cheery on a cold sunday morning

we've been getting a lot of "wintry precipitation" here - which means anywhere from Official Snow to eensy flurries to drizzly cold yick. the weather's inspired me to update the background here to a lovely powdery snowy white. mmm, wintry.

this morning while I was getting coffee going (oh french press, you make magic happen!) I spied a dove on our garden window. she was sipping at the melted snow along the lip of the window edge, and hung out for a minute - long enough for me to snap a photo w/my phone before she fluttered off.

also, my orchids aren't dead - YAY! another plant that I haven't killed! oh garden window, you're like this super-shield against my black thumb of killing things. you give me confidence that I might NOT be a death threat to every single growing thing I decide to take under my care! :D

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I have been enjoying recipes from budget bytes for a few months now ('ve made the thai turkey meatloaf, chicken yakisoba, herb roasted pork dinner, and many more!) and last night while I was planning our menu for the week, I discovered her recipe for chai spiced scones, and I knew I had to make them for sunday breakfast. luckily, the recipe is simple and I had all the ingredients on hand already (I also liked the "30 mins" estimated time from start to finish). I have only made scones once before, probably 5-6 years ago for the first tea party I held; they turned out well, and I believe I made them with blueberries. hm, yes. anyhoo, the scones today took hardly any time at all to assemble (even with hand-mixing the butter into the dry ingredients), and came out super-pretty!:

awww, aren't they just pinterest-worthy in that shot? hehehe!! oh fancy phone, how I love your fancy camera w/it's fancy settings and filters. makes every shot I take look hipster-perfect.

now that 've had a hot scone and some coffee, I am ready to face the day with productivity in mind! 

there will be a trip to goodwill to drop off 3 contractor bags plus another box full of STUFF, as I am cleaning up and de-cluttering my guest room. its previous title as "that room where all the costumes and projects go to sit in piles" shall be wiped away, and instead it shall be called "the sewing room slash guest room, where we also keep the wireless printer and all my shoes". okay, still need to work on that name a bit, but - hey, progress! 

'm thinking of donating a lot of our books to the library that's around the corner, too, to make room on the shelves for craft/sewing supply storage (I have a box going already!). surely billy bookcases from ikea can do more than just hold books! once things are sorted stuff-wise, I would definitely like to paint in there before I set up all the furniture again. it's the only room in the house that hasn't been at least killz'd yet, and after almost 4 years in this house, it's about freakin' time. 

my big motivator is that once I get all this organization and housekeeping stuff done, it'll be time to bust out the etsy crafts, FINALLY!! ahhh - exciting!!!! all these ideas bouncing around in my head will come out and take over! MUAHAHAH!