Cute Kitten Pics

November 10, 2014jeswel Uncategorized Leave a comment

So I mentioned that the kitten is growing up. She’s six months old and was just spayed two weeks ago. She is growing fast. Slick still likes to sit on my chest or be cradled like a baby. She cries for food like she hasn’t been fed in ages and doesn’t have kibble in her dish. Oil Slick’s favorite past time is getting into the blinds. We just love that. Her toys have taken over our apartment. She’s just become a part of our life.

Like any good cat parent, I’ve taken loads of pictures. She’s a black cat and in half of them she looks like just a black blur. However, the other half are just plum cute (though she’s still a bit of a blur). And I love how in some of the photos you can see her very subtle stripes.

Double Chin

OM NOM NOM

Just Chillin’

Too Bright!

Don’t Work Mom

Wut?

Sitting Pretty

Stretch

My Head

Don’t Go

Watching “TV”

Meal Planning

November 9, 2014jeswel Uncategorized 1 Comment

I know, I know. I’ve been gone a long time. But believe it or not, I had very little to say. The kitten is growing up and taking up some of my time. Work is as busy as ever. I wasn’t feeling too great for a while and discovered that I needed an increase in one of my medications. I’ve been energy filled and feeling good since then. As a result I’ve been making home cooked meals. Exciting, I know.

But I’ve discovered something, meal planning is hard for me.

It’s hard for me to figure out what Husband will eat for the week. He will mostly eat whatever I put in front of him and his praise or dislike of my cooking is about the same. “It’s okay.” If I get a “It’s pretty good.” out of him, I know that I have a hit on my hands.

I don’t have a repertoire of weekly meals yet. I was sick for about a year. During that time, I did very little cooking. If I made dinner at all, it consisted of just “fixing food”. I have managed to forget whatever it was that I cooked prior to that.

I have a grand chili, a decent cilantro chicken, and a marinated chicken breast. You can only eat those meals so many times before you’re sick of them.

So for the past 4-6 weeks I’ve been practicing meal planning. It usually consists of me asking my husband what he wants to eat, getting an unsatisfactory answer and then calling my mother for help. She helps me work through ideas, recipes and shopping lists. Sometimes she’s just moral support. I use the Taste of Home magazine that my aunt gave us a subscription to. I use several websites and of course Pinterest. I have a collection of cookbooks that I scour frequently for meal ideas.

I try to come up with 4 meals a week. This gives us flexibility to adjust the menu as needed, gives me nights of not cooking and keeps us from over-buying groceries (we throw way too much food away in this house). I write-up a list, include the normal staples such as bread & milk, and whatever extras my husband wants for the week.

On Sunday, I clip coupons and review the local circular.

In my town, there is a local grocery chain that does online grocery shopping for a small fee. For someone with chronic illness this is a godsend. I may still spend an hour “grocery shopping” but I do it from home, in my pjs, in front of the computer. It saves me so many spoons. (If that phrase is foreign to you, you must read this: Spoon Theory.) I choose a time when I want to pick up the groceries, pull up to the curb and pay. It’s wonderful. I come home and Husband helps me carry everything inside.

So after about an hour of work today, I have my menu for the week:

Sunday: Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Ham melts with salt & vinegar chips
Wednesday: Strip steak, red potatoes and salad
Thursday: Lemon garlic mahi mahi with wild rice & green beans

The mahi mahi is frozen, and if we don’t get to it this week, it can just be pushed to next.

I don’t cook every portion of every meal. Some of it is just opening a can and warming up the contents. But it’s a home cooked meal that saves money and sometimes calories. And it’s just fun.

So I found a cat under the hood of my car…

June 26, 2014jeswel Uncategorized 2 Comments

So as the title explains, I found a cat under the hood of my car.

I was on my way home last night from work, when I heard my car meow. I was on the phone with Husband and said “There’s a cat in my car.” “Nah” he says, “you’re hearing things.” We continue our conversation.

By this time I’m on 71 north. And I heard another meow. “Oh my God, there’s a cat in my car!”

He still seemed to think that I was hearing things and checked to see if there were any recalls for my car. I said “I know there are recalls but they don’t meow!”

By this time I was in a fair bit of hysteria. “I’m pulling over.” “Don’t you dare! You pull off at an exit.”

I pulled off at the next exit which happened to be Rookwood. I pulled into the parking lot by Max & Ermas and popped my hood.

This is what I saw.

Under the hood of my car, shoved in the corner, was a cat.

I was hot and panicking. I’ve hardly looked under the hood of my car, let alone move things around and the engine & all the moving bits were already hot. I threw my keys and sweatshirt behind me and dug in. Just as I was giving up, a fellow was getting into his car. I’m sure he thought that I was some poor girl, looking under my hood, clueless. He wasn’t wrong.

