My joy of cooking

So tonight I made:
Potage Parmentier, Coq Au Vin, Oignons glaces a brun, champignons sautes au beurre, which according to "Mastering the art of french cooking" is: Potato and Leek Soup, Chicken in Red Wine with carmelized onions and brown butter braised mushrooms.
My husband who is the Network Engineer for our small family owned business: Pure Country Pet Boutique LOVED the soup and then through drooling said "it was the best chicken dish I have ever had". I think he was partial to the mushrooms. I really loved the soup. It filled me up though so it was hard to finish the chicken dish.. which was YUMMMMM..Nothing gives me more joy than to cook something that is enjoyed. Even my 15 year old son who never eats anything, after complaining about the onions... he polished off his entire plate. I would highly recommend this dish!

Other than cooking from 3pm to 5:30pm I worked the first part of the day. Finalized booths at Backer and Superzoo (which are pet industry trade shows) and did all of my shipping and making Grocery lists etc... It is hard meal planning. I do get a kick out of it though. There is some great feeling in accomplishing making a gourmet meal that everyone loves.

Whole Chickens are on special this next week in Cali. poultry it is!!!

Don't forget if you are interested in small doggie clothes come check us out at www.purecountrypetboutique.com

Getting excited!

We have been busy designing our new line and our final prototypes are now done! Yay! We will have a new line of dog pajamas, dog shirts, coats, dog hairbows, so so much new stuff! We even have some breaking news products. Ones that have never come out before by anyone! We are so excited! We hope to make the official press announcement in 1 month. We have a lot of work to do! On top of everything we are going public at trade shows this year. PHEW! Gonna be a busy year!! But it is exciting! So keep checking back to our site Pure Country Pet Boutique to see what is new. The best and easiest way to keep tabs is to join our mailing list on our site.

~Christi

Don't you love it

As I was recently told "Don't let it bother you. When people shoot you down, talk garbage about you behind your back, criticize you, just shake your head and say LOVE LOVE LOVE". Try it, It works! Knowing there are people who are that hurtful out there, is kinda painful, but you know what? It is not my problem it is theirs! They can wallow in it. When those that are supposed to love and support you the most, cause the most pain and drama, it is time to let them hold on to that pain and that drama and let them figure out how to get rid of it. As you know for my TWO friends on here that are readers, this blog is of course a way for google to find my website, Pure Country Pet Boutique and not a NATIONAL MOVIE RELEASE about my life. I come on here to talk, vent, and of course post links to our family business website. This is NOT the business website.

You know what my plan for this year is? To walk around wearing a window of love. Love can go through the window, but it blocks the shit from hitting your face. Mine has wipers and a fan. So don't throw it at me or it will come back in your face.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

That is my new motto. Have fun holding on to that baggage cuz I am fancy free and doing cartwheels!

New Valentines Photo Contest

It is Photo contest time! It is that time of year. The holidays have come and gone and things start to get back to normal. Now we would like to open the lens of your camera. Please send us all of your pictures of your pet wearing our Pure Country Pet Boutique clothing. Even though we specialize in dog clothes we also accept pictures of cats. We do love our feline friends too. Below are the pet photo contest rules: 1. All photos must be of your pet wearing Pure Country Pet Boutiques dog clothing, dog collars, dresses, any of our doggie clothes. 2. We can only accept pictures submitted in High resolution 600x600 or higher in .jpg or .bmp format. 3. Photos must be emailed to us at photos@purecountry.net no later than February 5th 12 noon PST. 4. Pictures will be uploaded to the site so that people can vote. Voting polls will be open until February 14th 12 noon PST. Happy Valentines day!! 5. Winners will receive a $20 gift certificate to purchase anything they want at Pure Country Pet Boutique Think Spring! Valentines day! Most winners end up on our site and in catalogs. In the meantime please check out our cute items that are hot for Spring. Thank you to Nikki from www.obsessivechihuahuadisorder.com for taking the pictures. And her supermodel babies, Bebe, Chico and Manny. If you are not yet a follower of her blog, you should check it out. Below we have hot styles for both boys and girls. Denim Love Dog Dress  Frayed stretch denim skirt with a belt that has a rhinestone belt buckle. Love is written on the back and 4 hearts on each corner are surrounded in rhinestones.  Learn More Pink Lady Dog Coat Our pink lady dog coat is puffy and warm. Soft cotton edging fully lined jacket that is guaranteed to keep your babies warm during this cold season. Plus who can resist a pink coat with a heart! Learn More Pink Rain Slicker Our Pink Rain coat slicker for dogs is perfect. Waterproof, keeps the rain off, plus it is fully lined with soft warm black fleece. There is a D ring to attach your leash to for easy outings. Learn More RUFF dog harness and leash set  Precious Manny modeling our bad to the bone RUFF harness and leash set. Great for the boys. Sturdy velcro attachment around the girth makes for easy on and off. D ring for easy leash attachment and worry free outings. Learn More Fire Hydrant Dog Pjs Chico with a peekaboo from Bebe. Modeling our fire hydrant pajamas. Comfy cotton with cute fire hydrants printed all over. Perfect for the boys to keep them warm and stylin. Learn More Only Mommy Understands We have a wide variety of tees for both boys and girls. This is a cotton sleeveless tee that says "only mommy understands me!" Make your baby the talk of the town with our selection of over 40 tees to choose from including our new ones! Learn More   Here are other hot selling items for Valentines day: Pink Heart dog PJs Here is a previous photo contest winner. Cotton pink heart dog pjs perfect for Valentines day! Only left in size medium soon to be sold out for the season! Learn More  Heart Polo Another previous photo contest winner. Currently part of our valentines day sale. Heard dog polo. cotton with cute little multi color hearts on the sleeve. Learn More  white w/pink trim harness Awe, this was a winner in a previous photo contest as well. White with rhinestones and maribou trim harness and hat set. There is a D ring on the back for easy leash attachment.  On sale. Learn More We will be announcing our new Spring line the end of February, Be sure to check out our new Dog Tees and our new Dog Collars as well. Sincerely, Pure Country Pet Boutique Follow us on any of the following Social Networks: email: support@purecountrypetboutique.com web: http://www.purecountrypetboutique.com

