My Grand Illusions

MEME

I've seen this MEME floating around the blogosphere lately and I thought, eh, I haven't done one in a while and it's sort of fun to talk all about myself because ya know having a personal isn't all about that anyways.

1. Can you talk about "Mad Men?" I attempted watching this show a few times but it was sooo damnnnn slooow I couldn't get into it.

2. Can you talk about the "The Sopranos?" I've never seen even one episode.

3. Do you know who replaced Bob Barker on "The Price Is Right?" Sure, Drew Carey. The only reason I know this is because one of my co-workers (my brother's GF) sometimes watches The Price Is Right in the mornings when no clients are in the office.

4. Have you watched an Oprah show from beginning to end? MANY times.

5. Can you hold forth animatedly about yoga? Sure. I sort of love yoga although I don't do it often enough.

5. How about pilates? I may have tried pilates once or twice. I do, however, love the pilates reformer machine.

5. How about skiing? The last time I went skiing I went on a scary black hill and spent the whole time basically sliding down on my ass.

6. Mountain biking? Oh MAN. I LOVE my mountain bike and I love mountain biking and I am so looking forward to doing it again in Wales in LESS THAN A MONTH.

7. Do you know who Jimmie Johnson is? The first thing that popped into my head was the sausage guy? But that's Jimmy Dean, so uh, I have no idea who this Jimmie Johnson fella is.

8. Does the acronym MMA mean nothing to you? Mixed Martial Arts. I don't know why I know this.

9. Can you talk about books endlessly? I'm a book lover through and through. I think one of my dreams is to own a small bookstore that's got books from floor to ceiling.

10. Have you ever read a "Left Behind" novel? A client gave me the first one but I've never read it.

11. How about a Harlequin romance? Nope. I pass on those.

12. Do you take interesting vacations? In a few weeks I'll be flying to England, staying in Wales, heading to London for a few days, hiking the highest mountain in Scotland and trying to avoid the pickpockets in Barcelona. I'd say that's pretty interesting.

13. Do you know a great backpacking spot in the Sierra Nevada? Someday, perhaps.

14. What about an exquisite B&B overlooking Boothbay Harbor? Negative.

15. Would you be caught dead in an RV? If it means I get to travel places then sure.

16. Would you be caught dead on a cruise ship? Sure! I've been on a handful of cruises in my life and they were all pretty fun. I draw the line on more than a 7 day cruise, though. I need land.  

17. Have you ever heard of of Branson, Mo? Yes! And I've been for a family reunion years and years ago. I'll always remember it as the time Derick nearly drowned because the men weren't watching him and he fell into a boat slip and some random boater had to alert my family that my kid was drowning. Makes for a good family reunion story, right?

18. Have you ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club? I'm not even sure what that is.

19. How about the Rotary Club? Nope.

20. Have you lived for at least a year in a small town? I guess you could say it was a small town. But really it's a 15 minute drive to downtown Fort Worth so I don't think it really counts.

21. Have you lived for a year in an urban neighborhood in which most of your neighbors did not have college degrees? No.

22. Have you spent at least a year with a family income less than twice the poverty line? How about the year I was first divorced, supporting my infant son on about $9,000 a year. I think probably qualifies.

23. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian? If I do they hide it well.

24. Have you ever visited a factory floor? Oh God no. And I bet if more people did there would be a lot more vegetarians in the world.

25. Have you worked on one? No.

{What an odd way to end a MEME, don't you think?}

Nearly Vegan

I made the choice to go vegan nearly 2 1/2 years ago and it's been an interesting road. I gave up all forms of animal products including eggs, dairy, butter and the like. Honestly it wasn't that difficult because you can find a vegan replacement for almost anything these days. If I missed cream cheese I'd just pick up some vegan cream cheese which tastes almost exactly like regular cream cheese (it's really yummy, I swear). If I wanted buttered bread, no problem at all. There's nothing short of a thousand vegan varietes of margarine. Some days all I wanted was a juicy burger with a side of fries and we all know there are many veggie burgers on the market.

