A month and a half ago (when I broke my dag-gum rib snow boarding!) I found a bunch of awesome pincecones. Or is it pine cones? I can’t for the life of me figure out if it’s oneword or two…
I’ll just alternate between the two for the duration of this post. I could Google it, but that would take an extra 3 seconds.
Whateves. So anyway, I found these huge honkin’ pine cones up at Mammoth Mountain. Some might think it’s no big deal, but I’m from Texas. We have very small pinecones. I’m not use to pine cones so freaking huge. I mean, just look at them:
Hey, it doesn’t take much to excite me, alright?! Give me some free pinecones and I’ll be giddy ’til summer.
So I’m minding my own business bragging about my pine cones (pinecones?) and Foxfunds comes along and posts this comment to me:
“Don’t forget to bake them to kill the critters that you brought home in them….trust me. I know from first hand experience when my craft room was overtaken by creatures that hatched from mini pinecones that I make birds out of. Eewwwww!!!”
WHAT?!?! Are you serious? For real?! Don’t be messing with me Foxfunds because I do not joke about these kinds of things!
Yes, I know that us Texan’s like to Texas-size everything, including cockroaches and scorpions. And ants. Big fat red fire ants. But still, I can kinda deal with bugs OUTSIDE. I cannot deal with bugs in.my.house. And especially in my pinecones!
So I googled “baking pinecones” and found a tutorial on how to do it. Basically pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees and then put your pine cones in for 45 minutes.
You were suppose to do only a rational amount of pinecones per bake session, but the thought of bugs sitting there breeding and hatching for one second longer gave me the heebie-geebies so badly that I just crammed all 200 pine cones in the oven at once.
Oh, and also 45 minutes? Pfft! I needed to really kill every living organism so I decided that an hour and a half sounded better.
Here’s what’s left after I burnt at least a 3rd of them. I guess I should have stuck with 45 minutes.
I even enrolled K to help me.
Is it just me or does this picture kinda remind you of those dog pictures where the dog’s head is huge and the body is really small?
Um… ya. Anyway…
I don’t need my freshly baked pinecones until this fall, so I boxed them up. I’m sure they’ll be overrun by moths or something…
The moral of the story… IF you find any really awesome pine cones, or anything from NATURE you probably should bake the bugs out.
I like the ring of that… “Bake the bugs out..” Kinda catchy…
So I’ve got the coolest most exciting Christmas… in May! news eveh!
Okay, maybe not eveh, but I’m totally excited none the less.
I was strolling along through the parking garage of my complex and found the most awesome best thing sitting by the trash.
There was even a note on it especially for me! Aw shucks, you shouldn’t have.
Yes, my friends, you read that right. Sitting there for FREE! was a 7 1/2 ft slim cashmere pine pre-lit Christmas tree! It’s hard to see it, but in the top corner the tag says it’s from Target and it was $154.99.
Some crazy stuck up Beverly Hills person threw away a hundred-fidy-four dollar tree.
I grabbed the box right then and there and drug that sucker up to my apartment… where it sat… in my entry way for at least a month. Untouched.
My poor husband gets so annoyed when I bring trash home. I mean, it probably is crappy and broken and doesn’t even work, right?!!
Finally after a month I decided I was tired of tripping on it. I dragged it to my living room and set it up once and for all – just to make sure I wasn’t storing a complete piece of trash.
It works! And it’s not trash! Ya, I should have fluffed it up better for the picture (er, the bottom of it at least) but IT WORKS!
This thing looks brand-spakin’ new! Someone probably bought it, used it for two weeks, and then just dumped it off at the garbage! Ga, I love Beverly Hills! All these rich folks just throwing away hundred-fifty-five dollar trees.
It even has pinecones on it. Love. And it’s soft and kinda cashmere-ish.
Maybe there are a few good reasons to live here after all. (But I still am looking forward to the END OF JUNE when I move back home).
Pardon my complete rambling on and on. I get in a gabbing mood whenever I read Dooce too much. She is so funny!
