Cookies

So, not much has been happening. I had a Halloween party, but to be honest, it took a turn for the worst when a few people got too drunk.

I'll probably have pics from it to post a bit later. Today I just wanted to share a modified cookie recipe that I usually snag off of the Quaker Oats lid.

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tbsp margarine (I use Earth Balance)
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 bananas mashed or processed (need to be a smooth paste. This replaces 2 eggs)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
3 cups oats (I use Quaker Oats, since they provide the recipe on every box top)
1 cup raisins (you can also use dried cranberries or a mix of the two)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl beat margarine and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy.
2. Add banana paste and vanilla and beat well.
3. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
4. Add oats and raisins (or replacement)
5. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake 8-10 mins or until light golden brown. Cool 1 min on cookie sheets, remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

These are really soft, so it can be hard to pry them off the sheet without breaking them up, I might try greasing the cookie sheet next time.

For bar cookies, bake 30 to 35 mins in ungreased 13x9-inch metal baking pan. (I haven't tried this)

Swamped Again

My homework is really overwhelming me. Honestly, I am not very good with being busy all the time and tend to want long breaks to begin with. It doesn't help that my workplace is isolated from everything else at the trailer. Well, except the cats, who are great company. Deadlines freak me out. I can work myself to death on my own terms, but give me a deadline and I'll start sleeping 20 hours every day to avoid the pressure.

I finished my mid-term for Personal Business 30 minutes late due to references, but we are allowed to submit two assignments late, however, I am apparently confused about some things regarding structure. I thought we were following APA guidelines as instructed, but there are some other rules. A lot of things aren't clearly explained in internet courses. I've also got a financial accounting mid-term today, which I am not looking forward to.

Bêlit got spayed recently, and it has been tough for her. She can't run or jump at all, which she loves to do, so we have to keep her in her cage with the big plastic collar on her. She starts puppy classes just as she gets her staples out, on the 19th. I hope she does well, I worry she will get kicked out for being to spazzy about the other dogs and people.

Chauncey and I are planning a Halloween party and already have costumes. I am going to make mini cupcakes and mini sugar cookies with icing. I am stoked about this and have been buying all sorts of accessories to do this. I even got some edible markers to draw on the icing. Here's the recipe for the cupcakes (with a link to their icing,) and a recipe for the cookies and their icing. Notice edible markers have been used to draw stitching on some of the cookies, as well as other designs.

I'll make some punch too. Probably something cidery. Though my friend Robby discovered this incredible whipped cream vodka that would be great to use.

Sometimes life is so frustrating for me. I know I'm not living up to my full potential. But I get to this line, and I just stop giving anymore than that. I know I have more to give, I just don't know where to pull it from. A lot of it I think has to do with my break down that got me on disability. It's like part of me died and I no longer am capable of pushing myself to the point of losing it, and my mind won't let me go beyond a certain "safe zone". Unfortunately the safe zone is too safe. I need to be able to give more. Maybe I am just making up excuses, it's hard for me to really tell. I have the desire though, but the drive just goes away after a certain level of stress. I enjoy learning, I enjoy succeeding, I don't want to fuck this up. I wish I knew what I could do to get my ass in gear. Just keep trying harder I guess. It's been a learning process, and three internet courses was biting off more than I could chew for just starting.

I don't mention politics overmuch in this journal, mostly because I feel I rarely have anything particularly insightful to say. Other people have said it better way before me. And all of them were better educated. I am a strong communist, but my time frame for communism to take place is rather long, and not in the foreseeable future. I want thinks to work better and help to come to the poor more than just accomplishing goals towards my political beliefs.

Lately, there's this poor old homeless woman living in a van in the publix parking lot in Riverdale with her dog. I assume she might have had the option of putting her dog in a shelter and living in a nursing home where she would be neglected and abused, (and don't kid yourself, they are all like that, if you have a family member in one, go there all the time, ask questions, and watch the staff like a hawk.) Really though, what kind of choice are either of those for the end of her life. She complimented me on my hair, and seemed rather upbeat. I don't think I could smile if I were her. There just shouldn't be anyone homeless who doesn't want to be. She can't even collect foodstamps or SSI because she has no address to receive them at. We are going to give her a big bag of dogfood and a twenty next time we see her, though money has been tight for us. It is obviously a lot tighter for her. I always feel weird giving people charity, like they might be mad I assume they need it. I hope she doesn't feel that way. Chauncey and I really just want to help her.

