My raw food journey started thus:
I can't help but think of George Costanza on Seinfeld, and his "Summer of George" every time I think of last summer, which was what I called the "Summer of Shayla." Yep, I'm pretty clever.
I was nearly 100% raw all summer, lost not only 60lbs, but all my fibromyalgia symptoms as well. I felt so alive for the first time in...ever, or as long as I can remember. I didn't realize how terrible I'd felt for years, until I experienced true wellness that summer.
However, seasons changed and I reverted back to my usual whole-foods vegan lifestyle. My migraines returned, my fibro symptoms returned, I went back to waking up stiff and sore like my bed was beating me up while I slept. I felt myself becoming ill again and I felt powerless to stop it.
I'm not sure what changed, what kept me from staying on the Enlightened Path of Raw Wellness. Oh, there are "reasons" like produce tastes crappy in the winter when it's out of season (it's also more expensive), and once I lost the weight I kind of lost focus on wellness (I looked good in my jeans, I must be well!).
And those are some pretty good excuses, if I do say so myself, but really I suspect the answer is somewhere inside me where I can't quite reach it. It's probably buried under a bunch of junk I've been carrying around with me for years and years.
So a couple of months ago I decided that it was high time to start cleaning out the attic, so to speak. Time to start taking care of myself a bit more, physically and emotionally, so that I'll be better able to take care of my family.
Which brings me to specifics: I have 3 magical nature kids who are my inspiration in everything. I am a SAHM and I homeschool my kiddos. I try to keep things as natural as possible, i.e. I breastfeed, cosleep, cloth diaper, homebirth, etc. I love educating myself on natural health (I'm doing correspondance courses towards becoming a Master Herbalist/ND), I love photography, and reading (OH, do I love reading!).
Oh, and I love to cook, which might just be my biggest challenge of all during the reawakening of my raw journey, come to think of it! It's so fun to turn people on to the healthy whole-foodsy vegan versions of their favorite foods, in fact, in some circles (i.e. my family) I'm kinda known for it.
I'm sure you all know where this is going...see the links on the sidebar if you want a preview. More on this soon!
Monday, September 29, 2008
FSOT blues
For a few years now, I've been playing the FSOT game on certain forums, Diaper Swappers and The Baby Wearer especially, although I've dipped my foot in over at Hyena Cart as well. I've been trading things like, unsurprisingly, cloth diapering items, babywearing items, and all and sundry of mom and baby goods. It's been a source of income (and outcome) and it's been fun, too.
I love searching for elusive things, like a pair of longies knit with a unique yarn colorway that will JUST FIT my daughter, or maybe a Mei Tai or baby wrap that is no longer being made. And then, THEN when I've found it, oh, the mad scramblings of trying to come up with the money for it before it gets sold to somebody else. Yep, fun. AND, because the same money is being "recycled" through the buy-and-sell game over and over, I don't have to take anything away from my family's budget.
But lately I've been having to sell things and use it for things like groceries, and things for the kids' schooling, and winter clothes/shoes that fit for the children. It's been kind of crappy, having to sell everything that we don't NEED, but it gives me a good feeling to be sort of contributing to the household expenses the best way I can.
It's not as painful as it could be, because my daughter is potty trained (NO MORE DIAPERS!) and she turns 2 years old in about 3 hours, so she isn't being worn as much as she used to be. So, really, I'm being practical in turning those things into money.
I just miss the thrill of the hunt, I guess.
I love searching for elusive things, like a pair of longies knit with a unique yarn colorway that will JUST FIT my daughter, or maybe a Mei Tai or baby wrap that is no longer being made. And then, THEN when I've found it, oh, the mad scramblings of trying to come up with the money for it before it gets sold to somebody else. Yep, fun. AND, because the same money is being "recycled" through the buy-and-sell game over and over, I don't have to take anything away from my family's budget.
But lately I've been having to sell things and use it for things like groceries, and things for the kids' schooling, and winter clothes/shoes that fit for the children. It's been kind of crappy, having to sell everything that we don't NEED, but it gives me a good feeling to be sort of contributing to the household expenses the best way I can.
It's not as painful as it could be, because my daughter is potty trained (NO MORE DIAPERS!) and she turns 2 years old in about 3 hours, so she isn't being worn as much as she used to be. So, really, I'm being practical in turning those things into money.
