Hall M Family Bonding Time

During all the tornado warnings last night, some Hall M Ladies took cover in the old chapter room. If I had to guess, I'd saw about 30 of us were down there (maybe more?)  Luckily, we already had pizza from the Game Night activity Megan had planned...sooo we ate dinner and watched Tangled while keeping our eyes on the weather and checking Facebook to make sure friends and family were safe! :)

Egg Hunt for Good Grades!

This afternoon, some Hall M Ladies hunted for eggs in the Memory Garden.  We had wonderful weather, and over 120 eggs!  Some of the eggs were filled with links to study resources on Auburn's website as well as other helpful sites.  After the egg hunt, we got together in the Dining Room area and looked up the links in the eggs and shared other links with each other.  

Here are the links we looked up:

• MLA formatting tips:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01 
• Academic Support Main Site: 334-844-5972 http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/support/
• Supplemental Instruction Links: 334-844-5972 auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/academic_support/si/
• Study Partners: 334-844-5702 auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/support/study_partners/index.html
• Tutoring: auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/academic_support/tutoring_template/subjects.html
• Miller Writing Center: https://fp.auburn.edu/writing/writingcenter.aspx 334-844-7475
• Homework Help: http://www.cramster.com/
• Academic Coaching and Counseling 334-844-5972 auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/support/academic_support/academiccoaching.html
• Resume Resources: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/undergrad_studies/career/resume/ (Career Development Services: 334-844-4744)
• Final Exam Schedule: auburn.edu/administration/registrar/calendars/exam_schedule_spring_2011.pdf
• AU Bulletin (where you can look up just about anything about classes, etc) http://www.auburn.edu/student_info/bulletin/

And here are some pictures of all the fun we had! :)

My personal favorites of the pictures where people are looking for eggs that are right beside them! :)

Homemade Alfredo Sauce

Here is a link to the Alfredo Sauce we made for the Fall in Love with Green Dinner. I tried reloading the page we got the recipe from and it refuses to load tonight. :/  We got the recipe from Cooks.com and the title of the recipe was "Easiest & Best Homemade Alfredo Sauce." The only difference between the original recipe and ours is that we added about 10-15 drops of green food coloring. :)  That's completely optional of course! :)

In case you can't get the link to work (like I couldn't), here is the recipe! :)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
• 1 cup half & half
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbs garlic powder (optional)
• pepper, to taste

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter.
2. Once the butter is almost melted, add the package of cream cheese.  It's easiest to cut it into 4 pieces so that it melts quicker.
3. Once butter and cream cheese are mixed well together, add the cup of half & half, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and then shake pepper on top.  Stir all together until well mixed.
4. Once it's mixed well and saucelike, take it off the burner and set aside so it can thicken up.  Stir every few moments.

If you want it to be a little thicker, add more Parmesan cheese.  I think we wound up using closer to a cup of Parmesan cheese...then again, Megan and I love cheese! :)

Upcycling T-Shirt (and grocery shopping bags)

Allow the Hall M Family (and Friends!!!) teach you how to use freezer paper as a stencil to redecorate old shirts and tote bags to make new shirts and new reusable grocery bags! :)  We also made a few other nifty projects out of old clothing! :)

Make sure you draw on the rough paper-like side of the freezer paper.

After the paint dries, peel away the freezer paper, and admire your work! :)

The bag on the right is actually made from a t-shirt that was painted last year during Sustain-A-Bowl's "Paint an Old Tshirt" activity.  The shirt shrank over the last year, so now it's a grocery bag!  All you do is sew up the bottom edge of the shirt (with the shirt inside out) then use a bowl to cut a half-circle from the neck and cut off the sleeves! :)

Other crafts that were made were...

*A beach bag made from old towels*

The beach towel folds into the bag! And of course, we would

carry our re-usable bottle to the beach with us!! :)

*A purse made from old jeans*

Doesn't Beth make a lovely purse model? :)

Fall in Love with Green Dinner! :)

This month, we're participating in Sustain-A-Bowl (a competition between the halls to see who can increase their recycling, reduce their waste, and be more frugal with water and electricity.)  As part of the competition, we had a "Fall in Love with Green" dinner.  We thought a fun way to celebrate this would be to eat GREEN foods! :)  In addition to eating green foods, we used reusable plates, silverware, and cups.  This is something that our building started last year during Sustain-A-Bowl in order to reduce our waste, as well as save money!

