OMG! Two freaking days!!!


<snoopy dance>

I have the most awesomest friend. She and her hubby watch our cats and feed them so they don't die from starvation. Not that they would die...because we have self feeding dry cat food feeders....but three of our cats are like canned food junkies. Seriously. We started the canned cat food as a treat many years ago.....like 28 yrs ago....and it's blossomed into their meals, not a snack. How fucked up is that? Not my fault. All blame can be placed on Jeff. <looking at him as I type> Bastard. He spoiled them! He's like the GodofSpoilingAnimals. That should be all in caps.
Yeah.

So of course the 'animals' love him more. It's totally unfair. I'M THE ANIMAL LOVER. I'M THE ONE THAT WANTS AND ACCUMULATED THE ANIMALS.  


But I'm the disciplinarian. Isn't that usually "Mom's' role anyway? At least in the States it is. Mom works a job, comes home, cleans the house, feeds the family, cleans up, puts the kids to bed, does the laundry, sets and cancels appointments with cable dudes, the gas and electric company, the furnace fixer, the electricians, the bankers, the doctors, takes a day off to take the kids to the doctor, helps them with the homework.....oh.....wait. I don't have kids. Scratch all that. Or maybe not.

We have pizza on the way. And wings. Wing Ho. Me. Notsomuchapizzaeater. That's for the GodofSpoilingAnimals.
I really need to do a bpal review don't I?


The Knave of Hearts

Yum! Foodie!

Clear in color with maybe the barest hint of a yellow.

This is scrumptious and I want to drink it.

Cinnamon. It's like a wildy decadent muffin that's sprinkled with cinnamon and butter. It's quite heady. Like it's bite-able. Kinda feel some strawberry too? Zucchini and banana bread-ish.
Want a good zucchini bread recipe? I have one that makes it's own sweet crust on top that cracks and slightly hardens and there's no need for a frosting. It's so good! I like zucchini bread better than banana bread.

3 eggs
1 cup oil-like veggie or canola
2 cups sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract-real is better!
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional-pecan, black walnut etc)
 2 cups grated zucchini



Beat the 3 eggs until foamy
Add: The oil, sugar and 3 tsp vanilla.

Then add: The flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking powder.

Nuts?    Possibly.


I mean add now. 

snort

Now add the zucchini. Fold it in. Don't over process it, or beat. Hold the temptation!! If you fold it, it'll take more turns of the spoon. But slow, easy turns. I don't mean that this recipe takes more mixing to make it good. I mean if you fold nicely, the batter will accept more turning that doesn't subtract from the flavor. Only inhances it. Be nice. That's what I tell Stark. He (and Ava) stalk the cat Mojo. Ava also bites the back of Stark's legs if he's happy and bouncing around.  She's a mean ditch. Justifiably so. Being a bad ass dog queen has it's perks.

Bake 325 degrees for 1 hour.

It will develop this crust over the top that's sweet, chunky and crunchy, yet moist, chewy and perfectly sinky.

That means your teeth moosh down on the flaky top crust into the light and crumbly yet spicy inside. Cinnamon-y.


Like this Knave of Hearts


A perfect scent for next Christmas time.

Here's some other scents this has. To me.

Apple
Lemon
  What's the description? On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:--

'The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer day:
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!'

Crushed roses and blackcurrant tarts.


Oh wow. That sounds familiar. have I reviewed this before?

White rabbit.

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small,
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all.
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall.

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call.
Call Alice
When she was just small.

When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low.
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know.
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead,
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head"

Pork Roast Lori Style and Hellboy (no NOT my husband or my DAWG)

It's Bpal's Hellboy.

The pork roast is me though. <big cheezy grin>

First I drizzle some light olive oil into the bottom of my enameled cast iron pot. (I LOVE this pan!!) I'm really starting to like cast iron for everything any more. It just cooks with so much flavor. And this pan is now all discolored on the bottom and there's a small chip of enamel inside, but I don't care.
Then I bring that oil up to a hot temp and toss in the roast. I sear it on all sides and add a lot of pepper, and also some onion powder and granulated garlic.  This time though I used dehydrated onions instead of the powder. You can see the onions bits in the bottom of the pan. I have a feeling this will be the way I do it from now on. It smells great in here!!

These are two New Orleans spoon rests that I have next to my stove. They are so colorful and match my décor perfectly. I plan to find some more when we are there next week so I can change them out every so often.