I just miss the thrill of the hunt, I guess.
On vegan kids, and birthday parties.
My children went to their first non-family member birthday party today. It was a boy from their Tae Kwon Do school, nice kid, hot dad, friendly mama. They didn't know we were vegan--they didn't know anything about us, in fact. Our interactions are: DH chats with the mom when he takes the kids to karate, and I try not to check the dad out when I take them (I can't help it, he looks like Joe Flanigan from Stargate Atlantis, but geekier).
I made them lemon-poppyseed muffins for breakfast, and saved some for them to eat at the party; we also picked up some rice based "ice-cream" from the health food store.
Except it was trickier than that...they were also serving pizza, which my kids were pretty excited about until they saw it was "cow" pizza. When offered a slice, my 8yo said very sweetly, "No thank you, I brought a snack from home to eat." My 4.5yo son just said he wanted to wait for his ice cream. The dad asked if we didn't "do" dairy, I told him we didn't do animal products at all. He was all, "ahhh," and then tried to make awkward small talk about shopping for our kind of food. I'm usually better in situations like this, but the dad is just so attractive.
Other than that, it was a non-issue. One of the other moms gave my oldest son some punch of some sort...when I saw him with it, I whispered (or thought I was whispering) "Are you *drinking* that??" and I might have sounded a little horrified. He usually won't drink anything but water or smoothies. The mom that gave it to him was worried that maybe it had animal products in it, and that's why I was concerned (my husband says I'm a very loud whisperer). I played it off like I was afraid he had taken somebody else's punch, which was very fitting.
The kids played bingo with chocolate kisses, but left them on the table after the game instead of gobbling them up. They had a pinata with prizes and suckers inside. My kids just picked up things like pencil sharpeners and mini kaleidoscopes. I think they had fun, and as is the nature of children, didn't care anything about all the social whatevers.
What I want to know is, what could I have done differently? Should I have let them know beforehand that we are vegan and we'd be bringing our snacks? That way they have the opportunity to ask if we can eat such-and-such? I don't like putting anybody through extra trouble so I just bring stuff wherever we go. But, I also think that some people might find this rude, as it's taking away their opportunity to be a "good host." And maybe they think we're implying something about our food (especially in this situation where they didn't know about our diet).
Thank goodness we homeschool, so all of our functions are with parents I'm friends with through our organization. We know each other well, including all of our little dietary quirks.
I made them lemon-poppyseed muffins for breakfast, and saved some for them to eat at the party; we also picked up some rice based "ice-cream" from the health food store.
Except it was trickier than that...they were also serving pizza, which my kids were pretty excited about until they saw it was "cow" pizza. When offered a slice, my 8yo said very sweetly, "No thank you, I brought a snack from home to eat." My 4.5yo son just said he wanted to wait for his ice cream. The dad asked if we didn't "do" dairy, I told him we didn't do animal products at all. He was all, "ahhh," and then tried to make awkward small talk about shopping for our kind of food. I'm usually better in situations like this, but the dad is just so attractive.
Other than that, it was a non-issue. One of the other moms gave my oldest son some punch of some sort...when I saw him with it, I whispered (or thought I was whispering) "Are you *drinking* that??" and I might have sounded a little horrified. He usually won't drink anything but water or smoothies. The mom that gave it to him was worried that maybe it had animal products in it, and that's why I was concerned (my husband says I'm a very loud whisperer). I played it off like I was afraid he had taken somebody else's punch, which was very fitting.
The kids played bingo with chocolate kisses, but left them on the table after the game instead of gobbling them up. They had a pinata with prizes and suckers inside. My kids just picked up things like pencil sharpeners and mini kaleidoscopes. I think they had fun, and as is the nature of children, didn't care anything about all the social whatevers.
What I want to know is, what could I have done differently? Should I have let them know beforehand that we are vegan and we'd be bringing our snacks? That way they have the opportunity to ask if we can eat such-and-such? I don't like putting anybody through extra trouble so I just bring stuff wherever we go. But, I also think that some people might find this rude, as it's taking away their opportunity to be a "good host." And maybe they think we're implying something about our food (especially in this situation where they didn't know about our diet).
Thank goodness we homeschool, so all of our functions are with parents I'm friends with through our organization. We know each other well, including all of our little dietary quirks.
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