Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:

My husband.  He doesn't have the beard now.  But I've never seen him...NEVER...without the mustache.  He also wasn't asleep here.  He just hates to have his picture taken.

My kids.  And their significant others.  My children have chosen people who make their lives richer, fuller and brighter.  I'm proud of them.  All of them.

My grandson.  He's beautiful, funny, smart and loving.  I'm sure there will be others.  And I'll love them just as much.

My furry babies.  Mikko, Itty, Bo, Kirby, Buddy, Aubie, in that order.  No picture of Dude, the Siamese cat. And as much as Buddy barks, as much as Kirby sheds, as much as Itty claws, etc...I still love them.  They make me smile.

My extra children.  The ones we've "adopted" over the years.  The ones who have become family.  The ones pictured here and the ones not pictured.  They know they're loved and always welcome at our house.

There are so many other things I'm thankful for; I couldn't even begin to list them all.  My parents and sisters and friends...

This is what I know:  there are 364 other days to be thankful.  It's not a one day special.  So I'll try to take more moments, every day, and stop and be thankful for all that is good in my life.  That's my Thanksgiving Day resolution. ;o)

Just a Recipe...but OH, MY, what a recipe!!!

S’mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe from Picky Palate

2 sticks (8 ounces) softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

24 graham cracker quarters or 12 full sheets separated at perforations
3 Hershey Bars, broken into rows of 3 bars
12 large marshmallows cut in half lengthwise

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment or a silpat liner.

2. In a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

3. Place flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl; mix to combine then add slowly to wet ingredients along with the chocolate chips.

4. Layer a graham cracker quarter with 3 Hershey chocolate squares and 2 marshmallow halves. Close with another graham cracker. (see below)

5. Top s’more with a large scoop of cookie dough. Place in hands and place another large scoop on bottom then front and back sides as needed. Form dough around s’mores. It is much easier than it sounds, just make sure your dough is around room temperature, and make one big disc shape. Pinch off excess dough if you have too much.

5. Place large cookies onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges are golden and centers are cooked through. Let cool for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack or serving plate.

The High Chair!

It's done!  This is the pictorial evolution of an old wooden high chair, spray painted white for a first child, fancied up for the second!

Nice chair, but boring, right?

Bought all the paints, excited to get started.

Jackie picked the colors from several samples I brought home; left it up to me to decide  where they went.

Trying to come up with a plan!

Along about now, I was thinking "this isn't as easy as I thought it would be?!?"

I like the color combination!

Wondering what to do next...

Love the blue and pink, but too predictable.

The orangey color is my favorite!

Wondering if I should stop...

Starting to add the details.

This is fun!  (Hoping I'll know when to stop!)

OK.  At this point I decided the seat was too solid.  Even though Jackie doesn't like yellow, I thought it needed either white or yellow for a pop.  So I made a home depot run and bought some paint tape and took a chance!

Yellow.  Like the centers of the flowers.  Hope it looks alright.

Now what?  Not crazy about the stripes.

Maybe if the stripes are in more places?!?

And I know I'm going to put dots on the legs, so why not in the seat!?

It's coming together!  I think I like!

We're about 2 weeks in at this point.  Hmmmmmm.

I'm liking it, but I need to add the flowers to the inside of the arms too.  And I think I'll stripe the top of the arms like the back.  Apparently at this point I had decided to never quit painting on this chair...

I think the details are cute!

It's time to do the tray!

Had Jackie choose the font she wanted from about 10 or 12 options.  She narrowed it down to two.

For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of the tray until it was almost done.  Oh, and those are my toes...

I like.

Decided the arms of the tray needed a little something too.

Finished.  Just adding the 5 coats of sealer......

Put it all together to see how it looked.

Juliette is getting a high chair for her first birthday November 1st.

Shhhhh.  Don't tell her.  It's a secret!!

Love you Jackie!  Hope you love it!!!  And you can show Jason that it's not ALL purple!!

Kelli's Cat

Kelli now has a Hemingway Cat.
Do you know what that is?

 Cute cat, right?

 Wait, his feet look really big...

Wow, that foot looks a little weird...closer, maybe??

 Whoa.  He has extra toes!!!!

 Seven on each front foot, to be exact.

Kind of like a cat foot with the usual 5 toes.  Then a thumb on the side.  With a toe in between that's smaller and kind of hidden.  That makes his feet look a little like hands.  Little monkey hands.

Technically, this condition is called polydactyly.  (Remember, I used to teach Biology...)

Lots of organisms can have this condition.  People with polydactyly usually have an extra piece of tissue on the little finger side of the hand which is not functional.  This person has a rarer form of it and the extra finger is  on the thumb side!

Sometimes this happens on the feet.  Kelli's cat has normal back feet, but you can see that this human foot has an extra pinky toe!

Now this one's even rarer--the extra digit is in the middle of the hand.
Wow.

Okay.  Back to the cat.  The reason he's called a Hemingway Cat is because of Ernest Hemingway.
Hemingway got his first cat from a ship's captain in Key West.  This cat, probably a Maine Coon, had extra toes.  It's believed that Maine Coon cats are the first to have had this condition.  Their ancestors are thought to have hitched a ride aboard ships sailing to the US, so polydactyl cats are most commonly found along the east coast of the States.  Hemingway loved his cats so much, the terms of his will provide for about 60 descendants (half of which are polydactyls) to reside at his home in Key West.

If you visit the Hemingway Home and Museum, you'll find the cats pretty much have their run of the place.

They sleep where they want,

drink what they want,

and come and go as they please.
The one drinking from the fountain looks an awfully lot like Kelli's cat.

So now that you've met the newest addition to the family, there's just one problem.

Kelli's cat has no name.
Any suggestions?