Week #1

Week one is in the books. I am celebrating by eating spaghetti with TVP - first time - but I am looking forward to a new taste experience! I am down 3 pounds too. That's what I get for not eating cheese for a week!

I think some butter may have snuck into the week - at certain times. But, like my mom says, I will let grace fill in the blanks.

Thanks for following along.

First night out...

Last night we had a Girl's Night at North Bend Bar & Grill. It was my fourth day of Veganism and my first time out to eat. I ordered the veggie burger with no cheese or mayo but with mustard and grilled onions.

I think they grilled the onions in butter and was pretty sure that they put butter on the bun. I felt bad after eating it...but like the bff and sister said - I made the best choice possible.

I told my mom about it and she had one of the best lines ever..."Do what you can and grace will fill in the rest..."

I love that!
Thanks mom, sister and BFF for the help!

Day three down

And on the third day...

So far so good. I am a person of routine and once I get a routine down, I'm pretty happy. This eating plan has been pretty routine. It has also been pretty tasty. I have used ingredients that I've never cooked with before as well as spices. I made tofu chili yesterday and it was really good.

Tonight...collard greens - Brazillian Style!

The final night

I'm pretty depressed - not going to lie. The one thing that keeps me going is that I know a few things...

1. I'm not going to starve
2. I'm eating better food - better for me and better for the animals
3. I am prepared. My freezer and fridge are full of good things.
4. I'm scared as heck...of failure and disobedience
5. One day at a time.

I'll report how it's going tomorrow and what I'm eating. I know...it's exciting!

Thoughts on Cold Turkey

Who doesn't like cold turkey? It's usually always great on the day after Thanksgiving as we all watch more football. However, it usually doesn't work for an eating plan or any kind of habit change. But...come Monday morning - I will be going cold turkey.

I watched Alicia Silverstone on Oprah the other day. She has gone total Vegan and was recommending certain foods, etc. I got a little excited as she was walking through Whole Foods finding great food to cook. The best thing she said was that eating Vegan makes your poop "wonderful". That my friends, is what I look forward to most and why going cold turkey will be worth it!

"Obedience Stinks"

What started out as kind of a funky Sunday (you know the kind...where you'd rather be anywhere else?) turned into a great (and spiritual) time for me personally. We looked at the story of Elijah and the widow in I Kings 17. My pastor said that one of his favorite parts of the story was when Elijah asked the widow to give him her son (who was dead). I think that is what God asks us to do - give him our issues, circumstances, bank accounts, diet issues, the IMPOSSIBLE and let him handle things. Why is such a beautiful concept so difficult to comprehend?

I'm not really an Old Testement lover - as you can understand by my blog's title, I'm really only into the red letters. However, there is value in understanding the God that was the OT.

We ended service with prayer stations - which I love. I wrote in the prayer journal "Obedience Stinks". Sorry, that's how I feel right now - with t-minus 6 days of eating whatever I want.

Thanks to Hillary for taking me to Olive Garden today. It was awesdome but I felt that I could not eat that again and be o.k. in light of all that's happened in the past few weeks.

Cleaning out the fridge

I'm slowly cleaning out the fridge/freezer. I should have taken a picture of the before/after look. I have enough dinners for all week - except for 2 nights and hopefully, those evenings will be covered with Olive Garden and pizza.

Starting small

Started small. Small starts. Baby steps. Whatever you want to call it - it's hard to get started on something this huge without first taking smaller steps. I want to get ready for 2/1/10 but I also do not want my system to flip out because I am not eating chicken McNuggets smothered in cheese sauce with a side of honey mustard dip. (I don't really eat that...but)

Yesterday I had a vegan breakfast. Two slices of soy toast with Smart Balance light - made with flax seed oil. It was good and filled me up. Today I had dried apricots and flax seed chips with homemade salsa. It's good and I'm satisfied. Breakfast is easy though - since I don't love it - I force myself to eat it otherwise I'll be crabby until lunch.

Tomorrow I will start my day with my normal mocha but have my Barista put in a small amount of soy...just to start. Small steps...

The blog is back.

I've decided to revamp the blog. I wanted to share the Vegan journey with friends and family. This is mainly for my own catharsis as well as accountability. I struggle with accountability because I live alone. Nobody will care that I cheat and Fergie certainly won't tell!

