Pooches For Peace

We Got Tagged to Play a Game!

2012-02-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

Our nice furriends at Mayzie's Dog Blog http://mayziegal.wordpress.com/ tagged us to play this game where the pooches get to tell you more about them! Without further ado...here are Spuds and Shadow....

1. Describe yourself in seven words.
Spuds: Herrro alll my 7 wurds are: Tuff, Funnie, Tailented, Old Fart, messy, anddd Cool. Its my favrit wen peeple say i'm a Cool Dog.

Shadow: Hello all, dont mind my brofer he is a d-o-r-k, dat shoulda been one of his werd hehehehe! My 7 werds are: Wiggly, sweet (as a cupcake), diva, j-lo curvacious, a shadow (becuz i am clingy i like to live up to my name duh!), annddddd luv-a-bull of cours.

2. What keeps you up at night?
Spuds: Dad snoring louder than me.

Shadow: Finkin about breakfast. yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...........
.......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

3. Who would you like to be?
Spuds: BARRY SANDERS! Dats who i try to be lik when me and shadow play outside, im all like "juke move, stiff arm, you cant catch me!!"

Shadow: Uhhh, myself. Duh. Unless i could be dat Strawberry Shortcake gurl becuz den i wud assume i would taste gud and be able to luv myself as much as food becuz i wud be like food!

4. What are you wearing right now?
Spuds: My cool brindle patch. Dats all i need to b Cool Dog.
Shadow: My most diva BLING collar dat my dad picked out fur me.

5. What scares you?
Spuds: When mom or dad is opening those tubes of rolls dat pop when u open dem, i hate da popping sound!
Shadow: Platic bags.....grocery bags, trash bags, ne plastic bags. Dey sound funny!

6. The best and worst of blogging?
Spuds: Best part is dat it makes me a Cool Dog, but da wurst part is dat summtimmeessss, a certin HUMIN put unflattering pichures of us on heer and its embarrising!!!
Shadow: Diva's should b shown off. Dats da best part is dat everyone gits to see my amazing cuteness. But da wurst part is dat i share da lime-light wif Spuds.

7. What was the last website you visited?

Da last one we visited was Mayzie's Blog! Hi Mayzie, Shadow heer, I would likes to know where u got ur cute outfit wif da pink and da pearls and all dat. I need to tell me mom so she can make me luk dat hot!
8. What is the one thing you would change about yourself?

Spuds: Ermmm....dis is pawsonal. But...wen da Vet took my man circles, he umm...left da skin in dat area and it hangs funny...i wish dat didnt hang der..
Shadow: I wish i could manooover better when i am chasin spuds becuz i hav no good juke movs and i hav to run in big circles to turn direcshuns!

9. Slankets, yes or no?
Spuds: I'm not too shur wut deez r, but i can tell u i furry much enjoy wen i am under da blankets becuz i get cold eezy.
Shadow: I like to chew holes in blankets and den wen u git under dem its lik u hav a tent! I make da windows hehehehee!

10. Tell us something about the person (people) who tagged you.

Spuds: Mayzie is a furry lucky dog to hav such a great famurly and she is furry pritty (more pritty den Shadow dont tell hur i sed dat!)
Shadow: SPUDS!!! I KAN SEEEE DIS! Ugh, ne wayz....da ones who tagged us seem like such a Cool famurly and dey r Defurnitly cooler den SPUDS!

I will take over frum heer since i obfurously cant trust Spuds to be a Gud Dog on heer. We gits to pick 8 furriends to play!
DA 8 FURRIENDS WE CHOOSE TO PLAY ALONG R:
1. Dog is God in Reverse- My Life With Dogs (fellow OSU fan furriends)
2. kissa-bull (da most furriendly and luv-a-bull furriends)
3. Dennis's Diary of Destruction (da most adventurus furriends)
4. MargeBlog (one of our oldest bloggy friends!)
5. It All Started With a Pit Bull (a new furrend)
6. Pip (another new furrend)
7. El Diario de Lorenza (a furry fashionable furriend)
8. The Happy Pit Bull Blog (one of da most funny pibbles in da hole wurld!)

We hope you all wants to play!!!!!!
~The Pooches (&Anna & Chad)

Sleepy Saturday

2012-02-18T18:07:00.001-08:00

Herroooo all, Spuds heer. I wud like to tell u all dat mom has been furry bizzy this week. She started her new job wich u all know, and i heerd her say she likes it lots! Probly as much as i like a fresh bowl of cold water, if i had to gess.

So I wud like to also tell u dat she got a cold on her first week at her new job and dats no gud, she did not like dat. Probly as much as a dont like lik bath time, if i had to gess.

But her is startin to feel better becuz she gave me and Shadow bath time today (I tried to tell her just becuz she gots the cold duz not meen we hav to hav sumthin we dont like but den she distracted me wif a dog cookie).

So ne wayz her is catchin up on sleep time today and i am helping her, seee:

See, dat luk of mine is my "dont mess wif mom while her is needing sleepy time or else i will slobber all over ur ears". Humins hate slobber in der ears, heh.

So ne wayz me and my most perty sister Shadow ar not as nice wen daddy needs to catch up on da sleep time. After he gets home from a hard day uv werk he luvs to put on his comfy hats and fall asleep to watching tv. So we mostly wait til he is alllmoosstt in the sleeps til we start to bug him, den we compeet to see who can get da most attenshun, while dad tries to give us attenshun and sleep and we dont let him sleep....seeeee:

our dad is furrever trying to get da sleep time and we dont let him becuz our favrit cuddly time just so happins to be wen he wants da sleep time. Oh well furr daddy he cannot resist our furry cuteness love. heh.

I hope u all gits to cuddle wif ur humins, dont let dem sleep too much unless they say da werds "bath time" den give them watever dey want!

~Furry cuddle time, -Spuds (&Shadow&Anna&Chad)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T17:32:00.001-08:00

Happy V day! Bear with me here.... I'm posting from my phone so I can't get the pics in the order that would make sense....

But this "take and bake" pizza place in my town was selling heart shaped pizzas! So i bought one half non-vegetarian for chad and half plain for me. I added my own vegan toppings to my side (veg "bacon," tomatoes, vegan cheese, basil). We are a couple who is half veg, half not, so we just find ways to make it work.

Cute v day cupcakes!

The pizza before I added my own toppings ...

The pizza after cooking...(see what I mean about the pics not being in order?)

Bottom of the cupcakes!

Mmmmm....

Shadow wanted a cupcake.....not surprising right!? I didn't give her one, but I did give her a taste of frosting. She is my little cupcake :)

~Hope your day is filled with love from your furry and human loved ones, -The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

Veg of the Week

2012-02-12T17:12:00.001-08:00

...Muesli!

I was offered a new job a few weeks ago (YEA!) and took myself out to breakfast to celebrate.
I had heard of Muesli but didn't really know what it was. I saw it on the menu at the restaurant I went to, and thought it sounded good, so I ordered it!

(NOTE: I AM STARTING MY NEW JOB TOMORROW AND IT'S A BIG DEAL FOR ME! JUST SAYIN'....WISH ME LUCK...OR PRAY...OR WHATEVER!)

Doesn't it look so yummy?! The served it with vanilla yogurt.

After trying it, I couldn't wait to eat it again. So I looked around at the grocery store, and found Dorset brand cereals. Check them out here: http://www.dorsetcereals.co.uk/mueslis/

Once that was all gone, I wanted to try to make some because I knew I had a lot of the ingredients on hand. I found an easy recipe online, here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/muesli

Here's how easy their recipe is:

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ (I didn't have this so I just left it out)

1/2 cup wheat bran (I didn't have this either! So I used ground flax seed)

1/2 cup oat bran

1 cup raisins (I did a half cup of raisins and a half cup of dried cranberries)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I did a mix of cashews, pecans, and almonds)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds (I didn't have these so I used Chia seeds!)

Mix it all up and store in an airtight container!

Then when you eat it, add in fresh fruit. I added many different fruits when I ate it. I like to eat this best with almond milk poured over it. I tried it with soy yogurt and then realized the soy yogurt still had dairy in it. FAIL. (note- read the labels if you want to try something non-dairy!)

Muesli with blueberries and strawberries...

Muesli at work....

Muesli with bananas!

Sorry...I am having some technical difficulties with Blogger....For some reason it is turning everything I type into hyperlinks and I cant post the pictures the way I want. I will try again in a bit...

~Anna (&The Pooches)

Look Who it Is!

2012-02-11T12:34:00.001-08:00

For any of you who have been following my blog from the beginning, you know Kado was a big part of it for quite some time, pretty much up through 2010.

For our newer followers, here's a quick run down: At one time, Kado, Spuds, and Shadow all lived together, as Chad and his sister lived in the same house.

But one day Kado got to move out and start a new journey with his family. We let you guys know about it here: http://poochesforpeace.blogspot.com/2010/11/our-november-so-far.html

and in that post we said we'd keep you updated on him......I haven't done a very good job of that.

We saw our ol' orange buddy yesterday! He wants you to see his daily life. Ahem:

Hey blogger furriends! LUK!:

Here's me hugging my dad:

and heer is how i like to roll all over da floor at my house:

And HEEEEEER is the front entrance of my house!

and den of course heeer is my gud side model face duh.

Heer is how I luk when Uncle Chad has food,

and of course most importintleee, heer is where i git dinner at my house. Isn't it grate! I luv my house.

We all got together for dinner and had so much fun visiting everyone. I looked at Chad and said, "We have to get some pics of Kado for the blog!"

Kado would also like you to know that his mommy is in the process of getting a blog up and running specially fur him, so you can see what he's up to at www.loveforpitbulls.blogspot.com

I'm sure all of you who loved having Kado as a regular on the blog will be excited to check it out and get to stay updated about him!

~Excited to share our weekend wif you, -The Pooches (&Anna & Chad)

Happy Friday - Obsessions

2012-02-10T08:08:00.001-08:00

Just sayin...

Just in case you were wondering...this was not planned. I was just sitting eating my cereal and I saw this...so I got up and took pics with my phone...and she just sat there with her cupcakes lol!

~Loving Friday and Cupcakes, -Shadow, The Pooches, & Anna

Wordless Wednesday Catorce: Waking Up to Brrrr!

2012-02-08T08:38:00.001-08:00

~Trying to stay warm, -The Pooches (&Anna)

HB 14 progress and postcards

2012-02-07T18:27:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! I just wanted to take a minute to update you on the postcards (HB 14 Update) I made, and HB 14.

1. The postcards have all been distributed! I gave them to my dentist's office, friends, coworkers, family, and on and on. Many people took several because they knew other people who would want one. I even had someone in a coffee shop ask for some when they overheard me explaining them. It was so exciting to see peoples' enthusiasm about them and their desire to know more about HB 14. The people I passed them out to have let me know that they have been sending them in and passing them along. One person wrote on their postcard "no discrimination, whether human or animal" on the card. That's a good way to sum up what this bill helps represent. WOOHOO!

2. HB 14 was passed in the senate, however they proposed a few changes. What has to happen now is that the house will review the changes and then it should be passed on to the governor. I wish I could see the amount of postcards that have made it to the governor's office already. It makes me smile to know they are floating through the USPS and landing in the office of a person who can make or break this bill.

My sister sent me this link (Thank you!) which helps explain what's currently going on with it. http://m.nbc4i.com/wcmh/db_16304/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=xJ5gsNhT

Keep sending pawsitive prayers and thoughts or whatever it is that you do , to support Ohio's pooches and HB 14. Are paws are in prayer here!

Cupcake Musings

2012-02-06T05:37:00.001-08:00

Hey huminsss...Shadow here...

Sumthing is missing from this sitting spot...hmmm. My butt herts.

I think I kno what's missing here...guess I better git warmed up and seerch for my beloved sitting spot.

Ahh, heer they rrr. Which one of thees do I like better?

This one smells like feets.

This one smells like oven. fooooodd...mmm. its a winner.

