Sleepless nights, cookie mornings, & a product review.

If I can't sleep the night before, I try to be as productive as possible the next day so that I can be extra tired when it comes time for bed- let me tell ya, I've been quite productive the past few days!

This morning I skipped out on the barn...I was just too tired and needed to get a couple extra hours of sleep in. When I woke up I immediately began rummaging through my organized cabinets looking for something to bake.

Sugar, baking soda, baking powder, flour, vanilla..fresh eggs and butter?!

Since it wouldn't be a kitchen story without a blooper from me, I'd like to confess that I added the sugar in with the dry ingredients instead of whisking it in with the butter. (They taste fine. My mouth's a bit burnt, but they taste fine!)

We're moving soon, so my living room is currently separated into two wings- the "keep and move" wing and the "can we please go through this and get rid of as much as possible" wing. I stay out of that room a lot lately. I don't like clutter. Or piles.

I headed into the office to clean the litterbox.
Carson is half bengal, and LOVES the water. He currently eats Max Cat all natural food- half a can of wet in the morning and a bowl of dry at night. DO NOT try to give him dry in the morning. Oh my.

A while back I was getting worried because no matter how often I cleaned his box, it smelled, had a TON of kitty pee, and the litter turned to cement and was all over the box so I had to clean it thoroughly every day. I wondered about switching his food, this that and the other thing, and finally decided on (after my mom assured me it was just him, and he had been seen by a vet a few years prior) the fact that my wonderful son cat just had an overactive bladder. He always went IN the box, so that's a plus, right?

I heard about a cat litter that was supposed to be brilliant. It is made out of corn fibers and baking soda and was all natural. I picked up a bag, figuring it was the same price as the other bag we used and it was worth a shot-

Arm & Hammer Essentials Natural Clumping Cat Litter



I'm human. Sometimes I forget- this is more common if I'm working a 16 hour shift, or if I have a lot to do in the morning (like pack up an apartment) before work.

His litterbox sometimes suffers.

I went three days this week. I've already slapped my own wrist, trust me- but this morning I went to clean the box.

No odor.
No cement.
Perfect clumps.

There was NO proof that I'd waited more than my usual once a day to clean his bathroom.

I was afraid he wouldn't like the corn fiber- but he seems to be fine with it. Not only that, but it's softer and more inviting than regular litter, and the bag is so light, I don't have to worry about people staring at me while I walk in with nine bags of groceries and a bag of litter- (yes, I try to make only one trip!)

If you have kitties, and you enjoy the all natural stuff, please give this a try!

Our first Vacation

Chad and I have been together almost two years and just this past weekend took our first vacation together. This is NOT an "Igotpaidtoreviewthisplace" post, but we stayed at a lovely place called the Mt. Coolidge Motel. We checked in after a day of outlet shopping in Maine and the owner, Kevin, was extremely friendly and suggested a place to eat dinner once we were settled. Our room was quaint and comfortable, and talk about clean! The view from the room overlooked a gorgeous little river- what a perfect way to fall asleep every night, listening to the moving water.

Woodwards was fabulous, and we had a two for $twenty-two deal on our meals. Our waitress was wonderful and checked in with us just the right number of times, and our Robert Mondavi Cabernet arrived quickly. (We were happy about that!)

After dinner we went out back where there was a trout pond and fed the trout and the ducks- I was SO excited- it was really, really cool!

We went back to our room and relaxed Friday night with movies, Red Sox, and eachother's conversation.

Saturday morning we woke up and went next door to the Mt. Coolidge. Our breakfast server was lovely and so friendly- she suggested a hike to see the Georgian Waterfalls, which we immediately did after getting our sneakers!

Afterwards we decided to catch the Brewery Tour at Woodstock Pub- long story short, we tasted every beer, finally asked for a full glass of their Oatmeal Stout, bought two Growlers of Pig's Ear Ale & their Rasberry Wheat, and met a great couple and sat talking and drinking with for five hours! They were so sweet, we ended up going to their place for dinner a little later on and hope to keep in touch :)

Chad went swimming in the mid afternoon and we tossed a beach ball around- we're such little kids :) Chad also went fishing behind our motel room and caught at 10" Brook Trout!

Sunday morning we left early after packing our things. It's good to be home, but we had such a blast on our vacation that we both decided that if we have some extra cash we'll be heading up there again sooner than later just to get away for a little while.

I took Chad for his birthday steak and then we went to the Pet store to buy Delilah some food- I found the most gorgeous beta I'd ever seen...and Chad insisted that I had to have him. He has no name yet, but I think he is gorgeous!