#finally there is: making your own glazes. which i am also not qualified to talk on

[moldspace]

if u don't mind me asking for your clay creatures do u normally use glaze or paint? I'm just starting out with ceramics and I'm wondering if u had any recommendations for either? I always love how ur sculptures turn out :)

the ones that look "painted" are underglaze! I paint it onto dry greenware and then add a clear glaze over top after bisque firing. it's really as close as you can get to a "paint" for ceramic, it can be mixed and blended like paint and has no silica content so it doesn't turn glossy or stick to things in the kiln without another glaze overtop - it also doesn't move at all during firing like most glazes and stays exactly where you put it! my fav underglaze brand is coyote because their underglazes feel very thick and color dense (at least out of the brands I've used), so it requires less coats to get an opaque look (the tricky thing with underglaze is that it looks opaque when you paint it but fires semi-transparent, so it needs layering that you don't see the results of until the glaze firing). the clear glaze I use over my underglazes is amaco's mixing clear (technically part of their celadon line I think). if you do a clear glaze overtop of the underglaze it acts a lot like varnish over a painting, brightening it up and adding shine, but you can also leave the underglaze as-is, it will just be porous, matte, and a little chalky like any unglazed ceramic is. picking a clear glaze to go over underglazes can be tricky, because some of them will react to the colorants in the underglaze and you may get colors that disappear or become streaky under them, or your clear glaze can be too thick and look "milky", but I've had very good luck with the one I'm currently using.

if you want to get into glazing, i really like amaco's premade glazes, not only because they offer a nice selection, but because they have a lot of online resources for beginner ceramists to use - they have videos showing how they glaze pieces to get the correct amount of glaze on, a glaze layering tool that shows how different combinations of glazes (might) look together, and even a facebook group for people to post pictures and ask for advice in. ive been enjoying playing with glaze combinations and also playing with what parts of the sculpture I leave bare to just be the fired claybody.

[thetenthdoctorscompanion]

25 “Let’s adopt twenty cats together and treat them like our children.” + Sadie/Lydia

“Ugh. I hate men. I hate them!”

Lydia slammed the door to my bedroom, marched across the carpet, and collapsed face-first onto my bed. I snickered, barely looking up from my copy of Heart of Darkness.

“Bad date?”

She lifted her head, violently flipping her hair out of her face to fix me with a stern glare. “It was not a date.”

“Then why are you so upset?”

“It doesn’t have to be a date for me to expect common decency and a baseline of human intelligence. And even if that was supposed to be a date, the four hours I just experienced were so abysmal that they would not qualify as a date in any sense of the word.”

“So he didn’t get you off.”

“Please, Sadie. That’s a given.”

I smirked and finally put my book aside. Lydia had been on about a hundred “not-a-dates” over the course of the summer. She’d narrowed her interests down a few options she had in steady rotation, but every now and then another boy would slip her his number and she was take the chance to switch things up. Unfortunately, the longer the summer stretched on, the harder it became to please her. (Emotionally and physically, judging by the explicit details of the stories she insisted on relaying to me.) I couldn’t remember the last time she’d come home in any state of satisfaction.

I nudged her with my foot, prompting her to drag herself up and lean against the wall opposite me. She tangled her legs with mine, folding her arms over her chest and pouting. I squeezed her legs between mine and gave her a pointed look.

“What?” she snapped.

“Okay, the last thing I want to do is have you bite my head off, but I have to ask. If you’re not going on dates then…what exactly are you looking to get out of this?”

Lydia rolled her eyes at me. “I don’t need to be in a relationship to have fun, Sadie.”

“I know that. You also don’t need boys to have fun. And judging by the last few horror stories you’ve told me, you’re not having fun doing this anyway.”

“Yes, I am.”

I gave her another pointed look, spearing her stubbornness and making her deflate. Lydia sighed and ran her hands through her hair. It looked even more red now than it had last year.

“I have fun sometimes,” she amended. “Most of the time, I just…don’t feel much of anything.”

“Is that…the point?” I asked tentatively.

Lydia pursed her lips once more. “Do you really need to psychoanalyze me right now? I’m perfectly capable of evaluating my own neurosis, and I’ve already spent most of the night being told how I feel by someone extremely unqualified to be doing so.”

I raised my hands in surrender and picked up my book again. Lydia always had to do things her way. If she wanted to plunge herself into a string of meaningless, lackluster hookups instead of dealing with the fact that Jackson was gone, that was her prerogative. Trying to get her to talk to me would only make things worse.

Lydia continued to sulk for a few minutes, then untangled her legs from mine. She crawled across the bed to sit next to me instead, leaning her arm against mine as she toyed with her phone. We coexisted in comfortable silence—Lydia scrolling through her phone to set up her next not-a-date, me flipping through my summer reading for the third time. I hated this book so much that no matter how many times my eyes scanned over the pages, the words kept slipping through my brain. Reading Heart of Darkness, I probably wasn’t thinking or feeling any more than Lydia was.

I snapped out of it when Lydia’s phone dropped on top of my book and, instinctually, I rammed my eyes close. These days, when Lydia shoved her phone in my face, it was usually to share an unsolicited picture or obscene text from one of her booty calls—I was adapting to avoid her phone at all costs, just for survival—but for the moment, Lydia snorted and nudged my arm. When I peeled my eyes open to check, her screen simply displayed a take-out menu.

“What do you want for dinner?” she asked with an air of boredom.

“Dinner?” I blinked at her. “Aren’t you going out? I thought you had a double dude feature lined up.”

“I cancelled. If I’m gonna feel like garbage, it might as well be because of too much pizza instead of lame foreplay.”

She was still pretending to be disinterested, but her pursed lips were hiding a smile. Mine grew into a grin and Lydia gave me a playful warning look.

“Choose before I change my mind.”

“Fine, fine. Girls’ night it is.”

And that was what we did. Lydia cancelled her hookups for both the night and the following day. I texted Stiles to let him know I was bailing on video game night to stay in with Lydia. He tried to trash talk me a little, saying that I was hiding because I didn’t want to lose the tournament, but when I reminded him of our current tally of wins and losses in Mario Kart, he promptly dropped the subject.

Hours later, Lydia and I were sprawled on my bedroom floor, surrounded by empty pizza boxes and sharing a dwindling bottle of rum. Lydia had pulled a bottle from her personal stash and spiked some juice, which we were burning through like gas.

