Those of you who aren’t on FB, a couple days ago Pixie started having trouble again almost overnight. She was acting uncomfortable and urinating blood around the house on Monday, so I called the vet and they got her in that afternoon for an x-ray.  The infection was cleared, but she had a collection of stones in her bladder and they had to come out. So, I took her in this morning for her surgery. She came through it fine. I went to visit her and they gave me the stones to look at:

Poor thing. All those sharp stones rolling around in her bladder and cutting her up. She was not very happy when I visited her. She was doped up on morphine and kind of scared. I felt terrible leaving her there overnight, but she will be fine. Just being a worrying kitty mommy. We will go pick her up Wednesday morning. She will be on a new diet for urinary tract health, aka more expensive food, from now on.  So, hopefully her problem is solved and she will be back to sleeping all day her old tricks soon enough. 🙂

I have been remiss with the Pixie photos on the blog. I do understand that is why most people read 🙂

I take a bunch, however.  My new phone has lots of Pixie pictures in it already 😳   You know how you always call your pet by other names? One that we call Pixie is Hedonism Cat when you can tell she is totally immersed in the pleasure of the moment. These were taken while watching football last week.  She was laying on John’s lap on the fleece, which she adores.  Here is relaxing in action.

I has the good life:

I love her back feet in this picture. They look like lucky rabbit feet!  She has the extra toes front and back.

As a side note, I have not seen the kittens outside after I posted that I was going to take care of them. Figures, right?  I do keep an eye out for them, though.

I lost the football picks this week.  Went down in flames, actually.  I am ahead for the whole season still, though.  John wanted to go to a new place down the street about half a mile from our house called Abuela’s.  We walked there in the cold and wind. Yuck!  It’s a Cuban restaurant and I had a Cuban sandwich (what else?):

This was served with plantain chips, where were soft like steak fries and really, really tasty!   I need to try to make those at home. I hope they do well. Our town is pretty small. I am thinking I need to win again and have some Indian food.

Pink item of the day?  My dumbbells!

It’s all about the fall now! If you didn’t know it was fall, a quick look at Pinterest would tell you that.  😀

Out comes the candy corn bowl for pumpkin oats!

Anyway, I got Pixie’s bed finished.  The cost?  $4!   The bed started as a drawer.  John was going to throw away these 2 drawers, but I rescued them and made one into a shelf (painted white).  The other one I made into Pixie’s bed.

The only thing I needed to buy was a can of spray paint, the aforementioned $4 – or really $3 and change:

Yep – it’s pink!

Pixie’s trial run of said bed:

“Okay, I find this suitable“

On Sunday, it was out to my ‘workshop’ to paint:

Since the drawer has a front panel, it doesn’t fit flush to the ground, so John cut me a couple small feet to glue on to balance it out:

While all that was drying, it was time to contemplate the cushion.  I poked around some boxes and found a wad of cotton batting.  Do you ever find something and think, “Why the hell do we even have this??”  That was me, but this stuff was perfect.

Of course, Pixie had to check out the progress and then proceeded to bite pieces off it.

I measured the inside of the box and folded up pieces of batting to make a rectangle. Then taped the pieces together.

Tucked the batting into an old pillow case that we never use anymore.

Then I wrapped some fabric around it so that I can remove it easily to wash.  This bit of fabric I have had for over 20 years. I always lined the cat carrier with it for our old cat, Chloe, and then used it for Pixie.  Voila – her new bed.

Turns out I think it is softer than she would like and I put that white towel on top of the cushion and she seems to like that better.

(I know, she is being all adorable for you).

Although, she still really seems to like *this* better…

Heat-seeking mode fully operational now that fall is here!

There are times when I wish that someone could just give me the amount of food I need to eat and I was unable to actually get any for myself.  Wouldn’t that make weight loss and maintenance  a lot easier?

Pixie had a tendency to be on the heavier side in the past, especially when she lived out in our shop.  We think she was eating mice in addition to her regular food.  Also, we found she loves fats. If there was an olive oil bottle or some spilled coconut oil, she would eat it.  She kind of was a little chubster.

I portion out her food every day.  She rarely gets snacks other than catnip.  Now the vet says she should not gain any weight, but doesn’t need to lose, either.  She currently is 10 pounds.  She looks bigger because of her fur and her giant feet.

She never has wanted people food – which I am thrilled about.  That means no begging at the table or pestering company for food.   Pixie eats dried kibble and 1/4 can of wet food per day.

But – have I ever mentioned that Pixie is a picky eater? She loves her canned food, but it has to be very specific.  It must be Friskies brand.  I got her some gourmet organic stuff and she just turned her nose up at it.  (Billy ate that stuff right up, so it didn’t go to waste.)

