Sunday Post #116

Posted March 8, 2015 by Lola in Sunday Post / 26 Comments

sunday post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

What happened this week?

This was again a busy week. I threw myself into marketing assistant work this week and already have more than half of my time completed for this month. I also have been busy with Lola’s Blog Tours and working on a new tour and hopefully one more coming up next week.

Sunday evening I discovered a lump on Smarties her belly, we were afraid it was a tumor so we decided to make an appointment with the vet. And Pita started acting even more weirdly with her head tilted to one side, so we figured she could come with us to the vet as well. So friday afternoon we went to the vet, Smarties lump was indeed a tumor and she will go for surgery this monday. Smarties is still a very healthy and active rat, so I hope the surgery will go right, keeping her still afterwards will be a problem though as she’s always running around. Even though bringing rats for tumor surgery is almost routine now, I am still worried and will be happy when I have her back on monday.
The news about Pita wasn’t good either, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought, she’s stil alive so that counts for something. The doctor thinks she has something cronic with her jaw/ ear, which caused her not wanting to eat, she lost almost one fourth of her weight since last time we visited the vet and such a big weight lose is very dangerous. She went from 430 gram to only 270 and you can really see it, she always was our fatest rat and now she’s so skinny. We talked about quality of live and if euthanasia was necessary. The doctor came with a last option, it’s a different pain killer than she had before, which hopefully will make her feel better. So now we’re giving that a try, if it works she needs it for the rest of her life, if it doesn’t work then the only option is to put her to sleep as her life won’t be good. It was a hard visit, but I am happy for this last option as it makes me more confident we did everything for her we could. So far we haven’t seen much change in Pita’s behavior, although she did eat a bit more.

I also been experimenting with food for Pita this week, she dislikes potatoes, but she does like nuts, soy milk, avocado, mashed apples and mashed tomatoes. We bought bananas and some more tomatoes for her this week. So far the painkiller seem to bring her some relief and she only needs to drink 0,01 ml so it isn’t as hard to get her to drink her medicines. I spend lots of time cuddling with her and giving her lots of attention, if this is going to be her last week I want to spend as much time with her as possible.

And I messed up a recipe for cookies this week again. I haven’t had much time to bake this week and when I finally had some time Thursday I made flourless peanut butter cookies with oatmeal and chocolate chips, sounded good, but they where very bland. We had a different brand of peanut butter that didn’t work as well as our normal brand. And this whole flourless recipe thing doesn’t seem to work for me, this is the second time I tried a flourless recipe and I just don’t like how the cookies turn out. So to make up for that cookies disaster I made brownies on saturday, which where delicious.

I haven’t done a lot of blogging this week as often by the time I was done with work and carign for Pita I only had just enough time left for an hour to read before bed. I have been replying and commenting back when possible, but beside that I haven’t visited a lot of other blogs. I hope to get back to that again this week.

On wednesday my boyfriend brought home some new packages of spices, mostly spices I am already using, but I hadn’t had much left anymore. Also some new spices to try out, like fennel, garlic powder and asfoetida. Although the asfoetida is some hard block of spiced stuff, while my recipes call for a pinch of the stuff O_o. Yeah not sure how I am going to do that, I am not even sure what it is exactly, will have to do some research.

WinterCoyer
Sadly this was the last week of Coyer :(. I managed to read 15 books in total, which is almost double of my goal that I set of 8. So I am happy with how well I did. I can’t wait for summer Coyer!

What did I cook for dinner this week?

  • Sunday: Lasagna Soup
  • Monday: Lasagna Soup leftovers
  • Tuesday: Risottto with paprika and egg
  • Extra: Apple Curmble
  • Wednesday: Potatoes and Peas Curry
  • Thursday: Peanut Pasta
  • Extra: Flourless Peanut butter cookies
  • Friday: Curry sauce with vega minced meat and potatoes from the oven
  • Saturday: Dal Dhokli – applied a few tweaks
  • Extra: Brownie

Random Picture(s) of the Week

Apple and Cinnamon Custard
My carton of custard for this week, it’s not real custard, but you english peeps don’t have a good translation for “vla”. I love “vla” and buy a carton of it every week, which I combine with mild quark. This week I got apple and cinnamon custard and I like the quote . It says: “Apple Without Cinnamon is like a meal without dessert.” I completely agree with this statement and I think it’s a great text for a carton of custard as it is a dessert and it’s cinnamon apple custard.

