baby food jar chandelier

today, it has snowed more than i have seen since i lived in indianapolis.
i am used to snow.... but it's been a loooong time since i've seen so much!
brandy, on the other hand, is not used to snow.
at least, not snow that is so high that she can not stand in it and be able to see.
so..... she has not went potty outside today. :(
but we had fun running in the snow today before the sun went down.
i took off her leash for once and just let her run around behind me (as i cleared a path for her).
i hope that whatever snowfall we get for the rest of winter does not accumulate to more than this.

sometime in january, after all this holiday crap has worn off and life is back to feeling normal and boring again, i want to attempt to make this baby food jar chandelier.
i seriously think it would be awesome to hang from my living room ceiling above my coffee table.
downfall is that i will have to probably eat 12 jars of baby food.
i am hoping maybe steve's mom knows someone with a baby that has some old (matching) jars to get rid of.

i bought a bag of cranberries to make food with, instead i ended up decorating with them:



i joined freecycle over the weekend.
i had joined when i lived in indianapolis and tulsa before but never gave or got anything.
i was more annoyed by the emails than anything else.
but i am giving it a third go.
i am finding myself more needy of free stuff now than ever.
and craigslist is mostly a joke.
"free pile of dirt"...... riiiiiiiight.

i was flipping through a 3 year old edition of real simple magazine.
there was a really nifty button bracelet in it that i wanted to make.
yeah, needless to say, mine turned out bad.
it was a waste of time and effort sewing buttons onto a piece of old sweater.
maybe it will look better with more buttons on it.
but i am doubting it.

turns out target has the same hamilton beach stand mixer that i got on black friday, for only $19.99 this week.
yeah, i'm not going to lie, i was pissed that i found out i waited in line FOREVER that morning just to pay more for it.
but... it was still a great buy. and hopefully my co-worker Lil will get one this week!
i keep telling her how much i love mine...
and i know it will come in handy for her baking lots of goodies for the holidays.

it's my second round of bread baking!
and i am happy to report that it turned out even better this time. :)
i let the bread rise for a little bit longer before putting it in the oven.
next time, i will try making it with honey instead of sugar and olive oil instead of butter.
i've been told the bread turns out even better this way.
sorry for the crappy picture!



and, as requested, here is a picture of the bourbon bottle snowflake wrapping paper:

bourbon bottles arranged into snowflakes

when you are engulfed in flames by david sedaris makes for a good audio book.
i was much better to listen to than dress your family in corduroy and denim (which i liked better as a book).
my favorite chapter to listen to was the understudy.
my favorite quote was david and his sister mocking one of their babysitters, "ya'lls got the same damn thing. only theys ain't poked out yet. "
i have decided that listening to audio books from time to time while at work (instead of music on my ipod) might be a good change.
i listened to most of the audio book on friday at work and it put me in a much better mood than just listening to music.



i attempted to make my first loaf of home-made bread today.
i followed trent's recipe over at the simple dollar.
it turned out better than expected considering it was my first attempt at bread making.
it actually reminded me of the pizza crusts that i make.
so, evidently, i have been making bread all along.

i also made the most delicious stew ever on thursday.
it doesn't have a name (that i am aware of), because i didn't use a recipe.
but its something i've been able to eat for lunch and dinner since thursday and still not being sick of yet.
i browned up some sausage and then put it in the crock pot with 2 cans of beef broth, water, cumin, parsley, salt, tomato sauce, onion, green bell pepper, mushrooms, and potatoes.
it really heats the spot on these really cold, snowy days. :)

maker's mark sent me free wrapping paper and ribbon in the mail.
the wrapping paper has bourbon bottles arranged into snowflakes.
so naturally, i decided to wrap all of my family's gifts in this paper.
they already think i'm an alcoholic, so what can it hurt?
i may use it to wrap a few misc gifts with as well, but honestly, who wants gifts in paper that screams, "i drink so much, i get free wrapping paper from liquor companies!"
this quote is so untrue, but that's what most people would think.

i'm a good co-worker to have...

i am excited to announce that i have my very first blogger follower!
that's something that i never thought would happen. lol
i just figured most people found my blog through my myspace.
i guess not. :)
yay for zombie kitty!

i am even more excited to announce that i finally started my "financial" blog!
it has two entries already for you to read.
i don't plan on keeping myspace updated on this blog,
so if you want to be kept up-to-date on the financial blog (sunny savings),
you'll need to subscribe to the rss feed.
you can subscribe either by clicking the rss icon in your foxfire toolbar, or with the subscribe option i have given you on the blog itself.
and of course, if you are a blogspot user, you can just become a follower. :)

guess who's making peppermint bark now??
well, technically, i made some on monday night for steve to take home.
but i made some more today to take with me to work tomorrow.
the peppermint bark reminds me of the new candy cane hershey kisses.
mmmm....
oreo bark is REALLY good too!
which i made a bit of as well. :)
this blog post is also a good peppermint bark making guideline to go by.
i'm a good co-worker to have...




i have decided that audio books would make a really good xmas present for my mom.
she doesn't read, but she has always seemed to like to listen to them instead.
i was going to get her some used ones on paperback swap, but i takes 2 credits versus 1 for a book.
so that was out of the question because i have so few credits left now.
i opted to rent audio books from the library instead and rip them into mp3 format, and then re-burn them to cd.
yes, it's cheap and copyright infringement.
but it's not like i am trying to re-sell these audio books, so i think it's ethically okay to do.
and i think these are something my mom might actually enjoy.



santa's kickin' it in a new hat.
someone in my apartment building set a box of old christmas stuff by the building entrance.
i grabbed up this cute little hat.
word.