Just a miniscule loss this week - from 180.2 last week to 180.0 this week. Still, a loss is a loss, right? I'm not complaining!
It's FINALLY summer here in the beautiful San Fernando Valley area of Southern California, and I'm jumpin' for joy! Yeah yeah, I know my hubby hates it - poor guy - because he works in a place with little/no air conditioning. So my sympathies, sweetie.
But see ... I'm a morning person. And there's just something tremendously wonderful about it being over 60 degrees already at 5 a.m.! This morning when I got up (primarily to look for our "lost" cat, Princess, who, from what little I can gather, spent most of the night in the neighbors' back yard, patiently waiting for THEIR cats to be fed so she could mooch some), the stars were still out (as was Princess, nyuk nyuk!).
There were just a few little clouds scattered throughout the dark blue sky. The sun was still below the horizon, but you could see that the light was on its way. As I pumped the pedals on my exercise bike, I heard first one, then two, then a whole flock of birds chattering away about the best places to find worms.
I saw a baby possum skittering through the ivy at the back fence, patiently looking for unguarded garbage to nosh.
And it's hard to explain, but I really understood the cliche about how "it's always darkest before the dawn." See, all night I'd lain awake, tossing and turning, from (a) my worry about Princess (which turned out, as usual, to be completely unfounded), and (b) an annoying headache which had been troubling me, off and on, for the past 24 hours.
But in this early morning light, with a whole new day about to be born, all my worries seemed to drift upwards towards the distant stars ... and stay there.
Happy Monday, everyone!
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Hey, this Vegan stuff really works! and a fun hike through Chatsworth history
Wow, folks, after just one week of being a Vegan, I lost 1.8 pounds!!
My official current weight as of Saturday morning is 182.6, in case you're keeping track.
Not only do I feel great, but my husband and I did a moderately serious hike yesterday! Things did get a little hairy there for a while, as you can see in this video:
However, we got back on track and had a great time! Where we were was this neat old stagecoach trail in Chatsworth, California - all the way up to this sign:
Part of the trail is called the "Devil's Slide", and boy, is that ever accurate ... I kept thinking I was going to slide all the way down from the top!
But fortunately I had a sure-footed guide (my hubby) to lead the way (and catch me, just in case)!
All in all, it was a great weekend, and a great ending to my first full week of Goin' Vegan!
P.s. Steve confessed that he was afraid I was going to become one of those tree-huggin' hippie liberals. It's true - there does seem to be this, shall we say, interesting mental image that comes to mind when you think of "vegans":
As for me, every time I think "Vegan", I think of "Vulcan" - or worse yet, "V-ger" from the first, worst Star Trek movie. (I won't post a photo - that sorry piece of you-know-what doesn't deserve any more free publicity!)
So anyway, either I come up with a different name for "a person who tries to avoid consuming animal products" - like maybe CCV (for "conservative Catholic vegan) -
OR - we just shout it out loud: I'm a conservative Catholic vegan and proud!
Decisions ... decisions!
My official current weight as of Saturday morning is 182.6, in case you're keeping track.
Not only do I feel great, but my husband and I did a moderately serious hike yesterday! Things did get a little hairy there for a while, as you can see in this video:
However, we got back on track and had a great time! Where we were was this neat old stagecoach trail in Chatsworth, California - all the way up to this sign:
Part of the trail is called the "Devil's Slide", and boy, is that ever accurate ... I kept thinking I was going to slide all the way down from the top!
But fortunately I had a sure-footed guide (my hubby) to lead the way (and catch me, just in case)!
All in all, it was a great weekend, and a great ending to my first full week of Goin' Vegan!
P.s. Steve confessed that he was afraid I was going to become one of those tree-huggin' hippie liberals. It's true - there does seem to be this, shall we say, interesting mental image that comes to mind when you think of "vegans":
As for me, every time I think "Vegan", I think of "Vulcan" - or worse yet, "V-ger" from the first, worst Star Trek movie. (I won't post a photo - that sorry piece of you-know-what doesn't deserve any more free publicity!)
So anyway, either I come up with a different name for "a person who tries to avoid consuming animal products" - like maybe CCV (for "conservative Catholic vegan) -
OR - we just shout it out loud: I'm a conservative Catholic vegan and proud!
Decisions ... decisions!
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Curvy Catholic ... Vegan???
Yes, that's right, friends and neighbors (and husbands, lol!) - I, the infamous Curvy Catholic and Stooges Woman, made a major life decision over the weekend.
I'm goin' vegan!
It's one of those decisions that seems to happen in an instant, yet if you look back, it really was percolating under the surface for a while.