This week I blogged about:

Review: Legacy Human (Singularity #1) by Susan Kaye Quinn
Review: Shadow Study by Maria v Snyder
Lola’s Ramblings: How do you rate reviews?
Coyer Winter: recap post
Lola’s Kitchen: Korma recipe
My To-Be Read List #7: poll

What to expect next week on the blog:

– Review: The Best Laid Plans by Amy Vastine
– Review: Adamant by Emma L Adams
– Lola’s Ramblings: why do you DNF a book?
– Lola’s Kitchen: Cauliflower Mash
– My To-Be Read List #7: chosen book

Tours open for sign-up on Lola’s Blog Tours:

Review Opportunity: Chills: a short story collection by Sahar Sabati – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Flawless by Jennifer McGill – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: The Luthier’s Apprentice by Mayra Calvani – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Daughter of Isis (Descendants of Isis #1) by Kelsey Ketch – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Cross Roads by Donald Wilson II – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Last House Burning by Katy Scott – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Click Date Repeat by K.J. Farnham – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Calling California (Hunter Hill University #1) by J.P. Grider – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Mending Michael (Hunter Hill University #2) by J.P. Grider – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: True Calling (True Calling #1) by Siobhan Davis – sign-ups open till further notice
Review Opportunity: Nights Under the Tennessee Stars by Joanne Rock – sign-ups open till further notice
Blog Tour: Raising the Stakes by Karen Rock – sign-ups open till 31 March
Book Blitz: Mine Tonight by Lisa Marie Perry – sign-ups open till 31 March
Book Blitz: True Calling by Siobhan Davis – sign-ups open till 12 April
Book Blitz: Bound by Blood by Scott Springer – sign-ups open till 20 April
Book Blitz: Suspected by Rori Shay – sign-ups open till 21 April
Book Blitz: Love Overcomes by Angela Schroeder – sign-ups open till 18 May
Blog Tour: Beyond Reach by Siobhan Davis– sign-ups open till 30 April
Blog Tour: All for Love by Susanne Matthews– sign-ups open till 25 May

Book Haul:

complete submissionComplete Submission
by CD Reiss

Format: e-copy
Source: bought it myself
You can find Complete Submission on Goodreads

Blurb:
All eight books of The Submission Series in one bundle. A $24 value that will disappear very soon. Get it while it lasts!
Jonathan Drazen.
Gorgeous. Check.
Charming. Check.
Smart. Check.
Rich. Hey… I’m not gonna complain.

All the ingredients for a few nights of mind-blowing pleasure are right there. He’s made it perfectly clear he can’t love me, and I’m not out to fall in love either.
But I can’t stay away from him. He’s got this bossy way about him in bed. The word “Sir,” falls from my lips, and when he tells me to get on my knees…well, my knees have a mind of their own.
I got this. I can be his slave for a few nights and walk away unscathed.
We get in. Get it on. Get the hell out. Done.
He knows the line between love and lust. It’s right between my legs. Now, let’s see if that line blurs for me.

another vanishing actAnother Vanishing Act
by Pasquale Russo and Pete Conner

Format: e-copy
Source: for review
You can find Another Vanishing Act on Goodreads

Blurb:
Dan was optimistic once. Just once; he’s regretted it every day since.

When he arrived in the Sunshine State to run the Excelsior Senior Apartments, he had one simple goal: make lives better for the residents. He’d put the facility back in tip-top shape and introduce the residents to new activities to rival the dismal weekly Bingo tournaments. His dreams quickly fizzled.

First his staff vanished. Then he encountered daily challenges from the kooky characters and quirky residents living at the facility. Every phone call from a resident makes it tougher for him to make progress.

With a large gambling debt past due, Dan is forced to focus on how he’ll come up with the cash. Getting involved in his new pal Simon’s risky scam seems the only solution – even though Dan knows that it betrays the residents he came to help. If his secret gets out, more than his thumbs will be broken. The best girlfriend he’s ever had will leave him behind. And if he fails, he’ll either be occupying a pine box or wearing prison orange.

when lightning strikesWhen Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1)
by Brenda Novak

Format: e-copy
Source: bought it myself
You can find When Lightning Strikes on Goodreads

Blurb:
imon O’Neal’s causing trouble again. And it’s up to Gail DeMarco to stop him.

Gail DeMarco left Whiskey Creek, California, to make a name for herself in Los Angeles. Her PR firm has accumulated a roster of A-list clients, including the biggest box office hit of all—sexy and unpredictable Simon O’Neal. But Simon, who’s just been through a turbulent divorce, is so busy self-destructing he won’t listen to anything she says. She drops him from her list—and he retaliates by taking the rest of her clients with him.

Desperate to save her company, Gail has to humble herself by making a deal with Simon. The one thing he wants is custody of his son, but that’s going to require a whole new image. He needs to marry some squeaky-clean girl who’ll drag him off to some small, obscure place like Whiskey Creek….

Gail’s the only one he can trust. She agrees to become his wife—reluctantly. But she isn’t reluctant because he’s too hard to like. It’s because he’s too hard not to love!

