Good News!

Ferris is home safe and healthy 🙂  He had several complications but he has pulled through and is now sleeping on my bed.  He is so cute with his bald shaved little belly….poor baby boy.  They say he won’t be totally out of the woods for 2 weeks, so we will be keeping a close eye on him.  Thank you for all the good thoughts and prayers you all put out there- it worked! Thank Heaven for my dearest little angel pulling through 🙂

The sweet boy - So tired!

You can see his poor little belly 😦 Still sore but getting better! All shaved and nekkid!

You can see his two shaved arms (from the IVs) and his Fentanyl (pain) patch on his shoulder

My sweet little angel...Thank God he is alright 🙂

Needing your thoughts and prayers

Last week when I posted, “When it rains, it pours” I really meant “When it pours it turns into a deluge”

I am writing this from the night shift at work.  I just received some very upsetting news about Ferris, my cat.  Apparently my husband noticed some string coming out of his bottom…long story short he ended up taking him to the emergency vet and my cat just underwent emergency exploratory surgery.  They ended up removing over 7 FEET of string from his intestines.  He is on a lot of pain meds now and they are keeping him for at least 2 more nights.  My heart is broken and I am in complete shock.  It is so hard to be here when I want to be there with him.  He is such a crazy cat he LOVES to eat string- we try so hard to keep it away from him.  Sean said he didn’t even know where this string could have come from.  I am praying so hard for him right now, that he isn’t in pain, isn’t scared.  And I am praying for Phoebe, his sister, who has never been separated from him ever.  These cats have been through so much already and here he is having exploratory surgery…I feel so guilty but I don’t know what I could have done.  We try so hard to keep stringy things away from him.  I also feel guilty because I am freaking out that they estimated the cost to be at least 2K, which we do not have.  Not that it isn’t worth it- we would go into the poor house for them…but still.

Please send your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery for my little boy.  Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

And the theme is….

What is Vegan MoFo?

Sorry guys, my husband got sick at the end of the week (nothing too too serious) and has to go in for a procedure on Monday.  It’s why I’ve been a bit distracted from posting for MoFo.  But I am still committed and will post my first post later today.

I definitely got a lot of positive feedback for veganizing Pascha.  If it ends up I have the time, resources this month I surely will do it.  I was going to do it for Russian Easter in the spring, but, that’s so far away!  So, Officially, my MoFo theme is:

I loooooove sweet potatoes.

Obviously.

Nothing can beat their flavor, texture, versatility!  I have met one too many a person who claims their hatred of sweet potatoes. Therefore, I will attempt to do “Sweet Potatoes 20 ways”….They will be in salads, soups, entrées, pies and even desserts! I will prove to the world how the lovely little lumps of vitamin A are not just good for you but delicious and fabulous!

Up next later today:

We start out on the easy/fun side: Mini Baby Baked Cajun Sweet Potato Fries – YUM!

On a more juvenile note…

Don’t forget to Eat Your Veggies!! 😉

Apologies for my 12 year old boy sense of humor.

(Seriously though, this really is my squash…pretty impressive huh?)  I’m going to chop it up and put it in a butternut squash risotto for dinner tonight.  Any fans of Gobo out there?  As an ex-New Yorker living on the Upper East Side, Gobo was our favorite restaurant, and their butternut squash risotto was my favorite dish.  Oh how I miss it so!

Are you Conservative or Liberal?

You Are 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

The Quest to Find Vegan Tomato Soup

I’m an admitted tomato-holic.  Honestly, if a dinner doesn’t have tomatoes in it, it can never measure up to its tomatoey counterparts.  Salsa is not only a snack, but a yummy breakfast, lunch or dinner. I am also a soupaholic.  So you can imagine tomato soup is a win-win (win?) for me.   Along these lines, one of my FAVE meals is grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup.

Ironically, since going vegan three years ago, I have had an easier time finding yummy vegan cheeses than finding vegan tomato soups.  Yes, yes, I can make my own, which is admittedly pretty easy.  But sometimes you just don’t have time to cook up an entire soup and it’s a whole lot easier to go canned.  That said, of course, I always look for low sodium (if possible) organic soups, but I could never find a vegan tomato soup!  Well, I’ll admit there are one or two boxed soups out there, but they never tasted like the good old fashioned basic soup I was going for.