I broke the news to my husband and, while he's somewhat nonplused, is supportive. (The fact that I promised not to make HIM give up his Trader Joe's Mini Tacos and Turkey Meatballs helps, I think.)
Also, I promised him I wouldn't preach to him. And I won't!
However, I didn't promise I wouldn't write about it in my blog - nyuk nyuk!
So here, in a nutshell, are just a few reasons why I've made this decision, with links you can check out on your own, or not (because I'm not preaching!):
1. In spite of what our enthusiastic Weight Watchers leader keeps telling us, apparently dairy - particularly cow's milk - is not quite as good for you as the milk industry would want you to believe. Cow's milk is linked to all sorts of health problems in human beings - for example, chronic sinus and ear infections. (Link for you to check out, if you want to: http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-15sep2003-milk.html)
2. Not only that, but the poor critters themselves don't seem to lead particularly happy lives. Now to be honest, I'm not 100% opposed, in principle, to eating meat or using animal products. If the animals in question are treated humanely and euthanized in a painless way, then I think it becomes more of a philosophical issue, rather than a humane one. The Compassionate Carnivore makes a good case for humanely raising meat.
3. But you know, even from a humane standpoint - which IMHO all Christians should have - it's hard to deny that animals kept in "factory farms" and killed in slaughterhouses are not being treated as humanely as they could be. And that, if there were less of a demand for meat products in general, then, naturally, ipso facto, ergo sum - fewer animals would suffer these abuses. Right? (Link to check out: http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/)
4. I know there's a tendency to stereotype vegans and animal rights activists as "liberals", so I thought I'd see if there were any good conservative reasons for opposing factory farming - and I found one! Did you know that one of the biggest employers of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is - you guessed it - the meat industry! Particularly in slaughterhouses. (Link to check out: http://www.manataka.org/page1434.html)
It's a cliche to say that "illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans don't want to do", and with the economy tanking, I seriously doubt that's going to be true anymore, if it ever was. But boy, I don't know about you, but even if I weren't a vegan, I don't think I'd be too thrilled about having a job where I spent the whole day killing animals who didn't want to die. Even if you were killing them as humanely as possible - like in a vet's office or an animal shelter - there's gotta be some kind of toll on your spirit.
So even from a right-wing, humans-first viewpoint, there's a case to be made against killing animals for food - or at least, against the factory-farm-to-slaughterhouse routine.
Now I know that there's sometimes a disconnect between vegans, who tend to congregate on the "left", and pro-lifers, who tend to be on the "right". But you know what? I think there's common ground.
If we truly believe that all life is sacred, that all creatures are God's creatures, then we must treat EVERY life - human and animal - with as much respect and dignity as we possibly can.
That includes unborn human beings, floating peacefully in their mothers' wombs, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn, limb from limb, and discarded as "medical waste".
That includes just-born baby male calves, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn away from their mothers' sides and turned into veal, or thrown into a ditch and shot.
It includes disabled human beings whose relatives would just love to have them "humanely euthanized" so they can collect their inheritance.
It includes a holding pen full of pigs, each one just as bright and friendly as your favorite pet dog, waiting to be turned into pork chops.
It includes every chicken, every cow, every goat, every turkey and yes, every human being - no matter how unloveable they might be or how "convenient" their deaths would be for someone else.
That's it. That's my reasons. And if I come up with any more - or if you post any really good arguments to the contrary in the "comments" section - I promise to deal with them next week.
(P.S. - weight loss this week - 0.8 pounds! yay!! Also, some sad news - "It Figures", the Curves-alternative I joined a couple of months ago, went out of business. Their website is down, but I encouraged them to consider retooling it as an "online personal trainer" site; so I'll keep the link over there on the right, and if it reopens and/or changes, I'll let you know. Thanks, Kathy, Danielle & Tommi, for your help getting/keeping me fit!)
I'm goin' vegan!
It's one of those decisions that seems to happen in an instant, yet if you look back, it really was percolating under the surface for a while.
I broke the news to my husband and, while he's somewhat nonplused, is supportive. (The fact that I promised not to make HIM give up his Trader Joe's Mini Tacos and Turkey Meatballs helps, I think.)
Also, I promised him I wouldn't preach to him. And I won't!
However, I didn't promise I wouldn't write about it in my blog - nyuk nyuk!
So here, in a nutshell, are just a few reasons why I've made this decision, with links you can check out on your own, or not (because I'm not preaching!):
1. In spite of what our enthusiastic Weight Watchers leader keeps telling us, apparently dairy - particularly cow's milk - is not quite as good for you as the milk industry would want you to believe. Cow's milk is linked to all sorts of health problems in human beings - for example, chronic sinus and ear infections. (Link for you to check out, if you want to: http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-15sep2003-milk.html)
2. Not only that, but the poor critters themselves don't seem to lead particularly happy lives. Now to be honest, I'm not 100% opposed, in principle, to eating meat or using animal products. If the animals in question are treated humanely and euthanized in a painless way, then I think it becomes more of a philosophical issue, rather than a humane one. The Compassionate Carnivore makes a good case for humanely raising meat.