 

 

 

Going to quarter some potatoes length wise then cook them in the browned good stuff on the bottom of the pan. I'll add a small amount of water and they will brown and look liked browned potatoes. They'll absorb the garlic and onion flavors as well as the pork flavor.

 

 

 

Cindy is still claiming the recliner as hers.

 

 

Here's what happens when the mail is brought in and since it's just junk mail it's tossed into 'her' chair.

Pathetic isn't it? It's like she's screaming, "GET THAT FUCKING MAIL OUTTA MY CHAIR SO I CAN SLEEP!!"

Nothing is worse than a misplaced cat.

Back to Hellboy. That would be a good name for my Stark, now that I think about it. I already call him Ugly and he comes to it. hehe I can yell, "Where's Ugly!?" and that dawg will come to me from wherever he is in the house. LOL

Hellboy


Clear in color. In the vial it's not too compelling. Slightly medicinal. Pretty light too. I had to smell a second time and didn't come back with anything different. Possible fruity.
On the hand: Weirdly sharp but not a lot sharp. Almost a bandaid smell. And yellow-ey. I had Jeff just smell it. He said New Orleans. I made him smell it again. New Orleans. Please discount his perception, he has New Orleans on the brain right now. LOL I think the thought of the 17 hour road trip ONE WAY has fried his brain.
There's a floral in this. Like something odd like orchid, and moss and grapefruit? It's kinda nice. Be a good spring and summer scent. I think it's a girly scent and would think Hellboy would have been something fiery and masculine.

What's in this?

HELLBOY
Aftershave, candy wrappers, brimstone, and cat.


SNORT. Ironic that I was writing about my cat in this same post.


I like it. Not a big bottle winner though.
Hopefully I'll be back to post pics of the potatoes etc.  :)

(Nope. Forgot. But I DID really like Hellboy after a bit. It turned all candylike and sweet. Uber girly. It's a keeper!)



Spongedawg Squarepants

Our dawgs wouldn't travel well. Not the traveling issue, we've done that with them before. We went on a 9 hour trip to the Black Hills when Ava was 2 and Stark was 3 months.

Both of our dawgs ride with their heads out the moonroof. The wind makes their mouth open and their jowls flap!

Stark loved those stairs in the cabin we rented. He was up, down, up, down all day, every day.

There was a nice yard for the dawgs. We kept them on a leash because we didn't know if they'd try to run away. They were young then. They'd stay put nowadays. We need to go back.

 

Me and Ava climbed to the top of the mountain we were on. This was a couple hundred feet up from the cabin. It was steep and tough climbing but we did it! Then it started raining and we had to run back down! I swear she was laughing watching me try not to break my legs!

This was a rapid stream/river close to the cabin. No mosquitos either. It was heaven.

They did really good in the truck. We stuck a wooden box in front of the passenger seat of our F-150, then put a pillow on it and it was level with the seat. Ava gets shotgun, so that was her seat. But about 3 hours into this trip Ava gets out of the passenger seat and clambers over into the backseat. Stark, even tho he was young, knew he had shotgun and happily jumped into the front seat. I, (who was now in the backseat with a 120 lb German Shepherd) had to deal with a dawg laying full out and stretched across the whole back seat. We have a crew cab truck. It was still tight. LOL


Yeah.



I kept smelling my dawg's feet. I love the smell of dawg feet. Musky, spicy and green. LOL I love the smell of their eyes too. It's horse smell like. The way a horse smells is like up there for my all time greatest smells ever......and buses from the 1970's. The gas smell from them.

But back to the dawgs traveling.....they'd suck in New Orleans. Too hot. Plus they are dog aggressive. We'd be pulled into situations that we didn't want to be in. Yeah, my 120lb male German Shepherd can pull this 200 lb 50 yr old woman if he wanted. We want to take them though. We think they'd like the city as much as we did. We'll be there in 10 days.


YAY!

New Orleans here we come!!!!!!!! I hope to remember to take pics of the food I eat. I say 'I' because Jeff won't eat like I do. He'll be saying, "How can you eat again!?"

That's why I am there. For the food. And the booze. I must not tell a lie. 
I spelled booze as bozze before I fixed it. I always double the wrong letter, EVERY SINGLE TIME.
I start drinking about 11 am there. Usually a mango slushy type daiquiris. They also let you choose a shot of some liquor, like amaretto, schnapps etc. It's GREAT!
I don't drink much tho.  At this time of day, anyway. That daiquiri lasts me an hour and a half. But it makes me HAPPY! Happy happy happy. <<<<<Said like Phil.