 

 

So my husband has Aspergers

So it has been a long hard week. We did our year end inventory at Pure Country Pet Boutique. As most of you know we make Dog Clothes. We also make dog collars and other dog apparel. Which requires us counting and sorting each and everything we make. My husband quit his job a year ago to come help me with the business. The man is a very smart hard worker. Genious is more like it. BUT he hoards. He can't handle getting rid of anything. We all thought it was his A.D.H.D, well we got a blow this week. On top of everything, we found out he has adult Asperger's Syndrome. I don't know if I should laugh or cry. It answers so many questions. The constant mess, the inability to hold a conversation without lecturing us on what year that was invented and blah blah blah blah. The finger tapping. The toe twitching ... I can go on and on. I feel bad for him. For a really short run down,
Asperger syndrome is classified as a developmental disorder that affects how the brain processes information. People with Asperger syndrome can show a wide range of behaviors and social skills, but common characteristics include difficulty in forming friendships, communication problems (such as an inability to listen or a tendency to take whatever is said to them literally), and an inability to understand social rules and body language.
Typical adult symptoms
More males than females have Asperger syndrome. While every person who has the syndrome will experience different symptoms and severity of symptoms, some of the more common characteristics include:
• Average or above average intelligence
• Inability to think in abstract ways
• Problems with understanding another person's point of view
• Hampered conversational ability
• Problems with controlling feelings such as anger, depression and anxiety
• Adherence to routines and schedules, and stress if expected routine is disrupted
• Inability to manage appropriate social conduct
• Specialized fields of interest or hobbies.

After my husband and I married he figured out he had "Severe ADHD" all the medications, doctors appointments, nothing really helped too much. Don't get me wrong. He does have ADHD. It is actually very common for ADHD to go along with Aspergers. We are fortunate that he does have a mild case. But it is still hard. I find the #1 most challenging aspect is people not accepting my husband. His family, his kids, my kids... Kids are a hard one. They want their dad to be something he can never be. I don't even know how to address it with them. My husband will always have a part of him be a child. The maturity level of certain things makes it really hard for him to relate to teens. In Aspergers they have a very hard time with empathy. They don't understand other peoples feelings too much. The worst part is, he blames himself more than anyone else can. He does not feel accepted or loved by his family. I think it is for the most part that they want him to be something that he isn't. That he has done damage in the past and here is so much blame. "you should have done this, you should have done that". Well, here is my comment. MY HUSBAND HAS ASPERGERS. He won't ever be who you think he should. Maybe it is too much to handle. I myself walked out on him a year and a half ago. The divorce rate for adults with Aspergers is 80%. I it is tough. It really is. But I CHOOSE to love and accept him. It is a long road. Counselling is hard. The worst part; There is no cure and no specific treatment. Asperger syndrome doesn't improve, although experience helps to build up coping skills. Social training, which teaches how to behave in different social situations, is generally more helpful than counselling. This is who he is. Let me also say my husband is one of the most loving people. He has a very soft heart and he is hurting all the time because he knows he lets people down. After the discovery we watched the movie "Adam". My husband is not as severe as Adam is in the movie, But it sure made me understand even more. My husband probably mirrors who Adam is at the end of the movie. You can watch the trailer
So how does this relate? After about 30 Aspergers meltdowns,I was able to get rid of over 100 boxes. AND move my husbands "area" to ONE part of the warehouse. They don't like change, and mine can't really have order. Chalk it up to both ADHD and Aspergers but the man can't stand any organization. My hands are bloody from all the cutting and counting, but we GOT IT DONE! One job down, now a new life to discover. I am determined to accept and love my husband. Maybe others can't handle how he interrupts the conversation, how he twitches, or gets angry when you don't listen to why this car was invented back in 1957 etc.. Maybe he sucks at being a dad. That is tragic, we are all sorry for that. But it won't change. So ... we move forward.
Thanks for listening.

Phew! Happy 2010

It is over! The hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I don't know about you, but I had a blast. It was everything wrapped into one. Happiness,Stress,Tiring,energizing... You get the jist. I was very blessed to have Penny and her family come down the week before Christmas for a visit, before they took off for Cancun. The joy of them arriving turned quickly to stress and worry because of their 16 year old daughter getting extremely ill. A couple hospital visits later she was diagnosed with an infection that was causing severe pain. Major drugs. Then she was finally able to function. Then they flew out to Cancun the day my Dad arrived with his wife to visit for Christmas. Christmas eve service at church, Honeybaked Ham dinner, Exchanging gifts. It was lovely. Then... the after Christmas sale started at my work. As you know we sell dog clothes and we had a special after Christmas sale that sent the next few days of mine into an uproar. It was hard juggling company and work, but I am so thankful. Thank you all for being faithful customers! Stay tuned. We are currently designing our new line that we hope to release in February. I will probably be blogging about the process. I am done with my first round of prototypes and have to do a lot of fittings etc.. before I get it right.

So Happy 2010 everyone! It is a new decade. A new fresh start. Let's end all our negative news about recessions and war. Let's press forward with a positive attitude!