Today I found myself stranded on the toilet with no toilet paper. (Thanks for that one, Mom.) Nora was in the room with me…because I’ll be damned if that kid ever misses a chance to witness someone else going to the bathroom. You’ve never seen someone so excited to watch someone else take a pee. Or in the case of today, a poop. So as I was saying…I was stranded on the toilet. We had just returned from the store (where we had purchased toilet paper). But in my haste to get to the bathroom I didn’t grab it. Of course I would have brought it with me if I had known that I was completely and totally out…as in my mom didn’t even save me a measly sheet or two. Luckily Nora followed directions beautifully to go get me the package of TP from the grocery bag on the kitchen table. Can you believe it?! She’s not even two. I figure at this rate, by the time she’s three she’ll have herself a paying job. Maybe at IGA. Lord knows she practically runs that place already anyhow.
Monthly Archive for November, 2008
Breakfast: Banana Coconut Muffin and an apple
Lunch: Veggie Fajitas with rice and beans…and chips and salsa, of course
Dinner: Red Robin. I had the kids spaghetti (with marinara sauce) and fries.
Snacks: Two cookies from Trader Joe’s. They’re like Oreos but have crushed peppermint in the cream. Boy was I a happy camper to find that they’re vegan. At least I think they are (about 99.9% sure). I read the ingredients three times and didn’t see anything on the no-no list.
Challenges today: resisting the urge to get my all time favorite Red Robin sandwich (the Crispy Chicken Burger)
Today I felt: really good. I am definitely noticing that I have more energy. I don’t feel that 3PM lag and desire for a nap everyday. Not that I don’t enjoy a nice nap…but I don’t feel horribly tired by 5PM if I don’t have a nap. That’s gotta be a good sign, right?
An amazing thing I read today regarding animal treatment and use of animals for food was this:
We can’t stop all suffering, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t stop any.
This is true. I can’t stop all animal suffering. I can’t make my family and friends adopt a vegan (or vegetarian) lifestyle. I can’t stop all of the suffering that happens at factory farms and slaughterhouses. But I can stop some by helping to educate others. I can stop some suffering quite easily by choosing not to eat animal products. The passing temptation of a cookie quickly fades. The suffering of the chicken that was (likely) housed in horrible conditions and forced to overproduce eggs for those cookies to be made is surely worse than my desire to eat one. A vegan (and vegetarian) saves approximately 90 animals a year by not eating them. The huz and I together makes for a savings of 180 lives per year. So while we cannot stop it all, we can do our part.
Breakfast: homemade wheat pancakes (with soy milk and egg replacer) and a banana.
Lunch: Taco Bell: a bean burrito with no cheese but adding rice and a Mexican pizza with no meat and cheese. They goofed the pizza the first time and put the cheese on, but luckily we checked it before we left the parking lot and had them correct it. They are great about substitutions and special orders (like no cheese but add rice in the burritos)…and it turns out they’ll quickly correct their errors as well.
Dinner: a garlic mushroom pasta dish from Allie (recipe link here). I recently found her blog and am so thrilled to have done so!
Snacks: two lemon cutout cookies (from my new cookbook)
Challenges today: drinking water. The weekends tend to bring more soda drinking than water drinking.
Today I felt: proud of the fact that I have not consumed any animal products for a full 9 days. I feel like I am making a difference.
Breakfast: Dennys. I had oatmeal, hashbrowns, toast with grape jelly, and I shared a fruit cup with Nora. Glass of OJ to drink.
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwich (Vegan Gourmet cheddar cheese and wheat bread), pasta salad, and frozen peas. Glass of cherry juice to drink.
Dinner: Morningstar Farms Vegan Burgers with potato pancakes. Soda to drink.
Challenges today: resisting the urge to eat one of Nora’s tiny baby sized Mrs. Fields cookies. Because…it’s just one little nibbler…can’t bee too much egg in it, right? Nonetheless, I resisted. But I did let her eat two so they’d be gone sooner.
Today I felt: disgusted at the Meijer grocery store when I saw the meat counter. Something that previously looked…I don’t know, appetizing…now causes me to turn my head.
Breakfast: PB wheat toast with a banana and glass of OJ
Lunch: Bean burrito with mushrooms and onion and pasta salad
Dinner: Ruby Tuesday’s veggie burger (hold the mayo, cheese, and grilled bun), fries, and a salad with balsamic dressing
Late Night Snack: Coldstone Raspberry Sorbet with fresh raspberries
Challenges today: passing up Mrs. Fields cookies in the mall
Today I felt: good about my food choices. I made healthy choices and avoided the ‘in the moment’ wanting of a cookie at the mall…the urge passed and the sorbet was a much better snack option. It still felt like a treat.
Breakfast today was a PB and banana tortilla with a glass of OJ. Lunch consisted of a veggie sub from Subway and some homemade pasta salad. Dinner ended up being some fresh steamed green beans with cranberry sauce and stuffed acorn squash. The squash took longer than the recipe indicated it would, but it was worth the wait. The stuffing was: wheat bread cubes and dried cranberries mixed with sauteed green onion, red onion, apple, celery, and garlic. Very yummy! Snacks today were a bean burrito (homemade) and some apple crisp.
Challenges today: drinking enough water and laying off the soda.
Today I felt: very tired. I think I haven’t yet caught up from election night. Add that to the facts that Nora was up this morning at 4:30 and managed to skip her afternoon nap…those things make for a cranky baby and a sleepy mommy.
And now, Dear Readers, I bring you an appropriate follow up to this post. Tonight after Nora picked up her toys and said good night to Daddy, she made several trips around the living room touching and saying goodnight to various (and obviously important) items. As I was getting her bedtime milk ready in the kitchen, I could hear:
Night Night Doggie. Give a doggie kisses. [insert sound of the dog licking her face]. Night Night Pillow. Night Night Horsey. Horsey is sleeping. Horsey has a hat. Horsey go night night. Night Night Daddy’s Big Chair. Night Night Hippo. Night Night Suitcase. Take a suitcase tick or tweat. No. Tick or tweat next year. Night Night Capaliller. Night Night Halloween. Go brush a teeth! Turn on the light! Okay!
Recent Comments