Brain Surgeon's Babe

Vegan Living: Fountain of Youth?

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:15:00 +0000

I heard about this woman on Facebook and she is amazing.

She entered PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian over 50 contest and won...AT 70!

I cannot believe this woman is 70! Watch the video and check her out.

I want to be her when I grow up!!!

On this note, I have to mention, I hear many of my peers complaining about aches and pains this problem and that problem that I just don’t have to deal with. Plant foods are very healing! Maybe they are the Fountain of Youth, too!

Toodles!

Vegan junk food substitutes for dead animal junk food

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:54:00 +0000

I’m getting a lot of questions about vegan substitutes for standard kid snacks.

I will tell you some of what we’ve tried and tested. Kids aren’t stupid. If it isn’t yummy and equally cool, forget it.

With that in mind, here are some winners in our family.

Instead of Soft Batch Cookies (for the chocolate chip) or other cookies (for the rest), try Uncle Eddie's Vegan Cookies.

These cookies are awesome and come in flavors like

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Chocolate Chip
Oatmeal Raisin
Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (pictured)
Trail Mix

Trader Joe’s has their own brand of these for less money…Same cookies!

YUMMY!

Instead of Gummy Bears, try Annie's Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks

These are bunnies instead of bears, but my kids don’t really care.

Of special note, Annie makes a giant pack around Halloween time, so you can spread the vegan gelatin alternative love around to kids everywhere! YAY!!!

At Whole Foods Market, you can also find vegan gummy worms (rolled in sugar even) and things like that. Really, anything your rotting teeth desire. La la la.

Instead of Oreo’s, which are full of trans fats and otherwise nasty ingredients, try Newman-O's. These are super tasty.

I made some vegan chocolate cupcakes and stirred crushed Newman-O’s into them…My kids are still singing my praises.

We also tried the gluten-free variety recently. I must admit…not nearly as tasty…but if you need to be wheat free, they’ll do.

Instead of Mac & Cheese, try Road's End Organics with "Chreese"

On this one, my children like the gluten-free flavors better for some reason. I don’t love the cheddar, but they think it’s divine.

The alfredo is pretty convincing. I like to stir in broccoli or chopped kale.

Sometimes, if I'm really feeling like giving them that 70s feel, I slice veggie dogs and stir them in...Mac & Weenies! Weeeee!

(Play Bee Gee's while cooking and consuming)

Instead of Goldfish, try Eco-Planet Cheddar Organic Crackers.

My kids like these because they come in four shapes instead of just one.

While newer COLOR goldfish has presented some serious competition with all of their artificial brightness, thus far, my children are satisfied with the orangeness of these crackers.

Later, we can chat about how most mainstream food companies used crush bugs to bring you those pretty orange and red colors in "naturally colored" foods and drinks. No, I am not kidding!

Instead of ice cream made from cow milk, try these taste bud miracle delights!

Our friends in Seattle turned us on to this Coconut Bliss stuff. OMG YUMMY HEAVEN. It tastes so creamy and fantastic....AND it comes in many great flavors. You just have to try it! EVEN if you are sure you're addicted to cow breastmilk.

It is high in saturated fat, but has zero cholesterol. How is this possible? Well, it turns out that the experts studying saturated fat from plant food are (gee…am I surprised?) finding out it is actually good for you. The saturated fat in animal products (just like the protein) remains, as always, not good for you.

So, you can actually enjoy your fatty, creamy ice cream. Oh, AND it’s sweetened with agave. Diabetic heaven in a pint container!

There are so many flavors…It’s amazing. I will say, if you hate coconut, you can taste a hint of it in some flavors. I do know several people who don’t like coconut, but who still love many flavors of this ice cream. You'll have to experiment if you're coconut-sensitive to see which ones you like.

An alternative is Purely Decadent and So Delicious Coconut Milk products. They also make soy products (not as yummy, unless chocolate, in my opinion). The cool thing about these people is they have yogurt, creamer and things like ice cream sandwiches, in addition to the ice cream. They have a mint chip that is to die for and a gluten-free (seriously!) cookie dough ice cream that is ridiculously tasty!

I also just found out Rice Dream is making bonbons (although I have yet to see them). SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!! Oh daytime TV heaven (kidding).

Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of Rice Dream, but I know people who are. You have to be adventurous. If you have a Whole Foods Market, they guarantee everything they sell, so if you don't like it, you can just get your money back. How great is that?

AGAIN…I’m not saying this is the most healthy way to be a vegan. These foods should be eaten in moderation, OF COURSE. I’m just saying, if you have children and you want them to have things that are equally tempting as the other kid snacks out there, but you can't stomach the thought of some of the nasty dead things, antibiotics, hormones, pus, growth hormones, crushed bugs and so on going into your precious, developing little love children…here are some fun options.

Toodles!

The War on Food

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:21:00 +0000

Okay, this image just cracks me up! At least they were saying “Plant more beans” instead of “Kill more cows!”

Like pretty much EVERYONE, I love food. Sometimes I feel like in the quest to make healthy choices, I’m fighting an uphill battle. I’ve been a vegetarian for a very long time. I’ve heard all the jokes (same ones over and over from my brother especially). I’m in my 30s, so I’ve had time to watch the world evolve from thinking vegetarians are total freak shows to seeing that there might be some wisdom to the choice.

I’ve never been in the vegan club or the raw club or even the vegetarian club. I cheat occasionally (although I’d call that rarely now) and I haven’t felt the pangs of self-righteousness over my dietary choices since I was in my late teens or early twenties. I knew even before I had kids what many of my ideals were with children and their relationship with food.

Here are the principals I try to follow with the kids:

1. Inspire healthy choices. In other words, live it. Make it yummy. Don’t nag, berate, belittle or guilt. (Challenging!)

2. Don’t use food as a bribe or withhold food as a punishment. (This should be a no-brainer, but I see people doing this every single day).

3. Never force a child to eat a particular food or to finish their plate (but do keep presenting foods over and over again).

4. Give children total food freedom, when they’re ready.

AH….That was the sticky part…”when they’re ready.” When would that be? I figured it would be at about 7. Instead, with my eldest, it was about 4. I relaxed the reins. She, being 4 and mostly exposed to what I had exposed her to, mostly chose foods that made me beam with pride. I had done SUCH A GREAT JOB!!!

Then came 5 and 6 and 7 and the outside world. (uh oh)

Truthfully, my daughter still makes great choices and I still beam with pride…even when she’s stuffing a piece of cow cheese pizza in her face while saying, “No thanks. I don’t eat pepperoni. I’m vegan.” (How funny is that?!) But I’ll be honest, it isn’t like it was before when she only had what I chose for her to have.

More complications arose when my younger children, who I hadn’t deemed able to choose, wanted what their sister had, even though they weren't at my predetermined age of consciousness. What now?

Basically, I’m learning to relax. The most difficult part of it for me is SHUTTING THE HELL UP. I have to fight the urge at a party not to say things like, “Honey, that probably has partially hydrogenated oils in it” or "Ewww, gellllll-a-tinnnnn." Who wants to hear that? How lame!

Nagging is so passé.

It still slips out. I’m getting much better at it. I love what the Disease Proof blog says about feeding kids without nagging (recommended!). It's pretty unschooly, too, and so that resonates with me quite a bit.

In a nutshell, I’m trying to provide tons of yummy stuff, keep piles of healthy snacks on me wherever we go and shut up about the rest.

Toodles!

Marshmallow Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

I find myself looking for vegan alternatives to SAD foods frequently, because my children want fun orange cheese crackers, marshmallows or gummy bears, too. I promise you, there is a healthier option for everything now.

We do try to avoid processed foods and lean heavily toward raw foods. However, JOYFUL living is my priority and I would rather my children have a tiny amount of less healthy vegan food than feel like the sad, left-out kid at the party. (In fact, my kids eat whatever they want, vegan or not, at parties…It’s taken me a while to become comfortable with it…A journey for another post, perhaps).

Why don’t I want them to eat marshmallows or other products made with gelatin? Well, for one, gelatin could be about the most disgusting thing EVER EATEN by humans. Only bugs or poop could top it. Well, maybe not bugs. Read about it. To make gelatin, the manufacturers boil skin, bones, ligaments and tendons from pigs and cows to give your marshmallows and gummy bears that familiar, chewy texture. Tasty, huh?

