Holiday Weekend Progress

Patty:  This is my pecan pie that I made from scratch using real pecans.  It tastes magical!  You can see all my mismatched bowls and tableware, but the food was really top notch.  Now, I personally do not like pecan pie, but it is Sabryin's favorite and this year I forced him to tell me what he wanted for Thanksgiving dinner because otherwise I was going to make cod.  Sorry, but I like cod (fish of any kind, really).  He's a steak and potatoes kinda guy and I'm a salmon and salad lady.  But I can compromise, you know?

Well, it all started Monday when I was reading this particular biography of Steve Jobs.  I wouldn't normally be interested in a bio about a tycoon, except he's wearing the glasses I want and his eyebrows grow upwards, just like mine.  I thought, hmmm, maybe we have something in common and it turns out we do (but I won't tell you what).  For some reason (hmmm, I wonder what), I decided I would make an APPLE pie.  Now, I have not made a pie in a very, very long time, but I had the apples and I needed to use them or compost them, so . . .  This was incredibly easy and, according to Sabryin and Ernie, tasted really good.  So, faced with this success and the request for a pecan pie for the holiday meal, I determined to make it myself rather than buy one premade. 

The 9 patch quilt top I'd been making was finished and I miraculously had enough of the background and border fabrics to create a backing for the quilt!  Usually I wind up going out and buying six more yards, which is pure folly.  It's not as if I didn't have millions of yards of fabric already!  My problem was space.  I didn't have anywhere to pin it up.  In the past I always took the quilt, batting and backing to the office conference room and pinned it up on the table there.  But this summer they had the table refinished, so I didn't think it would be appropriate to dig little pin holes in it again!   So, I went to the public library and reserved a room!  Can I say I love, love, love our public library?  It's so fantastic for so many reasons.  Anyway, the room was perfect, the table was great and I got the top pinned up!  I did run short of pins.  That has never happened before.  This is a BIG top!

Bhu:  Now you gotta quilt it, mom! 

Patty:  So I do, sweet Bhu!  Hope efurrybody had a great weekend!  xxoo

Efurry day thanking

Patty here!  Bhu is sleeping.  He has had a hard day so far.  He horked up on his favorite napping spot, so he has been wandering around from sunny spot to sunny spot.  I just gave him some Appetizer; sometimes it settles his tummy.

In a minute I am going to attempt to make a pecan pie from scratch.  I've got collard greens soaking in the sink and the ham hocks in the fridge.  All the parts for tomorrow's feast are assembled and I have a pot of decaf coffee ready to keep me hydrated during the rigorous preparations!  The photo, by the way, is of our lovely KnockOut roses blooming like crazy!  You know, even though we had a devastating drought this year, all my roses did spectacularly well (I think it was the leaf mulch and I did water them every day).  They all have very long stems, too.  The real reason for posting today is that I wanted to "file" a recipe for homemade spray starch that I do not want to lose.  This is from "Sunday Morning Quilts" by Amanda Jean Nyberg & Cheryl Arkison, a lovely book I got at the library.

HOMEMADE SPRAY STARCH

12 to 16 ozs water
1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

Mix the water and cornstarch until no lumps remain and pour into a spray bottle.  You can add 2 to 3 drops of lavender essential oil, if you like.  The starch will separate between uses, so you will need to shake well before each use.  If you're not going to use it regularly, keep it in the fridge.

P.S.  Bhu, Sabryin and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!!  xxoo

Flypaper and other special thoughts

We're sorry for being so absent lately.  Mai mom's excuse is there has been a lot to do at work, she is trying to fit everything around Poppy's new work schedule (which means everything gets done later but not at any specific time).  Mostly she's been quilting and fiddling around with the sewing machine and trying to get an etsy shop going.  I am doing just fine so far this Fall and I'm glad mai mom is helping me go around and visit effurrybody to say hi! 

Patty:  Who can believe it is November already?!  When did THAT happen?  Anyway, we finally plugged in our land-line telelphone yesterday now that Mitt Romney doesn't want to talk to us anymore.  His loss, right Bhu?  Maybe he's afraid we'll ask him for some money.  Plus, my family and friends on the Jersey Shore and in New York are suffering through some nasty stuff perpetrated by Mutha Naycha!  We are hoping for the best ('cause the worst has already occurred). 

