The Garden is Actually Becoming a Reality!

I can hardly believe it, but, DH is really serious this year when he said he wanted to plant a garden!  Not only did he plant his seeds already, but tonight he laid out the perimeter of the garden! It's a little hard to see in this photo, but he used our garden hose to measure it out.  It's 16' x 30'.

This photo was taken in the evening - the trees you see in the shadows will not be blocking the garden until very late in the day.  The garden is in a spot where is should receive good sun for the majority of the day.

Luckily the area is pretty flat, although we will have to do a little work to level it a bit better.  Our property used to be farmland before it was houses, so hopefully the soil isn't too bad.

We even have some seedlings growing (note the giant aloe in the background):

We are supposed to have some very sunny and warm weather for the next few days stretching into the weekend.  DH is planning on buying supplies to get started building the fence, and also on digging the grass out of the garden area over the weekend.  I'll be helping of course.  This will be an adventure no doubt.  I'll keep you posted on our progress...

The end.

Another Angel Update

 

Look at that sweet face!!

Well, I have to say, adding Angel to our cat family has gone smoother and more easily that I'd ever imagined.  Tex, Q-ee and Angel are all co-existing just fine, and in fact, Q-ee and Angel are far more comfortable together than our old cat Basil was with Q-ee.  This is what I found this morning - just look at them napping together in our bed:

Also, they seem to be having a ball playing "tag" with each other.  Fortunately, they seem to be fairly evenly matched - we've seen each of them "win".  Just yesterday I heard eight cat feet running down the stairs at full speed and I had to look around the corner to see who was the "chaser" and who was the "chasee".  This time Q-ee was the "chasee" - it's really fun to see Mr. White Paw of Death getting a run for his money!  LOL! 

So, I'm happy to report we are all a big, happy, family.  I can't for the life of me imagine how Angel's former owners could bear to part with her, but I guess I'll just be thankful that they did, and thankful for a very caring person - "R" - who petitioned the family to allow her to go to a family that would really love and cherish her, and felt that we would be that family.

Isn't she beautiful?

The end.

Weekend Recap

As you can see, we decided to color eggs this weekend.  It was a rainy, gloomy sort of weekend, so we stayed in and played Wii, took naps, colored eggs, watched some tv....that sort of weekend.  Believe it or not, our library system has Wii games you can borrow (though there's usually a pretty good wait list) and we had a copy of "Mario & Sonic's Winter Olympic Games" for the weekend.  DH played it a lot and seemed to enjoy it.  It didn't appeal to me very much.  I haven't even done Walk It Out in like a week; I've been bogged down with this cold.  I'm finally feeling better, but still blowing my nose a lot.  I did make it to church for Palm Sunday though, yay!

Last night we watched another part of the "Life" series on Discovery.  Have you been watching this?  It's a really awesome program - "Discovery Channel's landmark 11 part series "Life" tells the intimate stories of some of the most spectacular and bizarre plants and animals on the planet".  You can read more about it here. 

Later that evening I watched "Hoarding: Buried Alive" on TLC.  It's interesting how much each person's attitude about it varies.  Some people have no idea they even have a problem, some are aware it's a problem but don't care, some get very angry about having to clean things up, and some are aware it's a problem and are embarrassed and upset about it.  (Although it's certainly not a crime or anything to have a lot of stuff - I mean, it's your right to have as much stuff as you want - but in some cases it becomes a safety and/or health issue that ends up necessitating intervention - like mold all over, or a repair on the structure that can't be done because there's no access, or pet feces that isn't being cleaned up, or an elderly person who is in danger of falling over all the stuff, etc.)  They all seem paralyzed when it comes to doing something about it.  And gosh, I'm sure I'd be paralyzed too if I was in a situation where it got to be as overwhelming as the cases on the shows.  (I'm overwhelmed just thinking about my own basement full of stuff!)  It's not like at that point you can just simply have a garage sale, or simply just sell used books, or even just simply throw some of it away - there's just too much.  It's always a good feeling if it's an episode where the person's place gets cleaned up, and they seem happy about it, and like they will be able to overcome it.

