Rebecca Homecca

What’s worse than going back to work after a long holiday weekend?

Going back to work after having the whole week off.

What’s worse than going back to work after having the whole week off?

Going back to work after having the whole week off on the last day of the month!

There should be a rule that the last day of the month can’t be on a Monday. It is just too much work for a Monday!

I’m not even sure what I did today, but it was a lot. I was literally swimming in paperwork.

Sometimes I am not sure if the aftermath of a vacation is worth the time off…oh wait…yeah it is!!

Even though it is 40 degrees out, I put the Christmas tree up. Last year I put it in the dining room so that you can see it from the front of the house. But I have turned the dining room into a workroom again (painting more trim…), so it’s in the living room this time.
I am curious (and not in a good way) about how Maisy will be with the tree. Marvin doesn’t bother it. He mostly likes to lay on the tree skirt and hide behind the presents. I have a feeling she may want to climb it.
Now when we had the little tree in the basement Marvin would swipe the little stockings off it and the football ornament. But only those 2 things. He was obsessed with those stockings.
This is pretty much all the decorating I am doing. I think it gets less and less every year. The thing about putting up Christmas decorations is you have to take them down too!
Happy Holidays! Less than a month to go!

After 2 days of visiting family and pinching babies, we are back at Cat Central.

Maisy’s eye is still not better, but hopefully the drops will take care of it soon. Other than that they both survived and seem to be getting more used to each other.

I can’t believe I don’t have to go to work yet! I love these long vacations at home!

We’ll be off traveling to visit family (although cutting the trip short due to kitty issues, kids these days…nothing but trouble).

Anyway, here’s my contribution to the festivities

Crumbly Apple Pie (Part Pie, Part Apple Crisp, the best of both worlds)

Step One: Make a crust or if you are like me, buy a crust

Step Two: Slice about 7 med apples

Step Three: Mix apples in a big bowl with the following (I find hands work best)

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Salt

Put the apples mix in your pie crusts (in a pie plate of course!)

Step Four: Mix the topping, which is made of

3/4 cup packed Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Flour

1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/3 cup chilled butter cut into small pieces

Step Five: Cover entire pie with topping

Step Six: Bake at 400 for about 35 min until bubbly, brown, and the apples are tender

This is so good with Vanilla ice cream it might be dangerous.

Because I am such a dedicated employee, I came in on my day off to attend a party.

I am nothing if not committed.

Our parties are always pot luck, so I took the opportunity to make something that would still be warm when I got there and didn’t have to worry about storing it all day.

This is my mom’s famous recipe for Beau Monde Bread.

1 Long French Bread, sliced in 1″ slices, but don’t slice all the way through.

Swiss cheese slices cut in 1/2

Mix with 1/2 lb of softened butter:

2 Tbs Grated Onion (Literally take an onion to the cheese grater)

1 tsp Mustard

2 Tbs Lemon Juice

1 Tbs Poppy Seeds

1 tsp Beau Monde Seasoning

Spread Butter mixture on both side of each slice, being careful to not tear the bread apart.

Then put a slice of cheese (or 2) in between each slice of bread.

Spread any leftover butter on top.

Double wrap in foil and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Woke up relatively early (early for a supposed vacation day anyway) to take Miss Maisy to the vet to get her checked out.

It was very traumatic for all parties involved. She did not like being poked and prodded and made that quite clear. Then they started trimming her nails…it got ugly.

Once back home, she was mad at us, so she hung out in her fort for a while. We just have the door to her room open now, and they seem to be, well, not getting along exactly, but not fighting or chasing. Signs of improvement.

Hubs and I made back to back hair cut appointments for this afternoon. So, after attempts at some quick naps (we ARE on vacation after all) we headed to grab lunch and get hair cuts.

Then we had to go pick up my car at the shop, which we had dropped off yesterday to get fixed (it had a variety of issues, something broken, something leaking, blah blah car words…).

(Just realized this is all very riveting reading, I am sure)

Quick stop at the grocery store and then home. Nothing like spending your whole vacation day running errands. But it’s easier to get stuff done during the week when everyone else is at work!

Tonight’s big activity is to start the pies for Thanksgiving. Normally I would do them all tomorrow, but I have a party to go to in the afternoon, and also have to make a snack for that. So I figured I better get a little ahead of the game.

This vacation schedule is exhausting.

Maisy is settling in. She has claimed this cushion as here favorite spot.
Check out the other pictures over at Flickr. You will see she made her self very comfortable on my lap, well, not lap so much (Considering she was totally laid out the entire length of my legs.)
We had another supervised visit with Marvin and it went a little better. Marvin is very curious about her. The feeling, however, is NOT mutual.
She seems pretty content otherwise and is always glad to see us when we go in her room.
Marvin is keeping guard outside the door, just in case she makes a peep.

We picked up Maisy this morning (they had a bunch of new kittens into today. THREE nubtails! I wanted them all). She was super good in the car. She didn’t cry or anything (no poop either – yay!)

So far the cats are not aware of each other. We are trying to get her settled first.

We keep petting one, then the other, repeat so they are getting used to each others smell.

She’s going to be a trouble maker. We can tell that already! Despite all of our efforts to close everything off so she couldn’t hide away somewhere that we couldn’t get to, she did. After lunch Hubs went back down to check on her and calls for me saying he can’t find her.

It’s just one room, where did she go? We finally found her up above one of the storage cabinets.

Uh oh. She’s a climber!

More to come later…

Forgive me,  I am slightly obsessed with the cat situation right now. I am considering changing my blog to The Cat Chronicles.

Hubs took Marvin to the vet this morning and things did not go great. He had 3 poops on the way there (Marvin, not hubs). Luckily, hubs did not throw up on the way there, which is a real possibility.

They cleaned him up at the vet and he made it back home poop free.

He had to get 3 shots (poor baby!) so he is sore and tired tonight. He cries when you pick him up, so we’ve been letting him be.

He’s hiding out in his hammock (which is in the lining of the chair downstairs) and won’t come out. We called our family Vet Tech and she assured us that this is normal.

Still breaks my heart though.

We also found out he has a tooth issue that will have to be addressed. Which means a trip BACK to the vet.

Oh dear.

UPDATE: Woke up at 5 am to check Marvin (told you I was crazy) and he seems to be back to normal. He was out of the hammock and in his blanket. I checked his food dish, and he had eaten over night. We came up stairs and laid on the couch until it was time for me to get around for work. Now he’s just waiting impatiently for his breakfast.