Asparagus, prepared by the lovely Megan Kuenzli!

Cupcakes (dyed green) with green icing! (Prepared by Paulette & Amber!)

Green heart sugar cookies! (Prepared by Wendy!)

GREEN Alfredo sauce! (Prepared by Wendy with Megan's instruction!)

Noodles! Including some green noodles! (Prepared by Megan!)

Salad! (And Salad dressing!)

A few of the girls eating a delicious dinner (on reusable plates!)  We also decided to have one large jug of purified water to drink, rather than purchasing several bottles of water or several cans of cokes. (Plus, it's healthy! :) )

Sustain-A-Bowl Sheet Painting Competition!

This month, our hall is competing against other halls in Sustain-A-Bowl.  In this competition, we are challenged to reduce our water usage, reduce our electricity use, and consider more sustainable options in our daily lives.  This week, the challenge is to paint a sheet with a sustainable message.  Since we love all things M-related, our banner has M&Ms all over it and the Sustain-A-Bowl logo, modified to have an M in it. :)  Our slogan is "Hall M.  Be Sweet, Be Sustainable."

Destiny, Emily, Joey (who doesn't live here, but loves to hang out with us!), Julia, and Chandler

Our lovely finished product!

How to Etch Glass!

We're etching glass tonight!  

Email pictures of your etching work to hallmpictures@gmail.com if you want me to add it to the blog as examples!! :)

Here's instructions in case you want to do more etching later! :)
I will say that small, detailed images are difficult.... :)

You need:

Contact Paper

Clear Glass

Armor Etch etching cream

cheap paintbrush

something to trace (image, monogram)

sharpie

masking tape

rubber gloves

X-Acto knife

Step 1

Tape a piece of contact paper (still on the paper backing) over the image or letter you are tracing.

Step 2

Trace the image with a sharpie.  I find it helpful to fill in all of the areas that you want to be frosted so you know what to cut out later.  Place the sticker on the glass where you want the image to be.

Step 3

Can you see the lines where I cut around the image with an X-Acto knife?

That's what you should do! Trace around the image/letter.

Step 4

Start peeling away the contact paper to uncover the part of the glass that you want to be etched (or frosted).

Step 5

Looking at the glass now, everything that is uncovered will be etched and everything covered will stay as it is.

Step 6

Wear gloves for this part!!  Start painting the ArmorEtch onto the contact paper.  Make sure to cover the areas you want etched.

Step 7

Let sit for 5-10 minutes

Step 8

Rinse in the sink (still wearing your gloves).  Remove all the contact paper and your glass is done!

Family Photos is Updated...and it's SOOOO quiet right now!

The Family Photos Page is updated with pictures from our Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday night!
We had turkey (thick sliced from the deli, heated in the oven with gravy! Great way to make turkey without cooking for 5 and a half days!), macaroni and cheese, rolls, cranberry sauce (berry and jelly), sweet potato casserole, broccoli salad from the Wal-Mart deli, green beans, creamed white corn, stuffing, pecan pie, and apple pie!  It was a lot of fun!

Now, everyone has left for Thanksgiving break...and it is so quiet in this building!  I think the oddest thing is walking through the second floor lobby and not seeing at least one person watching tv or studying!!  I hope you all have a great break! Get lots of rest before Finals and be careful traveling this week! :)

~wendy

Us after our first volleyball game :)

This week's update!

Last Thursday a bunch of the Hall M Ladies got dressed up to hand out candy to the Faculty and Staff's children who come around to the lobbies.

Meet a majorette from our rival school, the Morton Salt girl, Jelly Belly jelly beans, The First Lady/Future President, and the Blue M&M :)

And we decorated our lobby! (You can kinda see some of the spider webs in the background!)

 

It was so much fun! :)

Tonight we worked on our banner for Homecoming and it looks great!! :)

Our skit is going to be dancing to MC Hammer's song...

Can you tell that Aubie is wearing MC Hammer's gold pants? :)

Basically, our skit was inspired by this video on Julia's blog (Lettuce Right):

Hammer Time Mob Dance