Sunday Happy

It's officially kinda official. WE MOVED IN!!!! And yeah sure, we might not have a kitchen or a 100% functional shower, but hey, who needs that when you got a real freakin bed to sleep in. (we are showering and preparing food at the loft) Going form sleeping on a futon on wooden slates in a crawl space to our real bed, with a real frame, all in a giant room with windows..... It's hella crazy.

Other then the move in, the week has been pretty jammed packed. Still spending every minute plugging away at the house all while making sure all of our tenants are keeping warm with working heaters. (we have spent way to much time at the plumbing supply store this week) Barb, the mr and I ditched a day of work and school to travel to the north and hit up the land of Canadian Ikea. The mission was simple. Get a kitchen sink and maybe a cool rug or a shelving unit, and for barb and the mr, to eat as many hot dogs as they could. Success was had. We go the sink, I got a jar and a rug, towels were bought and an obscene amount of hot dogs were eaten (I think they each ate somewhere between3.5 and 5, plus a fro-yo. Me I was happy with my carrots) We we home before dark and spent the remainder of the day hanging up the Christmas lights. It was a grand day indeed.

As for the mr, well he went and turned himself one year older. And what did we do?  We went and had a happy birthday party with family and friends at the newly unfinished house. It was all sorts of fantastic. We frantically ran around to pick up all the construction mess, tossed some plywood on the cabinet frames, ran all over to make paper lanterns for the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and cleaned the toilet. I made huge vats of soup and kept the warm in slow cookers (I am now a new owner of a vintage 70's crock pot so I guess I need to learn how to use it) and we borrowed an electric griddle, cut up some veggies and fruit and had a soup and grilled cheese party. (shout out to barb for helping me cut all the everything, oh and having the first official dance party with me) A classic homemade vanilla cake with some Duncan Hines frosting and ice cream topped off the night. I must also mention that even with a house full of people, including a bunch of littles, there was barely any food wasted. My brother even asked where he could find my compost bin to toss the orange peels. That might have been the highlight of the night.  After the evening my ass was tired so off to bed we went.  Then I woke up. Nothing beats waking up at 5am the day after a party to a plywood covered pile of soup crusted dirty dishes.  2 hours later, a rag, some peppermint Dr. Bronners and the bathroom sink made things look good again. And now the house is full of every chair we have ever owned, every piece of mismatched bowl, plate, cup,jar, and spoon we could find, and a freezer full of wheat bread and lots of carrot sticks.

Yup, things are moving along. Pretty soon I'll be cooking up a storm in new kitchen and will be bring you all some food posts to boot.  The appliances are set to arrive tomorrow and all we have left to do is build the cabinets, run a few water lines, pour a concrete counter.........

Today the mr have to remove the 500 plates, cups, bowls and spoons out and the rest of the birthday cake out of the kitchen area and get back to work to makingt he real kitchen thing happen. But the coffee pot and all the coffee has found it's permanent home. I'll have coffee all day long. Whoa hoo!

Things I saw and read on the internet that you can now see and read too.

-Not really a "gingerbread house" but what ev, it pretty fantastical. How To Build An Indestructible Gingerbread House. Gummy bear epoxy seems so right.

-Speaking of gingerbread houses. Holiday gingerbread cookies have a dark and violent past

-Cute Animation Imagines How Day Turns into Night

-A hairy tail has be found.  First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber

-This is a good guide with lots of good recipes. The Search is Over: This Map Will Find Your Sugar Cookie Soulmate

-I want this.

-Now I know where I have seen you before. Scientists Think Your Face Evolved to Look Like an Ape’s Butt

-Why Nutrition News Contradicts Itself All the Time. One day my diet is super healthy and the next, I am probably going to die cause of it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. (nah, I think I am good)

-A Brighter Outlook Could Translate To A Longer Life. Doing it

-I get excited every year when this list comes out (I know, I a dork). NPR’s Book Concierge Our Guide To 2016’s Great Reads

Picture fun time.

I made him throw this sock away..... It was time.

Have a fantasticday.

Sunday Happy

I know it's early an I know it's Sunday, but other than that I am having a hard time concentrating on much of anything. All I can think about is paint color, well that and the kitchen stove. (I am getting closer to making that decision. I am secretly hoping Bluestar will just gift me one.) Oh, and how I want to hang some lights on the house because what is the point of having a house without hanging the holiday lights. So I guess I am thinking, just not very clearly.

