Five On Friday: Kitties, Skiing, Bread Making and More

Hey guys! Happy Friday!

Today’s post is a list of 5 totally random Things I Like/Things That Happened.

Not sure how that goes into my regular blogging schedule 🙂 I guess it doesn’t – just gonna be babbling here today 🙂 Ready?

{ONE} Bread Making Supplies

So ever since I tried making my own bread and discovered it is super easy and quick (thanks to this book), I ordered a few supplies to make my bread making even easier!

If you ever going to make your own bread, trust me, you need a Danish Dough Whisk! Never heard of a Danish Whisk? Lookie here.

You can totally use a regular thick pan to bake your bread on, but if you’re getting really serious about it, get yourself a baking stone! Mine is on it’s way from an Amazon warehouse 🙂

And….while you’re there, grab some 6 quart storage containers to store your bread dough in the fridge. Yep, you read that right. Told ya – go get that book 🙂

Once you get all these important supplies, commence making your own beautiful bread!

{TWO} Kitties, Their Health and “OMG How do People Handle Babies!”

So my cat has been sick on and off since mid January.

The whole story started off with a UTI, which was taken care of by our vet. We had to give our kitty antibiotics and pain killers for about 10 days and then he was all better.

Three weeks after he was done with his treatment, he developed a blockage which was taken care of at the ER as it happened on a Sunday morning.

We had to leave him at the ER for a few days during which it felt like my house was submerged in something dark and heavy – no laughs, no joy. We got him back with a shaved leg and neck, still a little rattled but on the mend (or so we hoped).

The day after we got him back I stayed at home to watch him, and oh boy was I glad I did! He got re-blocked, we had to take him back to the ER (our vet couldn’t help us) and he had a surgery that night where they basically took everything out that was getting blocked.

We got him back the next night – both front legs shaved, butt shaved + stitched. We were told to keep him “coned and caged” for two weeks so he doesn’t jump/run/play or lick his incision site.

Can you tell he hates both the cone and the cage?

Needless to say we have all been on the edge with this whole kitty disaster. He is a big part of our family and we all love him dearly so it was physically and emotionally tough on all of us – we all were watching him, nursing him, loving him and worrying about him.

I absolutely cannot imagine how people deal with all this when it comes to babies – I got a taste of what it’s like to see your loved one hurting, not knowing what’s wrong and not being able to ask/help/understand.

The kitty is on the mend now for sure. We don’t put him in the cage any more – he is being a responsible adult and not jumping or running. We still put the cone on when we can’t watch him. He still gets depressed whenever it goes on around his neck.

HORROR. 🙂 But generally – we all breathe easier now that he is doing better! He’s getting the stitches take out next Wednesday and hopefully it’ll be the end of ordeal.

{THREE} Downhill Skiing

So, I’m from Russia – born and raised. I’ve done my fair share of cross country skiing (it’s actually part of both school and college curriculum), but I have never ever tried downhill (alpine) skiing.

I know, right? 🙂

My husband has been trying to get me into it for as long as we’ve been together – unsuccessfully until last weekend. It just so happened that last weekend we had a snow storm.

Pretty peaceful in the back yard, but not so much on US 15:

Anyway, we had a BLAST once we got there and I’m definitely a newly converted alpine skier 🙂

Got me a discounted pass for 1.5 seasons and all that 🙂

{FOUR} Girl Scout Cookies

And may I add? These are EVIL! They will NOT let your mind go until you eat them all.

I had to.

Don’t judge me 🙂

{FIVE} SONY DT50MM Lens

I actually got it for Christmas from my awesome husband. You guys may or may not have noticed a dramatic improvement in the food photography quality on this blog since then 🙂 In case you didn’t I’m going to show you some other photography related gadgets I got for Christmas and keep in mind the pics were taken with the new lens, too 🙂

The lens came from Amazon – right from here. It is actually a kit, which also included a set of 3 (UV/CPL/FLD) Filters:

This handy little lens cleaning kit came with the lens too:

Not photography, but Christmas related:

Loving my new lens!

And those are my Five on Friday, guys 🙂

Talk to me: what are the things you’ve been loving lately?

Have a great weekend, guys!

Linking up with Five on Friday and Friday Five.