Orange Slice Ornaments

Do you realize that Christmas is just a handful and a half of days away? I knew it, but like didn't really register it. And now I am like, fa la la la fuck! We have been so busy and distracted that I haven't really focused to much on the holiday, but at least we decorate the tree. And if I am remembering correctly, there were a few years, long ago, that the mr and I wouldn't even start celebrating or get our tree until a few days before Christmas so if I am judging us on my past selves, well we are golden. And now we let the celebrating begin!

One of our Christmas traditions is to string popcorn while watching elf for the tree. This is a big deal night because I won't let myself watch it until that night, but after that, I can watch it as many times that I want. (once a day) We got our tree like two weeks ago, and finally late last week we did the popcorn, watched some elf, and a few days after that we decorated, kinda.  It was much lacking in ornaments. We had the lights, the popcorn garland, the paper chain (we made it a few years back), and the carved wooden carrots, but the bulbs we usually stick on it, I just wasn't feeling. The tree was looking pretty good but was still lacking something. That's when I went to my fruit bowl and grabbed an orange, a clementine and the dehydrator out of the basement over at the loft and went to work. I turned on the Christmas music (A very special Christmas, the red cover) sliced the citrus, stuck it in the dehydrator, and then, well, then I waited a good few hours. During those hours, the music was going, the house smelled up like citrus and lovely, and I felt that slight holiday tingle.

I think these orange slices are going to be a new holiday tree decorating tradition. I will probably tweak it next year ans spend the 6 hours waiting for the fruit to dry baking cookies and not pouring concrete, but maybe not.

And if you are thinking its too late to make any more holiday stuff, well you are wrong. And honestly, I might just make a sting of these slices to hang up all year long.

To make the orange slice ornaments..

All you need is..

• oranges or whatever citrus you want to use
• a sharp knife
• needle and thread or ornament hangers
• a dehydrator or a baking sheet.

The dirty work. Slice the orange about a 1/4 inch thick. Try to make all the slices the same thickness.

I am using my dehydrator so the slices go single layer onto a rack. If you are using the oven, line a baking sheet with parchment and single layer the slices. Pop those suckers into the oven at the lowest possible setting you got. Either way you do it, the slices are going to take anywhere between 5-8 hours to completely dehydrate. It all depends on how juicy your oranges are. Just keep an eye on them after the first few hours. You want them to dehydrate, not burn into crisp.

They are done when they look like so, all dried and crispy and delicate. They should feel dry to the touch.

 Once the slices have cooled off a bit, they are ready to be handled and hung. I used thread to hang my orange slices, but feel free to use whatever you want.(I was going to use ornament hangers but didn't have any and I was not about to go buy some)

Slices of orange so pretty. They look so good with the wooden carrots, the popcorn garland, and the glittery acorns on the tree.

I definitely will be making more.

Enjoy!

-C

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Sunday Happy

Today is the day, the moment of truth. The concrete counter tops that we poured a few days ago are getting un-molded, flipped, and set into place. I am so super excited and very much scared. Finally we will have a counter and we will be that much closer to a finished kitchen. But what if?  What if something happens between removing the mold and placing the counter, like what if it doesn't fit right or maybe it breaks? I shouldn't be even thinking about that. It will be great and awesome and the best freaking counter ever.  (and Ikea is only a few hours away and sell emergency counter tops)

The house. Oh have we got ourselves a little gem. All week we have been staying here, doing all our living here (minus showers, we take those at the loft) and still managing to get a bit of work done here. Working in the place you live is such a bitch.  Plus it's the holidays which makes everything not covered in tinsel and lights seem unimportant, but we are getting there. A few more weeks and I tell you, we will most likely have ourselves a pretty nearly done 98% livable house. 

