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The Amazing Skittles! And an Update on My Garden

Jun10

This is my cat, Skittles, being held by my wonderful daughter, Sarah.

Skittles

Sarah and my amazing cat, Skittles!

Skittles was practically born on my lap, which makes him a very special kitty.  Besides having an unusual swirling pattern on his side, which you really can’t see in this photo, he is a very chatty cat.  He likes to meow a LOT and he sounds like his mother, who is a Siamese cat.  If you’ve ever heard a Siamese cat meow, then you know what I mean.  It sounds like a baby crying.  He is an affectionate, cuddly animal, and my family just loves him.

Since I have several cats, I decided to do the responsible thing and get them fixed and declawed.  Almost soon as Skittles got home from the vet, he vanished.  We put up poster offering a reward, ads on Craigslist, notices in the paper, and filed a missing animal report with the shelter. While we received several calls, none of the kitties was Skittles.  We were heart-broken since it seemed unlikely he would survive in the wild with no claws.  It was a hard decision to declaw my cats – I never declawed a cat before but my house was being destroyed and one of the cats punctured my Pekingese’s eyes.  Imagine my guilt!  My kitten was out there defenseless!

Two months later my husband received a call from the shelter – they picked up a cat that might be Skittles!  I was doubtful and didn’t want to get my hopes up, but as soon as I saw the orange and white swirls on his side, I knew we had our cat back.  But poor Skittles was a mess!  He was a drooling, dirty bag of skin and bones with a mouth full of painful ulcers. The pound picked him up after someone called  reporting a drooling cat that might have rabies!  $300 in vet bills later, and he was back to his old self. No rabies, but he did have some kind of chemical or electrical burns in his mouth.  It took  few days for the other cats had to get used to him again, but it’s a kitty love-fest at my house once more.

cats on the bed

A Kitty Love Fest

 

I am posting this story on my blog so those who lose an animal don’t give up hope.  If my husband hadn’t put in a missing pet report at the shelter, they would have put him to sleep!  I don’t know how my very young kitty  survived all that time with no claws.  If Skittles could talk, I’m sure he would have quite a tale to tell.

 

 

 


Squash

Squash smothering my other plants!

 

An Update on My Garden: I think I made a logistical error when planting my squash.  They are obviously too close together and I worry they are smothering my other plants.  Next year I will give them their own garden box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was really upset with my cats.  I had several pickling cucumbers bushes happily growing and thosenaughty cats covered them in dirt!  Just like they buried my radish plants and my multi colored carrots.  GRRRR!  My melons survived and I think I have a pumpkin vine as well.  Since the cats played with all my plant labels I don’t know what was where anyway.  It will be a surprise!

 

 

It was delicious!

 

 

And…the moment we’ve all been waiting for (at least I’ve been waiting for), my first tomato!  It came off a cherry tomato plant in the front yard.

Julian Carb Smart Bread Review

Jan1

Sadly my best friend’s father fell down the stairs at his home and ended up dying from his injuries.  I practically grew up at his house and he was a nice man.  I’ve lived far away from my friends for almost 20 years and feel badly that I wasn’t there to help them through this.  Normally I would have flown home to be with them, but of course this happened right at Christmas and his memorial was on the 26th.  If my kids were grown I would have gone, plus it was impossible to get a plane ticket.  What a heartbreak for his family!  He was in good health and was the primary caregiver for his wife, who has many health problems and a failing memory.  I worry about how they will care for their mom, now that dad is gone.

My 2012 New Year’s Resolution is to be as healthy as I can. I’ve heard several times that you are more likely to succeed at a goal if you write it done.  So there…I’ve written it down.  More specifically, I need to lose about 25 pounds and become physically stronger.  The detail of my resolution is as follows:

1.  Stick to my diet – low carb (not no carb), moderate protein and lots of veges

2. Exercise at least 3 times per week.  I have a gym membership, home videos and classes available at work.  I should be able to do this!  Also, the building I work in is at the base of a huge hill that has a 6% grade.  Some of my coworkers and I walk up and down the hill at lunch for exercise.  It’s a killer.

3.  Make sure I have food in my refrigerator at work so I am not tempted to order out, or go to the cafeteria and eat something naughty.

