snow!

dude-- it's snowing! (er, it was earlier when i wrote this and forgot to post it, anyway.) guess it's time to accept the fact that it's that time of year... not my favorite. me & my wacky circadians don't do well with the short sun days, and i'm not a fan of chapped skin, and i hate hate hate driving in potentially icy precipitation... but i'll get over it. i do love *looking* at the snow, as long as i don't have to be anywhere & thus go out and drive in it. yeah, it's time to move farther south. the apartment is shaping up-- been working on it in preparation for new roomie, moving in next week. got a rod from the landlady yesterday for a curtain to cover the broken pane, which will also help keep out the chill that comes in the still-unrenovated french doors. would be nice not to have to wear a sweater when the heat's set on 72-- even nicer not to have to crank it that high in the first place, of course. shame that the place will finally look its best six months before i'm moving out, but better late than never. given all the work i'm putting into it, i really should find an identical apartment wherever i move, so i can recreate it. (not really, but i sure am digging it. have to be careful not to allow that to let me fall back on inertia and thus end up signing another lease here.) somehow got on a super-early wakeup schedule, which has my body confused. would like to stay on it, tho, given the lack of daylight. i've never been able to keep it up for more than a week, but perhaps this will be the week that 35 years of history finally change. not likely, though. got an absolutely unexpected gift in the mail this week-- a $50 kroger gift card, woo hoo! spent it tonight on ingredients... next week is the cafe's annual charity bake sale. i usually take a trip this time of year-- great travel deals, half-empty planes between the holidays, etc-- but since it's not in the cards this year, i'm diving full steam into stocking the bake sale. planned so far: "my" yummy pumpkin spice bread, cashew biscotti, a banana bread to be determined, toffee biscotti, key lime squares (if i can find key lime juice anywhere this time of year), and i've decided to take a foray into the world of cupcakes. not exactly sure when or why cupcakes became so trendy, but the point is to raise $ for charity (the boys & girls club of richmond), which seems like a good enough reason to jump on a baking bandwagon. suggestions and/or recipes welcome! i'm in love with the idea of "faux hos," i.e. vegan versions of ho-hos, but, (a) whoa, labor intensive, and (b), do i really want to spend even more money stocking my kitchen with soy milk and pseudo butter? i'd much rather spend the time and money on bacon brittle!