National Dog Mom's Day

 I have yet to find the source for this holiday. I'm happy that this day is set aside for us weird dog dog moms.  We really need it. 

Some activities for dog mom's day:

Go for a walk.  Oh, yea.  Don't forget to bring your dog.

Treat yourself.  Oh, and the dog, too.  Go out for a special treat.  Maybe get matching t-shirts?

Some interesting facts about dogs:

They are as smart as a two year old (sounds about right).  They can learn up to 200 words.

They can hear four times better than humans.  Especially when you open a dog treat bag or peanut butter jar.  And when you quietly grab their dog leash.

Being a dog mom improves your health.  Obviously, the person who said this never spent time with my weird dog Pippen.  Bad breath in your face.  Staying up all night because of a thunderstorm.  Having to lug 50lb dog food bags up and down the stairs.

Being a dog mom helps you socialize more.  Again, this person never had to walk Pippen.  I have to avoid people with dogs so he doesn't attack them.  He makes me antisocial. 

Being a dog mom makes you more responsible.  Responsible for letting the dog out, taking him for walks, feeding him, protecting him from the scary thunderstorms and fireworks.

Happy Dog Mom's Day to you.

Oh, and I expect a card and a real nice gift, Pippen!

Weird Random Journal Prompts

 I'm back!  After months of banging my head against the wall I finally figured out what to write about: headaches and how to get rid of the pain.  Just kidding.

Journaling seems to be quite a popular activity for most people.  There are a variety of journaling you can get involved in: Bullet journals, gratitude journals, smash journals, art journals just to name a few. I was searching on Pinterest to see if they could offer any suggestions but keep coming up with the same old, tired suggestions.  Here is a quick list of examples:

• What made you smile today?
• Name one thing you’re grateful for right now.
• Who made your day better today?
• What’s one thing you love about your morning routine?
• What’s a small win you had today?
• What’s a childhood memory that still brings you joy?
• What is something you’re proud of yourself for?
• What was the best part of your week?

I understand that you have to start somewhere when you begin your journal writing journey. I'm not here to discourage anyone. It's great to have a list of ideas that can get you started. While these questions are good if you are starting out, I think there needs to be a follow up list of questions/prompts.  I mean, how many times can you write about what inspires you?  You need to spice up that journal a little!  Really dig deep and put those thoughts on the page.  

I want to see you reach that writing goal and came up with a few prompts to get you going. No better time to start than the present. 

Let's start this list so you can get into journaling! 

1.  Name some annoying celebrities.

2.  The strangest scenario that you have been involved in.  Pretending to be someone's mother at a trampoline birthday party so you can sign their parental waiver.  No, that one's too easy.  

3.  The worst pick up lines.  While at Walmart, "Hey, Baby!  I'm really diggin' your pajamas." Ok, wait, that might actually work, but you get the idea.

4.  The one food/drink everyone is crazy about and you pretend to like it but deep inside can't stand the sight/taste/smell.  That might have to be any type of beef product for me. 

5.  If you could torture one well known person, using only tools that they are familiar with, who would it be and how would you do it?  I'm thinking Marie Kondo and putting her in one of my kids rooms.  The only way she can leave is if she cleans and organizes it.  You may think that's easy for her, but I know which kid's room she would be going into and....yea, she might be there for a really long time. Heck, we may never see her again!

I hope these prompts help you out.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Vegan Sourdough Cheeze It Crackers

I have officially entered my sourdough bread making era.

I'm a little late jumping into the whole bread making scene.  It seems like everyone was making bread during Quarantine/Pandemic.  I thought I should try to catch up and join in on this sourdough game.  I mean, I've been waiting a LONG time for "someone" to bake a loaf for me.  "Someone" tends to brag about his bread and even sends photos.  One of these days I'll get some bread from "someone".......

I started to branch out a little with my breadmaking.  The first crackers I tried were a little too flour-y (I'm sure that's a word).  Then I stumbled upon these vegan cheeze it crackers and, well, all I can say is they were a big hit in our house.  In fact, I now make a double batch of these crackers every time I make them!

Enough chit chat, here's the recipe: 

Vegan Sourdough Cheeze It Crackers

Ingredients:

1 cup flour*

1 cup sourdough starter unfed/discard**

4 TBSP Olive Oil

3/4 tsp salt

3 TBSP Nutritional Yeast

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp rosemary (optional)

Coarse Sea Salt/Pink Himalayan Salt to sprinkle on top

Directions:

Mix first seven ingredients together in bowl. Dough should be smooth, not too sticky.

Cover dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Oven 325F

Divide dough in half. Place half on silicone mat (or parchment paper)*** and roll dough until it is 1/16th inch thick (REALLY REALLY THIN). You will have uneven edges, and that's ok. Make sure that the thickness is even, or it will not bake evenly.  Sprinkle tops with salt.

Cut through the dough (I used a pizza cutter for this) into little squares (1x1")

Bake time is 20 minutes. Once starting to brown, turn tray so the crackers will brown evenly.

Remove crackers from oven and let cool before placing in sealed container.

