a99kitten's Musings

I’m always looking for yummy recipes that will work for tailgating. Has to be easily transportable, eaten easily while hanging out and preferably little mess (at least once in the Candlestick parking lot!) Oh! And also very yummy :)

Have never done chicken before. Honestly my go-to is cheeseburgers because cheeseburgers are delicious. Two weeks ago I decided to use the advice from some food guy on Yahoo about cheeseburgers and use 80/20 meat, American cheese and squishy white bread buns (no pretzel bun, ciabatta, etc etc.) Frankly, I’ve never done that. I always buy 93/7 meat and use cheddar, blue cheese, or some such other yummy cheese. BUT, this guy’s point was make the cheeseburger the way it is meant to be made. You don’t eat them every day so when you do, make them right. He was right – DELICIOUS!!! I will make them that way for tailgating from now on.

But I digress….I wanted to try chicken this time so went on a search for a tasty chicken recipe. Found this one on the Food Network – Dirty P’s Garlic-Ginger Chicken Thighs:

Ingredients

2 pounds skin-on, boneless chicken thighs
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh tangerine or orange juice
Freshly ground pepper
Vegetable oil, for the grill

NOW…I changed the recipe to this (for my tastes):

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger (used Gourmet Garden ginger paste found in the produce section)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (used Odwalla)
Freshly ground pepper
Vegetable oil, for the grill (I used spray on grilling spray stuff…highly technical)

I hate onions (unless deep-fried into rings in which case they are OK especially when dipped in ranch!) so they had to go. And I just can’t eat chicken skin unless way deep fried KFC style. So skinless as well as boneless chicken for me…

Directions

Combine the chicken, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, juice and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal and shake to coat the chicken with the marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight. (I marinated for about 5 hours before cooking.)

Preheat a grill to medium high and oil the grate. Grill the chicken skin-side down until marked, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and continue to grill until cooked through, about 5 more minutes. (here is where I changed it – since I have skinless chicken cook for 2 minutes on 1 side, flip and 2 more minutes, and then repeat. So cooking for 8 minutes total. BUT, the key was making sure the grill was HOT. In making this at home for a 2nd time my grill was heated to 500 degrees.)

When I went to Safeway to buy chicken for the tailgate, the checkout guy was probably 20 yrs old at most. There was a HUGE notice at checkout about the chicken as there was a recent Foster Farms salmonella scare. When I asked half-jokingly “what do I need to know about this chicken?” he responded “cook your chicken. simple. people don’t cook their chicken and then go around blaming other people for their own stupidity. it’s not filet mignon people. it’s chicken. not supposed to be pink.” I left that in all lower case because he said it so fast, and in such a thick country accent, that I had no response other than a heartfelt smile and a “You are completely right.” Nice to know there are some people out there that I agree with.

Anyway….I digress…..again….

Let the chicken rest 3-5 minutes before serving.

This was SO good. So, so good. Also – FULLY cooked but not dry. Pay attention people. Yummy. Both at the 49ers tailgate and tonight. Very glad I found the recipe and will use it often! And not just for tailgating :)

Q3 has drawn to a close and I must say that I am pretty happy with how it went. And glad I did not sell in May and go away. Well…actually…I could have gone away at the end of May and then come back in July. June trading was awful. But that was soooo last quarter.

To be honest, I checked my numbers 3 times to make sure they were right. And they were. For Q3 I was +17.7%. Not so bad at all. In looking at most successful trades, a lot of them were calls. This is actually bad since I have been trying to limit my options trades and this won’t encourage that attempt at a new behavior ;)

I made some excellent trades in (and out and back in again) pure momo names. TSLA? Check. NFLX? Check. YELP? Check. Plus a few more of the usual suspects. Although — my biggest and best trade was in a former momo — AAPL (calls…doh!) I happened to own some calls *before* Carl Icahn’s tweet (aka pure luck.) I owe him a fruit basket of apples :)

My most absolute worst trade was in another momo – SODA. Ugh. Should have known better on that one though. 2nd worst trade? UVXY. I don’t think I need to say anything more about that one. Those ETFs are garbage. But oh well. I made a note next to it in my spreadsheet “Never, ever trade this again stupid” and highlighted it.