Think about it. YUM!…Do you REALLY want to feed your kids artificially dyed and flavored boiled dead animal parts? How’s that TENDON, dear? YUCK!

(By the way, before Halloween, I’ll post about how we (kind of ) solve the Halloween dilemma in a world full of such nasty candy without killing the joy.)

Oh, and, just so you know, Kosher gelatin still has fish stuff in it. Why bother? They can use agar agar or pectin to make many wonderfully yummy junk foods.

With that said, here are some examples of marshmallow alternatives my children prefer to chewing dead pig and cow ligaments disguised with fake flavors and colors.

Marshmallow alternatives:

1) Ricemellow Cream is great for making rice crispy treats, for putting in hot cocoa and other fun things, like fabulous fluff-n-butter sandwiches (this fluff plus your fave nut butter).

2) Vegan Vanilla Marshmallows by Sweet & Sara. We found these in Whole Foods one day (I’ve seen them at Mother’s Market and Sprouts, too). My kids just like these plain.

3) The best for roasting on a stick over a fire are Dandies Air-Puffed Vegan Marshmallows by Chicago Soy Dairy. They even catch on fire, just like the nasty skin-and-tendons version! The brain surgeon and kids LOVE these (too sweet for me!).

You can find all of these online and in some natural food stores.

Now, remember, I’m not calling these healthy, BUT they are much healthier than traditional marshmallows, and WAY WAY WAY LESS DISGUSTING.

Toodles!

Rainbow Plates

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Since I mentioned Rainbow Plates, I thought I should write a blog post about them. Rainbow Plates are something I invented when my 7-year-old was about two. I had heard the phrase “Eat the Rainbow” and I wanted an easy way to remember to make sure we did that every day.

While I have now tried to move away from plastics (more on that later), my friend the Tupperware lady, turned me on to this nifty Serving Center Set.

It has six sections – OH RAINBOW PLATE PERFECTION – plus a center thing for dips or whatever. One caveat: I’m not sure if Tupperware is all that safe. There are some strong arguments both ways. I am keeping my eyes peeled for a surely safe and eco-friendly option, but for now, I don’t heat it and I’m not super paranoid about using it.

Anyway, each day (ha ha in my dreams…really about 4 days a week), I fill the tray with fruits and veggies from each color of the rainbow. For example, today we had RED strawberries, ORANGE satsumas, YELLOW bell peppers, GREEN romaine, BLUE blueberries and PURPLE grapes. In the center, I’ll put some hummus, guacamole, salsa or other dip for the kidlets to dip lettuce leaves or whatever in. The rainbow tray I use has a cover that can go under it as well, so you can put ice under it or a cover over it and presto!

Toodles!

A Bit About Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

My next giant goal in life is to write what we eat each day. People are always asking me what I feed the kids or, when they see them eating, how I get them to eat so many fruits and vegetables. That is a long story and a journey in itself (I’ll get to it), but for now, I’ll just start with breakfast. It's pretty easy.

For breakfast, we often have fruit smoothies. I made a mix of whatever sounds good to them. They will each contribute or sometimes one will be in charge. We keep several bags of frozen organic fruit in the freezer at all times. I throw a bunch of fruit in the blender, and then some greens.

When it comes to adding greens, start very slowly. I started by adding just one kale or romaine leaf, or a small handful of spinach. Each time I made a smoothie, I added another leaf. The kids (or your taste buds if it’s for you) will tell you when enough is enough, but I also found that our tolerance for greens went up quickly. Oh look! Here’s an article I wrote on how to use vegetables in smoothies.

We use a VitaMix. These suckers are expensive, but worth every penny. Before my parents and siblings bought me one, I used the Magic Bullet (also bought by my family...Who finds these things?) to make smaller ones in batches. It was not as good, but it was okay. There are other good blenders out there as well, but an awesome blender is the key to blending greens smoothly into your smoothie (say it 10 times fast).

Sometimes the kids want what I call the “beige” foods. These are the not-as-healthy-but-okay grain foods. On those days, we’ll have a grain food (more on that later, but steel-cut oats, granola, etc.) plus I make giant “rainbow” plates of fruit.

On some days, we just eat fruit. We also make parfaits by layering fruit and granola. The kids like when I use a nondairy yogurt, too, but I often skip that layer. I'm not so into most nondairy dairy-like things.

TIP: If fruit is getting too ripe, do not let it go bad! Just cut it up and freeze it. Ripe fruit is sweeter and great for smoothies!

Toodles!

Vitamin B12…The Big Mystery

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

I thought I should bring up B12 right away. B12 is the ONE vitamin that you truly cannot get enough of in a pure vegan diet. It is also a very important vitamin, particularly if you’re into brains and the nervous system… and we clearly are into brains and the nervous system in this house.

If you want to learn a bit about B12 from a simple source, here is the Wikipedia reference for B12.

So you must be wondering, if a vegan diet means no B12, this could cause such major problems! Why would a brain surgeon not only allow, but also recommend a vegan diet? Well, because it is easy to get. Most grain products are fortified with it, as are most nondairy milk products. There are plenty of supplement options for kids and adults as well.

What I always wondered, though, was if this is way of eating is good for me, why is there one deficient vitamin? I knew God or nature or whatever you want to believe in would not screw up that badly.

I found out about a decade ago that there is a simple answer to this question. It’s that vitamin B12 is a soil vitamin. Back in the day, humans and other mammals did not spray their foods with deadly pesticides nor were they very worried about things like food contamination. In other words, they just picked some fruit or lettuce and ate it. They might have wiped it off, but they did not wash the heck out of it. There was always a little dirt in the diet and so B12 was abundant.

As it is in the SAD (Standard American Diet), people consume the animals that consume the unwashed produce. They concentrate the vitamin B12 (and the pesticides and antibiotics and everything else they ingest), so it is easy to get B12 if you eat the animals. It is just as easy (and far less disgusting) to get it from a supplement or B12 fortified product, though.

I like the VegLife Vegan Kids Multiple for insurance purposes. There are plenty of others available, too.

Oh, and please ask questions! I need ideas for posts!

Toodles!

Focus on Food

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:44:00 +0000

So, I've been neglecting my blog (Facebook addiction, anyone?) and I've lost most of my followers according to the stat program I use, BUT I've been promising a few great people I'd get it going again. I am changing direction a bit, however. I'm going to focus much more on nutrition and diet and how I get my children (and my hardworking husband) to eat so many veggies. It seems that is what people most want to know.

It has been fun to see so many people close to me change in little or big ways towards a more veggie life. I often answer the same questions over and over again (happily...I'm into it... Everyone who knows me knows this!), so I'm excited to share some resources and learn with others on the path to healthful living.

So tonight, for my first post since I quit posting, I have devised a little system for when I talk about what we eat. I will call these "basic veggie" (things anyone would be brave enough to try), "intermediate veggie" (getting braver) and "advanced veggie" (super brave things like funky-colored smoothies and such). Let's see if I follow through on this one.

I'm going to start sharing my favorite books, blogs, recipes, etc. I don't have a huge amount of time to devise recipes, so most of these will be stolen and credited appropriately. Occasionally (rarely?), I will come up with something of my own and share it here. Of course, parenting thoughts, home schooling thoughts, political thoughts and random whatnots will likely creep in from time to time.

My posts will stay stream-of-consciousness and probably will remain too long, but this is the one place that as a writer I don't have to edit myself (or be edited), so that's just how it's going to be.

Okay, that's it for the reintroduction.

The very first thing I have to say about eating a plant-based diet is that people are full of crap when it comes to "moderation.” (My one friend used to joke, "If you believe in moderation, then why is your ass so big?" That's funny, but kind of mean, yes?). Moderation is a little bit of this or a little bit of that. A good rule of thumb is about 5 percent to 15 percent of the diet can be crap. To me, moderation is eating freely at a party here and there or having one unhealthy dinner out every two weeks, NOT eating processed, dead food every day (or every meal!).

On the other hand, perfectionism (with which I'm far too closely acquainted) is one way to suck the joy out of your journey, leading to discouragement. You do have to know yourself. For some (present company included, although I've done well lately), having a little nacho fest is not going to throw them off course. For others, it takes one unhealthy meal for them to throw in the towel and go back to their old ways.