This post has rambled on enough. Until next time! Oh! Here's a picture of the beast, as well.

Ramblings

Yesterday was my birthday, and today I am sort of celebrating it. I am going to make a vegan red velvet cake and hopefully go to the Loving Hut. The Loving Hut is interesting, it is a franchise run by a cult of sorts led by a woman known as Supreme Master Ching Hai. For all my hatred of religion, I can't find them harmful, just naive.

I've been thinking a lot about politics, (which is common.) Despite being very far left, my general opinion is that we need moderates in this country at the moment to keep things moving smoothly. Listening to conservative talk radio has convinced me that at least half the conservatives refuse to see this, and are batshit insane. The one I hate the most, who actually makes me rage, is Mark Levin, whose only saving grace is his strange love of dogs. If the other hosts push away liberal attempts to communicate with them, he crushes them in seconds with naming calling and instant hang-ups. He yells at and insults his own audience, and his rantings remind me of Hitler in their ferocity. Furthermore, he has gone so far as to say Reagan created, what was it, 40 million jobs?, crediting his success as part of three or four successive presidential terms after him. This must be how conservative logic works.

Ultimately though, I am most disappointed in the left. In their failure to follow through with promises and their failure to act like mature adults. In Obama's failure to close Guantanamo, with prisoners kept there outside of any legal means of trial, many of whom may simply be guilty of speaking in support of Saddam or terrorist groups, rather than being terrorists. If they are even guilty of that. If he really needed a state for a prison, force one, pick a very red state. I volunteer Florida, our voters are idiots and we are the closest. It's not super red, but it always does something stupid. This year it is the early Republican primaries.

I am disappointed in Obama's failure to raise taxes for the rich, which could have kept medicare, medicaid, and social security funded for a long time. Reagan lowered taxes for the rich so drastically, and shifted the tax burden to the poor and middle class, and Obama could have fixed that easily with a majority in the House and Senate. Instead he pushed that abortion of a bill, Obamacare. Something that was so far from the original picture that it was damaging to the poor and the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck. People shouldn't have to pay for universal healthcare through anything but taxes, and the rich should carry the burden.

As has been said in the past, no one ever became rich on their own. And as I would add, there were many backs, heads, and feet they had to crush to get there. Them having an "option" to write a check to the government isn't enough. I'm not hugely concerned about the middle class, like many Americans. They put themselves in debt and live beyond their means, though it is often as a product of society. I am much more worried for the poor. They suffer the most and have the least representation because they suffer from lower education rates, lower voting rates, higher propensity for crime, all due to poverty and living conditions and lack of funding to aid them. The rich whine the loudest, the politicians promise the middle class the most (but rarely deliver the full amount,) and the poor get pushed away every time.

Obviously I am for full redistribution of wealth and I think their are certain rights that the government owes its people, such as housing, food, clothing, education to college, health insurance, and other necessities. It's not impossible to pay for these. I just don't believe in a speedy path to communism. More of a slow crawl that slips into it gradually enough to get people used to it.

My Neighborhood

Okay, to sum up the past few weeks, I have been doing relatively good in my classes, but regularly failing my quizzes for financial accounting while passing the homework. I have no idea what grade I will get, but I am not immensely worried because I can retake a D, and a C is a good sign. Meanwhile I have been working with tutors to try and seriously understand accounting. I think the tests just rush me at 10 questions with 6 mins for each question, (divided down from the hour the test takes.)

Not bad for three internet courses really, though I have a midterm report coming up I am a bit edgy about in Personal Business. Not really my field, but I have a ton of sources to pull from.

Bêlit is growing so big! She's starting to behave better too, and learning tricks. Definitely no more sleeping on the floor with her though. She is too dominant for that not to send the wrong message. The vet says obedience and agility classes are a bad idea until she is fully vaccinated for parvo, which has been frustrating for us, because, for awhile, she was nearly unbearable with how difficult she was being. But it seems to be a rare occurrence now.

Here's the real news though. A few days ago some supposedly gang connected members of our neighborhood, (freshly moved in,) broke into the house of the animal abusers' across the street. They had waited until everyone was gone but the women. They beat the old woman with a wrench and sliced her up with a razor. Even better, the cops apprehended them, sat them right in front of the house where anyone making statements to them could be seen by the assailants, and stood outside the old woman's house for 20 minutes yelling "police!" while being too chicken to go in.

