The Quaint Cottage: May 2012

I {heart} my new food dehydrator!

Off the subject of the half bath for a moment.... Here is a random post.

I've recently discovered the art of dehydrating food. Okay, it may not be an art, but it's pretty cool. I've only made jerky, apple chips and banana chips, but I am going to test fruit roll ups this weekend. I love this little machine!!!!

The fruit obviously takes much longer than the jerky because of the liquid content, but the jerky is ready to go in about 4 hours. All you do is mix the seasoning with the meat and squeeze through the gun. How easy is that? I'm planning on making a large batch of goodies for our upcoming road trip to the beach.

My co-worker also decided to buy one and she has made her own spicy red pepper seasoning.

Why did it take me so long to test one of these wonderful machines? My whole family loves eating jerky, but it is so expensive and packed full of preservatives. Now we make our own with the jerky gun (yes, there is such a thing) and jerky seasoning (which I made have to make my own some day).

I've even found dog treat recipes for the dehydrator! Actually, I may need to make Max some of those because right now when he smells the jerky he barks at me to give him some.

Do you have a dehydrator? What type of stuff do you make with yours?

I'm adding the links to the items I purchased if you are curious. This isn't a sponsored ad post, just sharing what I found. :)

Karen

Amazon

I Can See the Finish Line

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Does anyone else get so involved with a project in your house you ignore the laundry and start naming your dust bunnies and passing them off as pets? Well, I do!

My house is in complete chaos right now because the kids brought home all their school projects, papers, supplies and just threw them where they found room.

Instead of doing something about the mess, I decided to work in the half bath tonight after work.

Now, all of the painting is complete!!!! Yippeeeee!!!!

This weekend I painted the white paneling (which I had primed last weekend).

And tonight I painted the walls. As much as I truly loathe painting, I do love the finished product. Plus, my arms and legs get a bit of a workout so I can't complain.

Also, over the weekend I started the vanity project. Here is a sneak peek at what I'm making.

I stained it, but I'm thinking it is a bit darker than I wanted. I'll see what it looks like in the room before I decide if I need to make any changes.

If anyone will be interested, I'll post some plans of the vanity.

Lucky for me, I had plenty of paint left over from the laundry room remodel to use in the half bath.

I need to finish the sink this week since I'm having guests for a BBQ this weekend.

Wish me luck.

Karen :)

Half Bath Update

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Well, two weeks of life getting in the way of the home improvement projects really sets me back.

First, the Saint Louis area was hit with a couple of rounds of hail storms. We were very lucky and didn't get the golf ball + sized hail, but we still had some damage to our roof. We will be getting a new roof next week courtesy of our insurance company. Yay!

Then, our condensing unit and a-coil died just when the temperatures were a steady 90 degrees. It doesn't bother me too much, but my children claimed they could possibly die from the heat. Poor babies! Needless to say, they spent a lot of time in the sprinkler and stationed in front of the fans in the house. The day we had the new one installed the temperatures returned to a more seasonable 72 degrees.

Last weekend, we were able to witness a gorgeous Super Moon. Sadly, I only had my iphone handy to snap a photo, but hopefully you were able to witness it in person.

Since the house was a sauna for about a week, I couldn't work on the half bath. 1) Couldn't install the rest of the paneling when the wood is swollen from the humidty. 2) Couldn't paint the already installed paneling because it never would have dried.

Finally, this weekend I jumped back into the project.

Here is the little room with the completed primed paneling.