Anyway, that was our weekend.  And here's how our eggs came out.  Quite a few cracked when they were boiled, so that's why a few of them are still white (we didn't color those).

Did you do anything interesting this weekend? 

The end.

More Thoughts Too Short For A Whole Blog Post

I have decided that I find the term "multi grain" too all-encompassing and downright worrisome.  That's the bagel (above) that I had for lunch today.  It's a "multi grain" bagel.  Well, I can identify oats and possibly sunflower seeds...what's all the rest of that stuff??  For all I know it's marigold seeds, last year's grass clippings, Grape Nuts and dandelion stems.  "Multi grain" could be anything.  I worry about that.  I'm sure I'm super healthy now though.

I don't care about HD tv.  I don't have it and if I never have it, I don't care.  Yes, I've seen it and yes, it looks great. I just don't care.

I think a lot of people that buy fancy cameras waste their money and have no idea how to use them. Point and shoot cameras are probably fine for 95% of the population.  I do wish more bloggers knew about the "macro" button their camera inevitably has, though (that's why all your close up photos are blurry!  You need to use the macro feature!).  Find the macro button and learn when to use it - it's easy and it's awesome.  (On my camera the symbol for it is a flower.)

I do not like riding a bicycle.

Have you bought Sun Chips in the new "compostable" bag yet?  This bag makes the LOUDEST "crinkling" sound I've ever heard!  If you like to sneak snacks in the middle of the night, this bag is not for you!

I can't stand the theme song Glenn Beck is using for his radio show these days, I swear it sounds like a funeral dirge, which appropriate as that may be at times considering the state of our country, I WOULD RATHER HEAR SOMETHING UPLIFTING!  That song is about as enjoyable as a Mesothelioma treatment.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but there is a GREAT show on MTV - it's called "16 and Pregnant".  You can even watch episodes online for free at the website here.  This program shows how TOTALLY NOT FUN it is to have a baby at 16. At least three episodes of this show should be required viewing in middle or high school!!

The end.

Wanna See What's in My Purse?

If I show you what's in my purse, will you show me what's in your purse or wallet?

So I dumped out my purse to show you what I carry around each day.  I recently switched purses (this is a "spring" purse, as opposed to the previous purse I was using which was a "winter/fall" purse), so it was pretty tidy.  Normally there would be receipts and old grocery lists, gum wrappers and brochures of everything from Outer Banks vacation rentals to NJ Travel Plazas I had neglected to toss.  Anyway, you're lucky, there's hardly any garbage that's accumulated yet.  I'll give you a quick tour through my stuff.

Starting from left to right we have a purple comb (more for tidying my daughter's hair than mine), a Justice coupon I just got in the mail (they perpetually have a 40% off sale, but only if you have a coupon, so I always stick the most recent one in my bag just in case I happen to be up at the mall, which seems to be a rather rare event these days), spare glasses, a Christmas Avon hand lotion, my swiss army knife which I took out of it's cool leather sheath, and a ziploc back containing a small toothpaste and a "Dragon Tales" toothbrush.  (The reason for the dental hygiene items is that my daughter is not as diligent as I would like about brushing her teeth and there is nothing worse than showing up for some family event only to notice my daughter picked that day not to brush her teeth.  So, this way I am prepared for dental hygiene "emergencies" with an old toothbrush and a travel toothpaste.  I can't say I look forward to the day she starts seriously liking boys, but I'll betcha she'll be a lot better about nice clean teeth and tidy hair!)