3. But you know, even from a humane standpoint - which IMHO all Christians should have - it's hard to deny that animals kept in "factory farms" and killed in slaughterhouses are not being treated as humanely as they could be. And that, if there were less of a demand for meat products in general, then, naturally, ipso facto, ergo sum - fewer animals would suffer these abuses. Right? (Link to check out: http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/)
4. I know there's a tendency to stereotype vegans and animal rights activists as "liberals", so I thought I'd see if there were any good conservative reasons for opposing factory farming - and I found one! Did you know that one of the biggest employers of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is - you guessed it - the meat industry! Particularly in slaughterhouses. (Link to check out: http://www.manataka.org/page1434.html)
It's a cliche to say that "illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans don't want to do", and with the economy tanking, I seriously doubt that's going to be true anymore, if it ever was. But boy, I don't know about you, but even if I weren't a vegan, I don't think I'd be too thrilled about having a job where I spent the whole day killing animals who didn't want to die. Even if you were killing them as humanely as possible - like in a vet's office or an animal shelter - there's gotta be some kind of toll on your spirit.
So even from a right-wing, humans-first viewpoint, there's a case to be made against killing animals for food - or at least, against the factory-farm-to-slaughterhouse routine.
Now I know that there's sometimes a disconnect between vegans, who tend to congregate on the "left", and pro-lifers, who tend to be on the "right". But you know what? I think there's common ground.
If we truly believe that all life is sacred, that all creatures are God's creatures, then we must treat EVERY life - human and animal - with as much respect and dignity as we possibly can.
That includes unborn human beings, floating peacefully in their mothers' wombs, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn, limb from limb, and discarded as "medical waste".
That includes just-born baby male calves, blissfully unaware that they are about to be torn away from their mothers' sides and turned into veal, or thrown into a ditch and shot.
It includes disabled human beings whose relatives would just love to have them "humanely euthanized" so they can collect their inheritance.
It includes a holding pen full of pigs, each one just as bright and friendly as your favorite pet dog, waiting to be turned into pork chops.
It includes every chicken, every cow, every goat, every turkey and yes, every human being - no matter how unloveable they might be or how "convenient" their deaths would be for someone else.
That's it. That's my reasons. And if I come up with any more - or if you post any really good arguments to the contrary in the "comments" section - I promise to deal with them next week.
(P.S. - weight loss this week - 0.8 pounds! yay!! Also, some sad news - "It Figures", the Curves-alternative I joined a couple of months ago, went out of business. Their website is down, but I encouraged them to consider retooling it as an "online personal trainer" site; so I'll keep the link over there on the right, and if it reopens and/or changes, I'll let you know. Thanks, Kathy, Danielle & Tommi, for your help getting/keeping me fit!)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Downtown Goats!
(I know it's not my usual posting day - or reason - usually I only post a day or two after my weigh-in. But this is just SO cool I had to tell you about it!)
"Have you seen the goats?" has become the catchphrase of the week in downtown Los Angeles - Bunker Hill, to be specific.
Check out this link at the LA Times which explains it.
What's going on is that the city has hired 100 goats to clear the brush on Angel's Knoll, a small park next to the historic (but tragically and annoyingly closed) Angel's Flight Railway.
It's a wonderful sight to see as you're coming up the escalator from the subway at Fourth and Hill (always assuming the escalator is working!) - and here's a wonderful photo from Flickr taken by a user named eitheror:
What a great way to start - and end - an otherwise dull and ordinary workday! So here's my question: instead of building yet another office building downtown, how about creating a nature preserve? I for one would rather see a bunch of goats every morning than some of my coworkers (nyuk nyuk!).
"Have you seen the goats?" has become the catchphrase of the week in downtown Los Angeles - Bunker Hill, to be specific.
Check out this link at the LA Times which explains it.
What's going on is that the city has hired 100 goats to clear the brush on Angel's Knoll, a small park next to the historic (but tragically and annoyingly closed) Angel's Flight Railway.
It's a wonderful sight to see as you're coming up the escalator from the subway at Fourth and Hill (always assuming the escalator is working!) - and here's a wonderful photo from Flickr taken by a user named eitheror:
What a great way to start - and end - an otherwise dull and ordinary workday! So here's my question: instead of building yet another office building downtown, how about creating a nature preserve? I for one would rather see a bunch of goats every morning than some of my coworkers (nyuk nyuk!).
