E was petting Bailey this evening, and all of a sudden, points to her anus. "Kitty... kitty poopy butt."

Why yes, that is her butt(hole). How perceptive of you to notice... :P

(This particular cat has just gotten over a bout of diarrhea. So, admittedly, we've been talking about her poop more than we would normally.)

Square foot gardening is going quite well this year... all except for the tomato plants I tried to start inside (got eaten - but other plants I started inside - lettuce - transplanted quite well!), and my poor basil plant. By the time it really put down roots outside, it is shaded on all four sides by taller plants.


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Best use of sour milk EVER. This makes a cake-like brownie. In fact, I have put whipped cream frosting on it and served it as chocolate cake for my children's birthdays.

Wet ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup oil (coconut oil or another neutral oil is best)

Dry/Dough ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar

For posterity. No idea where she got the recipe.

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 4 T. melted butter (or coconut oil)
• 1/2 cup sugar

This is a kid-friendly recipe adapted from the November 2011 Parents magazine. Recently discovered I could start it with uncooked chicken if I cook it in the crockpot long enough! Serve it with cheese and rice, or chips and sour cream, chives, avacado, whatever you like.

• 1 lb. boneless chicken (can use as little as 1/2 lb. without changing much)
• 1 ( Read more... )

Even the picky 4-year-old liked it (well, he said he liked it. Which counts for a lot, even if he only ate a little ( Read more... )

Heavily adapted from http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/09/slow-cooker-orange-chicken-recipe.html

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken, cut in 2-inch chunks (I used two very large boneless breasts, may have been closer to 2 pounds ( Read more... )

Still not easy, by any means. And we haven't seen a difference in Elliot's symptoms yet (barky cough that he's had since late October). Took him to a ENT specialist in Boston today, where they stuck a scope down his throat and guessed "reflux" (whether caused by dairy or not, no way to tell yet). Prescribed Prilosec (although they apparently ( Read more... )

Day 3 of eliminating dairy from my diet (on a trial basis to see if it helps Elliot). Hungry ALL. THE. TIME.

Technically we're waiting on blood test results, but I figured I would get a jump on the possibility that it's a casein allergy/sensitivity. Didn't realize (a) just how hard it would be and (b) it can take up to 3 WEEKS for all the ( Read more... )

Lord, I am willing to -
Receive what you give,
Lack what you withhold,
Relinquish what you take.