Preparations have begun. I bought soy yogurt - which is amazing. I bought some vegan bread, but then the BFF informed me that most Pillsbury crescent rolls are vegan and I just about died! Wonder bread is even vegan. There is certainly a difference between healthy vegan and unhealthy.

It's baby steps for the next 2 weeks - as 2 weeks from today the real deal happens.

Wish me luck.

Revival

I have not written in a long time. I figured it might be time to fire up the old blog again. Even if just for myself.

Waiting patiently for this day to come....

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
- Psalm 30:11-12

Ice cream aisle

There is a lockbox on my door now.


I will post MLS listing on Tuesday. My house looks great and my faithful brother-in-law helped put the finishing touches on the place.


Thank you kid sister for making today bearable. It sucked - except for the Olive Garden and the pedicure. Thanks Hill.


Please, pray for a quick sale. I know it's selfish, but I absolutely believe in miracles and I need one here.

House update...

Today I spent back and forth from home to storage unit. Slowly but surely it's getting done. I realize that I'm worn out after about two trips up/down the stairs and it doesn't help that it's 87 degrees!

Tomorrow will work on the bedroom - take my cat to my parent's house and figure out what to do with this white dresser I have...I want to throw it in the trash...which I may end up doing.

My wise friend Adair told me that when my space is cleaner and more organized, I'll feel better. I think she's right, but getting there is part of the problem.

Right now, I'm watching Mary Carillo eating her way through China. Man..do I have stories of that! She's at the hot pot restaurant where I tried **many** interesting things. I miss China. Now..it's my favorite...Beach Volleyball!

Today is a birthday...I wonder for who?

What a fun weekend. Thanks to my friends and family for providing such a fun week..and weekend. The older I get the longer I like to celebrate. I guess it's that I need to forget that in one more year...I'm really old. It's pretty much over for me after that.

15 years ago today...the most beautiful baby boy was born. His red hair was a big surprise to all of us. My dad was so excited that he locked his keys in the car! We celebrated my 24th birthday in the hospital with a red velvet cake made by a dear friend.

He was (and still is) so incredibly life-changing for me..not so much in what I do..but HOW I do it. It is so important for me that he love Jesus more than anything...and love his family. The blessing in my life today is that he does both of those things, very well. He is kind, loving, friendly to all people, and he loves Jesus. That is the best birthday gift that our loving heavenly father could ever give me. I am so lucky to share this day with him and so thankful to the Lord for him and that he loves me...and wants to hang out with his "silly old aunt."

I love you boy. More than you will ever know!!
Your palla.

A very exciting month ahead

A few highlights of the month of August...

- 8.2.08 The Blue Angels! INTERMITTENT CLOSURES!
- 8.3.08 Working an event at Mo with the kid sis & BFF
- 8.5.08 Duke's & X Files with Diane
- 8.7.08 Dinner with the UW Girls at Spaghetti Factory!
- 8.8.08 The Olympics start
- 8.8.08 First Seahawk Pre-season game at Minnesota
- 8.9.08 Emerald Downs Saturday...come one come all! We'll be upstairs in the suites
- 8.10.08 15 years ago today...my BEST Birthday present of all was born!!!
- 8.14.08 Family Camp...still deciding
- 8.25.08 The first African American in history will accept a major party nomination for president of the United States.
- 8.28.08 The best mom in the world was born 64 years ago

These are only a few highlights of a very busy month. Should be fun!

Story Corps

To those who listen to NPR, you know that Story Corps is a conglomeration of people's stories that they are collecting. Then, these voiced vignettes will be stored in the Library of Congress kind of like a time capsule, to be heard for later generations. Story Corps portable recording units have been around Seattle and are routinely making their way around the country.

NPR broadcasts Story Corps usually everyday around 7:30 am and again throughout the day. These stories are from regular people talking about moments in their lives that were meaningful. It is a true testament to the fact that we are all apart of the human race - and we each have our own singular moments that help shape us and make us into the people we are and will be. Today's story was from a 70 year old man who contracted polio at age 8. He remembers being in the hospital for months and coming home with restrictive braces on his legs. My grandpa had polio and I remember his gimpy legs vividly. Anyway, this young boy was dotted on by his mother, who never made him get out of bed or do anything for himself.

