Dec 31 2005

We Have This Place Surrounded

Where am I?

I’m sitting in the kitchen, that’s where. Hugo gave me my “bonus” for the year.

I have a new Dell laptop now and wireless and iTunes libraries shared across the network and it’s all so fun it’s really quite nauseating so I won’t dwell on it.

I set up my first secured wireless access point the other day. Not a major accomplishment but it’s something to me because I have never done it before. It’s not exactly WEP secure, but there are only 3 computers in the world that can connect to it now. Tadaaaa. Go bug.

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Dec 27 2005

Miles to go before i sleep

Going to have to make this one quick.

Hugo and I survived Christmas. Barely. We spent almost the entire holiday looking at the napkins on the tables cause they looked mighty tasty. My family isn’t understanding that the difference between made of meat and has meat in it is a moot point to a vegetarian. Evidence:

Baked Beans
Yay: Fiber, sweet, tasty, protein.
Poo: 3 giant slabs of bacon therein

Potato Salad
Yay: ULTRA Tasty. Veggies. Mmm.
Poo: 900000 bits of bacon therein.
Yay: bits of bacon were sizable enough to discern them and avoid if one wanted to do such
Poo: creator of potato salad uses the grease from the bacon in the potato mixture

Stuffing
Poo: A Haiku For You

all i can say
there is no yay
giblets

Of the 3 parties we went to, we were willing to eat cranberry sauce, spinach dip, hashbrown casserole, deviled eggs, and green bean casserole. Those are all side dishes and there wasn’t enough of them to make a plateful, even if those items had all been at the same party, which they weren’t.

It sounds like I’m complaining here. I’m not actually. I didn’t give in. I didn’t want to. I may have been hungry, but I stuck with it anyway. I am proud of me.

Next year, i’m bringing a veggie tray, pita chips, and some hummus. It’s my own damn fault we went hungry. I should have known better.

-=-=-=-=-

My mom got me an ASSLOAD of kitchen stuff. Choppers, knives, whisks, and peelers. Oh my. I went to target tonight and bought a LOT of stuff to organize and clean the kitchen. There are several “traditions” I love and Kitchen Witchery is one of them. So tomorrow, to celebrate our new “lifestyle,” I’m cleaning the kitchen, top to bottom. Cleansing, blessing, the works. If we don’t need it/want it, I’m going to get rid of it. If it means something to us, i’m going to put it up for safe keeping and get it out of my way.

Look out people, she has fire and sharp things.

I think I’m also going to do a massive spiritual cleansing of the structure and the property. I’m afraid we may have some stagnant mojo.

What was i saying?

-=-=-=-=-

Oh well. I forget. Time for bed.


Dec 25 2005

Merry Christmas

Five things I did for the first time this year

Bought a new car
Went to Wal-Mart by myself
Accepted a ring from a man i’m in love with
Purchased my first TV
Smashed my first piece of electronics with a 25lb dumbbell

Five things I’m looking forward to in ‘06

Doing lots of cooking
Cleaning up the yard
Rennovating the house
Starting a veggie/herb garden
Getting my shit together

Best household additions in ‘05

Kitchen Table
Harvest Moon : Another Wonderful Life for the Game Cube
Podcasts
Dual Layer DVD Burners
Plethora of Vegetarian Cookbooks

Five things within my grasp that delight me

The Circle Within - Diane Sylvan (Book)
Mission Tortilla Strips (food)
The Nightmare Before Christmas : The Pumpkin King (GBA Game)
Dub
Cat5 Bracelet

Five things I lost in ‘05

Friends
Family
Husky Rescue
Razors
I can’t think of anything else

Six people who really had my back this year

Hugo
My Mom
My Dad
Grim
brother Matt
brother Paul

Five things I should be doing right now instead of writing this list

Laying down reading my book with Hugo
Cleaning the kitchen
Putting away Christmas presents
Bathing the dog
Doing the laundry

Sunday, December 25rd, 2005


Dec 23 2005

hmm

“Wednesday is a mixture of many things, mainly because she’s at a place now where, she realizes that love is a bit complicated and… it’s not just about a fantasy that you have of somebody. And so Wednesday is kind of involved and complicated because it’s not a cut and dry sort of idea. It’s not, ‘I don’t like this person.’ It’s not that simple. I think you might be really um, very taken with somebody and they might be very much in your life, but there are things that they do that are quite disrespectful or cross a line in a way that is um… very passive-aggressive, so you can’t really talk about it. Manipulation makes her cry, especially when it’s with people that you supposedly are close with. You see, covert activity you would think happens with the outside forces, not the inner circle, and Wednesday’s very messy. It seems like a happy little song, but it’s um… it’s, as I said before, things aren’t cut and dry.” [Scarlet Stories - Tori Amos]


