Recipe: Golden Oatmeal Pancakes

These tasty oatmeal pancakes may sound heavy, simply by knowing oatmeal is a main ingredient, but in fact, their texture is actually fluffy with a nice crisp on the edges.  Easy to make and healthy eating friendly, try a batch this week with fresh fruit.

Golden Oatmeal Pancakes
(adapted from Cooking Light)

What you need:
1/4 c. flour
1 c. quick cooking oats
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. nonfat milk
1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, melted
cooking spray

What to do:
1. Measure the milk and add the lemon juice or vinegar and allow to sit. (You can use non-fat buttermilk also, but I found it nearly impossible to find, and this works just as well)
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add the egg to the milk mixture and stir with a fork.  Slowly drizzle in the melted butter while stirring.
4. Add the milk mixture to the dry mixture and stir until combined.
5. Heat a non-stick griddle to medium heat, spray with cooking spray.  Drop batter by scant 1/4 cupfulls.
6. Allow 1-2 minutes, then flip, cook for 1-2 more minutes.
7. Serve hot with fresh fruit or butter and syrup.

*For me, this recipe makes 11-12 smaller pancakes, you may wish to double depending on your family's size.

Weekend DIY: Striped Entry Wall

After being inspired by photos of walls with wide stripes in neutral colors on Pinterest, I decided to try my hand at painting stripes in my own home on the wall that goes along the entry from our front door.
I'm pleased with the end result, and the project was a relatively easy undertaking, so I thought I'd share with you my step-by-step process in case you're lusting after the striped look as well.

If your wall is not already one of the stripe colors you are wanting, you'll want to paint the entire wall one of the desired shades first, and allow at least a day for that paint to thoroughly dry.

To begin the striping process, you'll want to make markings that will help you tape off the borders of your stripes. For my wall, I decided to make stripes that were one foot wide.  Using a ruler (or in my case, a foot long piece of cardboard, because for the life of me, I couldn't find our ruler) beginning at the ceiling, and working your way across the wall, make small, LIGHT pencil marks one foot below where the ceiling meets the wall every foot or so.

Next, using a wide painter's tape, beginning at one side of the wall, lightly place a strip of tape across the wall, keeping the marks all at the top edge of the strip of tape. Check to ensure the tape is level a few times as you're placing it. Once the tape is level, press it firmly onto the wall, going over it a few times with your hand or a flat object (such as a book or the edge of your ruler) to ensure your painted lines will have crisp edges and not appear drippy.

Repeat this process again, this time measuring from your previously placed piece of tape rather than the ceiling. Repeat until all of the wall is taped off for striping as desired.

Using a roller, paint two coats of paint between the taped lines (allowing the paint to dry to the touch between coats one and two). Paint only every other section that you've taped off. You may wish to label the ones to paint lightly in pencil before you begin painting so you don't accidentally forget to skip sections. Use a brush to paint along the ceiling and near wall edges.

Allow paint to dry to the touch before removing tape. This is the hardest part if you're impatient like I am! I was dying to see the end result. Complete the project by gently erasing any visible pencil marks.

Here is my entry wall before:

And after:

Supplies used:
-Paint (Behr Swiss Coffee)
-Angled paint brush
-Paint roller
-Paint tray
-Wide painter's tape
-Ruler (or 12 inch piece of cardboard!)
-Pencil
-Level
-White eraser
Total hands-on time required:
2.5 hours

Idea inspired by this pin:

Found here

This post has been linked up at Mrs Priss' Pinterest Partayy!

Five Faves: Winter Beauty Edition

Ah, winter. That lovely time of year in which our skin becomes dry, our hair static filled and our warm weather complexion is replaced with a ghostly pallor. Assuming I'm not the only one plagued by the winter beauty blahs, I have for you Five Faves sure to perk up your pretty face.

Fave #1: Two-Faced Cosmetics Absolutely Invisible Candlelight Highlighter
This gorgeous pale gold-pink powder promises to bring the look of flattering candlelight to the face, and in my opinion, it delivers. Looking at photos from before I started using Candlelight and then after, my skin appears to be glowing and even, without looking pale or cakey. There is a slight shimmer to this highlighter, but it's SO subtle it's completely wearable as an everyday product. Though it retails for $27.00, I was able to purchase it on Ebay for about half the price and with free shipping- so it's definitely worth searching there first.