Drinking with Lydia was usually very easy. She knew how to hold her liquor, but she was also way smaller than me. Between my height and her experience, we were pretty evenly matched. I wasn’t sure if it was her bad date, her feelings about Jackson, or sheer boredom, but at the moment, it was easy to tell that Lydia was far tipsier than I was.

“How did you do it?” she asked the ceiling. Her legs were tucked up against her chest, feet dangling in the air, her arms keeping her balanced on the carpet. “How did you find a boy who doesn’t suck?”

“Are you actually complimenting Stiles?” I giggled into my drink. “Wow. Now I know you’re drunk.”

Lydia giggled too, and let her legs flop back to the floor with a thump.

“Okay, I know he’s a dork and he’s a nerd and he’s still very much not cool, but I—I try to be nice to him! I try to be nice because you love him and he loves you and—and that’s so important, you know? He loves you so much, and he would do anything for you, and I—I don’t know how you did it or what that feels like or what that’s like!”

My laughter quickly died away. “Lydia…”

“No, it’s fine. It is. It’s fine because I want you to be happy and I’m happy that you’re happy and I’m happy that Stiles is the one who makes you happy, but even if I—even if Jacks—even if he was still here, I don’t know how much would change, you know? We were never—we were never like that. And he changed a lot. He did, I know, and he did so much work, and he was such a better person, and I—I loved him for it. And I think—I know he loved me too, but—but maybe it’s not the same, because…because if he loved me the way Stiles loves you then he would—he wouldn’t have—”

She wasn’t crying, not yet, but I could see her working herself into hysterics. I hurriedly pushed myself up onto my knees and crawled to her. She whined in protest as I lifted her head into my lap, but she quieted down as I combed my fingers through her hair. Slowly, her breathing began to normalize. She sagged against me, her eyes glazed as she continued to stare at the ceiling, and I moved from brushing her hair to absently braiding it. It was the only thing I could think of to keep her present without prying into her thoughts.

I knew Lydia was hurting without Jackson; I also knew she didn’t want to talk about it. Even now, drunker than I’d ever seen her, she couldn’t bring herself to even say his name. She’d always had her insecurities, but if she’d felt worthless when Jackson broke up with her, it was nothing compared to watching him leave a second time. She’d done so much to save him, and he’d still left her behind.

That’s what brought her to the hookups. It was her way of passing the time, of keeping herself occupied so she wouldn’t have time to miss Jackson. So long as boys still wanted her, she wasn’t worthless. So long as she still had a full social calendar, she was still Queen Lydia Martin, the most popular girl at Beacon Hills High School. So long as she kept moving, she wouldn’t have to confront how much things had changed.

I tied off the bottom of the braid and laid Lydia’s head back on the floor, then scooted across the carpet so I could sprawl out next to her. I laid flat on my back, my head lolling to the side to look at her.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing her hand, “you of all people should know that it’s impossible not to love you. You’re Lydia Martin, remember? Parties or werewolves, boyfriend or no boyfriend—you’re the smartest, strongest person I know. You’re perfect all on your own. Lydia Martin doesn’t need anyone.”

“That’s not true.” Lydia’s voice was soft, and she shook her head at the ceiling. “I need you.”

The words made me smile. I opened my arms as Lydia rolled onto her side, curling up next to me and laying her head on my shoulder.

“Well then,” I said, “I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. You’re not allowed to. I’m serious, Sadie. You—you’re gonna live here until we graduate, and then we’re gonna go to college together, and get a little apartment while we job hunt, and then we can get a house, and Allison can come and visit and—cats! Let’s adopt twenty cats together and treat them like our children!”

I snorted, my back rocking off the floor in a way that sent Lydia into another tirade of giggles.

“Yeah, you’re definitely drunk,” I observed.

“I know,” she said, still beaming at me. “But I am serious. You’re not allowed to leave me, Sadie. Promise.”

“I promise, Lydia. I’m not going anywhere.”

[thegladelf]

Fate or Destiny or Whatever

I don’t know why I’m even bothering to post this this weekend, but it’s been sitting on my computer--finished, apparently--since last year so...it’s waited long enough. I started this back after 6x05--but ended up rewriting the whole thing once 6x06 aired (for the obvious reason that my original fic involved Killian & Henry deciding to hold onto the shears). Anyways, 6x05 raised the question--what could possibly make Emma change her mind about using the shears. And this happened. As always, this has been added to “The Lost Get Found” over on ff.net if that’s you preference. And also, as always, you know I love getting yelled at. (Though this maybe doesn’t qualify as angst???)

Word count: 3.3k

Normally, Emma loved that her kitchen could fit her whole family comfortably.

Tonight, though, all those people just made her head throb worse as they talked back and forth about the object she held in her hand. All of them so caught up in the excitement of finally having the shears back in their possession that none of them had noticed her silence.

"We could put them in the vault." Regina paused her pacing. "No one can get in there unless I let them."

"That spell has been broken too many times," her dad shoots back. "We need something better. Somewhere no one will think to look."

"Maybe it's not a somewhere that we need," her mom said, her finger tracing the rim of her mug. "Maybe it's someone. Namely, all of us."

"What are you getting at?"

"The Evil Queen didn't make her move until the shears were no longer in anyone's possession," Snow said, sitting forward. "Maybe if someone's holding onto them, no one can steal them."

David nodded. "So we all share the burden of holding onto them and she has no way to know which of us has them."

"Or she could just knock all of us out at once and search our bodies at her leisure." Killian's hand on Emma’s shoulder tightened a little, tension radiating down his arm even as his thumb rubbed circles on the back of neck.

"Do you have a better idea?" Regina snapped.

Emma closed her eyes, her grip around the shears tightening. Before anyone could say anything else, she stood, her chair screeching against the tile floor.

"Guys, that's enough."

Everyone but Killian flinched like she'd slapped them.

Emma sighed. "Look, Killian and I will figure out what to do with these. If we need your help, we'll let you know. Okay?" She willed her hand not to shake, gritting her teeth with the effort.

"Okay," Snow said. Her mom stood, gathering the mugs of cocoa sitting on the table and carrying them to the sink. She worked quickly, efficiently to load the used cups into the dishwasher as her dad ran upstairs to get Neal from the pack-n-play in the spare bedroom. Regina went to the closet and grab her coat.

