Monday, March 28, 2011

Eat'n Like a Vegan

I was going to write today about the upcoming surgery (Thursday @ 9:00) or I was going to reflect on me hitting my emotional wall this week (I hit it really hard) but instead I am continuing to try and focus on the positive so, I have been eating like a vegan.

I know, I know, the Keg loving, BBQ queen, chicken adorer, and omelet chef is eating vegan!!! What!! Yep, bought a book in the states, hit Chapter in London for more and now have been converted.  No, I am not a vegan as it involves a clear understand of a lifestyle associated with understanding animal products and their use but I am eating vegan!

The biggest question I get from people is, "What do you eat?".

The answer is easy, I eat everything except stuff made with animal protein and my body is sooo much happier.  No bloating, cravings, highs/lows or weird stomach sounds (not too mention some weight loss)

This week for breakfast I ate homemade granola, fruit and berries, plus almond milk. For lunches I ate spinach potato soup with homemade tortilla chips or re fried beans with peppers, and for dinner I ate salads, hummus, delicious soups and stir fries. Fantastic.

We all know I love coffee so I am still drinking it - decaffeinated and using soya milk made for coffee drinkers - delicious stuff.

On Friday night I bought this terrific Vegan cook book with just baking recipes in it. Not tough to made breads, cookies, pies and even cheesecakes as long as you have the ingredients. Today I made the most delicious cornmeal muffins using real corn and corn meal - didn't know it but that is where I will get a lot of my calcium.

I kind of panicked because one of the things you need to make a lot of the baking is a special thing that is an egg substitute. Didn't think I would find it at all and I knew that I need to have sweet things still in my diet and got worried that the baking part would not work out. Well, low and behold at Great Canadian found the egg stuff and used it with the cornmeal muffins - this box is equal to 100 eggs. Yahoo - cookies and cakes here we come.

Even I will admit a few things are gross.  Take for example Savi seeds - they give you all the Omega 3s that you need.  Some sort of seed pod thingy.  I bought them to try from the Bulk Barn and they had many versions.  I bought the kind in a cocoa shell - gross - really woody - but all I have to eat is 4 a day and I don't have to eat salmon and we all know how I feel about salmon - yucky!

Stay tuned for the voyage, think this is one I will continue on. 

Friday, March 18, 2011

The BFF

I have had some great friends in my life.  Growing up the Mahood girls rocked, in high school I loved my basketball team friends and in university Lennie and I had some wonderful buds.

But, for those of you that really know me, you know that I am a bit of loner.  I like peace and quiet.  I am a home body and now have only a few close friends plus 1 BFF... Megan P. 


I was once again reminded this week why she is so special to me when she handed me a bracelet she had bought.  Actually it was two bracelets made by a cancer survivor. The idea was to buy the bracelets and wear 1 and give the other away - she gave it to me.  It is quite simple, just a piece of black woven cotton with a clasp, but on the clasp it says "Trust Your Journey".   We haven't really talked about the whole cancer thing much so I think this is our way to talk about stuff without actually having to talk about it.


http://www.trustyourjourney.com/product/AC314  "The TYJ Share Bracelet--"Give One, Keep One", is a very special set of two bracelets designed for sharing the journey with a friend, family member or anyone who needs a daily positive message of just knowing someone is there for them. It might just be a bump in the road, a mountain to climb or celebrating a special moment in life--there is no greater comfort or joy than sharing the journey with others.  Two braided cotton bracelets each with a Trust Your Journey medallion and lobster clasp closure."

I got to do 1 of my favourite things this week and that is to go to Florida to see my parents over spring break with my Megan.  We sit  by the pool, read, relax and get spoiled by my parents. 

I remember the first time I realized that we both felt that we were best friends..one day while crossing the border to go to Michigan and the border patrol officer asked how do we know each other and in unison we both said "we are best friends", I know that is the first time anyone has ever said that (except for the Lenster)

We really are unlikely friends. 

Brought together over 13 years ago because our husbands were friends and they thought it would be easier for them if the "wives" got along.  I met Megan one day while she was walking her dog.  Scotty (her husband and my husband's bud) sent her over to ask if I wanted to go for a walk.  We just sat and hung out on our front porch chatting.  She was pretty neat but I was living in Toronto and busy all the time commuting and travelling all over the place so I didn't see her much until 2000 when we both got teaching jobs at TVDSB and got to sign our contracts on the same day.

I am still fascinated that we have remained friends as we didn't have that much in common.

  • Meg likes dogs - I like cats and can't stand dogs as they smell and are unpredictable - sorry dog lovers
  • Meg loves to shop - I can't stand shopping because nothing ever fits me.
  • Megan doesn't like physical activity - I love it and try all kinds of crazy activities.
  • Meg wanted kids - I am happy SHE had them
  • Money burns a hole in Megan's wallet - mine does not leave the bank
  • Meg is a good person and goes to church each week - I think about going often but never make it
  • Megan is tall, thin and gorgeous - well...I am tall.
  • Megan is a tad scared of technology - I am a tad addicted to my IPhone

Now I realize that we have a lot more in common than I thought...