Moving on we have a 25 cent "prize" from a coin op machine (it's a little furry puppy) that can be used as a bribe if necessary, hand sanitizer, a bracelet of my daughter's, hair spray, a plastic carrier that holds band aids and neosporin antibiotic ointment (for injuries on the go!), my iPod Touch, tissues, my phone, various pens, pencils and lip glosses, an empty gum package, some AA batteries, decaf teas (for my husband who is supposed to stay away from coffee and not all restaurants have decaf tea), and my checkbook.  One of the small patterned cases is my wallet, one contains misc drug items like aspirin, tweezers (usually for pulling off ticks, not splinters), etc. and the other case holds my cell phone charger and an adapter for an iPod with spare earbuds so that if my daughter is with a friend, the friend can listen in to my daughters iPod with their own earbuds (I hold onto it because otherwise it would disappear forever into the black hole that is my daughter's room).

I stood up on a stool to take the picture for you.  See?

Yes, I am wearing a coat.  Inside my house.  I don't like to turn the heat on just for me.  I know I've mentioned this before   You laugh, but we did good on our heating oil usage this year!!

So what's in your purse or wallet?  Anything weird or surprising?

The end.

Sprouts Already! ...And Our Million Dollar Idea

These were only planted SUNDAY!  And we have a pea plant sprouting already (photo was taken Wed. evening)!  I can't believe it!  Well, hopefully it's a good omen for our garden! :-)

Also, I don't know if YOUR family is always in search of the next "big idea" that is going to make them rich, but I have to report that I think I have discovered our "gold mine".  Well...maybe not a "gold mine" per se....Well, if only we could figure out how to turn an uncanny talent for growing aloe plants into millions of dollars...

Pretend you don't see that dead plant to the right.

For some reason, we are able to grow these enormous aloe plants.  I think it must be because they do well with my husband's watering "technique" - which is to basically let them dry out like the Sahara desert before he gets around to watering them again.  These aloes seem to thrive on abuse.  These aren't even all of them.  I mean, we actually have a problem with them outgrowing their pots and then....DH repots and splits the babies off and then we have....MORE ALOE PLANTS!  Does anyone know of some kind of franchise affiliate program for aloe plants (maybe "Aloes R Us"?) we could get into??

The end.

Photographic Evidence that I Did Leave the House Today

This isn't a stock photo or whatever, this is the actual Hannaford I went to this morning I'll have you know.

I haven't mentioned this because I don't like to be a complainer, but, I've been sick most of the last week.  It's some sort of stuffy head/lose your voice thing.  Yesterday, circumstances necessitated that I pick up my daughter from school, and I knew I was going to have to speak at least a little bit once I got to the office.  So, I decided that a good idea would be to get a cup of hot coffee on the way, which would not only help my throat and bring my voice back a little, but it's always a treat to get a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee (I always get a medium cinnamon coffee with cream, no sugar).  As I entered the drive-thru I realized that I was going to have to be able to speak into the microphone at the menu board.  Have ya ever tried to shout when you're hoarse??  Luckily, somehow, they were able to understand what I wanted.  Kudos to the teenager at Dunkin Donuts.

Anyway, I was finally feeling better today, and did some long overdue grocery shopping.  As I was standing at the checkout, slowly being hypnotized by the beep beep of my groceries going over the barcode scanner, I let my eyes roam over the magazines and tabloids.  I felt a pang of sympathy for Sandra Bullock - what on EARTH was Jesse James THINKING?!?  Then I saw a rack of the newly released "New Moon" (of the Twilight Saga) DVDs.  I haven't seen it yet.  I'd like to though.  Then I saw a headline, something to the effect of, "Dying Liz Taylor spends birthday alone".  Hasn't Liz Taylor been dying for like, the last 20 years?  Actually, I can't believe she's even still alive!  (I always feel bad when I'm surprised someone is still alive.)  Is there anyone you've found out recently was still alive, to your surprise?

The end.