Finally my boyfriend's mom went over there and made it clear there was a woman injured in the house, as the young woman that had been there had left to get help. It's possible their family is playing at gang wars too, and this is the start of worse. Especially since, from what I have heard, that 8:00 AM beatdown was the last of a crime spree by guys that involved shooting a man further down in the neighborhood and ripping off the nearby Handy.
,
The cousins and such of the criminals, who are going to be tried for attempted murder apparently, put the word out that they'd fuck up anyone they found out was involved in getting their relatives caught. So everyone is scared, especially since a few of the girls in our neighborhood were outright threatened for no reason.

We are putting multiple motion sensor lights up, doubling the doors (a door within each door,) and if it gets worse, getting a shotgun and loading it with rock salt. I don't think Sherry or I have it in us to kill someone, I think maybe Chauncey might if it were a really bad situation, but you had better use a gun you pull. Rock salt will drop any intruder hard and that "sha-shick" of a shotgun being cocked is a good deterrent on its own. The rottweiler and the mix lab we have won't hurt things either. I am still very very scared, though, and so is Sherry.

We can't walk Bêlit at night now, or really even down the street at all, because as a purebred, she's prime for theft. She's worth enough money that she could get taken quickly if we are unable to defend her. Instead we go to nearby Muse (pronounced muce, not muse like the greek myth,) There we drop by our friend Robbie's house and walk her down his long, mostly deserted road.

So obviously there have a lot of update, and poor Sherry is really stressed. It's her birthday today and later we are surprising her with a triple chocolate cake I made and chocolate covered strawberries we got as a gift from her significant other, Bob, since he can't get down here right now. I had enough frosting to make 19 cupcakes, and am giving six to the nice neighbors, six to Chauncey's aunt Denise for her and Stuey, and six for Robbie, who has been having a horrible time with his back due to a collapsed disc. (The last one is sort of in limbo, I can't eat it, since none of this is vegan.)

I wish Chauncey, Sherry, and I could get out of this neighborhood. It was mostly safe before. Now it's so scary.

Next update I'll post more pics of Bêlit. She is so big and cute!

School and Stress

Bêlit is parasite free, though still low on pakcell levels. She is getting healthier though, and we settled on $800 payment from the breeders. We are getting screwed technically, and they had the nerve to be indignant and suspicious of us, but it was better than fighting all the way to small claims court.

School started, I've had a few small breakdowns, burned through almost all my Xanax at the beginning of the month, and am now doing a bit better. Hopefully I can handle the stress now without a benzodiazapine. I am really enjoying accounting, but I need a tutor, as I am not doing well. I got a 58% on my last homework assignment, though I got an 80% on the last test. I want to do better.

Already one of my classes is talking about the midterm report. Talk about heavy stress! I wouldn't be able to handle any of this if it wasn't all online.

I haven't been able to read at all, or take breaks. I spend way too much time freaking out, and balancing the puppy with school work is hard. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of it soon.

"Beef" Stew

This is a really easy seitan stew if you are willing to put the effort into making the seitan (it’s easier than it sounds.) The seitan recipe is from the Veganomicon. The spices are mostly ripped off from a beef stew recipe. You need a crockpot for this.

1 batch Seitan, lightly pan fried in Sriracha and a minced garlic clove

5-7 small red potatoes, quartered

2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped, or  ½ cup to 2/3 cup prechopped carrots

1 white onion, diced

½ container baby bella mushrooms

½ cup frozen corn

1 can chickpeas

½ bag green beans, snapped in half

1 clove garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce, (an example is Annie’s)

2 ½ cups water

2 ½ cups vegetable broth

Put all ingredients in the crockpot and mix thoroughly. Cook for 12 to 24 hours on high. Enjoy!

When I make this again, I might add 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch at the beginning to thicken it. Chauncey said it would be better a bit thicker. Just a side note.

More Bêlit

We've been running back and forth to the vet over these few weeks trying to get the puppy better. She still has one parasite out of the four she had and her pakcell levels went from the original 11% to 25% to now 21%. This means she is losing blood, possibly because the hookworms died and their release actually caused a bit more bleeding. Now we have her on more medicines.

We are seriously considering a health care plan for her and have this at the moment, at least for sixty days. The paperwork hasn't come to us yet though. We can afford these visits and her regular maintenance far less than even up to $100 a month. That's the top plan. It even includes kennel stays if you are hospitalized for a period of time.

