Cheesed off

OK like most Canadians I'm quite disappointed at Old El Paso for deciding to discontinue the powdered nacho cheese mix.  I really didn't eat it as intended though but I absolutely loved it as a topping for my popcorn.  What to do?, what to do? Well you make your own and its not really that difficult. If you have a Balk barn in your area or some kind of bulk store you may be in luck. 
Look for the powdered cheese normally used for pasta to make macaroni and cheese. but there's another way of using that stuff. Make your own powdered nacho cheese mix. First get your self some powered cheese mix that is if the bulk store has the stuff. About a cup or if you prefer two. Then purchase a few packets of taco seasonings. Whatever your favorite is. It could be Old El Paso or what ever you prefer it really doesn't matter. I purchased the Metro brand. Then get an ordinary jar. Glass or plastic or even some other container, what ever so long as it holds your stuff and keeps it dry. Then mix a packet of the taco seasonings with your one cup of powdered cheese and wala! you have your very own nacho cheese mix. Tastes may very so you may wanna use more of the taco seasoning mix or less its up to you. Problem solved and enjoy! 

Purple Trinity Flower

Well-p its officially fall. Thank God that its still summer warm. For now. But don't fret, its only a few more months till spring. The lucky ones who don't have to wait till then can just migrate south or you can hibernate like a bear. But don't, were not bears. Our bodies will make us pay for that as some of us know too well. Best thing to do is when it gets too cold outside is do a bit of exercise indoors when of course you're finished shoving the snow.

Enough of that depressing news well maybe a bit of anxiety inducing news instead. For some of us anyways. Besides the busy summer of yard work and other personal stuff, it was a stressful summer for my poor kitty Meetso yet again. Apparently he was getting to much calcium in his diet. Um no I wasn't drowning him in cow's milk, but I did give a bit to him as a treat now again. But apparently I was giving him inferior cat food. Its a major brand but I won't mention it unless you ask me in privacy.

I'm guessing it had way too much bone meal and other crap but I figure it still had some redeeming qualities for the price I had to pay. Guess not. Who knew that a can of animal guts with some vitamins thrown in for good measure, at times costs more then a can of tuna. I always thought those things were over priced. But then I also gave him tuna on occasion too as a treat. Maybe a combination of that set him off as well. So now for his main food, he gets the vet office brand. A 50/50 combination of dry food and a very boring flavoured with chicken, wet cat food. Chicken btw is his least favourite food. He still manages. He's a good kitty.

Since the crazy July he recently had a small blip. He got sick from a rabbit he decided to catch for dinner and eat whole. He left nothing but a few dark coloured guts. Yes he even ate the head.

The rabbit on the other hand had its revenge going down. In Meetso's haste to eat his prize, the bones in the meat I guess scraped his throat or maybe a small piece logged in there. But I think not. None the less, he lost his meow and his appetite. Took him a few weeks to recover. Some of the recovery took place in my bed room a few times in the form of big dark coloured hair balls with bits of grass in the smelly mix. Thank God it looks like he's now back to his normal cuddly self. That is until next time. Oh boy.

Now for my find that 's the title for this posting is named after.

Ok so its another wild flower I found. I don't really remember planting it in the corner of the garden but there it is. I probably found it originally in the park and took the seeds home. Just forgot about it until some time in June when it started to bloom. My dad actually thought it was a stray corn plant that grew there from bird seed that was dropped there. Luckily he didn't just pull it out like he usually does. (killed a plant that I was trying to grow for the last 2 years cause he thought it was a weed) Yes its edible, but I think in limited fashion. Not sure what parts, so you are going to have to look it up. How ever it does go by many names but I prefer the one in the title. It makes the most sense to me. A purple flower with three petals. I hope that I can collect the seeds and spread it around to the appropriate areas. 

Oops!

Never realized that I still had some old links to my previous places for hosters.

I have now updated the links to the new homes of my personal website.

Sorry about that.

Happy ThanksGiving!

Happy ThanksGiving!

Just want to wish every one a peaceful, a bountiful, a full of love and Happy ThanksGiving.