Last thing for today: Forget the Food Pyramid. It is pure stupidity. It is better than the old four basic food groups, but it is inadequate. Check out this vegan pyramid instead. I wouldn’t call it perfect, but it’s a huge step up.

Toodles!

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:59:00 +0000

So the brain surgeon is on the interview trail and it's finally for a real job...the kind where he will finally get a living wage. Okay, it might be a tad more than a living wage. My friends ooh and ahh. People say, "Oh, you will be so happy" and "Everything will be great, soon" and things like that. That's nice and all, but money has never really been a major driver for me.

That sounds crazy, I know, but it's true. Everyone who knows me can attest to that (even though they seem to have a vision that more money will buy some new level of happiness). Still, I'm looking forward to losing my title as breadwinner, too. I'm kinda tired. Happy, but tired.

Money is nice. It really is. It reduces some worry, I suppose. But over my lifetime, I've been blessed to be on both ends of the financial spectrum -- and many places in between -- and I know that it's true that money doesn't buy happiness. The opposite is also true -- poverty doesn't necessarily make people unhappy.

I say blessed, because I have learned much from all of my financial experiences....

And if you look across your life, at all the people you know, you will see that there is no correlation between wealth and happiness. People with a lot of money can find just as many things to be miserable about as people who are poor. People with fewer financial resources, in fact, often seem to be better able to find happiness in challenging circumstances.

Just some thoughts.

Toodles.

Housecleaning

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:54:00 +0000

I used to be obsessed with schedules and planning. An organized and clean house was inordinately important to me. This is one area (of many) where kids (and FlyLady) have been very good for me. Schedules become unbalanced in a moment’s notice. The best-laid plans go to hell in an instant. Even though I’m an expert housecleaner, I’m so outnumbered that cleanliness only happens when everyone is out of the house, but then I’m out of the house, too.

And what’s the point of the house, then?

In all honesty, every single day of the weak, several major catastrophes happen, even when I’m organized and running ahead of schedule. Someone barfs or pours a blueberry smoothie over their head or spills it on the couch, or the dog dumps over the recycling bin, or BooBoo gets glue in her hair, or the L-man puts lotion in his eye or Miss M stubs her toe and if there’s none of that, there’s always time for an unexpected blowout Poop-o-rama.

It’s the glamorous life I’m living, and I'm loving it.

Toodles.

Bad Tax Estimates

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:59:00 +0000

Did I mention I owe Uncle Sam AGAIN? Yes, for whatever reason, my CPA and I can’t seem to estimate the coming hit right. I did better this year…I owe just over $5,000. Last year I screwed up by $12,000. That was a fun check to write. Good times.

I did file on time. Points for that.

Happy birthday to my nephew Jesse and my little cousin Eden today!

Toodles.

Facebook Obsession

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Okay, attempt numero uno at the short blog posts and getting my blog back in gear. I’ve heard the angry roars from my followers (kidding).

Topic of the day…My current obsession with Facebook, which improved, but then got MUCH worse after my family developed the GI BUG FROM HELL. Psychological recovery from this has proven tougher than physical recovery. Since I’m a writer by trade and have my laptop on all but 5 hours a day, the checking Facebook thing has gotten out of hand. Those little red notification notices are too tempting to resist.

The silly applications are worse. Why do I even take time to do them? I guess for a little bit of non-kid fun. I’m addicted to Scrabble, Kidnap, Pieces of Flair and occasionally get tempted into other things like Vampire Wars, Little Green Patch, Little Blue Cove and the like.

I’ve been Tweeting a lot more. I’m learning a bit about how use it more professionally, but really just playing so far. I have about 600 followers and I really have no idea how that happened, but it’s made Twitter much more interesting.

I’m feeling very nostalgic this week and looking at the interconnectivity of life. So many of my friends know each other, but people from different parts of my life that I never thought would have met. I no longer think it’s six degrees of separation, I think it is more like one or two.

Digging through the patchwork of my life is proving to be very interesting.

Toodles.

Update on the pedophile neighbor

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:06:00 +0000

I wish I had been blogging, but honestly, I just had too much to do. Okay, in truth, my free time was taken up with my Facebook addiction. Luckily, I’m finding Facebook less addicting now. Turning off the email notifications has helped immensely with that.

Really, I was a little freaked out.

To just get down to it, my neighbor swallowed a lethal dose of unknown pills two days before the election. His trial would have been on Election Day. He was facing 20 felony counts for child pornography (plus tons of evidence and a confession) and such and I guess he couldn’t take the heat.

I had weird thoughts: Didn’t he wonder if President Obama would win? Why not the day of the trial? Why not three weeks ago? Why on a Saturday night? Where was the dog?

As those who know me well know, the month between when he posted bail and when he killed himself was challenging for me. I usually let things roll, but with the brain surgeon working weird hours and having the loose canon right next door, I had trouble sleeping and felt on edge often.

I knew he was going to kill himself. I worried he would shoot himself and a stray bullet would go through our wall or that he would take out more than just himself.

In some weird way, I feel very conflicted about his death, though. He was somebody’s son.

My children’s swim teacher, who had become our friend, killed himself just a short time before the pedophile neighbor did. It was so hard to understand, as suicide will always be. The brain surgeon was very torn apart about it – and he’s pretty tough, considering what he deals with every day. I was hysterical. It seems so senseless to me even now. Michael was this beautiful force of positive energy, loved by so many people. I know I will never understand.

We never really know people, I guess. People have their dark feelings.

So, when Michael killed himself and the pedophile posted bail, all I could think was, “Why do people like Michael kill themselves and people like [pedophile] don’t.” I wished the pedophile would. I wanted him to just disappear. Now I feel some terrible sense of guilt that he did.

He was a sick man. Everything I’ve read and heard says that you can’t rehabilitate a pedophile, but I’m not sure wishing death on them is the kindest course of action, either. The lead detective on the case, who had kept in contact with me, said there was no telling what he would have done if he remained free or when he was released.

The night of his discovery, I went into some sort of shock, even though I expected him to do it. I knew something was up all day. I didn’t see him or hear his dog. His morning paper remained untouched on his doormat. His Audi hadn’t moved.

When they found him, I sat plastered to my front window, watching the fire trucks and the ambulance come and go. I spoke to the police. I waited until the coroner arrived at 2:00 a.m. Then I watched them wheel him away. I’m not sure why I did any of this, because in doing so, I gave myself a permanent memory of the end of a sad waste of life that I don’t need. It isn’t exactly positive energy.

Now, a month later, there is still a police sticker on his door. His Audi is still there. It is eerily silent.

But I don’t have to worry about going to the park anymore or about him slamming his door or swearing at us when we walk by. In some sense, this five-year voyage to a little section of hell is over. Yet, he will always be in the landscape of my mind. Unwelcome in every way.

Perverted Pedophiles

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:25:00 +0000

Maybe it was foreshadowing, but about a while ago I took a break from blogging because my search engine data showed that some (I’m assuming) pedophile found my blog by searching (I’m going to put asterisks in hopes of not attracting more freaks) for “n*ked children v**inas.” I went through my blog and sure enough, I have all three words in it, though never together. Eeewwwwww.

Well yesterday morning (is this drama month or WHAT?) when the brain surgeon was brushing his teeth, we heard this POUNDING sound. Long story short, it is the police (lots of them) pounding on our neighbor’s door. They had a search warrant because somehow they figured out he was into child po*nog*aphy. See the California Penal Code he's arrested under here.

(Don’t worry…I’m sure I’ll get less paranoid and stop putting asterisks in everything).

The weird thing is this man has been awful to my children. I mean, nasty, rude, dreadful. He definitely doesn’t fit the: “Ya want some candy, Little Girl?” stereotype. Especially because we now know he’s into little boys. I have both, and either way, it’s creepy.

He isn’t bad looking, but he has always acted strange and angry. He drives an Audi A4, which he keeps remarkably clean. He used to go to work, but has been home for about two years, I think.

What I’m finding interesting now is how much we protect criminals to protect our values of innocence until proven guilty. It’s a tough balance, for sure. If he posts bail, he gets to come home and live next to our three children and us – and enjoy the view out of his bedroom of the toddler park – until his court date.

And he could come home. His bail is set at only $20,000, which means he needs to put up just $2,000 with a bail bondsman. And if we post warnings about him or notices of what happened, he can sue us for slander. Cool, ay?

