Nayu's Craft Time #259 Cats get spots!

 

My gorgeous girl who I can wax lyrical about on Twitter a lot

Please note this post is my own opinion, and if you are at all worried about your pet's health please do see a vet. Some lumps aren't as innocent as simple spots.

Even if you're a cat owner, you may not know that cats get spots just like humans do. A few weeks ago I felt a lump on my cat Belle's chin. Of course the first thought for any lump is 'cancer!'. I was concerned because over the next few days it kept getting bigger - it felt like a pea, but seemed more like a football in my head. 

My family said not to worry, it's probably nothing. I searched online, which I recommend against if it's for human ailments as self-diagnosis is usually not a good idea for anything other than obvious ailments, and discovered that the lump was probably a spot. 

You can sort of see it in the centre of the circle

Over the next few days it went down - she'd scratched it so there was a scab. I discovered that spots can be like our spots (lumpy) or the blackhead kind - she doesn't have any of those. There can be a number of causes from spots, including plastic food/water bowls. 

Hers looks a little like this one I found online

The water bowl was a little rough, so I switched to a ceramic type one, which so far there's been no problems. I think there's been another spot on Belle's chin, but I'm not worrying about it now I know what it is. I won't be using spot cleansing solution or anything like that - if it becomes a major issue then of course she'll go to the vet, but for now her spots are just one of those things that happen and should go away on their own

This weekend was nice and quiet with lots of gaming, as I'd had a crazy week with unavoidable errands every day (I like at least 1 day at home between going out) from Tuesday to Friday, so I was a bit worn out. So far this week is a little quieter, so enjoying the break while it lasts! I have been working on my current project - more on that in the next post ^o^

Nayu's Recipes #9 How to make granola healthy

I love tropical granola which isn't this granola bowl (picture source)

This isn't a granola recipe that you'd find online. There are many of them, and I don't have the energy to handmake my granola. However, I do have an easy tip to make granola healthier. I adore granola in all it's crunchy granola-li-ness. (Go me for making up new words!) It's not the healthiest of cereal. I think muesli is healthier, and I tried muesli but I don't really like it, so granola remains. Some days I have straight granola (with milk), but there are other days I make healthier granola, and so can you! All you need is 1 vital ingredient. 

Yes, you are seeing cornflakes! Not sugar coated ones (which would defeat the point of healthier granola), but ordinary cornflakes mixed with granola make it a little healthier! It's simple, easy, and quick to do. To make it quicker you can pre-mix the cornflakes and granola in a tin, otherwise you can just add a handful to your granola and enjoy the lower calorie granola yumminess! (Another made up word?) 

Do you like mixing your cereals up for healthier/new combos? Or are you a toast and nutella breakfast person? 

Chocolately yumminess! (Picture source)

Nayu's Craft Time #143 Healthy Vegan Lentil, Grains & Spinach Dahl, Crown Fishing & Secret Baking Project!

I had this for lunch!

Afternoon everyone! I hope your week has gone well/as well as it can depending how life is treating you at the moment. I've been quite flakey the last few days, so been resting a lot. I've done a bit of crochet - although not enough to show you, but some progress is better than none. I managed to make this super easy & fairly quick (minus the whole boiling) lentil & mixed grain/bean dahl. 

I used a so-called soup mix which was full of various lentils & grains/beans/peas (no liquid or flavourings in it, so not sure why it's a soup mix as all my soups exclude beans & grains), plus added some red lentils (I unearthed the packets from the pantry and want to use them before the sell-by-date). Once those were cooked according to the instructions which for the soup mix included overnight soaking, I threw in some spinach leaves and fresh basil, let it wilt a little (using a sophisticated cooking term!) and put it in a bowl. 

I then lightly fried 2 small onions in olive oil, added a bit of fresh ginger, plus 1 vegetarian stock cube, before mixing it with the already cooked grains/lentils. I'm not doing a full on recipe because I simply followed the packet instructions and used my common sense (I don't have a lot of that...). It's super tasty, low fat, got lots of veggies in (oh yes there's some yellow pepper in there too), as far as I can tell is both vegetarian & vegan, although don't think it's gluten free. I'm not vegan, but I have vegan friends so I am having fun investigating what kind of food they eat. It's super tasty, filling, and you can adjust the quantities of everything/add entirely new ingredients to suit your tastes.

I've been reading, and currently busy gaming as I have less than 2 hours to get about 300,000 bells on Animal Crossing New Leaf to get the queen crown! It's gorgeous!!! 

The deadline is because my shops close at 7, I think, as I'm an early bird town (shops open early). Or maybe they do stay open later...I don't want to risk it so am doing as much fishing on the island as I can. Now it's after 5pm in theory more sharks should be out and more expensive bugs will be out too. Apologies if this makes no sense, it's an awesome game! 

I've been doing some reading too, and have just been asked to join in a super special book review activity which will involve baking! The review will be on Nayu's REading Corner sometime in August - I'm finalising details with the publicist. I will do a joint post here because what I'm making I've never made before, and it looks super fun! 

Insert your favourite hobby to personalise this statement!

That's as much of a clue that I can give you now - my lips are sealed! Or should that be my fingers are tied? Either way I'm saying nothing!!! 

This weekend I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing yet. Might be seeing a friend on Sunday, might not (it's dependent on whether she's busy or not and she won't know just yet). Got a few tasks that must be done, but apart from that I'm sure there will be the usual gaming, reading, and hopefully I'll be up for some more craft too! 

(Almost!)