As many of you know its Canadian ThanksGiving. The Americans have it a month behind us but that's Ok. All that matters is that we celebrate the bounty we do have and be thankful even though some of us don't have much. In which case some of you are nice enough and generous enough to share that extra bounty of the harvest with others who maybe have a hard time to make ends meat to put food on the table. I say Thanks a bunch to all the good hearted even if you can't give a whole lot. But there are other ways you can share the bounty how about the stuff from your own body? I don't mean blood and organs although yeah those are good things to share as well, but there's something else that’s just as precious that comes from you that you can share. How about time and a listening ear? There are many people out there who for what ever circumstances, are needy in terms of a little friendship. They have no family, no friends and no other love ones and they dread days such as these. Many time or every day they feel excluded. So consider inviting them to your nice Thank'sGiving feast or at least some coffee time or a movie. You could make their month. Come on, you have so much friendship, some of you are rich with it. Consider sharing a bit with someone who's lonely and has a lack of.

Speaking of sharing, here are some nice pics of some wild red currents I found growing near my mulberry tree during the summer.

This just in. Another reason to be thankful for. A children's book that I illustrated a few years ago is finally out.

Its apparently called The AdventurousSunshine. 

Check it out. :)

Mud pie in the sky

This is a mud pie you can actually eat, minus the worms and other nasty surprises you find in soil. Unless you're one of those fat-a phoebes or a little sugar sends you in a tizzy. You only live once people. Remember that. 

Anyways its based on a traditional mud pie called Mississippi mud pie.

You can get the traditional recipe here. Its great for parties but a bit much for small families but well worth it if you still decide to make it. 

So I made my own mini version with slight differences. Here's how I made my own version in case you're curious.

You need half a softened or room temperature cream cheese.

One shortbread cookie ready made pie crust. Like the Keebler elf brand pie crusts.

Two packets of Ready whip cream or other brand.

Vanilla extract which will go in to the Ready whip

One package of chocolate pudding.

Nuttella or some other brand of choco-hazelnut spread.

Some walnut meat about ¼ chopped if desired

Some walnut meat for decoration if desired.

Some chocolate syrup or powder or what ever else chocolate you can use for decoration on top if desired.

Prepare one whipped cream packet to the instructions. Whip the product till it has peeks.

Place half of the whip cream in with the half cream cheese and whip until blended.

Place in pie.

Prepare the chocolate pudding. Place the dry mix in to a bowl with a generous tablespoon full of that hazelnut spread. Add some milk. But instead of using the traditional two cups of milk, use only 1 and ½ cup milk. Its going in to a pie after all.

Place the pudding in to the fridge and in the mean time prepare the other whipped topping to the instructions. At this point you can mix that one with the other whipped topping you made earlier. Again till peaks form. Place aside till you are ready for it.

Take those chopped nuts and first sprinkle on top of the cream cheese/ whipped topping mixture. Normally the nuts go in to the pie crust but since this is obviously a pre-made crust, you make a compromise.

On top of that add the chocolate pudding mixture.

On top of that add the whipped topping.

Decorate if desired with walnuts and some kind of chocolate.

Here I used chocolate syrup stripes but traditionally people just sprinkle a bit of powdered chocolate on top normally used for making hot chocolate.

Place the pie in the fridge so it as time to set or wait and serve it after supper.

I made another just a few weeks ago. 

Yum! :D

The Peck and Yank dove toy.

Introducing a new toy just for doves.
The Peck and Yank dove toy. The toy for doves.
I needed something new for my doves to explore but store wise  there isn’t much of an option for doves or rather nothing at all. I guess doves and pigeons are seen as dumb birds nothing more then good for a prop in a magicians magic trick. But if a bird can have the intelligence to understand a trainers command, then they do have some smarts. In fact doves are just as inquisitive and curious like any other animal. Maybe not like a parrot but the dove does use its intelligence in its own way. I designed the toy for the doves natural way of exploring the world, the love of pecking at interesting objects, the need for some things  and testing other things.  I have things it can pull, jingle and peck at interesting colorful dots.  I avoided large areas of bright colour since this would be threatening to the doves.

Here is my youngest dove enjoying the act of exploring the new object. He was the first to try out the toy followed by the rest of the flock. I have a lot of doves. ;)

If you would like to make one your self for your doves and or possibly pigeons, the instructions are available at Instructables.com Eventually the instructions will be available at my web site as well but the hobby part of that web site is currently under renovation.  Till then you know where to get it. ;)

Another one of those update posts.

