Going Veggie Day 2

Eating alongside animals again today.
Breakfast: kashi cereal
lunch: peanut butter and jelly on whole grain bread
dinner: spinach and feta cheese; left over eggplant; spinach bites.

Cooking vegetarian

Okay- Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals got to me... I'm giving up meat! No food with a face! Chicks are cute! Pigs are cute! Cows are cute! I don't know how cute fish are yet. I kinda want to eat salmon, shrimp, cod, tilapia, lobster, crabmeat, etc. Does that make me part vegetarian or whole ass? I guess I'll be chipping in for the tofurkey at Thanksgiving! Tonight: pasta with tomato and basil sauce and fried eggplant.

Things to do when it's literally a thousand degrees out

I literally cannot and will not leave the house today. It's one of the benefits of not working in the summer. I don't have to go anywhere if I don't want to! I'm stayin' indoors. However, even with a whole house to run it can get a little boring. So, what to do to escape the 98 degree heat? Here are some suggestions. I think you'll find that they range from the mildlly amusing to the extremely pathetic.

1. Eat something
2. Drink something
3. Read something
4. Watch something
5. Clean something
6. Call someone
7. Write someone
8. Fix something
9. Re-arrange something
10. Make something.

Since the list only took me two minutes to write, and it's still hot as hell, let me be more specific.

1. Do laundry and actually follow through by putting it away when it's done.
2. Put all the lids on the Tupperware and store it neatly so that in 2 days it's a mess again.
3. Make the bed. Actually, wash the sheets and re-make the bed.
4. Alphabetize the pantry. Beans, breadcrumbs, cookies, egg noodles, lentils, pasta, rice, soup, sugar ...
5. Reupholster a chair or two. Ha- did that one yesterday.
6. Sand and repaint a piece of furniture. This one can take several days. The first day, if I'm any example, is spent staring at the furniture wondering if you've gone crazy.
7. My favorite: pet the cats.
8. My least favorite: exercise.
9. Start (or continue) your own blog. This one's being suggested and practiced in real time!
10. Let's not forget the old standby: sleep.

Thank God for AC....

Tula's new spot

You'd better bring your own, clean towel when you come over to go in our pool- Tula has taken to lounging in the towel bin.

I could swear her face just says, "Aw-- f**k off, mommy." She always looks like a real snob.

Summer Projects

I had this cottony dress that I never really wore, but I still loved the pattern and the colors. So I decided to reupholster two dining room chairs with it!

I love how they came out! Let me know what you think!

I'm in the backyard...

The Black Olive

No it's not the name of a new Italian bistro or a swanky new hangout. It's the cheapest, most sure-fire way of entertaining a cat owner- and yes, a cat! My husband and I discovered the feline friendly veggie by accident. One night after dinner years ago, while putting the left-overs away, we were low on clean Tupperware containers and just threw the rest of the black olives we didn't use in our salads in a bowl and sat it on a shelf in the fridge. The fridge didn't close wonderfully with the lip of the bowl sticking out, so instead of throwing the door closed, you really had to push it closed because of that wide bowl. Apparently, I wasn't the last one to close the fridge that night, and the door was left slightly ajar over night. When I woke up the next day and stumbled into the kitchen- the smell of olives whacked me in the nostrils. I looked at the floor and saw 12 mutilated black olives and a bowl askew- they looked more like bugs than like something we ate the night before, and I screamed. Obviously Buddy wanted the olives so badly he went in the fridge for them himself! But why? Wondering what the big fuss was about an olive, I put one near him, and whoa! He went WILD! Rolling and tossing himself on the olive, chewing on it on his side so he could both play and eat at the same time- he was in cat ecstasy. He loved the smell, the shape, the way it rolled; he wanted to be on it! He wanted to be friends with it! And that's my story about the black olive- try it with your hairy babies today.

Buddy Reilly's Mysterious Skin Infection

After visiting two vets over the course of a year, I've taken it upon myself to try to research skin irritations in cats in order to come to an understanding of what could have caused this problem in Buddy and what could possibly cure it. I'm sure I'm not the only cat owner who is frustrated with this exact problem. In fact, both of my veterinarians - Dr. Dennis Leon of Levittown Animal Hospital and Dr. Allison Howard of Banfield Pet Hospital- are frustrated as well.

Here in this YouTube video, called "Feline Raw Skin Problems" Dr. Robert Sidorsky, DVM discusses his frustration in diagnosing the causes of skin irritations in cats.

my two boys

Bertucci's

The aesthetically appealing practice of incorporating different colors on your plate is supposedly healthful, too. My salad at Bertucci's on 110 in Melville was so colorful and pretty I had to take a pic. Then, we became one.

Home Improvements

Before:

Here's the progress so far on the back of the house getting sliding doors to the deck. The team of contractors worked for 2 days, but stopped because the humidity would not allow the new segments of interior wall to dry to receive paint. So, work stopped before the job was finished, which is fine with me because the door has been usable. They are coming back Monday, 6/14 to finish the job. They even installed a new light, built a step on the deck, and threw in new tile for the mudroom! I love the door so much and use it so often that it's just part of my life already. Perfectly timed project for the summer, too.

After:

It's a whole new room, full of light and activity. We love it!

Martha Clara

Spent the day last Saturday at Martha Clara- a vineyard out East- and it was just what I needed! A beautiful, sunny day, good wine to taste, and good company. My cousin Ali and her husband were well prepared with cheese and crackers in a cooler. Their delicious 3 year old, Jolie, fell inlove with a ladybug kite soaring above our heads. I've already decided what else we're going to bring with us next time: strawberries.