• It’s snowing!! It was 68 degrees earlier this week and I was loving it. Today there is 6 inches of snow on the ground. Spring weather…*sigh*…at least I know that the snow won’t last!! The flowers will be showing up shortly. They will show up right?! I need Spring!
• Starr and a friend are up in the mountains, they have been there since Monday. I thought they were coming home yesterday, but they waited until today for reasons I will never understand. Now it’s snowing and I am seriously frustrated with them. I think the roads are mostly fine, but you can’t know that before the storm…they are headed down now.
• I have been Gluten Free for a month. I’ve been careful and it hasn’t really been difficult, the only thing I wish is that I had caved to my donut craving before starting down this path. Oh well.
• I have decided to call the cat Sammy. He responds well to it.
• Starr can call him what she wishes.

I tried to talk to Starr about the kitten’s new name several times yesterday afternoon. She was still upset and I was met repeatedly with “I don’t want to talk about it!”

Finally as we were making dinner, we both started throwing out names, none of which seemed to fit. Not having any luck, we changed the subject. Suddenly I blurted out “Winston!” I have no idea where it came from and I don’t really like it, but Starr LOVES IT!! She now refuses to discuss it further.

Winston? *sigh*

I am going to let it go for a few days and see how it settles. I am pushing for Sammy. Sammy is more cuddly than Winston. Winston is aloof and stuffy.

Starr can be really stubborn, but so can I. I may just have to pull my “It’s my cat” card.

Starr’s computer is still out of commission. We have an appointment at the Genius Bar tomorrow. Good times! The bad news is that she hasn’t backed up in a long time and will potentially lose a lot of stuff/data/pictures/music thankfully none of it is life shattering, but will be extremely inconvenient. The good news is that our Apple Protection Plan expires NEXT WEEK!!! If the computer was to fail anyway, thank goodness it chose this week to do so.

I am missing Bella today as I took her to the vet to get spayed this morning. Surgery is over, the cat is recovering as expected, but she surprised the vet with a pair of balls!! Bella is a boy!! Funny! It is going to take me FOREVER to stop calling him a “her”  and “girl”. I suppose we will have to find a new name…

I saw these cute kitty pictures this morning, I just love cats!!

More adorable “cat in a box” pictures here—> Comfortable Ways of Sleeping in a Box

I am still laughing about Bella! Starr is not quite so amused.

I have been trying to get a picture of Miss Bella for several days. If she is adorable, she moves by the time I grab a camera. Once I have the camera in hand she wants to play with it, cute and funny, but I can’t take her picture like that! Here is my best shot today:

Now I’m off to make these: Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats

I’ve made them before and they are yummy!!

Yes, I actually have lots of addictions, but this one is to:

Cookbooks!

These pictures do not contain all of my cookbooks, I have a large stash of “other” cookbooks in another location. In all honesty, I have been good and haven’t purchased a cookbook in several years. Avoiding the bookstore has helped, because I am drawn to the cooking section…and then the spirituality section. The literature area, the new arrivals….gah! It is best that I just stay away!!

Since Starr had moved home from her apartment and was moving into the sorority house where she didn’t need any furniture, I thought that it would be okay to ”borrow” her bookcase instead of storing it in the basement. I moved the smaller bookcase to my bedroom and am using hers in the dining room/living room. I had run out of room for books in the house, the extra bookcase in my room has helped. It is almost full!! Moving these cookbooks, looking at them, holding them, sparked my desire for new books to add to my collection.

The before shot. A year or so ago, I was taking a picture of the table. I had to move the plant recently because Bella loves to jump up and skid across the table. Taking everything in her path with her!! The plant has taken a beating.

“New” bookcase.

Cubbie One.

Bella helping!

Cubbie two.

Cubbie three.

And cubbie number four. That is me, in my boots, surrounded by manure at my grandparents farm in Tennessee. Looking quite blond.

…but I can’t help it. I love her so much! I just have to share this picture, although it isn’t nearly as cute as she was in real life.

Snuggled into the pillowcase! So flipping cozy.

Her eyes photograph oddly, I tried to fix them a little, it helped some, but they are still odd!! I blame the cell phone! I texted this picture to Starr as she was out partying Saturday night. She said it took all of her willpower not to show the picture around “look at my cat!” and “isn’t she the cutest?!?” She just didn’t want to be THAT girl!

Apparently I have no such willpower….or I am THAT girl!!

The girl has an appliance obsession. It started with the refrigerator then the dishwasher and oh my goodness, the dryer!! She needs to be inside them, running from where ever she was in order to hop in, often losing her footing and skidding across the floor in her urgency! I think the dryer is her favorite. It is adorable.

Keeping her in my bedroom seems like a really good idea while I’m using the oven!!

A few weeks ago, I was feeling really achy so I decided that a hot bubble bath was in order. Bubbles, music, a glass of wine and a book. I settled in the warm water ready to relax for a few minutes.

Bella had other ideas. Walking back and forth along the side of the tub. Sniffing, trying to touch the water without falling in. I couldn’t read, I was busy trying to keep an eye on her. She slipped, once, twice, three times. Three wet paws. She would jump down and walk around the bathroom with a step-shake, step-shake, step, step-shake. So cute. But in just a minute she was back on the edge of the tub…so curious.

I warned her, I told her that this wouldn’t end well. I was right. A slip and a splash and she was in. I quickly lifted her out of the bath and set her on the floor. She took off like a shot, running here and there, into the living room, back to the bathroom, into the front room and back again. I jumped out of the tub to console her, by the time I managed to get a hold of her she had rolled in the kitty litter!

She was covered, caked with a soggy clay mess. Uck!

Dripping wet with just my towel wrapped around me, holding this quite distressed very dirty kitten, I was forced to give her another bath. A real one. She didn’t fight me, but was not happy about it…not one bit.

Not surprisingly, my last bubble bath was kitten free!

Bella and her favorite spot…any of the heat registers in the house!

It’s flippin’ cold around here!