Fave #2: Freeman's Pineapple Facial Enzyme Mask
This budget friendly mask does wonders for the face. Concerned with some clogged pores and an overall tired look, I set out to find a gentle but exfoliating mask at a fair price and was very pleased with this super inexpensive powerhouse. For less than $2 (trial size, good for at least 3 uses) I was able to slough off the old and reveal the new skin beneath and everything I put on my face seemed to go on smoother after using this product even after just one use. Available at Wal-Mart ($1.87) in the cosmetics department or online, full sized for just $3.99 here.

Fave #3: Bath and Body Works Body Wash in Dark Kiss
Ok, so I know I said faves for your face, but I couldn't resist including this one body product, mainly because the smell is SO nice, that even my husband, who rarely comments on fragrances, came into the bathroom after I'd showered and said "Wow, what smells so good?" Since I already liked Bath & Body Works shower gels (despite having sensitive skin, their fragranced shower gels don't typically seem to irritate me) but this was a new scent to me, AND husband approved, I figured it was worth a share. The shower gel runs $10.50 at retail price, but with frequent in store sales, it's pretty rare to have to pay full price.

Fave #4: MAC Cosmetics Paint Pot in Bare Study
Ok, now I'm going to make a comment here, and I'm just going to say it ONE time, but for the record- I HATE that MAC is "MAC Cosmetics" because it's like saying you're going to the "ATM Machine"- the M stands for MACHINE so you don't have to say MACHINE twice. The C stands for COSMETICS- but anyway, I digress. Despite my dislike of their full company name (and website name!) I LOVE their products, and I'm sure this will not be the last you see of MAC products in my posts (Hi, I'm Natali, and I'm a MAC-a-holic). The MAC product I'm loving this winter is their Paint Pot (a creamy eyeshadow that doubles as a color enhancing eye shadow base) in the shade "Bare Study" - a shimmery pale pink that goes well under most lighter shadows, especially those with a little frost to them, or can be worn by itself. The great thing about Paint Pots (in any shade) is that when worn under eyeshadow, they really lock your pigment in place and your look stays all day. MAC Paint Pots run $17.50 (but will last a VERY long time) and are available at MAC stores/counters or online, here.

Fave #5: Urban Decay's NAKED2 Eyeshadow Palette
What can I say, I saved the best for last. This palette, the sequel to Urban Decay's extremely popular original NAKED palette, like it's predecessor, is filled with absolutely gorgeous, wearable colors that are truly universally flattering. Honestly, you can not go wrong with this palette- all of the colors compliment one another, are long wearing and highly pigmented. It's $50 price tag may seem a bit hefty, however, the NAKED palettes include 12 full-sized shadows, a full-sized dual ended brush with natural fibers, an eyeliner and trial sized lipgloss. If sold separately, at Urban Decay's regular retail prices, you're actually looking at a total of over $250! (Individual eye shadows alone retail for $17) After having owned the original NAKED palette for a year now, and having not even made much of a dent in the product, despite near daily use (thanks to the high level of pigmentation, you don't have to dig into the shadow to get a lot of color output), I feel confident I will get YEARS of use out of the two palettes and I think they are a GREAT buy. They're worth it. Honest. NAKED2 is currently out of stock, and at this time is only available directly through Urban Decay's website. To sign up for an email alert when additional product becomes available (this happened with the first palette as well, don't worry, they'll become available again soon) click here.

A fresh year with new goals.

That's right, I said goals. Not resolutions. Nope. Not me, I am not making those things this year!  Committing to something for an entire year is HARD. Really hard. And last year taught me, kind of unrealistic.  

My resolutions from last year:

1. Lose weight, get healthy:  Well, I did do pretty well in this area for the first half of the year, but after the car accident in August, and being banned from exercise, well, it got ugly and wallow-y quick.  FAIL.

2. Improve my home:  I guess I succeeded? We up and moved to a home that suits our needs and lifestyle 1,000 times better after I improved 1.5 rooms.  Hmmm, success, with a little dash of fail ;-)

3. Improve my blog content: I'd like to think that in fact, I did succeed in this area.  The increase in traffic appears to prove I must be at least a little bit right.  I don't claim to be the best blogger by any means, but I'm proud of the work I've put into this lil' site over the past year especially and feel I was able to branch out beyond the typical fodder of previous years. Win.

This year:

Wait, were you expecting my resolutions here?  I told you, no resolutions!  Ah, but GOALS, goals yes.

