I WON!!!! Wooohoooo!

Hop on over to Art and Ghosts and see the details!!! Not to mention her gorgeous artwork!

Muffin, the Mysterious Ghost Cat

One morning, when Amy was just a baby, there was this gawd-awful cheeping noise outside. It woke me up so I asked Mark to please go get that baby bird and put it back in its nest. He came back to the bedroom and asked me to come with him....

On the front doorstep was the most pitiful, ugliest, scrawniest kitten I'd ever seen. She was just squawking her fool head off. Her chin was busted so we figured she'd been under someone's car hood and jumped when they stopped at the stop sign in front of our yard. So, she came in and became our kitty Muffin.





She took up with Chester and nursed on him, she was just a tiny thing. When Soshie arrived about 5 months later, they both nursed on him. I don't know how he put up with it. Soshie became the dominant cat and soon Muffin wasn't allowed on the bed to sleep. She and Chester still remained cuddle buddies whenever they were elsewhere in the house. When he died she withdrew a bit and stopped being seen as often. Most times she sleeps under the loveseat or couch, we rarely even see her come out to eat or use the litterbox. Occasionally she'll sleep on the arm or back of the couch, or in a chair.



Now that I'm not nursing a sick cat I am hoping to have time to draw her out of her shell. Last night I brought her into our bedroom, a place she never ventures into. She sniffed around and visited me on the bed for a while but when Mark came to bed she bolted for the living room. I'm hoping that if I work with her enough she'll not be such a ghost of a cat.

Recipes!

Someone asked me to post a few of my recipes so here ya go!



Before I got sick I made this apple cake! It is based on my blueberry-lemon bundt cake but changes the berries for a cup of chopped apples and the lemon for nutmeg(tsp), cloves(tsp), and cinnamon(Tbsp). Next time I will up the sugar to 2 cups(1.5 was fine with the blueberries) and maybe up the apples to 2 cups, it wasn't sweet enough for me. I might even try some walnuts, we just wanted something sweet and I was out of cocoa so couldn't do chocolatey(though I found baking squares later) so I didn't try really hard to get it right. It is iced with a powdered sugar/milk icing, any suggestions for a better one are welcome!

Next time, I'm going to make a Norwegian Apple Cake, like this one from all buttoned up.

This weekend I'm making Zuppa Toscana from Divine Domesticity. Except I'm trying mine with collard greens left from New Year's since that's what I have. I'm sure it will be fine.

We talked about pizza and various pastas on a chat I participate in on Friday mornings. I know this one was discussed but can't remember if I was going to share another recipe or not, dang cold has me cotton headed! Someone from chat, remind me what it was, if any.

Pizza Pasta
serves 6-8

1 box whole wheat or blend pasta(either rotini or penne or similar)
1 each, onion and green pepper
1-2 cups sliced mushrooms(we like a lot)
1 pound ground lean turkey meat
2 cans tomato sauce(we use no-salt-added)
1 can(14oz-ish) diced tomatoes(again, no salt)
garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning and fennel seeds to taste(about 1 teaspoon each or a bit more)
1 tsp honey
2 tsp olive oil
1 can sliced olives
20-30 slices of turkey pepperoni(the kind for pizza)
1-2 cups mozzerella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese(we like it cheesy)

Cook the pasta as per box. Brown the onion, pepper, mushrooms, and meat in the olive oil. Add the tomato products and spices, honey and olives. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to blend flavors.

Mix the meat sauce with the pasta. Stir in pepperoni and cheeses. Put in large baking dish(I use a pampered chef baking bowl), cover and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, remove cover, bake another 5 minutes. Serve with salad and bread if you want. We love this in bowls. Obviously this is a recipe that anyone can fiddle with. Leave out the mushrooms if you like, add in red onions, use bottled sauce... it is very user friendly.

***edited to add that tonight we used turkey breakfast sausage(bulk) instead of ground turkey and it was fabulous!!

Blogging From The Sickbed....

Amy was kind enough to let me borrow her laptop to get on here today. I'm staying in bed for the rest of the day, thankyouverymuch, because I am SICK! Sick so bad that we aren't going to BAM tomorrow for our homeschool meet-up(kids aren't happy about this one but the BAM patrons would thank me). I've got the trusty phone here with me, magazines, pen and paper, my latest crochet project(a scarf for Sarah) and my iced tea so I'm good.



I'd like to answer some of my emails and comments but not sure I will get to it, typing on a laptop is not my favorite thing. Wish I knew how to upload one of the girls' videos here, they've made some really funny ones.

Have a happy day today!!

Now Back to My Regularly Scheduled(sort of) Life...

