Sunday Happy

What a week. Not going to lie, hasn't been my most favorite week for sure. I have been in a mood, a not a good one.

Not much happened out of the usual. We got a nice snow at the very beginning of the week but then it all melted and I think that was when I started to feel blah. The mr and I did a nice hike in that snow though and it was really freaking great. I did a bit work in my studio, cleaned the inside of my oven, (I must note here that it took my 15 minutes tops. No meat means no grease) put up some Christmas decorations (helped lift the mood a bit) and walked around a lot. We didn't have a normal Thanksgivings, no big family gathering at our house, no sibling fighting, no dance party so there was little to have tp plan or do. It was a little sad but very much necessary. And honestly miss everyone but it was kind of nice not to have ta clean turkey gravy or mashed potatoes off my couch.

Thanksgiving day I went for a little hike with Megan, Justin, and kids and then the mr and I just went to my moms. I helped cook, the mr and Barb did some deep cleaning around the house and the boys came out of there rooms long enough to eat. (Paul helped clean before he crawled back into he dark hole) And that was that.

And all through everything I have been cranky Maybe it is pandemic fatigue, maybe it is that it is so freaking warm out and I just want it to be cold and snowy, or maybe it is that I have opened and started 3 different books this week and none of them are sticking. I feel bookless and lost. If I can’t get into a book soon I am going to freak out! It’s probably all of the above and then some but I am okay with being not great. Just going to lean into it, feel my feelings and so on and so forth. (I sound so healthy and smart. HA!)

I am hoping today brings some shift in my demeanor. The mr and I are going to go get our Christmas tree!!! We are going a week earlier then usually but whatever, I want it and need some happy. So as per tradition, we are heading out into the Green Mountain National Forest to hike in, find our tree, cut it down, and drag it out. This my friends it the most bestest part of Christmas. A real live tree, covered in light, right in my living room.

Alright, feeling better already.

Some interneting I interneted this week.

-Sad but happy and of course she is. Cher Is Escorting “World's Loneliest Elephant” From Pakistan To Cambodia

-How Tall Is Mount Everest? Hint: It's Changing It might just not be as tall as anymore.

-Dump it all in my mouth! The Umami-Rich Science of Nutritional Yeast, Marmite & Vegemite

-I thought twice about showing this to the mr and Barb cause I am pretty sure they would want to buy it. Cat Hoodie

-Scotland Becomes 1st Country To Make Period Products Free. ABOUT TIME! Now we just need the rest of the world to do it too.

-Floating sink, cool toilet, and this ceilings… What a home.

-Did or do you do advent calendars? We did as kids, the ones where you opened a door and got a chocolate. I remember being so excited when it was my turn. Those where the days. Advent, explained.

-Word find failure… Happens to me all the time. Why you lose words on the tip of your tongue

And some pictures from the week

Happy little Trees - Light box

I love me a good tree, pretty much any tree, real or fake.  And come December, my house if full of different little trees, of all sizes, shapes and colors. It's my holiday thing because really, there is nothing better then a tree.

And yeah, I was feeling crafty, and maybe a little bit sad that there is no snow around here. And we still hadn't gotten our real tree yet (but we just got it!) so I wanted to make some more little trees to make me feel better, and this time I wanted them to light up. I was also thinking that it might be nice to bring a few little tree decorations over to the new house so I have happy little trees over there while we are working. So yeah, I needed some more little trees. And I figure you do too, that's why I am sharing this.

This is a great project to do with a few littles (they make the trees, you use the hot glue and sharp blade) or make while baking bread and watching a festive movie.  You could even make and share with a loved one as a sweet little gift. And best part...it doesn't need to be packed away after the holidays because trees are not just for Christmas. These are pretty little winter trees, for everyone who is awesome and likes a tree to enjoy all winter long!(even if winter hasn't come yet)

The stuff you will need

• A piece of cardboard about 12x16 (I used an old pizza box I found in the recycling)
• assorted paper of size an color
• white tissue paper (optional)
• a strand of 20 lights (colored or white)
• a ruler
• scissors
• hot glue gun
• glue stick
• tape
• pencil
• xacto knife

Note. If you have an empty shallow box that is a good size for you, just use that. And hot glue works best, bt can be subed out with any glue, or tape for that matter (if you don't mind seeing tape on your trees)

Start with making the cardboard box base. Measure each corner in 1 inch and cut our the corner. Repeat with all corners. Once they are allcut, fold each side at the cuts to make the sides.

Tape the corners together and now you got yourself a sallow box. (now you can make boxes for everything !!!) Set box aside

Now to make the trees. Take a piece of paper and, depending if it is already a square or not, but it into a square. (does not have to be perfect, just eyeball it)

Got your square paper, now take an edge and fold it over about 1/2 inch. And then taking you scissors and snip of the corner edge at an angle (again, not going for perfections here)

The poin is the tip that was cut, now fold the two sides together.

So you can stop here ans glue or if you want light holes.....

Unfold the paper and with a pencil, mark off where you wnt the holes (random is good). Take the xacto blade and cut little x'x over each hole.

Then push through each x with the eraser end of the pencil

Now glue the cone together using the hot glue gun.

You will have a weird tail left on the bottom of the cone, so just trim that off and any extra that needs to come off to make it stand up straight.

Ta Da!! A paper cone tree. Now make a bunch of them, all different sizes and colors (or all the same size and color.. up to you) And not all of them need to have light holes in them either, a couple non light trees are good.

Once you have made all the cone trees, grab the box base and set up the trees how you want them to be on the base

Take the trees off and mark the spots with the pencil. Grab the xacto and cut X's into the marks.

Take your lights and push the bulbs through (there will be a extra bulbs on the underside.... it makes the box glow.)

And tape down the trees back into place

So cute!

Note.. I stuck a couple extra lights through the box that have no trees. They will be covered in a minute with snow.. So you can do the same. (if you want)

Now you check it out!!! Love it right?  And stop here if you like, or go one more step and add some fake snow.

Before you tape down the trees, take glue stick and glue random pieces of tissue paper all over the box, leaving the lights uncovered. (I covered over the extra lights I popped through to make it look like glowing snow)

Stick trees back on.. same way with the tape (You might need to fanagle the trees a little bit to get them to stay)  and plug it in.

Ooooh...... Aaaaahhhh

This makes me happy.

Now go get some paper and start making some trees.

Have fun!

-C