Edited to add:  Ok, I can't believe this, but not only is Liz Taylor still alive, she has a Twitter account!!  http://twitter.com/DAMEELIZABETH

Seeds A Startin'

I think I mentioned a while ago that my husband wanted to plant a garden this year.  Well, he was serious!  This weekend we bought seeds, and he and our daughter planted them.  (This shot shows only the one tray, but they planted another tray of seeds as well.)  They planted all the "usual" stuff one might have in a garden (tomatoes, cukes, squash, etc.) but they planted a few items that I don't think are quite so common in the average person's garden:

It's hard to see in this photo, but those flags say: red pepper, chili peppers and habanero.  I believe he also planted jalapenos.

Well if he's successful with all that he's planted, we'll be in for some good eatin' this summer (and he sure won't have to take any vitamins for men).

He also planted some old marigold seeds we had saved a couple of years ago from marigolds we had grown.  We also had a big head from an old sunflower (you can see it in the plastic container in the first picture) and we're not sure if those seeds are still good, but he planted some anyway.  Can't hurt to try.

I'll be sure to report back when we get "sprouts". :-)

The next big tasks are going to be to decide how big our garden is going to be, dig it all out, and probably most importantly, figure out how we're going to keep the hungry woodland creatures out.  If you have any helpful advice about how to create a garden fence that the critters won't get through, please share!

The end.

Update on Our Adirondack Property

My husband checking out the foundation

Here is a recap of the story thus far:  We bought a small piece of property in the Adirondacks from a builder who was going to build a small house on it.  The builder had all the permits and had already gotten a variance for the structure.  (The variance was needed because the property is so small it's impossible to build a structure on it and still keep to the setbacks as directed by zoning laws.)  When we bought the property, the plans were included.  However, although we didn't hate the proposed house, we decided we wanted to redesign it.  We were advised by a few people "in the know" that if we kept to the original footprint and number of bedrooms and bathrooms, we should not need to go for another variance.

Well, not according to the Zoning Administrator.  (Insert "doom and gloom" music here.)

So our progress was put on hold while we went through the process to get a variance for our new plan (which was about as exciting as reading about diet supplements).  We then drove all the way upstate for the meeting - our portion of it taking all of about 5 minutes - at which time, thank you God, the variance was APPROVED!

However, now a bunch of our other permits are coming due, and those all have to be renewed before we can continue to go forth, however, we are not expecting any problems with those, however, we were not expecting to have to go for another variance, so we shall see....

The end.

Hot Dog Coins

During the non-BBQing portion of the year, this is how my husband likes me to make hot dogs.  We call them "hot dog coins".  I think we got the idea to make them this way years ago when we were first married and broke, living in Binghamton NY.  Back then, we used to eat a lot of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Hamburger Helper and Spaghettios.  If you're familiar with Spaghettios, there is a variety that comes with little sliced up hot dogs.  I think there were times when we only had plain Spaghettios and we cut up and added our own hot dogs.  I guess it seemed weird to add the hot dog slices "raw", so that's how I got the idea to fry them up.

Look! I used my cast iron pan!

Over time we often decided to forget the Spaghettios and just have hot dog coins by themselves, because well, they're quite tasty fried up like this.  It is time consuming, and yes, you have to turn each one over to fry the other side, but, it's worth it.  Now since these days we have to eat "heart healthy", I usually get the Hebrew National 97% fat free beef franks, and they actually don't fry up quite as well (but they are much better for you - low calorie, low fat and low cholesterol - you don't even need to take a fat burner to eat these, LOL).  Regular fatty good hot dogs fry up better.  (And taste better too!)

I will often serve these with Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (made the "lower fat" way, blah) on the side.  However, soon it will be BBQing weather, and even though these are good, you can't beat hot dogs on the grill.  These are good "winter style hot dogs", though.  :-D

The end.

I Met Dan Aykroyd at Viscount in Wappingers Falls, NY

Some Ghostbusters fans on line to get their Crystal Head Vodka signed by Dan Aykroyd

So the other day my husband asked me to go online and check the hours for our favorite wine store (Viscount Wines and Liquors), and I happened to see that surprisingly, Dan Aykroyd was going to be there the following week signing bottles of Crystal Head Vodka, which apparently is a company he owns.  I mentioned it laughingly to my husband.  Who then proceeded to tell me what a cool birthday or Father's Day gift that would be for him.  I was like, "you REALLY want that??"  I could tell from his response, that, sigh, he did.

