I can already mark a few things off of my list! Woo hoo!

• Throw away/shred all of the mail or other papers I no longer need.
• Clean out my filing cabinet and properly file away important papers. *Half way done*
• Get rid of the old books and magazines on my desk and in my room that I no longer need and donate them.
• Put away all of my computer and cds discs
• Put everything else away where it belongs (such as the cookie cutters, the duct tape, the Harry Potter mug, the Crate and Barrell plates that I bought last year, etc. that are all still sitting on my desk)
• Put my old phone up for sale on eBay so it’s not on my desk anymore
• Recycle the cardboard boxes I no longer need
• Properly set up my in and out trays for things I need to shred, things I need to file, things I need to take care of

I also added something to my list, that I completed which was to clean out three of my drawers in my dresser. I can see way more of my desk now, but I still need to finish cleaning my filing cabinet so I can sort the rest of my papers. I’m done for now though and hopefully I’ll finish it bit by bit. Rainy days are good for projects like these.

My friend Amy is hosting an organization challenge over on her blog to get a space in your place cleaned up by February 29th. I think I can do this. I really need to do this. My desk is terrible. See:

Here’s my “to do” list:

• Throw away/shred all of the mail or other papers I no longer need.
• Clean out my filing cabinet and properly file away important papers.
• Get rid of the old books and magazines on my desk and in my room that I no longer need and donate them.
• Put away all of my computer and cds discs
• Put everything else away where it belongs (such as the cookie cutters, the duct tape, the Harry Potter mug, the Crate and Barrell plates that I bought last year, etc. that are all still sitting on my desk)
• Put my old phone up for sale on eBay so it’s not on my desk anymore
• Recycle the cardboard boxes I no longer need
• Properly set up my in and out trays for things I need to shred, things I need to file, things I need to take care of

Hoo boy. I hope I can do all of these things. It’s reasonable that I can, but I just have to put in the effort a little at a time! Thanks for the inspiration, Amy!

i’ve started out 2008 being a good little consumer and buying things. i got some fancy new shoes. a new fancy lg env cell phone. super mario galaxy (mm, star bits). and some mint mojito gum. really, i just like to say “mojito”. it’s a pretty cool word. i’m actually going out and about this weekend to a club to do a girly thing called “dancing”. maybe i will partake in a mojito then!

i’ve been slacking on the craft front lately, i think i got a little crafted out there with christmas and all the baking and stuff i did, but i’m sure i’ll crawl back out and bake up something new soon enough. back to getting star bits!

i made my last car payment today. tomorrow, i’m eligible to get a new cell phone on my new every two plan. my boyfriend ended up not being to work a club for new year’s and instead is coming out with me so i can get a midnight kiss. it’s the little things that make me happy and smile. reflecting on the past year has made me realize how lucky i am to have really awesome people in my life, to have a job i enjoy on a regular basis and to be able to learn from myself and everyone around me even though i’m starting to feel old and kind of adult like. hope you had a good year and the next one is even brighter.

My boyfriend invited me over to his house on Christmas and I knew I couldn’t show up empty handed, so I decided to make some cookies. My cookies of choice were these “Cowboy Cookies” (a chocolate chip-pecan-oatmeal kind of cookie). I also made a Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bar cookie for my own family to enjoy. The cowboy cookies I wrapped up in a pretty box and are ready to be taken down Christmas afternoon to be snacked on.

The Cowboy Cookies are actually from a “mix in a jar” recipe I used a few years ago that I found online and gave out as Christmas gifts to a few friends. Since mine wasn’t just being dumped in a jar, I took the time to cream the butter and sugars together, then adding in the egg and vanilla before mixing in the rest of the ingredients. I also only put in one cup of oats instead of the 1 and 1/3 cups called for and baked the cookies for about 12 minutes.

My other cookie, the Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bar I spotted on the FoodTV website. It reminded me a bit of one of my grandma’s recipes but I decided to try this one out. Mine didn’t turn out as fancy looking at the photo on their website (probably because I didn’t let my peanut butter layer chill long enough and the chocolate started to swirl a bit into it) but they’re still pretty tasty.

I am still planning on doing some chocolate dipped ritz bits mini peanut butter crackers (and the mini smores kind) but I had enough baking and standing around in the kitchen for one day. We’ll see how dedicated I feel about this other idea later.

i hosted a “mix cd around a predetermined title” swap on swap-bot recently. the title i picked for my own swap was: “vigilantes and their nightly quests for justice”. here’s my cover art and song list:

i gathered the art from a google image search. my take on the title/theme was someone who committed crimes in the name of justice and was seeking revenge on someone for something and then trying to redeem their lives to themselves and the people that they love and in the end giving up their quests (or resolving them) and trying to lead a better, happier life. the end.

i did one other music mix, called “traveling the map mix”. i’m not as excited about the cover art i did for this one, but here you go: