meadow

Meadow is Joey‘s mother. She was named by the woman from the feral cat group who helped us trap and spay her, and it stuck.

She has been living in our neighborhood longer than we have. We have been feeding her for over six years, and she has made our yard her home.

She can often be seen passed out in compromising positions. These photos were taken two years apart!

meadow sleeping

meadow sleeping

It is also very common to see her little face peering into our kitchen through the sliding glass doors. She and Posey play through the glass sometimes (though, Posey used to hiss at her. They’ve made up. Now, if only Posey and Joey could work it out …).

It took a little while for her to warm up to us, but we can pet her and she’ll rub against our legs when we go outside to feed her. She’s still a wild cat, though. She’s very jumpy, and is not really comfortable if we’re in the yard or on the deck. She’ll go sit under a tree and watch us from a safe distance.

Even though she doesn’t live under our roof, we care about her just the same. Last month we went for days without seeing her after a long weekend away. She usually hangs out in the yard during the day, and waits for us in the morning and after work.

I tried to be optimistic. We did have a friend feeding her while we were gone, but his schedule would be different than ours. She usually takes a day or so to get back on schedule. But as the days passed, we worried more.

And then one day, she was sitting on the deck peeking into the kitchen as usual!

the office clean-up, part 3

I focused on a particularly messy corner of the office today:

office - mess

After a lot of sorting, trashing and recycling, we have this:

office - clean

I even vacuumed. The whole room, not just the corner!

And then I had to coax Jeter out from under the guest bed. He’s very scared of that noisy thing!

Though, I do have to confess, I have a box of papers that still needs sorting. I had enough for one sitting!

Also, this afternoon I put down peel-and-stick tiles in the hall closet. I had enough leftover from a bathroom project a few years ago. I didn’t prime the plywood so I don’t know how well they’ll stick, but it’s not exactly a high traffic area!

closet floor

Today, we reheated leftover Thanksgiving food for lunch and dinner, and will do the same tomorrow.

I am thankful for leftovers. Yum!

since i’ve been cooking all day …

I’m half-assing NaBloCleanMo today!

While I could say I was cleaning up in the kitchen as I cooked … that doesn’t seem like it should count.

So … can you spot the difference?

Before:

bedside-more progress

After:

bedside-progress

Yup, I went through the contents and got rid of one of the baskets. I still desperately need to vacuum.

Now I’m going to go pour myself a glass of wine, maybe grab a slice or two of pie, and watch a show on the DVR to clear up some space!

i smooshed my pie!

smooshed pie

It was looking so perfect, too!

I was cooking two things side by side, and couldn’t get a grip on it. While contorting myself, I hit my wrist on the top of the oven, and the potholder mushed the pie. Oops!

It’ll still be tasty!

There were no issues getting the apple pie out of the oven. This is my first attempt at a from-scratch apple pie (minus the crust — I’ve tried making my own crust and it just works better with the refrigerated kind!). The top is a chopped nut / brown sugar crumb mix.

apple pie

We haven’t had dessert yet. Still letting dinner settle. Lots of stuffing, mashed potatoes and of course, the Tofurky!

happy tofurky day!
Odd postcard that came in my Tofurky box!

(Yes, I made two pies, and also pumpkin bars. That’s three desserts for two people. My husband isn’t much of a sweet tooth, but he’ll have a little of everything tonight, and then I’ll eat pie for days …)

The Tofurky was delicious as always, and even came out looking like it does on the box!

tofurky

Today I am thankful for lots of yummy food of course, and that it was a beautiful Thanksgiving day.

I ran a “Turkey Chase” 10K race this morning, and it was 70 degrees and sunny. In years past, it’s been cold and/or rainy for the race. Last year, I came home muddy and had to hose off my shoes!

Sure, it did get a bit rainy this afternoon, and the temperatures are supposed to drop. It will only be in the low 40s tomorrow. But today was just fabulous!

Too bad I was in front of the stove for most of it!

timeline: 1991-1997

In my first two timeline installments, I covered eight years. I’m cutting this one short, to end when I graduated college.

So here you have it, my high school and college years! (High school boyfriends’ identities have been blurred for their protection!)

At my sweet sixteen party, 1991. I promise I didn’t still have big hair. But a month or two later, the hairdresser that did my hair for then-boyfriend’s junior prom thought it was still in style:

I don’t think she knew about the big puffy dress that would accompany my big hair!

Winter formal, 1992. Different boyfriend, and non-puffy green velvet dress.

Really, I only dated four guys in high school. They just coincided with different formal events! (The first two lasted about three months each).

This photo from 1993 was my senior year, but my then-boyfriend’s junior prom. My hair and dress are better here than for my own senior prom!

Freshman year of college, 1994. Most definitely, there is alcohol in that cup.

1995 — Here’s the temporary hair dye that wasn’t so temporary. You can sorta see my light roots. When I came home that summer, my mom paid for me to go to a salon and get it fixed!

I unfortunately don’t have any photographic evidence of the pink or purple hair.

Junior year of college, 1996. There is definitely alcohol in that cup.

Halloween party senior year. Or possibly, our 200 Days party — 200 days until graduation always falls around Halloween.

Senior week, right before graduation in May 1997. I’m wearing a R.E.M concert T-shirt. I cropped out the beer. I wouldn’t want you to think I was a lush in college!

Um, no, of course that’s not me … wearing the same shirt as the 1997 photo …