Henry's mouth became a thin line when she returned with his in hand as well. "Mom, I know it's your week, but..."

"No," Emma said. "It's fine, Henry. No reason to upset the schedule."

"But..."

Emma looked to Regina, imploring her, but it was Killian who stepped in first.

"Emma's right, lad, the shears are with us now, there's nothing to be worried about." He clapped his hand on Henry's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Henry's eyes narrowed, as though he suspected a trick.

"I won't do anything without letting you know first, kid," Emma said. "You know that."

David, holding a groggy,fussy Neal, came tromping downstairs as Snow turned on the dishwasher. The dull thrumming added another layer to Emma's headache. Her parents held her close for an extra moment each when they hugged her goodbye, but finally, it was just her and Killian in the house and she felt she could breathe again.

Gentle fingers glided down her arm, closing over her hand and the shears.

"Why don't you let me take care of these for now," Killian said, "out of sight, out of mind. You can decide where to hide them in the morning."

"No." The shears moved in her hand, their blades scraping against each other. "No, I—we need to decide what to do with them. Tonight."

"Hey. It's okay. It's okay." He ran his hand up and down her arm, his hook curling around to pull her closer. "We have them, Emma. No one else is getting ahold of them tonight. We have time."

But they didn't have time. That was exactly the point. That was exactly why she couldn't let go of the shears.

Seven days they had haunted her and here they were in her hand, finally. And she wanted to use them so badly. She wanted to use them right now and be sure, be safe. Know that that the future she could see so clearly right now could come to pass. She knew, deep down in her soul, that it would be a selfish choice, one that would likely haunt her for the rest of her life.

But couldn’t live with the alternative. Literally.

"I shouldn't have asked you to hide the shears," she blurted out. It’s only one of the things that weighed on her all week, but it's the least nerve-wracking.

Killian flinched and of course, of course he took it the wrong way. "Aye, I am sor—"

"No, I didn't mean it like that," Emma said. "I meant—" She sighed. "I mean, I'm sorry I asked you to do that. Without even talking it over with you first."

He shrugged. "It's your decision."

She gripped his arm with her free hand. "But I could have at least heard you out, given you a say." She looked down at their shoes, feet spread so their feet interlock almost. Swallowing, she continues, "I'm still figuring out this whole functional relationship thing. So I'm sorry and I don't want to do this on my own again."

"You're not on your own, love," he said. "And you never will be again." He pressed his lips to her temple, lingering. "I forgive you. You were just trying to do the heroic thing."

"Screw heroic," Emma muttered.

Killian drew in a quick breath, his body drawing tight as one of her mother's bowstrings.

"What happened to fighting?" he asked.

"I can't fight if I'm dead."

Killian stepped back, shaking his head. "So you want to use the shears now?" He raked his hand through his hair. "Emma, I know this has been weighing on your mind the last few days, but this means parting with your magic for good. Are you sure that's what you want?"

Her breath caught in her throat. No, it wasn't what she wanted, but it was looking more and more like the best chance open to her.

"I'm not willing to pay the price anymore," she said. "I want to live."

"You will," he said, his voice hard and sharp as a knife. "We'll find a way."

"Maybe this is the way," she shot back. Her control from early vanished, her hand trembling. "Besides, you're the one who kept them the first time. You can't tell me you think it's a terrible idea."

“I kept them as a contingency, love,” he said. His hand brushed down her arm, fingers curling over hers and trapping the shears. “It seemed foolish to dispose of such a powerful object before we found any other alternative, but, Emma, I do believe there is an alternative.” He smiled, a barely there smile that showed mostly in his eyes. This time, she let him pull the shears from her grasp and set them on the table behind him. He laced his steady fingers with her increasingly unsteady ones. He ducked down, his eyes holding hers as easily as he held her hand. "Emma, what changed your mind?"

She swallowed. Here was the crux of the matter. Weeks weren't long enough anymore. Months weren't long enough. Years, she needed years, as many of them as she could rip away from that bitch called Destiny. Tugging him away from the kitchen and into the living room, she made a beeline for the couch. Killian sat beside her, turned slightly so his knee brushed her thigh, his presence comforting.

Emma took a deep breath, fighting back the feeling that things were moving too fast. It was all moving too fast. It was one thing to know that they were true love, to know he wasn't leaving, that this wasn't like every other relationship in her past. That he was here to stay. But it suddenly felt like all of her time was evaporating right in front of her. If she had known, if she had guessed all those weeks ago, she wouldn't have thrown the shears away. But how could she have known?

It was all happening so fast.

"Hey," Killian said, squeezing her hand and offering his gentlest smile. "I'm not going anywhere."

It required an inhuman effort to push back the tears, but she managed.

"It's not just about me, anymore…" Emma started.

Like a Band-Aid. Quick, like a Band-Aid.

"I'm pregnant."

Killian blinked. "What?"

Emma rushed on, the words pouring out of her now that she had pulled the plug. "I've been meaning to tell you all week." She shrugged. "But you know how things have been lately and I just could never find the right time or the right way. And I wanted to do things the right way this time, since, you know, I never got the chance to with Henry. I mean, he was eleven by the time Neal knew and...but none of that matters, none of that matters because I have no idea what's coming tomorrow and I just—"

"Are you sure?" Killian asked in a hoarse voice.

She nodded. "This isn’t exactly my first time at this rodeo."

His eyes clouded for a moment as he tried to figure out the reference, but it only distracted him for a few seconds.

"We are going to have a child," he said. Then he added, "A baby."

"That is generally what pregnant means," Emma replied. Her lip caught between her teeth as she waited for the news to sink in, for him to react.

"Oh." He stared at her, with all the reverence and care that he had in Camelot, that he had the first time she told him she loved him with no other reason than that it was true. Maybe a little more dazed. She had just hit him with the Mack truck of life events. It would have been hilarious if her nerves weren’t already vibrating at a mile a minute.

“You okay there, captain?” She forced herself to breathe, reminded herself that she wasn’t alone this time.

“I—” Killian shook his head, the glazed look fading a little. The tears in his eyes when he met her gaze again were the only warning she got. His hand jumped to her cheek and he surged forward, pressing his lips gently to hers.

Emma chased the kiss with a sigh, her fingers finding purchase on the lapels of his vest. She didn’t have to ask twice for more. His fingers slid into her hair as he deepened the kiss and she lost herself in several slow, languid minutes, his gentleness and love chase away the proverbial sword dangling over her head, even if it was only for a moment. Killian moved as he ended the kiss, kneeling in front of her as she opened her eyes, his forehead solid and warm against hers.