Well, today was the Day.  Shopping at MOM (My Organic Market) I beheld a glorious sight on the shelves before me: Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil Soup!  It’s new! It’s Vegan! It even SAYS “vegan” on the front! I immediately went home and made myself a lovely Grilled Cheeze Sandwich (Daiya Cheese is AMAZINGGG!) and dipped it in my new perfect soup.  What could be better?  It’s just the perfect blend of tangy tomatoey sweet goodness with small tomato bits in it with the perfect amount of fresh basil to round it out.  5 Stars!

The Dog

I am keeping this post separate, from my other vacation post, because it should stand on its own.  This experience profoundly affected me and, though painful to discuss, I wish to share it with you.

We were driving to Sedona from Utah on Highway 89 going South.  For much of this time you are actually driving through the Navajo Indian Reservation.  At Highway 89 and Route 20 we pulled off the road to get some gas and duct tape to try and fix the broken car (see other post).  I stayed in the car while Sean ran into the store and before my eyes I saw a dog sitting near the side of the building.  She was a reddish colored dog, either full Chow or Chow mix…and her sad eyes burned into my soul.  She was in poor shape and upon closer inspection, it was apparent she was suffering from mange as well.  Both of her sides were balding badly and bleeding in spots.  Her nipples were large, showing that she may be nursing or at least has given birth to many litters.  Her body was ravaged by the severity of life.  She walked with an obvious limp…no one acknowledged her, petted her or even looked at her… and I watched frozen in shock and horror as she slowly made her way across the garage and lay down in a puddle of watery mud.  I wanted to leap out of the car and hug her, love her like she had never been loved before, give her the tenderness she needed because of her pain and neglect….but I sat there frozen.

I sit here today, hating myself, for not being able to move.  My sorrow took over and I was unable to do anything.  Sean, who had not seen the dog, got back in the car and we drove away.  He looked over and saw large tears streaming down my cheeks.  When he asked me what was wrong, I lost it.  I dissolved into a complete blob of sorrow.  Unfortunately, I have been blessed with an extremely keen sense of empathy combined with an all-too-vivid imagination.  I could literally FEEL her pain.  I could see her life before my eyes and it was too much to bear.  “Stop!! Turn around!! We have to save her!!” I literally screamed.  Poor Sean…though muffled sobs I told him what I saw….but we didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t want to “steal” her and get in trouble with the Navajo Nation…so I called the nearest Humane Society in Flagstaff.  The woman on the other line literally told me, “There is nothing you can do.  We can’t do anything because the dog in on a reservation.  If you tell the tribal animal control, they will shoot her in the head”.  Well, I lost it again.  For about 45 minutes I sobbed and sobbed like I have never sobbed before (Actually the one other time was after seeing Earthlings).  I felt so helpless for this dog and Sean felt helpless for me.  I bitterly hated myself for not going out and petting her or taking her away.

I called my mom, another emotional vegan, who sprung into action.  To make a long story short, we began to make phone calls to different local animal rescue organizations.  We found out that there is a true problem on Indian Reservations with dogs and other animals.  Because they don’t believe in animal OWNership, they provide no spaying/neutering or any veterinary care.  We were told we could simply go back to the gas station and pick up the dog without any fight from the owner.  The concept baffled us.  We really didn’t know what to do.  Sean had already had to get painful rabies shots when we rescued another loose dog about a year ago and we didn’t know anything about this Chow.  To be honest, if we had been in our own car and had access to a good pair of work gloves we would have gone back immediately to help her.  However, we were lucky enough to stumble upon several groups in the Flagstaff area that are non-profit organizations that help “rez dogs” (reservation dogs) for this exact reason! We couldn’t believe our luck! (Thanks to Blackberry and the ability to search the internet while in the car!)  I made multiple phone calls and finally got through to one.  I am still trying to follow up with them so I can make sure this dog was helped.  Even if she had to be put to sleep, she will be at rest and free from the pain she endured while on earth. Please keep this dog and other rez dogs like her in your prayers.