Look: This guy in Barbara Boxer’s office was arrested last Friday for involvement in a kiddie porn ring and he’s already out of jail. Ick.

I hope that the freakshow cannot come up with the cash and will stay behind bars. Pedophiles are not so treatable, rumor has it, and I don’t even want him *looking* at my children in their winter clothes. If he gets to come back, we need to go, and that’s inconvenient on 10 different levels.

Plus, I’m now scared at night when the brain surgeon isn’t home.

Thanks freaky pedophile.

I Have Been Shat Upon Before, but Today Takes the Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:02:00 +0000

Here's a little something that happened on September 19th.

My oldest child is so psychic, and this story alone will sound like a silly way to say so, but let’s just leave it at that.

So today, after a couple of quick conference calls, we went to see the Animal Guys . (more on this and animal consciousness soon). Our playgroup had arranged for them to come to the park for a potluck show, and one of the other children was having a birthday party with a bounce house, too. It was cool and definitely educational for all, especially my daughter, since we are studying mammals.

Now, my youngest, who will be two in November, was in full potty training mode, refusing to wear diapers and such. I’d been indulging her for a couple of days and putting her in big-girl pants. She had been making it to the potty for the most part. I didn't use this video to train her:

As we approached the park, she started to yell “pee pee” while still in her car seat, so I told her we were almost there and to hold it. After we parked, I got all three kids out of their car seats (yes, even my 6-year-old) and we headed for the bathrooms. The older two were walking like snails, grabbing sticks and so on as children do, so I said, “Please hurry up or she’s gonna pee on my shirt.” My oldest said, “Mommy, you always pack us extra clothes, but you never pack any for yourself. Maybe you should.” “Good idea,” I said, but I’d never really needed one before, so I wasn’t really planning to follow through. (I did think it was a good idea, though).

Fast forward two hours and 10 trips to the bathroom made every time the one-who-is-now-fascinated-with-all-things-toilet-related yells “PEE PEE!” Mothers with 3-year-olds in pull-ups looked on with envy. I was a little proud, even though I had nothing to do with the early urge to potty train.

Well, somewhere between bounce house and birthday cake, I swooped my little one up for some reason (no idea) and plopped her on my hip, as usual, when yucky, hot, runny something landed upon my waist. I didn’t even have to look. I didn’t even want to know. I asked another mom to keep an eye on the older two and headed to the bathroom, pooh all over my hand and under my fingernails.

Too bad my eldest hadn’t had her little premonition about me needing a change of clothes, oh say, a day earlier. Poop was everywhere. Lots of it. Everywhere. I never understand how such little people can produce so much poop.

So, there I was, topless(and getting the top off without getting crap in my hair was no small endeavor) in a Los Angeles public bathroom with my naked baby, both of us covered in a river of crap. Literally. Luckily, I had clothes for her. I, on the other hand, had to wash my shirt out in the sink, during which time a nanny type came in with a baby. She initially looked at me stark-eyed like I was a homeless woman getting ready for the day, but then seemed to realize what happened.

Anyway, I could go on with all the gruesome details, but let’s suffice it to say that I’m glad it was warm out as I went back out to the gathering in my wet t-shirt and let’s all thank God it wasn’t white, or I would have been trapped in the bathroom for a while.

I have been shat upon before, but that was a pooh-athon to beat all pooh-athons.

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:53:00 +0000

Well, it’s time to get back to blogging. I can attribute my lack of blogging lately to two key things:

1. A slight (okay, slightly more than slight) Facebook addiction
2. My stat counter. It shows what keywords get people here and last month, one pervert found me by searching keywords that I will not repeat here (don’t need more perverts ending up here). Go away, Sicko!!!

Let’s start with a little Sarah Palin, because I just can’t get enough of her. This one’s worth watching.

On a personal note, life has been colorful, eventful and downright violent this week. First, the brain surgeon had a near-fistfight with someone who wanted to discipline our 3-year-old son for hitting his daughter. I have to admire my beloved’s restraint in the situation. I wasn’t there, but from what all of the bystanders said, the man deserved to get slugged.

It did bring up the question: When is it appropriate to discipline someone else’s child? My gut answer to that question is “never!” but it also depends on how one defines “discipline.” I happen to be a very gentle parent (unless I’m getting my period…go away hideous hormones!) and strict parents would likely call me “permissive.”

But there is a method to my ways. I don’t believe in spanking or doing time-outs. Why? I don’t believe either are effective, nor do I believe such discipline tactics help children learn to negotiate their way around the social intricacies of the world. Rather, they foster feelings of shame and resentment.

In the aforementioned instance, this man attempted to grab my child and “discipline” him for hitting his child. I don’t believe he was intending to hurt my little boy physically, but I do believe he was going to chastise him and try to force a fake 3-year-old apology. For whatever reason, my children say “sorry” freely, despite a lack of traditional punishment and despite the fact that I don’t force them to apologize, so aggression as a means to that end was just ludicrous.

When violence occurs, I remove the child from the situation and we talk about using words and not fists (or teeth!) and we talk about how the other person would feel. We often discuss whether or not we think people will want to play with kids who use their bodies rather than words to express feelings. We take time together to calm down. Usually at this point, my children will volunteer to apologize, because, in reality, they are gentle souls who lost control of their emotions in the heat of the moment. When the heat dissipates, they feel sad about what they’ve done.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, to me, too.

To that man, I want to say: If grown men lose control of their emotions and almost get physical over my 3-year-old, I think it’s okay that my 3-year-old has not learned to control his emotions. He needs guidance, not punishment.

Luckily, I have a 6-year-old daughter who is ridiculously gentle now, despite also using her body to communicate when she was 3. It gives me confidence in our parenting choices despite the jerkface trying to do the job for us because he clearly thought wew were inept.

But on the violence and setting a good example note, I failed miserably yesterday. I punched someone in the face and split her lip open.

Yep. It’s true.

In one of the more surreal experiences of my human existence, I pulled behind a white Jeep SUV yesterday at the exit of a parking structure. There were no lines and a minimal wait. The driver of the SUV decided she was in the wrong lane and signaled for me to reverse, which I did. I then pulled into the next lane.

Apparently Jeep SUV lady didn’t like this, because she began screaming at me to move. I tried to back up again, but couldn’t, and she kept swearing at me and yelling to let her in front (by this time, we both could have easily gone). I calmly and inappropriately said, “I would if you weren’t being such a b***h.”

Well, turns out soccer mom #2 didn’t like soccer mom #1 (moi) calling her names, because she got out of her car (which I later found out had kids inside), walked around my car, reached in my front window, grabbed my ponytail and smacked me in the face.

So, I punched her in the mouth (thanks, cardio Thai boxing class!) and then somehow kicked her in the chest (I’m flexible, but did scrape my leg on the window). She walked away and called me the C word, and then kept yelling with blood covering her front teeth.

I honestly did not hit her that hard. It feels really weird that I made someone bleed.

The security guards and parking attendants at Hollywood and Highland were useless. They got on their walky talkies, but just observed her attack and called the police. They didn’t come help me during the attack. They wouldn’t let her out, however, and signaled to me to block her in, which I did until she reversed and threatened to hit my car with her car.

Then, psycho soccer mom reversed all the way through the parking lot to escape, but they caught her at the other gate.

Then it got complicated, because she claimed she just walked over to “talk” to me and that I randomly hit her. To make matters worse, she was swollen and bleeding and I was unmarked. Luckily, witnesses corroborated my story, but for a good while, I thought we were both going to jail. That would have been something to blog about!

In the end, I didn’t press battery charges. Her children would have ended up in custody, since her husband was out of town and she had no one to pick them up. She cried and said she was under a lot of stress and so on, and I figure that being held for two hours with fear of arrest likely taught her a road rage lesson.

Late last night, the brain surgeon and I were laughing about how comical the whole thing must have looked...Two soccer moms in t-shirts, leggings, tennis shoes and ponytails brawling through a minivan window.

Classic.

Paul Newman dies and my former sorority sister is senior advisor for McCain

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Rarely am I saddened when a celebrity, especially one I don’t know (said as if I know so many) dies, but I’m really sad about Paul Newman. He died yesterday at the age of 83, having lost his personal battle with cancer.

Although he’s nearly as old as my own grandparents, there was such a young spirit about him. Besides being a phenomenal actor, he was also an activist and had a warm heart. How could anyone resist old blue eyes?