Jus chillin on my cupcake rug. Don't mind the dish washer exposed. It flooded and then I broke stuff trying to get sumthin out from under ther. Oops. Gud thing mom and dad luv me more than da dish washer.

*GASP!* MOMMMMMMMMM, get OFF my cupcake. NOW!

Ur not gittin off? Fine, I will stick my tung out at u. Pffft.

HAVE A HAPPY MONDAY FROM SHADOW! And just stick out your tongue at anyone who tries to take over your favorite thing :)

~The Pooches, (&Anna)

Veg of the Week

2012-02-05T19:03:00.001-08:00

...healthy super bowl food (minus the super bowl!)

I didn't actually watch the super bowl, but I wanted the food that comes along with it.

The first dish I made was the healthy vegan spinach artichoke dip from Daily Garnish, here: http://www.dailygarnish.com/2011/02/healthy-vegan-spinach-artichoke-dip.html

It's another great vegan recipe blog!

Getting all the ingredients out! Here's what you need:

5 cloves garlic
1 14oz can artichoke hearts
1lb bag frozen spinach
2 tbsp Nayonaise
2 tbsp Tofutti cream cheese
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup Daiya cheddar style shreds
pinch of salt

So first take 5 cloves of garlic and mince them. Put them in a pan on med-high heat and brown them for a few minutes.

Then add in your drained can of artichoke hearts and cook for a few more minutes.

After that, add in the whole bag of spinach and cook for about 10 minutes.

When you've cooked it for about 10 minutes, put it in the food processor. My processor is what I like to call "vintage" :)

Add in all the other ingredients (nayonaise, tofutti, daiya, almond milk, nutritional yeast, salt) and mix in the processor for 30-45 seconds.

The recipe then says to put it in a 1 quart baking dish but I only had a 2 quart dish, so that's what I used. Use what ya got!

Sprinkle a little cheese on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and then EAT with yummy chips.

I actually took this to my parents' house and made it later in the night, so I just refrigerated it until I was ready to bake it.

The other dish I HAD to have was pizza, but I didn't want it to be an unhealthy pizza. I used a recipe from a magazine, changed a couple things based on what I had on hand, and veganized it! Here's what you'll need:

(Inspired by Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications)

3 English muffins (whichever ones you like best), split and toasted

Approx 1 cup Pizza sauce

1/2 cup Fresh spinach (the recipe calls for arugula but I had spinach)

fresh tomato, diced

4 pieces of Morning Star veggie bacon, cooked to crispy and crumbled up

1/4 cup of vegan mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup vegan Daiya cheddar shreds

Getting my stuff together...

Get your broiler started on the oven.

Then toast the english muffins to desired crispyness, and set them on a lightly greased pan.

Spoon 1-2 tbsp (or however much you like...) of pizza sauce on each piece of english muffin

Then put spinach leaves on, covering the surface of the english muffin

Then put the diced tomatoes on

THEN sprinkle the bacon pieces on

And finally sprinkle the cheese on. Just have fun with it and put however much of the toppings you want really....

Broil for 1-4 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Just watch them so they don't burn! When the cheese is melted, they are ready to eat!

I was so excited to try this stuff that I forgot to take a picture until half way through eating... YUMMMM!!!!

For dessert I had a macintosh apple cut into chunks with a tbsp of peanut butter melted and drizzled all over the apple pieces. Peanut butter makes my day :)

So I got to have all the "super bowl" type food-veganized and healthy-without the super bowl. A pretty nice relaxing Sunday if I do say so myself :)

~Having fun veganizing pizza, -Anna (&The Pooches)

A dedication

2012-02-04T14:22:00.001-08:00

This post is dedicated to our friends at kissa-bull.

I had this cup of tea and when I read the tag it reminded me of them. That's because Sandra has such a huge heart for helping animals and she shows that this quote is true. She has given animals the wonderful gift of love that would never otherwise know what love from a human is, and she has helped animals that many would see and think it to be impossible to do anything. That is a miracle for any dog who has been overlooked, abused, neglected..

Us and the pooches here just wanted to take the time to dedicate this post to you Sandra, your family, and your fur babies and of course the fearless five, so you know how important and miraculous you have been and continue to be for animals, both during your difficult time and always!

~Believing in miracles, -The Pooches (&Anna)

Veg of the Week

2012-01-28T14:43:00.001-08:00

...Keeping it simple.

This week was a busy week, and I found myself thankful to have random food options around the house. For example, on a busy morning before work, I threw some spinach and a frozen Morning Star veggie pattie, banana and a cutie clementine, and some oil and vinegar salad dressing into my lunch bag and rushed out the door. All of that was easy stuff to grab. It may not have been the fanciest lunch ever, but it was yummy and satisfying.

Simple, yet filling salad- veggie pattie, as much spinach as you want, and 1-2 tbsp of dressing. I would have liked some veggies in it, but life doesn't always go that smoothly! I ate a bunch of it before I remembered to take a pic...

Then, by the end of the week, I still just had a bunch of random items in the fridge that I had bought for other meals and not used all of. So another opportunity for a salad came about! I get bored with salad sometimes, and like to throw in fun twists for unique flavors. I had some spinach...

Some carrots, red peppers, tomatoes...

Some Gardein brand vegan buffalo "chicken" pieces (which were SOO GOOD MMM!!!)

The directions said to cook them on stove top in one Tbsp of oil, but I just used a little water in the pan. I don't like using oil all the time, it's really not necessary for certain things!

I threw all my ingredients into my just-emptied spinach container, sprinkled a few pinches of Daiya brand vegan cheese on top, and threw in two tbsp of barbecue sauce. This is what I mean by adding unique flavors- the buffalo flavor from the Gardein pieces plus the bbq sauce is so fun and different for a "salad!"

I put the lid on this and shook it all up...

And chowed downnnn...!

Yum. And Veg. Yay.

For dessert...I had this ice cream made with coconut milk in the freezer and had yet to try it. This was the first time I'd ever had it. Dairy free, woohoo! Pomegranate with chocolate chunks has been a favorite of mine in terms of the more popular dairy ice creams...I thought if I wanted to start cutting out dairy from my diet I just wouldn't be able to have it anymore.

I was WRONG!

Oh. M. Geeee. For reals. It really is easy and rewarding to eat vegan food when there are amazing, yummy options that give you such an uplifting positive feeling. Love it.

It was hard not to eat the whole container. But the serving size says 1/2 cup, so I stayed close to that amount...barely. Mmmmmm.

Of course I couldn't help but bake something this week as well... I made another item from the cookbook The Joy of Vegan Baking!

(image found using Google image search)

Soft Pretzels. Again, I don't want to post the exact recipe on here because it is not my right to if the owner has not themselves already posted it online. But you can get it fairly cheap at Amazon, see: http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Vegan-Baking-Compassionate-Traditional/dp/1592332803/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327887169&sr=8-1

But I can tell you that the ingredients list is very short! And as long as you can get your yeast to rise, the rest is easy easy easy!

You basically just let the yeast rise, mix your ingredients, and you only have to knead the dough for 3 minutes! You wont even break a sweat. Then let it rise for two hours, separate it into 12 balls. Then you roll the balls into long cylinders, make fun shapes, dip in baking soda/water mix, and put in the oven! I was curious to see if the recipe was floating around online anywhere. The first link I found was this one- it's not the recipe, but another person blogging about how easy it was! : http://cadryskitchen.com/2011/07/03/soft-pretzels-from-jovb/

Then I found the recipe posted at another site. So. I can tell you that other people have posted the recipe and it's quite easy to find online.

I cut the recipe in half when I made it...

Cute little dough ball, about to let it rise.

Separated into balls:

Rolled out. It said roll it into 16 in long sections, so I set a measurer out, lol.

Don't mind the dirty oven :/

And yes, there is something else in the oven cooking with the pretzels...you'll have to wait til next week to hear about what it is!

15 minutes, and not a second more, of baking- and PERFECTION!

The "P" is for Pooches For Peace of course :)

They were the perfect texture. A little firm on the outside, and fluffy on the inside. I ate some dipped in mustard, some dipped in hummus...

And some smothered in White Chocolate Wonderful vegan peanut butter. I have an issue with peanut butter in that I'm completely obsessed with it...

What I've been thinking about this week is this- it's so much easier to eat vegan and/or vegetarian food if your house is stocked with options. When I very first started trying to eat more vegetarian meals in 2008, it was easier than I thought because my stepmother is vegetarian, so I had always seen what she ate. Now that I'm working more vegan options into my diet, a big part of making it work is just shopping differently in general and stocking your cupboards with those options. And not doing it all at once probably makes it easy- I just slowly started changing what I bought as I tried different recipes (i.e.- vegan butter instead of dairy butter, vegan cheese instead of dairy cheese..etc). and before I knew it I had all these vegan options in the house.

-Hoping you all have a week full of yummy, ~Anna (&The Pooches)

Happy Friday and Postcard Update...

2012-01-27T05:30:00.001-08:00

From the cupcake patrol!

Here's what the weather is like this morning here in Ohio...excessive rain turned snow turned something in between....it's supposed to be nice and sunny for the second half of the day. Let's see if that happens. This is a typical day of our roller coaster weather!

As for the postcards, people are really excited about them! I've passed out 57 to family, friends, and co-workers so far, so I have 43 left. By the end of today I hope to only have about 20 at the most (actually I hope I can distributed the rest today, but I'm being realistic with my goal!). Some people who love dogs haven't even heard about HB 14 and have asked me how I get information about it, so it has created an opportunity for me to share that information as well. This has really been a great way to spread the word. My stepmom works at a positive reinforcement training facility, and they took a bunch to set on their counter! So in short, things are going well and not only are the postcards serving to spread awareness about HB 14 to the governor, but also to the public in general!

~Wishing a Happy Friday, -The Pooches (&Anna)

Wordless Wednesday Trece

2012-01-25T14:51:00.001-08:00

HB 14 Update

2012-01-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

UPDATE BELOW!

HB 14 has not yet been voted on by the Senate, according to STOPBSL at http://stopbsl.com/2012/01/22/ohio-hb-14-still-on-senate-calendar/

Let's hope they vote for it!

I just looked up the tracking information for the postcards...and although I have not been home yet this afternoon to check, I think they will be waiting for me in the mailbox!!! I'll update if I get them!

Send Positive Thoughts to Ohio's senators for HB 14!!!!!!

Woofs of Hope, ~The Pooches (&Anna)

They DID come!

I hope I can give all these away! Yay!

Another Yogi tea tag...

2012-01-22T19:10:00.001-08:00

I accidentally ripped this one, but just wanted to post a pic of it because this hits on a topic that is easy for a lot of us to forget... That we all have radiance and sunshine in us... Sometimes it's just a matter of finding what brings it out in you. And also remembering not to let other people take it out of you, but rather, be your own self no matter what anyone else may think.

~Having Positive Thoughts, -The Pooches (&Anna)

Veg of the Week

2012-01-22T00:02:00.001-08:00

...From Asian-Inspired to Italian.

After last week's excess of desserts, I was craving something light yet filling. I was thinking something like Lo Mein or Pad Thai maybe, but the thought of the heavy noodles just didn't sound good! So, I ended up making my own version of something!

Handful or two of spinach

1/3 cup of brown rice

Steamed Asian blend veggies, as much as you want!

One Quorn brand veggie fillet, baked per instructions with a tablespoon of Pad Thai sauce and a couple tablespoons of water spread over it. (I made a "boat" with foil so the liquid would stay with the fillet and not spread all over a pan).

Layer all onto your plate is in the pic, and drizzle two tablespoons of Pad Thai sauce over the dish (or you could use soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, etc.).

Yum!

The other dish I am excited to tell you about is something I saw on a TV show called "The Chew."

