My little family is growing (again)...

No... not THAT kind of growing!!!

I have been off and on looking at pictures of dogs on rescue sites for a few weeks just kind of seeing what kind of dogs are up for adoption. I never in a million years thought Dook would approve the addition of a new dog into his house. He has always wanted a healer dog... even though he's FAR more of a cat person than a dog person but he was looking at the pictures of dogs with me and saw a picture of this healer and said we could go look at it. (I wanted to go look at a different dog but he insisted). The people from the rescue brought the dog up, they also brought up a second dog that they thought we might want to look at as well...

We ended up with two dogs.



HOW did this happen??? Seriously insane!

Django has honestly never been so happy. It's pretty awesome! I am really glad we were able to give these dogs a home. The dog Dook adopted (Matilda) had been in a shelter her whole life! And the dog I adopted (Clarence is the working name but is not finalized) got handed over because his neighbors were shooting bottle rockets at him. Now they are here in my little house with my little boy and creating chaos!

It's pretty awesome to have two dogs because they get to play together a ton, but they also antagonize each other and it makes things a lot more chaotic.

Django has been showing them the ropes. He has been taking them around and pointing out things in the house and explaining what they are (or at least taking them around, pointing at things and talking jibberish in a very as a matter of fact manner). It's probably the cutest thin I have ever seen in my life! This is a really funny video of him telling the dog "no".

I forgot how much work dogs are (esp. young dogs). They have already dug under the fence, and escaped a few times... Today I took them on a long walk and they seem much more content.



I know there will never be a dog that can replace Nelix in my heart (he is my soul dog)... but I am really glad to be able to give Django the experience of having a dog friend!

Django Loves...

Picnicking on the floor! Every time I pull a snack out of the fridge, he wants to sit on the kitchen floor and eat it... I've been trying to redirect to the outside table but either way it's fun. I am not really into putting limitations on his explorations and needs.

Summertime is so amazing! We have been having so much fun on the bike! We've been hiking a bunch of times (which he ASKS to do), he's loving his veggies and fresh fruit, swimming, and drawing with chalk (all over the house), the other day he walked about 5 blocks to the store (but got a shoulder ride back), I seriously love summer time! I am going to be really sad to see it go, I'm dreading it!

Little guy has been getting molars so he's been pretty cranky off and on, the first time my patience has even been slightly tested with him... It makes me sad to see him in pain! I got a tip that black panda licorice from the freezer might help to numb the teeth, I am going to try that when he wakes up from his nap.

It's so weird that this is my life now... so awesome and weird.

Pioneer Day Feast!

So, those of you who don't live in Utah may not know the wonder of the celebration on the 24th of July... "Pioneer Day". Supposedly it's the day Utah (as the mob would put it) was "Made"... Here we are in Utah... "This is the place". Celebrating what a wonderful state it is. There are parades, a much larger fireworks show than the 4th of July, rodeos, marathon, beauty pageants, and all sorts of other trivial experiences.

This year I decided to celebrate by making some classic Utah dishes. Utah-rds are known for our wonderful casserole dishes... I believe that green Jell-o with shredded carrots is actually the official state dessert, so much so that there was an Olympic pin that featured it. The menu I decided on was funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, and our official state dessert.

If you have never had funeral potatoes let me give you an introduction. It's a classic dish that Mormons will bring to funeral after parties (what other cultures would refer to as a wake). It's a quick, easy, dish that will be sure to send the widow to an early grave via heart attack so that they may join their deceased loved one. Here is the basic recipe not a very vegan sounding dish right? I do love a soy-filled challenge!!!



Here is where I began... I used potato leek soup (instead of creamy chicken or cream of mushroom), I used the soy-free butter (so I didn't over soy myself), and instead of straight sour cream I combined it with plain yogurt (I was running low and it was cheaper).



I went for "organic" hashed browns so I wouldn't feel 100% horrible about what I was making...



Corn Flakes are a necessity for any true casserole...



and...



Ok, these were seriously pretty good. Cheesy, creamy, crunchy... everything I remember them to be... although, I haven't eaten dairy in about half my life so what do I know...

For the "Jell-O" I found an agar mix at the Asian market. It was unflavored so instead of the water I put into it I concentrated two packets of Kool-Aid and used that as the liquid. For the whipped cream I used "Rich's" whip which is seriously amazing! That stuff whips up just like whip cream and sucks so much less than that disgusting Soy-atoo whip!!!



Dook made the green bean casserole... same idea, potato leek soup, with the fried onions on top. That wasn't actually that great and kind of hurt my tummy! Here's the spread altogether. Someone brought bread and small sacrament water cups (in the Mormon church 12 year old boys hand out little cups to drink your sacrament water from)...



And the aftermath...



Success!!!

Wonder Twins Unite!

I paid my car payment 3 weeks late yesterday, counted out nickles and dimes to buy Django's new bike, rent is due and I have none, and I have had 3 customers all day...

Why do I live like this? I am doing a lot of cake orders and a lot of wholesale but seriously... it's amazing to me that vegans in SLC don't support vegan business like they do in other cities. I am putting more and more thought and effort into moving... More online wholesale and less roots to SLC.

Sometimes I wonder if this is healthy for Django, my not knowing where the money is coming from... We have always gotten by, and I always have a lot of time with him, which is really the most important thing to me... Having my own business means working my hours and playing with him the rest of the time, it's sort of a dream come true... just stressful at times.

I keep making pro and con lists to collecting child support and how that would benefit him in the long run. I don't know that it would bring in enough money to make a difference and it would be a headache to go through the motions, but does this mean I am depriving Django of money that is rightfully his? Does it mean that I am letting his SD out of his responsibility too easily because I don't want to bring that drama and negativity into our lives? It's a constant battle I have with myself, esp. when it gets to be time to fight for funds and wonder how I am going to put gas into the car...

My sister did all the paperwork and added it up, there would be quite a bit of money owed up to this point... that could buy Django shoes, trips to museums, organic snacks, travels, money in a college fund... I guess I just keep hoping things will take off for me and the bakery and it will never be needed or desired. My hope is that some day he will look back at how hard I have worked for him and us and appreciate how much I love him, and know that we never needed anyone else... He's changed my life, given me so much strength, such a new outlook on life, love, fear... I'm pretty surprised and saddened that the same didn't apply to the provider of the other half of his genetic make up. When I get saddened by that I quickly push those thoughts from my mind and replace them with the reality that I have a beautiful son that I made the decision to let live, and he's more of a miracle every day!!!

I guess I just need to stay strong and keep trying... I'm sure it will be worth it in the end... KG and little Riot against the world!!!