Dec 23 2005

Random Roses & Ranting & The Great Big Decision

Random: I bought Hugo some roses for his room a few weeks ago from Food Lion. They must have been 1. ultra fresh and 2. ultra local. Hugo had been keeping the water changed about every other day and they were sitting near a window that doesn’t get a whole lot of sun, but keeps the room bright for a good part of the day. I went to check on them today because they FINALLY started to wilt and i wanted to hang them up and dry them before they got all icky.

They are SPROUTING! I’m totally stoked. I’m going to go buy a big plastic pot (seriously big, there are a lot of sprouts), some sand, and potting soil. Hopefully, if I put them in the soil about an inch under they’ll take root in a month or so. If I’m reading my books right, they should be ready to plant by next autumn(ish).


Random: Had a good holiday yesterday. I made a big ole pot of chili in the crock pot which simmered for about 9 hours. MmMmMm good. Gave Hugo all his presents that had come in so far. Used book sellers on Amazon are slooooow and messing up my festivities!


Random: Tonight I went to see my mom and dad. Played with the Energizer Power Ranger for an hour or two then took he and his daddy home. Was met at home by Hugo and a chicken philly cheese sandwich from Lenny’s. I shall probably miss it more than hot dogs.


Rant: In the 70s Hugo adopted a Hindu based spirituality and lifestyle. Vegetarian. In the 80s he lived in Germany while he was with the Army. Still a vegetarian. Early 90s he became an ultra sexy body builder and started eating chicken to keep from turning his body inside out. Not so vegetarian, but not about to order the meat lovers from Pizza Hut. Present day, we eat chicken breasts and ground turkey.

When I was in the 7th grade I read a book that detailed the journey of sausage from cute little oink to shiny plastic wrapped tube in the grocery store. Not only was I insanely grossed out, I was morally shaken. Not only did the ethics of the meat industry strike me as seriously bad news, the environmental repercussions made my head swim as well.

7th grade, I told my family I wanted to be a vegetarian. You’d have thought I told them I wanted a penis grafted onto my forehead. Seriously. (I also wanted to study Wicca…good thing I kept that to myself until I was 20.)

7th graders, apparenly, don’t get to make such decisions. They made fun of me and would make animal noises whenever they were cutting their food. They got angry when I didn’t eat the food that was put in front of me. They refused to make “special” meals for me or buy any fancy food. Really grumpy bitches. There were a few out there that were supportive of me. Hoo-rah to you cats.

Anyway, my home life wasn’t stellar so I decided to make it easier on myself and just go with it until I could move out.

So, why am I still eating animals? o_O

I suppose it stems from the fact that I have had three people in my life say things to the effect of, “Well good for you” or “What a big decision for you, good luck!” or “Thank god you’re thinking for yourself”. Something positive, without jugement. 2 of them were aunts (in-laws, of course) and Hugo.

“I couldn’t live without meat. I need meat. People Eating Tasty Animals. I get sick if I don’t eat steak once a month. If we’re not supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat? You’ll get sick. Hippy!”

People suck. You don’t like asparagus. I don’t like meat. Why can’t we get along!? This is not a big deal…

So, umm, why am I still eating animals?

Hell if i know. No better time than RIGHT NOW to make some changes, so I sat down at my computer this morning and decided that I want a meat free home. I’m not going to throw away what we have (some turkey chili and chicken slices for sammiches), but I’ve bought my last corpse in plastic wrap.

This includes dub too…and yes, I’ll wait for you to finish rolling your eyes. I found an ultra high quality vegetarian dog food in Knoxville that is CHEAPER than the high-grade dog food I have been buying whose main protein is from animal sources. I SAVE MONEY. Ding for me. Also, vegetarian dog foods seem to be higher in balanced amino acids and beneficial fat sources for their skin and coat. Ding for dub.

So I told Hugo tonight and he says, “It’s harder than you think.” Ok, I know. I love hot dogs. I love chicken sammiches from Lenny’s but, I’ll give it up because it’s what I want. I can’t do vegan just yet cause I *love* honey. And cheese. Maybe I’ll find a substitute and go all out. Until then baby steps.

(if you’re pissy cause I didn’t cut, then you suck)