Slow Sunny Saturday

It may have reached 102 today (it did),

but I choose to pretend that we have chilly fall-like weather right now.

I even wore jeans the other day.

Ahhh . . . a fire and a good book.

Yes, that fire is a DVD!

This was a busy, but fun week.

I did quite a bit of work because I got inspired and had enough energy (hooray!)

Allistair and Stephen "helped" me work.

Allistair "helped" on my desk . . . 

Stephen "helped" from the shelf next to my desk . . . 

and Claude helped by simply being completely beautiful.

I tried a new soup in a box that I LOVE.

I'm craving it right this minute, but I'm out.

I'll pick some up tomorrow.

Here are some of its great qualities.

 Here are the nutrition facts:

And here's a close-up of the ingredients.

No emulsifiers besides corn starch!

All natural, plant-based ingredients!

It's delicious and slightly tangy.

I am craving sweet potatoes all day long, every day right now, so this soup is a great lunch.

Tonight I made another version of nice cream (frozen fruit dessert).

This one was cherry chocolate banana.

I put the following ingredients in the food processor and processed until it was creamy and smooth.

Four frozen bananas

5 oz frozen cherries (or more - I only had half a bag left)

1/4 soy milk (or other)

2-4 Tablespoons cocoa powder

mini chocolate chips to garnish

maple syrup if you want it sweeter (I didn't add any)

Beautiful and TASTY!

I'm going to have some more before bed!

My next effort is going to find a good plant-based pizza recipe.

Maybe this one for quick meals?

Not great ingredients, though.

My preference is the pizza crusts and sauce that I found at Sprout's.

The crust has very few ingredients and no xanthan gum, which is an emulsifier that I try to avoid.

I haven't made pizza with these ingredients yet, but I'm planning to this week.

I'll let you know how it goes!

I did a teeny bit of home improvement this week . . . 

I put up some little starburst mirrors above the built-in desk in the hallway.

There they are!

Have a relaxing weekend!

Tribbles! And Snoozing

We DID play a board game on Thursday night - 

I found this game, unopened, in our game chest!

I bought it at the Star Trek Experience (museum) that used to be in the Las Vegas Hilton when I was there for a conference many years back.  

While I was there, I even got to eat at Quark's bar and chat with some Klingons!

Anyway, everything was all packaged up and brand-new.

The cards are adorable and have facts from the two Tribble episodes

(one from the Original Series, one from Deep Space Nine).

The pencil was engraved - every bit was special and extra fancy!

The weather has been cooler than expected for this time of year this past week - ahh!

It even smelled like fall a couple of mornings when I went for a walk.

My morning path:

The sun is rising later . . .

This is what it looks like when palm fronds get blown out of their trees:

By afternoon, the sun is shining and the sky is blue.

This week I saw this scary little (not so little!) girl on a huge web.

This one is probably an Orb Weaver.

I don't love spiders (though tarantulas are pretty cool and interesting and 

I saw one in the wild on a hike once!)

I do love that most spiders eat other icky bugs.

The cats have been watching birdies and sleeping a lot (as usual!)

And, as usual, I think they're super cute and I take lots of photos of them.

Four, watching morning doves out the back door.

left to right: Allistair, Claude, Juvy, Stephen:

 Today has been full of laundry and tidying (Christie) and

sleeping and reading (Greg)!

Greg hasn't been sleeping well for the past week or so, and today was a nice day of catching up for him.

He took a loooong nap with three cats!

I don't think there's a better way to nap unless it's with MORE than three cats.  

Juvy slept in her basket during the hot part of the day

(though it only got to 102).

This is how things looked around here today:

From the other direction:

Allistair gained a lot of weight while we were in Minnesota, so he's been cut off from easy-access food.  We put food on the dryer (he doesn't like to jump) and in the master bathroom, so he CAN have it if he wants to, but it isn't just there all the time, reminding him to eat.

Sometimes he sits right by the water bowl and gazes at us forelornly.

My skin has been extra dry (AGAIN),

so I did some more research and started again on these two supplements, both of which have some science behind them as far as dry and irritable skin.

I'll keep you informed after a couple of weeks have passed.

phytoceramides

hyaluronic acid

Happy Saturday!

Urgh

We've been having quite a bit of "weather" over the past week plus.

A few times we even were woken up by the thunder.

Whenever I hear BIG thunder and see lightning flashes in the night, I wake up and go open the back door and Juvy is huddled there, all scared.  So then she spends the rest of the night in the guest bathroom, all cozy and dry and safe.

And sometimes she sleeps on this chair during the day.

Lately it's been cooling off (HOORAY!) and only getting into the high 90s, 

so she prefers to be outside most of the time.  She likes it hot.

But when it rains or thunders, she comes in and sleeps and she's ever so pretty.

The other day, Allistair was sleeping really hard on the back of the couch (snoring and wheezing),

and he started to slip off the side . . . 

He went sloooowly head-first onto the seat of the couch!

He ended up in a little befuddled pile and went back to sleep.

I've been under the weather a bit, and though it's MUCH better than it used to be, it's still rough.  

Sometimes it's rough just because the little problems are a reminder that this thing is unlikely to ever go away completely.  And sometimes it's rough because I feel guilty (did I eat something I shouldn't have? did I do too much? am I stressing over something and it caused my body to act up?)  And sometimes it's rough because my energy runs out suddenly in the middle of something and I feel like a useless human being for not being able to manage myself better.

God and I are working on these things together.

I had a quiet day today and made yummy snacks to help myself feel better and to make me and Greg smile.  Right this minute I am in the middle of making hash browns and I already made rice pudding and cherry banana nice cream today, so I have lots of snacks to eat this evening.  I hope for an evening of delicious simple food, a slow walk with the Man, and maybe a board game.

I'd better get busy with that!

Enjoy your evening and I hope you have fall weather wherever you are!

Relaxing

When I left church on Sunday afternoon, the sky looked like this!

It was unusual and especially pretty.

Of course, Allistair is ALWAYS especially good-looking!

The weather the last few days has been cloudy and cooler; 

it's been in the 90s and low 100s.

I'm VERY excited for fall, as always.

It's my favorite season!

out my office window towards the street

Stephen doesn't care what the weather is as long as he can play with his mousies 

and get food and snuggles!

Juvy sleeps inside in the afternoons, and one day she was sleeping all wedged in, falling down sideways.

So sweet!

Sleeping baby . . . 

The corner of the great room with lots of books

and a Juvy!

A relaxing evening lately includes music provided by Greg,

cat snuggles,

and a book.

Hope you have a relaxing evening of your own planned!