Strangling the Kroger Cashier

Friday night, I went to Walmart and Kroger to buy all the ingredients to make Bailey's food, and I had to buy a lot of everything because I wanted to cook enough to last a week. I had already been to Walmart and gotten the produce that I could there, but I could not find spinach or tofu. I went to Kroger, gathered up my 3 boxes of tofu, 6 bunches of spinach, and some 10mL syringes that are so impossible to find, and headed to the checkout. The young girl who was ringing up my purchases said something about all the spinach. When she got to the tofu, she said, "Can I ask what you're making?" I told her I was making dog food and, to appease her curiosity, I told her a little bit about Bailey's condition. She asked me his age and what kind of dog he is. I told her he is 11 and a black lab/German shepherd mix. She asked me if he was registered... I should have ended the conversation there, because obviously she's an idiot! But I replied that no, he is not registered because he is a mix. Then she looked at me and said, "You're doing all of this for a . . . mutt?" This is when the strangling came in, at least in my mind. I replied, "It doesn't matter if he is a purebred or not, he is my baby!" Then she went on to tell me about her mom's dog's thyroid problem and the potted meat he has to eat (WHAT?!?!) and I tuned her out as best I could.

Her dog-owning license is permanently revoked! If only I had the power to do that . . . .

Home Cookin'

After delaying her start date for 2 weeks, Bailey's personal chef has finally started work. In case you haven't figured it out, I am the chef! I went to Kroger Saturday and bought all the ingredients:

(broccoli, spinach, carrots, green bell peppers, tomatoes, ground mustard, ground ginger, garlic, grilled chicken, tofu, brown rice, EVOO, and Tums for calcium)

Anyone who saw me putting all of these items into my shopping cart would have thought I was a very healthy eater. Obviously, they don't know me!

Monday night, I laid out all the ingredients (because of course I had to get a picture!), then I rinsed everything really well. I actually found boil-in-bag brown rice, so that was easy. I put the broccoli and carrots into a second pan to boil. The spinach went into another pan to cook. I chopped the green bell pepper using my wonderful new chef's knife that my mom got for me from Pampered Chef, because who shouldn't be a pampered chef, right? (Thanks, Mom!) The recipe called for the pepper to be steamed, so I got creative and pulled out a colander, put the pepper in it and held it over the pot of spinach that was putting off lots of steam. Once the vegetables were done, I pressed the garlic, drizzled the olive oil, measured the spices, chopped the tofu, and put everything but the rice into the food processor and pureed it all. Knowing Bailey, I was afraid if I did not puree it, he would pick and choose which things to eat, and I wouldn't have blamed him! The end result looked like this:

It looks like guacamole with rice in it (and one carrot that the food processor did not get). Seeing the end result, I was even more apprehensive that Bailey would actually eat this food. I was encouraged though that for the last several steps, he was sitting right beside me, sniffing each ingredient with interest. So I added some to his regular food (we will be taking the transition to this diet slowly!) and put the bowl back in its holder. I called Bailey, and called him again, and called him again. It wasn't looking too good at this point . . .

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

. . . but I think he liked it! So if you're looking for me on Sunday afternoons now, I'll be at home cookin'. :o)

We're Still Here

I have not posted in a while because our internet at home is down. It's also been pretty crazy lately. Here is why:

Bailey's current schedule
6:30am
- Wake up
- Take Denosyl 1 hr. before eating (for elevated liver enzyme alkaline phosphatase)
- Walk for 30 minutes (except we can't walk in the yard right now because of the weeds that put horrible thorns into my feet that are all over the back yard instead of grass....)
7:00am
- Take n-acetylsysteine (NAC) and aminocaproic acid (EACA) on an empty stomach
7:30am
- Take vitamin E, vitamin C, Synovi G3 (for joints), good boy, get treat, eat breakfast
8:15am
- Mommy leaves me :o(
- - - - - - -
6:00pm
- Mommy comes home :oP
- Get the mail and go potty
- Take NAC and EACA on an empty stomach
7:00pm
- Take vitamin E, vitamin C, milk thistle (for liver), good boy, get treat, eat dinner
- - - - - - -
12:30am
- Take NAC and EACA on an empty stomach
- GO TO BED
- - - - - - -
6:30am
- Wake up and do it all over again!

It's a little easier on the weekend because I am at home to give him his second dose of NAC and EACA in the afternoon instead of waiting till after work. We also go to the park in the mornings on the weekend, which he loves.

Hopefully soon I will be able to post about Bailey's personal chef, his first experience with the wading pool, and whatever else has happened by then...