Lennon's Edibles Here is a list (yea! A list!) of things that I have seen Lennon "Thumb Sucker" DeVries eat. I am pretty sure that he would eat quite a few other things if he were presented with the opportunity, but I am reluctant to let him for fear of ruining his health. I don't usually try to feed him any of this stuff except the cat food, cat treats and hairball goop. He just seems to seek that other stuff out and get ahold of it despite your best efforts to stop him. I admit that sometimes I do offer him a little of certain things just to see if he will eat them. I am often surprised that he will, but am growing less surprised as time goes by.

1. Jell-o (any flavor)
2. pistachio shells (note to self: Don't leave pistachio shells unguarded on the coffee table.)
3. cookies
4. peanut butter
5. popcorn
6. carrots
7. styrofoam
8. birdseed
9. paper (newspaper bits, shredder bits and any other bits on the floor)
10. hairballs (from other cat's, ick!)
11. other cat’s puke (very gross, makes me leave the room many times, but a bitconvenientt since it make my clean-up job a little easier)
12. marshmallows
13. dry leaves (from my house plants)
14. butter
15. tuna
16. cat food
17. cheese
18. any other meat products
19. feathers
20. rocks/sand (brought in on peoples shoes)
21. potato chips
22. strawberries
23. whipped cream
24. cake (any flavor)
25. cat treats
26. hairball remedy goop
27. bar soap (he licks it, after I use it, while it is still wet)
28. apples
29. pears
30. Twizzlers
31. Skittles
32. chocolate
33. random tufts of cat hair (Lennon probably caused them to be free of the other cats in the first place)
34. candle wicks
35. tree bark
36. grass
37. crackers
38. catnip
39. sorbet
40. Cheeze-It's
41. strawberries
42. beer
43. soda (almost any kind, even diet)
44. juice (orange, red grapefruit, grape)
45. probably some more stuff that I wasn't there to see him eat...

  ¶ 10:15 AM 3 Comments

  Anticipation The hardest thing I find about anticipating something (at least for me) is the almost inevitable let-down when the thing you are anticipating either doesn't happen, or doesn't work out like you thought it would (not necessarily in a good way). To me, it seems like that is slowly becoming the predominant theme in my life this last year. I am sure that things are probably not as extreme as I say, and that my apparently prolific ability to focus on the pessimistic side of life is contributing a great deal to this problem of mine. I try hard to stay positive, but it doesn't always work.

I wish that the things I anticipate and get all excited about would actually happen the way they are supposed to once in a while. Is that so much to ask for?

Sorry about this vent post.  ¶ 12:27 PM 2 Comments

  Open Door While I was out doing some errands today, I noticed something about what people do when going in and out of doors. Some people hold the door for the person following them into or out of the building, some hold it even if the person is quite a distance behind them. Others don't hold the door, no matter what, not even if you are one step behind them.

I went to the bank and held the door for the woman behind me. She said, "thank you" twice because there were two doors. Then I went to the store and as I walked up to the front of the building, a man didn't hold the door for an elderly woman and she made a less than happy face and proceeded to open the door herself. When I got to the door a woman held it for me, twice. I thanked the woman, twice.

I think that sometimes people expect the door to be held for them though. Older folks often expect that the door will be held for them (which I think that it should be most of the time) and act surprised when it isn't. People who are perfectly capable of opening the door for themselves are also sometimes miffed if it isn't held for them. I hope that they would be the people who always hold the door if the opportunity arose, otherwise, they don't really have the right to get mad if it isn't held for them, in my opinion.

Is it that some the people who expect the door to be held for them, also think that they are better than everyone else? I'll give the expectation to the older folks who really are helped when the door is held for them. That is the respect they deserve, or so my parents taught me.

Admittedly, I don't hold the door if the person behind me is a long way back there, but when it is appropriate, I hold the door. I was raised that way I guess. It makes me happy to do that for people, and I am always in a better mood after someone else does it for me. So, if you find yourself out doing whatever it is you do out there, hold the door for someone, and see if it brightens your day a little, because it will probably brighten theirs.  ¶ 5:43 PM 5 Comments

  Easiest Scones Ever There I was, staring at the cookbook, not wanting to deal with the recipe for scones I was planning to prepare for our breakfast. There were things like, cut the cubed, chilled butter into the flour mixture, and other similar things that are just not what I want to deal with at 7AM. I made up my mind to find an easier way (for some reason I can design a new recipe out of thin air at 7AM, but not follow a harder one), so this is what I came up with:


Easy Scones

1 Box Jiffy Buttermilk Biscuit Mix
1/2 cup dried fruit, chocolate chips or fresh fruit (your choice)
1 tablespoon lemon or orange zest (optional)
2 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup heavy cream, half & half or light cream

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F. Mix above ingredients and knead a few times to incorporate. (You can use 1/2 cup water instead of the 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup cream and it will work fine. The cream just helps to make a richer tasting biscuit.) Press out into a square that is about one inch tall and cut into six triangles. You may also use a round cutter, but I find that the last one ends up a hard, overworked blob, and cutting in triangles is a lot easier in my opinion. You may also double or otherwise increase the size of this recipe without any trouble. Place scones on ungreased cookie sheet at least one inch apart.

1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon sanding sugar or table sugar

Brush scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until they are golden brown. Cool on pan. May be enjoyed warm or at room temperature. Store in plastic for up to four days.


I had the biscuit mix on hand and I made a double version of this recipe. I put in dried cranberries, dried blueberries and fresh lemon zest since I happened to have three lemons in the fridge. I very rarely have lemons on hand, and I would probably have used lemon flavoring or dried lemon zest instead. To make it even easier, and since I am a cake decorator and have sanding sugar at home, you could also just use regular sugar and you probably don't even need to brush with the heavy cream to get it to stick. I just had some heavy cream and I knew that it would help the scones to brown.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can chose anything you like and make them as unique as you dare. You could also add nuts if you like that sort of thing. The base is so simple with only the biscuit mix, water (and cream) and sugar, that you can make them exactly the way you want and it is still really easy.

Ideas for things to add:

Cranberry Orange Scones
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon orange zest or 1/2 teaspoon orange flavoring

Lemon Blueberry Scones
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon zest or 1/2 teaspoon lemon flavoring

Chocolate Chip Scones
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Banana Nut Scones
1/2 cup dried banana chips (broken to about pea size)
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon

White Chocolate Almond Scones
1/2 cup white chocolate chips or chunks
1/4 cup slivered almonds  ¶ 4:45 PM 4 Comments