Yummy Pretzels!

We finally had a lull around here so I jumped in the kitchen and made Alton Brown's Homemade Soft Pretzels! Altered of course, subbing honey for the sugar and half whole wheat flour. My topping was regular table salt mixed with granulated garlic(not powder) and onion powder. I was out of kosher salt. They. Are. Spectacular. I'm on my forth one(I made mine small and got 2 dozen) already with spicy horseradish mustard.

The girls didn't get the camera batteries charged in time so enjoy the picture from the website, or at this lovely blog. Apparently I'm not the only one who loves them!

We're about to get a nasty storm so who knows what we'll do this afternoon. The girls cleaned the boys piggie cage so we don't have that many chores. Maybe I'll take them to the dreaded "Mall". Yah. and hoo.

Finally, a name!

We have been through site after site and a pet name book I bought when my mom rescued a pregnant Llaso Apso from the side of the road when I was about 8 or so. Nothing seemed to fit although there were some fun, interesting names.
****edited****
Finally for whatever reason, it came to me this afternoon. His official name is Buster Tom(not Alexander) Sonier, and it was unanimously agreed upon. YAHOOOOO!! I'm so glad to have something to call him!





I am going to try and get some of him awake but he's a fast little thing! Maybe this weekend I can. Also, my other animals are quite left out lately so I may snap some of them as well.


In other news...

I am sick, sick, sick, with whatever Amy had. Now Sarah and I are coughing this deep, wet, cough. My chest itches just under my collarbone, weird. I'm feverish, dizzy, and tired, and headed to the couch for a nap. Mark will have the pleasure of running the kids around to their Wednesday night church activities tonight.

We have postponed our trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo and Botanical Gardens which would have included the Spring Festival at the Japanese Gardens. I hate that we'll miss it but with the zoo it might have been too much in two days.

We sold the Suburban. I keep telling myself that I'm glad but I miss it terribly! It was a 1990 model and there was more wrong with it than right(seat belts weren't reliable, power windows didn't work, a/c didn't blow at all, needed brakes, tires, struts, shocks, and other new stuff). Our neighbors across the street bought it from us for $500 and were driving it within hours so apparently it wasn't a fuel pump problem as we suspected. Oh well. It would have drained us to make it safe and comfortable for our family. I'm hoping to get used to the Jeep one of these days. It is easy to drive but getting in proves difficult. The door handles are touchy and sometimes the locks don't unlock(automatic sliding ones) and because of the contoured seats its hard to get in to and out of but its easy for me to see out of and the seats go in nine kinds of directions, and it isn't white(big plus).

I managed to get all my blogroll moved over from the old blog. I'll be adding more of my favorite blogs later. Does everyone else have 2000 blogs saved to a favorites folder or is it just me??? Sheesh!! There isn't enough time in the day!

Now, I'm off to the couch, iCarly be hanged.

Enough already??

By the way, this is my 400th post!!! Wow!! I never dreamed I'd still be blogging.

That's not what I meant by the title of my post though. I promise my next post won't be cute kitty pictures, much as I love them. But, that's not this post is it?


Jasper licked him a little bit and then settled back down to nap for over two hours! Tallulah joined them later. We've got a few more names to mull over. Rover(which I love), Rufus(think I mentioned this one), Merlin, and Rusty. All of our male cats have had names ending in "er" so Rover fits best. Our other males were Junior, Pipper, Chester and Jasper(current).

cute overload fo' sho'....

(he put both his paws over his head when meeting Tallulah)


(the two red-heads)


(he's very playful)


(but not big enough to be too tough)


(isn't he pretty?)

We have a few more names added to the pot, Rufus, Taco, Leo, and Cosmo. We want a two syllable name(we think).

I can assure you this was NOT on purpose...it was no accident either...

I almost didn't go for my walk today but something compelled me. I'm ever so glad I did, and so is this little guy. He was lost from his mom in the woods. These woods are filled with raccoons, foxes, possums, stray dogs, coyotes, and so forth. He would not have lasted the evening. I was sitting at a picnic table along the path, taking a breather and talking to a friend on the phone. I kept hearing this pitiful crying and thought it was a bird. Finally it dawned on me that it was a cat cry and a desperate cat cry at that. I started trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, there is a street of duplexes just yards away from the path. I figured it was a cat trapped in something. I called, "kitty kitty kitty" and the meows got closer. My friend and I had seen a nursing mama cat in these same woods on Sunday afternoon so I thought it might be her. I went about 20 feet off the trail, then 30 feet, then 40 feet, the cries were closer and I heard rustling. Finally he appeared, making a mad dash for me, screeching his poor head off! He was SO lost from his mama. I know he is one of her babies. Maybe he tried to follow her on a hunting expedition and couldn't keep up, she might not have known he was behind her. Or, as cats sometimes do, they move their babies. Who knows. All I do know is that we found each other and he is not going to be eaten by a forest creature tonight. Thank goodness.





He was absolutely starving when I came across him, tried to nurse in the crook of my arm and the back of my neck. Just frantic. My friend we get our milk from was letting Sarah have a play date with her daughter and just happened to have a can of goat's milk and we fed him there. It was obvious he'd never eaten from a plate or bowl before. We think he's about 3-4 weeks old. Oh my gosh he is TINY!!





I picked up some KMR(kitten milk replacement) tonight and he absolutely inhaled it. Sarah is playing with him in the floor right now and he's pretty stumbly on his little baby feet. The other cats are in shock of course but none have been mean to him, they mostly back away. That is dirt on his nose, we haven't had a chance to wipe it off yet.





I'm hoping to keep him until my mom(don't tell my dad) can take him. He's just a doll baby!! We're trying to decide on a name right now. Mark and I adopted a baby just like this the winter we first met. We named him Diablo and he ended up being my mom's cat. He also reminds me of the old cat across the street from us named Tom. Amy suggested Frisco but I'm not warm on it. I'm sure the perfect name will come to us eventually. Who does he look like to you?

Scenes from a North Carolina Winter...

Since I was in such a snit all winter I didn't get a chance to post pictures from our wonderful trip to visit my parents! We left a day or so after Christmas and came home on the 12th of January. There was a tiny bit of snow but not like our last trip durng the winter. Anyway, here are some scenes from around the house and yard. Click to see them better, its worth it!



(kids exploring in the boxwood patch)


(same mountains the morning after a snow dusting)


(bottles in the mud/laundry room)



(side landing in the morning sun)



(barn from the boxwoods looking down)



(Buckaroo in the snow)



(Amy at the kitchen sink from the mudroom)

my colorful world...

Remember to enlarge for better viewing, especially the caterpillar!



(azaleas along the walking trail)


(our oak tree at night from the trampoline)


(caterpillar I met on a walk at the park)


(new microwave)


(red kitchen carts-same color as the microwave-it shows a bit bright)