They called it a Pizza Roll. It's kind of like a Stromboli but better. The link to the recipe is here: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Michael-Symon-Pizza-Roll

But for the dough part, I used a pizza dough recipe and tutorial that I found on Oh She Glows.com, because I wanted whole wheat pizza dough: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/08/02/how-to-make-homemade-pizza-dough/

So I started with the dough recipe..mixing:

1 tsp sugar

1.5 cups of warm water at 110 degrees F

1 tbsp dry yeast

Waiting for my water to be the right temp...

My yeast mixture after about 15 minutes and letting it proof. You don't really have to wait that long, but I like to make extra sure my yeast is not dead because that happens a lot with me lol:

Once it proofs, you add in 1 tbsp of olive oil, then 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of all purpose flour. Mix all that stuff up, put 1/2 cup all purpose flour on a surface to knead on, and knead your dough for a solid 10 minutes, til it seems nice and smooth and wants to stay in a ball. Here's my first batch of dough:

I made twice the dough recipe because there were going to be several people at the house. But, me and yeast don't usually get along- I can never get it to work in recipes, it doesn't rise half the time...and I didn't think the first dough ball looked very convincing. So I made a second double batch of the dough recipe while the first one was rising...

And my dough batch number 1 grew so big! I was excited that it worked!

Yeast proofed for batch number 2:

Dough ball after kneading, number 2. Now that's a pretty ball of dough! :)

More big dough!

Then, according to the dough recipe, you separate it into two balls (or 4 if you double the batch) and let these rise, uncovered, for 45 minutes on a lightly floured surface.

Lots of pretty dough balls!

I think there was something mentioned about wearing an apron? Oops...

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F!

After your 45 minutes of letting the balls rise, now is the time to start focusing on the Pizza Roll recipe (starting at step #5 on their site).

Roll out a ball of the dough in a 10in x 11in square:

Then add a little olive oil mixed with garlic powder (1/4th tsp + 6tbsp of olive oil is a good ratio, and you can just use a tablespoon or two on each of your flattened dough balls).

Spread at least 3 tbsp of pizza sauce over the dough. (I found myself wanting to taste more of that flavor)

Then add about a 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. I used a vegan brand, and I think next time I would do a 1/4 cup vegan mozzarella and 1/4 cup of Daiya brand cheddar, to add more flavor.

Then add a sprinkle of cheese and any other seasoning you like, and add a couple sprinkles of more cheese over that. Then add about 16 vegan pepperonis. (I think the brand I bought is vegan-it is definitely vegetarian though-I forgot to read the back of the packaging closely. It's a learning process to remember to do that all the time!).

Add 5-7 fresh basil leaves down the middle of the dough now.

Here's what it'll look like!

I added mushrooms to mine, so add any other topping you might like! Then roll it all up, starting with the side closest to you. Pinch the seam and tuck the ends under. Place on a baking sheet that has oiled parchment paper on it:

Drizzle with a little of your garlic olive oil mixture, some pepper and crushed red pepper, and cheese. Cut 3 slits in the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees F.

While you're waiting, if you live in a place that's cold in the winter, like us, drink warm tea in a cute wintery cup.

Take your golden-brown yummy goodness out of the oven. Try to wait a few minutes before stuffing your face so you don't burn yourself :)

I made one with mushrooms and one without, so I had to try some of each of course!

I love the mixture of flavors. The only changes I would make is that I was hesitant to use too much of the olive oil and garlic because I didn't want it to be too strong, and I ended up not being able to taste it much at all. So the amount I mentioned above it more than what I had used. I also, as mentioned above, would use the mixture of the two kinds of cheese. I had never had the type of vegan mozzarella I tried with this, but it seemed just a little bland. I think using the cheddar style and mozzarella style together would make it better.

I am going to have leftovers for the foreseeable future. Of course the one time I plan on my yeast-rising-attempt to fail by making a crapload of dough, both batches work and I have more dough than I know what to do with! Oh well, I must say, it was fun :) and so yummy. And Veg. Try this recipe and take a huge bite!

This took me a little over 4 hours since the dough takes some time to rise, and since I had so much dough that I had to do something with, but it was well worth it. If you follow the dough recipe from The Chew's website that is included with the Pizza Roll recipe, it sounds like it would save some time, because you can do it the night before and refrigerate it overnight.

~Having fun with vegan options and eating well, -Anna (&The Pooches)

Happy Friday!

2012-01-20T05:19:00.001-08:00

Mommmmm, do I reely hav to go potty in THIS?? It's cooollldd!

Here's how I'm staying warm this morning :) I saw this while walking down an isle in the grocery store and before I knew it, it was in the cart! Strange how that happens... It's pretty yummy though.

Shadow would like you to know that on Fridays, she likes to switch up her butt-on-the-cupcake-rug to butt-next-to-the-cupcake-rug. ...

She's getting a pedicure STAT when I get home from work today. I tried last week and she ended up shooting up from the floor and sprinting around the house and wouldn't let me finish. finicky girl. She usually likes the attention of getting her pedicures! *Sigh*

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE! STAY WARM! It's a whopping 7 degrees F right now! ACK!

Postcards Ordered

2012-01-17T08:04:00.001-08:00

Just dropping in to let everyone know the postcards have been ordered! Woohoo! Can't wait to give them out! :)

UPDATE: The KC DOG BLOG posted an update about what's going on with HB 14. Take a look! The bill will be review tomorrow by the Senate. Eek!

I hope all the timing works out for when/if the Governor will see the bill and mailing the postcards out! Let's just hope the Senate doesn't vote against the bill!

~Supporting a better tomorrow, -The Pooches (&Anna)

HB 14 Postcard Update

2012-01-15T10:26:00.001-08:00

Here is the postcard with a few updates. (Thanks to The Happy Pit Bull Blog for their suggestions on the cards!)

The template is just one from Vista Print that they already had available, and it had a spot for a picture so that's where Spuds's pic came in.

So everyone- please let me know if you see any typos or have any other suggestions! I will probably order them by late tonight or tomorrow morning! And of course let me know if you want any mailed to you if you live in Ohio!

Brrrr. Br Br Br.

2012-01-14T21:28:00.001-08:00

It's still flurrying around here. Makes things pretty, but we are cold. We used the weather as an excuse to stay under the covers much of the day :)

Around noon...

I looked outside and saw this:

And thought, Spuds has the right idea. I grabbed coffee and a bowl of cereal with almond milk and got back under the covers!

And here's Spuds around 10pm tonight...

It's been a day full of staying cozy. I only wish we had a fireplace! A space heater will do, though :)

~Staying warm, -The Pooches (&Anna)

Veg of the Week

2012-01-13T21:12:00.001-08:00

...Desserts.

First and foremost, Shadow would like you to know that her favorite dessert is cupcakes... and if there aren't any of those, a cupcake rug is quite enjoyable too...

She loves the cupcake rugs from Target.

.....

Really. Loves them.

The first dessert I am excited about sharing is a no-bake peanut butter chocolate pie from the cookbook "The Joy of Vegan Baking."

(image found using Google image search)

I don't think I can really post the recipe on here since it's from a book that is supposed to earn profit from the recipes. But I can tell you that the pie consists of chocolate chips...tofu...peanut butter...non dairy milk.... all tossed into a food processor! Pretty cool and easy. And you just make your own crust, which is also in the cookbook. You can buy the book on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Vegan-Baking-Compassionate-Traditional/dp/1592332803

It's worth buying for sure, especially for the used price! I haven't made a dessert from it that I didn't like.

The crust has graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and non dairy butter in it. I think I could eat graham cracker crust plain!

I will say, be careful not to overcook your crust. I cooked it a little longer than i should have. It wasn't burned at all, just a little harder than I like it. I overcooked it because I was afraid it wouldn't be solid/firm enough....then it ended up being too firm. Not a big deal, but, lesson learned!

After the crust is ready, you just put in the filling, top it with what you want, and chill for 2 hours!

My chocolate chip peace sign does not have straight lines, it's bugging me now!

After chilling, enjoy the thick, smooth, peanut buttery chocolate taste of this amazing treat!

Mmmmm.

Now that your mouth is watering, click on the Amazon link and get yourself a great cookbook!

The second dessert I enjoyed this week was Strawberry Oat Squares/ granola bars. The first ones I made were Strawberry, from Oh She Glows. Recipe is here: http://ohsheglows.com/recipage/?recipe_id=6001725

You make some homemade strawberry jam as part of the recipe...

And then do all the other stuff that the recipe tells you to at that link above and eat something that looks amazing, like this!:

Chad really liked them, but didn't eat the top part because he's just not a fan of strawberries. He requested that I should figure out a way to make something similar but with a cinnamon-coffee cake feel to it. We brainstormed for a bit, and then I researched a few different possibilities. The results were amazing. I ended up with what can only be described as:

Cinnamon Roll Granola Bars!

Here's what you do. Make the oat square batter from the OhSheGlows.com recipe link above. I made this batter, but with some minor adjustments to cut out a few calories :) Here's Oh She Glows batter recipe, but with my changes:

1.5 cups regular oats
1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar blend (in grocery baking isle. or use regular brown sugar)
1 chia egg (1 tbsp chia seeds+ 4 tbsp warm water, mixed)

5 tbsp earth balance + 5 tbsp applesauce
1/4 cup lite maple syrup (not sugar free)
2 tbsp almond milk (unflavored)

Don't forget to Preheat your oven!: 350 degrees. Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper and lightly oil. (I had to use a round 9inch diameter pan because I didn't have a square one, ha!).

Mix the chia egg and set aside.

Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Then take out 1/2 cup of this dry ingredients mixture and throw away or do something else with it (the original recipe sprinkles this on top but I have a cinnamon mixture to sprinkle on top).

In a separate bowl, you will mix the wet ingredients: Melt the earth balance and mix it with the applesauce before you add it to your "wet ingredients" bowl. Add in the maple syrup, almond milk, and chia egg. Stir until combined.

Combine your wet and dry ingredients. Try not to eat the batter before you're finished making this :)

Then, put about half of the batter in the pan, so that there is a solid bottom layer:

Then, in a small bowl, mix together the "cinnamon roll filling." Mix:

1/2 tbsp melted earth balance

2 tbsp applesauce

1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar blend (or regular brown sugar)

1/4 cup pecans chopped finely in food processor

1 tsp cinnamon

Spread over top of your batter bottom. I added dried cranberries over half of mine too, because I was craving them whereas Chad was not! Should look something like this:

Then take the remaining batter and spread over top. Then grab a small bowl and mix together your topping. Mix:

1/2-1 tsp cinnamon, to taste

1 1/4 tablespoon Splenda Brown sugar blend (or reg brown sugar)

A pinch of regular oats, to taste. Again, I also added a few dried cranberries on top so I would remember which half had cranberries! Should look something like this:

Then place in your preheated oven. The batter recipe from Oh She Glows that inspired this says to bake it for about 30 minutes, but, in my oven at least, I had to bake it for closer to 45 minutes. Just keep an eye on it ;)

When it's done, the edges are firm and golden-looking, and the cinnamon sugar topping is crispy and sweet. Yum! :

Let it cool for about 45 minutes. Then cut into squares. (Store extra in fridge).

The cinnamon roll type filling explodes with flavor and is seriously irresistible. I am a novice baker, so I am very excited that I created this adaption in my head! It's inspiring to read cook books and recipe blogs. The above pic of the square is the one with the cranberries, but I actually liked the ones without the cranberries better, ha!

The best part of everything in this Veg of the Week- it's all VEGAN! YEA!

I hope you all check out "The Joy of Vegan Baking," "Oh She Glows," and try these recipes. I especially hope you try the one that me and Chad got to express our own creativity in!

~Enjoying Veg of the Week Desserts, -Anna (& The Pooches)

An Easy Way To Support HB 14

2012-01-13T09:34:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! If you saw my post If you Live in Ohio... that talked about BADRAP's update on Ohio's HB 14 (http://badrap-blog.blogspot.com/2012/01/progress-in-ohio-hb14-what-could-change.html) ....this idea has come from all that. In case you don't know, an important part of this bill is that it will take the "pit bull" terminology out of the viscous dog definition. Read BADRAP's blog post to see what positive changes will happen if this bill is approved and passed.

