Christmas Photo

Here is our Christmas photo. I had to look for a long time to find software that would let me know this and it was on my computer the whole time! The picture in the middle is of the cats getting ready for Hurricane Ike. As you can tell, they were pretty upset.

Snack Bars

Today I made snack bars. Ever since seeing the recipe on Tastespotting I've been dying to make some. Today I went to the HEB Vintage Market and picked out various seeds and nuts in the bulk aisle. I got sesame seeds, poppy seeds, rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pastachio nuts, almonds, and walnuts. After dry frying them, I added honey, molasses, karo and a dash of vanilla. They turned out quit tasty.

Kalliope, the Perfect Cat

This is Kalliope, the perfect cat. I picked her from the hoardes of cats at the Humane Society in Montgomery County. She has more personality than any cat I've ever seen. She is a snuggler and loves to sleep either on top on me or plastered against my legs.

Bill has taught her to fetch mice. And she can catch my hair bands in mid air. She is a talker though. She wants to be where anyone else is. And she is so curious. She is into to everything, but she doesn't mess anything up. She will just play with things like Bill's chapstick or my eye drops. We find them all over the house.

So remember what Kimmie said - go adopt. And make sure they are fixed.

The Great Cupcake Debate

My sister Becky was in town to go to the Quilt Show. We made it through the show in record time. We decided to check out the cupcake stores in Houston. First we went to Sugarbabies. Becky to the Red Velvet and I got the Smores.

We found the store to be very cute with lots of cupcake accesories to buy. Hoever the cupcakes were a bit dry. The icing was amazing through.

Next we went to Crave Cupcakes in the Uptown shopping center. This is a no frills store that is strictly buying cupcakes. Becky got a cinamon one and I got a coconut. They were amazing. And they were moist! We can't wait to try other flavors. Some of the ones we want to try are not made on Fridays.

Sprinkles Cupcakes will be in Houston next Spring. We can't wait to try them.

Vote for Kimmie

Kimmie has baked cupcakes for the Iron Cupcake Earth competition. Please vote for her.

You can read about her entry on her blog http://kschiffel.blogspot.com/ Above is a picture of her entry.

Here is an exerpt from her blog:

Most important - THE VOTING!!!Voting will begin on Sunday, October 26 at 12 noon at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, and will be open through Thursday, October 30 at 12 noon.This is where I need your help! I will remind everyone when voting begins and I will need all of the votes and support that I can get! Tell your friends and family, blog about my entry, whatever you can do to help is greatly appreciated!!

REMEMBER TO VOTE FOR KIMMIE!

Sunny California

We are in sunny (windy) northern CA right now. We went to Bodega Bay on Wednesday but found out right before we got there that our boat trip was cancelled due to high winds. So we stayed in Bodega Bay that night. Found a gift shop/video rental store so we could watch a movie other than the ones we brought that night.

The next day we drove down to Monterey area. We decided to go find the California Condor. See picture above. We tried going to the the place that we were told you could see it, but missed the turn. Then we got caught in a traffic jam on Pacific Coast Highway, there was lots of construction. We turned around and a car was close behind me so I pulled into a pullout. We decided it had great views so we got out to take pictures. The car behind us pulled in behind us. Then the girl in the car pulled out a tracking device. Bill got all excited and we all strolled over to talk to her. And yes, she was tracking the Condors. But alas, none were in range. She did tell us that where we were going the Condors had not been seen this year. But right where we were standing they were being seen, but dusk was the best time for it. Bryan was determined we were to go to Pfeiffer Beach where we were told. So we drove down a winding narrow road to it. We got down there and the wind was wicked. We were blown out of there. So we then went to another park and birded there. Saw a great flock of California Quail.

By then we decided we could go back to the original place we had been. I thought we were going to the next pullout and Bill told me to turn around. Just when I did, Bryan spotted the Condor. We got the the pullout and jumped out of the car. For 30 minutes the Condor flew over us, and down to the water, back up, all around. A couple of other cars had stopped for the view and were treated to a nice show. One couple from Colorado went back to their car, then returned with there email address asking us to please email them a picture. They enjoyed seeing the Condor very much.

The Condor was almost extinct and they were all brought in from the wild for about 10 years and now they are making a comeback. This was a treat for all of us. I had seen one in Arizona last year, but it was just a zoom by. Bill and Bryan had not seen one in person.

Pushing Daisies

I'm watching Pushing Daisies and it's just so much fun! We need more quirky shows!

I tried doing Kimmie's Mosaic, but I will need the remedial course, the one for Mosaic Challenged.

Bill bought a new computer game to play. So far the $30 game has gotten quite expensive. His desktop is only 4 years old and is still quit peppy. So we bought a graphics card for it, got the top of the line, or the top of the middle line. When I got home with it, the card was too big for the slot. So I found another one, brought it home, and the monitor would never show. So Bill decided it was time for a new computer. So we bought a cute little slimline that has wireless, goes to 8 gb of RAM, has a built in graphics card for $569. Then he decides he needs a switch box so he can just have 1 monitor and keyboard, and hook it to 2 computers. So we get it all hooked up and the instructions say to hit the scroll lock key. His keyboard doesn't have a scroll lock. So we have to buy another wireless keyboard. I made sure this one has a scroll lock on it. And we bought another tower cart so the tower doesn't sit on the floor.

The bottom line is that $30 game has become quite expensive.

But Bill is having fun with his game.