Rained out

No egg hunt for us today. Sadly, there were thunderstorms in the area and it was raining pretty hard so the event got cancelled. :-( But they already sent out e-mails that hopefully we will be up and running next weekend! I'm so excited to take her I really hope they do it and luckily we don't have any plans next weekend so it's perfect!

Instead, we ended up taking her to do some shopping at Petsmart (and visiting her doctor for a second) and visiting my mom and her injured kitty Rocko. So still a good day.

We also breaded Rocko while we were there....

We tried to bread Kita but she just kept trying to eat the bread.

Getting ready for the weekend

Over here at Kita's Casa we are waiting for 5 p.m. Then our weekend fun begins. We have a few things planned like the awesome easter egg hunt we blogged about this week. It has been rainy this week but we are hopeful that it will clear up tomorrow and we can go have some fun in the sun.

We also are planning on going to a big sidewalk sale at a local comic book shop to get on geek on at. Kita loves going with us to this shop and inspecting all the goodies they have there so we are very excited for this as well.

T-minus 9 hours to go...

What are your plans for the weekend?

Wordless Wednesday: It's starting to feel like spring

Tasty Tuesday: Carrots

(This is her with a hot dog, but she has the same enthusiasm for carrots.)


Kita has discovered a new treat that tantalizes her taste buds...carrots.

Oh. man.

Give that girl some carrots and she goes nuts. She happily crunches and chews her way through baby carrots like a guinea pig and a cereal box. She even sometimes takes them to her bed to crunch away in comfort. The plus side to the carrots are that they are a healthy treat that also helps keep her teeth clean between brushings!

Walks

Kita loves getting her two daily walks a day. She eagerly looks forward to them every morning and every night when we get home from work. She wanders and wanders and just enjoys the breeze in her fur, roaming around aimlessly, and exploring the neighborhood.

She also loves seeing her friends. She has a few friends that live a few houses from us that she enjoys seeing. They are all about her size, which is good becomes she loves a romp with her friends in the front yard. They are a dad and his two sons doggie duo. It is fun seeing them play.

She also loves rolling in the grass.

Rain, rain, go away

It has been pretty rainy in our neck of the woods lately. And sadly for us it has been very rainy when we are off work. We were on vacation two weeks ago and it rained almost the entire time. :-( And this weekend it was very cloudy and about to rain all day Saturday and it currently schedule to keep raining all day today and all next week.

The even worse part about the rain is princess hates to go out in the rain, even with her raincoat on (she won't keep her little boots on, she just kicks them off). So we end up keeping extra potty pads down in her favorite spots to avoid accidents.

Is spring over yet? Does it rain a lot where you live?

A fun-tivity coming up

We signed up for a very fun event in our city next weekend, the 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs! It is put on by the Wag hotel and the proceeds benefit a local rescue NorCal Boxer Rescue!! We have been having beautiful weather in Sacramento lately and hope it will be just as nice next weekend. From what I can gather from the event website, there will be an Easter egg hunt with the eggs filled with yummy doggie snacks and an Easter bunny to take picture with! I am excited about this since we have never been able to take pictures with the Easter bunny for Kita before. We love spending the day as a family and helping local rescues out!

Wordless Wednesday: Hanging out in the sunshine

Tasty Tuesday: Happy birthday Tia Niki

Today is Kita's Tia Niki's birthday. She is finally 21 years old. Happy birthday Niki!!

Which leads us to our next point....dog birthday cake. We made this recipe before for Kita's birthday and she LOVES it. You can either make one small-ish cake (in one 9-inch round pan) or you can make pup-cakes for your birthday guests.

Peanut Butter Delight Cake

1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a ring mold sprayed with a nonstick spray for 40 minutes.

Frost this cake with low fat cottage cheese and decorate with carrot pieces. Store in refrigerator.

Kita enjoying birthday cake

Sleepover at grandma's

We went out of town this weekend to Wondercon in Anaheim so this was our first time leaving her with my mom since she has started her insulin shots. We were a little nervous that my mom might forget, especially since her cat Rocko got injured the night before and she had her hands full. Although we offered to take her elsewhere, my mom insisted and she did a great job. She made sure Kita ate enough and was able to get her to eat the first night when she didn't want to. She had already done the shots by the time we called to remind her that night. We were so happy since in July we are going out of town for five days. My mom really loves Kita and it showed this weekend.

2nd Glucose Curve

We went in for our 2nd curve on her this week hoping it would be our last. Not that she minds it so much, they say she is pretty relaxed and they give her a blanket, water, and a high kennel to keep an eye on everybody and she is good to go. But I suppose I feel like every time we have to come back I feel like I have failed somehow. That I was unable to get her glucose levels down enough. While we did drop significantly this time, we do have to go back one more time. She was about 200 points lower than when we started (she was at 650 last time and 450 this morning) and stayed there pretty much all day long. There was only one point when she went down to 350 but stayed at 450 all day long. Which is good that she is so stable and her glucose levels aren't spiking up and down all day, but we want to get her about another 200 points down.