BADRAP's post said the bill is expected to go through the Senate within the next week or so, and if they approve it, it will be passed on to the Governor of Ohio for review. People have been pushing to contact our senators to express our support for this bill. So...

I was thinking, if the bill goes to the governor, we should also be contacting him to express support.

Assuming it will pass through the Senate and go on to Governor John Kasich, I am willing to provide postcards for those who want them, to be mailed to the Governor.

Here is a design I have worked on so far:

FRONT-

BACK-

As you can see, It has a message of support on it already and has Governor Kasich's address on it, but will also have room for you to add your return address and room for you to write your own message if you want.

I have not ordered them as of yet, because the bill hasn't gone through the Senate yet, but mostly because I want to know any suggestions for what should be on the postcard before I print it.

I plan to order 100, because I don't want to spend too much money if I don't have enough people willing to mail one in. But I plan on passing them out to my friends, family, and co-workers. And if any of you want some, I am willing to mail you as many as you think you can distribute (within 100 for now...) until I run out. And of course you will not have to pay anything for them. All you'd have to do is buy a stamp! It could be as simple as signing your name and dropping it in the mailbox.

Please give me suggestions or let me know if you would want any ASAP!

The Snow Has Come!

2012-01-13T08:08:00.001-08:00

We've actually gotten a real snowfall. This was taken just a few hours ago :)

If you Live in Ohio...

2012-01-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

...and you want positive change for Pit Bulls, Please read http://badrap-blog.blogspot.com/2012/01/progress-in-ohio-hb14-what-could-change.html from BADRAP.org to get an update on HB 14, which would take out the "pit bull" language of the viscous dog law in the state. This post is great because it details what could change if it passes. It made everything very clear to understand.

Although HB 14 is making positive progress, it nevertheless needs as much support from citizens as possible. It is important for anyone who cares about Pit Bulls to show their support. Here's what you can do:

1. Stay informed about the progress of this bill.
2. Spread the word to family and friends about it and it's importance.
3. Contact your senators to urge their support, and, if nothing else, use your voice to make your opinion known. See the "Find your state senator and representative" site below to find your senator and contact information.

Here are some helpful sites from http://stopbsl.com:

*Find your state senator and representative:http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/index.cfm
*Link to the original text of HB 14:http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_HB_14
*Link to HB 14 committee amendments:Ohio HB 14 revised

Please choose to make a positive impact by using your voice (or words in an email!) to support this bill. Stand up for Pit Bulls!!

Why I love Yogi brand tea...

2012-01-12T14:30:00.001-08:00

Yogi brand tea has a positive saying on each tea bag. I look forward to reading one each time I make it. Today, I was at work and this was what my tea bag said:

How appropriate to get that while at work! Keeps things in perspective :). So, I will try to remember this when I attempt to do 100 things at once.

Shadow knows the importance of taking time to relax:

Take time to live in the company of your pooches today, ~The Pooches (&Anna)

Wordless Wednesday Doce!

2012-01-11T16:43:00.000-08:00

Sit Like a Person?

2012-01-09T17:50:00.001-08:00

Spuds calls this little thing he does "sit like a person," but he really doesn't like to balance himself. He'd rather do it if you stick out your arm as a balance post. He loves to do it right when we get home for the day...

I was just giving him treats for looking cute for the camera and he got excited and started trying to "sit like a person."

Attempt número uno-feet on the ground too much:

Attempt número dos- too many feet too far off the ground:

Attempt número tres: Perfecto! 10 out of 10 stars!

So proud of his improv self balancing!

~Monday fun and sitting-like-a-person stardom, -The Pooches(&Anna)

Veg of the Week

2012-01-08T10:27:00.001-08:00

I have been casually thinking lately about how to incorporate food into my blog in a more structured way. "Should I change the name of the blog?"...no. "Should I start a separate blog?"...no. I finally told myself if I keep trying to think so much about changes to the blog, I'd never come up with an idea I like. I decided to just "let it marinate" in my subconscious for a while.

Then... Today i had this idea while driving to the grocery store to exchange the moldy gluten free bread I bought yesterday (hmpf). I thought ...I still want my blog to be about the pooches, but I'm really enjoying blogging about food and the journey (it really is a journey!) of having a vegetarian or vegan diet. Like I have said, I am not a vegan, but am vegetarian and enjoy vegan options. A hand giving a peace sign and how that looks like the letter V popped into my head... Then I thought how that's what "vegetarian" and "vegan" start with. Often times when I think about these words I do envision the hand-peace sign, because that's what those types of foods make me feel in addition to the V similarity. Peace...calm...joy. That's how I feel with those mental images.

So...what I am going to start doing is having a "Veg of the Week" post about the food or related products and discoveries that I am having fun with, that are either vegetarian or vegan. It may be once a week, I may post more than once a week, depending on what comes up! Let me say also that i am a novice cook, so the food on here is usually from a recipe some very talented person thought of... I'll always tell you were they came from to give proper credit, and in the instance where I do make my own creation one day, I'll document as so. And then of course there will be simple food that doesn't really require a "recipe," so i guess there will just be a little bit of everything! The name "Veg of the Week" feels right to me for all the reasons I've mentioned above, and also because you can "veg out" while checking out the "Veg of the Week!" and the letter V is just a fun cool letter anyway.

I try not to take it all too seriously- I don't measure every gram of protein I eat or the exact ratios of protein-carbs-etc etc etc. That's what I mean when I say it's a journey- I just want to have fun with it all!

My first official Veg of the Week is so simple. I had it this morning for breakfast, and then again after I took a run...

Ener G Brand Gluten free bread (this is from loaf 2.0 after the moldy one was returned!) with a tablespoon of butter and half a banana. This gluten free bread version is the Light rice loaf, only 50 calories a slice; the half of banana is about 50 calories; a tablespoon on PB is 90 calories- so this is a great snack for only 190 calories. (I'm a little obsessed with peanut butter and bananas). This is a great way to get protein, fruits, and a healthy bread and start your day off great. I ate it after my run today because bananas have essential vitamins to replenish your body after a workout, and of course a little protein is always good after workouts!

I toasted the bread because, duh, peanut butter tastes better when it is a little melted :) Keep the utensil you used to scoop out your PB so you can lick it! PB is that good...

~Here's to yummy food and my first Veg of the Week, -Anna (& The Pooches)

Camera shy?

2012-01-06T18:38:00.001-08:00

She didn't let me get ONE good pic...but these are more fun anyway :)

I'm pretty sure she gets cuter every day.

~camera-shy cuteness, -The Pooches (and Anna)

2012.

2012-01-06T17:55:00.001-08:00

Well, it's here. How was your holiday season? I got a new phone, from which I'm blogging right now.

We had a great dinner tonight- pumpkin Mac and cheese (vegan!) and chocolate cupcakes with almond buttercream icing (also vegan!). I want to drown in the cupcakes....just sayin! And I'm sure you know where I got the recipes for this stuff by now... Www.ohsheglows.com of course! Yummiest stuff ever, I swear by that site now. Seriously, go look up recipes now...or at least after you leave me a comment :).

I haven't figured out how to get my pics in the right order while blogging this way so sorry they are all at the end ....I have some practicing to do! I have more pics of the pooches but they're on my old phone so I'll have to do something about that.

THE drown-worthy cupcakes. I ate two.....ok three!

Spuds in cuddle mode- he says hiiii! The cool part about blogging on an iphone is I can take pics while I'm on blogger and they upload on my post- that's what I just did to get this pic of spuds.

Nomnomnomnom

Seriously. Go find the recipe at http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/05/top-21-vegan-dessert-recipes-of-2011/ . Make the cupcakes. Die happy.

~Here's hoping 2012 is your best year yet, -The Pooches (and Anna)

We Want Snowflakes!

2011-12-29T21:56:00.000-08:00

I ventured outside in late September because it was a beautiful day and my parents' dogs were having so much fun. I couldn't resist! I like these pictures, it reminds me how even though September can be beautiful with the arrival of Fall, it also still looks very summer-y. These pictures also remind me that I really would like to see snow just once this year :/. Hasn't happened yet!

Kleo would like to say Hai.... She is not always innocent, don't believe those eyes! She is actually very sweet, but has her moments. About 5 or 6 years ago, her and her sister Koko (below) were rescued by a group in Chicago because apparently they were born on a farm ...the owners were not interested in having puppies and the man said he'd do something unmentionable to the pups if they weren't taken away. So...they had to be weaned from their mom at 1 day old. Not the best thing to do to a puppy! But believe me, the alternative would've been worse. So, Kleo has some personality quirks, perhaps due to her lack of mommy time? Who knows. I love her anyway. ...

She's so photogenic, I like taking pictures of her! Look at her little head-tilt. She's a natural :)

Kleo's sister Koko enjoyed basking on the deck. Doesn't she look so proper? So anyway...they were in Chicago and were put into a foster home. My step mom and I took a trip to meet the pups. Then we drove home...then when they were ready to be adopted we drove from Ohio to Chicago again to spend some more time with them. My parents were only planning on having one..but ended up bringing these two home :)

And then there's Kyla... I love her little face! She has an eternal crush on Chad. (don't tell her I told you!) If you don't remember her or recognize her name, remember, you can always click on my link Learn More About the Dogs .

Tree in a trellis...

Leafy trellis...

Can you find 3 bees in this picture? I'm proud that I actually got this close to them lol.

Hopefully I will have a wintery landscape to take pics of soon. I want some new pictures of Shadow getting the zoomies in mounds of snow!!!

Wintery Snowflakes, ~The Pooches (& Anna)

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

A day in pictures....

I had to work third shift on Christmas Eve-Christmas day. So I got to drive home to a Christmas morning sunrise:

Spuds on Christmas morning. Could he make himself any more loveable?

My favorite little pot-bellied pig...er...I mean dog. We didn't have snow on Christmas morning, but we did have frost...so the ground looked kind of white! lol

Chad giving Brutus love. There's a similar picture from last year's Christmas Post. We may have to keep the Brutus-Chad pic tradition going!

I think my grandma has the biggest cat on record, ha! Me and Cuddles... It feels like I'm holding a mountain lion lol.

Cuddles is mah name. Bein big is mah game. Purrrrr

We logged over 200 miles on yesterday alone driving to see all the family that we didn't already see on C-mas Eve. It was well worth it to spend the day with the ones we love :)

Hope Your Holiday Season is Filled With Joy, ~The Pooches (and Anna&Chad)

More Vegan Fun

2011-12-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

Can you tell I'm really liking this whole cooking thing...and trying vegan foods thing...? :)

I made this yummy mushroon barley soup- it's more like a stew. I found the recipe on a free recipe card being handed out at the grocery store! And I only had to modify what type of butter I used to convert it to a vegan dish. It was amazing!

This is Daiya brand "cheese"...its vegan! I have used it in mexican dishes, grilled cheeses, and just eaten it plain. LOVE.

I am posting this picture on here because..I made a sandwich at work and then realized I couldv'e easily converted it to a vegan sandwich. It is just a whole wheat sandwich with lots of veggies, cheese, and mustard and other condiments. I could've easily switched out the cheese for hummus and made it amazingly vegan! I am not vegan..but I am vegetarian, and really enjoying trying to eat vegan options.

And theeseee.....are my nemesis. I tried FOUR times to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls and finally I got the yeast to rise and everything worked. But then...I didn't enjoy the taste of them that much :( I think the problem for me was that it was too much pumpkin. I think I would've liked them more if only the dough had pumpkin, and the filling remained cinnamon-y. But these had a pumpkin filling too...so they weren't really a cinnamon roll at all. It's a cool concept, but I would suggest making them with a traditional cinnamon roll filling, and just making the pumpkin dough! You can google pumpkin cinnamon rolls and find about a million different recipes for them :) (These are vegan too- of course!)