Not that I have anything against Dan Aykroyd, but I could think of plenty of other things I would rather spend my afternoon doing than standing on line, waiting for him to autograph a glass skull (though I guess it was better than say, the dentist or suffering the side effects of diet pills), but hey, when you love someone, there's no end to the crazy things you will do for them, right? :-P  So, I went at the appointed day and time and got on line.

There were a few others dressed in Ghostbusters "regalia", though I think the guy in the above picture had the best "pack".  And the other guy in the photo in tan actually looks like Dan Aykroyd, doesn't he?  Besides the folks dressed like Ghostbusters, much to my surprise, one of our minor league baseball team mascots was there, posing with people on line for photos.  Now, firstly I found it a wee bit odd that our family oriented minor league baseball team thought that a signing of a vodka bottle was an appropriate place for their mascot to show up.  However secondly, our minor league team has a few mascots - Rookie and Renee Raccoon and their son Rascal - and guess which mascot they sent?  Yup, that's right - the underage son Rascal!  I'm not complaining or even criticizing - I just thought it was a surprising choice.

So after waiting an hour and a half on line (Mr. Aykroyd came a half an hour late to the signing), I finally got up to the front.  I must admit, Dan Aykroyd was much better looking in person than I expected.  I mean, I don't know how old he is, but he must be getting up there by now...  Anyway, he was good looking and very gracious to the people getting their vodka signed.  He posed for pictures with anyone who wanted to, and he signed anything additional they brought to be signed (like pictures of him as a conehead, etc.).  I was impressed at how friendly and gracious he was.

Finally when it was my turn at the front of the line, I asked him if I could take a picture of him for my husband, and so this was his pose, especially for me:

And here's what the bottle with the signature looks like:

Well, between the time on line and the time it took me to travel to and from this location, that's 2 1/2 hours of my life I won't get back, but I must admit, it was an interesting experience, and I think I'm more of a Dan Aykroyd fan than I was before because he was so nice.  What we do for love... :-)

The end.

Dear Avon

Dear Avon,

Don't get me wrong, I have loved you for a long time, and I still love you.  I even used to sell you to other people.  You truly do have great products for a great price - your lipsticks and glosses (love that Glazewear!), your Skin So Soft, your wrinkle removers - all of them are great.  However...

STOP CONSTANTLY CHANGING YOUR SKIN CARE LINES!!!!!

Finding a good line of skin care products is kind of like trying to find a good hair stylist - once you find one you like, YOU DON'T WANT TO CHANGE!  YOU DON'T WANT TO TRY A NEW ONE!  Avon, you change your skin care lines so often I can't even use up more than two or three jars of face cream before it's discontinued!  Do you think anyone is fooled by your latest new "ANEW" line - which is a blatant rip off of Olay Regenerist?  If I wanted Olay Regenerist, I would BUY Olay Regenerist!!  I get it that you want to stay "trendy" but Avon, you need to keep another line of skin care that DOESN'T change constantly!!  Like for example Mary Kay - not that I am a proponent of Mary Kay, however, they are still making their same "classic" skin care line I tried years ago with the pink caps - remember those everybody? You can still get it!

I personally don't want the newest and latest thing - I want skin care that's tried and true, that's got a good reputation, that people testify that over the years it works!  I don't want to change my face cream like I change my underwear!!!

Avon - I have had it!!!!  Once I finish the last few drops of my bottle of ANEW ALTERNATIVE which I have discovered is now DISCONTINUED, I will be buying my skincare ELSEWHERE!

The end.

Angel Update

Angel's first "spot"

Well, we have now allowed Angel to roam about the house and it seems to be going very well so far.  Not one cat fight, and she seems to know just how to hold her own with the dog as well (he just wants to be friends).  She explored, and explored and explored and finally had to take a little nap and this is her very first "spot" that she chose.  (If you don't have cats and don't know this, cats seem to choose "spots" around the house that are their favorite places to nap and hang out.)

Two cats ignoring each other

Yesterday here in upstate NY the weather was soooooo nice - bright and sunny and close to 70 at the peak of the afternoon my husband was even thinking we'd be inspired to bring up the patio furniture from the basement, however, it did cool off quick and we didn't end up really wanting to sit out on the deck.  Which was just as well because Angel tried out another nice spot which she seemed to find quite enjoyable...  She is soooooo cuddly and loves to be held!

Happy kitty!

So, so far so good!  The last thing we have to get settled is to transition her to using the main litterbox.  I'm going to try removing her temporary one today and try to see if I can catch her using the main one just for my own peace of mind.  Hopefully she won't mind using the same one as Q-ee although I know some cats don't like to share a box.  I love Q-ee to death as you all know, but he is such a jerk - he went and peed in *her* little litterbox.  Perhaps it was a "welcome gift"??  Well, maybe she'll want to get even and pee in his box, and then we'll be all set!  LOL!

The end.

P.S.  I really shouldn't be ragging on Q-ee - he has really been *so* gracious about Angel - she's hissed at him and he hasn't hissed at her even once.  He hasn't chased her or tried to swipe at her or anything - he has really been very polite and I've been giving him lots of praise for being so nice about sharing his territory.  He has his moments, but he is really a sweet, laid back guy.

Our St. Patrick's Day Dinner

I forgot to take a shot when we sat down to dinner, so this is actually a shot of our leftovers.

Every year I invite my Mother-in-law and Dad over to share St. Patrick's Day dinner with us.  We're not Irish, but it's fun to be Irish for the day.  So I made traditional corned beef, cabbage, red potatoes and carrots.  My mother-in-law brought some Irish soda bread, and there was Smithwick's beer to wash it down with.  Check out this fun cake my mother-in-law brought:

And isn't Moo Cow dressed festively?  (That's actually an American Girl outift.)

I piled high a couple of foil dishes with vegetables and divided up what corned beef was left and sent home our parents with leftovers.  There were still plenty of vegetables left, so I went out this morning and got more corned beef which is cooking now, so we can have leftovers too and repeat our evening of gluttony (pass the Fastin please, ha ha...).

You know sometimes it takes me a little while to think of something to blog about, and other times I end up with a backlog of fun stuff, like now.  I've got an update on our Adirondack property coming, an update on our new kitty Angel, pictures of something I make that we call "hot dog coins", and, would you believe I met Dan Aykroyd yesterday?  (Yes, the real celebrity Dan Aykroyd.)  Stay tuned.

The end.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm not Irish the other 364 days of the year, but today I am!

There are three pieces of corned beef swimming around under the foam!

The end.

Angel's Trip to the Vet

So yesterday was our trip to the vet.  We were lucky enough to actually get Angel's medical records from the previous owners, and even though it appeared they were very responsible about keeping her up to date on shots and check ups, I still wanted to take her to our own vet and have her checked over.  I was a bit nervous about taking her to the vet - that's never been a fun experience with any of our pets (kinda like going to the dentist or looking at Outer banks foreclosures), but I have to say Angel was calmer and more cooperative than Basil, Q-ee or Tex ever were.

Basil used to get herself so worked up just on the car ride to the vet, by the time we'd get there she'd be a trembling, hissing, stressed out mess.  Q-ee also hates the car, but he's not too bad about it.  Once Q-ee gets into the vet office they practically have to pull him out of the cat carrier, then he sits on the exam table like a big frozen blob cat while they poke and prod him.  Texdog is another story.  He is so bad I have to give him a tranquilizer in order for it to even be possible to get him to the vet.  He is awful and totally out of control.  Even drugged he's a handful.  Thankfully he usually only has to go once a year to the vet.

