Kittens From The Dark Side: Thrifting, Fun With Friends, Cozy Days At Home

Hello!

Welcome back! We are having a fun time around here lately.
I updated the cushions on the chairs in the library, for example!

It's hard to tell, but they are a blue and gray plaid. I have the same cushion on the chair in my office and I liked it enough to order more.

Greg and I got around to figuring out our flights finally, and we are all set now for our upcoming trip to SWITZERLAND! We went eight years ago as part of our 20th anniversary celebration, but my parents (especially my Mom) have always wanted to see the Alps (especially the Matterhorn!), so I planned the itinerary and booked accomodations, and now the flights are done, too! We're not leaving for a few months, still, but it's very exciting and we're going to have a great time!

My dear friend Paige has come over for some cooking adventures.

On this day, we made all sorts of yummy things.

We made doughnuts:

Mushroom nuggets (with sweet and sour sauce):

Irish stew, and blueberry muffins!

The Irish stew was a new recipe, and it's definitely a keeper!

Another time Paige came over, we made masa cakes, a Mayan recipe from Plantiful Kiki's cookbook!

I was impressed by how easy the masa cakes were to make and how tasty everything was!

We topped them with my fajita mix (tomatoes, bell peppers, black beans, corn, herbs, mushrooms), olives, cashew cheese, and pickled onions!

The recipe calls for pickled onions, and I used my own recipe for these. YUM.

The sun is coming up earlier and going down later, so we know that spring is here. Not that we had much winter this year!

Of course, I've found lots of great thrifted items.

It's hard to resist glass food containers with intact lids!

Handmade, artist-signed studio pottery with interestinig drippy glaze? Yes, please!

Cute little dotted teapot!

Unique bowls, also handmade and artist-signed:

Cute rattan side table that's in our basement now:

Huge drippy glaze lamp!

Another neat lamp (also huge!) that's in our basement on that rattan table above!)

Possibly the coolest ceramic vessel I've ever seen: a tentacled vase/mug/chalice/goblet!

Offbeat ceramics make me smile. Look at this one! It's all smooshed!

And such pretty colors!

And such a strange lip for pouring!

It sits proudly on the bookshelf.

Lovely hobnail ceramic mugs!

We were happy to see Greg's Dad and Step-Mom, Karen, the first Saturday the kittens were home. Greg and Rick did some outside reconnaissance and repairs to our shed door.

I also had a party for some girls from Sunday School! They wanted to come over to my house and make pink pancakes, so we did! You may recall that I did a test run with my nieces using beets as the pink coloring, but I wasn't satisfied, so I tried dragon fruit powder and it was perfect! VERY BRIGHT pink and it doesn't add extra liquid or taste to the pancakes.

We decided to top them with coconut shreds, mini chocolate chips, and maple syrup. Everyone got to choose! We also had fruit and muffins and we drank out of fancy lady glasses (crystal stemware!)

Joanna and Milena decided that Greg was a criminal and they wrote these wanted posters:

As the weather has been warming up, I have been mostly running outside (as long as it's above freezing, outside is the best side for running!) One day I mistakenly ran outside when it was below freezing without covering my ankles properly, and my hives showed up! Oops. I have cold urticaria and often get itchy hives from direct contact with cold air, snow, or ice. These went away after about 30 minutes.

Another weird thing happened to my lower leg lately! We suspect that I got attacked by a spider! First, I discovered these big blisters.

About a week later, the blisters drained and became this wound.

As of today, the wound is still there and still weird-looking, but it's not itchy or hurting at this point and it's looking better, so my guess is that it's healing.

A good run is good for the soul, body, and mind, and I have been full enjoying the ability to get out there and GO!

Recently I did my longest run (well, longest since I've been using this app, anyway!)

I ran to the trail that loops around some lakes in our area and across this long wooden bridge into the forest.

Lately the trees are starting to bud!

I'm not a fast runner, but I am slowly getting a bit quicker!

And I have been cooling down on the back patio, listening to the birds. AHHHHHHHHH!

We only got 2 snowstorms this winter, and they were both pretty mild. Of course they were beautiful!

And I enjoyed clearing the driveway!

I did a test of pink frosting with dragon fruit powder, too, and it was delicious and beautiful!

I took these to celebrate Greg's college roommate, Rich, on his birthday!

Here we are!

It was a very fun evening!

Nora and Ivy are settling in and are lovely and adorable! They have brought extra beauty and love into our home.

Nora getting comfy:

Ivy LOVES Allistair!

Allistair had a little flare-up of his IBD, so he's been tired and he's on some medication again. We got to chat with a different doctor at our regular vet clinic and she has some additional ideas to help Allistair's digestion to be stable and healthy, so we feel hopeful and happy about that.