Bêlit rotates between being weird about food and no energy to eating heartily and having energy. We just took her for a very long walk to the park because she wasn't going to the bathroom, which was successful. She ate afterwards, which made my boyfriend and I very happy. It should be a good day.

School starts on the twenty third. I am very nervous about my accounting class. We had some pre-homework and I didn't have a very good retention rate when I read the first chapter. It just didn't stick with me. I am going to have to really work hard for this. I have no idea how I'll do accounting 2. Plus, there was a wonky math problem, one I didn't understand at all. That makes me even more nervous. Oh well, we'll see.

The puppy goes to the vet in a little under a week, assuming all goes well. Hopefully it will.

Late Night Update

So it has been an interesting few days.

First off, the puppy is absolutely wonderful, and so cute. She is a little shark, and wants to eat our hands, feet, fingers, and toes all the time, along with anything else she can grab. She spends half her time sleeping and half her time playing and does both as adorably as possible. Also, she loves to have her belly scratched.

However, the breeders scammed us. I won't talk about what recourse I have, other than there are rules about this in Florida, because I may be taking them to small claims court, but they sold her to us with a chronic case of hookworms, along with at least three other parasites that required her to get an emergency blood transfusion. It pretty much cost us the price we paid for her to begin with. They are refusing to pay for the bills at this point. I will be making sure they have a very hard time selling their puppies from now on. I'll go to every site I can find and hunt them down and I intend to alert the AKC and Better Business Bureau. So regardless of how the case goes, they will have a hard time of it, I will make sure of that. Poor Bêlit nearly died.

Still, I am glad we got her, she is an absolute gem. She is also a holy terror, and keeps both of us up all night with walking schedules. but that is par for the course for puppies.

I am worried about her relationship with the cats. Finch has already smacked her with her claws. We were scared she got her eye, but she didn't. Still, Bêlit cried like crazy, and I don't want her to see cats as a threat to the point she becomes a cat killer. I need her to avoid them, is all. We have to socialize her with my mother's clawless cat, Nala. Nala likes dogs and has even headbutted Bêlit in greeting. The puppy was lethargic from lack of blood at the time though, so they need a new meeting. I worry for Nala. She'll now have to face the shark. We'll keep an eye on them though.

Bêlit Time!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow!!!

We have a malamute puppy waiting for us, she is the cutest thing and we have named her Bêlit! Awesomely, there is also this reason for the name Bêlit.

We visited the breeders before, and they have a great set up, with air conditioned kennels, and long waits between pregnancies for the bitches. Kalua, the mother, had nine puppies, two boys and seven girls! We are picking Bêlit up a week or so early, with their permission. I haven't seen her in about a month, I wonder how big she has gotten.

Yesterday we went out and bought a ton of dog supplies, mostly in pink. I got her a collar instead of a harness until I know whether she will be pulling on the leash, and what size will fit her. I will be training her personally with the help of a few books.

Of course this means potential mental scarring for the cats, and we have to watch them around her because they have claws. Hopefully, giving them lots of love will let them know they are just as good and we love them just as much. My cats are fairly dysfunctional, so I expect a good bit of adjustment time.

But pictures!

First Bêlit and then a group picture of the girls.

 

Then the mom and dad. The mother is Kalua, and the father is Sampson. Such beautiful examples of malamuttery.

I can't wait! I just hope she rides well in cars. It should be fun though. I will update with more pics once I have her.

Last leg of the trip

I think I've fixed all the spelling errors in this post and the last.

 I still have no good pictures of the food from Strong Hearts Cafe. I have no idea why. Needless to say, they have an egg 'trick' muffin that tastes a lot like a sausage McMuffin (I barely remember them, but the texture of the tofu is distinctly egg-like, it's very good.) Their milkshakes are incredible, and so are their cupcakes, which are pretty fancy to look at. Most, if not all of their food is incredible, and I could spend the entire post raving about how great it all is. But I have the trip to post about.

On Chauncey's second touring day for Boonville and Old Forge, we decided to get them in at once so that we could take a trip he surprised me with suggesting. Farm Sanctuary's New York location was only a 2 hour drive from us, and they did tours from 11am to 3pm. I was pretty excited about that.

Boonville was impressive, a very small town with a lot of nice buildings. Here are a few pictures, though ugly cars are mucking up the scenery. First is a tree farm I saw along the way, I have seen a lot of these.