Sharing the yumminess of having fun with food, -Anna (and The Pooches)

Merry Christmas baking and forgetting to take C-mas Pictures

2011-12-24T20:49:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I was looking at some pictures I took a few months ago in September of Kasey and Kyla (my parents' dogs who are often on the blog). The weather in the pictures looks very much like what you would expect in fall..a little crisp look to the air, leaves on the ground, not quite as sunny as the summer was..... the funny thing is, it still kind of looks like this in Ohio except for the presence of colorful leaves... there hasn't really been a snow so far in my area and there are still more fall-type temperatures than winter temps. I always love snow on Christmas, but we haven't really had snow at all yet! Here are some of Kasey and Kyla's photos. They took it very seriously, as you can see.

Umm, yea. Thees r arr fotos. dont mess wif us. dis is seerios biznis.

Note- I did not plan for them to pose this way. They came up with it on their own. I must say they have good taste. I did have a pocket of treats though...

(Kasey is the one sitting, Kyla laying down)

Did yoo git the leevs in the pictur lady? Git the leeves!!!

Also... Like I said, I've been doing a lot of baking! These are the most wonder-mazing vegan cupcakes I've ever shoved in my mouth!!!!!!! I randomly found the recipe at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegan-cupcakes/

I substitute zero calorie sweetener for the regular sugar and they are very yummy. Icing is plenty sweet enough in my opinion. I used strawberry icing(pink) and peppermint icing (white) ...just store bought Pillsbury brand. I didn't see any ingredients in the label that weren't vegan so I figured they went with the vegan theme. Seriously, I could live off these. Try the recipe!!!! Try them with cherry or strawberry icing. It makes them irresistible :)

We got Spuds and Shadow "gourmet" dog Christmas gingerbread man cookies and gave them to them tonight. They were super excited. I forgot to take pics because I was just enjoying watching them and their excitement. They warm my heart every day!

~I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season~

Wishes of holiday magic, -The Pooches (and Anna)

Almost Vegan Ginger Cookies Attempt

2011-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

At least they look pretty, right?

I tried to make vegan ginger cookies from Oh She Glows (a great vegan cooking blog!)

The recipe is at http://ohsheglows.com/2010/09/29/wedded-bliss-soft-ginger-cookies/ I suggest you follow the recipe exactly as she has it instead of trying to improvise like I did :)

Have I mentioned I'm a novice baker? First...I didn't have all the ingredients even though I thought I did. I didn't have any vegan butter, so I had to use regular. Other than that...it's all vegan ingredients.

Also, the ingredients calls for blackstrap molasses, but I didn't have that so I used syrup (syrup is also in the recipe, so I figured I could sub that for molasses!)

Then...it called for ground chia seeds, but mine weren't ground. I hoped it would be no big deal...

Thennnn it called for a certain type of sugar to top them with but I didn't have that so I used powdered sugar. I wasn't very prepared as you can see.

In the end...the cookies have a really nice flavor but the texture is a little spongy and airy- almost more like a coffee cake than a cookie. So, I am determined to remake them exactly to the recipe, because I am confident that if they were "so-so" with all my mess-ups, they'll be fabulous when adhering to the recipe!

Anyway... www.ohsheglows.com has so many yummy recipes for any of you out there looking for fun vegan food.

Let the cooking adventures continue.....

Sugary Goodness, -The Pooches (and Anna)

Happy Monday

2011-12-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

~"Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it"~
(just heard this on the radio and had to add it onto the post!)

Hey all. Spuds and Shadow wanted to encourage everyone to have a happy Monday, as hard as that may be!

Psst. Have a gud Munday.

Yeaa! Hav a guuuud muunndayyy!

Let us show you how we have gud mundays...

Woooooeeeeeeeeee!

A little bit of fun each day takes the stress away!

In other news... I've been really into cooking during this holiday season. I made an apple walnut brie braid with brown sugar topping. I'm going to retry this recipe and modify it to be vegan...I'll let you know how it turns out and try to take a more flattering pic of it! :) What have you been cooking in the spirit of the holidays?

We hope you have a "gud munday" full of fun and yummy treats :)

~The Pooches (and Anna)

We've Missed You All!!!!

2011-11-29T08:28:00.001-08:00

Hiiiiiii!!!! We've been MIA for a while now. I didn't realize how much time had passed. Don't worry, as you can see, we're still cool :)

~Love, from The Pooches.

My Childhood

2011-06-17T10:30:00.001-07:00

...was largely based on my love of animals. I was sorting pictures today and came across a couple pictures that pretty much sum me up as a kid:

Me with Little Bear (the Chocolate Lab) and Marble (the Yellow Lab). They were my buds! Marble died when she was 3 or 4 of cancer. Bear lived to be almost 14. I was 17 years old when he died. I hold a special place in my heart for Chocolate Labs because of Bear :) I love this picture because it reminds me how happy I was with them and there are a lot of good memories with these dogs.

Since the real animals couldn't explore the neighborhood with me, I guess I substituted my stuffed animals. I don't remember that cat puppet thing, but the seal, she was one of my favorites. She was called "Sealy." I got her as a Christmas present.

I am trying to organize all the randomness that I have stuffed into drawers everywhere around here, so as I find pics of Little Bear, I may do a blog post about his life and our time together :)

In other news...I JUST GRADUATED WITH MY MASTER'S DEGREE!!!!!!!! I feel like a free woman!!! Wooohooo!!!! Hopefully you will be seeing more of me on here now!

Until next time,

-The Pooches (and their humans).

Beyond The Myth

2011-04-25T08:41:00.001-07:00

Hi all!! I recently heard about a documentary that is having showings and it's about Pitbulls and breed discrimination. It is called Beyond The Myth. Does anyone know if it's any good, if the information is accurate? Basically, does anyone know if it's worth seeing?? I would have to drive a couple hours to see it which I totally want to do if it is worth seeing!!

I hope everyone out there had a great Easter!! <3Looking forward to summer<3,

-The Pooches

Pitbull Necklace (Cell Phone Pix Series: Part 6)

2011-02-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

I helped with a fundraiser back in December for a local Pitbull rescue, and thought I needed something pitbull-ish to wear! So I ordered a cute necklace from etsy.com

The order went smoothly and I received it right on time! It even came in this cute little box:

With a nice note and info about the jewelry!

Here's the necklace (sorry it's blurry :/ ). It's really cute and a great buy! There is a bigger version of the charm than this one. I bought the mini version and kind of wish I would've gotten the bigger one just because you can't really see what this one is if you aren't close to it, but other than that I love it!

The fundraiser was to wrap presents for everyone at a mall, and the people who want presents wrapped pay by donation. It was sooo fun, and everyone was in the Christmas spirit. No one was in a rush or grumpy, and everyone was very generous. The holiday season is the one thing I love about winter. Everyone just seems a little happier.

We hope every one's February is off to a great start! We've had horrible weather here, we're just trying to stay warm and cheery throughout the rest of this gloomy winter season!

Warm thoughts & Pibble bling, -The Pooches

The Holidays Were Fun!

2011-01-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

We are disappointed that the holidays are over, but looking forward to winter being over FAST and the nice months getting closer now!

Spuds and Shadow had tons of fun destroying their stuffies from their stockings.

Partying. Pooch style.

Give it to me mom. Now.

How is this fun?

Seriously. Imagine how that would feel in your mouth. Only dogs.

All of my parents' dogs got together for Christmas and a photo shoot too! This is probably the only time you will ever see them all in one picture together. It was HARD to get a shot of them sitting still all at once!

Molly, Maggie, Kyla, Kasey(laying down), Koko, Kleo. If you don't recognize these pooches, click on the link "Who Are These Dogs, Anyways?" on the right side of my blog!

We went to my grandparents, who adopted Brutus. Remembe him? I blogged about him here: http://This and Pictures Come With Stories . He had a great time on Christmas. Here he is with my brother, nephew, and Aunt.

Chad giving Brutus some lovin. Brutus still acts very unsure of himself, but he also acts very happy. We will never know what his past may have been, but we know he is being loved now!

Hope you holidays were something to remember.

Looking forward to Spring, -The Pooches

It's Christmas Time!

2010-12-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

So this year we got our Christmas tree from....the grocery store! See?:

Hahahhahaaha! I couldn't resist taking a picture of a tree in a shopping cart. Priceless, right?
The dogs' stockings are getting stuffed...

Shadow supervising Dad trim the tree branches...

We bought OSU colored ornaments (from Dollar General)! Not too bad for a grocery store tree, eh? And we got our lights from Goodwill. This is the ultimate bargain tree :) Chad asked the dogs where they wanted to put the ornaments, then wherever their nose would hit, we'd put one!

Spuds is supervising from a higher view:

Spuds and Shadow are showing off their Christmas attire:

We feel stoopid. Do we look keyoot at least?

Spuudssss, stop makin' out with me!

Shadow: I am so. embarrassed.

Until Christmas, they'll be waiting patiently...

See Spuds' hat doubling as our tree topper? haha

Dear doG, pleez let us git lots uv good stuf in our stokkings. We were reel gud. Luv, The Pooches.

Stupid Vick

2010-12-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

I know everyone has already been talking about this, but....Michael Vick wants a dog?! SERIOUSLY?! Can he just shut up already? I'm usually all about forgiving, but the more information that comes out about how horrible he was to his dogs makes me have no interest in anything he has to say... and I don't think he ever deserves to have another dog. I brought out a past blog post photo for this one. Here's how we feel about him:

What do you think about his latest comment?

Mega Post!

2010-12-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

We've been taking lots of pictures...

And getting lots of snow today!

The roads are getting slicker and slicker by the minute.

But it sure looks pretty.

The dogs definately didn't come along for this car ride.

Snow makes a typical trip to the store into an adventure! Haha. Which of our other readers are getting snow? We hope our fellow Ohioans Brutus, Mason and Carmen over at Brutus the Frenchie (and Carmen too) are staying warm!

Spuds has continued his work in trying to communicate through signs. He's really getting impatient waiting for Christmas:

I's so keyoote I can make Christmas come early.

While Shadow takes a slightly different approach:

GIMMEEE TREEEATT NOOWWWWWWWW!

I'm cute. Duh. What's Christmas anywayz?

...move Spuds. I'm workin' my cuteness to get a treat right now!

........ttareeeeaatttt?

Shadow, there's no time fer treats now. Christmas is coming. Can't u read?
It IS coming, right humans?

Ughhh, I can't wait en ne longer.

We are hoping these stockings will lift Spuds' spirit a little. We were going to go get a tree today, but, well...the snow made that a little too difficult.

We are looking forward to the holidays. Hope you all are staying warm out there!

Cell Phone Pix Series: Part 5- It's Still snowy out

2010-12-11T14:12:00.001-08:00

We have had snow flurries more often than not since the first of December. I don't really mind, it makes the cold winter months pretty :)

...hmm, I think there have been some pooches around here... hehehe

Since it's been so cold, we've been staying inside, just relaxing..er...trying to anyway. Here's me while I try to read. Spuds makes it kind of hard...

Here's Chad and babygirl Shadow. It's kind of hard to see, but this is how they fell asleep, with their foreheads up against each other. It was so cute, I had to sneak a picture!

Sorry for the somewhat blurry/hard to see pics. I've had my cell phone on me more often lately than my actual camera :(

Hope you are enjoying your winter and holiday season so far!!!!

Flurries and fun, -The Pooches

First of December...First Snow!

2010-12-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

We woke up to snow today! First of the season! I thought my windows were just frosted, so I went to start my car, and realized it was snow. Yay! (I actually hate winter, but if it's going to be cold there better at least be snow!).

Just a little dusting, but it's still coming down!

Spuds wouldn't sit for a picture, I think it was too cold to sit, ha!

Mommmm, my butt is cold!!

Happy December everyone!!!!!

Our November So Far

2010-11-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

We've had an interesting November so far...