"I love you, Emma Swan."

He said it like a prayer.

She didn’t bother to correct him. "So, better than okay?"

"Aye," he whispered. Chocolate and cinnamon and a little bit of rum was on his breath. He sat back on his heels, still staring at her with the kind of adoration that should be reserved for deities and spectacles of nature. His fingers found hers, slipping between them with practiced ease. "Are you?"

Emma laughed. "Yeah, fine, I'm—"

Killian shook his head. "No, I meant—" He sighed, ducking away from her searching gaze. "Apologies, love. Of all things I expected to hear, good news was not one of them. Let alone this."

"As evidenced by the lack of your characteristic eloquence."

Good news. He called it good news.

They hadn't exactly talked about this in so many words. She hadn't even been sure that she wanted another kid. Not until she saw that little plus symbol on the pregnancy test. Killian's reaction had been her one spot of uncertainty. Sure he got along with Henry, loved him, but that was a far cry from starting from scratch with a baby that wouldn't be able to tie sailor's knots or perfect a parry for years. She suspected on more than one occasion he had thought about it, especially considering the size of the house he picked out, but he never brought it up and she wasn't comfortable discussing it until she had a better grasp on her own feelings.

And fate or destiny or whatever had simply laughed at them.

"You're absolutely sure," he said again, his voice tremulous.

"Yes," she said. "I peed on a stick and everything."

"What?" His nose scrunched up and his brow furrowed.

Emma laughed. "Not a literal stick," she clarified. "It's a test we have here. I'll show you later..." Emma sighed, running a hand through his hair, less to calm him than to calm her. "Do you see now why I want to use the shears? I don't know any other way to be sure..."

He nodded solemnly. He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, his hook a comforting weight on her thigh.

She'd had no idea that someone's eyes could hold so much joy and sadness at the same time.

"One of these days, Emma," he said, "you are going to realize that you are worth saving all on your own."

"You think that's what this is about?"

He tilted his head, smiling sadly. "I think you haven't a selfish bone in your body."

"I can be selfish," she said softly.

“Really?” One of those ridiculous, dramatic eyebrows winged up, mirth lighting his eyes. “Because as I recall, you spend most days chasing monsters and fixing other people’s problems.”

“I’m the savior,” she said, “it’s what I do.”

“I know. I know, love. I just don’t think you—”

“We.”

"We, then.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I don't think we should make any hasty decisions. Especially not out of fear."

Emma snorted.

"Don't deny it, Emma," he said.

"I'm not," she shot back. "On a scale of one to ten, I've been a twelve all week."

"Yes, I know." One of his knees popped as he pushed back up onto the couch, though if it hurt, he didn't show it. "Which is why I think this needs careful consideration. As far as we know, this is permanent."

"So is having a kid." She shoved off the couch. Their moment had passed and the same restless energy that had consumed her since she first started seeing the visions returned. "So is me dying."

Killian didn't move, but his eyes blazed. "I'd find a way to bring you back."

"Killian..."

He shrugged. "Don't tell me it can't be done."

Emma bowed her head, fingers massaging her temples. Soft footsteps came up behind her and his hand ghosted over the back of her neck for a moment before he started digging into the tension there.

"This is me being selfish," she said softly.

A long pause followed her words, tense with the weight of his thoughts.

"You'll find very few people that think a mother wanting to protect her child is selfish." His lips brushed against her ear with every word, sending chills down her spine.

She shook her head, turning to face him. "If this was just about that, it would be easy. I'd only have to postpone my fate for what..." She closed her eyes as she did the mental math. "Seven months."

"I thought..."

"By the time you realize you're pregnant, you're usually past the first month," Emma said with a shrug. "And I've been distracted, so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been." She held up her hand when he started to ask something else. "The point is, if protecting this—our kid was the point, I'm pretty sure it'd be fine as soon as it was born." She took a moment to appreciate the flicker of a smile that crossed his face at the word 'our'. She wanted nothing more than to go back to that happy, little bubble with him and live there forever. "I want more than that, Killian. More than a few months or even years. I want decades. I want this..." She gestured between them. "I want to grow old with you and watch our kid or kids grow up and have families of their own. And as long as I'm the savior that isn't going to happen."

The muscle in his jaw jumped and she knew he was dying to say something, but he knew she wasn't finished, so he kept his lips pressed tight. She loved him a little more just for that.

"So yeah," she said. "Wanting to use the shears is selfish. It means I'm giving up my ability to help people for something I want. All those people who might need me one day are going to be left in the lurch and that kills me, but I am not letting another one of my kids grow up without me." She pressed a hand to her still flat stomach, glad she no longer had to suppress the urge.

"You won't," he said, low and serious. "Emma, I swear you won't." He held her close, his hand moving to cover hers. “You’re forgetting one very important fact though, love.”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t need magic to help people.”

“So you agree with me,” she said, pulling back to look him in the eye.

Killian smiled. “It’s an option. And I don’t think it’s the end of the world, but Emma…” He pursed his lips, brow drawing low as he carefully considered his words. “While I think we should hold onto them until we find an alternative, if there is one thing I’ve learned from you heroes—” He cut off, glancing away from her intense glare. “From becoming a hero, it’s that there is almost always an alternative. As a former villain myself, I find it hard to trust the word of other villains.”

Emma took a slow breath. “So…you don’t think I should use the shears?”

“I think we should go to bed,” he said, “and think on it in the morning when we have clearer heads.” He kissed her softly again. “I’m with you whatever you want to do, Emma. I told you I’d never stop fighting and I meant it. We’ll find a way to keep you safe.” He grinned. “Both of you.”

She couldn’t help it, those eyes and that smile were too much, so she stretch up on her tiptoes and kissed him. It wasn’t a particularly spectacular kiss, neither of them could stop grinning long enough for that.

“Okay,” she said.

He followed her upstairs and they fell into their usual nighttime routine. As they were brushing their teeth, their skin still damp and tacky from an extended shower, Killian remembered the test and they lost a few minutes as he stared at the little bit of plastic, asking questions about its mechanics that Emma couldn’t answer for the life of her.

