Cinnamon Sugar Pecans

Sorry I went MIA last week. I haven’t posted since last Friday, but it was one crazy week (to say the least).

Last Saturday we went up to Denver to pick up our rescue pup, Zeus/Kevin. He was pretty scared and tired that night, but he had just been neutered and then taken to a completely new household with people he did not know. It was understandable. He pretty much laid on our loveseat that whole evening, but he did sleep in our bed that night.

The next day we let Doug & Kevin play out in the backyard for a few minutes and we started taking down our Christmas lights. We started in the front and it goes pretty quick. I’d say 10-15 minutes later we were ready to start on the back of the house, but I didn’t see Kevin in our yard. I started looking around further and into the garage but no Kevin. He was gone.

We ended up looking for him for a few hours (my parents helped and so did a few of our neighbors) and couldn’t find him. Then my dad spots him across the road from our house! He called me to tell me so I sprinted out the back door and over to our neighbors property. Kevin was not having it. He ran. I mean, he ran and ran and ran. I kept up with him for a while, but he is too quick for me! We lost him again and never could find him.

I was a mess. I’m talking mess…..

I was sad.

I was heartbroken.

I was scared.

I was mad.

Mad at the people that abused Kevin so much that he was terrified of us and other people.

Mad that I ran after him for a good mile and couldn’t keep up.

Mad that Kevin couldn’t see that we loved him.

But more than anything I was sad.

Poor Donny, he had to put up with me being an emotional mess for a week. I cried most of the day on Sunday, but Donny was there to comfort me.

We did not see Kevin at all on Monday but we had quite a few people searching for him. We weren’t sure how far he had gone, because he had been running through open pasture. He could have been anywhere!

Tuesday morning I was pretty down in the dumps thinking we weren’t going to see him again and my mom’s friend Heather texted me telling me she saw Kevin! He was still in the neighborhood so I had hope!

We looked for him over our lunch breaks and throughout the evening. I was always thinking about him and looking around, just in case. They saw him another time, but he ran away. I never saw him myself, but other kept seeing him briefly. I was just so happy he was still alive!

Needless to say, it was a whirlwind of a week and I was exhausted by the time Friday hit.

Long story short, some friends of ours brought five boys out this last Saturday to look for Kevin. They ended up scaring him out of his hiding place and we caught him (it took a while, but he was pretty beat so he wasn’t moving quite as fast)!

I was so relieved. I took him to the vet immediately and everything was fine. He had a slight fever so was given an antibiotic and the vet gave me some high-calorie food to feed him. He was skinny before, but he was skin and bones when we found him again!

I did cry one more time on the way home from the vet, but they were happy tears! I am so thankful for all of our amazing family, friends, and neighbors. Everyone helped us look for him and offered so much support (physically and emotionally). I was so happy we had Kevin back and so thankful for everyone in our lives! Donny said he almost got emotional later that day. It might have been that he was thankful he didn’t have to see him wife cry all the time….. regardless.

Right now we are taking things very slow with Kevin. We want him to learn to trust us and realize we love him and won’t abuse him! He is slowly opening up and feeling more comfortable. He followed me around the kitchen for a while yesterday, which is progress! I am taking him to work today and probably for the next few days.

Now, on to food. I made these Cinnamon Sugar Pecans for the Super Bowl and they were a hit!

They are really easy to make and don’t take much time! They are not low calorie, so definitely be sure to portion control. I had a very hard time trying not to sneak one or two here and there. Pecans are full of healthy fats and protein, but again, they do have calories! There are about 225 calories in 1/4 cup, compared to 200 calories in plain pecans. These are definitely better for you than the candied pecans you can get at professional sporting event and carnivals!