#1 - I wore my sweater inside out to work and found out five hours into the day. I didn't notice until I went to put my hands in the front pocket and found that my front pocket had disappeared. Sure enough, the buttons were also missing and the tags were sticking out. It's kind of like the time I wore my sunglasses on the bike ride home from class in college.
I'll set it up for you: I'm thinking to myself how cool and fit I'm looking on my bike, and how cool and fit everyone else must think I am since they were all looking as I rode by. I get home and check myself out in the mirror. Alas, I wasn't cool looking, but rather strange. Somehow I neglected to notice that one of the lenses of the sunglasses had popped out while sitting in my backpack during class. Now, it was a bright, sunny day. A perfect day to implement sunglasses. How I never noticed that the sun was shining super brightly in one eye, but not the other, is beyond me.
Please tell me that this has happened to you before so I don't feel like such a nincompoop.



#2 - I rarely buy shoes. I am very picky and don't often find a pair I like enough to throw down $60+ for. However, upon beginning my post-college career, I deemed it necessary to spend some money on a quality pair of dressy black flats. If you're thinking these would last me a long time, then, like me, you'd be incorrect. During the rainy season this fall, I noticed a little slosh while I walked. Sure enough, I had worn down the sole so much that a hole had formed in each foot. Unwilling to buy another pair of shoes as these had become my favs, I cover up the shredded leather with some black shoe polish and call it a day. Just as I thought I had gotten the best of my shoes, they one-upped me. How could a shoe with holes in it become any worse?
Well, I give you my sad, sad shoes:

Yes, that is the heel sitting on the outside of the shoe. If you ever wanted to know how a shoe was constructed, now you have it.


#3 - I think I'm a chef now. I'm not talking Emeril Lagasse, who comes up with his own recipes and wows people at his restaurant. I'm more along the lines of Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee. If you think I'm referring to her ability to make food from a box look like gourmet, then you'd be sadly mistaken. The use of "semi" in the name is as in semi edible - a reference to the inedible quality some of my cooking has.
As an example, I once tried to replicate a delicious chicken and rice soup that my roommate Lisa always made. Making your mouth water yet? I know mine was. So how did mine turn out: I give you Hot Chicken Water. Hmmm...how about that for a tasty meal?? It was no more than uncooked chicken floating along with uncooked rice in warm, chicken-flavored water.
At this point, you're practically begging me to stay out of the kitchen if I'm to be cooking for you. So, you'll be unhappy to note that if you're attending any of the Christmas parties or Christmas day celebrations with me, then I shall be serving up my 12 Days of Cookies. That's right, 12 different cookie recipes, all for your enjoyment.
So far I've gotten seven completed, so only five left to go! My first recipe doubled as a Christmas gift for my dog-loving friends. They were the cutest little dog biscuits. And dogs are the perfect customer, as they'll eat anything!


Watch in the days to come to see how the rest of my cookies turn out! Hopefully, they'll be delectable and not trash.

#4 - Last, but definitely NOT least. Des Moines (well, Ankeny - a suburb) is making national news for their use of garlic salt to melt the ice on the roads. You read right: GARLIC SALT. Read here for more info, but it's just as cooky as it sounds.
I'll drive if somebody brings the french bread!