Mangia Monday!

I actually meant to post this a couple of weeks ago.  You know, when I actually did it.  But things have been busy in our household and the next thing I knew, it was September 19th. 

One of the things I love most about late summer is tomatoes.  I look forward to tomato season all year long.  I love them on sandwiches, in sauce, as little snackers for dipping into hummus.  So, two weeks ago we picked up a bag of the little rosy beauties, along with some bell peppers and basil.

Summer's succulent bounty

I had a recipe for roasted garlic tomato sauce from a canning magazine that I had been dying to try.  So I spent a few hours prepping the ingredients and making a bunch of sauce.  It was delicious and not only did we have it for dinner that night, but I have plenty of it in the freezer so I can enjoy fresh tomato sauce in the cooler months ahead. 

Have I mentioned how much I love fresh tomato sauce?

Then, because I clearly didn't have enough going on, I decided to make cupcakes.  Remember my last post about Pinterest?  Well, I found a baker's blog that is out of this world (check i am baker out) and wanted to try out making flower cupcakes.  They were OK.  I'll show a picture, but only with a disclaimer.  For one, I am not an artist, and I think cake decorating is an art.  That said, I'd like to learn and improve, knowing that while I'll never have the flair of some, I should be able to do a decent job.  I also think it's important to note that it was a hot day and I had been cooking for quite some time, so my kitchen was warm.  This made the frosting a bit thin.  I should have cooled it longer in the fridge.  Live and learn.

On the subject of disclaimers, I should also point out the obvious.  Remember how I said I'm not much of an artist.  Well, I'm also not much of a photographer.  I'm trying to get better, but I know my photos leave a lot to be desired.

Anywho...here are the decorated cupcakes:

 These are supposed to be flowers.  Really.  If I had talent, I wouldn't have needed to put the little white dots on to make it obvious.  But, hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

I'm still working on my decorating technique.  In fact, I made another batch of cupcakes this past weekend.  I foresee many cupcakes in my future as I still have a long way to go.  This makes The Dark Knight and The Hubby very very happy.  I'd say it pleased The Little Girl, too, but I have to hide the cupcakes from her or she will want to devour them all.

And the lightbulb turns ON

I was all ready to post something about how I don't really get the point of Pinterest.  Maybe I was just slow, after all, I was a little late to the game since I just signed up for it earlier this week.  But I couldn't figure it out at all. 

So I decided that a constructive use of my very rare Napping Child Time would be to figure it out once and for all.  And, good golly, I think I see the appeal. 

I am now obsessively searching for birthday party ideas for The Little Girl.  This could be dangerous. 

Not quite Jekyll and Hyde, but...

Freya had her dental surgery on Monday and came through just fine.  Well, a little ticked off at The Hubby and I, but otherwise fine. 

When I picked her up, I was thrilled to have everyone in the office tell me what a lovely cat she is.  This is a new vet, so they are just getting to know my feline girls.  I happen to think my kitties are wonderful and appreciate hearing that the people who take care of their medical needs think so, too.  So it was wonderful walking into the office to pick Freya up and have everyone from the receptionist to the vet tech to the vet tell me that she is such a sweet and wonderful kitty.

 Why, yes, I am a sweet and beautiful princess.

I happen to agree that Freya is perfection in feline form.  She is a sweet, beautiful, clever kitty with a sparkling personality wherever she is.  It's just that how she demonstrates these qualities differs depending on whether she's at home or at the vet's.  Let's take a look at how they are different:

Picking up Freya at home:  This can go one of three ways.  (1) The "best" is if you pick her up and she is relatively agreeable.  She likes to be held so she can put her paws on your shoulder.  You may pet her for 3 or 4 seconds before she decides she has had enough.  Put her down instantly or you'll be sorry.  (2) You pick her up, but she prefers not to be held.  You are immediately scratched or bitten.  (3) You pick her up and she prefers not to be held.  Though you also prefer not to hold her, you need to because she has to get in the cat carrier or be otherwise confined.  Grab Freya and with one hand hold the back feet and with the other hand hold the front paws.  There is an art to this, as you need to hold her in such a way that she can't get free AND can't bite you to force you to release a hand.  Only The Hubby has managed to master this hold so, lucky him, he gets the job of putting her in the carrier.

Picking up Freya at the vet's:  Pick up Freya and put her on the table.

