has it really

been a week since my last post?  I guess so.  I'm apologizing now because I know the next couple of months are going to be crazy and the blog-neglect will probably be pretty bad... off the charts.  I don't know for sure but just in case, I'm sorry.  It's just going to be busy for me.  I've got a LOT of photography stuff going on, not only are there a couple of major photo sessions to be done but in the middle of it all I signed up for a photography workshop.  Let's see, there's a party happening here in less than a month (and I've got to prepare for that, but with some help), I've got a couple of SERIOUS concerts to attend on August 30 (The Cult) and September 18 (Depeche Mode), a major entertaining show in Houston that takes about a week to prepare for and just as long to recover from, and then... MY BIRTHDAY. 

Here's the kicker, I should officially be able to relax on September 22 because this is how that last week will go:
Sunday 15 - last day of cooking/entertaining show and clean up
(I usually don't move for the next two days, it's THAT. MUCH. WORK.)
Wednesday 18 - Depeche Mode
(Hopefully I can stand by then)
Friday 20 - MY BIRTHDAY and a rehearsal dinner
Saturday 21 - the wedding, which will be my first to ever shoot
Sunday 22 - BREATHE.

Other than any meltdowns that will probably happen along the way, I'm golden.

Now, on to other news.  I was getting the oil changed last week.  Sitting in the waiting room were two young guys, an older man and me.  A lady walks in with a little kid and I watch as the older man gets up for her to have his seat.  I had to roll my eyes at the to young guys and hope that Eric would do the right thing in that situation.  Which I later found out that he would have been and has been the one getting up for women and kids to sit. 

I have a new coffee table coming soon.  It's one that I designed and might be finished this week.  The frame is together, now I just need to go get pieces for the top.  I'm going to try to do that today.

And last but not least, Operation Dry to Wet (for Lucille) has been going great.  No hairballs or anything else that comes along with it.  I've been letting her eat in the laundry room and then opening the door when she's done.  Strat then comes in and finishes it all off.

Lucille, isolated and enjoying her meal at the molasses-like pace she does everything.

Strat, paces and watches, paces and watches.  Here he is watching.  (I also need to clean the door.)

And Strat finishing Lucille's juicy breakfast.  yum.

 Here's a little added something.  A few weeks ago Cosme and I were watching tv.  There was a commercial for cat food and the lady put the cat's food on a plate and had a vase with a flower next to it.  We were laughing.  The other day Cosme saw me feeding Lucille and said that container was small and asked if I was going to dump it out for her.  My reply was "I can.  Would you like for me to add a flower in a vase as well?"  I guess you had to be there...

Now I'm off.  I'ts time for TCB.  Lowe's and Kroger are first on the to-do list and I don't feel like doing either.

a few years ago I

found a recipe.  I don't know where it came from and I even went out of my way emailing the food blogs where I was pretty sure it came from but I couldn't find in a search.  I searched my recipe binder, hoping I had a weak moment with time to kill and printed it out.  Nope.  I gave up on it.  I think I might have found something similar on Pinterest but that didn't matter.  I wanted my recipe that I'd used before and I had nothing to compare it to.  Fast forward.  I was cleaning out my recipe box and guess what I found.  Correct.  Luckily, I had written it down and tucked it away.  It's like I knew I'd never come across it again online.

So anyway, we'll call then Honey Bites.  We could go with Oat & Honey Bites but that's a little wordy and if wordiness didn't matter, I'd probably go with something cutesy like Bits o' Honey and Oats.  We'll go with Honey Bites.

The odd thing is, Honey Bites involve two things I do not like: coconut and honey.  I know that if I can get past that and enjoy this recipe, anyone can.

HONEY BITES
8 TBS butter
1 1/2 c quick cooking oats
1/2 c flaked coconut
1/2 c chopped walnuts
2 TBS all-purpose flour
2 TBS wheat flour
2/3 c honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a mini muffin pan with Bakers Joy.  Melt butter in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat.  In bowl, combine oats, coconut, walnuts and flour.  Add honey to the melted butter and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Pour butter mix over dry ingredients and mix well.  Scoop mixture into the muffin cups and slightly press it in.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool for 10 minutes.  Store in an airtight container.

