Good Bye Angel

Some of you may have heard from my twitter account that I had to take one of the cats to the vet yesterday.   It was Angel, he was completely blocked and in critical condition.  He had to be move from the clinic to a 24 hour emergency center.  It was from there that I got a call last night at about 10:00 pm.  Angel had gone into cardiac arrest.  It was a shock for us as well as the doctors, that’s not exactly the sort of thing that happens with urinary obstructions in cats.  In case it isn’t already obvious, Angel didn’t make it.  It’s hard to describe how I’ve been feeling about all of this.  Shock, fear, sadness, guilt, the list goes on and on.  All the what if scenarios keep on running through my mind.  If only I had done this, if only I had noticed that, etc.  My niece and nephew have been taking it fairly well, sort of.  My nephew was told that we “lost” Angel and misunderstood.  He now thinks Angel is just somewhere outside.  My niece gets it.  She has lots of questions too, and she now knows what epinephrine is and what cardiac arrest means.  Overall, I guess we are just hanging in there.  All we need is time.

Rest well Angel.  We miss you and will never forget you.

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Heads Up

I love headbands.  When I have like no time at all to do my hair but still want to look cute, I just slide on a headband.  The problem is that lately I seem to be wearing the same headband too much.  It’s a pretty one with pearl beads and I can wear it with just about everything.  And I have worn it with everything, and every single day this week. 

The solution, these new headbands.  Basically, I wrapped each with ribbon and glued on a decoration.  By decoration, I mean a rosette made of lace with a ribbon bow and tiny roses in the center.  Kind of like the barrettes I made before (see Hair Accessories Again?).  Made in basic black and white so that they will easily go with everything with out looking like something you’d just wear with everything.  Perfect.
Here’s the updated list:

• Doll clothes
• Black headband
• White headband
• Blue skirt
• White skirt
• Apron
• Clock

Two down, five to go.  I plan to have the next few up by either tomorrow or Friday, and the list should be finished by this weekend. 

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Weekly Recipe #4

Sad thing about last week’s recipe.  I procrastinated on trying it all week thinking that I didn’t have time to make it and I was just too tired, blah, blah, blah.  So yesterday when I finally found the time, I realized I didn’t have all the ingredients I needed.  Figures. 

Now on to this week’s recipe:

Cabbage No-Rolls

They only take 6 ingredients to make, and it use cabbage which is great.  I recently scored a great deal on Napa cabbage, 39 cents per pound.  So with 5+ pounds of the stuff ready to go, I really need to use it.

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10 Seconds

Just a quick tip today, in reference to SOPA and PIPA.  Google has set up a petition to urge Congress to vote no on these potentially harmful bills.  You can sign it here, it only takes like 10 seconds.  And if you have no clue what I am talking about, the link also has more details about it.

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Weekly Recipe #3

Continuing on from last week (see A Little Miso and What's Up Next), here’s this week’s recipe:

Curry Rice

I found the recipe on Just Hungry, a site that’s a treasure trove for Japanese recipes and entertaining articles.  This does look like an easy recipe, however I will have to tweak it a little to suit my needs (I don’t eat animals).  Hope this one goes well.  As far as how the last recipe went, don’t ask.

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Up to Twenty Four

My office opened up for the season this week so it’s been busy around here.  So much that I sort of forgot about making my new project list let alone posting it at all.  It is kind of important right now considering.  How in the world am I going to reduce my stash of supplies like I planned (see A Time for Change) if I don’t craft?  So here’s the new list.
Project List #24

• Doll clothes
• Black headband
• White headband
• Blue skirt
• White skirt
• Apron
• Clock

It’s a little short, but how else am I going to finish by the end of the month?  I decided it’s easier to just plan on finishing my lists in the month I start them.  Makes things more predictable, at least for you guys.

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A Little Miso and What’s Up Next

As I mentioned before, one of my resolutions involves picking one new recipe a week to try (see A Time for Change).  Last week I tried a miso soup recipe and I thought it would be useful to post it.

As I said before, the recipe was on the back of this package of red miso paste.

See what I mean?  The directions are simple and pretty much anything goes.  The problem I thought was the mention of Dashi.  I’m not exactly an expert on Japanese cooking, but every recipe I’ve seen for it called for kombu, not kelp.  And the mention of chicken and vegetable broth baffles me.  Anyway, when I made this the first time I just used a vegetarian broth I had on hand instead of dashi.  I also tried it without broth and couldn’t taste a difference.  And I found I can make a cup of it in the microwave easily with already cooked ingredients.  Just fill a bowl or mug with a cup of water, add your “favorite” ingredients and the miso, then mix and cook for about two minutes stirring halfway through cooking.  It tastes really good if you garnish it with shredded nori.  My nephew thinks so too.  This is one of his favorite foods now.  He is surprisingly open-minded about new foods for someone his age.

Now for this week’s recipe:

Short-Cut Potato Soup (found on Craft Stew)

Ingredients:

• 10 cups water
• 10 cups vegetarian chicken bouillon
• 2-3 large potatoes, diced into small pieces
• 2/3 cup frozen baby carrots
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• salt to taste
• sour cream, optional

Combine water, chicken bouillon, potatoes, carrots, and onions in a large pot. Bring to a boil, turn down heat, and simmer till all vegetables are very tender. Do not cover.

Add milk and cheese and stir well. Add salt if needed.

Serve in large bowls with an optional dollop of sour cream in each.

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Last Haul

Just as I promised yesterday, here are all the goodies I got from SAS.  It will be my last trip there for quite some time, so I’ll be sure to make the most of them.

• Several yards of a floral print poly-cotton: $2.99/yard
• A baggie of various remnants of ribbon: 99 cents
• A baggie of buttons: 99 cents
• A baggie of “special” buttons: $2.99
• Pin backs: 60 cents/dozen
• Various hair clips/combs/barrettes: 10-15 cents each
• 3000 yard spool of white thread: $3.99
• A few hours spent in a store where everyone knows what it means to really craft: priceless.

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A Time for Change

I know I haven’t been doing a good job about blogging regularly for the last couple of months.  It’s been what, two weeks since the last post?  The same old excuses apply this time, especially about being sick.  That’s what bugs me the most, it seems like I was constantly feeling unwell throughout the past year which really got in the way of everything.  It even got in the way of my pre-season training for work (it’s tax season again).  Which is why I decided to make some changes.  A new year is a time for resolutions, so my first one is to devote myself to healthier living.  So far what that amounts to is forcing myself through fitness videos at least once every other day and going through recipes.  The recipe thing is the big thing.  I have piles of nutritious (and not so nutritious) recipes that I have collected from various sources, and most of them are untouched.  I thought I would start small and try at least one new recipe per week.  If it’s a good one, I will probably make it several times until I’ve mastered it.  That’s what is happening with this week’s recipe, miso soup.  I found the recipe on the package for the miso.  It’s easy to follow and I have even developed a quick way to make it in the microwave.

Another resolution that may be more relevant to this blog, clutter control.  I think it’s easier to show what I mean than to type it.

This is the current state of my crafting space.  Enough said.  Sadly this is only slightly worse than it’s normal state.  And notice that blue plastic bag under the pile on my chair, that’s a bag of supplies I bought at SAS recently.  As if I really needed anymore.  I’ll show what I got tomorrow, it’s important since it will be the last craft purchases I’ll make for quite some time.  I intend to straighten up my space, sort though my stash, and craft strictly with what I have on hand for as long as possible this year.  Wish me luck, I may need it.   

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