One day, his mother went out to lunch with a girlfriend (at the prompting of her husband, the boy's step-father) and the step-father came in and picked up the boy by the scruff of the neck and moved him to the living room - which had been cleared of furniture. The step-father dropped the boy on the ground and said "walk". The boy hated him for doing this and was afraid to get up but was more afraid of his step-father. Anyway, the boy crawled and made it across the room. The step-father said "Good job! You can do this!"

They never told the boy's mother and each week would convince her to leave the house so he could practice with his step-dad. The man telling the story said he loved his step-father for making him work so hard and encouraging him to get up and walk.

These are the kind of stories told - some sad, some very difficult, some happy. They are stories of humanity and lives lived. I encourage anyone to check them out here

What would your story be?

Problem Averted

Just picked up three $5.00 Starbucks cards and made little notes that say:

"Thanks for parking in my spot. I hope you enjoy this little treat and remember to find another spot next time!"

Last night, my middle sister was driving me home and she said "You know, you have to be kind to the person who parked in your spot."

Dangit. I hate when she's smarter than me!

Singleness Amplified

There are only a few times (and very brief) where I feel "bad" being single. I usually do not feel bad about it...I have a full life with family and friends that I can't keep up with and school, working two jobs, church stuff and taking care of my 100 year old Granny some weekends. So, yeah, don't have a lot of time to feel bad/sad about being single.

This changes when someone parks in my RESERVED parking spot. What part of RESERVED = YOU CAN PARK HERE..NO BIG DEAL?

This hit me on Sunday night after coming home late from a hard weekend at my grandmas. She fell on Saturday night trying to get out of bed late and I paniced and cried and hated being there and hated her being this old and not thinking clearly. She thought we had all left her...although we were 30 feet away in the living room watching Batman Begins. Anyway...so sleep was precarious on Saturday night and I was tired coming home and thinking about unloading all my stuff to start a work week the next day.

Lo & behold someone had parked in my spot..not simply parked like "I'm only gonna be here for 5 minutes.." but had BACKED in to my spot. That screams "I'm gonna be here as long as I want and I don't care."

Now, I'm not sure what pushes your buttons on a regular basis..but when this happens to me it makes me SO mad. Like rage mad. Mad enough to plot things to do to the car that I actually might go through with if my building didn't have cameras on all angles of the parking lot. So, I pray through my rage...I feel bad...and I hate that there's no one else to stick up for me...to help me...to kick someone's ass. I know that's not really how it works, but it would have been nice.

I emailed and called and am trying to handle it diplomatically...I didn't bang on everyone's door and demand to know if they had parked in my spot. I didn't slash tires or put cat poop on the door handle. I am sick. Twisted.

I'll be glad when I no longer have to worry about this...

Direct from GRCC!

Thank you for your interest in the Educational Planner, Transition position at Green River Community College. Your materials are now in the review process.

Due to the amount of time we take to thoroughly assess our candidates’ qualifications and the volume of applications we receive, it can take several weeks between receipt, review and selection. Although you may not receive information from the College regarding the status of your application during the review period, we will notify you when the search has concluded.

Again, we very much appreciate your interest in employment at Green River Community College

Quasi review of The Shack

This post started out as a review of The Shack but as I read through passages again and let the words permeate my thoughts it's more of a review of living in community and my thoughts and purposeful attempt to do this - soon.

An outstanding theme that runs through this book is the thought of inter-dependence on one another and total dependence on God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit - each manifesting differently in the book. It is clear that we can't live without relationship. Although at this point in my life, a help-mate or "significant other" has not joined me in this journey, I've been surrounded by an amazing network of family and friends. These folks are my life - can't imagine walking without them, and relationship with them, and I desire the ongoing presence of them in my life. I want to learn, to fail, to cry, to try new stuff, to dream, imagine, screw up, yell, scream, laugh until we fall down, and like the book says "loving is the skin of knowing". What a statement.

To know someone - then to learn to love them...an amazing God concept. An amazing peek at his Kingdom here on earth. Why do I fight this? Why do I fight tooth and nail when his Spirit is calling me into a relational dependence? Oh...I know...control. Control is an ugly beast.

I don't know all I know about this book yet-it will take a BBQ with the BFF and family to really hash it out...I know that I want to see God differently-without "rules" or "conformity" and with all freedom and love.