So that's that.

In other news, I think Lucille figured out that I'm boss.  The whole issue of wet versus dry food seems to be working.  Now it'll probably come down to do I like having to keep them separated to eat or will I eventually give in and have them both cross over to the wet side.

On the dog front, I was out playing with Maggie yesterday and my phone kept going off with texts in my pocket.  My text tone is a line from Despicable Me.  ("IT'S SO FLUFFY!")  I finally took my camera and iPad out to catch her reaction.  Although it wasn't as dramatic as she had been doing it, you get the idea.

Now I'm off to do housework while I catch up on my full load of Sunday night dvr.

we're being played

by a "sweet" little cat.  Earlier in the week I noticed that Lucille had been leaving little "gifts" behind.  Not to be too graphic or anything, but in these little gifts included whole pieces of food.  These gifts are usually followed by hair but lately the gifts had been happening more frequently.  (Here's a little info, Lucille loves it in the garage.  It's her favorite place.)  So, when we hear a gift on its way up, we grab her and take her to the garage.  (Face it, the garage floor is so much better than the carpet in the guestroom for a gift of that nature.)  Anyway, I've had her out there and have changed her food to wet food.  (Going by the whole pieces I've seen, she's obviously not doing a very decent job of chewing the dry stuff.) Everything seems to be going well.  There haven't been any surprises left behind in the garage.  I've let made her come in a few times and put a laundry basket over the dry food so she couldn't get to it.  The other day I had her in and I heard her getting ready for a "gift".   All she did was spit on the carpet but I grabbed her and put her outside.  Another day I let her in while we were gone for no more than 20 minutes.  I saw a little spot of spit on the wood.  Eric let me know this morning that she knows if she keeps doing that mess that we'll let her stay in the garage.  I figured he has a point but didn't think anything of it until an hour or so later.  I had come back from the gas station and pulled my car into the garage.  She heard me, I know it.  I opened the door and BECAUSE SHE IS PLAYING ME AND PLANNED THIS, she hunched over right there in the laundry room and started making her sounds.  It was at that moment that I realized I am being played by an innocent looking cat.  I've got news for her.  Homey don't play that.  I sent Cosme a text and let him know what she was doing and also declared that it is on.  If she wants to play that game with me, I WILL go there.  At first I thought I have stooped to the cats level but now I'm wondering if maybe she has risen to mine... bad move on her part.  Mess with the bull and you get the horns.

Then I glanced over and saw a box of litter that looks a lot like our two sweet cats.

Don't judge a book by its cover.  They're not smiling because they love you.  They're smiling because they have you right where they want you. 

ps- If she keeps this mess up, I have a feeling she won't like the garage nearly as much if Maggie is out there wanting to play. 

i like cake and

I like Twinkies so when I found a recipe on Pinterest for a Twinkie Cake, I knew I had to make it.  So I made it.  I always make my frosting from scratch and I almost never measure anything for it.  I questioned the amount of powdered sugar this recipe called for in the frosting but measured it and put it all in.  Looking back, I probably should have sampled it somewhere along the way.  It seemed more like the filling for my creme horns versus my regular frosting.  And for the record, the creme horn filling is, in my opinion, sweeter than the frosting.  To me, Twinkies aren't sweet.  I mean, yes, they're technically sweet but on a sweetness scale compared to other things, Twinkies aren't at the higher end.  This frosting is sweet, sweeter than what I would consider a Twinkie being.  I might eventually try this recipe again but when I do, I'll make adjustments to the frosting... maybe less sugar? more marshmallow fluff?  I don't know.

In conclusion, I'm not saying the cake is bad, I just wouldn't compare it to a Twinkie.

I didn't frost the cake on the sides just like the picture from the recipe did.  Also, please forgive me for not trying to glamorize my cake for the picture.  I roll a different way.  

i've been looking over

a recipe for at least a week now.  I found it on Pinterest and I finally made it today.  I just pulled it out of the oven but I'm having my doubts.  I don't know.  I'll post the results tomorrow.

