R.I.P. Riley (my special little snowflake)

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Riley today.  He was only with us for about a year and half, but he was very loved and will be sorely missed.

It started about two weeks ago when he started bleeding from the mouth.  We had a few vet visits that ultimately resulted in hospitalization last weekend, a blood transfusion, anesthesia, and stitches (cut under the tongue).  He was hospitalized two more times, one of which was last night.  Blood work looked a little weird so it was sent to a pathologist.  They were thinking possibly hemophilia.  He needed another transfusion last night so we did it.  Bob got call this morning that Riley wasn't doing well.  By the time he got there, Riley was already gone.  Apparently Riley had started bleeding again and they couldn't stop it.

Riley is buried out by the little pond.  I guess that's where the "pet cemetery" is going to go.  It's a nice spot.  The sun shines on it all day.

Goodbye, my special little snowflake.  I'm sure you're running free, over the Rainbow Bridge, with my mom and all the other cats we've said goodbye to over the years.  We love you and will miss you enormously.

i'm an XL!

I've finally made it...I can wear an XL!

I went to LL Bean tonight to look for a gift for my dad.  When I was there I couldn't help but try some stuff on for myself since I'm in need of warm clothing.  I started trying on jackets.  I wandered around the racks and my first instinct was to go for a 3X.  Then I realized I'm not that size anymore; it's taking awhile for my mind to catch up to my body.  So, I looked at 2X and figured it MIGHT be a little big.  So, then I went to the 1X section of the rack, hoping it would fit, but thinking it just looks too small.  Guess what?  It fit!  So then I tried an XL and thought there's no way that's going to fit me.  That fit, too!

I ended up grabbing two fleece jackets for myself:  one is light-weight (cream) and the other is a little heavier (pink - I'm a purple girl, but it was an outlet store so you take what you can get).

Oh, and I got a gift for my dad, too.  It wasn't all about me.  But it should be. ;)

mini muffins

Some more goodies for breakfast.  I took this recipe and changed it slightly to make mini muffins. Instead if using sugar-free caramel syrup, I used vanilla syrup.  And I used frozen fruit since that's what I had on hand.

Mini Muffins

1 cup multigrain pancake mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup Torani Sugar-Free Vanilla Syrup
Frozen fruit (I used frozen blueberries and raspberries)

Mix pancake mix, milk, and syrup together until combined. Pour batter into a non-stick 24 cup mini muffin tin that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Fill about 3/4 way up.  Put pieces of frozen fruit on top. Bake at 350 for about 12-14 minutes.

Serve with butter or jam, whatever you prefer.

mini pancake bites

Don't you just love when it's time to turn the clocks back?  Yeah, it gets dark later, but we gain an hour of sleep today and the day seems really long.

I took advantage of being awake earlier today and made a batch of mini pancake bites.  I'm getting bored of yogurt and peanuts on the weekdays, and one egg with a veggie sausage patty on the weekends.  I still enjoy it, but I need to mix it up a bit. Plus, I had bacon and sausage to use up.

I can eat about four of these.  I dip them in sugar-free maple syrup.  This is when I miss real maple syrup. It's just way too much sugar, though.

These freeze well, so now I'll have pancake bites whenever I want them.

You can find the recipe here.  I used Torani Sugar-Free Caramel Syrup.

today's breakfast

Today I decided to have some hash browns with my egg and veggie sausage patty.  I was hoping I could finish it, but I couldn't.  I know it's a good thing, but I miss being able to clean my plate.  I know, it's all in my head.  It's just food.

I know, my food looks pretty dreary.  It really needs some color.

the week (month?) in review

It's been a rough month, so I figured it's time for a "week in review" post.

First, the good stuff:

I have FINALLY gone clothes shopping and discovered my pant size is a 16!!  I don't even remember the last time I was a 16.  Shirt size now ranges from 14/16 to 18/20, depending on the store.  I was going to shop online like usual, but then I figured I should try things on in the store because I might be wrong on my new size.  Boy, was I wrong!  So glad I went to the store. I'm happy to say I now own my very first pair of REAL skinny jeans.  And I look good...

I had an interview for a new job and it went well.  I am hoping I get an offer next week.  I'm so ready to move on from the current job.  It's really tough getting up at 6 am and driving 45 minutes for a job that is, at best, an "easy" paycheck.  An easy paycheck might sound great, but not when the work is boring and not very challenging.  Seems like a lot of my time is spent on admin-type stuff and I feel like I'm way underutilized.

I got to see my former coworkers from my old job.  It was so nice to have everyone together again.  It made me realize how much I miss working with them and getting to talk to them everyday.