Over the last 2 1/2 years I've discovered so many new vegetables, fruits and grains and new ways to prepare the old stand-bys I had been eating all my life. I discovered my love for green smoothies, quinoa and Field Roast faux meat products. My pantry, fridge and freezer have a plethora of vegan food items that keep me satisfied and can feed my little family with no trouble at all.

The other thing I've learned over the last 2 1/2 years is that traveling as a vegan is a bit of a challenge. I've done a fair amount of traveling lately and I've resigned myself to the fact that when I travel or go out with friends/family I'm nearly vegan. (Thanks Mark Bittman for that term.) When I was in Wales in May I ate a few hard boiled eggs and I know that there was cheese on some of the foods I ate. When I go to a friend's house for dinner I don't obsess over the posibility that there might be dairy in the ravioli they're going to serve me. A friend recently got married and made me promise I would eat some of her wedding cake despite that fact that I'm sure it had eggs and milk in it. I did eat that cake and it was the best wedding cake I'd ever had. Would I serve a non-vegan cake at my own wedding? Probably not. But I didn't mind eating her cake at all.

Perhaps you're wondering why? Well the truth is, one reason I became a vegan was for the sake of compassion of all living creatures and it occurred to me that my friends, family and myself are living creatures, too. I wanted to be compassionate toward myself and others. I don't want to put myself in a situation where I refuse a dinner date with a wonderful friend because they might have cheese on a dish. The loss of that human connection isn't worth one meal that isn't entirely vegan. I don't want to impart my self-imposed restrictions on others and make them uncomfortable. I think that defeats the entire purpose of being a vegan.

Some strict vegans might blast me for me for not being the example all the time. They might chastise me for letting a hard boiled egg pass my lips now and again. They might cry "But you're defeating the purpose!", and I sort of agree. But my compromise is worth it, to me. I really try to not be the kind of vegan who spouts out statistics and facts and makes crude comments about the food that others eat (sometimes it happens, I won't lie), I want people to learn from example. I want people to know they can avoid animal products and also enjoy living life with their friends and families. I want people to be inspired by me, not dread my rules and restrictions. I want to lead by example...

So, here it is. I'm nearly vegan.

There, I said it, and I feel 100% OK with it.

Dragons don't have certain parts

Jackson is obsessed with dragons these days. I blame it mostly on the movie 'How To Train Your Dragon'. (If you haven't seen it, go, it's a cute movie.) For Halloween he wants to be a dragon, specifically a red dragon so I searched high and low and finally found a red dragon costume for him that I swear he wore for an entire day. I'm totally going to get my moneys worth on that costume.

I should take on some of the blame also for the love of dragons. As soon as I realized how much he loved dragons I bought him scads of little dragon figures. These little plastic dragons are everywhere. I've found them stuffed in the seat of my car, I've stepped on a few in the middle of the night and there are many nights where Jackson won't go to bed without having one or more of those little dragons clasped firmly in his hand.

I thought nothing of him inspecting one of his dragons this morning on the way to school. I noticed he was being very quite and thinking very hard about how cool his dragon really is. Or at least that's what I assumed he was thinking.

And then he said in all seriousness...

"Dragons don't have penises."

And then I said (while stifling back the laughter), "OK".

Then he kept going...

"Only girls and boys and other people have penises but dragons don't have penises."

And I could only manage to say "OK".

And then I thanked my lucky stars that I have a blog and could record this hysterical conversation for all eternity. Also, I thanked my lucky stars that I have this kid as mine because now I know that dragons don't have penises.

Perhaps I should have used this as an epic teaching moment but, really, what's the fun in that.

I read magazines sideways

I'm reading the September 2010 issue of House Beautiful sideways.

Ok, actually, I'm only looking at the magazine sideways on this particular page because I'm browsing the book selection of this homeowner and I'm salivating at the same time. Having a library, or even just a wall, dedicated to just books is a dream of mine.  

Do you look at the book titles in magazines?