Even though the house might not be perfect, we still had a the littles over for a school night sleep over where we finished decorating the tree, watched the Santa Clause, made claims on table settings and ate black beans for breakfast. That was a tough morning with -20 cold and no desire to leave the house. We might have been a few minutes late for school, but hey, I never drive in the mornings and didn't realize 20 minutes wasn't enough time to compete with the crazy ass traffic. And they might not have been late, so yeah. (I didn't ask) What else....Well have been on the hunt for doors and glass for doors and all the odds and ends that we need. Every day it seems we end up at the hardware store, the junk store, or the salvage yard looking of that one thing that may or may not exist. It is driving me nuts. The mr, he is really good at the back and forth. Me, not so much. I really wish there was a store made for just me that sold (or gave me for free) everything that I could possible need. Doors, carrots, socks. That would be great. Oh and my crock pot. It has turned into the center of our living because it's not our main source of hot food. It has been entirely new territory for me (never used a crock pot before last week) and there were a few soups that might not have so great, but I think I have got the hang of it and we have been eating hot food from the crock like champs. I'll have to share some of my soups and tips with you guys soon. (once the kitchen is done there will be sooooo many new recipes and food fun coming your way!)

So besides the counter tops today, I think I have some serious cleaning to do. The loft is a mess, the house is getting a little on the dusty side, and the pile of dirty clothes has gotten out of hand. I might drag the hamper to the loft, be domestic for the afternoon and do some chores. A little Christmas music, lots of coffee, and amazon prime last minute gift shopping. It should be an interesting afternoon to say the least.

Links brought to you by the internet.

-I want this, it would bring me so much joy. This Infinity Galaxy Puzzle Has No Beginning or End

-5 of Humanity’s Best Ideas of What Dreams Actually Are

-Lapland is on my travel bucket list. 10+ Reasons Why Lapland Is The Most Magical Place To Celebrate Christmas

-Meet The Spleen, The Strange Little Organ That Can Multiply

-Gift idea for your stinky loved ones. Shreddies flatulence filtering garments

-The mr and I are starting to plan our next cross country trip. National Parks all the way (free days are great but if you are planning on going to a lot of parks, get the pass) WHEN TO VISIT ANY US NATIONAL PARK FOR FREE IN 2017

-An Eleven-Story-Tall Tree Hugger Sprouts on the Side of a Building in Chile. Imagine painting that.....

-Food is always a good present.10 Last-Minute Recipes to Make for Homemade Food Gifts

The week in pictures.

Yes that is a giant tree monster about to eat a Christmas tree. So good.

Have a great day!

Sunday Happy

The trees are on fire, the sky has been lighting up like a masterpiece and the temperatures have been on the cooler, crisper side. I am one lucky lady to be living in such a beautiful place. If you don't know the awesomeness of fall in Vermont, you should put it on your life list cause it's amazing and will bring you so many good feelings. 

Another super productive week for the books. We finished laying all the hardwood downstairs then went straight to tiling the bathroom which was awesome cause it was my first real tiling project and now that floor is down too. But man did it do a number on me. The one thing the mr always bitches about are his knees, and now I now why. Kneeling on anything, especially cement board, for 5 hours pretty much will kill your shit. I might be a little whinny, but crap on a shoe do my knees hurt. (now I am done complaining) What else........Oh yeah, a large quantities of construction waste was brought to the dump that has bee accumulating in large piles in the back yard..(that was fun) I invented a new sport, storage unit parkor (I am really good at climbing and jumping around packed storage units), and got to see the new little monster baby while doing it. Then my little brother came over for a while to help carry the cast iron bathtub from the backyard to the upstairs. (thanks Paul!)  I even made a point during the week to stay home for just enough time to made donuts with sprinkles while I sat in front of the oven knitting cause I was freezing my ass off. And I ate 2 roasted pumpkins, an acorn squash, and a sweet potato this week. Feeling pretty good about life.

So I don't know about today. We might or might not work. We may or may not run away to the woods.(I need to be with the trees for a while) Most likely both. But one thing is for sure, I will be icing my knees. And drinking a butt load of coffee. And eating the butternut squash I picked it yesterday. I am a winter squash addict.

The things I clicked on and reading doing the internet this week.

