Happy Halloween!

See, I have not been exaggerating about the eating dirt. She LOVEs it. 

She was an kitty this, her first, Halloween, and I don’t this she is going to wear white again till her wedding day (if she into that stuff.) By the end of our Halloween playdate extravaganza at the park, she was an alley cat.

Bird Brains

While Harper was helping herself to some dirt and fall leaves in the front yard this afternoon, I figured I start tiding up the yard.  I began getting the leaves out of the flower beds when I came across this bird skeleton.  I suspect it was not Trixie’s handy work, because the scull was in such pristine condition.  I think she would have eaten it, or at least, crunched it up a bit.  Or, left it on the porch for me.

Lately, I have been seeing a black and white version of Trixie in the hood.  That cat is like Trixie’s shadow.  It could have been the work of the Shadow, as an offering to Trixie, who, turned it down, cuz she is trixie like that.

My mom’s Shitzu, Kiki, is getting a glass eye, like Columbo.  Maybe we’ll have Kiki come over and solve the case of the mystery dead bird and Trixie’s Shadow after she recovers from her surgery.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies (light)

I’ve had the biggest chocolate craving lately.  It must be my belly can sense Halloween is coming.  I didn’t want to buy candy early, though, for fear I’d eat it all before the tricker treaters came (like last year.)  So, I made this recipe for light chocolate sugar cookies.  I love love love them; crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, made with ingredients I already have in my house, super easy, low cal, cookie perfection.  They are not as rich as these chocolate sugar cookies I made this weekend, but still delightful.

 

Chocolate Icebox Cookies:

3/4 C flour

1/4 C unsweetened cocoa

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t kosher salt

1/4 C butter, softened

2/3 C sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 large egg white

 

• Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set it aside.  Beat butter in a mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the sugar and beat until well blended.  Add vanilla and egg white, beat well.  Add flour mixture; stir until well blended.  Turn dough out onto plastic wrap and form into a disk.  Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Roll the dough out with some flour till it is about 1/4 inch thick, or less.  Cut out cookies.  Place them 1 inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet (or silpat), and bake for 8-10 minutes.  
• 61 calories, 2 grams of fat

Ice Cream for Voters

This is a video our buddy J.M. Finholt made staring Harper’s Godfather, Dave Leamey, reminding you to vote.

If war and the meltdown of our economy were not enough to get you to the polls, Ben & Jerry’s is giving you ice cream to vote!  I wish I had known, because I think Harper ate my early voting receipt…

Oh, and one last thing:  I live in Chicago, Il, which will be blue come November 4th.  So, why oh why, are there McCain adds here?  What a waste of money, right?  I don’t see Obama ads here, because, Hello, this is Chicago, Il.  You don’t need to preach to the choir.

Rice and Lentils

This was a few weeks ago, but I just got around to posting it.  It was the first time I gave Harper homemade baby food.

It was a recipe I found in ‘What to Expect The First Year’ for rice and lentils.  I was so proud of myself, such a heath conscious, thrifty and well read mama.  Harper was not too impressed.  It was pretty nasty stuff, I have to say.  

Now, I just feed her little bits of what I’m having, and lots of mushy things like sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, bread and squash.  She likes cheese, too.

Oh, Thanx. You Shouldn’t Have.

Trixie brought me a gift this morning.  

Last year, for Christmas, we got some very large bells for her collar, in an effort to save the birds.  They were very Christmasy sounding bells, and very loud.  Very very loud.  Every time she moved, which is often, the sound of slay bells would ring thought out the house.  I couldn’t take the noise.  I took the bells off her collar.  It looks like they might have to go back on…

Do You Like Crazies?

Skylar and I have been together almost four years now, and we still have a lot to learn about each other.  For instance, I did not know that when he says Crasins it sounds like he is saying Crazies until this weekend in the check out line at Target:

Skylar: (motioning to the display by the check out, the one with odds and ends like purell and chapstick) “Do you like Crazies?”

Me: (Looking bewildered at the display)  “Crazies?”

Skylar:  “Yea, Crazies?”

Me:  “Crazies?”

Skylar:  “You know, cranberries and raisins, Crazies.”

Me:  “Oh, Crasins!”

Skylar:  “That is what I said, Crazies!”

 

(In this picture he forgot his jacket, so he is using Harper’s blankey to stay warm at the park.  He looks like a super hero, though.)

Who?

Would you like a hand full of dirt, little girl?

Yesterday I made cupcakes for Skylar’s work.

Today, I used the profits to get Harper Roll-a-Rounds.  She saw them at a play group, and she was all, “Mom!  We have to get these!  I LOVE them!  LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  Roll-a-Roundsssssssss!”  O.k., she can’t talk, but she did chase after them.  They seemed to hold her attention for a little bit, and it was rainy, we were stuck at home, and I needed another prop to keep her doing something other than pulling my hair or sucking on my cheek. 

On the way home from the toy store, she got fussy in her stroller.  I handed her some fall leaves, to distract her.  It worked.  It worked a little too well.  

Now, we are home, and she will only play with the leaves.  From now on, when I go to buy Harper another toy, remind me of this day.  Remind me that she would be just has happy, if not happier, with a handful of dirt.

A Bad Day in Spanky and Baby’s Relationship

This is Harper’s alien baby doll.  It is really just a baby dressed up like an alien, not a baby alien…  At least not to my knowledge.

In other news, Spanky (our cat who was named Skanky before we had a baby) swatted Harper for the first time today.  She has been grabbing fist fulls of Spanky’s hair for a while now, despite my attempts to encourage her to gently pet the kitty.  I must say, she has been better about not pulling on the fur.  She moved on to the bell on Spanky’s collar.  She grabs it with such enthusiastic vigor and shakes it like the cat’s neck is her rattle.  

Spanky had enough.  She is 12 years old and 16 pounds.  She eats.  She naps.  And she is no body’s rattle.  She swatted the baby in the face.

I heard Harper cry from the kitchen, and I came running, a day late and a dollar short.  I had never heard her cry like that.  I don’t think she was crying as much from the minor scratch as she was from the rejection.  She really loves the animals.  It was pretty sad stuff.

I thought maybe this would not be as bleak as it seems.  Maybe Harper would learn to give the cat some space.  I was wrong.  The saga continues; Harper goes for Spanky’s collar, Spanky is annoyed, but not wanting to move, the tension builds…  Ugh.