As for the etsy store, I am so happy to have a banner designed by Ann of Zoolatry!  It's bright and happy and I love it and I can't wait to get the store stocked with items!   I plan to sell vintage and repurposed sewing items including tools, patterns, fabrics and even some handmade items like quilts, totes, and the occasional magic doll. 

Veteran's Day is Monday and I know I am a bit early, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to say thanks to the people who have chosen to do this job (and especially to those who did not choose it, but did it anyway and served  bravely and honorably).  xxoo Patty

Purrrrfect storm

We are purrayin' fur the back East folks.  We have good news, though.  Poppy got a really nice part-time job with the City working with good people.  He is still looking for full-time with benefits work.  I'm assumin' he means a job where he gets Appetizers, like mine.  Hey, Poppy, you should get into house security, like me!  Or do what mom does and eat macaroons all day. Hey, mom, what DO you do anyway?

Patty:  Well, mostly just eat macaroons as everyone knows.  Specifically, the ones with the chocolate on the bottom.  Although lately I've been freaking out about what to write in my bio for a high school reunion.  I barely remember high school, but overall I know I did not enjoy it.  The people I liked, I never forgot and have great memories of THEM, but not of the school.  Besides, I don't live there, never did (they didn't have enough smart kids there so they had to bus me in from another town), nor do I intend to return in the near future.  I thought "A Bio shouldn't be the same as a resume, where you just list your employers and the titles they gave you."  You know I have these delusions about being an artist forced to live in a wage slave's life, so I decided to write about myself more and less about who has paid me over the years.  It worked out good and made me happy.  Except when I think about SCRAPING. 

So, bloggers, have you experienced scraping yet?  This is where something grabs your content and photos and pastes it on another url that has been monetized.  Wikipedia has an interesting description, so check it out.  I found out about scraping from a blogger to whom I subscribe ("Quilt Obsession" featuring Baxter, a very handsome kitteh whose poppa draws a daily cartoon of Baxter's many [fictional] adventures).  I checked it out and found that PattySkypants & Bhu does exist on another url.  Now, what to do about it?  Why would anyone do such a thing, you ask?  I am thinking it's because if you copy and paste enough blogs, you're going to get enough random hits that it will pay off.  To me, it's kind of like taking the cushions off the sofa and finding coins.  One sofa might not be too profitable, but if you went through thousands or millions of them, you'd make a bundle.  Am I wrong?

There was something else I wanted to talk about, too, but now I forgot.  

Please take care and be good.  xxoo 

Fifteen!!

Patty:  Can you believe this baby kitteh is now a "mature adult?"  Okay, SENIOR CATIZEN!  I don't even know how many human years is the equivalent of 15 kitteh years, but it must be a lot because Bhu prefers napping to partying.   Part of Bhu's celebration is giving to other kittehs.  Here is a photo of a nap mat I made for Morris, a working country cat.  Morris works hard all night long doing barn security.  It's a rough job and during the day he deserves a special place for napping. 

And here is the handsome Morris himself lounging comfortably on his new nap mat! 

I'm thinking now that he might have needed an extra large, but it sure looks like he is successful at his job!  He's well-fed anyway!  Thanks to Morris's mom, Sally, for sending this photo and for sharing so much of her garden's bounty with us this season! 

Very sad

When a friend dies, other things just don't seem important.  We're very sad about this and send comforting hugs to Ann and her family.  xxoo Patty, Bhu & Sabryin

Macaroon Monday

Bhu: Well, mai mom just ate a half dozen macaroons. I watched her do it. Mom, you are gonna get porky if you keep that up.
Patty: Tell me about it. Gotta watch that.
Bhu: Poppy didn't get a new job yet, but he has been reading the comments and he is really grateful for the encouragement.
Patty: It's really pretty much a low-key thing these days to apply for jobs. You can do it in your jammies . . . it's all online! There isn't much satisfaction, though, like in the old days when you got all dressed up and went out into the day to deliver resumes and talk to people.

Look what we found lurking beneath the Bowl of Beauty peony! This thing is enormous -- about the size of a soup bowl.

Still purraying for the Zoolatry Family. xxoo

Worryin'!