I got to hang out with the ladies from the Stratford Cat Project.  We hung out with the kitties and had some great food and conversation.

The not-so-good stuff:

My mother-in-law had to have emergency exploratory surgery the other day and she's in ICU.  She seems to be doing well, though, so I'm happy about that.  It's a good thing she got to the hospital when she did, otherwise she might not be alive right now.

My white Persian, Riley, was admitted to the animal hospital last night.  Earlier in the week he had to go to the vet twice because he was bleeding from the mouth.  He had to wear a cone all week to stop him from excessively grooming (they thought it was a cut in the mouth or a loose tooth).  Then yesterday it started up again.  He was bleeding quite a bit.  Later on Bob got a call that he's anemic from the blood loss and they can't sedate him for a checkup until his red blood cell count is up.  Then we got a call at 4 am this morning that he had started bleeding again and lost a lot of blood, so they have to do a blood transfusion.  $800 for that!  But we want him around for long time and he needed it.  We'll figure out the money later.  Now we're waiting to hear what they find.

Something good and not-so-good:

We have an OLD house.  We're on well water.  We haven't been able to locate our well due to the age of the house.  We tried the town records, calling around to well drillers and plumbers to see if they've ever worked on the well, and the town even came out to try and trace the water lines.  Nothing.  One day a few weeks ago Bob was walking around in the family room and said that an area of the floor felt different, like there was a cutout or something.  We said we would pull back the carpet and check it out, but we never got to it.

Well, we lost our water again last week.  And then the power in the bedroom shut off at 4 am that same morning.  And then mysteriously went back on 20 minutes later.  Bob stayed home from work to deal with the water issue.  He decided to cut into the carpet in the family room to see if the well was under there.  Guess what?  It was!  It's a hand-dug well that's original to the house (see below).  Pretty cool.  The modern well head is there also...but it's about 8 feet under the surface of the well opening.  That means, in order to service it, it would have to be several people working on it so one could be lowered into the old well and the others can take care of the safety measures.  Plus, we would have to raise the well head.  And that means it will cost about $4,000 when the time comes to replace the pump, provided there are any plumbers or well people willing to do it.

The plumber came out that day for the water issue and it turned out the problem was a loose breaker in the electrical panel.  It was the one that controls the well pump and that's why we had no water.  Luckily that didn't cost us much.

Bob later went down to replace the breaker and discovered six breakers that were corroded or melted so he replaced them.  That explains why the power in the bedroom went out.

So, the good things in all this are that we found the well (nothing worse than the unknown) and we discovered a very dangerous electrical problem that Bob can fix.

Here's our well.  I had to buy a big area rug to cover the cutout in the floor.

sushi!!

Today's lunch is a sushi roll. It's tempura shrimp wrapped in spicy crab meat with tobiko. I haven't had sushi since before my surgery last December so I decided to treat myself.

Delicious!!

This roll had 8 pieces and I had already eaten three by the time I decided to post.

I'm getting a little full already!

last night's dinner

I made steak last night, one of my favorite dinners.  I actually hadn't planned on making it, but someone (I won't name any names) unplugged the deep freezer and didn't plug it back in.  I discovered it a couple days later. Luckily everything was either cold or frozen.  But I didn't want to refreeze the steak, so I cooked it.

I was able to eat about 2/3 of the steak, plus the rice and corn.  I had about a tablespoon of each.

today's breakfast

Today I decided to make an omelet with some dill havarti cheese and a Morningstar Farms Veggie Sausage Patty.

I don't usually make omelets anymore, mainly because I can still eat only one egg if I'm having something with it.  Plus, a one-egg omelet is pretty small, which means you have to be careful not to overcook it or to tear it when you flip it.  I started out making scrambled eggs for both me and my husband, but halfway through I decided I didn't want the bacon crumbles and shredded cheese I put in them.   I had some leftover dill havarti cheese from a party so that made up my mind.

I also treated myself to half a glass of 2% milk.  I don't drink milk anymore, mainly because it has a lot of sugar:  16g per 8 oz. glass.  I can probably handle that, but I don't like to chance it.  And I usually don't even remember that I have it in the fridge; I'm too busy drinking water and Crystal Light.

today's breakfast and lunch

Remember the Swiss Chard grilled cheeses I made over the weekend?  I had a half of one for lunch today. :) For dessert I had two coconut macaroons (leftover from my party).

Breakfast was two herbed goat cheese and sausage egg cups.

Snacks were dry roasted peanuts and some dill havarti cheese.  I'm really not supposed to snack, but I find it really tough not to snack, especially when I'm bored and unhappy at work.  Hopefully the job situation will change soon.