I feel nutty, oh so nutty, I feel nutty and cocoy and chewy!

Listed on the "good things on the net" section of this blog's sidebar is the blog Mennonite Girls Can Cook. Occasionally I check in with them to see what scrumptious recipe they've (it's a small group of women) posted for the day. Today was a day to check in. Glad I did!

This morning I had the hankering to have cookies in the cookie jar before My Darling Husband arrived home from an overnight campout with some men from church. Today's featured recipe, Coconut Crisps, appeared to fit the bill.In my version, I used unsweetened coconut, so I could've reduced the salt just a tiny bit, but the end result was still quite acceptable. I also used an ice cream scoop to produce uniform-sized cookies; mine were big and therefore yielded fewer cookies than stated in the recipe. These cookies are good. They are a mouthful of sweet, salty, coconut and chewy oatmeal all at once...a medley of sensations. They make an excellent companion to coffee.

sign of spring #3 or, a tale of three lilacs

Lilacs. The word itself is pretty. Add the delicate yet stable physical beauty and the wonderful scent, and you've got yourself an old-fashioned charmer. They remind me of my childhood...grandparents...playing in Mr. & Mrs. Mace's (elderly neighbors I grew up next door to) yard that had no fence...and like Alicia, the scent reminds me of the Midwest--home.
One set of my grandparents always had a lilac bush or two in their yard (other grandpa would've mowed them down, so other grandma dared not plant any). When we went for a visit, I and/or grandma would cut some lilacs to decorate the house. The lilac bush in the Mace's yard served as a hiding place for frequent games of hide-n-seek with the neighborhood children. Sometimes we would just plop ourselves on the grass or cement wall next to that lilac and pass the time.

The lilac pictured above is compliments of a friend here in The Small Town. I'm currently trying to start a new lilac bush from a cutting off hers. The plan is to plant it near our bedroom window so when we have the window open during lilac season, a west breeze will send the scent into our nostrils at night.

The vase with the lilacs on it is an heirloom from my mother's ceramic-painting days.

The blue lilac in the painting on the wall was done by a friend of my other grandparents some decades ago. So even if other grandma couldn't keep plants alive thanks to other grandpa, at least she could see them on her walls!

pick me! pick me! PLEEEASE!

Yesterday and today are National Adoption Weekend. It's a pairing of the Petco store with local animal shelters to promote and sponsor pet cat and dog adoptions. Petsmart is having theirs next month.

A local animal shelter is where one of my Christmas presents came from. My Darling Husband surprised me with him. I'd been chirping on forever about adopting a dog, waiting for just the right time (the moment M.D.H. says yes) and just the right dog. "Right dog" to me = lap dog. I was thinking Sheltie, Schnauzer, terrier size. M.D.H. grew up with larger dogs, so we compromised and are now the pround "parents" of a medium dog. I planned on adopting a dog from either the local animal shelter or from someone whose dog accidentally produced offspring.

I like this accidental canine offspring. He is part Labrador Retriever and part Border Collie. Around blogland he is known as Cutie Dog. Although he isn't exactly lap size, he does like a lap to sit on occasionally. You big baby.

he had a centipede, but I have a Junebug

Speaking of creatures, I'd like to introduce you to the stray kitten that adopted us a couple of weeks ago. Isn't she adooorrrable?! I christened her Junebug for the gold spot on her face. Her visage is like a golden junebug cruising in the night. Night is when I discovered her and her sibling seeking shelter in our back yard from the fireworks being set off in the neighborhood a few days before Independence Day. Junebug came to me right away. They left and I didn't see Junebug for a few days. Then she returned without her sibling. Junebug has been here ever since. There are lots of stray cats in The Small Town and even more in surrounding Even Smaller Towns. And because we have a swimming pool in our back yard, neighborhood strays always make a beeline for our yard. I usually don't feed strays, but when I saw this kitten, who didn't have her mother to depend on, well, how could I leave her to chance? No way.
She loves to be held and cuddled. My Darling Husband is allergic to felines, so sorry, Junebug, you have to stay outside. I'm trying to find a good home for her where she can be an indoor cat. She wants to come in. Just look at that face! So cuuute!

and you thought women have too many shoes

In honor of the classic Saturday morning cartoons, I want to post something funny on Saturday mornings. I grew up with Tom & Jerry, Daffy Duck, Mickey Mouse, Wiley Coyote...those were the good cartoons! None of this new-fangled human/robot hybrids spitting lightning. Ahhh, bring back innocence.

These jokes that I post probably will all have been thought up by someone else, since my humor is more situational and impetuous than to just make up a joke from thin air as some lucky-duck people can do. Today's joke is just hilarious!

This guy was so lonely that he decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion he finally bought a centipede, which came in a little white box to use for his house.
He took the box home, found a good location for the box, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to the bar for a drink.
So, he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to Frank's place with me and have a beer?" But there was no answer from his new pet. This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again,"How about going to the bar and having a drink with me?" But again there was no answer from his new friend and pet.
So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about thesituation. He decided to ask him one more time, this time putting his face up against the centipede's house and shouting, "Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Frank's place and have a drink with me?"
A little voice came out of the box: "I heard you the first time! I'm putting my shoes on!"

Princess Calico

The word calico drums up images of the calico cat my family had when I was a wee lass. I thought Princess was the cutest thing ever. I'll make today Word Wednesday, because I still think calico cats are one of the cutest things. Cute as a button. Perhaps we should change that phrase to cute as a kitten.

"A Word A Day
calico
PRONUNCIATION:(KAL-i-co)
MEANING:
noun:
1. A brightly printed coarse cotton cloth.
2. (Mainly British) A plain white cotton cloth.
3. An animal having a spotted coat, especially with red and black patches.
adjective:
1. Made from such a cloth.
2. Having a spotted pattern.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Calicut, former name of Kozhikode, a city in southern India from where this cloth was exported. Other words for clothes with Indian origins are bandana, cashmere, chintz, dungarees, jodhpurs, khakis, madras, pajamas, and seersucker (not all are toponyms). "
I still like a good calico, both feline and fabric form. Here's a good feline picture. I can just feel that velvet nose.