lifeinflux

Amending the 101…

// March 3rd, 2010 // Life

I’m not entirely sure how to sum up the last seven days of my life.   It feels a bit like teleporting.   At least, it feels like I’d imagine teleporting would be.   You know, you start in one place and then you feel yourself get all split apart and then all of a sudden you’re in an entirely NEW and different place but are all together.   The latest, newest and biggest news is that the Gloeges have gone all “I Can’t Believe We’re Not Vegan”.    And by that I mean we’re not truly vegan because we are not swearing off meat forever.  I’m sorry but I need the real deal at Thanksgiving.   Tofurkey is not going to cut it.   And I’d rather give up anything else in the universe food-wise except sushi.   So there may be an occasional noshing of the raw fish.   But otherwise, we have given up meat, dairy, raw sugar and white, processed foods.  How and why we decided to do this is a whole ‘nother post – and one that may be posted over where my new project (TBA soon!) lives, but suffice it to say that we, as a family, have never eaten or pooped so well.  And that’s all I’m saying about that.  You can thank me later.

Because we are no longer purchasing, cooking and consuming animal products in our home (minus the whole holiday and sushi thing), I need to update a few items on my 101 Things in 1001 Days list. Items 41 and 42 require me to participate in 32 monthly challenges from The Daring Kitchen including the Daring Cooks challenges and the Daring Bakers challenges. To be honest, I haven’t completed a single challenge. Why you may ask? Well, I underestimated the amount of time and challenges the fall would bring. And in a week or so, my commitments to Drue’s school – something that requires 20-30 hours of time from September until a week after Talent Show in the spring – are done. Woohoo! So that leaves some time for cooking (as opposed to tossing down Amy’s Vegan Gardenburgers which, btw, are quite tasty!). Rather than remove or replace items 41 and 42, I think I will simply expand them and meet the challenge by using vegan products rather than the animal products, white sugar and white flour most of them demand. I’ll do the same for item 43 which is to bake every cupcake in the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book (175 of them!!) but veganize them.   Because veganize is a word… as of right now.  Recipes and pictures will be provided so that any of you interested in a healthier, more earth-friendly way of eating (or simply to satisfy your curiosity) may indulge as well!

Sadly, item 54 may be out for the count. Item 54 said “Buy meat, milk and cheese from local dairies”. I’m all about this, frankly. But I am not sure if it is a fair goal given 1) I haven’t started doing this year (since I have 1001 days we were finishing up all the meat in the freezer before buying anything new) and 2) I won’t be buying much if any meat, milk or cheese until Thanksgiving. What do you think? Do I dedicate myself to only buying meat, milk and cheese from local dairies when we do consume it, rare though it will be? Or do I replace 54 with a new item? Ponder, ponder.

The final item to be marked from the list barely deserves mention, as my opinion of this old, pathetic fellow is on the same level as my opinion of dog shit. Both are something you merely scrape off your shoe and walk away from, wrinkling your nose in disgust. And while item 84 required me to have an in-person conversation with my father, after several email exchanges, I realize and accept that 1) my father died at some point when I was between the ages of eight and nine and 2) one cannot have a conversation with a dead man. So the question is do I mark 84 off the list since I managed to say what was needed to be said via email or do we replace it with something else? Again, this is something to ponder; otherwise, that is all I want or need to say about that man and this matter.

What is worth mentioning is that the conversation was a good one for me. I found true forgiveness and was able to let go of something that and the people who have plagued me since childhood. And in the aftermath, I was calm and elated and suffered none of the debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that have plagued me since my teen years. I found I am truly free and that was a moment of such sheer happiness. Jason, Drue and I had a long conversation and threw a little party, we called Mom and just had some time to relish all we have as a family. For truly I am so lucky and so blessed to have a wonderful mother who adores me and cherishes our relationship, an ex-husband who is my partner in raising Drue, wonderful aunts, cousins and an uncle who don’t always get me but love me nonetheless and my daughter who is SO like me (ADD, freckles and stubborn attitude all wrapped into one!) and with whom I have and will always have a wonderful, loving relationship. I have some great friends – some of whom have been horribly neglected but who will hopefully forgive me for it – who came into my life at a time when the bulk of my energy has been on me healing and raising my child. And I have some old friends who have stuck by me through thick and thin and who I know will always be there for me. In a word, I’m happy.

So I will go ahead and decide how to handle these items and update the 101 in 1001 items list. Drue and I have decided the next items to tackle are (in no particular order):

25. Learn to fish. This will be catch and release (obviously).
49. Drive less than 100 miles per month (excluding road trips). We currently drive between 40 and 60 miles per week.
71. Visit each and every museum that is part of the Smithsonian Institute.
72. Tour the White House, the Capital Building and the Supreme Court
73. Tour Mount Vernon.
75. Donate whole blood every 60 days (modified to 90 since they won’t take it but every 90 days).
77. Get eight hours of sleep every night. My body requires it so I might as well just be like Nike and DO IT!
82. Declutter. Give away or sell everything I don’t currently use or need.
94. Volunteer at the DC Central Kitchen

Pictures, posts and the like will accompany each and every item.   We’ll also tackle a few of the Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers challenges and maybe in slip in a cupcake or two.    What can I say?  Life is to be lived and my life is amazing.   The journey has definitely been rough but nothing good comes easy and this, right now, is so good.

So whatcha’ think?