Goodbye Paul Newman. I know the whole world will miss you.

On a weird note, I’m not sure how I missed the fact that the former president of my sorority house (my pledge and initiation year) is the senior advisor for McCain. She’s all over the airways right now. Perhaps it’s because I don’t watch television very often and have to wait for it all on YouTube.

That makes a few Pi Beta Phis in the news this year (my personal fave is the brilliant and beautiful Eyee Hsu, who did some fabulous Olympic corresponding from Bejing), but I have to say, when you’re a flaming liberal like me, the news of Nicolle Devinish (now Wallace) is just plain fun.

Nicolle Wallace was always a staunch republican, even in such a liberal place as U.C. Berkeley, where we all went to college. That’s one of the only things I remember about her (besides the fact that she frequently spent the night at the Zate house). As our president, she had political fortitude even then and a way of staying pleasantly neutral and cute.

Did I like her then? I think I did. Although she had a reputation for being phony, she was always sweet on the surface.

I cannot judge Nicolle Wallace as a person today. I haven’t seen her in over a decade. But as a political figure, I can only say I’m thoroughly unimpressed with her positions, although she definitely remains poised, yet strong, under pressure and delivers her lines eloquently. She usually makes McCain and Palin look as good as they could ever look, which isn’t great considering their myriad deficiencies, but not for a lack of effort on Nicolle’s part.

Oh, and she isn’t so nice to the media, of which I am a member.

However, like our President Bush, Mrs. Wallace can party. Was it I who held her hair back while she bowed to the porcelain gods after that college party?

I’ll never tell.

Happy, Happy Birthday...Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 05:50:00 +0000

On the East Coast, my daughter is now 6 and I have just over an hour until she turns 6 here on the Pacific Coast.

It is so cliché, but my how time flies.

This song from Mamma Mia makes me so mindful of it all, but it also makes me CRY CRY CRY...

And this one my dear friend played for me a few years ago, after her mother played it for her, and I still can't get through it without sobbing. Although I'm not a huge country fan, Martina McBride sings it so beautifully.

My firstborn and I had a little ritual tonight to say goodbye to 5. We had our last snuggle while she was 5, our last goodnight kiss and then a last 5 photo. Then we talked about how 5 will always be a part of her and that it isn’t really goodbye 5…just hello 6.

Less than a decade ago, I was such a different person. The rapid aging of my firstborn continually reminds me of how little time I have to get it right.

Not sure what “it” is, but I do have a constant yearning to get “it” right.

I remain in awe of the way the birth of this child transformed me. I was a feminist. Now I’m a new kind of feminist. I never believed I could stay home with children (How boring! How mindless!), and I never considered homeschooling (What wackos!), but now I spend the majority of my time finding ways to do both.

When I left medicine (and when medicine, in turn, left me), I felt like I’d go back. Medicine seemed the perfect combination of care giving and intellectualizing. But it is not that at all. While it is another topic, I know that what I do now is so much more important than what I thought I’d do then.

By virtue of my checkered past, many of my friends are physicians. Lately, by virtue of our age, many of those same friends are having children. They bear them while full of guilt for leaving their colleagues when they take blunted maternity leaves. They enjoy their babies a precious 6 weeks or 12 weeks or even 4 weeks before handing them off to spend much of their waking hours cared for by someone else (in the best cases, a relative) and it’s really hard. It’s heartbreaking.

As my daughter turns 6, I’m even more grateful that I have been so blessed to be able to provide for our family in such creative ways.

A few friends have given me such deep perspectives on life and the value of these children I’ve chosen to have, as have the children, of course. Really, there is nothing more important than raising them, nothing more precious than these moments that I am fortunate enough to share with them.

My daughter has taught me so much in her 6 short years. She truly has transformed me. As she grows, I miss every person I lose along the way. I will never hold that newborn again. I will never again watch her learn to walk. I will never again have to help her remember her ABCs. That baby is gone and if I think about it too much, it makes me profoundly sad.

Yet, I’m so excited to see who she is becoming. It’s hard to stay sad when there is so much to look forward to.

And each moment gone reminds me of how important it is to cherish every second...every silly tantrum, every funky desire, the 100,000th step...everything. These will be the stories we will share. This is the creation of our family history and our individual life histories. These moments -- each one of them -- create the person she will be regardless of which hat she eventually chooses to wear.

I asked her how the last 5 years have been and she said, “Really happy!”

I hope she always feels that way about her life.

I’m grateful for each moment of every day with her.

Happy birthday, Baby.

Homeschooling Fashionistas!

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:16:00 +0000

I’m only on my computer to write, but when I hit a block, I take 5 to 10 minutes to either:

Check and respond to email
Play on YouTube
Mess about on FaceBook
Google my friends (current and long lost) to see what they’re up to

So, I’m messing around on FaceBook yesterday, searching groups. I’ve added some groups on FaceBook and I have no idea why. Is there a purpose? Whatever.

Anyway, I’m into homeschooling, so I decided to check that out and I came across the VICTIMS OF HOMESCHOOL FASHION group.

Thank God I had a toilet near me, because things like that make me wanna pee. I mean, denim jumpers. Seriously.

So do things like this:

(The best part, is Mr. T is totally for real in this 80s fashion extravaganza.)

It all brought me back to thinking about the homeschooling community and the weird factor.

The truth is, not all homeschoolers are alike. I’ve seen fashionable homeschoolers.

But not many.

And I really don’t care what people wear. My friends come in all shapes and sizes, and many simply have different priorities – though some of my friends are extremely fashion oriented and make fashion really fun for moms and women in general.

However, after that conference, this fashion thing continued to weigh on my mind. I finally realized that what has piqued my interested isn’t really the blatant disregard for personal appearance on the part of more than a few in the homeschooling community, but the fact that looking purposely blah seems to be part of the culture.

In the group settings, lipstick wearing feels almost sacrilege and high heel wearing feels just plain hookerish.

When I had this epiphany, I had to call my friend who had attended the homeschooling conference with me. When at first I mentioned this homeschooling fashion thing a while ago, she simply said, “Seek help.”

Gotta love authentic friends.

She finally got what I was itchy about…AND admitted they were actually discussing this in one of the sessions.

In truth, there is an idea among some (many?) homeschoolers that you have to be ALL about the children and if you are a hottie mom, then you must be all about yourself.

I’ve also heard derogatory remarks about clean houses. Like, if your house is actually clean, you must be one of those parents – more interested in sterility and appearances than in letting your children play and enjoy equality in the household.

But that’s not true. Some people just have plenty of energy to do it all. Other people have housekeepers. Still others simply go out a lot and don’t have a lot of time to mess the house up. And still more are into FlyLady (I love FlyLady!).

The homeschooling community is very diverse and it is pretty much impossible to generalize, although I won’t say I saw a lot of Jimmy Choo or Prada at the CHN Expo.

But it brings me back to my thoughts about whether homeschooled kids are weird. Really, I didn’t meet a lot of weird ones. There were a few, for sure, but mostly because they were freaky smart, and there certainly weren’t any more than there are in the general public.

On a VERY POSITIVE note, those who were on the weirder side of the spectrum seemed happy and confident compared to their schooled counterparts, probably due to being spared a lifetime of teasing and bullying and to having the freedom to be their authentic selves.

And I think weird is a good thing. I really do. Still, appearances matter. They do. Call me shallow, but I’m not buying a denim jumper. Ever.

Well, maybe if it looks like this hee hee.

Today’s gratitude journal:

I’m grateful that I don’t own, and never have owned, never will own, nor does my (insert mother, sister, best friend, etc.) own a denim jumper.
I’m grateful that my dog doesn’t shed or drool, and usually doesn’t stink too badly.
I’m grateful that the brain surgeon got a raise in his pathetic salary.
I’m grateful that I’m writing regularly.
I’m grateful for the chance to carry, birth, grow and nurture my babies.

Toodles!

Boobs are multipurpose, and it's a beautiful thing!

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:00:00 +0000

I read this article the other day about women giving up on breastfeeding and it made me sad.

I have major issue when women decide not to breastfeed or give up due to some little thing. I try not to. Mostly I'm annoyed with the medical community and their casual attitude about it. Then I think about formula and the millions of people raised on it (myself included, for all but my first three months) and I think, well how bad can it be? People who resort to formula always say everyone turns out alright.

