Banks, Beaches, and Canine Diabetes

What a mix of things going on in my life over the past 3 weeks! Where to start...As you know, I have been unemployed since a lay off in September and have been carrying COBRA. Well, those good folks with the COBRA Administrator decided to Double debit me for the month of May. (No. Not my idea!) This has turned into a chaotic nightmare of phone calls, red numbers, and financial madness. The bank wants "Bad COBRA Administrator" to pay the fees and They want the bank to send them letters, further extending this nightmare. Banks and Insurance companies...Grrr. No reserve funds for me, so this started a chain reaction of Red in my account. I am hoping to have this cleared up and behind me this week, after 2 weeks of trying to turn it around.

The same day this happened, I was given the opportunity to escape to Florida for a few days and take in some of the Players Championship and enjoy some R&R with a friend. Kind of hard to say no, but with no extra pennies, and my pup Allie, being newly diagnosed with canine diabetes, spontaneity was a challenge. But I got the green light from my amazing Vet (Thank you Dr. Malone), My angel of a pet sitter (Thank you Karri), and my BFF (Thank you Linda) and the generous heart of a special friend (Thank you Scott), I was able to jump in the car the next day without a penny to spend and head South.I knew my Felines and Canine were in the best of hands and so was I, so I said a few prayers and hit the road for the beach.

Before I left for Florida for some rest, change of scenery, and to visit with my family at the same time, I burned some midnight oil making my Espresso bark, cookies and toffee to share with my family. Cooking therapy was in order and it was packed up and ready for the cooler come Thursday morning. It was worth it and they loved the goodies. Seems that Espresso Bark makes everyone smile that takes a nibble. Makes my heart smile. :)

Espresso Bark

After a week off from making confections, I am ready to jump back in and get the bus rolling again. I did take a different route for my cooking therapy this past weekend and put together a Southern BBQ dinner. I love BBQ and I always enjoy making and eating my special pulled turkey breast BBQ, Mashed Potato Salad, and Secret Recipe Coleslaw.

Skinless Turkey Breast in the Special BBQ Sauce

This is how it all starts out after putting together a special sauce of vinegar, onions and tons of spices.

Cooked Turkey Breast 

 Cool the turkey until you can handle it easily enough to shred into long strips. Add a few more spices, stir it all together and after 2 more hours, you have delicious, low fat, spicy, "slap your Mama" BBQ.

Voila! 8 hours later, time to dig in! Worth all the time, love and effort.

By the way, the beach was incredible! Great visit with family, wonderful trip with my friend, fresh seafood, A+ golf, Shuttle launch viewing, successful shark tooth hunt, and just a tad of sunburn. Allie is doing well with her insulin so far, but it is a process we will walk through. I have plans to start making some gooey goodies in the next few days and hopefully sharing them with a lot of folks, so... Life Is Good! Oh! That Bank and COBRA thing? Not so great! Since this is my place of peace and smiles, let's just let it go for now! Great to be back!