I also started taking more ideas from inside the 12631 trading room. I have typically followed chessNwine in all of his longs. I don’t short much at all though. And this past quarter I followed a few more of RaginCajun’s quick strikes and ideas from other members.

I also was able to take advantage of a few stocks that got beaten down on a single news event and make money on the quick pop up. BA, LL, WMT. This is actually why I keep CNBC on during the day as I wouldn’t notice the news fast enough otherwise.

I’ve also been trying to take more profits quicker. I promised myself that I was going to do that in my trading account. Stocks/companies that I believe in and want to keep – buy them for my 401k. But my trading account is for trading. I just don’t trust this market. So I’d rather take some profits and maybe miss out on another move up than lose them and be in a losing trade on a quick retrace. And you can always join back in if you’ve got a runner. I’ve done that a few times in the Chinese solars lately. In and out and back in (and out) again! (mmmmm….now I want a double double with cheese.)

Although what’s funny about that strategy is that I’ve not sold when a stock turns on me and then had it come right back in a day or 2 (or sometimes later that same day.) My semi-blind trust in the exuberant market working in my favor. It can hurt me too (SODA) but has frankly worked more than not so…

Of course as I say all of this, Washington is doing its darn best to wreck the 4Q. But we’ll see. I think by finding selective stocks and trading quickly, money can still be made. At least for now.

“Work smarter, not harder” ~~ Scrooge McDuck

It’s been a month since Stormy left me. Hard to believe it’s been a month already really. I still get sad and regularly think, for just that split millisecond, that I hear him moving around.

But when I start to feel sad, I try to remind myself that most people didn’t expect him to make it much past 8 once he was diagnosed with Cushings or past 9 when his 2nd liver tumor (and 2nd surgery) was diagnosed as cancerous. But instead he not only survived those things, he got to go to the beach, play in the snow, have fun, eat freshly made cheeseburger, make and play with friends, and bring everyone who met him smiles every day until he was 11.

When he could no longer stand on his own (late June), I knew our time was limited. I’d help him up and use one of those slings but then he didn’t want that after awhile. But he was still a happy guy every day. He loved to sit on the deck and watch chipmunks and birds. He loved his regular ear rubs, still ahrooed for his breakfast and loved his cheeseburger and cookies. I told him that I wanted him to stay as long as he wanted, but if he started feeling sick or in pain, he had to tell me.

On August 2nd he did tell me. But I do know that he was happy up until then. And I have to remember that is what counts: all of the time that I got to spend with him. I was lucky to have been able to bring my guys to work every day all of their lives, take them to the beach or snow every day, and then work from home and spend the extra time taking care of Storm when he needed it.

I miss my boys. I spent more time with them every day for 12 years than I did anyone else in my life. It’s hard to have that gone. They made me smile every single day. They were the best friends you could ever ask for. If you are lucky enough to have a critter in your life, make sure you hug and love them every day. They deserve it and don’t stay with us long enough.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

Author unknown…

At SDCC, I went by the same booth Thursday and Friday to check out a piece of art. It was the canvas original of “Bad Girls” by Mimi Yoon. In person, this piece was amazing. The colors truly pop out and grab you. It was also almost as tall as me framed on the wall – great, great piece. It was also $15,000 and there was no way I was spending that kind of money on something withOUT Chewbacca in it ;)

Bad Girls original

Besides my Star Wars and Indy collecting, I have always loved collecting the female characters in DC and Marvel. This is a lot easier now than it was when I was younger. I still have carded action figures safe and sound from when I was a kid but they didn’t make too many of them which was pretty silly if you think about it. Pretty (and usually big boobed) super heroes sold to boys? Seems like an easy sell. Although now it’s hard to find the really awesome pieces because those same boys grew up, made some money and now buy them all up :) I think Slave Leia changed it all honestly.