Of course, I do wonder, is everyone really alright? The formula generations are coincidentally coinciding with the obesity generations. That’s just one example, but numerous studies show the benefits of breastfeeding for everything from cancer risk to obesity to intelligence.

Still, I try to shut my mouth, because – for many people – being a mother is hard work. I find myself riding a hard line constantly between being supportive of the mother and advocating for the child.

For example, do I share my (likely unwanted) opinions and be one of those women who makes uncomfortable, judgmental comments that make other mothers feel bad? No. That doesn’t get anyone anywhere. Do I shut my mouth and control my lactivist urges? No. Then I’m not authentic.

Somehow, I try to find some middle ground. I try to support the woman and her baby. I try to be a positive example of breastfeeding and always offer to help.

And often I ask myself, why do I even care what other women feed their babies? The truth is, I have no idea why I care, but I do – even though I try not to.

But, Geeze, how weird is our society? People think it is just fine for children and adults to drink cow breastmilk (though baby cows don't even drink it as adults), yet they think it is weird to feed their own babies.

Strange, isn’t it?

Here is a beautiful breastfeeding video:

That video likely makes some people uncomfortable. Part of the problem is that many people cannot get the either-or mentality out of their minds. In other words, the breasts are sexual OR for feeding children and not both. But the truth is, they are sexual...and they are for feeding babies.

For more information,
Read this about the ingredients in formula.
Also, here’s a study on MSG in formula (which is a neurotoxin). Remember, there are many other names for MSG.

For breastfeeding entertainment, check out the comics by this great comic creator - who also happens to be a very cool homeschooling mom in Southern California.

Learn about breastfeeding. Encourage mothers. Support mothers. And if you have some weird issues with boobs, get therapy or do whatever you need to do to get over them. They are just boobs, after all.

Also, I'm not buying a stupid Hooter Hider until someone invents a Hairy Butt Crack Hider.

Did you seriously click on that link? If you did, well, you know. If you didn't...I really did find a hairy butt crack for you. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy.

Oh, and I love this t-shirt. Hilarious. Making milk is just one of my superpowers. The brain surgeon will attest to that.

Boobs are multipurpose, and it's a beautiful thing!

Toodles!

Unschooling Recordkeeping, Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:03:00 +0000

After going to the Expo, I had the inspiration to see what our life really looks like and how that fits into unschooling. Do we do “enough?” Am I a sort of unschooler? Are the kids really learning all the time? Should I practice keeping records in light of the fragile state of homeschooling in California?

By the way, our rights have been upheld for now, as of last Friday. Hooray! Support local homeschooling organizations to keep this an option for all families. Think twice before you withhold support: I was totally against homeschooling before and have had a complete turnaround, so I highly recommend learning all about it before forming an opinion.

First, here is one of my favorite YouTube videos ever, which has nothing and yet everything to do with homeschooling and childrearing:

Anyhoo, I downloaded this unschooling record keeper from The Home School Mom. I filled it out for a week and this is what it looked like:

Books I read aloud or with DD5:
M: A few chapters of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
T: A few chapters of The Magician’s Nephew (book 1 of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis)
Th: A few more chapters of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and a few chapters of Peter Pan.
Th through Su: Finished the Magician’s Nephew.

Audiobooks we listened to this week (all read by Jim Weiss ):
Stone Soup
Puss in Books
Rapunzel
The Brenen Town Musicians (Grimm)
Rumpelstiltskin (Grimm)
Things Could Always be Worse (Jewish folktale)
The Shoemaker and the Elves

Movies/Videos/TV watched:
M: Dragontales (PBS)
T: Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (Noggin)
W: Sesame Street (PBS)
F: Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Franklin (Noggin)
S: Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch (Noggin)
Su: Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch (Noggin)

Classes/lessons attended:
Sa: Time-4-learning lessons (she volunteers to go do these and picks what she wants)
1.Background: It's Puzzling! Sound (Language Arts Extensions)
2. Story: Pasquale Goes to Market Read Along (Language Arts Extensions)
3. Story: Pasquale Goes to Market Read to Me (Language Arts Extensions)
4. Background: It's Puzzling! Consumers and Producers (Language Arts Extensions)
5. Phonics: Review ed (Language Arts)
6. Phonics: Review long o (Language Arts)
Su: Home cooking class (vegan agave apple pie with whole wheat crust) with discussions about nutrition, fractions and measuring.

Miscellaneous academia:
T: 1 hour French Lyric lessons in car
W: Verbal Math lesson 1
Th: Ocean ecology and marine biology at beach; 15 minutes French Lyric lessons
Sa: Human anatomy from “Looking into my Body” book and daddy’s spine model
Daily: Counting to 100 dance

Projects:
M: Painting and art at the Boone Children’s Gallery
T: Painting
W: Play-doh and Floam free sculpting. (If you haven't played with Floam, you must, even if you aren't a kid. Also, try Moon Sand. Buy it or, for even more fun, make your own.) Planted a thyme plant and forget-me-not flowers.
Sa: Creating cards and drawings for upcoming birthday invitations at Libby Lu, which my daughter loves, although it might just be the future shallow anorexia victim training unit.

Field Trips:
M: Boone Children’s Gallery and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA
T: Kidspace Children’s Museum free family night
Th: Beach (marine biology and ocean ecology talks; sandcastles; swimming)
Sa: Grocery store (budget help; discussed different stores, picking fruits and veggies); took dogs to dog park.
Su: Courtyards Children’s Play Group. Brought felt solar system and taught the adults all about the planets. (FYI, not one adult there could name the planets in order from the sun, although most knew Pluto is a moon).

Discussions:
Helping out. DD5 would like to have "jobs" around the house, like clearing the table, vacuuming and feeding our lovely dog.
She really wants to master reading so she can read the big books (like the Narnia books) by herself.
She really likes verbal math, but doesn’t like worksheets.

Skills observed:
Many, many, but my favorite thing was when DD5 made up a story called “The Owl Who Was Not Nocturnal and His Friend the Bat.” It was deep.

Side note: As we all know, relationships and life in general become complex when we go against the norm. What a struggle for the owl and the bat! We decided we're going to co-author a children’s story and her Grandma Teri will illustrate it.

Physical Activity:
Lots of running, dancing, swimming, biking.
Th, F, Sa, Su: Pool
Th: Beach

Sa: Long bike ride

Okay, that’s what I recorded. Of course, there was much more to the week with lots of amazing, imaginative play and bonding with our friends who were in town.

Really, how could school ever beat such a rich and full week? The best part is that EVERY week is this great.

Here's my gratitude journal for the day:
1. I'm still feeling grateful that my mom is recovering from an infection and not another bout of breast cancer.
2. I'm grateful for the brain surgeon and how he always manages to give so much of himself to us, even though he gives and gives and gives at work all day long.
3. I'm grateful for my terrific friends.
4. I'm grateful for my children and the wonderful family members that surround them.
5. I'm grateful for FlyLady, because I've finally listened to her about the laundry and I'm loving it!

That line about the laundry is kinda pathetic, huh?

Toodles!

Mommy Breast Cancer Scare

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:11:00 +0000

I have to thank you guys for the occasional reminder email when I get behind or don’t finish what I was trying to say. I dropped off the face of the earth (though not off the FaceBook of the earth!) for a variety of reasons.

The main reason for my absence is that my mother suddenly developed unilateral cellulitis in the breast that she had cancer in almost exactly five years ago. The scary part of the whole thing is that it looked exactly like inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), which is the most aggressive form of breast cancer there is.

I tried not to freak out, but I did. I don’t want my mother going through breast cancer treatment again. She’s already had a lumpectomy, lymph node dissection, radiation, chemotherapy in addition to multiple biopsies and boob-squishing procedures. Plus, she’s on the most awful follow-up medication on the planet, which makes her walk like she’s 100 years old rather than 60.

Anyway, we are all so so so thankful it was just an infection. I had no idea, really, that cellulitis could be so well-demarcated on one breast and look just like IBC. The only clinical difference, really, was the low-grade fever she had and the fact that the antibiotics are working.

I had a wonderful grandmother (my mother's mother) who developed breast cancer when I was about my DD5’s age, and who died about 5 years later. That was my Grandma Irma and I still miss her so. I have such vivid memories of her. And that was so much of what was with me this last week…My DD5 is so very close with my mother and I couldn’t bear the thought of either of us losing her or her going through what I went through with my own grandmother at such a young age.