I know this sounds really bad-weird but in a way I am relieved that Soshie finally left us. She was very sick for a quarter of a year, that's a very long time for a cat. Before that she was fine and maybe she would have lived to be an old, old cat had she not swallowed that streamer. Or maybe not. Maybe she already had heart disease and the accident just gave it a leg up? Or maybe she never would have recovered from this and would have continued to have painful bowel issues the rest of her life. Who knows. I do know that since the late summer of 2006 I have been constantly nursing sickly animals, starting with Chester's kidney failure. I had to (force)feed him with a spoon for many days when he developed fatty liver and almost died. After that I had to feed him canned cat food twice a day up until he died(this past fall, just over a year after onset). He wanted held all the time which meant that other cats/piggies/dogs/kids/spouses got neglected. Soshie was much the same way. Just six weeks after Chester died is when she got sick. I had to feed her with an eye dropper for many days, on several occasions, just to keep her going. She was always cold and wanted to be in my lap whenever I sat down. I also had to feed her special meals and monitor her water intake and her bowel function.

In early April, we had two guinea pigs give birth within a week of each other. The day after the second one delivered, the first one died from uterine complications. This left two precious babies needing fed every 2-3 hours, round the clock(yes indeed) for three weeks. In mid-September we lost another piggie to neurological and dental problems. It has been a hard year for our pets. We also took on two other piggers and another dog(Buddy, the brother to our black lab, Buttercup). I'm feeling like we live on a farm!! Feeding, watering and general care of the other animals is time consuming but its much different to provide the basics to healthy animals(they get tons of not-so-basic attention too, don't worry!) than to care for injured or ill furbabies. So, while Soshie's death leaves me feeling guilty, heartbroken and very sad, I am not unhappy to be out from under the (above and beyond) call of nursing duty.

Yesterday was weird. What is supposed to be a the time of year with short days and long nights was backward for me yesterday. I felt like the day would NEVER end! I tried sorting and putting up the last of my Chistmas decorations. I did some laundry, I cooked, I played online, I ate and ate, I took Puppy-girl outside many times(she isn't sick, just elderly and has to go out front to pee a dozen times a day)... at 8:30 I was more than ready to turn in but didn't. It seemed like the day lasted forfreakingever.

So, I was excited to wake up this morning with a list of stuff to get done. I had big plans for my bedroom being that its a disaster right now. One of the main things I want to accomplish is to "adultify" our bed, make it a cozy spot for rest and relaxation and not a place to fold clothes or for the kids to watch tv. When I was 10 years old my parents bought me a REALLY nice bedroom suite, chest of drawers, dresser with nice mirror, night stand and bed(headboard and footboard). It has served me well for 30 years. We love the storage pieces but the bed has seen better days. It wobbles a bit and the headboard leans in when the rails and mattress are put on. Right now we're sleeping with the box springs on the floor and no headboard because we don't have a frame. The room feels "undone" and kind of temporary. Hard to describe but I don't feel comfortable with the bed like that. Its almost like we're guests in our own home. I set out to do something about it this morning only to be shot down. I dragged out the head and footboards only to find that we'd used the slats for a window project in the backyard. Earlier this fall Buttercup developed the bad habit of scratching on the window to our living room(108 inches across). She broke the glass THREE times! So, we had to put a sheet of plywood across the bottom to keep her off of it. The bed slats were used to attach the wood to the top of the window frame. So, Mark has promised this weekend that we'll get some new slats but I may go to Goodwill and see what they have in the way of bedframes. But I want to do it now. Sheesh.

I did manage to get the featherbed washed and it is drying now(takes 3 or 4 dryer cycles). Soshie's loss of bladder and bowels wasn't a good thing for my bedding. There are sheets and a quilt that still need washed and the floor needs decluttered and vacuumed. I also had to stop what I was doing to heat up lunch for Mark and to take Ryan across town to a friend's house. Sigh.

I also managed to take some pictures of the pretty holly bushes and my favorite moss patches... Enjoy!

Ending(the year, not my blog) on a Natural Note...

This is my 100th post, WOW!! Please, if you have pets, take time to read about Soshie.

I can't believe I have stuck with it this long. Never in a million years did I expect to make friends this way, I love that. My writing is terrible, mostly because I rarely have time to sit and compose anything, it just comes out in messed up spurts and bunches or I think of something to say and never get the time. Oh well. Maybe by my 200th post I'll be more coherent. I will leave you with the sunset(pics taken across the street from our driveway and back to the right, I *wish* this was my view) and our oak tree.


(oak in our backyard, my namesake, lol)


(neighbor's extra lot)


(trees in sunset, yes this is where the dreaded coyotes live)


(sunset)


(beautiful. may all of us experience a peaceful and prosperous new year)

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not making any Resolutions for 2008 except to love myself and family however I need to in order to remain peaceful, calm, engaged, and happy.

A New Year’s Prayer:

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead


Pope John XXIII, 4/11/63:

"May He banish from the hearts of all men and women whatever might endanger peace.
May He transform them into witnesses of truth, justice and love.
May He enkindle the rulers of peoples so that in addition to their solicitude for the proper welfare of their citizens, they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace.
May He enkindle the wills of all so that they may overcome the barriers that divide, cherish the bonds of mutual charity, understand others, and pardon those who have done them wrong.
May all peoples of the earth become as brothers and sisters, and may the most longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always among men and women."


Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols. ~Thomas Mann


We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~Ellen Goodman


He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool.
~F.M. Knowles


Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past. ~Henry Ward Beecher


New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. ~Hamilton Wright Mabie