-First bit of news: Kado moved out! Well, I should say, Kado's mommy and daddy moved out. So, while we definitely miss our orange buddy, we are happy for them to start a new journey. But no worries, we'll be sure to bring our camera with us anytime we see Kado :)

So, the TV that was in the living room was Kado's mommy and daddy's TV. I hung a Merry Christmas sign where the TV used to be for now, haha! Spuds took advantage of this new sign to express his feelings about Thanksgiving:

Mommm, dadddddd....now that Thanksgiving is over, can't Christmas be here already?

Chad is a custom sign fabricator, so (he usually makes signs much bigger and more complicated that the Merry Christmas one) if you want your own sign like this let me know in a comment with your email address and I'll give you details! I can also post some more pictures of the actual sign by itself to get a better idea of what it looks like. We plan on hanging on the door with garland around it :)

-Next bit of news in November....my birthday was last week, and Chad and I's 9 year anniversary!

-Our Thanksgiving: I didn't get many pics... we spent the day with family of course, and brought table scraps back for the pooches! I spent most of the day playing with the C-mas sign so I will have more pics of the dogs with it. We were thankful for having a stress free day with lots of love.

- I went shopping on Black Friday! My step mom and I spent a lot of time at the specialty dog store- I got Spuds and Shadow some Christmas dress up stuff specially for dogs! It's going to be a fun picture-taking December. I also bought a vegan dessert cookbook today! I can't wait to try out the recipes...I'll let you know how it goes.

I have been trying to read all your blogs, just haven't had as much time to post my own- this month has been a bit of an adjustment with the changes in the house and getting through the birthday, anniversary, and Thanksgiving all within a couple weeks! busy busy!

I still have a few cute pictures from October I need to download and post from my cell phone!!! Another cell phone series post to come soon.....

Giving thanks and dreaming of Christmas, -The Pooches

HAPPY HOWLOWEEN!

2010-10-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

Muuahahahhaahaaa!

Hope everyone has a good end of October! Spuds has been spooked by the halloween spirit!

(And don't forget to watch the Buckeyes game, they are kickin' butt right now! woot woot!)

Spooky Spuds Eyes and yummy halloween treats, -The Pooches

Cell Phone Pix Series: Part 4

2010-10-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Chad has been having to work lately on Saturdays, so one Saturday a few weeks ago I decided to give him something to smile about when he got home. I took one of his old t-shirts and made the dogs look adora-bull!

Spuds sports his homemade Buckeyes gear:

Don't show these pictures, I'm embarrassed!

Spuds thanking me for his cool shirt. Don't let his humble look fool you in these pics. Everytime we dress him up he has to prance around to everyone in the house as if he's showing off his coolness. He gets really excited if you tell him he looks cool, ha!

Don't worry, I used the other half of the shirt to make Shadow one, too!

She was more into chewing on her ball than showing her Buckeye pride... oh well!

GO BUCKS!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday (once)

2010-10-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

(Parents dog Kyla surfing the TV!)

Petfinder Pick of the Week!

2010-10-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Not that I can promise I'll post something -ahem- someone, this cute every week, but, I'll try!

I was perusing Petfinder yesterday and found pretty much the cutest thing in the world:

His name is Isaac and he's full grown and 30 lbs!! It's like having a puppy forever! He is a Springer Spaniel/Chocolate lab/pit bull terrier mix. Here's his link: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/14633207 there are more adorabull pics of him. And he also has a brother who is 50 lbs!! How could you not love this face? That's why you should go adopt him. Just sayin' :)

Alright, I've officially lost too many brain cells looking at this beautiful pooch. Gotta sign off now... :)

Chocolate puppy goodness and happy wags, -The Pooches

Pitbull Awareness Day! And Post Number 100!

2010-10-23T18:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Pitbull Awareness Day Everyone! Shadow got to practice her "on-leash" skills today!

And Shadow and Spuds got "donuts" (Actually dog treats that just look like donuts, haha!) The white one for Spuds, the pink one for Shadow.

Spuds enjoying his "donut." This picture made his eyes glow, so I tried to fix it with the red eye function on Picnik," so that's why his eyes look kinda weird in this pic lol.

And I just realized as a posted this that it is my 100th post! How Exciting!!!!!

Hug your dogs today!

Cell Phone Pix Series: Part 3

2010-10-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

Another picture from a while back on my cell. This is a good picture of one of my favorite things about her. She has a big black stripe on this side of her nose. It was the first thing I noticed about her, and it made me instantly fall in love with her adorable face. I like it too because it makes her markings unique and asymmetrical.

These next few pictures are from earlier this week. Spuds and her go potty separately to ensure that they do their business before playing. So Spuds always goes first, and the whole time he's outside Shadow rings the bells on the door and stares out the window. She always rings the bells when he gets back to the door.

Mommmm, when is MY turn!?

She literally sits on her butt while she waits for him. I love when she sits like this, she looks so funny!

This picture makes her look so heavenly! (don't they say pictures are deceiving? hehehe) God (or whoever you may believe in!) is shining his light on Shadooby (one of my nicknames for her!).

Don't worry, Spuds finished up his duty soon after these pictures and Shadow was "finally" (as she would say if she could) let out :)

Just catching up...

2010-10-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

...on reading everyone's blogs. I'm sitting with my lap top right now and Spuds doesn't approve. Since I am paying more attention to the black box on my lap than him, he felt like he had to be at least a small part of my focus. Hence the ear on the keyboard...

This is a pretty normal sight for when I'm on here in blog land, just thought I should share!

Cozy nights and happy dogs, -The Pooches

Cell Phone Pix Series: Part 2

2010-10-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

I took this picture probably about two years ago. You may wonder why I took a picture of a seemingly random tow truck. The next picture will show you why...

It looked like Spuds was sitting in the front seat!! (Now, it was stupid for this driver to leave his dog in the truck with the window all the way down, but..such a cute dog!) I had to do a double take as I walked out of the fast food restaurant because at first I thought I saw Spuds which would've been impossible lol. When I got home I said to Chad, "Look what I saw today" and when he saw this picture he said "holy crap I thought that was Spuds for a second!"

Other cell pix of Spuds include...

Daddddd, pet me! NOW! How can you resist my adorabullness?

Fine. I'll just lay on your face 'til you pay attention to me.

And of course pics of Spuds "take your child to work day" experience!

I'm ready for work dad!

I'll drive!

A little to the left, dad.

Perfect!

I've got lots more randomness from over the last 2 years or so...stay tuned!

Cell Phone Pix Series: Part 1

2010-10-16T14:52:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of pics on my cell phone that I've always wanted to post on here, so I'm going to make a point of trying to do that!

This is Shadow about a month after we got her- she was only about 11 months old and still so little!! (I wish we could (or I should say, we NEED to) get her back down to this weight, because now she's chunky!) She had gone into heat before we could get her in to be spayed, hence the diaper. The floor was also being remodeled, so this was definately a stressful few weeks!

Teeny Shadow! We were so happy at this time- even though it was stressful- she was like a little angel that came to our house. We couldn't have been more lucky to end up with her.

She would wiggle her butt and wag her tail so hard that the diaper would rip!

And this was Shadow last August bright and early on her way to be spayed. It looks like she knew it was going to turn out aweful (read back to August 2009 posts if you missed what happened!).

Stay tuned for more cell phone stories to come! :)

Daily Thoughts from the Pooches

2010-09-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

Mooooooooooooooo!

Umm...are you OK Spuds?

What? I can be a cow if I want to! Geeze... guess I'll uhhh...impersonate Dad's expression. We're tough. Duh.
(Noo those aren't 'party cups,' just the cups Mama uses at Sunday dinner to avoid more dishes!)

Hmm...then There's Kado. I tried to get him to report on what was going on in the recent "Wordless Wednesday" pic of him.

No. Comment. I'm busy getting slobber all over the winders.
Do any of your windows look like this from the dogs?

Meanwhile, Shadow is depressed, because pretty soon there won't be any more days like this:

And the days will be gray and cold...like this:

She seems to like the snow the most out of all three of the dogs though, so I think she'll be ok!

Is your Sunday afternoon as uneventful as ours? What are your daily thought ramblings?

Love,

The Pooches

Judgy-Wudgy Was a Bear

2010-09-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

What? Big boy dogs can have squeaky pink shoe toys too. Don't judge me.

Speaking of not judging....I just finished reading:

(Picture found on Google images)
If you don't know who Kendra is, she is one of Hugh Hefner's former girlfriends on the show "The Girls Next Door." I know, I know, you may be wondering why the heck I cared to read her book. But the truth is I always thought she was funny as h*ll on the show, then I randomly saw her E! True Hollywood Story, and, well...I was just intrigued.

The book was amazing in my opinion. You have to go into in with an open mind and realize that while some may not agree with some of her choices, there are great messages to take from the book. My favorite part is probably just that not once does she ever talk about herself as a victim. In other words, she's real, and that means she probably doesn't care too much about what other people think, and it also means she probably has some people who don't like her all that much. But, the fact that she's true to who she is despite what the consequences may be has given me a lot of respect for her!

On another note, I just waited 15 minutes for ONE photo to load on here, and it just doesn't look like Blogger is going to cooperate anymore tonight, so I guess I'm cutting this post short. Erg.

If you read the book, let me know your thoughts! (Or even if you don't read the book, for that matter! :))

Wordless Wednesday (diez)

2010-09-08T05:16:00.000-07:00

Caption ideas, anyone? (Click to enlarge for the full effect, ha!)

Can Dogs Have PTSD?

2010-08-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

If you didn't already know, I guess you could call me a "mental health professional." I was at a conference today regarding PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) and lots of other related stuff. At one point in the talk, the idea that shelter dogs have PTSD (or some doggy equivalent) was laughed at and waved off as an insignificant "muddy" topic. I was not a part of this verbal back-and-forth, because I have a strong opinion about animals, especially dogs, who are abused, neglected, etc., and how it can effect them, and frankly I guess I didn't have the guts to disrupt the conference because it was not an animal-related conference and this was really a more conversational comment that turned into a brief "debate." (I'm disappointed in myself, lol). I'm sure everyone who reads my blog knows which way I lean in regards to this. I'm not going to spend the next 2 hours looking up data to support that dogs are really more than just objects (GASP!), and I won't waste time defining PTSD on here unless you all want a more detailed post about this. My question simply is, what are your thoughts? What have you read out there to support our furry friends who have been affected by traumatic events in their lives? I'd love to see what you've got and what you think!!

What Is It With Beagles?

2010-08-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Once again...my dad was driving down the road and this gem was wandering down the middle of it.

It was about a month ago. Once again, he out signs up everywhere. By the end of the night the owners called. They said they had a "small hole" in their fence that she must have gotten out of. My dad took her back to her owners. When he pulls up, he sees their fence, which has about a 10 foot wide opening, and the house is right on the street. They said they had a female dog who had a litter. They sold all of them except this one, and they were "starting to get really attached." They also talked to my dad about how this puppy's mom got hit by a car when the puppy was 3 weeks old!!!!! and she was now 12 weeks at this time. (So yes, these, err... "irresponsible dog owners" (I'm trying to be nice) let the mom wander into the street and get killed, didn't learn their lesson and let this little girl end up in the street!!) Accidents happen, but geeze, when do people learn!? Luckily, the puppy hadn't been hit. I'm sensitive about this topic because I worked for a few years teaching a mental health program in schools- one of the topics we talked about was grief, so many kids talked about their dogs who had died. I only remember a handful of kids who's dogs hadn't died from being hit by a car. It's just sad and so prevalent. I know accidents happen, but you'd think it would only take one of your dogs getting killed this way in order to put more effort towards preventing it from happening again!

