Imminent Kitty DOOM!

In just six hours, I will be eagerly waiting in line at the United Cargo pickup desk at the Pittsburgh International Airport to retrieve my darling attack muffin, the one, the only, SPATULA! He's currently in the air, flying from SFO to ORD (Chicago O'Hare), then he connects to Pittsburgh.

I can hardly wait to have him in the house! He'll start off here in my room, where his litterbox is, and where some familiar things are (including ME!). Once he's settled into this room, I'll let him out to explore the rest of the house.

Fly safe, dear Spatulus Prime, see you soon!


**EDIT**

A yi yi, this just never stops changing! Back and forth and back and forth. The original booking had him arriving at 8:46. Last night, the SFO cargo office called to say he would be arriving earlier - at 1:46 pm - because he was dropped off early. This morning I called the PIT office and they confirmed 1:46 pm. But now they just called back and said he's back on the night flight, arriving at 8:46 pm. And the lady at the general United Cargo place says no no, he'll be on the 1:46pm flight. Which is it?! Yeow, people, figure it out! I just hope he makes it safely.

**EDIT AGAIN**

Thank you Debbie at United Airlines Cargo! She's the manager at the customer service call center, and she figured everything out and reassured me. He's in Chicago right now, inside and in his kennel on someone's desk where it's nice and warm, and he's doing fine. He will be loaded on the earlier flight, and I'll pick him up around 2:15 my time. HOORAY!

Vegetables: redux!

So the winner of the "what shall I make" debate yesterday was:

Veggie lasagne! Thanks nat_marion! I know, not terribly glamorous, but tasty and freezes well. Convenient, as we have friends coming for dinner tonight!

So I used half the broccoli, the zucchini, some of the peppers and all the milk. I also roasted and skinned all the hot peppers and froze those, for future use in quesadillas, enchiladas, salads, etc.

Now we have Veggie Projects Part Deux! What do we do with:

-Approximately ONE HUNDRED green tomatoes. They are in the basement now wrapped in newspaper, which Grandma Tarka says will allow them to ripen. I hope they do! If so, we'll have a ton of ripe tomatoes, and I imagine we'll can some salsa/sauces/juice. Anyone got good HOT salsa recipes? If not, we need to figure out what to do with 100 green tomatoes. We don't really eat relish or pickles. Hmm.

-Still have a dozen small red peppers which need to be used soon. Question: can one blanch and freeze red peppers for future use in stir fry, pasta, etc?

-Still have plenty of broccoli and potatoes. Bought bacon. Planning to make a potato broccoli chowder with bacon. Yum, bacon! If anyone has a good recipe for something like this, I'm all ears. So far, I've found: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Potato-Soup/Detail.aspx

-Have I mentioned we have a lot of green tomatoes? Yeah, LOTS, about a hundred. And that's not counting the dozens of teeny little ones that Tom lovingly pried from the bushes, ranging from grape to kumquat sized.

-Oh, we also have two lovely yellow squashes! Small ones, zuch sized.

Thank you to everyone for their advice and suggestions!

Safe and sound!

The Spatulator has arrived! I picked him up at the United Cargo terminal an hour ago. He was awfully sedate on the drive home (though he hadn't been medically sedated). But, now that he's in the house, he's taking over in true style. Exploring everything and scratching at the door saying "I wanna explore MORE!" He's used the litterbox, which is definitely good, and he's currently eating and drinking.

In other news, Job #4 just made me a counter offer. It's not a great offer - only slightly higher than their earlier offer, and still substantially (i.e. more than 10%) lower than the higher offer. But, lots to think about - good benefits, closer to home, more basic work. I think I'm going to call a former co-student to ask her thoughts.