We adopted our dog about 12 years ago from a lob rescue.  Before then, I had never had a dog.  Tony, however, grew up having dogs.  I swear it took longer to adopt our dog than it did for me and Tony to get married!  The rescue people were overly cautious about who adopted their dogs.  They even interviewed us separately and asked “is your husband forcing you to get a dog?”

After a home visit, and us visiting the dog in Milwaukee – we knew we wanted him, but there was a one week waiting period in case we changed our minds.  Finally we got our dog!

But since I never had a dog, I remember going to Petco and buying him a bed (which he hated), lots of expensive toys and treats.  The first toy I got him cost like $9 bucks, and he had it torn up to pieces in about an hour.  And the bone I bought for $4?  Gone in about 5 minutes.

I quickly learned that garage sale toys and smoked necks from my grocery store would be the more frugal way to treat our dog.  Here is another treat we give our dog.  I don’t know how he got into the habit (okay me!) of getting a treat every time he walked back in the door, but he does.  And he’ll whine and whimper if he doesn’t get it.

Meat Ends.  Yep, I buy meat ends from my grocery store deli.  If you store doesn’t sell them, just ask for them.  I get a whole package for .99 cents and it usually lasts about a week.

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It’s just the scraps of deli meat that they can’t slice anymore – he loves them!

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Who knows, maybe your dog will like them too?

My store had a six pack of mini foccacia breads for $1.27 – yum!  I made a breakfast sammie – 1 bread, 1/2 cup egg whites, baby spinach, a slice of corned beef, mozzarella cheese – 387 calories, 12 fat, 31 carbs, 1.5 fiber and 33 protein.

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I forgot my camera at home, can you tell? Open-mouthed smile 

I wanted to do the Expresso bike machine, but someone else was on it.  I happened by Fitnessista’s blog, which I haven’t been on in ages!  She had a treadmill workout and it was perfect.  (and she uses the word amazeballs!)

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I like how the incline increased and the speed increased – a great workout! 

I was busy at work yesterday, so a quick lunch at my desk when I got back – the last of my Cincinnati chili, 1/2 ounce of cheese and 1 ounce of tortilla chips on the side – 507 calories, 34 fat, 21 carbs, 4 fiber and 25 protein.

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It’s bosses day today – I had planned on making corn bread and banana muffins last night – I had already made the chili for our lunch, but turns out two partners aren’t in the office today, so we postponed the lunch until Friday.  I had planned on spending a lot of time in the kitchen last night, so I had burgers on the menu which was super quick.

My burger: 4 oz. patty, 110 calorie bun, 1 ounce of Kettle chips and to balance it all out, half a sliced apple.  When I look back on my food for today, I don’t see many fruits or veggies, do you? Embarrassed smile

The best part of my burger?  The pickled cherry peppers – I put them in the pan the burgers were cooked in to sauté them before topping them on my burger – so fricken good!  Dinner comes in at 577, calories, 30 fat, 42 carbs, 4.5 fiber and 33 protein.

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My mom was right that the picture of my brother yesterday was spring of 1968.  Had I just looked further on the disk, the next set of pictures is of me and my twin sister as infants.

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And I looked even further – and you have to check out my brothers full outfit – I never noticed the bunnies on the knees of his pants – Mom, did you make those? 

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I had a bunch of Italian sausage leftover from our deep dish pizza night, so I had to make more . . . lasagna soup!  It’s on the menu for lunch today – can’t wait!  Suzie, I hope you are feeling better and congratulations on your grandson! Open-mouthed smile