Not only does it have to be Friskies, but it has to be the pate.  No flakes. No shreds. Just pate.

Well, someone wasn’t paying attention when she grabbed food at the store last week.

Shreds.  Oh dear.

I opened up the can and put some on her plate.  She looked at it and then looked at me and walked away.

Then she sat on the counter while I made breakfast and stared at me in annoyance.

Very unhappy camper.  Eventually she will eat the shreds, but she certainly lets it be known that she is not happy about it.   That can is gone and I was especially careful at the grocery store this weekend to get the pate.

I suppose if  I had limited food and it wasn’t something I really liked, I would probably be a little pissy, too!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  We don’t usually do a whole lot for the day, but I did get John a small heart shaped box of chocolate because I saw them when I was out shopping last night.  It had a whole 3 pieces of chocolate in it LOL!

I didn’t take a picture of my breakfast because it didn’t look so good.  It was oat bran cooked with a banana and I topped it with a spoonful of this:

Normally I don’t eat sweetened nut butters, but this was on sale, so I thought I would try it.   It was really good.  Maybe not a good thing to have in the house because I can just eat it off the spoon…

For Valentine’s, John made me my latte today and he put a heart on it.

He is so sweet!

John’s tutoring student canceled for tonight, so we decided to go out for dinner.  We hit up Rock Hill, which I love.  I had a dilled havarti cheese sandwich.

That is a semolina bread and so good! I love their sandwiches.  On our way home, I asked John if that was out for Valentine’s or just eating out. He said “I thought it was for Valentines” LOL!  So that was nice.

We moved the vanity pieces upstairs. John is going away for a few days and I wanted the pieces moved upstairs so my dad can help me drop them in place later this weekend or early next week.  We had to get this thing upstairs through that little doorway back in the corner and up the stairs.

I did a bit of nail biting when we measured. Check out our tape measure:

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Always a fan!    I took the stairway railing off and it went up surprisingly easy!  Yay!  It’s not that heavy, but a bit too heavy for 1 person (plus it is awkward).  Lots of work will be happening in the bathroom this weekend. Tile redo and the flooring! Getting close!

John sent me this video of Pixie. Sometimes she has a high squeaky meow and other times she has this raspy sound.  We call it her being ‘Madge’, which hearkens back to a fellow shop owner in Illinois who used to come visit us.  She must have been about 80 and chained smoked. She was always complaining and had that kind of raspy voice. Pixie has that sound.  Anyway – here she is chatting to John. 

Note she is also getting white hair poofs on the rug. She ejects hair everywhere.

Such a silly girl

Yay – the weekend!!  It’s starting to get the holiday feel, too, know what I mean?  That funny mix of fall decorations and Christmas ones. Last night we were at the mall after taking John out for his football dinner (booooo…..) and the decorations were up.  Plus the usual game stores that open this time of year.  We were on the look out for a new board game for the get togethers this year.   This store has all kinds of games!  And just about every kind of Monopoly there is.

If you think there is not a Monopoly for you, then choose this one!

After getting some suggestions on FB, we ended up getting Telestrations:

Should be fun.  I definitely want to check this store out before it closes at the end of the year when everything is discounted. I wanted to get Ticket to Ride, but the game was $50!!  😯  That’s a lot of money for a board game.  Why are board games so expensive??

Anyway, I think I forgot to show you all my chair. Remember my $3 garage sale chair?  A good scrubbing and a $5 can of spray paint later and it is all purty in my house!  The color is called Purple Fury, but it doesn’t seem all that furious to me.

John actually decorated this chair.  My beloved Mr. Niblet is still out.  If I can’t eat the candy corn anymore, at least I can still keep Mr. Niblet out.

Also in the holiday spirit, we found this at the grocery store:

You all know how I loves the nog.  It is interesting. It smells just like eggnog and it tastes like it as well, only not sweet – and fizzy.  Like John said “Who watered down my eggnog?”

Update on Billy the stray.  He is loving life in the shop.

Nomf! I like food!

He actually is a very funny cat and makes us laugh.  He loves attention and doesn’t seem all that interested in going back outside.  I have contacted the rescue group that originally was going to help  with Boo and their foster homes are full right now. So, we are going to foster Billy while they put up his picture to adopt out.  Plus he will be going to adoption clinics when they have them.  We need to get him neutered as well. Here’s hoping he gets a forever home soon.  (Any local people can feel free to email me about him)

And lest we forget the real star of the house (and blog) – Pixie wants to show you she does wake up from time to time.

I can’t believe she is 5 years old now!

Looks like the bikes are going to be coming inside. I keep looking at the extended forecast for any temps in the 50s and nada for the next 10 days.  I’m just fighting the inevitable.