Finally, she coaxed him out of the bathroom—convincing him to leave the test behind was no small feat—and into bed. The warmth of the blankets and soft pillows accepted her exhausted body as one of their own and she hadn’t been curled up with her pirate more than five minutes before her eyelids grew too heavy to keep open. She dozed, the gentle motion of Killian’s fingers tracing looping patterns across her stomach the only thing anchoring her to consciousness.

“You’re sure you’re alright with this,” he said, his voice feather light.

Emma hummed in agreement.

“Hard to believe that there is a child in there.” Killian’s hand pressed flat against her stomach.

“Give it a couple of weeks.”

Silence blanketed them again and Emma was almost asleep when Killian sucked in a sharp breath.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered.

Emma lifted her head, trying to make out his features in the darkness. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Your father is going to kill me. Again.”

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Can you do David's return too?

Short opinion: This is the culmination of Crayak’s master plan?  This is the resolution of the David arc?  THIS IS THE LAST BOOK RACHEL EVER NARRATES?  This dumpster fire?

Long opinion:

This book attempts some interesting concepts, but in execution it is a dumpster fire so bad that I’m surprised it doesn’t smell faintly of smoke and rotting food every time I open it. You know that thing that happens where someone tells you a long-winded story about their dream and/or acid trip, and the whole time you’re sitting there with your eyes glazed over like “I guess you had to be there for this nonsense to be emotionally meaningful”?  This book is the written equivalent of that experience.  The descriptive writing is vague and incomprehensible, the characterization is an insult to both Cassie and Rachel, the setting is nonsensical, and the pacing is awful.  It’s neither funny nor horrifying, much less both at once, which makes me wonder if it even qualifies as an Animorphs book at all.  

I might be biased because (as I’ve mentioned) the whole “It Was All a Dream… Or Was It?” thing might be my least favorite trope of all time.  However, if this book is all a dream, then all Crayak accomplished after all those years of bargaining and manipulating with Rachel was… sending her a bad dream.  Holy guacamole, Batman, what are we gonna do?

Crayak’s been doing that same thing to Jake for years, and it hasn’t killed either Berenson yet.  Assuming that the events of this story actually took place, then this book makes even less sense than it did before, because now we’ve got teleporting telepathic rats, Rachel and David both repeatedly picking up the idiot ball for the sake of plot, and four Animorphs who spend 90% of this plot failing to notice that one-third of their team is missing.  

However, I can appreciate what this book was trying to accomplish, which is enough to make me think it had potential.  (I tend to make the wildly biased assumption that the creative plot decisions are all K.A. Applegate’s while the atrocious writing conventions are all the ghost’s, but of course I have no proof of that.)  When reading the series, I honestly didn’t see it coming that Crayak would use David to go after Rachel.  Having now seen it, I think the idea is pretty cool because let’s be real that David (more than Visser One or Three, more than Crayak himself) is just about the scariest villain the Animorphs face.  Not only that, but the parallels between David’s and Rachel’s mindsets are so obvious that there doesn’t even have to that dumb cliche moment where the villain goes “you and I have a lot in common, you know” and the hero goes “you and I are nothing alike!” for the theme to emerge.  In addition to being Rachel’s shadow self, David is also Rachel’s biggest source of guilt and regret: she views his entrapment as the worst thing she’s ever done, and even thinking about what happened raises a lot of questions for her about whether she’s a good person.  So the decision to bring David back as a way to characterize Rachel is awesome, if badly executed.

The other lurking theme in this book that has the potential to be awesome (but isn’t because the writing sucks) is Rachel’s sense of fatalism.  Drode suggests that Rachel hasn’t killed Jake yet—and also doesn’t kill Visser Three when she has the chance—because she wants the war to keep going indefinitely, not because she thinks killing is wrong.  Marco accuses Rachel of being eager for an open war to begin because she wants the conflict to escalate indefinitely.  Rachel’s dream at the beginning involves her fighting dozens of opponents in grizzly bear morph until eventually she bleeds to death.  Cassie suggests that Rachel has changed so much over the course of the war that she has lost her ability to be human.  David bluntly tells Rachel that he would much rather die in battle than go back to the status quo.  Any one of those could be taken as foreshadowing Rachel’s death.  

There’s also this interesting check-in early on in this book that grounds its place not just in the series but in the war.  You can actually chart the progress of the war lurching and dragging itself into the open over the course of almost ten books.  The big shift begins in #45 when Visser One gets taken out of the way and replaced by Visser Three, who might not be good at much but does excel at open war.  After that it’s only a matter of time before the first major attempt to destabilize the human power structure (#46), the first open battle (#47), and the first major hints that even the humans have noticed the problem (#48).  Of course after that Visser Three finally figures out what enemy he’s fighting (#49), but the Animorphs also have a few major battles in downtown areas while evacuating their families without either side particularly worrying about what the muggles might see.  Then both sides’ fighting forces swell exponentially (#50), the Animorphs openly appeal to human authorities for help (#51), the small army now led by the original six starts going on the offensive (#52), the Animorphs team up with everyone from taxxons to humans to yeerks while Visser Three starts leveling entire cities (#53), and finally the last of the humans get the memo that they were at war just as the news of victory breaks (#54).  

Anywhoo, it’s really fascinating that early on Rachel’s introduction mentions that there are already rumors flying all over the internet that there’s some kind of invasion going down and animal shapeshifters are fighting back.  Marco mentions that the yeerks are also whispering about open war in their own communications, scrambling their resources to get ready for the coming fight.  I like that there’s not just one big reveal, but rather a process over the course of several different books that creates the sense that more and more illusions from both sides are being stripped away as the war gets steadily uglier.  

Each time I finish this book, I am left with one question that burns in my mind above all others.  It’s not “Why didn’t Rachel just demorph from rat if the box she’s in fit her human self just fine when she woke up?” nor “Why does Cassie mysteriously lose the ability to morph a whale and get her own self out of her box?” nor yet “Who the frick listens to a talking rat who offers uncertain financial incentives for unquestioning obedience when you could just sell it to Ripley’s Believe It or Not instead?” nor even “Why did I just waste two hours of my life listening to a kickass warrior get contorted into a whiny brat?”  It’s this: What the ever-loving hell does Visser Three think about all this?