What a scare.

Okay, well, onto requests. How's that for an abrupt subject change?

I love hearing about favorite posts and so first I’ll tell you what people are reading most on here:
One of the most read posts is the Guinea Pig Gas Chamber Confession and a related post here. The next most read is I Have Fake Nails and My Children Swear so I had a Brain Surgeon Dinner Party.

I enjoy musing about why people like reading about my role in guinea pig euthanasia, but the fake nails post is particularly kitschy, so I get that one.

I also put up a lame pole for fun (see on right) and although people are reading this page, hardly anyone votes, a testament to its true lameness. I’ll get more creative. I promise.

Okay, so I’ve been reminded that I didn’t finish talking about the California Homeschool Network 2008 Expo, so I will do that briefly.

On Saturday, my two favorite sessions were “The Unradical Unschooler” and “Will the Real Unschooler Please Stand Up?” I think I’ve mentioned that I’m very fascinated by the unschooling concept in general, and these sessions were very cool. I read multiple Radical Unschooling boards regularly, but I’m not 100 percent aligned with the concept and its cultish feel at times. Still, I learn much. For now, I’m still categorizing myself as “relaxed eclectic,” because I’m am a bit of a dork who gets a rush out of buying curriculum type things (although I never use them as the creators intend) and of creating plans and schedules.

I ended up speaking up quite a bit in the “Will the Real Unschooler Please Stand Up?” session, and I was pretty excited that I could answer a lot of the newbie questions (even though I’m not a total unschooler myself). That was fun.

The most terrific part about Saturday was the Grandparents session and the Dad’s session, as my children had three grandparents and their dad present. They all went to the sessions. They found the crowd interesting and entertaining at their respective sessions, but really, the grandparent session seemed to be more about the naysayer types. Our kids are so lucky to have such loving and supportive grandparents who already are so on board with homeschooling.

The brain surgeon liked the dad session, especially because they kept talking about expectations and mentioned a few times how not all kids will grow up to be brain surgeons. You have to love the constant barrage of brain surgeon comments when you actually are one. We also have a scientist friend in our DD1’s playgroup who happens to work on rockets.

One rocket scientist and one brain surgeon, coming up!!!

However, they did mention in the dad meeting that we should have a "Board of Education" meeting (comprised of the two of us) once a month, so we decided that was a great excuse for a dinner date.

We went to a French restaurant, and as president of our private school, I told him what my current (constantly changing) unplan was, he said "okay" and we noshed on viddles.

So Saturday at the conference, we mostly hung out as a big happy family and had fun. I won a few door prizes and a $25 gift certificate to the vendor hall.

I was a bit annoyed because the brain surgeon was sick all weekend. He is always overworked and exhausted, so he is often worn out on weekends off (which really sucks because he only gets one every 12 days). It's not his fault so I know I'm being a major bi-atch to even be annoyed, but it is annoying. ANNOYING.

Sunday, my favorite session was Disney Schooling, although it was challenging watching my three kiddies during the session and listening from the doorway (since said brain surgeon was in bed recovering from work). That was a VERY cool session!!! I’m going to add Disney Schooling to my homeschool adventures (and maybe Hogwart Homeschooling, too!). I’ll keep ya posted.

Gratitude entry for the day:

I’m SO SO SO grateful that my mother has a breast infection (as hideous and horrible as it is) and not inflammatory breast cancer.
I’m SO SO SO grateful that my mother has a breast infection (as hideous and horrible as it is) and not inflammatory breast cancer.
I’m SO SO SO grateful that my mother has a breast infection (as hideous and horrible as it is) and not inflammatory breast cancer.
I’m SO SO SO grateful that my mother has a breast infection (as hideous and horrible as it is) and not inflammatory breast cancer.
I’m SO SO SO grateful that my mother has a breast infection (as hideous and horrible as it is) and not inflammatory breast cancer.

That one was worth repeating!

Okay, that’s it for now.

Toodles!

Homeschooling Conference Part I: The Weird Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:52:00 +0000

My apologies for being off for a few days without warning, but I decided at the last minute to try a computer fast since I’m connected far too often, despite my unswerving resistance to getting a Treo, BlackBerry, iPhone or the like. However, my little laptops (one IBM, one Mac) and my Sprint card are enough to keep me overly connected.

But I did it and I survived. It was quite nice.

As you know, I went to the California Homeschool Network 2008 Family Expo with several members of my family in tow. I, the brain surgeon, our three kids and three of their grandparents attended. My friend and her two children came along, as well, and we all had adjoining hotel rooms.

Overall, it was a great time and I learned quite a bit. It was a wonderful experience.

I think I’ll split this into three posts, since the conference was three days and tonight I’ll talk about day 1 (which was Friday).

First, I’m going to talk about the weird factor, and thereby risk completely alienating myself from the entire homeschooling community:

One of the common fears about homeschooling is that homeschoolers will – by the very nature of homeschooling – raise weird kids. I’ve always thought this was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I mean, I went to private school until 8th grade and there were weird kids there. Then I went to public high school in a very hip and affluent school district and guess what? There were weird kids there, too. Then I went to college, grad school and med school and – you guessed it – weird people were enrolled in all of these. Med school, in particular, was geekville (it just doesn’t seem to attract a lot of ex-cheerleaders or prom queens, although there are a few).

I say that the primary determinant of weirdness is parents. Weird parents tend to produce weird kids and cool parents generally produce cool kids (however you want to define each…the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and so on). While it is not always the case, it is indeed often so.

So, I deduced, the same would also be true in the homeschooling community – there would be a balance of weird, less weird and more typically cool, just like there is anywhere else.

But I am wrong. Astonishingly wrong.

Granted, I am told that only 3 percent of all California homeschoolers (currently counted as 166,000) are members of the California Homeschool Network (join already, people!), and not all of those attended the conference. Still, it might be safe to assume that the conference would hold a representative sample of homeschoolers in general, since in attendance was everyone from the right-wing super conservative Holy Roller homeschoolers to the anything-goes types.

One person, who shall remain nameless, had this to say about the group aesthetics:

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many unattractive people gathered together in one place.”

Ouch.

I have heard many homeschoolers talk about how they don’t want their children to be bullied or how they never fit in during school, and I can’t help but think that this is why many of them are homeschooling. While I agree that school sucks, the social parts were what always kept me going. Socially, I loved school. It was the academics (boring, often irrelevant and very arbitrary), the teachers (lame with a few notable exceptions) and the bureaucracy (wasteful, useless, coercive, controlling) that I had issues with. Socially, I thought it was a blast.

I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world…

(Did you know Mattel sued over that song?).

But really, many of the conference attendees seemed to have just given up when it comes to appearances. I saw coke-bottle glasses that looked as if the wearers went into the eyeglass store and said, “I want the most unattractive glasses you have, and not the kind that are intentionally ugly to make a fashion statement,” as well as hair that just grows – no cuts, no style and certainly no color. No shampoo for the frizziest of menopausal hair.

That’s all good and fine. I’m all for letting go of our shallower selves, but I can’t wonder how much of the appearances were self-esteem issues and how much of them had tortured social lives during their childhoods that are motivating them to homeschool.

Like, I just wanna misfit in!

So that’s my take on the weird factor. To combat it, I’m going to sign my daughter up for cheerleading camp next week. (kidding)

As for the actual conference, on day 1, we tried to get there for the first session, but missed it, so my first session was “Fearless Homeschooling” led by Tammy Takahashi, who has this Website. I had all three kids and no real backup at this point, so I actually heard very little of what she said and had to bail out early. My friend stayed and took notes. Homeschooling is scary…jump in, and so on.

Then we decided we’d trade off for the rest of the day. There were so many things to choose from, it was tough. The next session I attended was by a homeschooling ER doctor who talked about ADHD diagnoses and whether a child has ADHD or is a kinesthetic learner. I worry about my little boy in this regard, because he is EXTREMELY active…like if I throw him in a group of 40 other 2- to 4-year-old boys, he will be the most active – by far. However, he’s also far ahead of the bell curve on every developmental milestone and can concentrate for long periods of time.

Well, I gained pounds of reassurance from this physician as well as several tips to help keep me sane and be of assistance to my little ball of energy.