Last year, social media guru, DJ Waldow, launched a web-wide challenge to commit to exercise (specifically push ups and sit ups or some other simple routine of your choosing) for 28 days.  He did this as a personal challenge to himself as well, and said the words "28 days?  I can do anything for 28 days."  I nodded in silent agreement while reading that statement, and jumped on board his challenge, and successfully completed it too.  So based on that success, and my full agreement with the statement "I can do anything for 28 days" and the simple knowledge that in general, most of us are more successful when we break goals down into manageable chunks, I've decided to set goals 28 days at a time.  Or rather, one month at a time, because it's a little easier to track and transition that way.

So, without further adieu, my goals for the month of January are:

Welcome 2012!

Hello dear reader!  I hope that you've enjoyed a wonderful holiday season with family and friends and furry friends too!  I am so grateful to have had 11 days off of work to recharge and enjoy the holidays with my favorite people, so I hope you don't mind it having been a bit slow here.

As we move into this bright, fresh new year, here are a few photos of my favorite holiday season moments:

Making Spiderman cookies

Bowling with munchkins

Cowboy Christmas with the fam

Friendsmus!

Friendsmus gift exchange

Wishing you a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2012!

My favorite new holiday tradition: synced light tour!

Last year, the FresnoBeehive posted about several houses that locally did a full synced lights and music holiday display, simply for others to enjoy and we set out to check it out.  So glad that we did!  What a cool thing to take in!  We have a couple of lighted streets in which hundred of cars come through on a nightly basis throughout the month of December to see the elaborate light displays, but the traffic in those areas can be horrible, and stomp out your holiday joy if you're not feeling like sucking exhaust and idling for at least an hour.  But the synced light house tour, as dubbed by the Beehive's Mike Oz is just pure awesomeness.  No lines, no waiting, just park, dial in your radio and enjoy.

For those of you in the area, check out the tour for yourself- (it's not really a "tour" per se, but if you drive to each house, it becomes one).  This year we hit three of the houses, one of them was a new one this year, and they did a darn good job too. Unfortunately, the warm cozy car and the little distance between house two and three knocked kiddo right out and he missed the third house.  But he sure enjoyed the first two!

Post tour garage photo: Can you spot the sleeping child?

Click here for locations along the "synced-light DIY tour".

For a sneak peek at one of the houses, check out the video we took below (forgive the video quality, we used to have an actual video camera, but it decided functioning was difficult and stopped doing that) the videos were taken with my regular camera. 

Recipe: Warm up with a bowl of Tortellini Soup

This recipe, inspired by the amazing Gina of SkinnyTaste.com (the BEST Weight Watcher friendly recipe site I've found, filled with delicious meal ideas that will satisfy everyone in your family whether they're needing to watch their weight or not) was wonderful on a very chilly day.  The hubs even had three servings, which is pretty much his highest approval rating.  Make some this week and kick Jack Frost out of your kitchen!

Tortellini Soup (serves 4)
(modified from Spinach Tortellini en Brodo)

What you need:
2 tsp butter
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 small Parmigiano Reggiano Rind (optional)
9 oz refrigerated cheese tortellini (I used Buitoni)
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (add more to taste)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
salt to taste
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the celery, onion and carrot.  Continue to cook until vegetable begin to soften, stirring occasionally (8-10 minutes).

2. Add the chicken broth, water and rind (if using) and bring to a boil. When broth boils, add seasonings and stir.  Add tortellini, then lower heat to medium-low.  Simmer until tortellini is tender and cooked.

3. Once cooked, remove the rind, ladle into bowls and top with cheese and pepper (if desired) to serve.
Enjoy!

21 Questions with Keegan Part II

 In case you missed part one of this post, Keegan talks about (and sometimes smack on) Mommy here.

 Keegan answers 21 questions about Daddy:

1. What does Daddy always say to you?
K: Eat your food.

2. What makes Daddy happy?
K: When I make up funny names.

3. What makes Daddy sad?
K: When I don’t do things right.

4. How does Daddy make you laugh?
K: When we play fight.

5. What was Daddy like as a child?
K: Like me!

6. How old is Daddy?
K: 30.

7. How tall is Daddy?
K: 65 feet.

8. What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?
K: Play with me of course!

9. What does Daddy do when you're not around?
K: He just waits, and waits, and waits.

10. If Daddy becomes famous what would it be for?
K: Oooh! The dinosaurs! The T-Rex.

11. What is Daddy really good at?
K: Building stuff.

12. What is Daddy not good at?
K: Building cars.

13. What does Daddy do for his job?
K: Plays around on a computer.

14. What is Daddy's favorite food?
K: Pizza. Enchiladas.

15. What makes you proud of Daddy?
K: When he gets me new Spiderman toys.

16. If Daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be?
K: Spiderman!

17. What do you and Daddy do together?
K: Play with cars. Duh.

18. How are you and Daddy the same?
K: Daddy has spiked hair, and I had spiked hair before.

19. How are you and Daddy different?
K: Daddy’s bigger and I’m shorter. Look. Standup!

20. How do you know Daddy loves you?
K: Cause he has a heart!!

21. Where is Daddy's favorite place to go?
K: Dutch Brothers.

21 Questions with Keegan

I saw a this list of questions on Pinterest and figured Keegan's answers might be at least mildly entertaining.  Thanks to Hey, ho KellyGo for the list of questions and he entertainment!  (Below are Keegan's responses about Mommy.  Tomorrow I'll post his responses about Daddy- try these with your own little ones and see what they really think!)

1. What does Mommy always say to you?
K: I love you.

2. What makes Mommy happy?
K: When I make good choices.

3. What makes Mommy sad?
K: When I don't do what you ask me to.

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
K: When you make silly faces!

5. What was Mommy like as a child?
K: She used to play with dolls all day long!

6. How old is Mommy?
K: 16! No. 30. And a half.

7. How tall is Mommy?
K: Seven.

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
K: Just hang around.

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
K: She does her work all the time.

10. If Mommy becomes famous what would it be for?
K: Flowers. And butterflies. And dolls. Girl stuff.

11. What is Mommy really good at?
K: Saying she's gonna spank my bottom.  (Liar! Kids been spanked MAYBE four times ever, little rascal!)

12. What is Mommy not good at?
K: Spanking my face. She doesn't do that at all. (Uh, nope. Don't plan to! lol)

13. What does Mommy do for her job?
K: I don't know.

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
K: Every food she makes. And enchiladas.

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
K: When she does what I say. (!!!)

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
K: Spiderwoman!

17. What do you and Mommy do together?
K: Splash each other in the pool sometimes. (Interesting answer, since we've only had a pool since Sept 18, and swam together all of one time before it got cold!)

18. How are you and Mommy the same?
K: We're not the same.

19. How are you and Mommy different?
K: I have flat hair and you have crazy hair!

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
K: Cause I love her!

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
K: Pizza shopping!  Wait, I'm just kidding.  It's Target. Duh.

Cell Phone Camera Vomit Time!

It's time again for me to share with you a few ridiculous or hopefully somewhat amusing photos taken with my trusty friend, phone.

This first photo was taken at Joann's when I was looking for Halloween decor.  Now I know some people tend to attempt to speak "Spanglish" by adding an 'o' to the end of words and pretending it's Spanish (I assure you, 99% of the time it's not, sorry! ;-)) but I'm pretty sure the word they needed here was Bienvenido.  Or, you know, Welcome.

Yes, I did totally take a bathroom self portrait.  Why?  Because it was haircut day, which means my awesome hair girl cut really nice layers into my hair and styled it nice. Annnnnd I knew darn well my ability to duplicate said style after washing my hair myself would be nonexistent. (I was right.  But now you know what my hair is supposed to look like!)

This photo.  Oh this photo just makes my stomach knot up.  I believe I'd worked a 15 hour day the night that picture was taken.  It was part of a week filled with insanely long and stressful workdays.  And then, as I got up to finally try to get some sleep, I managed to spill my coffee (decaf) on my stack of finally organized and perfectly complete papers.  Thank God for the manila envelope!  Sigh.

Now THIS is particularly awesome, because you see, this warning label is attached to the cord of my professional quality curling iron.  The one I bought because it heats up to 410 degrees.  I'm pretty sure it could burn ANY freaking body part it unfortunately comes in contact with!  But hey, I know for sure it'd burn my EYE.

After Thanksgiving, the hubby and I had a very unfortunately conversation that including googling such things as "What is my BMI" and utilizing calculators.  People. Do NOT do this the day after Thanksgiving!  I mean seriously!  BAD idea.  So, when I went to meal plan for the upcoming week, hubs brought me my meal board and explained he'd taken care of it and his meals were in line with our necessary dieting.  Anyone hungry for Wednesday's meal?  Mmmmmmmmmnotsomuch.

This final picture is of a sign I saw at the local Childrens' Hospital, in the parking lot, placed just ahead of a curb.  And while I appreciate a conscientious warning I've certainly never seen such a sign warning me of a curb before, so I had to kind of laugh to myself about it.  And of course, snap a pic.  But then, upon further reflection, I realize to properly prepare me for everything my klutzy self is like to trip over, there'd need to be a sign anywhere the ground is not entirely flat and potentially one simply at the toes of my shoes.  It's not easy being a klutz I tell ya!