Welcome to House of Hepworths! This blog chronicles my journey from turning a cookie-cutter basic builder-grade house into our custom dream home. I do all the work myself so I can save a buck or two, and I share the process with you to hopefully inspire you to tackle projects in your home. I write about anything related to sprucing up our home, whether it be 
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You are so funny! Love your blog…this post made me laugh out loud!! Good to know these kinds of info. I saw a cute acorn wreath awhile ago, but am a bit freaked out about the bugs to do it. Ew! Wasn’t aware of pinecones too.
Hahahahahaha! Heebie Jeebies and rich folks throwing away Christmas trees! Hysterical! I laughed at all those pine cones in your oven, and yes, that pic of your daughter with the pinecone looked exactly like the dog. The pinecone that is, not your cutie-patootie!
I love finding treasures anywhere. You scored big time!
Bugs..in pine cone? Ewwwwwwwwwww! You cracked me up about the baking times!! Burnt pine cones…maybe all the new rage!! I brought in some driftwood and placed it on my coffee table. The next day I noticed some rather large black and red ants coming in and out of it!! Ack!! I took it back outside and left it there. You can never be too careful!
Love your early Christmas present!!
Hugs
SueAnn
Yeah, I learned this lesson the hard way. Last fall I loved all the pics bloggers were posting about apothecary jars filled with acorns. Hmmm, I just happen to have a huge oak tree in my front yard. The light bulb went off over my head and out I went to collect my free decor items. I brought them into the kitchen and spread them on a towel to dry. When I came back a hour or so later, little white worms were coming out of them! Yuck! I threw away towel and all!!
hahaha! This post gave me a laugh! I had no idea you could bake pinecones to preserve them! I have to admit I have pinecones out in my family room now even though it’s spring. They look cute!
Hahaha, this post is too funny! And EW! Bugs, worms, etc. in free nature decor is not cool. At all. Next time I find some cool twigs to spray paint or something I’ll definitely bake them first! Bugs out = okay, Bugs inside = no way! And ohmygosh, I can’t believe you found a 160$ tree in the trash! When I lived in an apartment in college I would dumpster dive all the time! I found so much great stuff – DVD players, office chairs, desks, entertainment consoles (found an 80$ Target one!), VCR players… all sorts of stuff that students would get rid of at the end of the semester because they had to move. I loved every second of it! You know what they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s trasure”. So true.
Enjoy your bug-free pinecones (1 word? Maybe?) and your free dumpster tree!
The picture of the oven crammed with pinecones is just the best! Great, funny stuff.
Hilarious post. I was cracking up at doubling the time in the oven because you have like quadruple the number of pinecones. Sounds reasonable to me! LOL
(I also love Dooce!)
Yeah for the tree…thanks for the tip about the pine cones!! Yikes…
You should put some essential oil in your box so the pine cones smell good when you bring them out…
I’m jealous. Great find on that tree. I love the live ones, but for free, I’d snach it up in a minute.
I always bake my pinecones too, I’ve found few buggies in them. You are right though, we do have some big pinecones out here in the west;)
Gotta love a good find!
Hi Allison….FREE is one of the niest words! You did well!Thanks for linking up to Thrifty Thursday!
Leigh, Bloggeritaville
http://www.lbratina.blogspot.com
I have never heard of baking pinecones–you learn something new every day!
You are so lucky-what a find!
Best wishes,
Natasha.
WOW! I need to come to your neighborhood to find stuff like that lol Glad to know about the pinecone thing because I didn’t know you should bake them.
Wow what a great find and tips on the pine cones. Thanks for linking up to Saturday is Crafty Day!
Good tip about baking the pinecones! I had a bunch of acorns I picked up to decorate with this Fall. Luckily, I had read about killing the critters and decided to put them in the freezer. You can either freeze or bake them. I left them there for a few days and then filled up my apothecary jars.
Now, here’s the tip: Do not put frozen acorns in a jar with a lid on top for weeks! The acorns got to room temperature and molded, because of the condensation! Oops!
Wow! Thanks for the tips for pinecones!
Great tip. Although thinking about pinecone bugs is making me all itchy.
Thanks for linking up to the Mad Skills party!
