The Cone of Shame

B is screwed when we have kids.

Screwed.

We've both known that for awhile, but JD - our 105 lb chocolate lab - reinforced that fact for us this week.

A couple of weeks ago, we noticed that JD had a spot on his belly that looked infected. The days went by and the spot started to look worse and worse. We still are not sure how the spot started, but we do know that JD made it worse by incessantly licking it for days. I am talking, that dog had to have been going to town during the 9+hours/day we leave him alone.

Why do I say that? Because he successfully licked a 3" long area of his belly completely raw and it proceeded to get infected.

Knowing exactly what the vet would tell us to do, we skipped to $30 office visit +drugs and opted for a $20 cone from PetSmart and a good old tub of Bag Balm.

*Sidenote - for those of you who know what Bag Balm is, have you ever read the side of the tub it comes in? After years of my mom slapping that stuff on our cuts, I recently learned Bag Balm was orginally used on cow udders. Who knew!

Anyway - as those of you who know our little family, JD is big. A big baby to be exact. He may be the size of a small horse, but his biggest nemesis is the noise an empty milk jug makes.

I came home with the cone on Monday afternoon. We immediately put it on him to see how he'd react and we were surprised how well he did.

At first.

We put it back on him later that evening so he would get used to it before we went to bed. After I secured the cone around his neck, the poor guy would not budge - at all. He just sat there with his ears pulled back, panting.

And my heart broke.

Those of you who have dogs know that when they're scared, they pant. Especially when they're in a situation they know they can't escape. Like the cone of shame.

JD got out of wearing the cone of shame that night.

The next day, he was not so lucky. I made B put the cone on him before we left for work and tried to get out the door before him - no such luck. I rubbed my poor guys ears - which were pulled way back within the cone - before I left.

Luckily the grinch B found his heart over lunch and came home over lunch to check on the poor boy... Who had weaseled his way out of the cone of shame. To top off his escape act, his belly was clearly inflamed from a good hour of licking he got in. B's the grinch's heart turned black and back on went the cone. This time however, JD was put on the bed before the cone went on. Reason? The small horse is too scared to jump off the bed while wearing the cone and therefore can not thrash around to escape.

We got home that evening to find the poor guy in the exact same position B left him in, shaking.

Yep - my heart broke again and he got extra food at dinner that night.

This scenario has repeated itself the past two days/nights. I thought we had made some progress yesterday as JD was not panting when I left, but then I got home this evening and he was shaking and stiff from being in the same position all day.

He got A LOT of extra food at dinner tonight.

There are two pieces of good news though: 1.) The second the cone comes off, he forgives us and acts like we never inflicted torture put the cone of shame on and 2.) his belly is almost healed!

Hopefully keeping an eye on him all weekend will do the trick and he will be cone free by Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Katie's Berry-Banana-Oatmeal Smootie

I am not sure what my deal is, but 9 out of 10 mornings, I don't want to perform the physical act of chewing. This is particularly weird for me because I love to eat.

Let me rephrase.

I love to eat when someone else makes it for me.

Enter smoothies - my breakfast savior. One of my friends actually got me hooked on smoothies a few years ago, and I have slowly refined my smoothie recipe to a science - partly thanks to Pinterest.

Smoothies are great for the following reasons:

1. I have managed to squeeze four food groups into a single tumbler.
2. No chewing involved.
3. Time effective. 

I am always running out of the house in the morning, so I try (sometimes I am too tired) to put all my ingredients in my Bullet blender cup the night before, so all I need to do in the morning is put it on the blender and dump it in my tumbler. 

Without further ado - the Katie's Berry-Banana-Oatmeal Smoothie. 

• 5-6 "cubes" (see below) of vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 c. mixed berries (I buy the frozen ones)
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 3/4c. juice (I usually use orange juice because it's cheapest, but any juice will work)
• 1 scoop unflavored protein powder

Combine all of the ingredients, blend and enjoy!

Here are some time-saving tips for those who are always running late:

• Buy a large container of yogurt and freeze in an ice cube tray. After they're frozen, free from the tray and divide into separate "serving" baggies. This saves on mess and allows you to just throw them in the blender when you're ready. I use 5-6 cubes/smoothie, but you can play around with that depending on the size of your cubes.
• Divide fruit into separate serving baggies (with the yogurt cubes). Again - saves time and mess!

I've seen on Pinterest that the "new" thing for smoothies is to add oatmeal - as you can see, I do. I actually got this from the Abs Diet - which I try to incorporate into my diet... Most of the time... Well, I think about it anyway. :) 

Enjoy!