Going vegan

After nearly a year of Sophia requesting to become vegetarian, I finally decided to grant her wish. I was hanging out near the edge for some time, but 3 things kicked me over the edge:

1. Late one night, I couldn't sleep. Turned on TV and was flipping back and forth between the original Planet of the Apes (have you seen that as an adult?) and an episode of 30 Days. 30 Days is a smartly-made reality show that puts someone in an environment quite opposite their own lifestyle for 30 days. In the one I watched, an avid hunter, NRA type guy lives with a vegan, animal-rights activist family. It showed graphic video of cruelty on dairy and poultry farms. The mix of that with Planet of the Apes and it's depiction of man's treatment of animals was a big kick in the pants.
2. I told my vegetarian neighbors about this and they loaned me a copy of Skinny Bitch. Have you read this? If not, let me mail you a copy! On the surface it sounds like a book about eating well to look good, but at the heart and soul, it's about getting smart about what you put in your body, loving yourself enough to do that, and about eating vegan. It has a painfully honest chapter about the cruelty of the meat industry, about inhumane slaughtering. Thinking "oh I try to eat free-range organic meat"? Try this thought on for size: even free-range animals are taken to the slaughterhouse. Even in the most humane slaughterhouse, the animals hear & witness the pain and dying of other animals around them. Sometimes their young have just been ripped away from them. Those animals are filled with fear, rage, panic, grief, stress, adreneline, suffering. If "you are what you eat", think about eating fear, rage and grief with every meal. The book then drives home the crap in found animal products - hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. It also takes a hard look at corruption in agriculture, even in "organic" product lines, the EPA, FDA and more. With 2 basic premises: "read the ingredients" and "trust no one", it was an eye-opener to say the least. Even if you don't give a flip about animal cruelty, the unhealthiness of eating rotting animal carcass and carrying it around in your colon for years was enough to drop me completely over the edge of vegetarian and into the land of vegan! Since we already don't eat dairy, it's not that far to go.
3. Lastly, I went to the chiropractor recently and was weighed. I'm like 6 pounds shy of what I weighed when I was 9 months pregnant! That was definitely a wake up call, so here we are, vegan.

So in keeping with this, I rejoined my former online haunt, Foodlab, a support slash idea/recipe sharing group of mostly parents looking for a way to feed their families with food sensitivities, allergies or dietary restrictions. Great people, check it out if you need help or inspiration.

And there I found my new favorite blog, FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I'm going to start storing recipes from there on here, as I need a place to track them, and might inspire others at the same time!

Frank the horse

Sophia gets her first horseback ride on Frank the horse. El Capitan Ranch, Santa Barbara. Feb 2008.

Toys for a modern world

There are some things that just shouldn't be made into toys. Take for instance, the Playmobil Security Check Point.

Product Review: "I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger's shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger's scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up. My son said "that's the worst security ever!"

But it turned out to be okay, because when the passenger got on the Playmobil B757 and tried to hijack it, she was mobbed by a couple of other heroic passengers, who only sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, which were treated at the Playmobil Hospital.

The best thing about this product is that it teaches kids about the realities of living in a high-surveillence society. My son said he wants the Playmobil Neighborhood Surveillence System set for Christmas. I've heard that the CC TV cameras on that thing are pretty worthless in terms of quality and motion detection, so I think I'll get him the Playmobil Abu-Gharib Interogation Set instead (it comes with a cute little memo from George Bush)."

Read more hilarious reviews

first French braids!

OK the part is not exactly straight, nor centered on the back of this very wiggly head, but, drum roll please...we did manage something resembling French braids...ta dah!!!

argument for homeschooling?

It's time to tour kindergartens, if you are someone who plans to enter their child into public school at age 5, like mostofamerica. Those who know me know that at my heart of hearts, I am an unschooler and that I always wanted to homeschool any children I ever ended up having, way way before I ever started trying to conceive. Well fast forward to the present day, and I find myself a single mom who relies on a school system during the day so that I might work full-time.

And fast forward to my daughter, almost 5, who is now asking me to be homeschooled. 2.5 years of preschool seems to have been enough for her. It almost breaks my heart. I've been talking to her about the 3 local schools which are top of my list that we will be touring over the next week and she again makes the plea to homeschool. So I finally laid it all out for her. I told her that mommy has to work and asked her if she would just try this, one year at a time, and if she hates it, we will find a way to change the situation. I explained that it's because our family is so small that mommy has to work, but for instance, maybe I might find another job someday which could include her (we both dream to live & work on the organic farm pictured above), or maybe mommy will get married and not have to work full time, etc. But for now, we are going to look at schools and try to choose one.

And out pops the funniest thing I think she's ever said, which beautifully alleviates the small grieving we both feel about the situation.

Sophia says "OK mommy, I think we should look at schools and I think we should look at men. Maybe you'll find one you want to marry."

Out of the mouths of babes....!!!