The pinecones are gorgeous! I’ve never heard of baking them but it makes complete sense! Thanks again for linking up to the Sunday Showcase! Stephanie Lynn
I laugh at your comments about Southern California. I live in a nice area (the small run down house, in the nice neighborhood syndrome). We have the best thrift stores around. The rich people, nearby, donate amazing stuff. My daughter got a top for 99 cents and it was originally $80 (it still had the price tags). That was at Good Will!!! Let’s just say that she’s gotten some great clothes and I’ve gotten household stuff. Hmmmm I need to go Thrift shopping again soon.
When I baked my pine cones last fall, a ga-zillion seeds came out of them but I didn’t see any bugs (thank God!)
I loved it also!!! I am an acorn nut. One year dh and I found the freakin biggest acorns and we picked up a ton of them. Got home with ‘em and cleaned them up a little, brushing dirt off them. I went wild and crazy with glitter glue and they were amazzzing! I did not think about the critters until my house was full of all kinds of creepy crawlie critters!!! I found out after the fact that you are to bake them like you baked the pinecones. The next time I got acorns, I just baked them last thing in the evening for 45 min. in a 200 degree oven and then turned the oven off and let the acorns stay all snuggly in the oven till the next morning. No bugs!
I just found your blog through a pin on Pinterest and got hooked immediately. Can’t wait to read more from you.
So glad to hear. I hope you enjoy it all! Thanks for stopping by.
I have that same tree! It’s so pretty when its decorated and I put pinecones on it also. You can always string the pinecones, smear them with peanut butter, roll them in birdseed and hang them outside. Maybe you won’t have to bake the bugs out after all — they’d be a little extra fiber for the birds!
Talking about critters. My daughters went and cut fresh trees for Christmas. Beautiful, fresh and the aroma was fantastic. One week later zillions of small spiders appeared everywhere in their house. The trees were loaded with spider eggs, so beware and check your fresh trees out……….oh and the trees became outdoor decorations……..
OMG this freaks me out! We usually cut down a tree each year, but now I’m totally freaked out about it.
Love your post! Your in between thoughts crack me up because that is how my brain works too! Total score on the Christmas Tree.
Thank you. Yes, I discovered some critters in my car, my only guess is that they came from the pinecones my son brought into the car. They were also eating the left over french fries he left in there. Gross. Now I know what to do, thanks.
Oh no! That is horrible. I got sand ants in my car once. It was a nightmare. Getting bugs out of a car is the worst.
Speaking of bugs, I used to work at a self storage place, and when I was showing someone an empty unit, we got attacked by fleas. By the time we figured it out, we had tracked them into the office. I had to go to the store to buy flea bombs so I was sure there were some in my car (our socks and shoes were covered in them, gross!) I decided to bomb my car that night, just to be sure I got them all. It works! And on the plus side, every square inch of my car got cleaned the next day, lol.
I’m a new follower and love your ideas! Thanks for sharing them.
I want to go pine cone hunting, I love them! I do have to say, if you take them from state or national parks, it’s illegal!
What?! Oh crap! I had no idea! And here I am admitting to it on my blog! Eek. I hope I don’t get arrested. I got these from the Mammoth Ski Resort, so hopefully that’s a privately owned park.
It’s actually illegal to remove those cones because that species of tree is endangered. With that said, we have a couple at our house too haha…
I just wouldn’t advertise that I took them or take two hundred of them!!
Allison, I love your blog. You ar a great narrator and I just wanted to let you know that even though I don’t always comment, I always look forward to opening each new chapter and seeing what you have to share. Thank you for always being a bright spot each day.
I live in SC and we have A LOT of pine cones. I use them but I just let them sit overnight in a big tub of salt water with a few tablespoons of clorox in it to clean and decritterfy them.
I found your blog today, LOVE it!!! I also love pine cones or is it pincecones? LOL I use to find big ones like those here in Florida, lately I only see tiny ones.
I’m all for killing any creepy crawlers lurking in nature’s gifts to us, but to bake them in the oven you use to cook in? Doesn’t that leave the bottom covered with bug carcasses? A florist giving a lecture at the library told of how she filled her trunk with pine cones and on the drive home her son, sitting in the bag seat, became covered with bugs. Since then she said she puts them in a black trash bag, sprays Raid inside, ties it up and lets it sit 24 hours. Dead bugs in a trashbag would beat dead bugs in the ovenyou prepare your family’s food in any day, even if you’ve put the pinecones on a foil-covered tray.