Trying and (sometimes) failing

I started out making dog food for Jake and supplementing his Kibble. That was my comfort zone. Cooking for the people I love has always been and will always be one of my love languages. So that part just came naturally.

But then I wanted to challenge myself. And I didn't love that most of the treats in the store either looked bland and boring or had icing and designs, which while adorable, I didn't really want Jake having sugars and fillers. But baking, let's just say it's not my forte...

So I started with a super simple Pinterest recipe. And the first time I made it, I totally failed. But Jake, ever the eager taste tester, had no problems gobbling it up. Also, side note, a few people love that the original Jake treats are shaped like gingerbread men and that is only the case because it was Christmas and that was the only cookie cutter I had. But then so many people liked it, so it stuck. Anyway, I tweaked the recipe and made it work for us and ended up loving it.

Then I got overconfident, which I still do to this day. And it continues to bite me in the butt. But the one recipe worked so obviously I should be on CakeBoss because I am such a good baker, right? Wrong. What followed were many many failures, even when following a Pinterest recipe. Every recipe I have had to change and tweak a bit to make it work for us and Jake? He loved getting all of the mistakes and successes.

When Bobby took Jake after we broke up, I was broken. I had already had the idea to start this but I just no longer had the motivation or drive without Jake there. This was all for him so what was the point if I didn't have him? But I had some friends at a tattoo shop and they had therapy dogs and they wouldn't let me fold. So instead, I threw everything I had into testing recipes and building a customer base. And enjoying the puppy snuggles at every single treat drop off for testing.

When my friend found out that I was struggling without the immediate reaction from Jake, she decided that every single time I dropped off treats, I had to feed one to her dogs to get their reaction and especially their love and affection.

This year has been the hardest of my life. Emotionally, just trying to move on and grow and accept the things that I have no say over and cannot change. And physically, working full time and being a single mom, although Gabe does spend every weekend with his dad to give me a bit of a "break" and then also hustling and trying to get the business off the ground and constantly baking and trying new things and just pushing to get my name out there and network. I am very antisocial and love nothing more than to stay home in my bubble and read. But I can't do that and be successful.

So here's to a long journey and getting out of our comfort zones. I know one thing we can all agree on and that is just doing what we feel is best for our pets.

All my love

Sheryl