My Stressful Project

Warning: In this post I sound like one of those annoying new parents who talk about nothing but their child’s bathroom habits–a pet peeve of mine. But I could really use some advice from veteran dog owners, if you’re reading. 

It has been very depressing to see my daily blog views go from approximately 100 per day to less than 20 per day, but I know it’s because I haven’t been posting much of interest. It’s because my current, very stressful project is trying to meet the puppy’s needs while at the same time keeping my regular schedule (work). This is proving more difficult than previously thought. My plan for this morning was to feed him at 8 and then take him for a walk until 8:30 or 8:45 so he can do his “business” and to wear him out a little so he can go in his crate… And I’ll make it to work by 9. Well, needless to say, I am currently not on a walk and he’s curled up sleeping beside me on the couch. He’s cutest (and most well behaved) when he’s sleeping. I took him out right when I got him up but he was too cold to do anything but shiver and look at me like, “can we go inside yet?”

I still intend on making to work by 9 but am now getting stressed out about whether he’ll “go” outside before I have to go to work. He made it a whole week perfectly potty trained but had two accidents this weekend alone! Now I’ve put his food out but he’s too sleepy to eat. I knew we’d been having it too easy. Oh–and for those of you asking why last week was so different–he was being puppysat by my sister who was in town for a cold and dreary Kansas spring break.

Any tips on how I should plan & execute my morning schedule to the benefit of me and my pup? Do I need to get up earlier? Get the dog up earlier? How do I keep him from going back to sleep (I’d prefer him to nap in his crate while I’m gone, instead of beside me before work).

Spring Break

Well, two things have thrown my life completely out of whack lately: the arrival of our new family member last Saturday, and the arrival of my sister Stephanie (she’s the one on Spring Break) Monday night. With all of this commotion and festivity, I haven’t had the opportunity to do projects (although I have a dog-related one planned) or to blog. Instead of apologizing to you, readers, I’m just going to say that I’m taking a “spring break” from blogging/projects and I’m savoring it!

Have a great rest of the week. I’m sure planning to. :)

Relish the Moment

The best part of baseball season: hot dogs.

The thing is, most people have a love/hate relationship in hot dogs. At one point, an adult in our lives informed us what hot dogs are made of, so we went through a phase where we refused to eat them… then got over it. For most of my life my family and I have eaten turkey dogs, but I always had a soft spot for Hebrew National thanks to cheap lunches at Costco. Plus, I have more confidence in the quality of their meat.  After an unhealthy addiction to Sonic’s new specialty dogs (especially the Chicago dog! Didn’t know such a thing existed…) the decision was made that it would be much cheaper to just eat our hot dogs at home. Today we picked up a pack of Hebrew Nationals, some fancy Pepperidge Farms sesame seed hoagie rolls–all of the hot dog buns were sold out. On baseball’s opening weekend & the first good weather in a while. Imagine that! Anyway, armed with our premium hot dogs and fancy pants buns, we were ready for dinner.

Inspired by Sonic’s fancy pants dogs I decided to forgo store bought relish and make my own. Loved it. You can too:

Staci’s Fancy Pants Relish

2 dill pickle spears
1/4 yellow onion
1/2 tomato
the “bottom” of one red bell pepper (I just had leftovers on hand, ok?)
1 tsp sugar

Pulse in food processor for a chunky texture.