The World's Youngest Senior Citizen

Retiring to the Island

I posted on Twitter and Instagram the other day, that Mittens and I were discussing who was going to keep the blanket. We weren’t just discussing who was going to get the blanket for the night, but rather for the next few months, possibly even years.

Whose blanket is this anyway?

For the past few months Mittens has taken to meowing at night. Sometimes it feels like ALL night long. There have been several nights where I’ve ended up sleeping on the couch in order to have her quiet down and allow us both to get some sleep. I’m not sure why she couldn’t do this on my bed, but at the time I was just glad for some quiet. Knowing how paper thin the walls in my apartment are, I often worry about her keeping my neighbours awake too.

I haven’t been able to narrow down what the problem is. She’s been to vet. We’ve tried playing before bed, tried cuddling before bed, but still she has SOMETHING TO SAY DAMMIT!!

My parents have generously offered to have her come stay with them. They have a big enough house that Mittens can be downstairs at night and not keep the everyone awake. So this weekend we’ll be packing up the car with all things cat related and heading to the Island.

It will be a trial run for a month or so to see how we all do. I suspect I will be the one who has the hardest time with it. Mittens on the other hand will have several more laps to cuddle on, people around during the day and a fenced back yard to explore. Sounds like a pretty good retirement home to me.

And she gets to take the blanket with her.

A cat and her blanket.

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Categories Meow Meow Meow

A Reader

29 Mar

It’s been a while, hey? Have you noticed that I’ve kind of disappeared? I haven’t been around Facebook or Twitter quite as much lately either. Even my addiction to Words With Friends and Scramble With Friends has died down a bit. I guess you could say I’ve taken a bit of a break from the internet lately. After spending all day at a computer, the last thing I’ve felt like lately is to come home and sit in front of the computer.

So what have I been doing with my time? Well, you’d think I’d be doing a lot of knitting, right? Sadly, I’ve not. How about baking? Nope, not that either. I’ve been reading!!

This shouldn’t be such a big deal, but to me, it is. I’ve always wanted to be a reader. Someone who devours books and goes through them one after another. In reality, I’ve always been one to read half a page and fall asleep. I started reading The Help in August when I was on vacation. I finished it three weeks ago. I guess I just never made the time to sit down and read.

Well, after I finished The Help, which I quite enjoyed by the way, something made me check out different eReaders. The more I read about them, the more I thought I might want one. Pretty soon it was a bit of an obsession. I did some investigating and decided to go with a Kobo.

I thought it might be just another gadget that I wouldn’t actually use. Turns out it’s been a good investment for me. Remember, it took me seven months to read The Help. And now, I’m on my third book in just over two weeks!! I love how I can slip it in my purse and read a few pages when I’m waiting around or eating lunch. I can make the font as large as I want in case I’m lying around and am too lazy to go find my glasses.

In the past few weeks I’ve read One For The Money by Janet Evanovich, Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen and now I’m reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Apparently I’m on a role with reading books that are being made into movies. I’m going to go out on a limb without having seen the movies yet and say that the books were better.

I’ll be on vacation in approximately 163 hours (oh, I’m not even going to deny that I’m counting down the hours), and I’ll need to stock up with a few titles before hitting the road. So, any recommendations for what I should read next?

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Categories Things and Stuff

February Photo A Day – Week 4

5 Mar

I’m a little late in posting the final week of the February Photo A Day challenge, but better late than never, right? I’m just amazed that there wasn’t a day where I forgot to take a picture. Sure, there were some close calls. Like almost being in bed and taking a picture of the door to my apartment while standing in the hall in my pyjamas. Regardless, I did it and here are the final shots!

: 22. Where I work.

: 23. My shoes.

: 24. It’s inside my bathroom cabinet that I hide my hoarder tendencies.

: 25. Green.

: 26. Night – In an empty airport bar, waiting for a delayed flight.

: 27. Something I ate while recovering from a cold.

: 28. My money’s seen better days.

: 29. Something I am listening to – The Oscars can be heard from the kitchen.

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Categories Say Cheese!

February Photo A Day – Week 3

21 Feb

: 15. Phone – Calls forwarded for a few days off.

: 16. Barefoot in Barcelona. It’s something new in my nail polish collection.

: 17. The Time. Where did it go?

: 18. Saturday night drinks. Look out!! It’s sleepytime tea chez Youngest Senior.

: 19. Dishes. Ignored all weekend. It’s something I hate to do on a Sunday evening.

: 20. Handwritten – from Mittens obviously.

: 21. I did it. I graduated. Knowing it’s over is my favourite part.

Want to see more February Photo A Day? Check out Week 1 and Week 2.

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Categories Say Cheese!

February Photo A Day – Week 2

14 Feb

It’s been two weeks and I haven’t missed a photo yet! So here it is — Week 2 of the February photo a day challenge.

: 8. Sun – This was the only sun I had that day. (Note to self: always keep sunshine coloured Post-its on hand for rainy days.)

: 9. Front Door

: 10. Self Portrait – It’s me. There’s not much else to say.

: 11. It makes me happy – Dancing with Grannie.

: 12. Inside My Closet – There’s love inside my closet.

: 13. Blue

: 14. Heart – It melted my heart.

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Categories Say Cheese!

Pizza of the Stone

11 Feb

I was given a pizza stone for my birthday a few weeks ago, so last weekend we (yes, I’m using the term “we” with no more further explanation) decided to give it a try. I was flipping through a few of my cookbooks looking for inspiration for some other dishes, when I came across some tips for using a pizza stone in American Test Kitchen’s cookbook.

I’ve told a few people about this. They usually ended up giving me a look like this.

What?! Why didn't I think of that?

I decided it might be worth sharing with you.

I’ve seen people use pizza stones in the past and they’ve struggled to get the raw pizza dough with all its topping on to the hot pizza stone in the oven.

The trick — parchment paper.

All you need to do is roll the dough out on parchment paper, add your toppings, and transfer the paper on to the stone. If you don’t have four hands, you can do this on the back side of a cookie sheet to carry it easily over to the oven, but it works just fine if you grab all four corners of the paper.

I used my favourite combination of pizza toppings: smoked salmon, dried cranberries, jalapeños, and cream cheese. Mmmm… The pizza turned out really well with a perfect crispy crust.

I wish I'd made five of these.

I can’t wait to try the pizza stone to make other things. I’ve heard it’s good for cookies and rustic breads. What have you used your pizza stone for?