I don’t want to set more than 3 steps to my goal -the more steps you set, the less likely you are to succeed because you become overwhelmed.

I’ve already lost 145 pounds, so this last 25 should just fall off!  Not so.  I’ve been hanging onto it for about a year.  I need to get it off for my health.  I was lucky – even as a really heavy woman I never had diabetes or high blood pressure.  Now that I am close to my normal weight, I feel really good but am frustrated that I still have sleep apnea.  Even though it is mild.

In the spirit of my resolution, I will periodically review some diet related products.  Today I am reviewing Julian Bakery Smart Carb #1 bread.  This is a bread with 1 net carb per slice.  You can order off of several sites on the internet, but I was able to buy my locally at a health food store in the freezer section.  It is NOT gluten free.

This is a dense, heavy loaf of light brown bread.  It has a crumbly, heavy texture.  Honestly, it doesn’t have a lot of taste to it, so if you are expecting a light fluffy loaf of moist, yeasty bread you will be disappointed.  However, of you are staying away from bread and miss it too much, then this is the product for you.  It makes good toast – but it does need to toast longer than regular bread.  I also made a toasted turkey sandwich today and it was pretty good.  I have also tried the loaf #2, which is a raisin bread.  Clearly not as versatile, but if you want raisin bread it is good.  Here is the nutritional breakdown for loaf #1:

 

Carb Smart Bread #1

Serving Size: 1 slice
Servings per loaf: 14
Calories: 109
Total Fat: 1g
Saturated Fat: 0g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 140mg
Total Carbohydrate: 13g
Dietary Fiber: 12g
Sugars: 0g
Protein: 12g

The store where I buy the bread frequently runs out because it is so popular.  It is also quite expensive, at $8 per loaf.  I keep the loaf I am currently eating in the refrigerator and another in the freezer.  It has no preservatives, so you can’t just leave it on the counter.

Yesterday I ordered a low carb baking mix which I will review later.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Dec8

Tonight I decided to make a comforting chicken noodle casserole.  I had most of the ingredients on hand.  I’m really trying to use what I have on hand instead of constantly going to the store.

I know I just said in my last post that I learned to make a recipe as written the first time, but I’m ignoring my own advice.  Instead of plain cream of chicken soup I used the soup with herbs in it.  I intended to buy the lower fat soup but didn’t see any and the herbs sounded good.  Also, in addition to the butter and cracker crumb topping I added shredded cheese. I just love cheese.  I ended up using only 3 chicken breasts instead of 4 since mine were so big (I’m not bragging).  And I added some frozen, mixed vegetables, hoping to sneak a few veges by the kids.  I served the casserole with crusty rolls that I bought at a bakery and green salad.

fatty goodness…

Using a 1/2 cup of butter, 2 cream soups, sour cream and cheese does not a healthy casserole make.  My husband and I could both stand to lose some weight and I have 3 kids to raise, so it makes sense to use low-fat/sodium soups, low-fat sour cream, and cut back on the cheese.  I find that it rarely pays to use lower fat  cheeses.  I’d rather use less of the real  thing.

I really like the allrecipes.com website. The recipes are from real people, not some cooking channel using unusual or expensive ingredients.  They have a neat iPad app, too.  If you have any other cooking  websites you like, please share!

On another note, my cross stitch Christmas ornament kit arrived from  Overstock.com. I am excited to get started.  As soon as I find it I will take a pic.

Speaking of losing stuff, have you every lost a Christmas present before you gave it to the recipient?  I regularly find items that were meant  for some holiday past.  For example, when I cleaned out my closet a couple  of years ago I found some  ancient Christmas candy I bought for the kids’ stockings.  Then, when Ray and I were cleaning  out the garage a month ago, I found some small gifts from last year that I never gave  him.  I think this is a sign of disorganization.

What I learned about the Chicken Casserole:

  • Chicken casserole = Me Likey!
  •  Full fat ingredients = full fat butt
  • Don’t fill the casserole dish completely  full or  it drips on the bottom of the oven

On a side note, the chocolate mint  cookies are still sitting  untouched on the kitchen table.