Up to speed

Sadly it's been a long dry spell without time for blogging.  That's because it's been a very busy time in real life. For the most part, it's been a good busy.  There has been some turmoil at the workplace, but other than that it's all been positive. And there's always going to be some kind of drama anywhere you work. At least that's my philosophy.  I try to be very go-with-the-flow and avoid all the mess that I can.  Life is an adventure, why make it a bad one right?!

We've taken a few trips, about to take one more, done some spring cleaning, visited with friends, explored new hobbies... fun stuff!  It's just meant that I haven't had time at the end of the day to hop on the computer and write.  All in all the computer is now a very tiny part of my life.

I've been vegetarian for about 10 months now and am so happy that I changed my eating habits.  I love the flavors and variety that you can experience eating veggie, and I now have no problem requesting veggie options at restaurants.  I used to be timid about it, afraid that I'd get eye rolls or spit in my food.  Now I'm bold and eager to make requests.  My favorite is when they check back to see if this or that ingredient is ok, basically to see if I want it vegan.  Usually I very graciously thank them and request that because it means they're aware and I love that.

Another new development is that I'm now lactose intolerant.  I had a couple weeks where I did not eat or drink any dairy.  When my mother-in-law came into town, we ate out a lot and that led me to having dairy again.  I woke up sick each morning from the previous night's dinner and had doubled-over tummy pains.  I was relieved when she left and I could control my foods better.  I started to track and pin down the issue, and it was definitely dairy.  While I will occasionally have dairy foods and take a lactase enzyme pill, I am by-and-large one step closer to eating vegan as a result.

One of the most challenging things about eating differently is the questions and comments you get from people.  I'm pretty sure my in-laws hate that their son's wife is a "granola hippy dippy fruit loop" who is encouraging them both to eat crazy things like vegetarian entrees.  I frequently get comments that the person could never live without meat.  I also get grilled about my protein sources.  Usually from out of the blue and from people who have not reached any level of friendship with me.  It's certainly a question that I can answer, but I kind of feel like asking them to name which foods they ate that day to reach their 5 fruits and veggies and 11 whole grains.  I'd bet money that I could answer easier than them.

The most pleasing result has been some of the surprising people who are supportive.  It just proves that you can't judge a book by its cover.  One was a woman whose husband guts deer in their garage after he hunts. (Although realistically it should not surprise me since she regularly has to walk in on that gruesome scene.)  Another was a big ol' redneck guy who would love to hunt one of every animal if it were feasible.  He just asked if I'd be asking him not to eat meat.  I said no, and he said we were cool.  Que sera sera, let it be, amen!

Well I've rambled quite awhile now, so I better get going.  I'm using our TEeeny computer so I can't do pics.  Sorry! :(  Hope everyone is doing well and I'll be trying to make the rounds as time allows!  Lots of love!