  • Megan is a teacher - I am a teacher
  • Megan loves to sit by a pool and relax - I love it!
  • Megan loves to read and really "gets into books" - I do too and often am seen crying while reading a good one
  • Megan loves to make fun of her husband - that it is my favourite thing to do - make fun of hers and mine!!
  • Megan loves her kids - I love her kids!
  • Megan loves craft shows - me too!
  • Megan loves to make fun of the skinny chicks on ANTM and really it is my favourite thing to do - I wish they would eat a sandwich
  • Megan loves photos and scrapbooking - we know how much I love scrapbooking
  • Megan loves her family and spends lots of time with her parents - me too!
  • Megan adores Starbucks and well we know my love for coffee houses.
  • Megan is often seen munching on chips and candy..well, we know my issue with sweets.
We talked this week about how our friendship has worked out so well and she reflected on 2 facts that make it work.

Firstly, she said that we took a long time to become friends - slowly doing things together and trying lots of events with other i.e parties, scrapbooking days and dinners with husbands.  Sometimes women jump really quickly into being friends with other women and it doesn't work out because you annoy each other quickly. 

Secondly, Megan likes the fact that we can be really honest with each other and say if we do not want to do something and NOT feel guilty about it.  What I noticed this week was that fact that we do not worry about silence - we can ride in a car for long periods of time or eat at a restaurant and not have to talk, just be there without talking...what a pleasure to just be in someone's company and not feel the pressure to chat.  Don't get me wrong, Megan and I chat - almost everyday on the phone but often we do not and that is ok.

Thank you Meggie for our journey - I will trust it!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

"Small in size..."

"Small in size but a giant in my heart" was the title of an article written by Christie Blatchford years ago in the Toronto Star.  It was a heartfelt article about her cat Bill that had died.  Christie described her love for her cat "that was supposed to be a dog", with great detail almost identical to the love we had for our beloved Tigger that died on Monday night.

Tigger was supposed to be my cat but Lennie ended up loving him so much more than me.  Winnie, Tigger's sister was my baby while Tigger was daddy's boy.  Lennie adore Tigger because he had freckles, unbelievable freckles on his nose and the longest whiskers you could imagine.  He really was gorgeous (Tigger that is)


We adopted Tigger and Winnie on October 1, 1994 from Animalert; an animal rescue organization that fosters animals until they can be adopted.  They were born April 1, 1994 and had been rescued from a barn in Glencoe.  We found them in the phonebook and I had called to get 1 cat but when they described the brother sister combo, we had to go see them.  I visited the kitties at their foster home and immediately fell in love with their spunk, and I do mean spunk.

To the day he died, Tigger woke us up several times a night to say " hi, I am hungry...again".  Lennie and I would argue about whose turn it was to get up and give him food, water, snuggles or just to watch him laugh at us for being suckered into his 3:00am game.  Try and try as we might, we would ignore him but he had very cleaver tricks to keep us awake until we got up.  Many an item was knocked off a shelf, paper crumbled, or we ourselves getting a paw in the face until we would succumb to his requests.

We always believed Tigger had about 20 lives.  Twice we lost lost him for several hours.  Once at our old house in Wortley Village and once here at the new house.  Both times, Lennie and found him because we could hear him meowing and followed the sound.  Once, Tigger fell in the pool in the spring while the liner was still in and saved himself by crawling out before I could reach him.  He also suffered from urinary track crystals but overcame that too. 


Anyone who is on our Christmas card list knows that our favourite thing to do was to take a funny family photo with Tigger for the card.  This one was our favourite because Lennie wrote the passage on the inside saying. "Screw the chestnuts roasting on an open fire.." and people howled when they got the card (except my mom who thought is was a little over the top)

My favourite cat story came from a couple of years ago when our furnace went out in the middle of the night.  Needless to say, we are not very handy and the advice my brother gave us to restart the furnace led to a huge fire ball and smoke filling the basement to the point where I grabbed Tigger and hit the garage leaving Lennie to fight the fire with a pot holder and pliers in his underwear.  I never even thought to get him out of the house, Tigger and I were going to be safe no matter what - I paid for that move for a long, long, long time - sorry Lennie. 

Winnie died a few years ago and we buried her in the yard and when the weather is nicer, Tigger will be placed in the yard under the Japanese Maple that he coveted.  The sun was his best friend and he was able to find it no matter how small a crack in a window or coming through the door.  He adore being in the garden, lying under the bushes sunning himself.  This past weekend he got weaker and weaker from kidney failure and stopped eating.  We spent Sunday together watching TV and soaking up the sun like we always did together - he love sitting on people's shoulders like a baby - Lennie always called him "my scarf".



I wonder how I will get through being home with this cancer crap without our constantly companion there for us.  He was so great when I was so sick with Crohns disease.  He always knew when you were not well or who needed some love.  

As I pack away the food, dishes and litter boxes I can't help but be overwhelmed with sadness that there will be no more funny Tigger stories.  Stories about sitting on scrapbooker's supplies, stories of him still catching mice at 16 years old (without front claws), and stories of joy he brought to so many people (especially those that don't like cats - he even got them to smile at his freckles).  But mostly sad because he was so loved, brought so much love to us, and because he truly was one of a kind. 

Bye special friend, we love you.