Another Kind of Vegetable Pizza!

I made the most amazing vegetable pizza tonight and it was all because of MaryJane of Mary Jane's Farm. See here. It's called the Bakover! You MUST try it! Also, if you aren't aware of MaryJane she is the most amazing farm woman I know. Her story is on her website. Definitely take some time and peruse around her site and learn all about her beautiful organic farm! Now this is my kind of farm!

When it came out of the oven and after I inverted it on a plate I was ecstatic! It was a thing of beauty! I was amazed. It was so dang gorgeous! It smelled gorgeous too! I felt like the mad scientist in a scene from Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, "It's Alive! Alive!". LOL

I highly advise you try this one out. It's easy and DELICIOUS! The recipe is on her website in her video library under Bakover. Checkout the rest of her videos as well. They are so peaceful and fun to watch! I need to go out and get the latest edition!!

More horsing around...

I know you've seen so many pictures before but my new found (once again) hobby has me so excited! I love my weekend trailing getaways with Debbie. :)

Look at that handsome snout!

Your eyes are getting verrrrry heavy...

Awwww....come on Ari, just one kiss...

Good boy!

How much more peaceful can this get?

Posing with Magic...

Even Mocha couldn't help himself....he just had to roll!

Can't wait for more riding this weekend! It will be 85 degrees! Woohoo!! Finally a little warm weather!

On a side note, that denim shirt I have wrapped around my waist was my dads. I bring it with me every time I go horseback riding because it was dad who introduced me to riding when I was about 14. :) Here's to good memories, dad.

Mark your calendars! If you're around the Northwest, that is. :)

I know I am! I'm headed up to Puyallup, Washington soon with my two great friends (enablers), Tami and Michelle and we're renting an eighteen wheeler!. Okay, maybe not an eighteen wheeler. If we stuff the car full of things we bought though, I told Tami I wouldn't leave her behind but that I would at least strap her to the roof of the car. I will even give her a cowbell or something so she can let me know she slid off. LOL! Seriously, this was our conversation. Gotta love joking with friends!

When I find something I really love, this is usually the song I sing in my head as I gaze longingly at the great buy I just found! I get a little dramatic when I shop.

Don't forget to visit my sister site "The Vintage Sage" about our magical cats.

Favorite Romantic Scenes

I was watching Anna Karenina tonight and it gave me an idea for my post. How many kinds of love can you think of? Don't forget to turn off my music if you want to watch some of these great scenes! :)

A forbidden love...



A love that spans time...



A reckless love...



A magical love...



An eternal love....(love Gary Oldman in this)



An innocent love...



We need more movies like this. :)

Random Thoughts

Sunday I woke up to a beautiful sunny day with wonderful thoughts in my head and in my heart. I took just a few random pictures and as I was in the kitchen fixing my coffee and watching my small TV in the kitchen this was on. Remember Mr. Rogers? I couldn't wait to watch his show when it came on. He was such a wonderful, sweet, sweet man and I sure miss him and his show. I was excited to see that they are still playing re-runs!

Quincy ran outside to get a little sun. Ignore the camp chair (I still have not decorated my deck) and the dead plant in the back. I warned you all I'm not very good with plants.

These guys were just laying there looking all sunny and bright! I had to take a picture!

Update on Mocha. Mocha seems to be doing pretty well. She's still eating a lot. I have them all on a higher protein diet thanks to Dawn over at Vanilla Sugar! I have them on Evo and Instinct which is a good recommendation for cats with Intestinal Bowel Disease (what we think Mocha might have). Today I looked at her and if I didn't know any better it seems as if she's gained a little weight. She's even acting differently, more content, purring. I am hoping those antibiotics are doing the job! :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed though!

Happy Monday all!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to wish all you mother's out there a Happy Mother's Day! This is an important day for all you mother's who raised us kids and don't think I don't know (even though I only have cats) that it is a LOT of work and the most respectful job I know.

A letter to mom....

Dear Mom,

Mom, you are my hero. You are the vision of strength, comfort, a mother's love that no one can ever touch and now, as we have grown older my best friend. Thank you mom for everything you have done for me, for making me who I am today, for teaching me to always have a kind heart (because you always did). Thank you for giving me the strength to be a strong woman, a caring woman, a person who does not judge and a selfless person. Thank you for teaching me to eat right, to take care of myself and to live life to the fullest. Thank you for being such a carefree and free spirited person. It has taught me to try to be the same. Last but not least, thank you for laughing with me in our moments of blondness! Those moments really make me smile and make me feel happy you and I are so close today.

Enjoy your day mom. Relax and indulge yourself in whatever you want because you have done a wonderful job raising all of us kids!

XOXO

I miss you on days like this.