Yes its another one of those “things I have been up too“ posts.
Just finished that former blanket now quilt via up-cycling.
Going to have a really nice quilt this fall/winter cuddle season.  If there are any rips on any of the squares they should be easy to fix. 

 Front

 Also front.

 Back

                                                      Also the back.


For work, still currently hunting for a new gig after the other repeat gig was canceled due to medical reasons via client a few months ago. Definitely not easy hunting down a new antelope er gig.  Murphy’s law. I only seem to have invites for gigs when I’m currently working on an active gig. Why people why? So frustrating.

I also had my first sale at Fiver.com. I sold a set of pompoms that can also be used as a cat toy. Downside can’t do it any more unless Fiver has or makes some policy changes to the “only for five dollars” thing. Just not worth sending it though the mail at above 7 dollars a pop. To make it worth my while I’ll have to charge and provide more of them to make it worth my while. In the mean time I’m selling seedlings of Mimosa, Chinese lantern tree and Wisteria vine there currently. Very beautiful flowering plants that can over winter quite well.  I’m thinking of selling my pompoms at Zibbet.com for now. A really nice place very similar to Etsy.com, only Zibbet is free. You only pay a fee if you go premium and that will get you more stuff like more selling spots other then the standard 50 with the basic registering. Already at my little Zibbet store, so far have 2 other items for sale. A tie-dye tee-shirt that glows in the dark and features a breaching or splashing dolphin. I airbrushed and tie-dyed it my self a number of years ago. Really nice for outgoing people or kids. The other thing I have is a nautical style Christmas ball. It as a net like pattern I made with twine and real shells from Florida I personally dove for and then I painted little sea stars all over in random areas. Also very nice. Can be used as I intended as a ornament for the tree or some one who has this theme in their house.
None the less I will be making more things in the future for sale on Zibbet. Like more airbrushed tee shirts pompoms of course, some special toys I’ll airbrush. Some made by me other adapted. I also try other things as well. Bonus I’ll have some new artworks for my portfolio too. Might as well take advantage of many things like downtime, making money and PR.

Over all, the last few months have been crazy. Lots of things breaking down that need to get fixed. A shed roof, doors, an old van, my poor computer, a small ladder and now our main large screen TV.  No I won’t blame gremlins but old age and obsolescence. Not counting my computer of course. Apparently a video card went ca-bluy . I never even got the blue screen thingy. It just wouldn’t boot up one night before Victoria‘s day. But now all is well……..for now.

Things I will be working on soon. Hopefully a new gig, some of my own things, picking mulberries and making lots of jam. Maybe even pickling as well.

Hoping things will improve soon.
Need to stay positive.

I smell like strawberries!.....

I made some strawberry jam today and boy am I exhausted. It wouldn’t have taken me all night had the counters and table been clean. Sadly no one bothers to help on conquering the filth and unorganization of the downstairs kitchenette/laundry room.  Took me twice as long to do stuff because of all the clean up I had to do. Eventually I got to cleaning and preparing the strawberries right after I cleaned some mulberries I had picked earlier. There wasn’t much in the way of mulberries but for the strawberry jam it was just the right amount.  So I finally finished one batch just before 10pm. Ugh! But at least it turned out alright. But I think it could have been better. I have a feeling its going to be a bit more solid that I would have liked.

Another pic of Meetso. I kind of hope to look all rested like that tomorrow when I get up.
I have yet to take a pic of him with his paws over his eyes looking all hammish. Its kind of difficult to do that since my camera is kind of old and the shutter speed is a bit slow for those kinds of cool shots.
Maybe by a freak of nature I’ll get a shot. 

 

Oh yeah here’s a new Make by me.
It’s a recipe I made my own based on a honey brand muffin recipe. Its called Stale Cereal Muffins.
I came up with the idea because there was a cereal that was just sitting in the pantry that I wasn’t too crazy eating as is with milk. So I thought I try making it in to a muffin since you can do that with regular brand cereal. So I tried it out and it came out really, really good. So I thought I share with you. 

 
Hope it turns out for you too. 

You can find the links at Instructables.com and my web site too.

