using my imagination in the kitchen

yesterday i had a wild idea to make a beef stroganoff inspired dish minus the beef.

i cooked lentils with onions, carrots, garlic, and tons of different spices (nutmeg, salt, pepper, spike seasoning, oregano, chili powder, crushed red pepper, cinnamon, curry powder....that's all i can remember....maybe more). 

then i cooked the noodles and added a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano to them. 

put the lentil mixture on top of the noodles and voila....

a very delicious meal!

houndstooth's firsts

we decided to take little girl for her first car ride and shopping spree.

she was so mellow in the car. 

first we stopped to visit aunt lexie at work.

then we went to petsmart. 

little houndstooth was so patient and calm while we tried a harness on her and picked out fun stuff. 

she chose the pretty red harness.

on the drive home she fell asleep like this.

all that shopping wore her out.

then we got home and had her test out the harness.

you see i've had this daydream for a few weeks now of taking her for a walk around the neighborhood.

i figured she would throw a fit and try to chew it off or protest by sitting down and refusing to move but not this little girl.

she proudly marched around the house like a pro.

i am seriously blown away by her awesome little personality.

she is just too adorable.

handlebar ribs

this is what taking the end of my mountain bike handlebar to my ribs at a fast speed looks like....

isn't that awesome?

i blame this adorable fiesty little girl who we went camping with over the weekend...

she swerved in front of me and slowed down at just the right moment and there was no way for me to stop.  the handlebar jabbed me and i flipped forward landed on the ground with my bike on top of my legs. 

luckily i was the only one who crashed.

i'm pretty sore and bruised in several spots but it was totally worth it because riding in the mountains with perfect weather was amazing.  i've been wondering when that was going to happen since we got our bikes a few months back.  

at least i can go ahead and check it off my list.  

cp takes a trip to the vet

we went camping over the weekend and shortly after returning yesterday we discovered mama kitty (coffeepot) was sick.  my mom took care of the kitties while we were gone and she said cp was totally fine but right after we got home she started vomiting repeatedly and seemed very weak.  i think the babies could tell something was wrong and they took turns cuddling up to her.  i happened to catch houndstooth comforting her mama.

poor mama kitty.  she seemed to be better this morning but i still took her to the vet just to be sure.  a shot, fluids, blood tests, special food, and quite a bit of money later.....

we discover she has a cranky uterus.  we were planning on getting her spayed just as soon as possible anyway to avoid having more baby kitties but now it looks like that surgery is extra urgent.  luckily she seems much more like her old self just a couple hours after her appointment.  if she doesn't act completely normal in a few days it's emergency surgery time, otherwise she will have it done in a couple weeks.  my job now is to keep mama and babies away from each other so they can be fully weaned.  so far....neither parties seems to be very happy about it.  

flashback friday #16

circa july 1985.  my brother brandon, cousin elizabeth, and me.
we were like the 3 musketeers back in the day.  elizabeth even lived with us for a while around the same time this picture was taken.  let me tell you as much as i loved having one of my best friends around constantly i certainly didn't love the fact that i suddenly wasn't the only little girl in the house.  sharing barbie coloring books or my little ponies....no thank you.  i distinctly remember feeling jealous and greedy on a couple occasions.  so funny.

hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

enchanting

how can you not be enchanted by these images....

houndstooth is not only tolerant enough to be placed in ceramic container but she seriously rocks it.  supermodel kitty all the way!

i don't think i can talk enough about how much i adore her cute little face and personality. 

speaking of love....micaela a friend in the blog world, did a post about weddings on her beautiful blog.  go take a peek to see if anyone looks familiar....like za husband and i.

and maybe, if you feel so inclined, visit her blog often because it's full of happy things.

thoughtful treats

i ♥ an unexpected thoughtful suprise....who doesn't?

well thanks to nicole i was the recipient of some super cute owl cookies with a sweet little note attached.

*don't mind the fact that one of them got a messed up eye on the ride home.

i love these adorable treats that are too cute to eat, but most importantly i love the random kindness from a friend.