let it snow

What's more festive than a snow globe? That's right... a homemade snow globe -- in a jar. But any good writer knows you need a twist. That's when it hit us -- movie themed snow globes. And what better movies to commemorate the holiday season than Rudy and Star Wars?

Here's what you need:

jar (we used Mason jars)

super glue 

glycerin (can be found in baking aisle)

distilled water

glitter

movie character

First you glue your character to the inside lid of the jar (gorilla glue worked best -- Yoda found out the hard way the first time around -- turns out he's not such a good swimmer). 

Next pour the water and a dash of glycerin almost to the top of the jar. Then add as much glitter as you want. Will Rudy be playing in a blizzard or a light flurry? Finally, secure the lid tightly and shake it like a polaroid picture. 

Get ready for hours of enjoyment. Seriously.

'tis the season

There's barely a week left to enjoy the Christmas season, so I spent last night baking an assortment of Christmas cookies instead of working on my feature (not a tough decision since I've fallen into the dark hole that is writer’s block -- which means I'd pretty much use any excuse to avoid putting fingers to computer keys). 
 

With the soft (not so melodic) hum of Christmas carols in the background (no amount of pleading would get Ronee to stop "singing"), I mixed, stirred, screamed, chilled, swore, cried and kneaded the night away.

It was about three batches of undercooked, overcooked, and just plain burnt sugar cookies into my Christmas baking experience that I decided I really should stop procrastinating and get back to my writing.

Was the flour in my hair and the 2-3 lbs that likely went straight to my ass worth it? Yes. I learned that with enough sanding sugar and icing you can pretty much save anything in this world... Hopefully, that also includes my third act. 

cheap winter garland

Aniseh and her fiance Matt came over for dinner tonight.
We decided to get crafty on the cheap while we were waiting for dinner.

Start with x-mas themed card stock (we got ours from Moskatels - we'll post on it's amazing-ness later, but the short of it is that it's an arts and crafts store like Michaels). 

Cut the paper in strips (1"x8").

 Form a ring with each strip of paper and secure with one staple (make sure not to staple before attaching through the next ring like "someone" did).

Add some twine on the end to get the desired length.

Now you're ready to hang.

Pretty and cheap. Pretty cheap.