1. We have cut up all of our credit cards and are going to operate on 100% cash budget. This is going to STINK but it needs to be done. I highly recommend it. One of my 2008 goals was to try out"30 days with no unnecessary purchases." Obviously TP and food are essential, but avoiding big, unnecessary or frivolous shopping. It is already July and I have not tried it! Half my year is gone. I also like the idea of adopting a more frugal lifestyle and saving for the things that matter. It is becoming prohibitively expensive to travel, but travel is important to me.
2. Preacher and I are seriously researching becoming vegetarians. This will cause many in our family and extended family to groan. But we are overwhelmed by the evidence supporting a vegetarian lifestyle. I am not a big egg eater due to cholesterol but I am not giving them up 100%. I am also not giving up fish. I am reducing dairy, switching to soy where it makes sense. Preacher may make a more vegan transition. We should be doing it for our health alone, but the environmental impact of beef and the absolutely dismal and cruel poultry industry (chicken farming is plain nasty) are valid reasons to take on a new way of eating. Even if we were to continue eating meats, we should all be buying locally and eating seasonal foods as it reduces our risk for diseases brought on by industrial farming and transportation.
We switched to whole grains a few years ago and it made a huge difference in our health. No processed white pastas or white rice. It really is a rare treat to have thai food with a steaming heap of white jasmine rice!
3. I have accepted a freelance position doing some branding and positioning for a local parish. I love the idea of going back to a freelance environment as it should be easier to control my own workload and take care of two young children. This creates more work for me in the short-term but I think it will be good for me long-term.
6 comments:
I can't imagine a world in which I go vegetarian. I have been trying to buy mostly organic for the last few years, especially dairy. The hormones and antibiotics in dairy cattle are REALLY scary. More recently I am really trying to focus on local. In the not-really-realistic thought that local NW chicken is better for me than Arkansas-grown Tyson chicken. It does mean giving up my out or season fruit and avocados in general. heh.. not exactly a lot of Avocados in my corner of the world. :(
vegetarians? Alan a VEGAN?!?!?!?!
What?!
Well, if you don't give up fish, there's still lobster ;-)
I can never give up fajitas or go soy. Must have too much Texan in me. Sorry. As Lewis Black once said, "There's no soy milk because there's no soy titty!" And he calls milk "moo cow f^&% milk."
Way to go! While we have not gone the total veggie route here, at least one of us has never eaten meat, so we limit that form of protein. If you haven't already, you should read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by B. Kingsolver. Really quick kid-friendly dinner: whole wheat pasta, EVOO, green peas, soft boiled egg (protein!), parma cheese, salt and pepper. My boys now make it for themselves!
Mmm. My favorite comfort food is similar to Anne Marie's but without the egg and with shallots and marjoram (or thyme). You sautee the shallots in EVOO, put in the marjoram, mix it with noodles and a BUNCH of parm. Mmmm.
Oh, and peas. There are definitely also peas in mine.
Cows are friends not food!
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