So my dad leaves the house and the next day him, me, and my step mom were all talking about how we were scared this puppy would end up being used for breeding or end up dead in the street... so I said "Do you think they would be willing to get rid of her if they sold all the other puppies?" My dad quickly replies, "Call them and see!" We just didn't feel right about not trying everything we could to get her in a safe environment. So I called and told them about how much we liked her, and asked if they were thinking of getting rid of her. The owner didn't even hesitate, she said they were trying to find her a different home... Real attached, huh? Soo, my step mom and I drove back over to their house and picked this little girl up. My dad decided we should call her Peanut, because she's just cute, petite, and spunky!

Who, me? I'm a perfect angel, not spunky or crazy or anything! ...

Luckily, we knew my step mom's brother had been wanting another dog, so my step mom set up a meet-and-greet. It went great, so her brother officially adopted her! (They renamed her Zoe, which is fitting!). We only had her at the house for about a week, but she was really fun. Puppies are so entertaining, I love watching them learn and be curious about this world so new to them :)

This is Peanut trying to act normal lol.

Even though it wasn't what we would think of as a typical rescue situation, I still feel like we rescued her from a bad situation. I just hope the previous owners don't get anymore dogs if they can't take proper measures to prevent another dog from being ran over and killed on their watch...

In other news, Spuds smiles! Lol. Do any of your dogs smile? Spuds does it on his own, but will also sometimes do it if we scratch his face (I think it's more of a reaction type thing when we are scratching his face) This is the best picture we could get of it, but when he does it on his own he sometimes just does one side of his face, and sometime does both sides, ha! It's usually when we first get to the house after a long day of work. You can usually see his teeth when he smiles too, so this picture isn't a good representation, but it's still cute.

And here's Spuds in early spring. He was in his model mood when i took this picture of him next to the pretty blossoming tree. I love Spuds! -any attention is good attention for him, even if it is posing for pictures.

Hope you enjoyed the random mix type of post...more to come soon!

Love,

The Pooches

Pictures Come With Stories

2010-08-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hey blog fam! I have managed to get some pics uploaded onto here, just had to make them a little smaller. I have been busy this summer, going to grad classes, doing my internship, and trying to work part time too. I'm also trying to do my first half marathon, so excited about that one!

Do you remember Brutus from http://This post... ? He is doing well at my grandparents, he seems really happy. They have cats, but no dogs, so Brutus just has a bunch of feline friends. He sleeps with them (the cats and the grandparents, ha!). I can't remember everything I wrote about Brutus in that other post, so sorry if I repeat anything here, but he's just such an interesting case. My dad and step mom were driving down a small back road around town and just happened to see Brutus walking along and he seemed lost (no houses around, no collar,etc). So my dad pulls over, opens the car door...and Brutus just jumps in the car like he had been expecting them or something, ha.
My parents put up so many signs in our area and surrounding towns. They got so many calls, and it hurt a little more every time my dad had to tell someone it wasn't their dog he had found. I think I wrote before that they even called vets, and I told the story about how we found out his name, so I won't repeat that. Brutus wasn't micro chipped either. Weeks passed and his owners never surfaced. We think he must have been dumped, but can't understand why. While he was at our house he never once had an accident inside, never chewed anything up, never had one behavior that err.."uneducated dog owners" may typically give a dog up for. He does show timid behavior a lot though, always seems to be a little hyperaroused (not hyper, not at all, but just really aware and wary of surroundings), so the only conclusion that makes sense is that he was a wonderful soul who was mistreated. But, he's in a great place now.

This is Brutus with his kitty friend Tigger. Tigger is about 11 or 12 years old. I remember when my grandparents rescued her. She was outside with a probable litter mate. They were small little kittens, and for weeks when they were first brought them into the house they would barely come out from under furniture. I, the adolescent animal lover that I was, spent what seemed like hours just tossing a string under the couch or bed she was hiding under, and eventually was able to show her that us two-leggers aren't so bad. By playing with the string each day she got more and more comfortable getting close to coming out from under the furniture, and just made progress from there as we played with the string! For years she would never have thought of getting on anyones lap, but with all the love she gets she has come around! My family is full of "animal lovers," and I don't know what science says about this, but I think I was passed the gene :)

Here is Brutus with Midnight. Midnight is probably around 13-14 years old. When I look at Midnight, I am nostalgic for childhood. I always see the same scene when I look at her: I remember being younger, and I see me and my grandparents preparing for the new year. It was New Year's Eve, I was cutting up construction paper into confetti, my grandma was getting pans to bang together, and Midnight sat at the glass front door just looking out, as she always seemed to do. (All of my grandma's cats were rescued from outside near her home, either injured, pregnant, or some other bad situation they were in). When Midnight was turned into an inside kitty, it seemed like she always kept a little love for the outside. I just remember thinking how pretty she looked while she looked out the window, and although she doesn't do it anymore, that's still how I see her.

I know this is a dog blog, but I have been wanting to blog for a while and I just like those pictures. So they seemed like the ones I should use!

Shadow says she misses being in the spotlight, so she made me take this picture!:

Hopefully we'll be logging on again soon!

Ohh Myy Gooosshhh!!

2010-06-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Blogger granted me the gift of downloading ONE picture...I think because it's a crappy unedited very small cell phone pic....So, Hopefully it'll do for now.

I told you Shadow was gaining weight? It has turned her into a demon of the night...

Or something...

Summer Has Begun

2010-06-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I hope your summer is starting with a bang! I can't get any pictures to post right now...this is turning into the story of my life- blogger hasn't been letting me post pictures when I'm at Chad's house...which is a bummer because I really want you to see these pictures!!!!

Anyway...I've been having fun catching up on everyone's blogs. There's a lot going on around here, and I'm not sure how much you'll be interested in nor do I know where to start, Ha!

I don't think I told you Spuds had a vet appointment a few weeks ago? He had persistent diahrrea - they did several things including ...er....feeling around "up there" for pollups and didn't find anything serious wrong with him and prescribed a few things to help with the diahrrea...his stool has been improving although I'm not convinced it's 100% yet....we'll keep you updated :)

Meanwhile Shadow is gaining too much weight and I think she's going to go on a diet..

Kado is still dopey as ever, haning out with his baby person sister who is now a toddler.

Chad and I babysat his mom's Jack Russel Terrier last week and I have pictures of that too! Shadow liked him...kind of lol. He's a pretty annoying pooch (I'm saying that with love!)

Chad and I have been really busy, as always. For any writers or readers out there, I recently read Stephen King's On Writing and it has motivated me to keep writing. Also, I officially have one year left of graduate school, yay! I have a pretty intense internship starting Monday...24 hours a week without pay, but internships are so helpful and I'm excited. Chad is working anywhere from 8-14 hours a day right now, so he only has time to work and sleep, no fun!

Oh well, Sorry this blog post is picture-free, I really don't know why it won't let me add pictures in here while I'm at Chads, but sooner or later I'll get it figured out. I hope your Father's Day is awesome tomorrow!

Lots of love to the Blogger family, -Anna

Baby Cow

2010-04-30T17:24:00.001-07:00

I got this text message from Chad a few weeks ago. It said ...

"Look mom, a baby cow!"

Chad and Spuds were taking a trip to the gas station and Spuds saw the baby out the window grazing in the field. Chad said it looked like it had just recently been born because it was really little and wobbly. When I first saw the picture I thought it was Shadow and he was just making fun of her pudgy self...ha!

Hey hey Hey

2010-04-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

**UPDATE: The post that this one is referring to is actually under this one, since I started the draft of it before puting this one up**

Hiiii!!!!! We are all still alive here ;)

I am actually trying to upload a bunch of pics to do a post on here but I have been waiting about a half hour and they just aren't loading...so I'll try again soon. Watch for an update of what's been going on in our lives! Miss my blogger family :( ,

-Anna

This post...

2010-04-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

...is really not satisfying. These 5 pictures are the ones that would upload last week...and the other ones still aren't uploading!! Grrr...so, this is about 1/4 of the blog post I planned for...

The weather has overall been pretty nice in Ohio. Chad cut the grass and it spurred a crazy uproar of dandelions... but look at this one! the stem is like, 4 stems fused together, isn't it cool? In my original plan for the blog post, you would've seen the dogs with the dandelions..but it just isn't working out that way is it!?

We also have been playing a lot inside. Shadow is becoming increasingly enthusiastic about TOYS!

She looks really ridiculous in this pic, it's not an accurate depiction of my baby girl at all...but none of us are photogenic all the time, right? (This pic screams DIET AND TOENAIL TRIM STAT!)

This ball is really fun, it lights up! They loovee it if you couldn't tell :) I think they have seasonal affective disorder, lol, because now that the weather is nice they have just been so cheery and full of energy and I love it.

I like balls. Wait...no...I like red balls? Hmm...

I'm soooo happy! See?

Sooo, I have so much to update you on that it will probably take me the rest of the summer to do it, ha!

There was a beagle...I'd show you a picture but, well, you get the idea.

My parents were driving down the road when, what did they see? A little 25 pound beagle happily trotting down the side of the road. So, they pull over and open the door. The beagle promptly jumps in...

There was no collar, tags, or chip. My parents had large signs made and put them EVERYWHERE- they got numerous calls everyday, but none for the beagle. One call sounded promising, the caller said his lost beagle's name was Brutus. But his Brutus wasn't neutered, and the beagle we had hanging out at the house was neutered. What's ironic is, the orphan beagle answered to "Brutus", and only to "Brutus." The caller sent us a picture of his dog, but it wasn't the orphan. Well, Brutus is a popular name in Ohio, so I guess it's not that surprising. So now we knew the dog's name. My family called local vets to let them know we had a beagle with a probable name of Brutus...still the owner never surfaced. My parents also posted him on numerous lost dog sites...nothing. Brutus is the sweetest little pup ever- never had an accident in the house, never chewed anything- just happy to be there.

So, what happened to Brutus, you ask? My grandparents officially adopted him yesterday :) He is the only dog and will get lots of 1 on 1 attention. I feel that he was probably dumped by his previous owner, and for his sake, I can only hope he knows he's now with a safe and loving family.

As you may remember, I started working part time at a pet boarding and daycare facility- but I don't work there anymore. I just felt that the work was too much for not enough pay...not that that surprises me. But, quality time with all the pups already in my life, and people in my life, is more important. Plus, there were a lot of 13 hour work days when I added that part time job to my list...ughh. It wasn't necessary that I keep the job from a financial point of view, so I just had to cut it loose, and i feel good! My other part time job plus grad school is plenty enough for me right now :)

So, SORRY for the boring wordy post. But it feels good to finally get back on here, now that I have some more time on my hands. Hope everyone in blogworld is doing well!

Guess Who?

2010-04-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

Halloween isn't the only time for masks! Got this for a quarter at the thrift store!

Winter to Spring

2010-03-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!! Here's what's been going on in Ohio...

We went from too much snow to keep track of in February...

Frigid blue nights...

Hazy days

To this!! Color, grass, playtime!!! (And no, Chad's not in the MS13 gang even though he has tattoos...haha. - He got a lot of stares in the Miami airport after our cruise! It was quite comical)

Couldn't be happier to have some playtime in nice weather!!

Chad had just picked this up and didn't even have a chance to think about throwing it before Kado tried grabbing it out of his hands! He is ALWAYS up for playing!! Woohoo!

Shadow stalking something.... Can you guess what?...or whooo?

Stalking Kado! Who is apparently oblivious.

Still oblivious... Actually he just waits for her to get really close before pulling his ultra quick "juke moves." Shadow's legs are too short to keep up!

Some ducks even came to spend time in the creek. Chad and I tried to sneak up on them and get some pics, but by the time we could actually see them, they got spooked and flew away
:(

Umm, Shadow? You have a little something on your collar...
I'm not sure if burrs are in all areas of the US- they are little sticky/prickly weeds or something that stick to clothing and what-not. Not painful, just annoying.

At least she had fun, funny looking burrs on the collar and all! She's our little pot-bellied pig :)

But there are still signs of the storms of winter. See both of the big cracks in the branches? There is the obvious one, and then 2 branches below is a branch that is cracked in the middle. It would be interesting to know how that happened- wind, lightning?