Hai, effuryone! Furst, I wanna say thank you to all the furrends who have stopped by to wish us luck in our job search. My poppa is happy to have all the help he can get, he sez. Thank you so much, too, to Ann of Zoolatry. She made this very purrity graphic of me helpin' with the search. While we were visiting Ginger Jasper today, we found out that Ann had to go to hospital and is now under the weather, too! Maggie and Zoey needs our help with all their caregivin' duties! Mai mom sez she wishes she lived closer so she could help Ann & Vic. Maggy and Zoey sure look cute in their little nurses outfits, though. Anyway, we hope effuryone will purray and send encouragement their way.

And THEN we found out poor Goma is ill! Mai mom luvs, luvs, luvs Goma from the time he was just a tiny little kitteh, so we are all worried about him, too. Lotsa worrying around here lately. What do you do to keep from worrying? xxoo Bhu

Vicissitudes

Mai poppy lost his job Wednesday. At first I was really happy 'cuz I figured More Pets Fur Me! But then I thought, Less Money Fur Fancee Feest! So, as with efurrything in life, there's always a little bad, a little good all mixed together.   Anyway, I hope he can find another job so I don't hasta go on a diet!  Plus, I am needing a new nip toy.  Maybe I can help him with his resoomay today.

But some REAL good is we got rain!! YAY! The birds came out to play in the puddles but I haven't seen any rabbits yet. They sorta disappeared a couple weeks ago and mai mom has been trying not to worry about them.

Mai mom is going to start posting about her UFOs -- which are just quilting projects she never finished 'cuz she is just not smart enough to figure out what to do next or she didn't buy enuff fabric when she started or some other reason that they are sitting around collecting dust -- but she sez the 'puter is being really slow today. So, talk to you later! xxoo Bhu

Attack of the Teen Pods!

Another academic year starts tomorrow. We are now a town without pity, a teenage wasteland, with half of us having just graduated from high school ten weeks ago! It is not easy to be the adult in a room of kids whose babysitters just left the building! We go through this every year; it's getting a little old. It might be time to "GALLIVATE," as Sabryin calls it. Bhu, what do you think about that?

"I am willing to go with you if there is Fancy Feast and Appetizer on board. Otherwise, I stayz here."

It was a beautiful day today, more like October than August. I took advantage of the weather, deciding to haul my UFO project pile outdoors for photographs. I haven't looked at these projects for a very long time; they're overdue. The time period for these projects is from the mid-70's to the early 21st century. I'm going to present them one at a time and hope that it inspires me to finish them. So come back and see what challenges I have ahead of me! xxoo Patty

Fall is in the Air!

Bhu's floof is growing back and he is so soft! It's a good day to sit in the window and watch the skwurrels. The air is cooler today -- still no rain, but at least the oppressive heat is absent. On Monday the annual onslaught of 18 to 20 year olds occurs and the moving trucks will have to compete with the beer, food, UPS and FedEx delivery trucks that are always blocking the streets adjacent to campus. We do not look forward to this. In fact, I wish I lived somewhere else. Bhu is loudly "requesting" Appetizer so I had better jump to it. Hope you are all having a good weekend. Don't furget to send hugs and purrayers to the Zoolatry ladies! xxoo Patty

Go Team Floof!

Maggy and Bhu remind us that it's not impawtant who wins the games, it's fun getting to know each other. Thanks, Ann of Zoolatry, for this lovely graphic of the two BFFs (Beautiful Fluffy Furrends) cheering on the athletes! xxoo Patty

Boredom

BHU: Mai mom sez she is bored. That said, so far this morning (and it IS Sunday, the day of rest) she has trimmed the basil plants and made a pesto momma (everything except the cheese and then it goes into the freezer), gone to the grocer for garlic and sausage for our zuppa Toscana dinner, gathered branches from around the trees after the windy rain we had (YES!!!) last night, sawed some limbs and tied them up in neat little bundles for garbage day, boiled a dozen eggs to make egg salad sammiches for lunch this week and then she got online and experimented with picmonkey.com. Now she is holding her fingers that it works because, Lord knows, it has been a while since she posted!! Also, I realizes that effurybody is either pawticipating in or following the Catolympics, but I'm just not athletic. I neither likes spawts nor do I pawticipate. But I am visiting a bit just to keep up on the successes of mai furrends and hopes effuryone is having fun! xxoo

Summer Reading

Right Now:

Puddles from Heaven! Temperature dropped from 104 to 91 in just 15 minutes! New banner from Ann of Zoolatory! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! xxoo