What would you do for a Klondike bar?
Or what would you do for 5 bucks?
Some people would and will do any thing.
Take your pick. Make a little extra cash at this cool new site called; Fiverr.com

Anyone get something stuck in they're throats before?
Nothing more annoying then a seed stuck in your throat for several days. At least I think its still there? I really hope its not there since its really freaking me out. Ever since I heard about that story about this woman a few years ago I always get that uneasy feeling when something gets stuck in my throat for far too long.
There was this woman who got something caught in her throat from eating either steak or was it fruit, I can’t remember exactly. But what ever she ate a piece of it got caught in her throat and the membrane in her throat or what ever its called grew on top of it. It later pussed up and gave her all kinds of problems and I think she almost died. Since that article, it really freaks me out.
I am really going to avoid eating the seeds in grapes for now on. No matter how and what they say about grape seeds being good for you. Besides, I bet I can get the same thing from other things too only with out the worry. I’m also avoiding cherry pits too. Looks like I’m going to be in a bad mood for the next few days if this darn feeling doesn’t go away soon.

Oh yeah a small update in my hobby part of my web site. A new avatar for any one that’s interested.
As always you can find that part of my site in my links area or you can take this short cut. KTTSTV

Just a small update. Nothing fancy. I updated a link in my web site so that you may know where to purchase the new children's book I illustrated. You can also click here.

http://www.blurb.com/books/1607146

I’m not sure as to what’s going on but my scrolling marquee seems to be messed up. Every time I try to fix the code for what ever reason it reverts back to its screwy self. Then again it may be a Google thing. A new policy maybe?
Its not like it was true advertising but more of a giving credit to the place where I got the content from. In other words, just a link along with what’s coming up on the calendar.
It really boggles the mind.

In the mean time I thought I mention or give you a heads up on this really cool find I have been exploring for the past few months. I found this site where you can get thousands upon thousands of streaming radio stations from around the world and you don’t even need a player to stream them in although the owner of the site does have one that you can download. But I can’t make heads or tails as to get it to set up on my computer. Oh well, its still excellent source of streaming radio goodness.
Please note that for what ever reason, from time to time some radio stations do not work.

http://radiopump.com/v1/

Boy, what a difference half a year can make. LOL As I said yesterday I finished Illustrating that children’s book a few months ago and the resulting fruits of my labor were very pleasing to the author. I’m almost done with my “to do” list and since a few weeks ago I upgraded to a new internet service. What a difference. So far so good. It also helps to be wireless. No more annoying cords all over the place for people to trip on and or damage. I also mentioned that I finally got that long elusive package I was expecting in the mail. Who knew it would take that long. So I finally get to upgrade my photoshop.

Besides all that, this year no new peach jam. I guess hot and humid summers are not a good mix for peaches. It was mold and then the darn resident squirrel that did all the peaches in. It was bad enough that he was talking them and then he brings his family along for the feast too. A gray female and two little black kittens or what ever you call two little annoying black squirrels.

Oh and then there were the grapes. These are the kinds the kind that ripen just after my peaches. They’re these super sweet little green grapes with out seeds that are more on the yellow side if they get to that point. But nope. The resident robin that comes back to our house every year decided that they were too delicious for us people to eat and would promptly get rid of them before we had to taste them.
He also brought his annoying family too. So I ended up making this fake hawk out of foam and paper, painted it up and my dad placed it just above the grape vine. Unfortunately it didn’t work since he didn’t hang it properly and it ended up all tangled up on its fishing line est. None the less I still managed to sort of save a few bunches of grapes by placing a few plastic bags with little holes on a few of them. It worked some what since now when they got close to fully ripening but the insects started to have a go at them.
I had to pick them more sooner then I would have liked to.
Next year I’m going to stick those plastic bottles (the kinds used for water)with the tops cut off on to the bunches of grapes with the plastic bags. Maybe that’ll work.

Oh yeah the author and now friend has asked me to post this for any one that is interested and looking for a adventurous and beautiful getaway, also here's the rest of those zoo animal pics. ;)

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p294825

Awesome find.

A few weeks ago, well maybe a month ago I heard about this really cool link about this web site. It’s a really cool search engine. What’s so neat about this search engine you say? Well each time you do a search on it the searching and or clicks equal to donations to your favourite charities. Sadly its not for international use but that will soon change or so they say. Its only for U.S users. You lucky people you!

Good Save

Description;
GoodSearch : a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates money to your favorite charity or school each time you search the Web.