things to note . . .

don't go to yoga three hours after eating a hard boiled egg.

if a very small cat with a very wet nose goes snogging in the litter box, there is a good chance she will come out with concrete on her nose.

dogs do not poop on command.

oops . . .

you know the snowball effect?

well . . .

Adobe sent me an offer for Creative Cloud:  Photoshop, Light Room and Bridge for $9.99 a month.  great deal.  i'm still running CS4 which has been my old faithful but antiquated so well, i succumbed. 

but, although Creative Cloud will run on my iMac, it is not supported by my four year old laptop which is still running Snow Leopard and only has 4GB and whose highest speed is a waddle.  hum.

so i bought a new laptop.  hey, i deserve it.  it keeps the crazy at bay.

so now i have to learn Photoshop CC and Light Room.  forget about Bridge. 

but, my ACDSee app won't work with Mavericks.  so i downloaded a 15 day free trial of ACDSee Pro 3 for Mac.  the verdict is still out.

but then my EHD failed.  fortunately, i was able to retrieve the goodies stored there.  yay.  and, i have a 2T i got for Christmas, so all is good.

so let's add that up.  one email cost me:

a year long subscription
a new laptop
a new organization system
and a whopper of a learning curve.

yep, life is good!

slurp two . . .

the 'tuesday lunch bunch' has seemingly crashed permanently at La's Bistro, a local eatery.  after four or more years there, we just sort of make ourselves to home but we were surprised a month or three back that they had a luncheon special we had never seen:  eggplant sammies.  since the restaurant is closed on mondays and the prep is time consuming, it had flown under our radar.

but no longer.  we have no shame.  we beg for it.  plead.  grovel.  well at least i do. 

back to the subject at hand.  the 'bread' of this sammie is panko fried eggplant.  the 'luncheon meat' is a sauteed selection of veggies . . . squash, onions, mushrooms, onions etc. 

since we had ratatouille last night for dinner, i decided with a little coaching from their chef, Gron, that i would make my own tonight while kidlet noshed on her fried eggplant circles.

and this is what happened:

oh my.  oh my.  happiness.  swoon.

happy birthday . . .

my 9TS!!

two years sweet 9TS . . .

end of february squish . . .

we have a poor unfortunate lemon tree in the backyard.  i barely remember to feed it and it is crammed in the shadow of much larger trees, but none-the-less, every year since we moved in, it has brightened our life with wonderful, juicy, large myer lemons.  the best.

i have learned through the years that unless i pick the last of the crop before the warm weather hits and it blooms, that it isn't quite as fruitful the next season. so last week, kidlet held a bag while i tossed her the yellow balls of juice.  and into the kitchen we tromped with the spoils.

my freezer is stacked with ice cube trays full of freshly squeezed lemon juice and for as long as it lasts, i can avoid using the dreaded yellow bottled goop lemon in my summer recipes.  yay.

spending time with photoshop . . .

i will kind of miss the cold dreary weather since it is so conducive to inside playing . . .  but on the other hand, i am running short of subject matter and have to get out and about with my new camera.  here are some of the fruits of my labor:

and this one is a work in progress.  i was following a tutorial but my version of photoshop is too old to follow exactly so i headed off on my own.  i have no idea where it will take me:

the end.