Seriously.  He’s going about his normal Earth-conquering day when suddenly, out of nowhere, he finds himself teleported to some random sporting arena, where he promptly pops out of a Pokeball and gets attacked by a giant human with claws.  Then said giant human attempts to kill him, morphs a freaking houseplant, eats him alive as a houseplant, and then randomly goes back to being Colossowolverine.  Oh, and all the while Colossowolverine (who may or may not be an andalite, it’s not clear) is arguing with an evil talking prune about whether or not she’s going to be turned into a rat.  After a while Colossowolverine bests the poor visser in a fight to the death… and randomly decides to stop fighting, because then she’d be doing as the evil prune told her, which would be bad for some reason.  Colossowolverine disappears for a while back to rat-land, and Visser Three just as suddenly gets teleported back to where he came from as if nothing ever happened.  

I can only assume that after they get back there’s this long, long silence.  And then Esplin goes,  To which Alloran says, and then they never speak of it again.  

[nwsuburbanbankruptcy]

Consumer Debt Roulette: Debt Is Up $605 Billion BEFORE $682 Billion Is Spent on Christmas — InvestmentWatch

From Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper

The last time consumer debt has been this large was. . Well…NEVER. But now, it seems we are engaged in a high stakes game of consumer debt roulette. And the House is the only one who’ll win this game.

Last summer, it was reported that people made more on loans, charge cards, credit cards, and payment strategies than ever before. The nation surpassed the spike that resulted in the crash of 2008 back in March when debt attained a mind-boggling $12.73 trillion from the first quarter of this year.

Here is the breakdown, through  ZeroHedge:

Total household indebtedness stood at $12.73 trillion at March 31, 2017. This increase set  overall family debt 50 billion over its previous peak set from the third quarter of 2008 and 14.1 % over the trough set in the next quarter of 2013.

Mortgage accounts, the biggest part of household debt, reached $8.63 trillion at March 31, a 147 billion uptick from the fourth quarter of 2016.

Balances in home equity lines of credit fell marginally in the first quarter, down $17 billion to $456 billion.

Non-housing debt saw combined changes–a rise of $10 billion in auto loans and $34 billion in student loan accounts, along with a $15 billion drop in credit card accounts.

And we have exceeded the dreadful record more. This year, the debt because of American households has grown by 605 billion dollars. THIS YEAR.  That’s on top of the insane numbers mentioned before.

And it’s causing serious problems.

From prolonged traces of cash-strapped consumers at New York food pantries into a growth in mental health problems, the hottest New York quarterly Fed data paints a dire film: US household debt has grown by $605 billion within the previous 12 months, together with $116 billion, or nearly 1%, hitting in the latest quarter. Funding is mushrooming everywhere — on mortgages, student loans, and auto loans. Credit card debt, meanwhile, has jumped by 3.1 % in the latest quarter. (origin)

You’d think that people would suddenly start to be worried that their debts have been outstripping their earnings, but you’d be wrong.

It hasn’t slowed down to Christmas shoppers just one bit.

Let us delve into some crazy data concerning the money spent last weekend. Don’t let the term “data” make your eyes glaze over — you are going to want to examine this.

Picture everyone sitting after turkey dinner in the front of the game ignoring each other and shopping in their phones. That is a fairly accurate image when you understand that online revenue on Thanksgiving day struck  $2.9 billion.

Mobile accounted for 61% of all website visitors on Thanksgiving Day, Adobe reported. Shoppers placed 51% more orders tablets than a year ago, according to a Salesforce report emailed to Retail Dive (origin)

Isn’t family togetherness wonderful?

Needless to say, this was just the beginning. In the peak of Black Friday chaos, it wasn’t only the brawls over bath towels and toy automobiles  which has been jaw-dropping. People spent ONE MILLION DOLLARS A MINUTE  shopping in retail outlets and online.

To sum this up, beginning on Thanksgiving Day and continuing through Dark Friday all how to Cyber Monday, shoppers shopped. Plus then they shopped BIG. 70 percent of Americans shopped over the holiday weekend, spending an average of $335 per individual. Let’s break that down a bit.

The 174 million Americans who flew between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday spent an average of $335 per individual during this five-day interval, the trade group said. The  largest spenders, millennials aged 24 to 35, paid out an average of $419.52 each individual. (origin)

However, it will not stop there. The accurate National Retail Federation predicts that, even though our record high consumer debt, we will still see up to 4% greater spending this year over the past year’s insanely substantial numbers.

The National Retail Federation announced today  it expects   holiday retail sales in November and December — leading cars, gas and restaurants — to  rise between 3.6 and 4 percent for a total of $678.75 billion to $682 billion, up from $655.8 billion last year. (origin)

People are planning to spend an average of nearly a million dollars PER ADULT — maybe not home. The precise number that one poll  reveals is  983, which is up dramatically from a realistic $417 back in 2000.

(I have to be stuck in the calendar year 2000 because I can not fathom spending considerably more than that. In that case.   Here is some info   on how WE do budgets)

And imagine how they plan   to cover it all.

You guessed it. With more consumer debt.

Article Continues Below

Credit cards are the most popular form of payment this year, utilized by 40% of shoppers, up from 39 percent this past year. That is tied to debit cards, which will also be employed by 40%, exactly the same as a year ago; 18 percent intend to pay with money and 2 percent will utilize checks. Of emerging payment methods, PayPal will be employed by 36 per cent, Apple Pay by 7 percent, Samsung Pay and Google Wallet by 4 percent every year and Venmo by 3%. (origin)

So debt I mentioned previously? The 605 billion dollars extra in American consumer debt this season?   This was just year-to-date.   We are adding roughly   a second 271.5 billion dollars to debt.

$271,500,000,000.

When we already   owe   $605,000,000,000.

Everyone likes to blame the bankers for the crash in 2008 that sent us spiraling to a downturn but in fact, it had been brought on by consumer debt. No one is forcing us to max out our credit cards or purchase houses we can barely afford. However, in 2008, banks pushed up the cost of homes and loaned out tons of money to people who really didn’t qualify.

Afterward, unsurprisingly, they could not make their mortgage payments.

Lending huge amounts of money to the property market pushes up the price of houses together with the level of personal debt. Interest has to be paid for each of the loans that banks create, and with the debt increasing faster than incomes, finally some folks become unable to keep up with payments.   Now, they quit repaying their loans , and banks find themselves at risk of going bankrupt. (origin)

Here is another explanation of this situation from 2008.

For almost a decade now, because 2007, we have been living a lie. And that lie is now preparing to wreak havoc on the economy….

