A long week...

I'm so behind on blogging. I haven't had a chance to read many of your blogs either. Maybe I will catch up after Amelia's birthday party. Alex was out of town on business last week, so it was just me and Amelia. My sister and I had a huge, two-day catering job, so we were busy prepping. We did a dessert bar one night and baked over 400 cupcakes. My favorite was the chocolate peanut butter...they were so good.



Mid-week I started noticing Diesel acting differently. He just didn't have a lot of energy. On Thursday, I was struggling to get him to eat anything (very unusual). By Friday, he stopped eating all together. Alex got back into town late Friday night and I had made a vet appointment for Dies for early Saturday morning. We didn't know what was wrong, but weren't prepared to hear that he had acute kidney failure. We were so upset. The hardest part was not knowing what caused it. I have cried more in the last week than in quite some time. Diesel stayed at the vet and they began different treatments, in hopes to get his kidneys to start functioning properly. On Thursday morning we got the news that Diesel had passed away during the night. I'm crying just typing this. It's hard to believe he's gone. Diesel was our furbaby. He was our baby before we had Amelia. Alex bought Diesel as a puppy when we were separated. He was Alex's best friend through those hard months. He took him fishing, to work, to the park...everywhere.



I'd never really had a pet until Diesel. I never knew your heart could hurt this bad over losing an animal. He was part of our family. He was such a sweet dog. He was very smart...Alex had taught him all sorts of tricks. He was obedient and loved everyone. He would let our nephews and nieces boss him around and lay all over him. Over the last month Amelia had started crawling over to the glass door, standing up, and then beating on it for him to come see her. When we would take family walks, he would want his nose right in her stroller and she would constantly be reaching to pet him. I always felt safe with Alex out of town because we had Diesel. He was very gentle, but was quick to protect if he thought something was wrong. It will take quite some time to get used to him being gone.



We will miss him very much.



We wanted to get out of the house today, so we took Amelia to the pumpkin patch. We had a great time and took lots of pictures. I will post those tomorrow.

Love to all,

Rainy Day...

When Alex got home from work last night, I hadn't even started on dinner. Lucky for me, last night's dinner only took 30 minutes from start to finish. To make these chicken strips, you just crush up some sour cream & onion potato chips (or whatever flavor you prefer). Dip your chicken tenderloins in butter and then coat them in the potato chips. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I usually flip them half way through, so they are nice and golden brown on each side.



It was dark and rainy this morning. I woke up at 9am and realized that I hadn't heard a peep out of Amelia. I always pick up the monitor and turn it off and on to make sure it's still working. It was. Her room stays so dark on days like this...guess it just makes her want to sleep late, which is fine by me! I stayed up late making 3 lemon ice box pies for a catering job. Alex and I are most always in bed by 10pm. He has to get up early every morning and I'm up not long after him with Amelia. Though it's tempting to stay up late, I feel so much better the next day with a couple of extra hours of sleep. So early bedtime it is! :)

Joy came over a little after 9am this morning and made me aware that our English Mastiff was roaming the neighborhood. There is a hole in our fence (that he created) and he found a way to fit his extra large body through that hole. So I put on my rain coat & rain boots and found him in our neighbor's yard. Becca, if you find any "presents" in your yard from Dies, just let me know. I'll send Alex over to pick them up. (LOL)



After I was back from taking care of Diesel, Amelia woke up. I fed her and then she sat in her high chair, watching me and her Aunt Joy in the kitchen. She sat there for the longest time and then decided she wanted a snack. We were putting the lemons on the lemon ice box pies and I decided to let her have a piece to chew on. I know this is terrible for your teeth, but she only has two at the moment, so I'm not that worried. :) We found out a couple of weeks ago that the child loves lemons. She doesn't even make a face when eating them. She will squeeze them in her fist to get more juice out and then continue to chew on the rind. She gets this from her Granny. She too is a lover of lemons.



Joy brought over some of her homemade cinnamon rolls for me to try. I think she saw the picture of my Pillsbury cinnamon rolls that I fed Alex over the weekend. She felt sorry for us. I tried one after she left and I have to say...SO MUCH BETTER than the doughboy's!



I was asked how to make frito chili pies from my last post. I cheat and use chili magic.



I've used this for years. You just add a pound of hamburger meat, a can of diced tomatoes and you're done! I actually add a half packet of chili mix to make it spicier and a half can of crushed tomatoes as well. There are spices in the chili magic though, so you don't have to add anything else to it. Just layer your chili on top of your fritos, top with a little grated cheese & sour cream and enjoy!



I'm going to look for Amelia some new toys this weekend. I don't buy her new toys very often, but I feel like she's getting too big for what she has. If you're 10 month old has/had some favorites, feel free to let me know. One of my blog friends recommended the Leap Frog toys, so I'm going to look at those. Also, thank you for the snack recommendations. I'm going to pick up some of the things you mentioned this weekend!

Love to all,