Goodbye, sweet babies

Yesterday was a very sad day.

Our family has had too many animals for quite some time. 2 cats, 3 dogs, and a bird. All but one of those animals are rescues. We ended up with them. That isn't to say they weren't well loved. Well, as time went on and the family finances got worse we found it harder to give all of the animals the care that they need. My father then went to work as a trucker and now is gone. This left my mother, my sister, and I to care for them.

I ended up doing most of the care for two of the three dogs. My mother fed them a little less than half of the time and did clean up their mess a lot of the time - but I am the one that gave them the love and attention they need. I am leaving before the end of the year. I know that the dogs will not get the attention and love they deserve from my mother and sister when I go.

My Aunt, Uncle, and his partner came from New Orleans to help us move some furniture and to bring my mother and sister for a visit. I was invited but decided not to go. While my aunt was here she had a conversation with my mother about the amount of animals we have. My mother decided to re-home the two dogs and the bird. My Uncle (an avid bird lover) knew someone that could take the bird, and when he went home on Sunday brought the bird with him. I wasn't very attached to the bird - and quite frankly I don't like keeping birds as pets. Anyways, my aunt told my mother that she knew someone that could find our two dogs really good homes. She's great at finding a home that will love and care for them.

Yesterday they left. I am home alone here, and this morning it felt so strange not to get up and take care of the dogs. I sat on the love seat and did my thing like I do every day, and it was so lonely not having two warm bodies curled up on me. I miss them so much. I know that the choice to re-home them is the best choice that could have been made for them, but it still hurts. I can envision them sitting in some strange house, scared and wondering when we will come pick them up. I can just imagine their heart break when they realize that they've been abandoned. They won't know that we did it because they deserve someone that can care for them better than we can, they'll just think that we don't love them anymore. Which is not true at all.

My heart hurts and I wish I could cuddle with my two babies. I hope that they find a home and an owner with a big heart that can make them happy.

Here they are, my sweet pups:

Sweet Georgia 

Cute, goofy Jake

Heaven. Absolute heaven.

I just got word today that my Aunt and my Uncle and his partner are going to be coming in from New Orleans for a visit. Yeah, no one tells me anything. Gah.

Well anyways, I decided to cook something super sweet and yummy to welcome them properly. I decided to make Heaven. I got the recipe from this blog.

Preheat oven to 350F

It's a very simple recipe.

Press cookie dough into the bottom of your muffin pan. You don't have to use the liners, but I wanted to.

Place a Reece's cup face down on top of the cookie dough.

Spoon brownie batter on top of the Reece's cup. The blog says to fill it 1/4 full. I did a little more than that and it turned out fine.

The blog says to bake for 18 minutes. Mine weren't ready, so I added 5 minutes and they were prefect.

Let cool and enjoy : )

Yes, they do taste as amazing as they look. 

A taste of New Orleans

Alrighty then. When I went to visit my family in New Orleans after the wedding, my Aunt Chesney made me an absolutely wonderful cookbook full of family recipes. Really, this thing is beautiful. When I think about all the love and effort that went into this project it makes me feel all gooey inside.

Anyways, I decided that I wanted to use it and make something yummy from New Orleans. I decided Jambalaya was a good choice. That recipe was so simple. And it didn't even contain anything I don't like! Although, honestly, you could add/subtract anything you wanted. It's not one of those recipes that you must follow to a T.

Lauren's Jambalaya:

Ingredients:
1 can French Onion soup
1 can Beef Broth
1/2 cup Shallots (green onions)
1 small can Tomato Sauce
1 stick melted Margarine
I small box Uncle Ben's Converted Rice (16 oz)*
1 1/2 teaspoons Tony Chachere
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon Parsley

1 teaspoon Thyme

1 lb Chicken**

1 lb Sausage**

*This is what the recipe uses. However, any rice that you have on hand will be fine. I used Jasmine rice for mine.
**You can also use shrimp, ham, or whatever you have in place of these meats.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Combine ingredients in a baking dish and stir
Cover and put in oven for 45 minutes
Take out and stir
Put back into oven for another 45 minutes

Be sure not to uncover during cooking except for the ONE time you are stirring.

And that's it. Nice and easy. The recipe makes a lot of food too. But that's okay, because it's great for leftovers. If you're not a leftovers kind of person (like my dear husband) then you might want to half the recipe. You'll have more than enough for two people with half of this recipe.

Why hello, July

So, how did that happen? Things have been kind of crazy around here - plus I've been bummed and had no motivation to write about stuff.

Okay, so first off all Dan got in just fine (whew!) and it was so wonderful to spend time preparing for the wedding with him - even though it was only a few days.

The wedding itself was so wonderful. Everything went SO well! The weather was perfect, and everyone had so much fun!

So yeah, that was great. The following week was spent playing tourist with my new in-laws. We did all sorts of fun stuff - it's really great to be a tourist in your own town. Then, after my new Sister-in-law and her husband had gone home we (Dan, his mother, his brother, and myself) went to New Orleans for a few days where my Aunt hosted a wonderful party in our honor. It was absolutely wonderful!

The next day my Aunt went with us to to bayou for a swamp tour. That was seriously fun!

Afterwards we didn't do too much, it was just nice to relax and enjoy time with my new husband. Now we're just trying to get the visa together so that I can join him in England. Unfortunately that won't happen any sooner than November - so I'm stuck in that state of limbo waiting for my life to get where it's supposed to be. Pretty depressing actually. 

But, until then, I am looking forward to learn how to knit. I am starting classes on Saturday and I just can't wait. 

That's all for now!