Many trees were broken and cracked during this winter.

There's been lots going on around here! And today I remembered it's been about a year since I started this blog! It was March 2009, how cool- one year of blogging anniversary!

I also have another job for now, working with dog boarding. What's cool is this place helps a local dog rescue as well, so I get to spend time with pups who need a home. It's been nice so far, except that it gives a lot less time for telling all of you what's up! I'll try to blog again later in the week and read up on all of yours as well! I've missed spending all my extra time on here :(

How is everyone's 'Spring' coming along anyway!? I know I've been in a much better mood since the weather has warmed up. Hopefully it stays this way- the gloomy, cold, grey winter weather makes me feel, well, gloomy, cold, and grey (or is it gray?) lol! Hope all of you are doing well!

More Oldies

2010-02-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

So... I've been having a lot of fun looking through all my old pictures! I thought I'd share a few more with you.

Yes, Spuds is a very good sport as some of you said :) He gets really excited any time we dress him up because he knows it means lots of treats! He walks around to everyone in the house as if showing off his new look. (He's very needy so I think he figures if it gets him attention from everybody it's a good thing!)

Another St. Patrick's Day 2006 pic:

I think he stole that camo scarf from the laundry needing folded in the background :) This was taken in 2007.

And this was taken in 2009..not so old :) Shadow 'smiles' a lot but I can never seem to get it in a picture! This is not very good quality but you can kind of see her sporting a smile in the hopes of getting some of daddy's food. It may look like a snarl in the pic but in person you can easily tell the difference. Do any of your dogs smile? Shadow and Spuds both do it a lot, especially when we first come home.

This is one of my parents' dogs you haven't met yet! Her name in Koko- her parents were a border collie and a border collieXcoon hound. She was still a cute little pup in this pic taken in 2005 while we were on vacation in the Outer Banks.

And this is Kyla, who you've seen in past posts. This was taken in 2006 while we were on vacation at a lake house....Kyla went swimming....she wasn't too impressed :)

I had some other pics I wanted to share, but for some reason they wouldn't load onto here...so I'll save those for another time. And to the commenter from the last post-I DO wonder what we did before digital cameras- it's so easy now! But I think I'm going to scan some of Spud's puppy pics because he was too cute for everyone not to see!

Hope everyone enjoyed :)

Wireless, Birthdays, and Old Pics

2010-02-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

Chad has wireless internet at his house now so I can be on my laptop anytime! WOOHOO! I was looking through some of my old pics and found some cute ones of the dogs...

Here's Spuds dressed up for Christmas 2005, so that would have made him 1yr and 9mo old in this pic:

And this was Spuds on St. Patrick's day 2006, so he was 2 yrs old...and blinked in the pic, haha!

Finally, here's Kado from 2008. He was only months old if you can't tell. So cute! (His birthday is next month, he'll b a whole 2 years old!)

I have puppy pics of Spuds from when he was realllyyy little, but that was before the time of having a digital camera, so it will take some effort for me to get those on here. I plan on doing that at some point, he was the cutest little puppy.

We don't really have any puppy pics of Shadow because she was 11 months old when we rescued her. We aren't even sure when her birthday is, and really, not even sure when her "gotcha" day is because originally she was going to be more of a foster... but we know she's about a month older than Kado, so her birthday was probably the first week of February...and the first picture I have of her is from December 31st, but I know she was with us for Christmas because I had a stocking for her from last year. So I think she came to us about a week before Christmas. I meant to blog about her special days, but, OOPS! So there you have it! Let's here it for a happy estimated birthday for Shadow :) She's 2, and even though she's only been with us for about a year, I can't imagine what life would be like without her being part of the family. She's just perfect, and it seems like she's always been here :)

Well, it's 1:21am here, so I'm signing off. Goodnight!

Snow?

2010-02-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

Have you heard how much it snowed in Ohio? Well...it's a lot!! My parents' dog Kasey (you've seen her in past posts) is loving it, so i took a short video to show the snow.. and Kasey. (Make sure your volume isn't up too high, I was calling her name).

Brrrr

2010-02-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

It's been cold here in Ohio! Just a few weeks ago it was sooo snowy outside:

Spuds doesn't get too excited about the white fluffy stuff...

But Shadow does!

LetMeOutLetMeOutLetMeOut!!!!

Whheeeeee!

While it might look like Shadow "burned rubber" in the yard running around so much, I think that cirlular pattern is from someone getting stuck in the yard...haha.

Please let me in. It's faareezzzing!!

He doesn't know what he's talkin' about, let's go play!!!

This helps show how much snow we got...

So we decided to keep the dogs in and play with stuffies from the thrift store (Thanks for the suggestion, Houston Pittie Pack!)

Yummm, 25 cent stuffyyy

Shadow looks so sweet in this pic....don't let her fool you ;)

And since it was so cold here, Chad and I decided to go on a cruise! Actually, we planned this in December, and it came at perfect timing!

Spuds was there...kind of.

At sea on one of the decks.

It was so beautiful the whole time. We went to a few different islands in the Bahamas. And we did a Sea Lion Encounter, it was amazing! Definately a much needed get away :)

You may have been wondering...

2010-01-25T14:21:00.001-08:00

...where I've been? Well, sorry for my random respite- Chad and I went on a cruise! So...I do have pictures and adventures of the dogs for you...lots of cute pictures...so those will be up in the next few days. I'm hoping for a nice relaxing night soon to sit down with my pics and laptop for blogging, although I have to work a little more than normal this week so, bare with me! Hope everyone is doing well, I can't wait to catch up on reading about what you all have been up to!

CLINGY

2010-01-06T11:29:00.001-08:00

I'm just sayin'....

Shadow takes her name very literally.

Holidays are busy!

2009-12-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

I haven't really had time to read all the blogs, I need to catch up! Chad got a camera phone. It takes really small pics, but cute nonetheless! So I wanted to share some. I will be sending off our "thank you" package to our furriends in Texas soon, probaby after the new year. Until then, here are some random pics of the dogs :)

They're so clingy. Are your dogs like that?

Cuddlin':

Chad sent me this picture yesterday morning. "Drive careful!"

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! Tiene un año prospero!!

Package Fun!

2009-12-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

Hey, you guys got a package!

Shut up, no we didn't. I'm soo not fallin fer that one.

No really, you did. It's from our pittie furriends at Kissa-bull blog. Look!

Oh my doG we did! It's even addressed to us!

Spuds decided to get a closer look.

Hmmm, wut do we have here. Sure smells yummy!

The first thing we saw was a Christmas card. The pooches enjoyed that. If you couldn't tell, they were very much in the Christmas spirit, what with their hats and all.

How nice of the pittie pack!

Mmmm, this luks perfect fer me!!

Mine mine mine mine mine! Luk wut I got!

Ooooh, there's one fer me too!

I think she kind of liked this bone. I'm just sayin....

NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

She was sure to not miss a crumb. The pooches were so excited about all the cool stuff in their very first package!

Here's all the stuff they got. Shadow was supposed to be modeling next to it but she was a little occupied stuffing her face! :)

Of course Kado had to join in on the fun too! He ate the third bone, then Chad decided to try out the toss-n-tug, which is the blue toy in the pic. Kado lloooovvess to play the most. He gets really enthusiastic and bounces reallllyyy high!

Mmmm, stuffy!

Why do I have to be sooo.short. Ugh!!

Shadow couldn't catch the ball so she opted for Kado's ear instead.

Woohooo!

Spuds tried out the treats in the yellow box, and approved!

Thank you Brinks, Bella, Coco, and Guero for all the cool stuff!!

To top off their Christmas spirit-fun package-yummy stuff- day, it snowed! Shadow was sooo excited!!

Thanks again to our furriends for all the great stuff :)

Yay!!!

2009-12-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

Our fabulous fun package from the pitties at http://kissa-bull.blogspot.com/ came in the mail today! I'm not with the pooches right now, but pics and more to come as soon as I get the camera out and let them open it! Woohoo! In the meantime, we're getting our "thank you" package ready for them!

Mmmmmm.....

2009-12-10T21:53:00.000-08:00

blankets! See the hole in the wall in the background? Spuds used to stay in Chad's room while everyone was gone because he doesn't really do well in a cage. He NEVER had a problem being in Chad's room but one day something must have freaked him out or made him stressed or something...because he tried to tunnel through the wall. Sigh...lol

Herrrroooo?

2009-12-06T20:08:00.001-08:00

Do you have a treat fer me?

Holidays and Giving

2009-12-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hi all! I hope your Thanksgiving week was wonderful. I'm happy to say for once, I didn't feel stress this holiday, I didn't feel rushed around, and it was drama free for me. Christmas is just around the corner now...and I feel like the past few days have been all about trees!

Chad and I have been together for a long time now, but have never gotten a real tree together, just had fake ones put up. So, on black Friday, the search began for our first real tree. (I recently discovered picnik.com so I edited these next few pics on there.) There were so many to walk through and look at...

And eventually we found one! We're standing in front of it now so you can't see it...

But here it is, the light one in front. I don't think it's actually that light of a green, but just the lighting in this picture...It's a Canaan tree. The needles feel like rubber so you can decorate without gloves. :)

What does this have to do with dogs, you ask? Well...nothing really...but I do have fun dog-related stuff planned for this post too!

Anyway, then we were driving to a local mall and saw this view ahead of us. See the evergreens in the shadows? Christmas is in the air.

Then we get to the mall and it's already been decorated! It was all lit up and it was chilly outside and the horse drawn buggie things with sleigh bells ringing were all around the streets. It was so pretty.

Ok, done with that now :) Onto dogs!

Villalobos Rescue (The Pitbull rescue on the show "Pitbulls and Parolees") is having a blanket drive. I found fleece throws at a local CVS for $2.50, so I bought a bunch to send out to the pitties in California! I'll post a pic of the blankets I got soon, they're still in my car (story of my life...). Shadow managed to sneak one away from me, and proceeded to chase her blanket-covered tail. She's never done that before. It seemed like she was trying to figure out what the heck it was under the blanket, haha! Here's the genius in action:

Last week I was at my parents' and happened to look out the back door to see something that made me smile. Two of their dogs, one of which you've met on the blog (Kasey, the bigger white and black one), were having the time of their lives playing together. Because there are so many unhappy dogs in this world, I never take for granted a chance to see happy dogs, with no greater worry than how long they'll get to stay outside and play. It warms my heart, so I thought I'd leave you with my cell phone video of them. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Look What I Got!

2009-11-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

My dad sure does know me well. I had a birthday recently and this is what he picked out from badrap.org!

I'm pretty sure this is the same sweater I blogged about wanting but he doesn't even read my blog....so, good job Dad!

Wordless Wednesday (Nueve): 8 year anniversary

2009-11-18T09:50:00.001-08:00

(Completely not dog related...sorry)

Paw It Forward

2009-11-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

Ok I was a little confused about the rules of this at first but here it goes. Dozer at http://dozersblog.wordpress.com/ just did a Paw It Forward game and I was one of the winners! Here were the rules:

"1.Get a present frum sumone fer Paw It Forward.
2.Post about it on yer blog.
3.The furst three peeple or dawgs or wutever who reply to yer Paw It Forward blog post will git a present frum you. It kin be ennythang and doesnt have to be fancy.
4.Those three peeple or dawgs have to start at number wun. "

Those rules are in quotations because they are straight from Dozer's mouth. If you think he "talks" funny just check out his blog to see how much funnier it can get!!

Now what Dozer did was instead of sending the PoochesForPeace a present, his mommy donated to the rescue of my choosing! So I'd like to kind of do the same thing. The first 2 people to reply to this will get to pick a non-profit place that likes pitties for me to donate to, and the 3rd person to reply to this will get a present! For the places I donate to, it will probably only be about $10 because I am a non-profit worker myself/graduate student so I don't have much money to spare at the moment! I will give my email address to the winners so you can email me more info!