It'd be great if we could dry our dawgs up into little sponges, then once we get to our destination, add water and they're reconstituted. Perfect! I'd get shotgun again!


Going to review Love Potion's Far, Far Away. There's  a pic on the vial like some Mardi Gras masked fool. Appropriate, eh?

Fruity! And very bold. It's gorgeous. Pineapple, banana, melon, bubble gum. There's a subtle musk too. Like a white musk. Sandalwood?
I need a BIG vat of this one. I've had this for 2 years and just now discovered it? I feel like Cinderella!! It seems smokey too. Flippin' gorgeous!

Here's the scent desc:

Here at , we combine over 25 years of experience in crafting artisinal perfumes with care for the historical and magical meanings of the ingredients as well as cutting edge science pertaining to pheromone research and new data on human responses to olfactory stimuli.

Far, Far Away

Pheromone Enhanced Fragrance for Women

Once upon a time, there was a princess in a far off land....and she wasn't like other princesses. It's fun to daydream and pretend that we all might be misplaced royalty, waiting for the moment when we are recognized and brought forth to our rightful place on the throne. But as modern women we know we create our own destinies, win our own battles, rescue ourselves from the evil dragons. So in recognition of the bold and resourceful princess inside of you, we've created a scent just as essential as that tiara or fabulous gown. This confident sophisticated fragrance harbors a playful side…fresh violet and bright tangy raspberry meld with sugared resins and spices. And to give you the proper attitude adjustment we've included our new exclusive AUDACIOUS pheromone blend, a mix which instills an outrageous boost of self-confidence: embodying a powerful feminine sexy vibe, but with a likable sociable quality.

Pheromones? Am I going to be attacked by a 51 yr old man tonight? Think I can fight him off?
(LATER: I was not attacked. Hard to attack a woman when you're snoring)


This is a happy little fragrance that's worth checking out. They still sell it too. Off to buy me some.
Bah! They're sold out. Here's another ingredient list for it:

RASPBERRY ~ Love inducing, protection, stamina, vigor.
VIOLET ~ Love, faithfulness, modesty; calming, balancing, healing, protection, draws luck & fortune, lust.
ORCHID ~ Strong love symbol; beauty, refinement, fertility, creativity, psychic powers.
SUGAR ~ Attracts love, luck, sweetness and riches. Lust inducing.
MYRRH ~ Stimulating, soothing. Powerful guard against evil.
AMBER ~ Fertility, creativity, love, luck, riches.
MUSK ~ Self confidence and strength, sexual attractant, heightens passions and arousal.
PATCHOULI ~ Soothes and uplifts; sensual, sexually stimulating, lust, fertility, money. Meditative and transforming.
CLOVE LEAF ~ Money attracting, deflects negative and hostile energies.
ORIENTAL SPICE ACCORD ~ Elegance, refinement.


If the above doesn't cause heart palpitations, then this scent isn't for you.

UK Blues or I'm Still Alive, take your pick

 

 

Here's another song from the same band, a song that I loved the first time I heard it. Listen to the words, he touring Europe. So thoughtful and beautiful I wanna go!



Arrived in Helsinki, tired and sticky
My body hit the bed, I almost fell dead
Got to the venue, they ink-stamped my wrist, waitress asked me Mark...
Meat or white fish?
Got up on the stage, the sound it was ok
But I struggled like a marlin on an unlucky day
Tried a few new songs, they looked at me like what?
Where's Katy Song, Mistress and Grace Cathedral Park?

Finland, Finland
So many trees, John Denver would be pleased
Finland, Finland
Cold as ice but the waitress she was nice

Met a Finn after. She was thin as a waif.
Big viking stepped in, big old oaf named Leif
Went back to my room, alone and I cried
been a year to the day, that my Kit Kat died
Left Helsinki, the next stop was Aarhus
A taxi, two airplanes, and a fucking shuttle bus

Denmark, Denmark
Everybody's white, everyone rides bikes
Denmark, Denmark
Everyone rides bikes, everybody's white

Left for London via Copenhagen, for a concert in the park at 1:30pm
Got up on the stage, people gathered round
Retro 80s band... drownded out my sound
went and got my check, went back to my room
Feeling suicidal, feeling full of gloom
Turned on the TV, there was rioting & stuff...
As if this city isn't depressing enough

London, London
It's all the rage if your favorite color's beige
London, London
Look right, look left, makes me think of death

Off to Manchester, then to Bristol
Had a show on a boat, it was half full
Guy in the front, heckled me all night
Skin was a sickly mix of grey, pink, and white
Went back to my room, more riots on the news
Homesick as fuck, I got the UK blues

Bristol, Bristol
Cobblestone streets, people missing teeth
Bristol, Bristol
Is this really what people eat?