I loved (well…still love) Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Storm, Scarlet Witch, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Batgirl, etc, etc growing up. Not because I’m some feminist girl who wanted to feel empowered/not need men/blah blah baloney though. I mostly loved that they kicked serious ass while they were pretty and wearing cool outfits with high-heeled boots. I’m such a girl :)

They had an artist proof on canvas (and paper it turned out) at a much more reasonable price plus smaller. Edition size was 100 so still a small run (paper was 250.) But SDCC had just started and I wanted to see if any new Star Wars art caught my eye before spending any money (if I spent any on art at all.) The guy at the booth was nice, and showed me some pieces they had that they weren’t allowed to display (very nice), but he was a bit pushy and kept using salesmen mumbo-jumbo “what can we do to get this done?”, “let’s schedule a sit down and talk about this”, etc. And I hate to be sold to. So I eventually got out of there and said I’d think about it.

I walked by again on Friday and looked at the original again. Still gorgeous. But my proof was gone! Sold. Darn. I guess it was not meant to be. But I was sad. I did really like the piece. Walked by again Saturday and the original was gone! (Turns out it was sold by the Chuck Jones Gallery as I learned on Sunday…)

On Sunday I decided to go to the Chuck Jones Gallery. I always stop by there when in town for SDCC. I walk in the front door and there is my Bad Girls artist proof on canvas all framed and pretty! And there is the artist! And she is signing dedication cards for the canvas if you buy one. Oh man. An employee walks up and asks me if I know this piece and gave him the above story. He smiled and and said I guess this is fate then. Yep. He knew I was sold.

Artist Mimi Yoon (and me!) with my Bad Girls :)

Mimi Yoon writing my dedication card for Bad Girls

My dedication card!

They shipped it up to me and the girls arrived all safe and sound. And I just put them up on the wall. LOVE IT. The colors pop and they catch the light as you walk by. #24 of 100. Absolutely ZERO buyer’s remorse. It was, after all, Fate :)

On the wall!

San Diego Comic Con 2013 is over. I hate the day after con withdrawal. But I am quite happy to be home to Stormy!

What a trip! Up at 4:30am Wednesday morning to arrive early enough to check-in, drop luggage off and get in line for badge pick-uo. Once in line, we made line friends. This is key to con survival in my opinion. You spend a LOT of time in lines and I can’t just sit and read the whole time. Ended up meeting very nice people from LA, NY and DC. We played card games, chatted about what we all wanted to see, our past con experiences and what we wanted when we hit the floor running tonight! Turned out we wanted similar things so we divided and conquered and each picked a booth and bought the items for the others. Met up over the next couple days to exchange and it worked out perfectly!!!

Then we got our badges and moved to the exhibit hall line where we waited for hours again. But we kept our line friends :) Then we got on to the floor and I had to run across the the entire exhibit hall to get to the Funko booth….with a huge line. DOH! No good line friends there, but made friends with some security and Funko people. I won 2 things while waiting in the Funko line and got ALL of the items I wanted plus the items my friends wanted!!! Sonya had gone to the Marvel booth and got us the exclusive Old Man Logan figure and Levi got us the Stark Shields! Our line friend went to Hasbro and got Sonya the Star Wars Angry Birds set and me the Boba Fett and Han in Carbonite – exclusive black series. VERY productive evening!!!

Then we dropped off our haul at the hotel and went to dinner at Nobu. SO. SOOO. Yummy.

Thursday was a floor morning and Hall H afternoon. We hit up the Walking Dead booth first and went on from there. The booths by the big shows/studios were all great as usual. No line for Hall H yet so we walked in and the seat master (my friend Sonya who I always go to cons with) got us seats in dead center row 11!!! For HARRISON FORD!!!

First up was the Entertainment Weekly Visionaries panel. It’s 3 directors with movies coming out. They were all fantastic. But I really liked Edgar Wright- he was FUNNY. Then the Divergent panel. I had never even heard of the movie and barely recall hearing about the books. But the panel was fantastic. A lot of the cast showed up as well as the author and it was a very fun panel. Footage looked great and it intrigued me enough to download the first 2 books of the series (3rd coming out soon.) I’m about 1/3 of the way through Book 1 and really like it so far.