-Have you noticed the crazy moon lately? How to See the Hunter’s Supermoon This Weekend

- How We Got ‘Bark’ for Dogs, ‘Quack’ for Ducks, and Other Words for Animal Sounds

-A classic pencil is so underrated. Trace The Remarkable History Of The Humble Pencil

- Incredible Origami Animals.. Like super incredible

-Lots of sweetbread, muffins, and all sorts of baking things in my future. The Best Way to Store Quick Breads and Muffins

-This guy tasted a shit load of butter for his Fancy Butter Taste Test

-Photo Of An Elephant Snuggling An Ostrich because it made me smile and is really freaking cute

- Check out this This Triangular House.. Its pretty crazy cool

-Can We Trust the Cooking Methods on the Back of the Bag? Question everything!

-Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize, Redefining Boundaries of Literature.His words are beautiful.

The week in some picture

Have a fantastic day!

Winooski House Update

House update.. Check it out! Our entire upstairs is wires, the plumbing is ran, (not hooked up to anything yet) and completely insulated. It's freaking sea foam green crazy up there. 

 Now the next big step up hear is sheetrock! That's going to be a bitch of a week, but for the mean timewe have left the upstairs alone because we are waiting to get a rough inspection from the city. And so we get to enjoy the green for just a bit longer.

For now we have ventured back down stairs. A few unseen things have been done likethe re- supportingof the floor with beams in the basement and running all the water lines and elecrrical from upstairs to the basement. We started tackling the clean up of the windows, there has beenlots of sheetrock patching and mudding and adding in light switched and outlets to all the boxes. And recently we have decided that we are going to either rip up the wide softwood downstairs and patch in oak or, if we cant find the right flooring to match, we are going to re-floor the entire downstairs, you know, just to make things a little harder on ourselves.

So yeah, this is where we are at. It's all smooth sailing from here!

Upstairs Update

Everyone is asking how that house is going so I figured an update was in order.

Around the beginning of March we hired a guy (with another guy that was like 80 years old) to remove the back roof and to frame out the addition. We were planning on doing it ourselves but when it came down to it, it was going to take to long and was not something that I was entirely comfortable doing. It was still winter out, I have never removed a roof, and it just seemed like it was better to just have someone that does it all the time do it. And oh am I glade we did. These guys were awesome and a little nuts. We had a start date for a Tuesday, but on Monday morning, the mr gets a phone call from the head guy asking if he was going to go to the house and let him in. "Of course, I'll be there at 8 tomorrow" said the mr.  "No, we are here right now" said the roof ripper off man. "Ok, be right over" and the mr rushes over to the house. When he gets there, the guys were already in the house. The had claimed onto the roof and started ripping it off from the outside.

And then two days later , the roof was gone and the skeleton of the addition was up.  It was fantastic and amazing and we were so excited. SO worth hiring it out!!!!

Our next move was the roof,(to keep out the snow ans rain) which those guys ended up came back and throwing on for us. That was another job we were planning on doing, but when the mr crawled onto the roof to measure for materials, he came back down and said to me"hell no. not doing it" (He is terribly afraid of heights)

After the roof went up, we still had a lot of demo to do. It took us a few days to finish removing the rest of the walls and all the layers of flooring. Then it got really freaking cold out so we boarded off the upstairs with insulation and did some stuff downstairs.

We were on a good roll, getting shit done, about to start framing, then the shittest shit ever happened and Sean died. We didn't go back over to the house for like 2 weeks. (shit head, you were suppose to help us) We lost all motivation and I was in no state to be doing any work that required power tools or crow bars.( I probably would have cut a hand off or accidentally set the house on fire) So yeah, no house work. But over these past 2 weeks we have slowly gotten back into the swing of things. We have cleaned up the upstairs, framed out all the wall and are moving right along. Next is windows, (which is now more just a matter of picking some we like and ordering them) running all the electrical, plumping the bathroom, insulation the ceiling and walls, then getting an inspection! But that will be a breeze.... haha.

So that's what's been going on in the house. Fun fun fun!

Hopefully I will have another update on other parts of the house for you guys soon!

-C