We will get there, baby girl.

DIY: Travel dog bed

We made a very simple little travel doggie bed for when you go places with your four legged friend. While we wouldn't use (or recommend) that you use this bed in lieu of something nice and softer for an overnight trip, this little bed is perfect for a day trip or even a jaunt to your favorite outdoor restaurant to keep you furbaby from getting to dirty from the ground or a nice soft retreat while you eat.

All you need:

1-2 years fabric (depends on size you want bed)
Craft size package of batting (or you can get batting by the yard cut to size of your fabric if you want less waste.)

1. Lay fabric flat while folded in half. Cut around the edges of the fabric with pinking shears.

2. Lay fabric over batting and cut about 1/4" less than fabric with regular shears.

3. Place one end of fabric (design facing outwards) on either side of the batting. Line up the fabric edges as best as possible.

4. Sew along the outside of the fabric all the way around the bed. Trim any edges so they are more in line with each other.

Here is the end results

Like I said, it is a little thin for sleeping all day, but it's pretty hand for short day trips so you pup has their own comforting place to rest.

Wordless Wednesday: Kita in a scarf

Tasty Tuesday: Chicken Strips

Since we are in for the long haul with diabetes, it has become even more important to us that we find treats that are yummy and guilt-free for Kita. We are not only looking for things that are low in sugar, but we want ingredients that we can actually pronounce so we know exactly what's going in her body. Since I have been going to Trader Joe's more and more the past month to feed our family better, it should come as no shock that her favorite new treat is coming from there. We shall introduce you to the Trader Joe's Chicken Strip.

They only have one ingredient: dried chicken breast.

And that's the way we like it.

You get 4 ounces (or about 6-7 strips) per bag for $3.99.

Doggie crafts

So it's no secret that I love to craft. I am learning to sew and knit and have been exploring both for about a year. I also dabble in paper crafting with my Cricut. It has been a year full of mistake crafts that turned out bad or ones that turned out awesome. I have also made her many cute dresses for various holidays and occasions and sometimes just to practice my skills. Here are a few of our favorite things I have made for Kita.

Beds

Dresses

Water bowl decor

And the easiest travel item we've ever made...that we will help you make!!

These are a few of my favorite things

These are a few of Kita's favorite things....

Going places

This little girl would travel the world if we let her. She loves everything about going somewhere...the car ride, the adventures inside, people petting her. She loves to explore new places and see what the world has to offer.

Sleeping in

There is nothing she loves more than a lazy morning where she sleepily climbs in bed, wiggles in between us and just snuggles. Laying on pillows, laying on us, she doesn't care.

Toys

She has two toy boxes full of toys and loves playing. Short spurts of energy or hour long romps with puppets, she loves playing until she gets an exhausted look in her eyes and lays down to signal she is done.

Going for walks

She normally goes on at least two walks a day, so she gets a good amount of outdoors time daily.She loves the thrill of the walk, wandering about aimlessly, and the chance to meet up with some of her neighborhood friends for a romp in the grass.

Crafting

Every time I go in the craft room she happily barrels in and sets up camp while I work on a project. Especially when I lay down fabric to measure or put she can't wait to climb on top of it and give it some Kita lovin' before it goes to it's permanent home.

Be nerdy

We went to our local Petsmart this weekend and was surprised to see that Petsmart has partnered with Marvel to release a line of super cute Avengers t-shirts and toys. While they didn't have the toys out yet, they did have the t-shirts out and we couldn't resist getting Kita one. It was between the Spiderman "He's My Hero" shirt and the Captain America "I Love a Man in Uniform" shirt. Since Kita's daddy is a big fan of the Cap, we ended up getting that one. But the Spiderman one was so cute I think we will end up going back and getting that one later. Here is her new captain America shirt.

Wordless Wednesday

Homemade doggie treats

This past weekend we decided to try making some homemade treats to donate to a local animal rescue. I wanted an easy recipe that would make crunch treats that wouldn't get soggy or moldy in a few days by being too moist. I found this recipe online and it turned out perfect. It met every requirement I was looking for (easy to make, healthy, and a harder, crunchy treat) and was well received by our local taste tester.

The treats turned out perfect. The perfect crunchiness without being too dry (determined by our taste-tester) and we were able to fit about 2.5 dozen in the box to send out to the rescue. Here are a few pictures of our results. But one thing is for sure, we will be making these again for more rescue groups.

Kita scream of death

So yesterday we went to give little Chiquita her shot. I got some skin and pulled it taunt and, before I even pricked her with the needle she let out the loudest, most shrill screech ever and jumped about half a foot. Any dog owner would know that this sound of the most awful, heart stopping noise you can ever hear. My husband looked stunned and I said I didn't even poke her as she tried to run off.

Luckily he was able to give her the shot with no more death screams.