Monday, June 30, 2008
Holding at a steady pace
Last Friday's weigh-in was exactly the same - 210.8. Neither up nor down. So I guess I'm at one of those much-talked-about plateaus.
So I decided to just enjoy the weekend and go "off plan" - not drastically, just in the sense that I ate what I wanted and didn't keep track of the points.
Steve and I went to Carlsbad Saturday morning and stayed overnight. We visited with my parents, who were in from Phoenix hoping to see the beach (and cruelly disappointed by our hotel's promise of an "ocean view room" - yeah, great view if you had a periscope!).
But it was a nice weekend, marred only by our severly overindulgent worries about our cat, the aptly named "Princess", who we'd left all by herself for the WHOLE NIGHT!!! something she's never before experienced in her short but eventful life.
She seemed fine when we got home Sunday afternoon - a little annoyed but graciously allowing us to kneel at her paws and beg forgiveness. All hail the Princess!
Oh, as for last week's post - still no period! I haven't made a doctor's appointment yet, but I suppose I should. I kind of don't want to, though - a superstitious feeling that I'll "jinx it" somehow if I actually schedule a test. I'd like to enjoy that feeling of "maybe ... possibly ... perhaps!" a few days longer.
So I decided to just enjoy the weekend and go "off plan" - not drastically, just in the sense that I ate what I wanted and didn't keep track of the points.
Steve and I went to Carlsbad Saturday morning and stayed overnight. We visited with my parents, who were in from Phoenix hoping to see the beach (and cruelly disappointed by our hotel's promise of an "ocean view room" - yeah, great view if you had a periscope!).
But it was a nice weekend, marred only by our severly overindulgent worries about our cat, the aptly named "Princess", who we'd left all by herself for the WHOLE NIGHT!!! something she's never before experienced in her short but eventful life.
She seemed fine when we got home Sunday afternoon - a little annoyed but graciously allowing us to kneel at her paws and beg forgiveness. All hail the Princess!
Oh, as for last week's post - still no period! I haven't made a doctor's appointment yet, but I suppose I should. I kind of don't want to, though - a superstitious feeling that I'll "jinx it" somehow if I actually schedule a test. I'd like to enjoy that feeling of "maybe ... possibly ... perhaps!" a few days longer.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Another good Saturday morning!
I've been having a pretty good week (other than my boss -- or should I say "EX-boss who doesn't KNOW she's my ex-boss, or at least PRETENDS she doesn't know") -- being, well, bossy!).
I got Mickey, the franchise owner at my CURVES, to do my measurements on Friday. Everything looks really good - I'm down an average of one inch on all my vitals. CURVES shows me down 5 pounds but I don't really rely on their scales, which are the old-fashioned kind with the metal weights that slide from one end to the other. Frankly, those scales intimidate me - they have a "the doctor will see you now" vibe. I prefer the digital Post Office-quality scales at Weight Watchers -- much more accurate and you don't have to worry about which kind of thermometer they're using today. ;-)
Anyway, today I had my official weekly Weight Watchers weigh-in (say THAT three times fast!) and yay, I'm down another couple of pounds! Weight today, 214.8, which means I've lost 9.6 pounds since I started - yay!!!
See you next week! (Oh, by the way - L.A. Metro SUCKS - more next time!)
(P.S. I think our cat, Princess, has noticed I'm shrinking - she tried to help me by bringing me a nice, juicy nutritious sparrow last night. Dead, thank God. I appreciated the thought, my piercing screams and pleas to my husband to GET IT OUT OF HERE NOW!!! notwithstanding.)
I got Mickey, the franchise owner at my CURVES, to do my measurements on Friday. Everything looks really good - I'm down an average of one inch on all my vitals. CURVES shows me down 5 pounds but I don't really rely on their scales, which are the old-fashioned kind with the metal weights that slide from one end to the other. Frankly, those scales intimidate me - they have a "the doctor will see you now" vibe. I prefer the digital Post Office-quality scales at Weight Watchers -- much more accurate and you don't have to worry about which kind of thermometer they're using today. ;-)
Anyway, today I had my official weekly Weight Watchers weigh-in (say THAT three times fast!) and yay, I'm down another couple of pounds! Weight today, 214.8, which means I've lost 9.6 pounds since I started - yay!!!
See you next week! (Oh, by the way - L.A. Metro SUCKS - more next time!)
(P.S. I think our cat, Princess, has noticed I'm shrinking - she tried to help me by bringing me a nice, juicy nutritious sparrow last night. Dead, thank God. I appreciated the thought, my piercing screams and pleas to my husband to GET IT OUT OF HERE NOW!!! notwithstanding.)
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