painting a frame and using scrapbook paper (which is falling down inside the frame right now, but we're moving soon, so I'll fix it in MN), and the other is a piece of scrapbook paper laminated against a piece of cardboard (The one with the picture of James as a wee babe). Anyway, both are handy.

 The dinos rejoice in springtime,
their song is loud and clear,
for daisies come at springtime,
and so does summer's beer.
Man, I love Summer Shandy. Apparently so do the dinos.

 This is my kitchen window. It's rather cluttered with gadgets and flowers, but I don't care. That's also my chia pet there. It's dead. I'll blog about that tragedy later.

 Here's our fridge. See if you can find yourself! Hint, unless you sent us mail, you're probs not on here. But here are some fun things that are: Aaron Rogers, Kindergarten James, 5 postcards from Anna (all MN related, none of them are the Spam ones), and a magnet about all the known confederate battle flags (Note: I just really like learning about the civil war. We are not confederates).

Here's a metal M with pics of our siblings. It's supposed to be senior pics, but we still have to find/make one for MK, so...it's just pics for now.

Ok, so that's my kitchen. Everyone please pray that we can get a great apartment in MN, ok? Alright, great, thanks. Take care!

Cool people loving cancer patients.

As the child of two cancer patients, I'm always looking to promote cool charities that benefit people dealing with cancer. Here's some awesome groups I've found:

1. Love Your Melon: http://loveyourmelon.com/

Love Your Melon is a company created by Zach Quinn and Brian Keller. The company makes hats for kids with cancer. They also sell the hats online, which is how they fund their operation. I found out about them from a former athlete of mine (I coached high school cross country and distance track for 4 years, in case you didn't know that), and I think it's awesome. Cute name, too.

 2. Knitted Knockers: http://theknittingexperience.com/knitted_knockers_program/

Sorry to all those reading this that fear boobs, but this is the reality of breast cancer. Sometimes, you lose a boob, and replacements can be very expensive and uncomfortable, so this group knits soft, comfortable boobs for ladies who want to look symmetrical after a battle with breast cancer. There's ways to get involved on the website.

3. The Knitty Titty Committee: http://www.knittytittycommittee.com/

I've read several news articles about this group, even in my home paper in Minnesota, though they're based out of Washington. This is another group of women knitting sweater-fillers for breast cancer survivors. The thing that's great about this organization is that they have the knitting patterns for different breast sizes right on the website, with directions and the address you can mail your completed project to (The Breast Cancer Research Center in Washington).

That's all I have for now, but if you know of a cool, cancer-related work going on, let me know, because I'd love to do another post similar to this one.

D.I.Y. infinity scarf and the coolest tree house ever

Hi friends! Ok, so I was driving home from the airport on Wednesday and I saw the coolest tree house.

It's on Indiana's 67, on the right side of the road going away from the airport. I saw it, found a u-turn place up the road a little, and drove back around just to look at it again. Isn't it cool? I mean, who knows if it's still functional, but it looks awesome. I love a good tree house.

Anyway, this entry promises a D.I.Y. infinity scarf. Here's the truth, any scarf you own (so long as it's not square, obviously) could be an infinity scarf if you just sew the two ends together.

Basically, I was out on the other side of town (this is all still in Bloomington, IN for the record), and I decided to pop into the Dollar Tree over there. Now, the only reason I did this is because we live near a rather small and run-down Dollar Tree, and the one across town is much larger and looks a lot less like a place you're likely to be murdered. All good things. Anyway, I'm in there and there's these cheapy scarves for spring weather and I think to myself "Hey Al-Pal, these are dirt cheap. You should just buy a few and try your infinity scarf idea out on these, because if it's a fail, you're only out three bucks plus tax, because this state taxes clothing...sigh..." Ok, so that's what I did and it turned out great.

Yay, I bought 3 scarves, I sewed the ends together and made one looooooooooong scarf, and then I sewed those two ends together and made a huge-o circle. Now it's just a matter of wrapping it around a handful of times and I've got myself a nice (and super thrifty) infinity scarf. Bam.

Some of you may be thinking "Hey Al, your pictures are less terrible, what's the deal?" Well, my rude friend, there is a nicer way to say that. You could have just asked me nicely how my pictures got better looking. Just saying. Also, it's all a lie. They are not better pictures, I, like a lot of America, am lying about my abilities and I'm just using Instagram. Here's my page:
http://instagram.com/aliciamcshane/
I love it. It turns mundane pictures into less mundane pictures. Man alive.
Ok, have a lovely weekend everyone!