Have a great weekend!

The winner of the Sahale Crunchers chosen randomly is:

Beverly

I have never heard of this brand, but yum – they sounds delicious! I tend to eat this type of product by itself …and by the handful. haha Thanks for the great giveaway!

Congratulations!  Please email me at javaqueen01 at yahoo.com with your address and I will forward it to the Sahale rep for your goodies!

Today started off with a nice morning – and warm, too! It was 55 degrees when I got up.  I had a nice big breakfast this morning.

Banana custard oats with almond butter and strawberry jam.  Do I dare tell you this bowl is about 400 calories?  I like the big breakfast 😀

I worked for a while and let that settle before heading out for my next scheduled run/walk.  I progressed on to week 7 of the C25K and this week is three 25-minute runs.

I said the other day that 2 miles in 25 minutes was Lori 2.slow, but I don’t want anyone to think that I mean that you are slow if you run that pace.  What I really should have said was that 2 miles in 25 minutes is slower than I used to run.  Which is fine – any running is good, right? Especially if I am not crying about it    Although, I was thinking for some of the time that I would rather be biking!

Lunch today?  My rut.

Mango is back on the plate after the salmonella scare took them off the shelves.  Yay!  *And* eating at the table, which is back in place and without a bunch of crap on it.

You know for someone who is quite the flower gardener, I must confess that I don’t do so well with indoor plants.  I was thinking about doing more, but then there is currently an issue with Pixie lately with the one plumeria plant that I do have.  I had posted this on FB, but she has now pulled off a lot of leaves from this plant.  She didn’t bother it all summer until we moved it when doing the floors.

Busted!

I have had this plant forever and usually she will play with the leaves when they fall from the plant onto the floor.  Now she just goes right for the jugular.  Sigh…

Latte time from my new view!

It’s weird sitting over here.  It’s kind of like we moved to a new house LOL!

Dinner tonight was spaghetti squash!  I made up the balsamic tomato chicken  and put it on top of the spaghetti squash:

Tasty.  I liked having this on the squash.  I imagine I might be having it for lunch tomorrow as well  😉

The Broncos play the Chargers tonight.  Go Broncos!  If they win it is icing on the cake because I already won the picks for the week.  I already know where I am eating my meal, too.  I had it picked out for last week, but then lost (figures).

Today’s pink item? A razor.

Not that I use one much – too lazy 😀

Thank you Friday!  Slowly getting used to the time change in the mornings.  No gym today, so it was straight up for breakfast!

This was the 1-minute muffle topped with some ricotta cheese, a teaspoon of honey and cinnamon.

I liked this, actually, but I would warm the ricotta next time.

I was hoping to get out for a bike ride today, but it was drizzly and yucky. Booo.  And work seemed to go on forever today.  Don’t you hate days like that?

I was glad to take a break for my morning snack:

It was kind of sleepy day, too.  I tried to get a picture of Sleepy McGee, but then she woke up.

Look of death? I think so.

On the garden front (since it is Friday and all), I do have some seedlings to report!  The allysum and nicotania have sprouted.  Obviously need to thin these when I find out which ones are the strong ones.

See how the allysym are kind of smushed?  That’s because someone thinks the greenhouse is her personal bed.

Sigh….

Leftovers for lunch today. The rest of the chicken from last night.

I have decided I officially do not like long beans.  They squeak in my teeth when eating them, which really bugs me.  Plus I don’t like the taste.  No more of these for me!  On a good note, I am not growing a third eye or any other issues from the giant strawberries, so that is good news.

I was despairing that I would ever finish work today. I swear the clock was starting to tick backwards – I am such a baby!  My job actually requires a lot of concentration each day, so I am pretty ready for the end of the week.  I did get some pep with the latte, though.

I had 2 of those chocolate chewy things, FYI.  Very foamy latte today.  We switched back down to 1% milk from 2% and it makes a lot of foam!

Finally finished up with work.  It felt like 3 days worth.  I actually was done before dinner time and went out for a   little walk prior to dinner to clear my head.  Then I came back and had this:

I wish I could get the Laughing Cow to spread on top of the omelet better, but it still tastes the same.  🙂

Thank you for it finally being Friday night!  St. Patty’s Day tomorrow and John is going to make some Irish Soda Bread.  Not sure if we will go out or not.  It depends on if there actually is Irish music anywhere or just places with any music and booze…  🙄

We are settling in for the night with season 2 of Downton Abbey with my snack:

Pear and rehydrated peanut flour.  Lots of protein in that stuff.  A very good eating day as well.  I really have been doing well on the no nibbling front.  It has been about 3 weeks since my last snack bender, so I am pleased about that.

Hope you all have a good weekend!