The lie I am talking about is the idea that the fiscal disaster of 2008, along with subsequent “Great Recession,” were due to profligate government spending and subsequent public debt. The precise opposite is in fact the case. The crash happened because of dangerously substantial levels of private debt (a mortgage crisis especially). And this is the part we aren’t supposed to speak about–there’s an inverse connection between private and public debt levels.

In the event the public sector reduces the debt, then overall private sector debt goes up. That is what happened in the decades leading up to 2008. Now austerity is making it happening again. And when we don’t do something about it, the results will, necessarily, be a different disaster. (origin)

Certainly, this is unsustainable however people are blithely ignoring it.

Americans are in trouble.

Currently, the issue that could be the mind domino that begins the chain reaction of all the others falling is the sub-prime auto loan industry. We might see exactly the same situation we saw in 2008 when people start defaulting on automobile loans that they should not have gotten.

Participants have been warning for decades that subprime auto loans pose a threat to creditors since delinquency rates have improved higher considering reaching a post-recession reduced in 2012. But it wasn’t until last quarter which minimum creditworthy borrowers began to show the sorts of overdue payment profiles which followed the beginning of the monetary crisis.

“We’re seeing an increase in delinquencies together with all credit scores, however in the maximum credit quality, it’s only a basis point or two,” Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts stated in an email Tuesday. “In deep subprime, the rise is more considerable.   What stood out to me was that the issuers. Those which have been doing so for ten years or even more were showing the ‘greater’ operation, while those who were comparative newcomers were in the ‘worse’ category.”

…”As soon as creditors (and the investors behind them) get overconfident they have greater models and can make surplus profits by disrespecting credit risk, they always receive their hats handed to them earlier or later,” Cutts said. “The mortgage marketplace learned this lesson at the cost of the whole global monetary system, and it’s playing out now in a micro-level, in the ABS market for subprime auto loans” (origin)

However, we’ve got the student loan crisis, the mind-blowing quantities of credit card debt (over a trillion dollars), the ever-growing expense of living and stagnant wages. Add climbing healthcare policy costs that can cost more than most of your additional living expenses put together (plus a pending 37% boost in 2018) and at some point not too much off, a collision is inevitable.

There’s only 1 method to survive the consumer debt crisis.

You only have to refuse to take part. The solution has to be undertaken personally. You can not expect the authorities or even the bankers to do what is right — that is who got us into this mess in the first place.

Resolve now to lower your monthly expenditures, eliminate your debt as fast as you can, and learn to stay within (or even better yet, beneath) your own means. There are various factors out of your control, for example healthcare costs, inflation, and the job market, but you can control your spending and your debt level. I’ve  done this myself and I can help you to do exactly the same. (Go here for more info)

It is possible to continue to keep your vacation spending back in the year 2000 and you’re able to resolve not to play consumer debt matches. You can not do anything about the rest of the nation’s bad spending habits, but you can create yourself more recession-proof.

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http://investmentwatchblog.com/consumer-debt-roulette-debt-is-up-605-billion-before-682-billion-is-spent-on-christmas/

from nwsuburban-bankruptcy – Credit Repair & Debt Experts http://www.nwsuburban-bankruptcy.com/consumer-debt-roulette-debt-is-up-605-billion-before-682-billion-is-spent-on-christmas-investmentwatch/

[mostly-plants]

One month of eating vegan

Day 29: We headed out for brunch with a friend at Light Years Cafe which is becoming a fast favourite for us because of their delicious food, great coffee, beautiful space, and flexibility with vegan options. The menu has a few dishes already labelled as vegan, but the staff were very patient in checking with the kitchen when I asked about whether other things could be made vegan too. And Voila! I got the Pixel Avocado, minus the poached egg:

The fancy stuff on the right includes kale and cabbage chips, pickled radishes, roasted edamame, and edamame hummus. YUM! I really enjoyed this, and as avocado on toast goes, it’s definitely the tastiest and most interesting version I’ve ever had. I also tried their mango smoothie with Ribena pearls. The smoothie was very refreshing, but I couldn’t taste the Ribena flavour in the tapioca pearls. Still, credit to Light Years for making it vegan-accessible by leaving out the gelatine.

Day 30: Since I’d got into the habit of batch cooking and was working from home on Monday, I was able to forage from the fridge for meals. I had some leftover soup for lunch, and leftover lentil shepherd’s pie for dinner. Having ready-made food available has made it way easier for me to stick with a vegan diet this month without having to think “what can I eat?” at every meal. These last few days of the month went so quickly!

Day 31: The final day of my month-long challenge! I’d ordered a fruit and veggie box and a few pantry staples from CERES Fair Food for delivery today. This service has been great for the times when we’re both working a lot and have too many social things on the weekend to be able to fit in a trip to the local markets. I also like CERES Fair Food because it’s organic, supports local farmers, and provides employment for recently arrived refugees. The quality of produce is really good and the variety of receiving whatever’s in season means that you get to eat a range of different veggies, and be creative in your cooking.

My boyfriend had been craving fresh veggies, so on Tuesday night we made this noodle salad adapted from the first My Darling Lemon Thyme cookbook by Emma Galloway, a trained chef who creates vegetarian gluten-free recipes. Instead of rice noodles, we used zucchini noodles (just raw zuchhini put through a spiralizer - you can also use a peeler to create long strips, it just takes a little bit longer). I added some cubed cooked firm tofu and sriracha sauce, and it made a very satisfying dinner:

As I reached the end of my month of eating vegan I was trying to decide what to do once the month ended - whether I felt able to continue eating mostly vegan, or whether I felt like I needed to add anything back into my diet to maintain adequate nutrition, or to have some flexibility in terms of adapting to the different circumstances of daily life/social events etc. The main issues for me in weighing up the decision of what to do after this month ended were:

1. Is this a nutritionally balanced and healthy way to eat in the long-term? 2. Will eating mostly plants reduce my impact on the environment and animals?, and 3. Can I eat a plant-based diet and still do things that are important to me, like sharing food with loved ones?

1. Health After doing a bunch of research and reviewing dietary advice from credible sources such as dieticians, Australian government healthy eating guidelines, and in-depth recommendations from University nutrition departments based on the current nutrition research, I do think that it’s possible to eat a nutritionally balanced vegan diet by planning meals with care, and supplementing key vitamins like B12 that aren’t available in plant foods. Other nutrients that are important to pay attention to include Vitamin D (which can be deficient on any diet when people don’t get enough from sunlight), as well as iron, calcium, iodine and Omega 3 fatty acids.