I asked him to please help me. He was shocked by what he saw. With some moral support, and husband still on the phone, I dug in again and pulled the cat out.

I wrapped it in a blank and started to get into my car.

At this point, two women were going to Max & Erma’s and thought I was holding a baby, in a blanket, in the hot sun, while I looked under the hood. I politely corrected them and told them the story. I believe the one woman would have taken the cat.

So I got into my car still panicked. What was I going to do now. Our regular vet is closed on Wednesdays, so Justin called another local vet while I called Mother. I’m not sure mom entirely believed me at first. After all, who finds a cat in their car?!

She agreed to meet me at the vet and Husband talked me through the trip.

I had already named the cat Oil Slick.

When we got to the vet we had to dig the cat out from under the front seat. This wouldn’t have been a big deal except my backseat is a pig sty. Mom pulled the front seat up and I pulled out the cat.

We had the cat examined, because of course I wanted to keep it. It was a sign that I needed a cat.

We found out that the cat is a she, all tests turned out well, first round of kitten shots & dewormer administered.

We took Slick home and freaked out the older two cats.

She wouldn’t eat or drink a thing and she was just beyond terrified.

We set up a little corner of my bedroom at mom’s for her. I left her in her carrier with the door open and she stayed there until about midnight. She started crying and I found her in the corner shivering under the quilt rack. I took her out and only managed to traumatize her further. I set her back in the carrier and went back to bed. At 4:20 I heard her crying again, only this time I couldn’t find her. I waited for mom to wake up and together we found her, hiding under the big console TV that is in the bedroom. Mom pulled the console forward while I’ll pulled her backward and we eventually dislodged her from the TV.

After briefly reading some articles, I decided that for a cat that was so scared, a cage should help provide the security and safety she needed. We had purchased a large cage a year or so ago when one of the older cats was having issues. The cage didn’t work for him but maybe it would work for her.

It is now set up in the living so I can be with her while I work. She has been crying non-stop since we put her in there. The good news is that she is starting to approach us even if she is terrified. Bad news is that she’s spent the past 45 minutes crying and trying to escape.

Meet Oil Slick

We finally coaxed to eat some wet food & a little crunchy kitten food.

This is our little escape artist.

Just begging to be let out.

Finally

June 4, 2014jeswel Uncategorized 1 Comment

Life has been pretty busy lately. Been working a lot and went to mom’s this past weekend.

And my stomach is starting to act out again. Not being able to eat is not my suggestion of a fast diet. I’ve been trying new meds and like all new meds, it’s taking a while to build up. It doesn’t have a long half-life so I’m hoping it builds up sooner rather than later.

This leaves me not feeling too bad for breakfast, queasy for lunch and unable to eat dinner. Add a dash of IBS and I”m freaking miserable.

But, in the midst of all this, I’ve been trying to scrapbook a new page. There were five pictures, some 4X6 and others 6X4. I was having a horrible time trying to find a layout that worked for all five. I looked at galleries, read blog posts, read some of the ebooks from Masterful Scrapbooking and I tried at least two layouts before I finally found a template that fit my needs.

I’m still trying to play with color and figure out my “style.”

In the end, I’m fairly pleased with this layout. I like that it tells a story throughout the photos.

I’d love some constructive criticism.

Almost all the materials came from an Echo Park kit called Sweet Day. I don’t remember where I found the paint splatter. The template was named kwresh03 but I don’t have any other information for it. I’m horrible at crediting the designers but I’m trying to get better at it, honest.

This Mulch is on Fire

May 24, 2014jeswel Uncategorized Leave a comment

Come on, sing along.

Earlier this week our apartment was on fire.

I was sitting in the office around 1 in the afternoon when I started smelling a wood fire. The windows were open and I assumed someone was grilling out. Then the smell got stronger and I realized it was a weekday. Who in their right mind grills out for lunch in the middle of the week. With this latter realization I began sniffing around the apartment. I am quite positive I looked ridiculous.

I went into the bedroom and there was nothing. I checked the mess of cords around the modem and nothing. For a moment I thought it was the Keurig, but nothing. Finally, I looked down the stairs and saw smoke. About that time I also heard voices.

I was quite certain I was overreacting. There was no way the apartment was on fire and there was a perfectly logical explanation. I went downstairs, the smoke getting stronger and opened the door. As it opened I saw the perky blonde apartment manager and in what I’m sure was a joking, disbelieving voice, I said “Is my house on fire?” In a matter of fact voice she promptly replied “Not anymore.” I heard the swish of a fire extinguisher and I looked around the door.

The shrub that used to sit there was nothing but branches and it was completely gone in some places. Everything looked like it was covered in grey ash. The siding had melted. The mulch was smoking. On a cool, Monday afternoon the mulch in front of our apartment had caught fire. Not only was it odd because it was such a cool day, but it was the second fire in the complex that day.