How was your week? Good I hope. Ours was kind of quite. We spent most of our time at the house working and feeling sick. I might have convinced myself at the beginning of the week that I had listeria due to the fact that I ate a shit ton of some hummus that was recalled due to contamination. But I am alive so I think I am ok. We did get to see lots of family, spend a little time in some woods, and even got to take a afternoon nap .(mostly because I was sick) And it snowed!!!! There is no more snow now, but there was and it was so white and fluffy and great. I am looking forward to having an actual winter this year with some actual snow.

The mr and I are working our butts off, trying to maybe move in soon, like as soon as possible. Yesterday at the house, the mr was downstairs patching up the pantry walls and I was upstairs, painting. The plan was to touch up all the paint and to paint the closet doors. Sounds simple right? Well it wasn't. Long story short, I spent the entire day painting, hating, remixing, then repainting the closet doors in the bedroom. I didn't get to anything else. I almost tore my eyes out of my head. I seriously repainted those freaking doors5 times, each time thinking that I likes the color. Then an hour later, after painting front ans back of both doors (they are louved so they take longer) then I would hate the color and start all over again. I was going a little crazy. I blame it on the fumes.

Today I am going to bring over a scented candle (to mask he smell of urethane), put on some Christmas tunes, touch up all the paint in the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs and paint those stupid closet doors one last time, color be damned.   We are getting there. It's going to be great

There might even be some time to bust out the Xmas lights!

Internet for the looking.

-My hometown. America’s First All-Renewable-Energy City

-Your Brain Can Barely Handle Conversation and Eye Contact at the Same Time.

-Cool Ass Lamps. The peacock is the best.

-My siblings.. Best friends, worst enemies. Love them all to pieces even when I want to punch them in the face. Give Thanks For Siblings: They Can Make Us Healthier And Happier

-I could spend forever in one of these (Cornell is my favorite). THE 15 MOST BEAUTIFUL COLLEGE LIBRARIES IN AMERICA

-Maybe someday I will sit around and make bird houses, but they have to be this cool. These Modernist Houses Are Literally For the Birds

-Can't wait to go crazy and cover my life with all the green, it makes me happy. Green and Peaceful

-So I for sure talk to myself, sometimes just saying lists out loud, but sometimes....The mr always thinks I am talking to him. I have to tell him to stop budding in on my conversation. The Running Conversation in Your Head

-The mr always get me purple carrots in my stocking and my birthday. WTF ARE PURPLE CARROTS AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

And photos from the week.

happy weekend!

Sunday Happy

Big. Ass. Yawn. Because we need it, or at least I do.

The week started off with nice, calm sister time, the lake, and happy little littles. Then shit got crazy. From dealing with appliances (still haven't settled on a stove yet) to having to wear a stupid respirator all day everyday because I cannot deal with the off gases that come from polyurethane and now have dry skin blotches on my face, to running around painting prepping, sanding stairs... We are just plan pooped out. Now we just need to plow through the house to get it done and moved in. It's getting so close I can almost imagine it. And then we can get a little bit of our life back. That will be great. We did manage to attend the two weeks early double birthday party for So and Justin because get this, it's really sad, they are going to be in Disney Land for their actual birthdays, and so we party now for them.  What kinda bummed me out was that I didn't get to make the birthday cake.(I always make So's birthday cakes..the best birthday cakes) My sister being so nice, didn't want to ask to make it me because we are so busy so she ended up buying a cake from costco. It was crazy and huge and no one could eat a whole slice. All I had to say was maybe next year don't go to Disney Land and I will make the cake.

And now it's the week of Thanksgiving. Are you guys ready for the holidays? I wish I could say that I was but I am not, really really not.  Plus it's looking more and more like we have no idea what we are doing. Food? There isn't much in the house. (I am running dangerously low on dried beans and I already ate through most of my farm share and there isn't another pick up for a week and a half) I have not a single thing planned or pre-made, and we are not even sure where we are going yet. But hey, we got a couple days to figure it out right? As for food, well I just have to suck it up and do that major grocery shop that needs being done and get to some of the good stuff before all of it is picked through by the early prepared holiday shoppers. I will buy lots of beans and all the carrots.

As for today, well we gots a few weather sensitive things to do, like picking up all the piles of wood out in front of the house so it doesn't look like a dump and piling scrap metal into the work car before it get covered in snow .( I am so excited about snow!!) Also need to give the cat a stern talking to about hanging out in the road because apparently after 11 years of being an outdoor cat, he now decided that is where all the cool cats hang. And my favorite thing on my to do list today is....dig all the slivers out of my hands. Oh so much fun. At least I will be drinking all the coffee that I could possibly want and eating beans and carrots.  Maybe I will bake a pie too. (hahaha, but maybe)

Some of what the Internet has had this week.