The river is Moose River, I think. Could be the Black River. They run near each other. I ran out of battery power at this point, which is a shame, since there was a cemetery with rolling hills and a beautiful view from the top.

I didn't really have any charge on my camera until Farm Sanctuary. This was by far the most touching place for me. It's worth visiting even if you have to drive four or six hours to get there. They were also having a Hoe Down soon after we left, I was sad to miss it.

You'll notice the pigs look very lazy. I scritched one on the tummy and he stretched out and turned a bit for more scratching. All the animals were very social. The freakishly large turkey you see is a bit old, and sat there while we talked, but after a few minutes he stood up and puffed out his plumage to show off.

The sheep were being sheared, so we didn't get to see them sadly. There was also a chicken who was shy of people, but had become friends with a blind duck. At feeding time, since he couldn't tell where the food is, she guides him to it.

The goats were super curious and nibbled on our clothes to check and see if they were food. One named Peanut kept following Chauncey around to nibble on him and get neck scratches.

The cows even showed a distinctively higher intellect, given the chance to socialise and spend time doing what they wanted to do rather than being penned up in crates.

The chickens and turkeys mostly had their beaks seared off at the ends and their toes cut off, which is common to keep tightly packed birds from fighting.

Here are some examples of factory farm treatment.

It was very inspiring for me and Chauncey as vegans, but, though my dad was interested, he had no problem eating Filet Mignon that night.

The next day was a stressful trip on two airplanes, fortunately with a very small layover. After that I was completely exhausted, and went to bed fairly fast.

The next post will probably be on the puppy soon to come into our lives, we are both very excited.

Chautauqua

I've been too busy/lazy to post on the blog about the vacation, so much of the following will be a bit
compressed.

On the 20th we spent our time looking for my great uncle Mar's house, which we failed to find after much searching. There were some beautiful pictures of the countryside, but my dad was eager to move on. One weird thing we noticed was bronze stars on many houses, and they are prevalent here in New York, as well.

I did get a picture of this beautiful house on a hill, but the picture does not do it justice.

One last trip to ligonier tavern and we were done for the day. My father got onion soup again, and I got a thai salad.

The next day was a travel day. On the way to Chautauqua, we went through Johnstown, and I got some interesting pictures.

 

Most of  these are of Cambria Steel Works, (I think that is the name,) a factory that is very old, probably before the flood, but still partially in use.

After Johnstown was the long ride to Finley Lake, near Chautauqua, to our hotel. We went through Cook Forest park and a ton of little towns like Sugar Grove (which is almost to Chautauqua.) I tried to memorise them all, but failed miserably.

I'll summarise Chautauqua so I don't make too lengthy of a post. The air was so hot, and sometimes humid, that it damaged this leg of the trip for me, sadly. The heat wave that decided to hit at the exact time we went on vacation was cruel to say the least.

I wandered the institution, my dad pointing out official monuments, while I pointed out monuments important to a child, all to Chauncey. Here I wiped out on my bike, here I played paleontologist, and here I caught crayfish and wondered at the spider cave, too scared to go in. Only, my spider cave isn't a cave at all now, it is ruined!

I did actually take some other pictures of Chautauqua, no worries. Though I missed the orchestral concert because my father wasn't in the mood to go, which was a shame.

While in Chautauqua, we ate at Whole Foods Coop in Erie, Penn. They had excellent food, though they were a bit obsessed with cheese on their menu. My dad tried some of the food, and his first attempt weirded him out, but he ended up being okay with the club sandwich, which was very good.

Those are the meatless lover's wrap, one of the quesadillas, and the reuben. Unfortunately, it appears the last picture is slightly corrupted.

When our travel day arrived, (to head out to Syracuse to visit Boonville,) we intended to stop in Buffalo at the Eights Bistro, but I wasn't hungry at the time. I hear food is very good though.

My father picked out a great hotel in Syracuse, Hotel Skyler. It's a green hotel, and very very nice. Here are some pictures of our room.

And of the hotel itself...

Places we've eaten so far that I don't have pics of: Alto Cinco and the Strong Hearts Cafe. Alto Cinco has a good vegan burrito called the Angelino, but Strong Hearts is all vegan. I've has a reuben there and their dill potato salad, along with blueberry cheesecake. By far, by far, the best vegan food I have ever had at a restaurant.

Pics to come. We've checked out Boonville, but the real touring we do today.