I would definitely encourage anyone considering a plant-based diet to first do your research, and talk to your doctor and a university-qualified dietician to ensure that you aren’t missing any key nutrients. If you simply cut animal products out of your diet without understanding what foods to add in to replace the nutrients you need, you will be putting yourself at risk of nutrient deficiencies. That said, as I mentioned before, I was iron-deficient for years on an omnivorous diet - so planning your diet for optimum nutrition is important for anyone! Eating vegan has actually encouraged me to pay more attention to getting the nutrients I need, and this means I am ultimately eating a more healthy and varied diet than I was before.

2. The environment, and impact on animals

I had less questions about this aspect of eating a plant-based diet, because overall the evidence seems pretty clear and consistent that reducing consumption of animal products is better for the environment and for animals. Of course, within the range of plant foods produced, there are also differences in resource requirements and environmental impact depending on what exactly you eat. A 2015 study claimed that eating more plants could actually cause greater environmental impact if you analyse emissions per 1000 calories rather than per kilogram. The authors argued that since some plants (such as Broccoli) require more resources to produce 1000 calories of energy, some types of animal products may ultimately cause less impact when compared this way.  However, no-one is eating 3 kilos of broccoli at a time instead of 330 grams of pork. We eat broccoli for its nutrient density, not because it’s a great way to stock up on calories, so this is ultimately a pretty nonsensical comparison to make. Even if you do look at the comparisons for emissions per 1000 calories, the best plant protein sources such as lentils, nuts and dry beans produce anywhere between 10-20% of the amount of emissions caused by animal products. Again, reputable sources of information seem to stack up in favour of the “eat less animal products” argument, regardless of factors such as whether animals are pasture-raised.

3. Sharing food with loved ones

I am very lucky that my partner, family and friends are very supportive and open-minded. I know that the people in my life will make their best effort to offer vegan options where they can, but I’m sure there will also be times where this might be a bit more challenging. I’m sure there will also be times when I want to share different foods with loved ones, for example, a piece of birthday cake, or a dish that is part of a yearly family celebration. Everybody is different, but for me it makes sense to be pragmatic in considering my impacts on a micro/daily level, and doing the best I can in a realistic way.

Overall, I feel I can definitely continue making choices that minimise the demand for animal products. Where animal products already exist in my daily life (e.g. shoes, foods or vitamins I’ve already bought, or occasions where it’s not possible to have specifically vegan food options) then personally I feel more at peace with accepting and appreciating what is already there, rather than throwing things away or letting them go to waste.  For example, while doing my month of eating vegan I accidentally bought muesli bars that contained honey, so I will use these up and buy different products in the future.

The vegan challenge wrap-up

Q. What do you do to celebrate the end of a successful month of vegan eating on World Vegan Day? A. You buy yourself vegan roast duck rice paper rolls for lunch from Mr and Mrs Banh Mi. Nom! I will definitely be back to try their vegan BBQ pork Banh Mi.

This month has been really interesting, and I’m really glad I did it. Here are my highlights of eating vegan:

I had lots of fun trying lots of different foods and recipes and finding new favourites (miso glazed eggplant, chickpea shakshuka, apple pie pancakes, peanut butter & maple granola, the list goes on...)

Plants tend to have less calories but heaps of nutrition, so you can eat very well and get plenty of vitamins and minerals without excess energy.

I’m much better informed about my nutritional requirements and am consciously making more effort to eat a balanced diet.

My digestion is amazing, because fibre.

I feel like my energy has been more stable.

My skin started to clear up towards the end of the month.

My weight stayed exactly the same, but I’m pretty happy with that given the range of delicious food I’ve eaten over the last month (including quite a few baked goods and my new favourite snack - peanut butter granola!)

 When it came to lowlights, there were fewer:

Restaurants/cafes that don’t know how to vegan - e.g. there are little to no vegan options, or asking for things to be made vegan results in confusion and being served dry toast with a beaker of oil. #foodfails.

Accidentally overdoing the batch-cooking, and ending up with more quinoa and chard than any human could reasonably be expected to ingest.

Going from eating almost no legumes to eating heaps of legumes does result in being little bit gassy at first, but your body adjusts pretty quickly. The positive of this experience is that the fibre-rich plant foods are feeding your good gut bacteria, and they are helping support your health in lots of ways. So I’d say it’s all worth a bit of bloating in the end!

All of the above is just my own experience, and yours may be different, but for me this has been an overwhelmingly positive change. I was surprised that I didn’t really miss dairy or meat over the month. Still, I decided that rather than telling myself I had to continue eating 100% vegan from there, I was open to re-including minimal animal products in my diet if I felt like I needed to. This kept the pressure off so that I could be free to let things evolve rather than forcing change too quickly.

Since finishing the vegan eating challenge, I have eaten a small amount of dairy a couple of times (which made my skin break out quite noticeably), along with a mouthful of the scrambled eggs my partner ordered when we went out to breakfast. It’s been interesting, because I had thought I would either be a bit grossed out by these things after avoiding them for a month, or the opposite - that I might think “now I remember why people love eating this stuff!”

In fact, I just felt (in an extremely strayan way) “Yeah.. nah.” Like... I get it, but I just don’t really feel like I want it anymore. It’s kind of nice to feel a sense of calm acceptance about that, because decisions that I’ve made from a place of calm acceptance tend to work better for me in the long run than those that are all-or-nothing, or highly emotionally charged.

So, here’s my plan: KEEP CALM AND CARROT ON! :D

By this I mean I will continue eating mostly plant-based, supplement B12 to be on the safe side, and not freak out if I make mistakes or can’t manage to be 100% vegan 100% of the time. Being more conscious of my choices and eating a diet that is 95% plants is still a huge step forward from the probably (sub)Standard Australian Diet I was eating before, and will still reduce my negative impact on animals and the environment.

I will keep posting my vegan food adventures on Mostly Plants, and use it as a way to keep track of my favourite recipes, and share these with other people who would like to eat their vegetables (and enjoy them too!) On that note, I’ll finish with one of my recent favourite dishes - Vietnamese style noodle soup with tofu, inspired by The Viet Vegan’s recipe for Homemade Vegan Vietnamese Pho.