The fire department came out. There were some handsome fellows on that truck. Maybe it’s just the uniform.

There were several hot spots still in the mulch and the fire had spread to an adjacent bush.

Soon their hoses were out and everything was soaked. I saw the men walking around the complex looking for more mulch that was near the fire point. They didn’t find any. The firemen packed up their truck and left.

Meanwhile, I had opened every window in the house and turned on all the fans. What started as a nice smelling wood fire, became a nasty chemical smelling fire as the siding caught and melted.

All in all, it was a little more excitement than I had wanted on a Monday afternoon. As if Mondays weren’t rough enough.

And like any nosy renter, I took pictures of the whole thing.

The Wedding

May 23, 2014jeswel Uncategorized Leave a comment

As I create scrapbook pages from the wedding, I continue to go through the photos. Every time I see the smiles on our faces, I find myself automatically smiling and remembering that day. The power those photos seem to have amazes me every single time. I never expected that my wedding day would have such an impact.

Here are a few more wedding layouts. These are all from just before the ceremony.

I’m starting to learn what type/style of scrapbooking I prefer. Creating layouts is starting to come a little easier to me. I still struggle with adding elements to the page. I love the layered and scattered look but I just can’t seem to master it yet.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

May 20, 2014jeswel Uncategorized Leave a comment

We heard a recipe for 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies on a podcast that we love. I was skeptical that the cookies would be good but Husband wanted me to give them a try anyway, so I did.

The recipe calls for:

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Mix together. I used my KitchenAid to mix the batter, but mixing by hand would be easy too.

Roll spoonfuls of batter into balls. I skipped this step and just used spoonful lumps. Worked just as well. Rolling into balls will make your cookies look more uniform.

Take a fork dipped in sugar and create hash marks across the top of the cookie. This is not a necessary step, but since the cookies do not spread or rise, you will need to flatten the cookie to some degree before baking. And since the cookie doesn’t spread, however big your cookies are when you put them into the oven, that is how big they will be when they come out the oven.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. I baked the first batch at 15 and the second at 12.

The recipe will yield between 12 & 24 cookies depending on the size of your balls. (I just giggled like a school girl. Hehe)

Let cool.

First thing I want to say is that this is probably the easiest recipe I have ever tried. If there are even easier recipes, I would love to hear them.

Second, this is not a “normal” peanut butter cookie. Without the rest of the ingredients in a regular peanut butter cookie, the texture is extra crispy and hard. Not a soft-batch cookie. But without the extra ingredients, the peanut butter flavor is much stronger. Also, I think the cookie is sweeter.

I recommend this recipe if you are short on time and need a fast dessert. I had these mixed, baked and cooled completely in about 50 minutes. More efficient cooks could probably have these ready faster.

If you want to be extra decadent, add chocolates to the cookies when they come right out of the oven. I used Hershey Miniatures, but Hershey Kisses or Dove Chocolates would also work. Whatever you like is what you should use. If you’re not careful when adding the chocolate, you can break the cookie. Even though it is crispy it is still a fragile cookie. I added chocolate to at least two cookies, breaking them in the process, before I realized I needed to be gentle.

Once I again I didn’t take photos of the process. One of these days I will remember. But here is a photo of the end result.

There were more cookies, with more chocolates, but we ate those before I could snap the photo.

The Fruits of iNSD

May 11, 2014jeswel Uncategorized 1 Comment

Last Saturday was iNSD. It was also FCBD.

Acronyms. I hate acronyms.

iNSD is interNational Scrapbook Day. International Scrapbook Day is on May 4th and the US National Scrapbook Day is held the first Saturday of May. This usually creates an entire weekend dedicated to scrapbooking.

FCBD is Free Comic Book Day. It is also the first Saturday in May. Participating comic shops in the US and around the world give out free comic books.

That Saturday, I joined a scrapbook chat/live meeting at about 8 in morning.

A couple hours later were in line for FCBD, 15 minutes before our local shop opened. We were those geeks, eagerly waiting outside with fellow geeks. I picked my 5 free books, bought the newest Serenity and two expansion card packs for Firefly the Game and we were back home within the hour.

Mom was trying to change a light bulb on the outside of the garage. She had this nifty tool that let you change the bulb without even getting on a ladder. It would have worked but she accidentally moved the angle of the light in such a way that her nifty tool no longer worked. While Husband & mom tried to figure out what to do and while they went & bought a taller ladder, I rejoined the scrapbook chat.

Then Dave came over and we had a night of tabletop games. Tracy was sick and we really missed her. We played Firefly: Out to the Black, Cthulu Dice and my favorite, Zombie Dice.

