Black Cat Day, October 24th

Black Cat Day

SShhh! I am blogging on borrowed equipment, because my laptop is refusing to recharge, and I can't find my warranty information to get it fixed. I would just go into work early and blog there, but I worked 61 hours in 4 days last week. I'm not going to work today. I just won't. I'm telling people that I am going to work on GRE practice tests, to get back into grad school, but I might just watch TV all day and finish reading The End.

And for Black Cat Day I will remember my cat Ollie, my family's black cat that died this year. Ollie came to our family at Christmas time, about twenty years ago as a stray kitten, too small to have been removed from her mother. We named her Oliver, like the musical, and took turns feeding her every two hours. We named her Oliver because we thought she was a boy cat, but then found out she was a girl cat... and we were very confused about what to do. We had been calling her Oliver for two months, we couldn't just switch to Annie, what would that do to her psyche? So we decided to combine Oliver and Annie and came up with Ollie.

Ollie was a good cat, who thought she was a dog. She would run through the house skid across the floor and crash into the wall. Not a graceful cat was she. Ollie was friendly, and wanted to be around people, not like our other cat, Hannah-banana. Poor Ollie died this year, after a good long life. She never lived up to the scary black cat ideal, but we loved her for what she was... a good companion.

If you want to celebrate Black Cat Day, or if you want to get a head start on your Halloween celebrations, try making these Black Cat Cookies.

Black Cat Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 eggs
1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. M&M Minis Candies

Beat together peanut butter, eggs, and water. Gradually add cake mix. Mix well. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten balls with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Pinch out 2 ears at top of cookie.

Add M&M Minis for eyes and nose. Score face with a fork to form whiskers.

Bake at 375° for 8 to 10 minutes.