We grabbed a tub from the garage and gave Maggie a bath over the weekend.  Since we've had Maggie, she hasn't been keen on water.  If I hose off the back porch, she hides in a dry spot.  She'll follow me until I start unwinding the water hose.  So this weekend was her first tub bath, with us anyway.

Bath? I'm not familiar with that word.

Oh, bath must mean you want me to sit in front of that black thing in front of your face.

I don't know what's going on but it needs to stop.  Look into my puppy dog eyes... you are supposed to make it stop now.

What did I do to deserve this?  This is making me so sad... except for those little bubbles on my tongue.  I kind of like that.

Dude, WTH!

I'm scarred.  I can never go back.  There's no forgetting this humiliation.

Oh, but wait.  That spot kind of works for me.  If you would please continue scratching right there, please?

Now we're talking.  This is pretty awesome.

And just as she was starting to enjoy it, she was done.  All clean and ready to roll around and dig holes.

In other news, Lucille's had an upset stomach for a couple of days.  I've quit giving her the dry food and only wet.  She's also been hanging out in the garage more.  She's not constantly getting sick everywhere but if it keeps up, I'll need to get her to the vet.  Hoping it doesn't come to that.

Now I'm off to finish this cake and clean its mess.

i have of couple of

things to share but today I'll share the super moon.  Over the weekend I read the super moon would be best from 12:30 - 5:30am.  I went out as instructed and I didn't see what the big deal was.

This was 12:30.

This was 5:30

And this was Lucille at 5:30, wondering what was going on.

Dad was on his way to China but I don't think he would've seen the moon at the hours he was flying.  If he had, it'd probably look more like a super moon than what I saw being thousands of feet further away.

Coming tomorrow: Maggie.

Pampered Chef

to the rescue!  I was sitting here making a grocery list and going over Pinterest when THIS recipe for gummy snacks sounded good.  All I needed was Jello, gelatin, water and candy molds.  (Just a note, I'm good with the flavor of Jello but loathe the texture.  I do not want that stuff in my mouth.)  So, I had all the ingredients but no molds.  I read through the comments and saw that some people didn't use molds but ice trays or even pans with cooking spray.  Enter the Pampered Chef 5 1/4 Rectangle Leak Proof Glass Container.  I lined it with plastic wrap, mixed up the ingredients as directed and poured it in for cooling.

A little later I pulled the gummy stuff out by the ends of plastic wrap and used my basting brush for dusting corn starch over, but only a little.  I transferred it to a piece of wax paper and dusted the other side.  Then I used my pizza cutter to slice it into pieces.

Voila.  Gummy snacks. 

If you have kids or enjoy kid food (like me), try this today.  It's easy and good.

this is one

I had on my memory card from Surfside.

Now, let me talk about a little situation I had yesterday.  I was home alone and looking a few things up on the computer, none of which had anything to do with opening iTunes.  I walked away from the computer and went to take a shower.  I got out of the shower and walked into my bedroom and heard music blaring in the other room.  (I should add that it's reasons like this that I always take my phone into the bathroom when I'm alone.)  Anyway, I quietly locked my bedroom door, grabbed the gun,  went back into the bathroom, locked that door and got in my closet.  I called Cosme (who was on his way home from work) and Eric (who was with a friend) and nobody answered.  Texting wasn't getting their attention either.  I tried Facebook.  Eric called.  I told him what was going on and he got in his car and headed home.  He tried calling a couple of friends who might could get here sooner and one answered and was on his way over.  Three things I realized at this point: I remembered that Maggie, the dog who never barks, let out one bark not long before I got in the shower, I was pretty sure the back door was unlocked and finally, I should have set the alarm.  (Which was also something I was in the habit of doing when Eric wasn't around so much)  Anyway, it sounded like the music had stopped but then it started up again.  Eric was on the phone with me and didn't want to hang up.  He asked why I just didn't call the police but I didn't want to bother them in case it was nothing.   