Then it was Ender’s Game time. Again, I have barely heard of the book but, according to the panel, is required by the US Military? Between that and the footage, I was intrigued enough to download Book 1 of that series too. Will start after Divergent 1 and 2. But of course, the main reason I was in that Hall H today was for my man. He never, ever, never does cons. When he showed up unannounced for Cowboys & Aliens 2 years ago the place erupted into to a giant flashbulb and long, unending scream. This time he was announced a week or 2 ago. Hall H was easily 1/2 empty when we showed up around 12:30. But as it got closer to Enders Game panel time (3:30 I think), the place filled up completely and there ended up being a line of people who didn’t get in. Every single person in our section said they were there for Harrison Ford. Of course :)

Of course the applause and screaming and flashbulbs went on forever when he came out. And of course during the Q&A you get the jackass who doesn’t ask him about his current movie but instead a Han Solo/Indiana Jones question. This is the reason he doesn’t go to these things. The question was “if Han Solo and Indiana Jones met, what would they say?” Everyone in the hall booed the guy and yelled noooooooo. Come on. Harrison took off his glasses, looked around and said “I’m never coming back here” and started to get up. He was obviously kidding and chuckled and sat back down. Then said “I don’t know…..’Hi. How are you?'” He has definitely settled himself comfortably into the role of the lovable curmudgeon with a dry sense of humor we all can’t help but love. Got a few good pics but this is my favorite..

Sonya and I both agreed that I could have *easily* run up there and jumped him before security could stop me. But I restrained myself :)

Another awesome Thursday activity was being a pool of gold and silver!!! This is my ultimate Uncle Scrooge goal (but with real gold and silver) :)

Hehehehehe

We left Hall H after the Enders Game panel was done. More floor time, drop stuff at hotel and then dinner at Lolita’s. Carne Asada fries! O.M.G. We ran into some friends so went to the MTV2 party after dinner with them. We lasted about 1 hour. Not my thing. But a big party that I think MTV spent a boatload on. Live bands that I might know if I was a tweener. Huge fireworks display, tons of interactive stuff all around plus free food and wine/beer/sodas. Plus free giant glowsticks :) It didn’t have one single thing to do with SDCC other than being a spectacle but oh well.

Friday was a beast. Sonya’s fiancee camped out in Hall H line starting around midnight. We met him around 5:30-6ish with Starbucks. Day was loaded with The World’s End (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Kick Ass 2 (cast), Riddick (Vin Diesel and Katee Sackhoff), The Walking Dead (huge cast panel) and The Game of Thrones (huge cast panel.) All were great but I think GOT was my favorite. Although the footage for TWD S4 was INSANE!!! But besides the fact that I love the books and TV series and the cast are always great to see on these panels, they started the panel with lights off and this video:

http://youtu.be/9m4ZPULXJKw

ONLY watch if you are caught up on Season 3! It’s an In Memoriam of all the characters who have died through the 3 seasons set to Boys to Men and with a little humor thrown in. GREAT execution. They never have footage to show since their season just ended and hasn’t start filming for the next season yet. So they need to be creative and always are. During the panel, Jason Momoa ruhed onstage and kissed Emilia Clarke (Daenerys). I didn’t hear what he said to her but then as he rushed off she said “My Sun and Stars…” You could tell they were all surprised by his fly-by so that was fun :)

After the GOT panel ended, my friends went off and did their thing and I went to the floor for a bit. Picked up a drawing I had commissioned on Artists Alley:

It really is amazing watching these guys draw.

The GOT cast were at the WB booth. Peter Dinklage waved at me. But sooo crowded around there I left pretty quickly. After checking out the floor for a bit, decided to head over to check out the stuff on the lawn at the Hilton Bayfront. Checked that all out and decided to get a soda and sit down. As I was tweeting/instagramming/facebooking, I looked up and saw Jason Momoa (aka Khol Drogo.) I jumped up and asked for a pic! He was very sweet and even though his handler was trying to rush him away, he did. When he saw my Chewbacca phone case he said “Your Chewbacca phone is a f***ing awesome!” LOL

By Friday night, we were all far too tired to even consider camping for Hall H on Friday night/Saturday morning. We all really wanted to see everything in there but at some point, your adultness sets in and a bed and shower sound better. I really think they will need to do something about the camping. Pretty much not fair if a family with kids or 60 yr old wants to see a Hall H panel but can’t because camping is truly a suck option. Plus being that exhausted makes for not as fun of a day, IMO. And frankly, the non-showering situation is very noticeable. But oh well. I’ll find a college kid and pay him to camp for me next year. Capitalism will prevail.