Back to London, then to Belfast
Had to catch a plane, had to get there fast
Had to get a room, had to change my clothes
Had to change my strings, check my sound and play a show
Had to meet some friends, had to take a bath
Had to catch a flight, going home at last.

Belfast, Belfast
Out the taxi window cows sleeping on the grass
Belfast, Belfast
Out the taxi window cows sleeping on the grass




 Today I received in the mail a full bottle of Eve by Possets. It's clear in color. Green and grassy with a big dollop of resin. Sharp and domineering. In the bottle it's mostly sharp. Menthol-ey.
Sooooooooooooooo not that way once it hits skin. Then it turns smokey, like cigarettes, but in a good way.
I think Patch is here. Hellooooooooooooo Patchy??!!??

It's like digging up a hunk of earth that's well endowed with grass, then putting it on the grill. Once it's been smoked for a day, toss it into a big bowl. To that add: chocolate, some 'Grass' Gonesh incense, and a pinch of something sweet like vanilla.

Is there such a thing as 'Grass' Gonesh incense? Probably. And all the people buying it are hoping it smells like weed.
What a fake-out.

Here's the scent description. I didn't do too bad!!!!


Possets is presenting a slight departure in its perfume. Eve is a heavy oriental, resplendent with musks, earthy sweetnesses, lingering and sexy as only that first lady could have been. This is a complex blend, profound even, but still there is a sparkle to it which marks it as a Posset. The test panel really really loved it, before they even put it on, so you know it might just had captured something of the allure of the original Eve! Resinous.

Songwriters: GIBB, BARRY / GIBB, MAURICE ERNEST / GIBB, ROBIN HUGH

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm, I've been kicked around
Since I was born.
And now it's all right. it's ok.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The new york times effect on man.

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother,
You're stayin alive, stayin alive.
Feel the city breakin and everybody shakin,
And were stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive.

Well now, I get low and I get high,
And if I can't get either, I really try.
Got the wings of heaven on my shoes.
I'm a dancin man and I just can't lose.
You know it's all right.its ok.
I'll live to see another day.
We can try to understand
The new york times effect on man.

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother,
You're stayin alive, stayin alive.
Feel the city breakin and everybody shakin,
And were stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive.

Life goin nowhere.somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Life goin nowhere.somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah. stayin alive.

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm,
I've been kicked around since I was born.
And now it's all right. it's ok.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The new york times effect on man.

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother,
You're stayin alive, stayin alive.
Feel the city breakin and everybody shakin,
And were stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive.

Life goin nowhere.somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Life goin nowhere.somebody help me, yeah.
I'm stayin alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Among the Leaves

A pillow lays on cold cement
A blanket by a broken vent
She's there a while
And then she's gone

I'm away for weeks
Arrive at night
She hears my steps
Turns off the light and runs

No mind at all, more space than I need
It's just me among the weeds
Among the ghosts
Among the leaves

We've never met but she's a girl
Romance paper books
The floor is covered
In long blonde curls

On afternoons I walk the graves
The rusted cars, the mine shaft caves
See a girl sadly unkempt
A child of neglect

Under moons I pass the tombs
Cross the highways, smell the fumes
See a girl frighteningly gaunt
Somebody didn't want
How do I tell her I don't care
If she sleeps downstairs?

I see her on my errand runs
Looking nervous like a young Mia Farrow
Walk along the gas stops
Window browsing pawn shops
Guns, bows and arrows
Up on past the Halfway house
Past the signs Eighty South
Buttercup and Carrows
Drinking Wild Irish Rose
At the dead end of the road
Sleeping with the sparrows

When evening comes I play guitar
For the planets and the stars
I leave the porch light on
Like I do when I'm gone
Winter, spring, summer, fall
Basement's yours, have a ball
There's always room for you there
Really baby I don't care