During the next session, I babysat the five-under-5 while my friend hopped around the sessions and then we all got in the FOOD LINE FROM HELL and had the strangest veggie burgers ever followed by an ice cream sundae line, which (JOY!) included soy ice cream. That night, I took the five-under-5 to a bedtime story with Jim Weiss while my friend session-hopped again. Jim is a professional storyteller and I dropped some serious cash on his CDs before the conference ended. I highly recommend you check him out for books on CD. He categorizes them by age…preschool up to adult. He’s super entertaining.

That was it for Friday. The brain surgeon was operating very late, so slept at home, and my mother blew into town around bedtime. I read the middle third of the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia (since we left the Harry Potter book we were reading at our friends’ house) to my babes in bed and we all crashed.

Here are five things I’m grateful for today:

I’m grateful that my children constantly spill things on the floor, because it helps me keep the floors spic and span.
I’m grateful for all the people who put together the CHN 2008 Expo and volunteered their time, allowing us to have an amazing weekend.
I’m grateful for my husband, who had the same boyish energy my darling little boy has – and is a shining example of how that excess energy can be channeled.
I’m grateful for our little home, because there is less for me to clean and it’s easier to keep track of all the little ones.
I’m grateful for my parents (all of them), because they are so incredibly supportive and wonderful.

That’s all for now. More about day 2 (along with more astonishing and shallow revelations) tomorrow.

Toodles!

My Friends are Hoo Hoos -- and I'm Totally Not Lion

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:53:00 +0000

Okay, here’s a video my friend Tom made.

I had to share this because I think it is just freaking funny and that Tom might be insane. I realize it might only be funny because I know him. Tom is an example of the types of hoo hoos I seem to bond with in general. I hate to say this if you are one of my friends – or one of my almost-friends – because that makes you a hoo hoo, too. I tend to meet arrogant hoo hoos…the types who are hoo hoos but have no clue about their overall hooeyness.

Oh, and for a definition, my “almost-friends” are those people I might have been true friends with pre-kids, when I had time to have coffee, drinks or dinner with random people and nurture those for-no-reason-other-than-the-fact-that-I-think-you’re-cool relationships. Now, I tend to just hang out with other people who have kids. If you have children, you get this. Also, the people I hang out with typically have young kids. If you have or ever had young kids, you also get this.

Navigating these friendships is trickier than a one-on-one friendship, however, because the kids and the adults all have to get along, or else it just doesn’t work.

And when it comes to getting along, you better either have similar parenting ideas or a belief that other people’s parenting ideas are their own, because getting judgmental on the parenting front is just asking for trouble.

And these mommy cliques…well they can be vicious. We’re talking meow…hiss…scratch.

This weekend I’ll be blogging from the California Homeschool Network 2008 Family Expo. I know. I know. I keep talking about it, but I’m just so excited. I dig this homeschooling thing, because I like that alternative buzz it gives me. I get to be controversial without dying my hair pink or sharing TMI…or rather, TMsI (the s is for “sex”). Tra la la.

I’m planning to keep up my gratitude journal. Have you started yours? If not, you should.

Here’s my how to on the gratitude journal:

Get a notebook, a piece of paper, a computer or whatever else you can put your thoughts to physically.

Write down at least five things you are grateful for every day.

Read over it occasionally.

Step 3 is optional, but I find it to be an additional source of inspiration if I’m feeling negative. Okay, yes, I’ve only been doing this for a few days, but I’m a believer that this will change my attitude entirely. It already has changed my mood.

If you do this, I’d love for you to share your entries. Write me or paste them into the comments section (I have no idea how to show the comments yet, but I’m working on it).

Here are my five gratitude entries for the day:

I’m grateful for my newest writing/editing gig at FiercePharma, because the people there seem really nice, even though we’ve only spoken via phone and Internet.

I’m grateful that I’m no longer in the world of academic medicine and that I provide truly comprehensive care to the people who matter the most to me in the world – my children.

I’m grateful for the option to homeschool our children.

I’m grateful for Earth Café, who makes the best raw vegan cheesecake on the planet.

I’m grateful for birth control and reproductive freedom.

Okay, now is this video for real…

or are these people lion?

I’m now laughing hysterically at my own stupid joke.

Toodles!

The End of the Fast

noreply@blogger.com (Mommy Makes it Meatless) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:13:00 +0000

I suck at daily blogging. That’s okay.

Let go of perfectionism…let go of perfectionism…let go of perfectionism…

I made it almost through DAY SEVEN...sort of. I did a little browsing about the Master Cleanse just before going to bed including some information on the man who first developed and promoted it, Stanley Burroughs, who is widely considered a quack. That’s all fine and good, but I also believe the true health benefits of fasting most typically come from a water fast, if at all, because really the body is still processing something on any other type of fast.

Still, the perfectionist in me wanted to finish, just because I said I would. However, when I started to prepare my Master Cleanse concoction in the morning, I realized I had downed an entire liter of maple syrup in less than a week. Now I don’t eat much processed food, so pancakes are rare, but if I do eat a bite of someone else’s pancake, I usually go for the part without the syrup. The fact that I had consumed that much sugar suddenly grossed me out. So, I switched to a juice fast right then and combined my lemons with some oranges and spinach and had a huge, tasty smoothie.

When it came time to make the kids' lunch, I decided I’d just eat. So I did. I didn’t phase back in. I didn’t do anything special. I was totally fine. This might be because the food we make at home is vegan and we generally don't eat a lot of processed foods.

I will say this about the Master Cleanse if you are into crash diets (I’m not)…you drop a ton of weight very quickly. Even my skinny jeans were roomy.

Since I didn’t blog for a few days, I didn’t do my gratitude journal entries, so I’m going to make a longer list of 15. Here goes:

I’m grateful that my children are so forgiving when I’ve had a bad mommy moment.
I’m grateful that the brain surgeon gets the whole weekend off next weekend so he can come to CHN's 2008 Family Expo with us.
I’m grateful that my step mom is walking in the Avon 3-day, that nobody I love has cancer and that my mom is in remission.
I’m grateful that I have such a huge, loving family.
I’m grateful that I have caring, brilliant, strong-minded-yet-gentle-spirited women that I can call friends.
I’m grateful that I have work that is intellectually stimulating, constantly evolving, interesting and flexible and – most importantly – that I can mostly work from home and be with my babies.
I’m grateful that my great big minivan holds our whole family, tons of crap and yet still gets pretty great gas mileage.
I’m grateful that I, the brain surgeon and our children are healthy.
I’m grateful for our doggie.
I’m grateful that I live in a walking neighborhood.
I’m grateful that the psychobitch I become when I’m PMSing is not my true self, and that she’s only around for about three days a month.
I’m grateful that I no longer have to walk the dog (through the gate, down the stairs) with my newborn in a sling and my toddler on one hip while holding my 4-year-old’s hand, a dog leash and some poop bags.
I’m grateful that my friend told me about Jon and Kate Plus 8, which ends any pity party I might be trying to host for myself during an intense parenting day. (Trust me...if you think you've got a tough parenting gig, check those two out!)
I’m glad that I can’t remember the last time my children were sick.
I’m glad that my husband is the most involved father I know.

That was easy.

I swear, I’ve only been doing this for a few days and my outlook is brighter. It pays to have gratitude.

On another note, I love this blog post on an unschooled kid (as in no school or lessons EVER), who decided to go to public high school for his freshman year.

I know I already said it, but I’m so excited to go to the CHN Conference, and I’m super excited to go to the “Unradical Unschooling” and the “Will the Real Unschooler Please Stand Up” sessions. Really, there are so many sessions I'm excited about that I cannot even attend them all. Plus, we're meeting up with our favorite homeschooling family and bringing the grandparents.

Finally, after my fast ended, the brain surgeon wanted to have a little party, since he finally was able to come home after about 4 nonstop days in two hospitals, so he brought us each a delightful cupcake from the world famous Sprinkles Cupcakes. Mine was cherry. For the record, Sprinkles cupcakes come in a wonderful variety of flavors that are not vegan, are not raw and certainly are not part of the Master Cleanse, but they are fabulous. And that's coming from someone who doesn't particularly like cake or cupcakes. Now that’s cheating. Mmmmmm…Then the brain surgeon’s pager went off again and he left. Boo hoo.

Toodles!