Arizona/Utah Recap!

Honestly, I don’t think people are too interested in the complete ins and outs of a stranger’s travels. However, I can give you the basic rundown of places visited (NOT in order):

Arizona Run Down
~ Fossil Springs, AZ– hiked, camped, swam, accosted by suicidal beetles flying into our fire pit… awesome!
~ Pine and Strawberry, AZ– Adorable little towns!! In Pine grocery store:

Me: “Excuse me, do you carry soy yogurt?”
Grocer: “SOY Yogurt…? (looking at me like I am an alien) No…we don’t have SOY yogurt *smirk*….But we do have Yoplait!”

~ Flagstaff, AZ– BEST vegan pizza @ New Jersey Pizza on Cedar Ave HIGHLY recommended. Offers vegan options and all ingredients are local and their origin listed. Great people 🙂
~ Sedona, AZ– Two amazing vegan restaurants here, D’Lish (vegan and raw) and Chocolatree (all raw) both places DELICIOUS!! Wish there were places like that here in MD! Also, on our way out of town witnessed the flash flood at Tlaquepaque and helped rescue people being dragged away with our handy rope from our trunk. Just another day…
~ Tucson, AZ– Stayed at Alta Vista Bed and Breakfast for our anniversary. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended. Extraordinary people, warm welcome, accommodates vegans with delicious custom breakfasts. Adorable and sweet rescue dog named Emma 🙂 Beautiful setting right next to Saguaro Nat Park West, hot tub, pool etc etc etc. We saw more wildlife in our first moments at Alta Vista than we did in the whole of our trip. We will be back- thank you Gaila and Peter! Tucson is wonderful, much hiking at Saguaro National Parks, Mt. Lemmon etc MUCH to do!

Utah Run Down
~ Zion Nat’l Park – Wow. Just …Wow…Serene, gorgeous, there really are no words. LOVED camping at Lava Point. Much drama here including but not limited to: cop pulling us over, literally killing the rental car on Kolob Reservoir, losing car keys and missing shuttle to top of Narrows, begging for a ride to trail-head of narrows, starting day 1 Narrows hike 6 hours after everyone else had, stealing campsites and not to mention two near death experiences IN the Narrows (no I am not being dramatic). Loved it, amazing experience…definitely one that made me a stronger person.  Actually may write a short blurb on the Narrows if I have time.
~ St. George, UT – Camped 2 non-consecutive nights at Snow Canyon. HIGH recommendations…amazing place…perfect car camping place for people who hate car camping. Best of both worlds. Surrounded by gorgeous red rock and wildlife and yet you can shower! Much appreciated after 2 day hike in Zion’s Narrows (!!)

A lot more happened- we had a simply marvelous time and now we must return to real life.  Will post a couple pics when I get my act together….I am still doing laundry!!

What an adventure!

Keep posted for tales/pics from the trail … grateful to be home and safe… and missing the new friends we have met and places we now keep in our hearts.

First Post

Welcome!  I am here to break some stereotypes.  To open people’s eyes to a world where people don’t have to fit perfectly into the molds we are “supposed” to fit in…  and that is ok people!  Let me cut to the chase, I am:

Catholic/Christian

Vegan

Pro -Life

Pro – Environment and preservation

Pro -Marriage

Pro -Gay Marriage

Pro – Responsible Gun Rights (yup! Got one 🙂 )

Anti -Death Penalty (don’t be fooled, it’s probably not why you think)

Anti- Vivisection

Conservative

Pro -Victims Rights

Patriotic

Pro – Self Responsibility

Pro – Social Responsibility

…Just to name a few.  I’m also a new aspiring musician, a nurse, a wife and I currently just started to exercise my second amendment rights for my own self-protection.

I will write about being vegan in a non-vegan world…how to handle situations involving insensitive animal flesh eaters or (at times even worse) elitist vegans.

Then again, I could just blog randomly about subjects not related to any of the above topics as well.

After all, it’s a free country (at least for now!) and I am proud to  be an American Vegan!