So Sonya and I did Ballroom 20 all day instead. Only had to line up at 6:30am! And then Sonya’s seat-masterness won again – front row! All fun panels PLUS I got to run to the floor and pick up the last SDCC13 exclusive collectible that I had wanted. You needed to get in line for a wristband in order to buy it and I was able to get it on Saturday AM! Sonya got to ask a question in the True Blood panel and I got to see the panels I wanted to. While we were bummed not to be in Hall H for Tom Cruise and Marvel, we had a really great day.

The key to having fun at Comic Con is have a Plan A, B and C. There are a LOT of people, so a lot of lines. So you can’t always get into/do your Plan A. But that’s no reason to not have fun since there is sooooo much stuff going on!!

Dinner at Fleming’s was super delicious. There was a table across from us that I saw 3 different women stop and ask for pics so it was someone famous-ish. Just someone I didn’t recognize. Turns out it was some cast members from Survivor. Then saw the guy (also an MMA fighter?) who played the Mr T role in the new A-Team movie there. And then a long time twitter friend met me there with his wife for drinks. A fun day and night for sure!!

Sundays are for packing up, checking out and walking the floor or downtown. Sonya and I were strolling downtown and saw Michael Rooker right in front of the Hard Rock Hotel! Merle!!! Asked for a quick picture and he said sure even though his handler was trying to wrangle him. He was very sweet and told me take good care of my ears (was wearing my fluffy wold ears as usual) :) We went on to an early lunch after waiting in line for the Game of Thrones exhibit but giving up on it. Off to Lolita’s! (Hey – these are only found in San Diego!) Then we hit the floor for a bit. Madness! Got some decent swag and took a few more pics and then it was time for Sonya to head for the airport. I went back downtown as I wanted to go to the Chuck Jones Gallery. They always do fun things for SDCC week. I walked in, and saw the canvas of the piece I almost bought on the floor but talked myself out of several times, right there front and center. Turns out the artist was in the gallery and doing dedications if you bought the piece. Seriously? It was fate at this point. So I did it. This is the larger original:

I actually bought 2 pieces there. When I get them (being shipped to me), I will blog again with photos and their history. Both are beautiful. At least to me.

Then it was time to go! No more buying!!! Hotel, airport, airplane, airport, driving. HOME! Plus I shipped most of my stuff so when I get that box in a day or 2, it will be like a mini-Comic Con/Christmas all over again :)

The only bummer about the Con is that Disney kept any and all news about Star Wars away. Nothing. Nada. I assume they are holding anything back and will release it at D23 – Disney’s expo. But this is truly their audience and since they realize that with Marvel, they should realize it with Star Wars. I can only hope that since they probably don’t have that much to reveal yet, they WILL change their minds and do something at SDCC14 when more information about the new Star Wars movies are available. Fingers and paws crossed.

I realized that while I was there I only saw tweets or FB posts related to Comic Con. No other tweets, no Facebook, no news, no TV, no politics, no media other than fun. And I was in a GREAT mood the entire time! I way, way prefer that. I think I need to clean up my twitter and FB feeds.