(This all reminds me of a time I was babysitting my sister when I was a teenager.  It was one night when my parents were out and it was probably around 9:00 when the doorbell rang.  Nobody could knock on our door because of the burglar bars that gated in the whole front porch.  I looked out the peephole and there was a man standing there.  I saw a Schwan's truck parked out in the street but not directly in front of our house.  That was odd but then the light hit something in his hand, a knife.  Lauren was right there with me and I looked at her and put my finger over my mouth, telling her to not say ANYTHING.  We ran and hid in the bedroom by the phone and listened for any noises.  I left her there and checked a little later and the man and the truck were gone.  I don't know what all that was about but I was really glad we were surrounded by bars.)  I might have told this story before and if so, there it is again.

So back to yesterday, I'm more of the "hide, be quiet and wait it out" type of person.  Eric's friend got here and a few minutes later Eric showed up.  Nobody was in the house.  That's why I didn't want to call the police, because if it had been nothing.  When I told everyone it might be the same thing that has opened doors in here, nobody was buying it.  Whatever.  They don't have to take me seriously... I'm sure the police wouldn't have either.

All this has me thinking of other situations I've been in: the day I hid in someone's storage closet so a man wanting to give me a ride would leave me alone, the morning a stranger left a love note on my car and started following me around town...

The lessons learned today are 1) there are weirdos everywhere and 2) there should have been cell phones in the 80's.

i looked at the

clock at about 5:45 this morning and jumped up to grab all my bags and headed to the beach.  The other day sunrise was 6:22.  I thought I really had a good chance of finally making out to the beach to catch sunrise and not just the tail end of it. 

When I got there I was a little disappointed.  It didn't look promising.

There was a little bit of pink, giving me a glimmer of hope.

Then there was a little more pink.  As tempted as I was to turn around, I figured I was already there and I would just stick around.  It was already 6:20, a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.

Then the pink got darker and all of a sudden I saw orange!  I made it for sunrise!  I finally made it!

I was so excited.

This guy and his dog made it for sunrise too.

And then they got out of my way.

Then I decided to go vertical and just like that I felt like an O.P. ad.

I have a couple of favorites but I'll post them over on the Lens Captured blog HERE.  Go check them out.

Maybe tomorrow I'll finally capture the alligators.

this weekend

I contributed to this

I'm not the biggest fan of going to the movies.  I'd rather sit at home and watch something in the comfort of my own house instead of a room filled with strangers while sitting in a not-so-great chair that some stranger occupied 20 minutes earlier.  Also, the prices of movies is a little bit out of control.

Friday night we saw Man of Steel.  I liked it.  If I do make it to the theater, chances are it won't be for a superhero movie but I like Superman.  If I have to watch a superhero movie, I'd rather it be Superman.  Yes, I eventually saw X-Men and really liked it but Superman just seems like the O.G. for me.  Eric and I had a discussion the other day comparing Batman and Superman.  I told him that Superman just seems more believable to me.  You can imagine the look I got after that but think about it.  If someone is going to have super powers, doesn't it make more sense for it to be someone from another planet versus a wealthy man basically geared up like Inspector Gadget?  Anyway, we saw it in Pearland in some super viewing experience.  I'm not sure exactly what it is, Real D XD 3D or some formula like that.  I liked it and there were only a few hangups.  I won't list them.

Actually, I will share one.  This is the music for Superman.  Superman needs this music.

Yesterday we went to Sundance Cinema in Houston and saw This is the End.  It was funny.  It was one of those movies you see and on the way home people are still laughing at parts and reciting the lines. 

As much as I enjoyed the movies we saw this weekend, I've had my fill of theaters for a while.  Netflix, anyone?

i figured

I'd give Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge another try.  This time it was an earlier start.  It was a lot of the same thing.

Birds on a warm shingled roof.

Another bird perched on cattail.

A duck on the limited supply of water.

And then this head popped up.  I stopped and he just sat there looking at me.

Then I passed a ditch and saw this little guy.

As I headed out, another alligator was coming out of a different ditch onto the road.  It's like we stopped and saw each other at the same time.  He immediately turned around and headed back into his ditch.  I missed him.  I even sat there with my window open, braving the mosquitoes, and waited for him to come back.  Nothing.

