It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I'm not sure how this long weekend flew by so fast! I'm definitely not ready to go back to work tomorrow, but I guess there are only a few more weeks until we're off for Christmas!

We made a quick trip up to Washington to visit my family for Thanksgiving. This was the first year we didn't have it at my grandma's, which I thought might be a little strange, but having it at my cousin's house actually turned out very nice. I guess lied when I said I was for sure going to make something with squash to bring, I ended up bringing a pear and goat cheese salad that my friend Sara gave me the recipe for - very delicious and nice to have something green at Thanksgiving! I also brought some Field Roast for me and my sister and it was really nice to have a savory protein along with all of the creaminess of the potatoes and mac & cheese.

On our way out of town Friday we stopped for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in town - Hillside Quickie. I hate that I can't eat here all the time - it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I know a "tofu sandwich" might not sound like the most appealing thing ever, but they have the world's most amazing tofu. It's not at all squishy or bland - it's dense and meaty and smokey. And the best part? I found out that they SELL it there by the pound!! I now have my very own pound of smoked tofu in the fridge. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this.

Yesterday we headed out with some of our friends to get our Christmas tree. It was an absolutely perfect day for it - no rain, fairly warm, and even a little bit of sun! We tried a new location this year - Donovan's Place in west Corvallis. I would recommend this place because: 1) They had a tree shaker, far less bugs came into the house this year, and 2) Free hot cocoa! The people working there were also very nice and took photos for us and tied the trees to our cars.

Jonathan cut the tree - I just took photos.

 This tree was a little bit bigger than I had anticipated. In fact, I think it may be the biggest Christmas tree I have ever had.

 Here it is in it's various states - where we found it, inside and hopefully relatively straight, and with the lights added. That's where I had to stop last night because we were headed over to dinner at our friends house and by the time we got back home I was too tired to finish it.

 

We finished the rest of the decorating this morning - can't get the star to stay on straight. Oh well. Pixel seems to approve.

 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is getting into the holiday spirit! I know Pixel sure is - it means tons of extra "toys" (aka ornaments) are within a paws reach.

-C

Sick Kitty

I know I haven't been very good at keeping up with the Sunday Dinner theme lately. I had every intention of getting back to it this weekend until my cat Pixel got sick and I spent the last 24 hours worrying over him. This cat has had more issues in his five years of life than I care to think about, so anytime something is even a bit off I get pretty nervous. Luckily after his last big ordeal a year ago I finally purchased pet insurance so at least that's not a huge worry anymore.

Pixel is the kind of cat who would spend all day long eating if he could, so when he suddenly doesn't touch his breakfast or his dinner you know something is up. It's not so much the not eating that worries me (I suppose it may be possible that Pix could lose a pound or so) but when he stops drinking I get very worried. So all day long I have been trying to give him space so I don't stress him out while simultaneously trying to convince him to drink and eat.


I think I've had success! He finally drank out of the sink (his favorite) and ate a bit of food - he's not acting as aloof and is following me around again. He finally came and curled up in my lap too.

Can you tell that I love this cat more than just about anything? He's special. I'm glad he seems to be doing better - perhaps I'll have more food related things to post later in the week!

-C

(Photos by Jonathan, not while Pixel was sick - he sure loves bags and boxes)

Gardens and Pixel

Jonathan thinks we are really far behind on getting our garden going. I keep trying to tell him that the planting chart says we're fine. I don't think he believes me. He's got the soil test kit out this morning so we can start some of the outdoor plants today.

Last weekend we planted our tomatoes, peppers, and snap peas inside - it's always a bit nerve-wracking for me to start things from seed, until they finally sprout and then I am super excited! We should start seeing something within the next week... I hope! I suppose we do have some planting we can do today - actually we can probably do a lot: fava beans, garlic, kale, broccoli, brussles sprouts, onions, potatoes. First we need to mark out where everything will go though.
I'd also like to put together a drip irrigation system this year, but for some reason that seems really overwhelming to me!

I was looking through some photos of our garden from last year for inspiration and though I'd share a few. For having a pretty cold start to the summer and a short growing season I think we were pretty successful!





But now on to more important matters - yesterday was the 5th birthday of the love of my life. And I forgot it! I think I owe him some new toy mice now. Oh - was that confusing? Yes, he is a cat. Here he is when I first got him:

 He was a gangly awkward looking thing when I first got him. In fact, my friend and I weren't even really interested in him and his sister but the lady who worked at the rescue center insisted that we at least take a look at them. These cats won us over in an instant - they purred and snuggled and let us hold them for at least 20 minutes. Now the only time Pixel lets me hold him is when I've been gone for a long time and he's excited to have me home, and even then he only cooperates for about 2 minutes!

Here he is now - five years old and more handsome than ever (well I think so at least)!