I have tons of fun every year. It gets crazier each year plus more and more crowded and maybe I will get tired of dealing with that at some point, but probably not. I like finding new shows, movies, comics and books to investigate and it’s fun to be surrounded by people who like the same things. Of course, I can only take that many people for so long :) Sad SDCC is over but now back home in the mountains with NO lines, very few people plus my very own Hoth Stormtrooper so it’s all A-OK :)

Flickr link for all the pics: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjH1QZjv

No, not me. My kitty. She was the original a99kitten. Back in 1999, when I would work on my computer at home at night as my husband (well, fiancee back then) and I started a company at night while I worked at a hedge fund during the day and he was in business school at Stanford, Gypsy would demand attention by laying across my keyboard and knocking the mouse around. She was a cyber kitten and she got the nickname a99kitten when she wouldn’t let me type as I was choosing my username :)

I was signing up for Yahoo and needed a username. I came up with a99kitten for her. It’s been with me since then and I can’t imagine ever changing it. But usernames seem to last longer than kittens :(

We got Gypsy to keep my other cat Jack company. He predated my husband. Jack was a good kitty but since we worked so much and were out of the house a lot, he seemed lonely. We would come home and he’d be in the window looking out and meowing :( So we got him a sister. He liked her right away but she would hiss and swat at him. Jack was a BIG kitty and she was a small kitten but she really wanted no part of him. Her first weekend with us, Jack was sitting on my lap and she was sitting next to me on the bed. She would hiss at him for no reason, and he would smack her in the head with his tail. They kept this up for about 20 minutes. Was pretty funny actually.

The next day, she was still hissing and swatting him at him all the time, even though he wasn’t doing anything. I left them alone for about an hour in the house. I figured, they will work it out. Came back home and they were sitting next to each other. With NO hissing or swatting! They were best friends and inseparable from then.

When we got Angelus, he would chase them up into their cat trees if they ran from him but was generally he didn’t care about them. Then we got Storm. All of a sudden there was a pack. And prey. Storm taught Angelus how much fun it was to chase the cats and try and get them and shake them. If we were home and awake, everyone could live together without incident but at night, the dogs stayed in the bedroom with us. And if I had to leave the dogs home for some reason (they typically went with me everywhere), then I would put the cats in the guest room.

But they got Jack and Gypsy each once. Each time it was for only a second or 2 and the cats were always OK since we separated it quickly, but it was not OK for them to live in fear. So my husband found this company that made outdoor cat enclosures that you build in your yard. They were the size of small rooms. He drove out to the middle of nowhere California and picked up the kit the weekend after the dogs got Gypsy. He built it and put in several cat trees and shelves. I filled it with their beds and blankets. Had tarps on it to close when it got stormy. We ran electricity from under the house to it and put in an electric water fountain (Jack refused to drink standing water) and moved them in.

They actually really seemed to like it as they got sunshine in, could watch the birds, etc. But it also meant they couldn’t snuggle with me anymore :( And from pretty much that point on, I felt like a failure of a cat mom. Sure they were safe, dry, well fed, etc but still. I recognize a lot of cats live outdoors and don’t get that much care but mine always had. I would go out and see them daily. Give them fresh food, water, etc. Pet them, brush them. When I went out of town, friends came by to check on them or I hired a local woman who did pet care to come daily.

We considered finding them a new home but that’s pretty much impossible. There are so many cats and dogs in shelters that I couldn’t ever ask a friend to choose my safe and cared for cats over a shelter cat who would be put down if not adopted.

Several years ago, Jack died. So that left Gypsy alone out there. Then I felt really horrible. I would try and visit her more but it was still not the same for as having her kitty brother or living inside with her humans. But it also wasn’t right to bring her inside so she could be afraid every day.

When I moved up here full time last November, I brought her up with me. I made the upstairs her domain and the dogs were not allowed up there ever. She seemed so, so, so, so happy. I have 2 guest rooms so she had numerous beds to sleep on and under (of course she didn’t want either of her beds that she had.) She would cruise downstairs at night when the dogs were asleep and I went upstairs numerous times during the day to pet her and brush her. She seemed like a happy little kitty.

About a month ago or so, I noticed that she wasn’t eating. After 2 days of that, I took her in to the vet hoping for a simple, fixable problem. Nope. She was in renal failure. Now, that can mean a day, a week, a month, a year. You just don’t know. I started giving her sub-cutaneous fluids daily, extra potassium and put her on a special diet. She seemed like she was happy again. Yay. But kidney failure isn’t curable. Just manageable. And she is 16.

