What we've been cooking in January

This month is the first month of my new semester, AKA, the semester where I earn my income. I'm teaching three different courses all for the first time. It's also the first time I've ever taught three courses at once. Needless to say, dinner isn't a lot of fancy so much as a lot of "OMG we have to eat dinner. AGAIN!." Actually, P spent the first two weeks of January cooking AMAZING dinners that we'll have to post. But then H got sick, and then I got sick. We spent last week in and out of bed and the doctor's office. H's strep got better, and P and I *have* been cooking up a storm this semester. Consider the following:

Recipe for one lovely black dresser:
1) Find a free dresser on freecycle: 0$
2) decide to put new drawpulls on it , and to paint it. Ideas are priceless, no?
3) Go to IKEA, buy new drawpulls: 5$ (or less)
4) Find black milkpaint pigment in basement you've had about for a year or two. 0$ (this time)
5) Buy a sander at a local garage sale: $3
6) Do a minimal sanding job, and start painting.
7) Watch all the paint pull off the dresser. Curse. Loudly.
8) Sand the s*$t out of the dresser and remove all the ugly old varnish.
9) Paint the dresser with that free black milk paint.
10) Enjoy your perfect three door dresser that holds your winter gear, outdoor gear, and kid art stuff!
Total cost: 8$ and lots of energy.


Macke Framed!
In 2000, when I made my first trip to Germany, I went to the Muenster art museum and found this fabulous print of a Macke that I've loved ever since. I think once P and I got settled in NC that we've been meaning to frame it. And we finally did!

Recipe for Framing:
1) Let picture sit in a posterboard to acquire a nice patina of age (optional).
2) Go to your local Micheal's and learn that framing, with the 50% discount, would be well over $200.
3) Record the dimensions of your poster, and of the image. Save in wallet or smartphone.
4) Go to your awesomest local thrift store and look at the frames there. Find one that you like, and that will fit your image. Cost for us: $30.
5) Go to the art supply store and buy matting, blades, and a matting knife. Cost: $8
6) Go back to the thrift store and buy that drafting square. Cost: $o.50
7) Cut the matte to fit your image.
8) Deconstruct the frame and take out the ugly art.
9) Reload with lovely Macke print.
10) Discover you can't put the back on the frame.
11) Go to your local hardware store and buy a staple gun. Cost: $24 for a middle of the road staplegun. Promise yourself and your spouse how much it's going to rock once you own a house and have to staple gun things.
12) Staple up that frame back.
13) Enjoy your gorgeously framed art, and your ability to save nearly $200 by shopping second-hand.