So I am now the proud owner of THREE cats. Yes, three. First came my lil’ bitch, Felony, who came to me five years ago. She’s a black kitty with yellow eyes, and it’s terribly difficult to get a good picture of her. She’s not camera shy… she’s just not very photogenic, handsome as she may be.

Then came Sebastian, almost three years ago. He’s a handsome black and white longhaired giant, 13.5 pounds of fur and jiggliness. He’s really a sweetheart - tender and affectionate (to me - he’s rather jittery around strangers) and never too sulky or snotty.

And then, last night, at 2am, A rushed inside with the gray furball that used to be my grandmother’s cat. Since she went in the nursing home for a week to regain her strength after her fall, she discovered that she no longer coughs like crazy, and has determined that she’s allergic to her cat. A adopted the cat - but a day later, A discovered that she, too, was allergic to her. She broke out in hives all over her arms where she petted the creature.

Tsuki, as I’ve named her, is a Persian - and mind you, I’m not a big Persian fan, but she is rather sweet and shy. A picture of her:

That darned Persian face always looks so grumpy! *lol* But I love her eyes - copper and intense. She and Sebastian have been having little hissy fits. Literally. And staring matches. But she’s not really afraid of the other kitties. Just people. She’s been exploring the house inch by inch, and she’s taken up residence under my bed.

Inspired by all the kittiness, I whipped up a little catnip mouse toy with leftover gray yarn from the kitty hat I knit Tina. According to Sebastian, and Tsuki, who both play-tested it, it gets an A+ rating.

On a whim of hunger, I also whipped up a batch of lemon poppyseed muffins (from a mix) this morning before bed, and this utterly beautiful loaf of cinnamon raisin bread in my breadmaker!

It’s one of the few perfect loaves I’ve made! No collapsing anywhere! And it tastes oh-so-good. It’s a mix, too, but that’s just cuz I’m trying to use them up before the yeast goes bad. (Nothing like yeast failure to ruin your day!) My next cinnamon raisin bread will be from scratch. *crosses fingers*

Speaking of cooking… I bought (another whim) the Mary Jane’s Farm catalog/magazine on sale at the store - the food issue, all about recipes made with her special Farmgirl Budget Mix. The Budget Mix is a (somewhat expensive) mix of organic flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and it’s the base mix for dozens of recipes from cookies to crackers to scones to pizzas, to hotpocket-y items. Kinda like Bisquick, but not. I looked all day for a comparable recipe, but all the baking mix recipes I found have some form of oily stuff added (shortening, usually) and I doubt such a mix would work well with the recipes that have been formed to fit with a mix that *doesn’t* have shortening already added. So I may have to buy this stuff yet. I’m not really a very adventurous cook. Neither is anyone in my family. Altogether, the mix comes out to something like $1.30 or something a serving, which isn’t /too/ terrible, I guess.

Checked on my Knitpicks order. It’s been shipped, and is expected to arrive something like the 11th. *sigh* That’s 4 days after the Mystery Stole Part 1 is released, and I’ll never have the time with company coming to catch up. But oh well. I’ll just be a slow-late knitter, I guess! :) I’m excited anyway!

5 Comments »

1. Kitties! How cute! And bread! Get rid of the raisins and I’ll take it! :D

   Comment by Tina — July 6, 2006 @ 4:49 am

2. I am also looking for a do it yourself recipe for the MaryJanes Farm Farmgirl Budget Baking Mix. I do think it is too expensive and should be very inexpensive to recreate with whole wheat etc. I will keep you posted if I find a recipe because I also bought her magazine and the recipes look yummy! -Lynne

   Comment by Lynne — July 14, 2006 @ 9:18 pm

3. Thank you, Lynne!

   Comment by Katia — July 14, 2006 @ 11:46 pm

4. Same thing just happened to me with the magazine. I saw all the awesome-looking recipes inside and assumed there was a recipe inside for the baking mix. Now I feel jipped. Let me know if you find a solution.

   (found this post on Google after looking in frustration)

   Comment by Noah — July 21, 2006 @ 11:10 pm

5. Sheesh, i too am looking for a recipe for Mary Jane’s budget mix. Did you have any luck finding anything? Please let me know if you did.

   Comment by Erin — September 24, 2006 @ 8:34 pm

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