Yesterday morning she didn’t want to get up to eat. She’d ate like a champ if I brought it to her but she didn’t want to walk anymore. I brought her out into the sun with me on the deck and we hung out. Storm stayed in the shade and said we were crazy.

But then she didn’t want to eat last night. I brought her bed into my bed last night and she slept there. This morning she doesn’t want any food or water. She doesn’t get up from her bed. It’s her time. We are now hanging out on the deck in the sun. She has always loved the sun. Every time I pet her, she purrs and purrs. It’s a very hard decision to make when you see them looking at you and they seem like they are “there”. But her body is betraying her. And I do not want her in pain or feeling very sick. She deserves better than that.

I called the vet this AM and she agreed that beyond giving her fluids, there is not much to do at this point. It’s just deciding when. I had to with Jack and it was awful. Angelus took that decision out of my hands, which I am frankly still not fully recovered from. Gypsy will need me to help her. We are sunning for the rest of the morning and afternoon and I am taking her to vet late this afternoon. It’s not fair. She finally gets back inside and is happy and nature takes her away.

Gypsy has been a great little kitten who always just loved people and attention. She is the true a99kitten.

Gypsy

Stormin!

Today is Storm’s birthday!!! He is 11!

When he was 8, he was diagnosed with Cushings Disease and a lot of the info you find online about the illness says they survive 1-2 years at most.

And then when he was 9, he had 2 tumors removed (several months apart.) 1st one was determined to be benign but then the 2nd cancerous. People said don’t do the 2nd surgery, it’s just prolonging his illness, he won’t make it, the cancer will just come right back, blah blah. But that was by people that don’t know the guy well enough. Who had no faith in his awesomeness. His doctors and I knew better.

He is getting older and not as active or crazy as he used to be. But he still enjoys watching and sniffing for critters (just not trying to catch them and tear out their squeakers anymore), resting in a pile of snow and ahrooing for his breakfast :)

He is a superduper Hoth Stormtrooper (as confirmed by the AKC!) And he says “never count me out!”

Happy Birthday little buddy :)

Debating taking his birthday breakfast outside on the deck…

Monster in cute puppy clothing…the day Angelus picked him :)

As a Star Wars collector, I like to display my collectibles. Having them stored away in crates in the closet is silly.

Now, I have too much to be able to display everything. And some items are not as “displayable” (MIB original toys, etc.) But keeping my action figures stored away in a crate on the closet seemed very wrong.

Unlike a lot of kids who trashed their toys, I kept my original Star Wars action figures in great condition. After I “grew up” I kept them in my Darth Vader case and then individual plastic baggies stored away in a waterproof crate. I have some MOC figures too which are in protective cases (purchased as an adult) but, as a kid, I opened up my action figures and had them set up in my room by “setting” (Hoth, Cantina, Ewok village, etc.) So they were all opened, but kept in great condition.

Sadly, my original TESB open belly taun-taun has a broken harness due to the kid of my Dad’s business partners. He came over with his Dad and found his way into my room. When I went in my room and saw him there playing with my stuff, and he showed me the broken harness, I threatened to end his life if he ever went near my stuff again. He left and told his dad. My dad laughed. Might sound harsh but the kid was a horrible little racist brat who was on the path to becoming a serial killer so some fear did him good.

But these original action figures are actually a great part of my collection. I love them! I have searched and searched for a cool way to display them. But most cases are just simple acrylic or glass cases that comic book stores use and I didn’t really like that aesthetic. Plus it was a point of contention between my husband and I about displaying my Star Wars items.

Then I found it. A site that sold action figure cases for display that were cool (IMO anyway.) The owner allowed me to design the case as I wanted as he made them to order. He had some options on his website but then you could make whatever changes you wanted to it. And he said he will use my case as a sample on his site! YAY!

He just sent me the photo of the finished product this morning!!!