-Duh. An Overlooked Weapon Against the Flu Is Also the Most Effective One

-Cool shadow art.

-I freeze my veggies in the summer and fall (my freezer is stuffed with tomatoes and peppers) anduse them all winter long. Are Frozen Fruits and Vegetables as Nutritious as Fresh?

-Grapefruit and Salt. Yum.

-I have been feeling this so bad. To Relieve Post-Election Stress, Bake And Bake Again

-The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Cure

-I guess they are all sold out, but maybe will get more in stock later. I wanted to get the mr the country clubber set.  So f-ing awesome.

-I really love this, like a lot. A Collaborative Duo Pokes Fun at Plein Air Painting Through Photographic Series

-Not gonna lie, the super chipper all the time people, well they tire me out. If You’re Annoyed by Overly Cheerful People, You’ll Like This Study

Pictures from the weeks happenings.

Happy Weekend!!!

Parsnip Snickerdoodles

After spending a good few hours driving around to different stores with the mr looking at all sorts of appliances mostly stove, all I wanted to do was bash my head against a dish washer. But then I would have to choose one to bash against and I can't seem to do that.  Agh, I hate shopping, especially for something that I really need and cost a lot of money and I don't want to screw up.

It's all about the stove, the main tool in the kitchen. I want it to be awesome, pretty, super functional. It needs to be able to not break (I break ovens) when I crank the heat way up. I don't want or need anything fancy like infer red censors or a led touch pad(that is just more things for me to break), I just want a simple, easy to clean, power house that will do my bidding and not look like shit. Oh, and not be a million bucks.  And that there lies the problem. Those un-fussy powerful ovens are the super duper expensive ones. Yup. I am all over the place with this and it's got me overwhelmed. To top it all of, there is a deadline. The stove needs to bought and in the house but the end of next week.

What I am hoping for now is that appliance fairy from the super duper expensive oven store comes by my house and drops me a stove for the reason none other then I want it. Mahaha. Dreams.

When the shopping trip ended the mr dropped me off at home to do a few things while he went back to the house and painted trim. My plan was to sort through bills, research ovens some more( so much researching) and clean the car(its stinks). As soon as I walked into the house I realized something. I haven't been home at this time in like a month. There is sunlight, I can open the door cause it's warm out, and I just didn't really give a crap about doing anything. I took a look around my tiny loft and with my tiny kitchen and tiny oven. My tiny oven, no fancy, no gadgets, not even very powerful, but has baked and roasted and boiled so so many things. That's when I decided that I wasn't going to do anything that I came home to do, I was just going to bake something, spend a little more time in my tiny, one wall kitchen. And so that's what I did. Parsnip snickerdoodles. The idea popped into my head a few weeks back and I just so happened to have a few parsnips left in the fridge (I was saving them for my dinner but I figured the mr deserved cookies), so there really was no question. I was making cookies. After the past few weeks I think we all need to bake some mother F-ing cookies.

Cookies came out fantastic, the house smelled amazing, and I got to just chill for a bit, not thinking about new ovens or bills or money, just watching the cookies bake. It was nice.

The stuff. Gonna need a parsnip or two along with some flour, sugar, coconut oil, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, cream of tarter, and cinnamon.

First thing is to soften the parsnip. Chop it up and place into a pot with about and inch of water and steam until fork tender. Once done, toss into a food processor to puree it all up.

Parsnip puree for the cookies ans enough left over for a quick snack.

The measured puree goes back into processor with sugar, vanilla, and coconut oi and get pulsed all together until combined.

Then the rest of the dry ingredients go in.

Pulsed until a nice dough forms.

A ball of cookie dough awaiting a cinnamon sugar bath.

Make little balls of dough them coat them in the cinnamon sugar and place on a cookie sheet.

I give the cookies each a little squish with my fingers cause thy are not going to spread much.

And into the oven they go.

Minutes later and out they come.  Cinnamon sugar Parsnip goodness.

Nothing beats not doing the things that need to be done them baking a pile of cookies.

-C

---

Parsnip Snickerdoodles

makes 2 dozen

• 1 large or 2 small parsnips (1/2 cup pureed parsnip )
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Grab parsnips, chop into chunks andtoss into a pot with about an inch of water. Stick on stove on high until water boils then down to a simmer with a lid on pot until the parsnip chunks are fork tender.