Makes about 100 crackers.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*Can be made with white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour

**perfect recipe for those of you who have sourdough discard

***I use silicone baking mat and don't flour it. Feel free to flour the mat/paper prior to rolling out the dough.

****I use rosemary bc I like rosemary.  Feel free to omit.

*****Want to double the recipe?  

Try this:

2 cups flour

2 cups sourdough starter

8 TBSP Olive Oil

1.5 tsp salt

6 TBSP Nutritional Yeast

1 tsp garlic powder 

2 tsp Rosemary

Salt to sprinkle on top

If you make these Vegan Sourdough Cheeze It Crackers, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Enjoy!

Moving - Homeless

 Once we closed on the sale of our house, we were homeless.  Well, we had a home that we were going to move into, but it was being rented out for the summer.  With no place to go, this gave us the freedom to travel.

Our first stop, Oak Park, IL.  Yea, not too far from where we lived.  We stuck around for a few grad parties and last minute goodbyes.

We traveled through many states, including, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and Wisconsion.  We made sure not to drive through Illinois on our return.

During our homelessness, we realized that we were able to live on a minimal number of things (clothing, shoes, etc.) It made us wonder what we packed into our storage units.

Some sites we took in:

The Corn Palace

Wall Drug Store

80Ft Dinosaur

Mt. Rushmore

The Badlands

The Black Hills

Deadwood - Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok

Devil's Tower

Breckenridge

Snowmass Mountain

Boulder

Buena Vista

We ended our homelessness by picking up My Weird Dog Pippen (earlier than planned) and drove to our new home.

National Tea Day

 Today is National Tea Day in the United Kingdom.  A day for Britain to celebrate it's love for this hot, steeped beverage. It's so loved that they consume over 60 billion cups of tea a year!  That's a lot of tea!

Every year, the Britains host a "Fes-Tea-Val" where they showcase new teas, bringing together tea drinkers, servers and the entire tea industry.  This year's slogan is, "Brew more. Do more." 

Here is a list on how my fellow tea infusiasts can celebrate #NationalTeaDay: 

Host an afternoon tea (it is National Afternoon Tea month, after all)

Visit the festival.

Learn proper tea decorum (in case you get invited to afternoon tea with King Charles)

Here are some tea etiquette tips, in case you find yourself with tea royalty.

Dispensing the tea:

The host should pour the tea for every guest.  Make sure to leave the teapot on the table with the spout facing the host.

Dunking:

Dunking a biscuit in your tea is not appropriate.

Food:

A tiered cake stand is the appropriate serving piece.  The upper tier is filled with scones, the middle has sandwiches and the bottom has treats and pastries.  Food must be eaten in this order: sandwiches, scones and then desserts.

Too bad I'm not in Boston to celebrate this holiday.  

I think I'll go make myself a cup of tea!

How will you celebrate today?

Χριστός Ανέστη

 Happy Easter!  Καλό Πάσχα!

We are celebrating Greek Orthodox Easter at our house.   

Xristos anesti

ek nekron,

thanato thanaton patisas,

ke tis en tis mnimasin zoin xarisamenos

Christ is risen

from the dead,

having beaten Death by [his own] death

and having given the gift of life to those in the graves.

Christos Anesti. (Χριστός Ανέστη)  (Christ has Risen)

Alithos Anesti.  ( Aληθώς ανέστη!)  (He has risen indeed)

My Weird Dog - Takes a Vacation

 I thought I would continue our conversation about our move.

We are two days from having to be completely out of our house.  We still have some loose ends to tie up, but first we need to pack up My Weird Dog Pippen and take him to his vacation destination:  N's house.  A lovely three hour drive.

A little background on why we were forced to waited until the last minute for this transfer.  We planned our move very carefully, down to every last detail.

Getting rid of stuff

Fixing things around the house

Packing boxes

Parties (Easter celebration)

Graduation

Drop off Pippen

First moving truck

Selling off stuff

Pack up remaining items

Second moving truck

Pack up car and get out of town

Before that first moving truck, Pippen was scheduled to "go on vacation."  We discussed this with N back in January.  He agreed to take Pippen.  There were monthly reminders of his commitment.  A week before the drop off, N tells us that he can't take him at that time.  He had other plans.  Yes. He agreed five months ago to our plan, but I guess things change.....

Luckily, RT and I are pretty flexible.  We had to move our dog drop off right after the second moving truck.  Sadly, this required My Weird Dog Pippen to watch (from the deck) people enter our house and take all of our stuff.  This did not set right with Pippen.  It became worse because he saw RT and I leave with the truck full of stuff.  Luckily (or unluckily, depending on who you ask) he had B to hang with him until our return.

When we returned, we packed Pippen's belongings, popped some CBD in him, loaded him in the car and started on our three hour journey.  He was happy to see N but not happy when RT and I left.

Pippen had quite the adventure.  N brought him camping.  Turns out Pippen loves camping.  He loved being inside the tent and was always sad when they took it down.  He even tolerated car rides (with out being drugged).  That last one is huge since he is a pain to travel with in the car.

N called us with updates on Pippen and his antics.  There were also photos and videos of mischief Pippen.  About two weeks in, N called and asked when we were picking Pippen up.  Not a good sign since N signed up for a four month visit.

After our vacation, we decided to stop and pick up Pippen on our way to our new home.