I think one day soon I might try to get out there even earlier.  The sign said they're open sunrise to sunset.  I should be able to find something but it'd probably be a lot easier if the ponds had water in them.  Another note for next time: take a little Off contraption with the fan.  One for me and one to put in front of the air vent.

as if i

needed to be hooked on another show, now I have Game of Thrones.  I started the first season yesterday and just finished.  If I had any plans on leaving the house today, I'd go pick up season two.  As it is, Mad Men only has two episodes left for the season while True Blood starts back up on Sunday.  I really should catch up on it's last season.  Wait, I just remembered On Demand.  I think Game of Thrones might be on there.  I'll have to check.  I can do that and try streaming True Blood on Netflix.  I think it'll all work out just fine.

Yesterday I went out to Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge.  There were a few things to see but not too much.  I went to the wrong building at first and talked to one of the guys out there.  He let me know that only one pond had water in it.  They were headed out there to pump water into the others.  Here are a few pictures, nothing great. 

Here's one of the ponds.  See?  No water.  I also didn't even notice that vehicle off to the right until I got home and saw the picture.  Weird.

A bird in a ditch.

I took a picture of this because it looks like there's an eyeball in the mound of mud staring at me.

Birds in the pond with water.

A bird on cattail

This is a rabbit I saw on my way out.  It's fuzzy because it was taken through my windshield. By the time I put the car in park and opened my door, he hopped off.

Like I said, nothing great.  Maybe I'll head back over one day when I hear there's water back in the ponds.  Although, as scared as I am of water, it was kind of nice being all dried up since I was alone.

almost more than

old books themselves, I like coming across notes and scribbles in them.  I honestly don't think I've ever taken notes in a book.  Sure, I have some college books which have all that but it's probably because they were used or I was just trying to look interested.  I've done it in magazines but erasing eyes and drawing braces and fangs on models doesn't really count.  Every year or so our county holds a used book sale.  What used to be in a room at the museum is now at the fairgrounds.  It's a really big used book sale.  I picked up a book last year, The New Dictionary of Thoughts - A Cycolpedia of Quotations.  I looked through it a couple of days ago, seeing if anything would fit with one of the pictures I was planning to post.  Nothing.  I knew I had a book of quotes from my great-grandfather.  (At least I'm pretty sure it was my great-grandfather.  If not him, then my grandfather.)  Anyway, I started looking through it.  Nothing, again.  Actually, I noticed it had a lot of the same topics.  And the topics I was reading seemed to have a lot of the same quotes.  Totally not noticing that they are both larger maroon books, I looked at the names of each.

It's the same book.  The book sale's book was copyright 1932 while my grandfather's was copyright 1957.

Flipping through the older book, I came across a note card.  Somebody was taking notes on sin.

While my grandfather's book mainly had checks next to quotes, including sin, he did scribble next to this one for charity.

It reads:
Give work rather than alms to the poor.  The former drives out indolence, the latter industry.

I'll stop there.  It's 5:30 am, too early for a soapbox.

i had a hard time

waking up this morning.  I had already hit snooze a few times and then turned the alarm off at 4:00.  A few minutes later Cosme stated that he needed to get up.  I agreed and told him I'd "already turned the heat off.  I mean air" and then I looked at the alarm clock and couldn't figure out what it was called.  I hate being that sleepy.  I hate having to wake up from such a deep sleep.  It's almost as bad as when the phone would ring and wake me up.  I know I've said some crazy stuff.

Being this sleepy, I probably won't do anything this morning that involves leaving the house.  I tried yesterday.  I left with my camera and it was REALLY foggy.  Here's one picture I got.

I gave up and came home.  Since I hadn't eaten breakfast, I decided to try a recipe from Pinterest.  Kentucky Biscuits.  It's like a giant biscuit that is cut into sections before baking so it basically pulls apart into slices.  I liked it.  Nobody else was crazy about it but then I had it straight out of the oven while they all had it hours later.

Here's how it goes into the oven.

So when it comes out it's like this.

Then when you have a serving with syrup it's like this.

I'd definitely eat it again.  Eric thought they were too sweet for biscuits (2 TBS sugar) and Cosme tried one after they'd been sitting out for 10 hours (no wonder he wasn't crazy about them).  So to sum up yesterday morning, I tried.  I'm thinking I'll try not to be so ambitious today.  I don't know but dvr and toast are sounding pretty good right now... but then I still have about an hour and a half before sunrise.  ;)