Clipping Freya's nails at home:  The Hubby first has to pick up Freya with the third option mentioned above and transport her somewhere suitable.  He then puts her down and straddles her so she can't move.  Once immobilized, he takes a paw and quickly clips the nails on that paw.  Then he moves on to the next.  The entire time, her tail is flashing back and forth and her eyes are black.  This is not good.  He does the front paws, but never bothers with the back.  Then, this is important:  he gets up and jumps back so he is out of immediate scratching range.  This must be done quickly because once she is released, Freya will spin around on and attack whoever is responsible for the indignity.  The adults of the house have somewhat mastered this evasive maneuver.  I say "somewhat" because sometimes we are not fast enough and it ain't pretty at all.

Clipping Freya's nails at the vet's:  Take paw and clip.  Take other paw and clip.  Take back foot and clip.  Take other back foot and clip.

Petting Freya at home:  This can be tricky and entirely depends on her mood.  If she comes up to you and sits on your lap, then it is alright to pet her until you notice any shift in mood, however subtle.  If she has not approached her, but you have decided that you would like to pet her, then you do so at your own risk.  She may either allow you a maximum of 5 pets before she is D.O.N.E. or she may run off to avoid handling.  If you are allowed to pet her, then you are responsible for noticing when she has reached her limit or you may lose a hand.  Don't say you weren't warned.

Petting Freya at the vet's:  You may pet at will.

So, see, there are some differences.  But wherever she is, Freya is my sweet kitty with a little, shall we say, moxie, and I love her to bits.

What Happened?

So the weekend before last, we drove up to Maine to spend a nice week away visiting my parents.  I love going up there, even more so now that The Little Girl is old enough to get what it means when we say we're going to Maine.  She loves it up there.

We set off on that Sunday with a stack of DVDs and our portable DVD player for the four or so hour drive to Portland.  Confession time:  The Hubby and I used to scoff at the very notion of putting DVDs on for kids in the car.  There is plenty of beautiful scenery to look at, books to read, pictures to draw, and so on. I didn't need videos to keep The Dark Knight (aka, my 20 year old son) happy in the car, so I shouldn't need them for any Little Girl.  Turns out, we do.  She is, after all, only 2 1/2, and the happiness that fills our car as she quietly watches an episode of Curious George is worth any amount of humble pie.

We were having a wonderful vacation; things were going well until I heard about the earthquake.  The Dark Knight did not join us on this trip, so I called him to make sure all was well.  It was, although I think he was disappointed that he didn't have the opportunity to break the news in some dramatic fashion designed to scare the living crap out of me. 

In the background, we knew a hurricane was coming.  All along, The Hubby and I planned to leave on Saturday, but we decided on Saturday morning to make sure we were home before the storm hit.  As the week progressed, we got more worried about it.  We wanted to be home because we didn't want The Dark Knight all by his lonesome during the storm.  Also because my parents were all but certain to lose power at their house.  Five people + one toilet + no power = disaster.  So there was no way we were sticking around, for everyone's sake.

We left for home Saturday morning and got home as rain from the very outer edge of the storm was starting to fall.  I invited my sister over to hunker down with us as we waited out the storm.  It started to pick up Saturday night and Sunday morning we woke up with no power.  Wait, what was my equation again?  Five people + no power + three toilets = not such a great time.  The extra toilets helped, but when you have well water and no power for the well to actually run, well...then you have to be very diligent about water usage to conserve what water you have.  In a total burst of extra awesomeness, The Hubby filled the bathtub with water on Saturday night for just this kind of emergency, and the tub slowly drained the water.  We still had some on Monday morning when we woke up, but not much at all. 

Considering how others fared, though, I'd say we did OK.  Sure, it was a pain to lose power on Sunday morning, but it was back on yesterday morning.  We lost a few large branches (one narrowly missed my sister's car) and a tree in the back, but no property was damaged and, more important, no one was hurt.  I had to take Freya to the vet yesterday for her dental surgery and when I picked her up there was an elderly lady there to board her cat.  Turns out that a 75 foot tree crashed through her house during the storm and she and her kitty are displaced until her home is repaired.  I can't imagine how horrifying and stressful that is for her. 

So it has been a whirlwind of a week and weekend.  But I am very grateful that everyone is safe and sound.