Anyway, everything went great at the vet - they proclaimed Angel "very healthy".  She needed a couple of shots, so those were taken care of, and just to be safe I had her tested for Feline Leukemia and Feline AIDS.  Those ten minutes while waiting for test results went by soooooooooooo sloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwly.... but they were negative.  I didn't really think there was much of a chance they'd be positive, but boy would I have killed myself if I didn't have her tested and she ended up being sick and getting Q-ee sick as well.

So our next hurdle is to introduce Angel to Q-ee and Tex....  Q-ee was very mad about her presence for the first 24 hours or so, but now curiosity has gotten the better of him and he likes to go check her out (she's in a big dog crate).  Texdog doesn't really seemed phased at all by her.  I'll keep you posted on progress...

The end.

Angel

Here is the new member of our family!
We were told she is a lilac point purebred Siamese, but I do not believe she is purebred after all (makes no difference to me), although Siamese is certainly the dominant breed in her.  I think her body is supposed to be white, and her "points" should be much more of a contrast if she were really a purebred, but it doesn't matter.  Hard to see well in the photos, but her blue eyes are beautiful and striking.  She took to us right away - she is very affectionate.  We just have to try to slowly introduce her to Q-ee cat and Tex Dog and hope they will be friends.  If you have any tricks to help cats like each other - please share! :-P  (I'm actually not as worried about the dog liking her, LOL, he's easy.)

More soon!

The end.

Our New Mystery Pet is Even a Surprise to Me!

(Original post about our new pet here)

Ok, I will keep the mystery going a little longer, but I will at least tell you our new "family member" is a kitteh.  But here's the funny part - I was first told it was a Himalayan - which is my most favorite breed, my "dream" cat - and this is part of what convinced me it must be "meant to be" that this cat was coming into my life, because I really wasn't looking for or necessarily wanting another cat.  Well, somehow there was a misunderstanding and it turns out the cat is not a Himalayan after all.  It is however still a purebreed (at least I think so! LOL!).  And the breed is actually our daughter's favorite breed - amazingly just LAST week my daughter did her science fair project on this exact breed!  Quite an amazing coincidence. So, we certainly can say we are all educated about this breed. 

I must admit, I am a bit disappointed, but after I started researching Himalayans and saw how much care you have to put into their very thick coat, and the concerns about them being too hot in the summertime (possibly necessitating a "lion cut"), the fact that this cat turned out to be a shorthair breed is in a way somewhat of a relief.  I think after finding out everything about Himialayans, if I ever *was* going to purchase a purebreed cat, I think I would actually not get a Himalayan after all, but rather an Exotic Shorthair - it's all the personality of a Himalayan/Persian but without all that long hair. 

So, no matter what breed our new kitteh is, the point in the end is that the cat needs a loving home, and what I said when we lost our sweet Basil was that I wasn't looking for or wanting another cat, but if a cat came into our lives that needed a home, well then I would gladly open my arms.  So there it is.  In any event, this breed should liven things up and give Q-ee a run for his money, which would be good for him anyway.  :-D

She should hopefully be here Saturday evening.  I got pictures of her via email tonight.  Her name is Angel and I can't wait to meet her!  She is beautiful!!

More soon....

The end.

P.S.  Ok, one little clue.  I will let you eavesdrop on a comment to my very good bloggy friend Rebecca.  If you read my blog often, you'll know who she is.  Hey Rebecca - this is going to be yet another example of how we seem to have so much in common!

Me and My Brown Thumb Were Gardening

The weather here in upstate NY was so nice yesterday - bright sun and in the 50s.  Although I had much to do inside, and as tempting as it was to just leave my butt on one of my not-so- modern sofas, I felt I just had to get outside and get a breath of fresh air and feel some sunshine on my face.  Got a bit of a case of cabin fever goin' on here.  So I walked around for a bit, my only intention to find some signs of spring, and soak up some sunshine.  I spotted this sign of spring - one of my irises poking through.  I have a ton of irises though...the reason I only noticed just this one is because, well, don't you see all that mess surrounding my sprout?  Brown-thumb-me never cleared out the garden from last summer so there was a ton of dead plant debris all over.  I started feeling bad about my irises, all trapped beneath last summer's plant carcasses.  So....