I’ve got the wall space waiting! And am SO excited to put all my action figures in!!! So it was worth the wait to find the right case :)

If you need a case, go here! http://www.figuredisplay.com/

I have never made soup before (besides using a can opener that is!) Also, when I say homemade, that does NOT mean I made my own stock. That’s just silly IMO unless making homemade chicken noodle soup. I found 2 yummy looking recipes for Broccoli Cheddar Ale soup. I kinda sorta combined them/tweaked the ingredients and recipes a little for my taste:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 medium red onion, minced very, very teeny tiny as I hate biting into onions
4 whole green onions (I trimmed them down to about half size. Again..not an onion fan)
2 whole garlic cloves, minced
2 bunches of broccoli (I only used florets)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon 
sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 bottle (12-ounce) ale (I used a Pale Ale)
2 cups skim milk (although might try with full fat milk next time)
2 cups chicken broth (1 cup reserved)
4 – 4.5 cups grated sharp cheddar

Instructions:

Add the oil to a large heavy-bottomed pot set over medium-high heat.

Add the onions and cook until the onion is translucent, add the green onion and garlic, dry mustard, a small pinch of sea salt, and a crank of fresh ground pepper. Saute for slightly longer until green onions get soft.

Sprinkle in the flour and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring so it is well incorporated.

Pour in the beer and cook until the liquid reduces by half (about 5-6 minutes)

Whisk in the milk, 1 cup of stock, and broccoli.

Continue to cook for about 10 minutes.

Use a blender (got to use my immersion blender for the 1st time!) to blend the ingredients until you have the consistency you want (chunky broccoli or creamier)

Add the grated cheddar in batches, stirring frequently until it melts (keep the soup at a simmer – don’t allow it to boil)

When all of the cheese has melted, check for consistency – if you would like the soup a bit thinner, add the reserved stock.

I added a sprinkle of shredded cheese (yes…more), a few croutons and parsley (solely for presentation) and it was YUM!

One thing to note is that it is pretty salty. 4.5 cups of cheese can do that. I would probably try using whole milk and make sure the chicken stock is low sodium next time. I love salt but if anyone is salt-sensitive, they might find it too much. But I think adding thicker milk might counteract that, as well as low sodium stock. So might adding less cheese but whatever. :)

I had leftovers so I am currently warming some up for lunch today! Yumyumyum

On Friday I bought some fresh Ahi and Albacore tuna. Fresh off the boats over at the fish market by my house. It’s been a bad year for ahi and fresh Pacific albacore is seasonal – only available in the summer. But I got both! The guy at the fish market said he found a new hook-up for fresh Ahi so he should get it in once a week now. Yay!

On Friday I seared it. Love seared tuna but you can only use really fresh fish for it to be perfect and pink. For this I found a recipe on line and changed it up for me

Ahi tuna steak (I had him cut mine to 1″ thick)
2 Tbsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp of grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
Sesame seeds

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a ziploc bag and coat the tuna steaks with the marinade, seal tightly getting the excess air of out of the bag, and refrigerate for at least an hour. I say 2-3 hours.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium high to high heat. When the pan is hot, remove the tuna steak from the marinade and sear for about 2 minutes to a minutes on each side (for a 1″ thick steak.) The time will depend on how rare you like it. When you flip to 2nd side, sprinkle on the sesame seeds.

Remove from pan and slice into 1/4-inch thick slices. It’s perfect on its own, over sticky rice or salad! This turned out FANTASTIC! I think I will try some sliced avocado with it next time too!

For Saturday dinner, I did my yummy Ahi Poke salad which is here: https://a99kitten.com/?p=6345

Needless to say the poke was delicious with such fresh fish!!

I decided on the albacore for Monday dinner. It was my first time making albacore at home. Mixed 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp truffle oil and 1/2 tbsp sesame oil in a ziploc. Marinated the tuna for 2 hours in the fridge. Seared the tuna on a HOT pan for 2 mins on each side. Squeezed some fresh lemon juice over it. Delicious. Double dog delicious.

Tonight I made the shrimp that I bought on Thursday but then threw in freezer after finding all the yummy fish on Friday! Shrimp (defrosted), garlic, parsley, red pepper, a little unsalted butter (room temp) and shredded parmesan. Put it all in a foil “packet” and cooked at 400 for 7 minutes. So, so delicious.

I think I’ve turned seal. Or shark. Or bear?