to the computer lab.

(e:Dianne) likes painting ceramics, so I thought she'd enjoy making salt dough ornaments. They're much more free-form artsy yet employ all the same techniques.

First, we made the dough - 1:1 flour:salt + enough water to make it like dough. This was almost a cup of water with one cup each flour & salt. We had also made chocolate chip cookie dough, molasses cookies and sour cream sugar cookie dough that day, so we put it in the fridge to cut & bake later.

The next day, Tanya helped us roll out the cookies and cut them. Then we baked them for nearly two hours, turning halfway through.

They sat for a few days while we finished up the other cookie baking and gathered paints, glitter, mod-podge, brushes, and pretty paper. (A filled loyalty punch card at Hyatt's gets you at $20 gift card!!)

Christmas Eve, Tanya came over and we started the decorating process. We sanded first - definitely recommend this step, it was surprisingly helpful to have smooth(er) surfaces to work with. We painted, decoupaged, glittered and otherwise manipulated the ornaments. Having lots of ornament hooks handy was very helpful as we painted both sides. Paint - dry - paint - dry - modpodge - dry - glitter glue - dry ... Note: mod-podge THEN glitter glue! We got quite a few started and nearly complete.

Christmas Day we hosted the afterparty from Brena's Misfit Christmas Brunch and people created more interesting ornaments. The lady with the dress is from that session.

We went to NYC Saturday to late late Tuesday night, so we couldn't finish until yesterday. I was still tying string on ornaments today. I like nylon invisible thread, and we also used some really nice stretchy gold string. We ended up throwing some unpainted ones away because we just couldn't keep occupying the kitchen table with this project.

Here's the entire set. As much work as they took, I keep expecting there to be more of them!

So pretty!

I think my body has decided it has had enough... I moved twice in 12 days and (e:Dianne) was sick in between. (e:Dianne) and I officially moved in together, just days shy of our second anniversary. I'm so excited to finally be building our life together instead of tenuously holding it all together. Our new apartment is gorgeous and filled with light. It's also bigger and has free laundry!! we were invited to take the apartment by a neighborhood friend and that feels good too :-) the timing wasn't great but it's still very worthwhile.

On Monday, Terry and I moved (e:AllenStreet) two blocks south on Franklin street, above Allasen Carpet. We went from six people jammed into less than 600 sq ft to everyone having their own office (plus Dianne's study attic) in more quadruple the size. It is also gorgeous and light filled. Can't wait to have an office warming party!

We made mac & cheese tonight to accompany our packing.

8 oz. (=1 3/4 c.) dry elbow macaroni
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 c. mozzarella shredded
1/2 c. smoked gouda
2 c. milk (we'll try evaporated next time)
1/4 c. butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 1/2 T. flour
salt & pepper
dried mustard
-- topping --
2 T. butter
1/2 c. bread crumbs
paprika

1. Cook the noodles. Drain.
2. Shred cheeses.
3. In heavy saucepan, use a bit of butter to saute the onions. Turn down the heat. Add the rest of the butter. Slowly stir in flour to make a roux, stirring constantly. Stir in milk. Stir in cheeses, salt, pepper, and mustard, and cook over low heat until cheese is melted. Turn off heat, stir in noodles. Pour in baking dish (8x8 pan or 1.5 qt dish, we used the same heavy saucepan).
4. Melt butter, stir in breadcrumbs. Spread over top of mac & cheese. Sprinkle with paprika.
5. Bake at 350F for 30 min. Let cool 15 min. Serve.