Attack!

Here are the before and after pics:

Well, better late than never, eh?

See all the iris sprouts that were hiding under there?? 

Go irises!  Woot!

The end.

Danger Hiding Under the Nachos

On Sunday, in preparation for watching the NASCAR race in Atlanta, we decided to have nachos.  I fried some ground beef with taco seasoning and then we each made our own nacho plate.  The photo above is my husband's after he finished adding everything he wanted.  It looks innocent and tasty enough but...look what was hiding in the bottom layer....

For me that would be the best colon cleanse, Mexican style!  LOL!  Here is the plate I made:

Normally I would have put salsa and sour cream and the meat and refried beans on top of the chips, but I don't know why, I was just in the mood for "seperatist" nachos sans salsa and sour cream on Saturday.

Here's my daughter's plate she made.  Originally she had taco meat on there but declared it "too spicy" so she ended up with an eclectic lunch:

Anyway, the Atlanta race was great - very exciting!  And if you saw the race too, you know what everyone was talking about afterward - the Carl Edwards revenge move on Brad Keselowski.  Do you agree with the action NASCAR took - parking him for the rest of the race, and probation for the next three races?

The end.

How Much is That Kitty in the Window?

Q-ee in the window

Ah, I've not posted many pictures of our "bonus room" in progress.  This room is over our garage.  It's a good size room.  My husband is doing the work himself.  He went in there to work over the weekend and decided to open the window and let some fresh air in, and Q-ee was all over an open window!  (Don't worry, there was a screen in there!  I don't want to have push him around in a wheelchair because he's got broken kitty legs, or have to take him to court to win his disability appeal - I hear Allsup.com is good, do they take cats?? LOL!)

Anyway, when my husband was finished he was trying to get Q-ee out of the window but he wouldn't budge.  So my husband slowly lowered the window more and more, figuring he'd force the cat out but he wasn't budging.  Finally my husband gave up and moved onto another project and eventually Q-ee decided that he was finished with the window and jumped down.  You gotta love "cattitude".  :-D

The end.

We Are Unexpectedly Adding a Pet to Our Family...

I was not looking for another pet.  By any means.  I know we lost our Basil kitty last fall, but despite that, I still felt "pet fulfillment" with Tex dog and Q-ee kitty.  However.......  Someone knew of an adult pet that needs a loving home, and thought of me...  And this particular pet is like my "dream pet".  A pet actually, that I never thought I would have.  Because it is a purebreed.  My attitude is that there are so many pets at shelters that need homes - I'd rather just give a lonely, homeless pet my love.  And I certainly wouldn't purchase a purebred at a pet store (I hope you're aware of the horrible practices of the puppy mills and kitten mills that work like factories under sometimes horrifying conditions to produce pets for pet stores without care for the animals or the health of breed - if you want a purebreed go to a reputable breeder.  There is no worse place to buy a purebreed than at a pet store.  Don't google "puppy mill" or "kitten mill" if you don't have a strong stomach.). 

I do totally acknowledge that some people have very good reasons why they would want a purebred animal, but *I* just haven't personally had a good enough reason to forgo a homeless animal AND spend hundreds of dollars just to get a particular breed.  That's just me personally at this point in my life.  So all of a sudden I have this opportunity to have this pet.... 

So, I thought about it, and prayed about it.   And...I said "yes".  I hope this isn't a big mistake, but the circumstances surrounding this seem so "meant to be" I was reluctant to turn it down.  (And besides, with one more thing to chase around the house and clean up after, who needs hydroxycut or diet pills?  LOL...)

So our new family member will be arriving this weekend...I'll keep you in suspense until then....in fact, I am in suspense myself - *I* haven't even seen a picture of her yet....!

The end.