Mangia Monday!

I am exhausted after a long day, so the eloquent post that I wrote in my head on today's topic is going to stay there for the time being.  Instead, I'm going to share a few pictures of the amazingly luscious vegan cheesecake (I know...I'll explain) that I made last week.  It was a new recipe and looked wonderful from the start.  It's from one of my new favorite cookbooks, American Vegan Kitchen by Tamarin Noyes, and it did not disappoint.  We all loved it.

This is the cheesecake after sitting in the fridge overnight.  I should have done a better job of spreading out the sour cream mixture and wound up putting too much in the center.  I'll be more careful next time

Here's a slice of the cake.  I thought it looked pretty good, but needed a little something something.

Blueberries!  I had some blueberries in the fridge and cooked up a little topping by combining the blueberries with some raspberry jam.  It was the perfect accompaniment.

This is my new go-to cheesecake recipe.  I like it because it only uses the vegan cream cheese, not a combo of cream cheese and silken tofu.  It was so much richer.  I have no idea how much it tastes like real cheesecake since it has been a long time since I had the real thing, but it was a lusciously decadent dessert and I think that's always a good thing.

Friday Is Off To A Fun Start!

I've been up since 4:15 this morning thanks to, in order:  The Hubby, The Little Miss, The Cat Formerly Known As Fluffernutter, and The @$#! Birds Outside.  I have a date with the Starbucks drive-thru just as soon as I can get myself moving. 

In honor of the bright and early start to my day, I thought I would share a little glimpse into my first few minutes of consciousness on this fine Friday morning in August.

A few months ago, I taught The Little Miss to knock on Daddy's office door before just barging in.  Now, whenever she wants to go through a closed door, she knocks first.  This is true even if she is opening her own door.  So at 4:30 this morning, as I'm trying to drift back to sleep after being awakened by The Hubby's trip to the bathroom, I am jolted back to full consciousness by BANG! BANG! BANG!  Then the sound of her door opening, little feet shuffling to my bedroom door, and a tiny whispering voice announcing that she needs to hit the bathroom pronto.  Off we go. 

And though it was way too early in the morning, I still find it hilarious that she always knocks on her door even when she is leaving her own room. 

T.G.I.T.

Today was Sitter Thursday.  I have a college student come over to play with The Girl on Thursday mornings while I do things around the house or run errands.  I felt a little guilty about it at first because it seemed a bit luxurious to have a mother's helper when I'm a stay-at-home mom, but I'm so glad I moved past that because it has been awesome.  The sitter is terrific with her and it has been nice for me to get some time to do rather mundane things alone.

Today's little slice of heaven was as follows:

- Swing by Goodwill and drop off several bags of clothes and old toys.  I finally got rid of the infant toys that have been sitting in our garage for close to a year!  On this point alone, I would call today a roaring success.  But wait, it gets better.

- A quick trip to Michael's to get some random craft supplies.  Rain is in the forecast and I'm starting to run out of ideas.  I am ready for a few days of crappy weather now!

- Walked next door to Office Max and stocked up on school and office supplies at their killer sale.  Notebooks for a penny?  Check!  Two boxes of crayons for $.20 a piece?  Check!  Glue for $.50?  Yep!  The Little Girl lurves her some glue!  Storage containers at buy 2 get 1 free to hold all of the crap I keep buying at Michael's?  Hello Dolly!  I practically floated out of the store.

- Bed, Bath & Beyond was a bust.  I'm hunting for a step stool that is tall enough for The Little Miss to turn on the bathroom sink faucet without having to hoist herself up onto the counter.  The stool we have is not tall enough and the one at BB&B was even shorter.  The search continues.

- Made a deposit at the bank.  Who doesn't love that?

-Stopped at the flooring store to look at the showroom.  We'd like to replace the hideous flooring in our sunroom and entry way.  I had a lovely chat with the owner and left with 4 floor samples to check out at home.  Which in retrospect was a little stupid because I really need my mom's advice and she is away for the next few weeks.  Mom, if you're reading this, I'll need to do this exercise all over again when you get home.

-And, finally, bliss. 

I cannot resist your siren song, vanilla soy latte.

I also had to buy the awesome sitter a Starbucks card because *sob* this was the last Sitter Thursday.  We're going away next week and then she goes back to school.   But it was awesome while it lasted.