Horsing Around Today

Just a quick, short post. Went horseback riding and came back home with a terrible migraine, too much sun and not enough to eat. Anything will set off my headaches! Ugh.

Ari finishing up a few bites of hay before the ride.


On the trail. This was actually heading back after a few broken boots that came off. We had to walk them back.

Ari getting some replenishment. It was actually kind of hot today!

Love this one! A kiss for the road.

Will write more tomorrow! Gotta lay my head down now. Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Martha Stewart's Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Soft, heavenly, chewy, just what Michelle needed and full of yummy goodness! Enough said.

Checkout the pig back there trying to remind me what I might look like if I eat all the cookies. Lol!

Makes about 3 dozen

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Enjoy!

I Was a Vegetarian for Two Days This time. LOL!

Yea, it was short lived as you can see from the photo below. LOL! I was craving spaghetti tonight but I got organic beef. That made me feel a TAD bit better. I just better not come upon a truck loaded with cattle or I'm in trouble!

I did throw in a little vegetarian-ism. A lovely salad with a new addition of kiwi fruit! It tasted so refreshing!

Quincy was a little blue tonight. He wants to know when the rain will stop.

Mocha told him to just keep kneading and the time will pass fast!

Also! The vet called today to follow-up on Mocha. I said nothing had changed, she's taking her pills fine and then she said she was thinking a little more about it and said she forgot to ask me a few things. Well we talked about Mocha's medical history with a sensitive stomach, etc. etc. and she said she is really leaning now towards Irritable Bowel Disease now that we ruled out hyperthyroidism. I am praying it is just that because that is easier to treat! We will get her through her antibiotics and then change her diet. That made me feel better so I was able to eat meat again. ;) Mocha ate a lot tonight too.

Oh dang! They're playing that commercial from the ASPCA (which I proudly donate to every month)...you know where they show the most saddest pictures of animals. *sigh* Now I have to go save all the animals in the world. I'll never get ahead. Lol!

Running from the Chicken Truck and a Little Pick Me Up!

Okay so you must be wondering about the chicken truck. I was totally disturbed this morning on my way to work. I was driving on the freeway, minding my own business, even humming with the music on the radio when this huge, huge truck drove up alongside my car. I nonchalantly glanced over and almost screamed in horror! The truck was hauling what looked like tons and tons of live or tranquilized chickens!! I mean why do they have to have this all out in the open for us to see. I know, I know..I do eat chicken but I don't need to see these poor things on their way to execution, if they weren't already dead! I couldn't tell. I stepped on my accelerator and tried to speed ahead because I'm one of those that HAS to look even though I shouldn't! Ugh. Then it became this whole paranoid situation..I'm driving fast, looking in my rear view mirror for this truck and he comes alongside me again...I step on it....he steps on it (okay maybe that was my imagination) and I'm driving in terror all the way to work trying to get away from this truck. I mean seriously, can you hear the theme to The Wicked Witch as she's flying alongside Dorothy's uprooted house on her wicked bike?! That's how I felt! Lol! Everytime I looked at the truck driver I swear his faced morphed into the Wicked Witch laughing hysterically! I finally dodged the truck but I couldn't get it out of my mind. So the last couple of days I couldn't eat meat. Well, I happen to eat tofu yesterday but after seeing that today I could only eat my black bean and cheese burrito. This is usually what happens when I go on a meat break. I've typically been traumatized by seeing something I didn't want to see. My mom tried to make me feel better by saying, "Honey, those were all diseased chickens that just died..and they were transporting them to the funeral home.". Thanks mom..you're always there for me. LOL!

After work I swung by Joann's Fabrics because sis' got some adorable "farm" signs for her kitchen. Like any little sister would do I wanted to copy! Lol! Well, lucky for her they didn't have the same ones BUT they had these adorable tin signs for $3.00 each!

And this tablecloth matched! Only $3.00!

Nothing has changed much with Mocha. She's still eating tons. She even wanted some of my black bean and cheese burrito (okay, healthy...from Baja Fresh). Mom had to say no to that. Here she is doing her favorite thing...kneading and purrrrring. :) Thank you all for caring so much and saying a little prayer for us. :)


I didn't get to make my cookies tonight because my girlfriend was in the hospital. She had surgery today and I wanted to be there with her. :) Don't fret! I'm still craving them so they WILL be made this week. :)

Rain, rain go away....

I'm so tired of the rain. At about this time of year it just makes me a little depressed and yearning for more sun. It didn't help waiting for the call from the vet and why do they always wait until the END of the day to go through lab results. Mocha's white blood cell counts are elevated but the doctor said they were the neutrophil white cell count which typically means she has an infection or inflammation somewhere. We are treating her with a broad spectrum antibiotic. HOWEVER, I think she wanted to cover herself and she said the worst case scenario could mean a tumor somewhere. :( Okay, I'm trying not to overreact to this. Of course I immediately call my brother, since he's a human doctor, to ask him what this all means. He said most of the time the elevated neutrophils (in at least humans) do mean they are fighting off an infection and rarely means cancer. I realize that's humans....I am going to hope it's just an infection. So if you have room in your prayers, please say one for Mocha. I will start her on her meds tomorrow.

I came home and was hungry but not hungry. I decided to fix something quick so I fixed these tofu fingers with some vegetables and rice. If you're not a tofu fan this probably isn't for you. The other tofu recipe I had last month doesn't taste so much like tofu but this does. :) I basically just sliced some firm tofu into finger size bites, dusted them in flour and rolled them in teriyaki sauce. I just stuck them in the oven at 350 and baked about 20 minutes. I made some white rice with sauteed vegetables and ate! It was okay. I couldn't tell if it was because I was a bit blue from the rain and Mocha but I managed to force it down. That sounded bad. They weren't bad, really. I'm pretty sure I just didn't have an appetite.

I think homemade chocolate chip cookies would have been better. Isn't that what you're supposed to eat when you're blue? Maybe the cookies will be tomorrow's dinner. :)

Oh yes, I discovered how to make your clothes smell fresh. For every one blouse in the dryer, throw in seven sheets of softener. You can actually smell like a walking sheet of Bounce. LOL! Okay, I exaggerated...maybe three sheets. :)

Hoping tomorrow I'll feel a little better...Mocha too.

I had no idea I was so close!

I was taking a look at my Country Sampler magazine and I discovered some really cute things! Okay, guys I haven't gone totally country but I'm finding I like touches of it within my romantic/retro vintage style home but I digress. Anyway, I came across these adorable country signs and thought I'd look it up on the internet to see where this place was. To my lil' 'ol heart's surprise it's right up the street from me! I love it when that happens.

Checkout these adorable things!

Checkout the sugar sack. In The Country Sampler magazine they had something similar to this but they were flour sacks. They made them into window treatments! How adorable is that?

The store is called American At Heart. One day I will have to make a trip there and see what I can drool over. Probably the picture above since it has food in it. ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend. I really don't want to go to work tomorrow. I really should start playing the lottery. Lol!

Fresh, fresh Laundry, Miss Mocha isn't feeling well and another award!

Have you ever walked by someone and caught a whiff of that clean, fresh smell of detergent? I mean how do they get their clothes to smell like they just walked out of the washer and dryer? I have tried all kinds of combinations of detergent and softeners but can't seem to get that fresh scent. I'm starting to sound like a commercial. Lol!

So what do you all use to get that clean fresh scent? I'm curious because I need more combinations to try! Like a mad scientist I will keep experimenting until I get it right. :)

I had to take Mocha into the vet this morning. Poor baby girl. She has diarrhea and hasn't been feeling all that well. I noticed she has lost some weight (which she did, a pound in about six months) and that's not a good sign. The doctor poked and prodded her and didn't find anything obvious, like masses or anything like that. We are doing a full blood panel in addition to a thyroid panel and I will get the results Monday. She has been eating fine, in fact a lot lately and the doctor is leaning towards hyperthyroidism. She hasn't been drinking a lot which is usually a sign of kidney disease. I am hoping it's the hyperthyroidism and nothing more serious so if you can send some prayers our way, we would truly appreciate it! Until then she will be spoiled with love and given whatever she wants (if it doesn't upset her stomach). She is, after all, my baby. I put down her very soft red blanket to lay on so she still feels like a princess even though she feels like crap.

Also, award alert! I am so honored to have received the Attitude of Gratitude Award from The Blonde Duck! She's that famous writer over in Texas. :) If you haven't read her work you have truly missed out. You still have time though. Run on over to her website and sit down with a cup of tea and some cookies and enjoy! Thank you Blonde Duck!!

Here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog and post. 2. Nominate at least 10 blogs that show an Attitude of Gratitude. 3. Link to your nominees within your post. 4. Comment on their blogs to let them know they’ve received this award. 5. Share the love and link to this post and the person who nominated you for this award. 6. Tell us how you’ve come to have an Attitude of Gratitude
I'm going to share this with anyone that visits my post before Monday and I want you all to tell us how you've had an Attitude of Gratitude lately!

As to how I've obtained the Attitude of Gratitude, well, I've really tried to look at the positive things these days, especially in this economy. I am so thankful and grateful I have even the basic things in life, a roof over my head, food, a job. It's so scary in an economy like this. I am truly thankful for all my friends, including you guys and my fur babies who are by my side everyday and are there to come home to after a stressful day. :)

One last thing, I have always loved this song that is playing. I don't know why...maybe because it reminds me of my childhood and how simple things were then. *sigh*