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26 responses to “Sunday Post #116

  1. I’m crossing my fingers so that the painkiller really works for Pita. And now Smarties has a tumor too, that must be so stressfull for you ! And expensive at the vet… I’ve already heard about asfoetida, it’s supposed to be really tasty and good for health, but its name looks so much like “fetid” that I’ve been reluctant to use it so far, lol ! You’ll tell us how it goes. Take good care of Pita, I hope everything will turn out all right for both rats 🙂
    Red Iza recently posted…The sunday post #12 : What’s up ?My Profile

    • So far Pita only seems to be doing worse, she didn’t want to eat at all this morning and she’s so weak :(. I hope the tumor removal goes well for Smarties tomorrow,but startign tomorrow we will have two rats out of the cage and only one in the cage, which means none of them will get enough social contact, it’s going to be a hard week for all of us. And yeah the vet costs are pretty expensive.
      I have no clue for what to use the asfoetida, but I’ll let you know when I tried it. And it smells really bad, I hope it tastes better.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #116My Profile

    • Our vet is really considerate and I am happy he came up with a last option to try, although so far Pita isn’t improving at all, she did eat a lot yesterday morning, but yesterday evening she didn’t eat at all and this morning when I put her down for her food she just sat there. It’s so sad to see her like this :(.
      I am hoping Smartie surgery goes right, surgeries are always a little bit scary and we have to be carefull afterwards that she doesn’t rip the stitches.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #116My Profile

    • Thanks! I hope both of our rats get through this, although I don’t have as much hope concerning Pita, she’s doing so bad, she just can’t do anything anymore, except for sit and sleep.

      The custard is more like thick milk and sweeter? It doesn’t have the yelly structure of pudding, you can pour it from the carton. It’s a bit hard to describe, but it’s really yummy.

  2. *HUGS* I do hope the pain meds help her, It’s so hard to watch them suffer. You are doing awesome with her you are a good mommy! 🙂

    I love garlic powder, it put it over almost everything 🙂 just makes everything take so yummy and garlic.

    Enjoy all your new books! I hope this week is better for you! Give those rats a hug from me and tell Smarties and Pita I hope they feel better!
    Michelle@Because Reading recently posted…It snowed…again! (insert angry face here) ~WIR & TSPMy Profile

    • Thanks! It’s hard to see her suffer and she seems to be getting worse, she didn’t eat or drink today. I forced some babyfood inside her mouth with a syringe, but that’s about it. She only sits and sleeps.

      I usually use fresh garlic, but powder usually tastes different and it’s handy for when you don’t have fresh garlic. I love the taste of garlic!

      I’ll give the rats an extra hug. We gave Smarties and Snickers some yummies this morning as this must be hard for them both as well. Pita didn’t want any of the yummies.

    • She’s a fighter indeed and rats can keep going for such a long while even though they feel miserable. But if this doesn’t work, she won’t have a nice life anymore, so we’ll probably have to put her to sleep :(.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #116My Profile

    • I have been doing the bare minimum for blogging, but I am feeling bad about that and want to get more involved again. Pita doesn’t seem to be doing better so far :(.

      I hope you feel better soon!

  3. Ah, tough visit, but I’m glad you got to take your babies home to love on them particularly Pita.

    Oops! Bad batch of cookies. I have cooking disasters frequently and it is a big joke around here. 😉

    Oh fun to have the new package of spices. I love trying new spice combinations in familiar foods.

    Have a good week!
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Aerendgast by Rachel Berman #ReviewMy Profile

    • Yeah it was a tough visit and I am afraid we will have another tough visit soon, Pita isn’t improving yet and she even seems to be doing worse, the poor girl.

      I don’t have cooking disasters frequently and I get really annoyed when they happen, as I feel like it’s a watse of time and resources. Afterwards I usually can laugh about them.

      I already tried the fennel in one recipe, but the whoel recipe was tweaked so I didn’t really taste the contribution of fennel. I always get happy when my boyfriend buys restock spices and some new ones.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #116My Profile

  4. I’m so sorry about your pets, I hope things go better for them this week!

    Your Korma looks so good, we usually make Chicken Korma at home but have never tried it with veggies only. Looking forward to your Cauliflower Mash-My mom makes an awesome dish of cauliflower stir-fried with prawns so I’m curious about your recipe.

    Hope you enjoy your book haul! 🙂

    • Thanks!

      I featured a Tofu korma last week which you can change to chicken korma, but the Korma of this week I always make with veggies only. I wasn’t a cauliflower person until I tried the cauliflower mash, actually it’s potatoes with cauliflower mash.

    • I saw some good review of Novak books on blogs and then this week I read a great review on Lexie her blog and decided to grab the first book. I still had some gift card money left and a discount code, so it was pretty cheap.

      I am not really optimistic about Pita her condition, but I am hoping everything will go right for Smarties tomorrow.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #116My Profile

  5. I am so sorry to hear about how things are going with your rats. 🙁 I hope Pita gets better but at least you get to spend some cuddle time with her in case you have to put her down. 🙁

    Great book haul, hope you enjoy all your reads and way to go on COYER..it’s always nice to go over a goal. 🙂

    Stormi
    Stormi recently posted…The Week In Review #28My Profile

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