After he left, you guessed it, I was back in chat. Some people had been there from 8am-11pm. I was not that dedicated.

During iNSD, I found a new community called “Get It Scrapped”. Members have access to “coaching” classes and dozens of ebooks, plus over 50 templates. I started using the coaching classes to try to make pages from scratch and to learn not to rely on templates. I’m finding it challenging but I’m learning quite a bit. I feel like I’m taking the training wheels off.

Throughout the day Saturday and Sunday I created 4 new layouts. And I stuck with the wedding theme. All of these were photos taken prior to the ceremony.

(I love the slightly suggestive journaling on this first page!)

I can see some flaws in these pages, but rather than worry over them or even try to make changes, I’ve decided to leave the flaws. This is a learning process and I want to see my growth as a scrapbooker.

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

May 10, 2014jeswel Uncategorized Leave a comment

I used my new KitchenAid to really bake for the first time. Not some cake mix, but actually baking from scratch. No one shock in gasp. Oh, okay. Go ahead and gasp.

I went a little out of my comfort zone baking something that embodied two of my least favorite baked goods. First, they were cupcakes. Cupcakes are annoying. So messy and hard to eat. We do not get along that well. Secondly, they were lemon blueberry cupcakes. I LOVE lemons. But I’ve always had a sort of mental block when it came to sweet lemon desserts. Lemon cookies, lemon bars, lemon meringue pie we’re never for me. But Husband seems to really like lemon desserts & I know he loves cupcakes so I was willing to try something new.

I used this recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/missys-lemon-and-blueberry-cupcakes-recipe.html

Let me just say right now that I love my KitchenAid mixer. Without it, this fibro girl would not have been able to bake these cupcakes.

I liked that the batter ingredients were split into three bowls and then you mixed those contents together. First your butter & eggs, then milk & sugar and lastly the rest of the dry ingredients. My butter wasn’t entirely room temperature and I had trouble mixing it with the eggs. I think I might have even overbeat the eggs which caused for a stiffer batter.

You will also need to add some lemon zest. I needed 3 tablespoons. I bought two large lemons. I grossly underestimated. I might have had a tablespoon and a half, two tops. I added a dash of lemon juice to make up for the lack of lemon zest.

Before you pour the mixed batter into the cupcake liners, spray the cups with a cooking spray like PAM. OMGosh. This is especially important if you don’t want to spend $5 or more for those really good cupcake liners. I bought mine at Kroger. Cheap as possible. After the cupcakes have baked, the liners peel off without making a crumby mess and the cooking spray will help crisp up the outside of the cupcake and make it golden brown just like the cupcake tops. Absolutely brilliant trick. This might make me and cupcakes get along better.

Before you put the cupcakes in the oven to bake, place some blueberries tossed in flour on top of the batter. In theory, the batter will rise above the blueberries and they will sink throughout the cupcake. This was a FAIL for me. The batter never raised above the blueberries and I had to take a butter knife to sink them lower.

Also, the 18-20 minutes cooking time was a FAIL. Our oven stayed preheated/heated at the right temp through the whole process. My only guess is that the recipe was underestimated or more likely, our oven lies. If you have an external oven thermometer that would be best. If you’re like us and don’t bake often enough to justify another piece of clutter in the house, then you might want to be prepared for some extra baking time.

Once the cupcakes are finally baked, pull them out and let them cool on a rack. Don’t be lazy like I often am and just leave them in the pan to cool.

Next it’s time for the icing. Cream cheese icing is the best. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Seriously, how can anything with two sticks of cream cheese, a stick of butter and 3-4 cups of confectioner sugar be bad? (I know the answer to that but I don’t wanna hear it!

We also needed lemon zest for the icing. I just added a little extra lemon juice.

The KitchenAid made mixing this together so easy. Have I mentioned my love of the KitchenAid?

Finally, icing and decorate your cupcakes.

Despite my earlier caveats, these cupcakes are fanfreakingtastic and I highly recommend this recipe.

If I had been clever there would have been pictures of the process. But I’m not, so here is just the final product. (I do have a picture of Husband decorating with blueberries, but I am fair certain he would kill me if I shared that with you.)

Dave

May 2, 2014jeswel Uncategorized 1 Comment

When I wake up at early (doesn’t happen as often as it should) I like to take the time to digi (digital scrapbook).

This morning was no different.

I woke up at 6:15 and wanted to create a new page. I decided to make something that wasn’t part of a class. (Just to prove I could.)

I used a template from Fiddle Dee Dee and a kit from Digital Designs Essentials.

I stuck with the wedding theme and chose Dave as my subject. The cake photo is my favorite but I’m pleased with the layout as a whole.

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My Plucky Life

Having or showing determined courage in the face of difficulties.

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