Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween. And mine will be full of ghosts, goblins and well....fungus.

I have been a lazy cook this week. But not on purpose. Where to begin...sigh. Well, we adopted that sweet kitten I mentioned in a few posts below and named him Darby. He was just too cute to send away. Sadly though, I'm almost wishing I had now.

We took him to the vet and he had a partially clean bill of health with one issue - he may have ringworm. A small crusty (gross, I know) patch on his ear led the vet to this conclusion. She cultured it and said it will take at least 14 days to have concrete results - which is next Thursday. Looks like this Halloween I'm getting tricked because let me tell you, a cat with ringworm is no treat.

So meanwhile, Darby has been living in the garage and hating it. He whines all day practically. I feel so bad for him. The worst part is though, ringworm is extremely contagious to other pets and even humans. And doing research on the internet has turned me into a paranoid freak - I can't sleep, I feel like I itch all the time and I also feel like we're never going to beat this stubborn fungus. I hate this! Darby is super sweet, but ringworm can wreak havoc. And may have already but we won't even know for sure until Thursday. Ugh.

Needless to say, my husband and I spent several hours yesterday evening cleaning and sterilizing the main floor of the house in the hopes that our other cats won't be affected. This morning I cleaned and sterilized the basement. And we still have the upstairs to do. Hopefully we'll make a dent. It is quite overwhelming though considering you have to clean almost daily to get rid of this stubborn fungus. Just exhausting.

On a positive note, we did find time to carve a pumpkin this week, roast pumpkin seeds and watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." So I share with you the treats (and hopefully I won't be sharing the trick with anyone!).

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman's Pepitas

Cut a top in your pumpkin and spoon ou the guts into a bowl. Rinse the seeds in a colander, pulling out the stringy pumpkin pieces and spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Allow them to dry out overnight.

The next day, pour a few tablespoons of olive oil over the seeds and toss them with salt, cumin and chili powder to taste. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees, toast for 45minutes and voila - a healthy snack.

These can really be spiced with whatever you like, sweet, savory or just plain old salt. I like the spicy kick that chili powder has and the smokiness from the cumin gives them a satisfying bite.


And here's my patient and steady-handed husband carving up Mr. Pumpkin.

He did this all freehand!!

No not really. We bought one of those books like everybody else. But it was impressive nonetheless.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!!