Dump cooked parsnips into food processor and blend until smooth. Scoop out puree, measure a 1/2 cup (any extra is a snack) and add it back to processor. Add in coconut oil, sugar and vanilla and pulse until combined. Add in the cream of tarter, baking soda, salt, and flour and pulse it all together until a a dough forms. Dump dough onto counter and bring together.

Preheat oven to 350.

iI a small bowl, mix together the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon. Take small lumps of the dough and roll into balls. Roll the balls all up in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place onto a baking sheet with a little space between them. With your hand or a fork if you want,  smoosh the cookie somewhat flat. When the sheet is full, place into oven to bake. Cookie should take about 9-10 minutes or until slightly rised and the bottom is a light golden brown.

Remove cookie from oven, place on a rack to cool, then you know, eat them.

Sunday Happy

One extra hour today! Did you or are you currently sleeping it? I woke up at 4 am which was 5am yesterday so I am hoping that I am going to get in a little nap at some point. That's what is there for right? I love the end of daylight savings, I mean, who doesn't love an extra hour. And also I actually really enjoy that it gets dark out early. Being the old lady that I am, I don't leave the house after 7 but I love the night sky.. Now that it's darker out earlier, I can drink it all up and still be in bed at a reasonable old lady hour. Whoa hoo!

So I am starting to think about holiday stuff, specifically the holiday stuff that could potentially happen in the new house. Then I start to think about all the stuff that needs to be done in the house before any holiday stuff can happen and then my eyes start to bug out and my brain does a wiggle and I forget the holiday stuff and start to freak out a bit.  Then the mr is all "one thing at at time" and "we got this" and I am all like "ok, if you say so" and I calm down. Then I start to think about how soon the holidays are and the whole thing starts over again. So basically I am driving myself crazy.
 

It's been a long week, but some of highlights are

• Got our first winter farm share and have been eating so much celeriac and squash and parsnips
• The upstairs bathroom is all hooked up, like sink, toilet, and tub, and is looking like magic.
• The window trim is going up and all the old trims we saved has been sanded and stained and scrubbed all week long.
• The back porch is all painted and done
• A very large, rounded couch was brought home by the mr. (I can't decide if I hate it or love it)
• I spent a good part of a day in the yard hacking away at the humongous thristle trees (they looked like trees) with a hand saw.

There has been other stuff, but right now I can't think of it. We kinda missed Halloween. We worked all day then decided that the front porch looked to sketchy and dangerous for little kids so didn't give out candy which really bummed out the mr cause he didn't get any Halloween candy this year. Last night I was vacuuming the floor and found a grape.  picked it up, gave it a little dust off and ate it. Is that weird? And I cut my hair. Just a few inches over the bathroom sink while the mr was brushing his teeth. Oh man, I think I might be losing it a bit. What I really need to do is spend some time in the kitchen . I realized that I have been so wrapped up in craziness that I haven't gotten any l really kitchen time in a while. This week I am back to making more time for the kitchen and my camera and trying not to be so crazy. I'll make you a salad, maybe some cookies. And soup. We have been eating a shit ton of soup.

Sunday YEA!!! Little sister Barb is coming over today and doing some helping. I was thinking we would paint, maybe even clean, but I have a feeling her help might just be to hang out, listen to the radio and dance party to every crappy song that comes on.  harass the mr, and just make me happy. Maybe we will get to some actual work, but I won't be caring if we don't. But I need to clean at some point for sure cause he house is a mess right now and it's driving me freaking nuts. Maybe that's what I can do with my extra hour.

Stuff from the world online.

-Need to stay awake for this one. YES! Dave Chappelle is *finally* hosting ‘SNL' in case you were wondering if dreams come true

-A fantastic house.

-This is good because I don't like to clean my coffee cups. It’s Okay to Never Wash Your Coffee Mug

-Girl Scout cookie cereal. Really? Yup, really.

-So many different kinds. The Ultimate Ice Cream Glossary, A to Z

-I never had a cool lunch box (be sad for me) Beyond The Pail: NPR Unpacks The History Of The Lunch Box

-What the FU*K. Hitting the Elevator Door-Close Button Won’t Make the Elevator Doors Close

-How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California's Drought?

-I needed to know, and now I do. How to Tell a Raven From a Crow

And speaking of birds.Shattered birds in windows

-Swearing Is Much Less Common Than It Seems...not in my family (or maybe it's just me)

-All the pretty plants

and a few pics

Have a great day!

-C