One week down...

I've made it through my first week as a vegan.  It's had some high points and low, but mostly it's been something to muddle through.  The beginning of the week was colored mostly by lack of caffeine, but then I came down with a nasty cold, and the rest of the week was kind of focused on that.  The good news is that surely this means that once I'm recovered, I will be through all the body adjustments to the diet (right?) and I'll feel really good (right??).   Today was the first day that I've started feeling better.  I was able to get out for a bike ride with the family.  The weather here is back to beautiful this week, so I'm going to try to spend some more time in the sunshine.

Because of feeling crappy, I haven't cooked as much this week as normal.  I eat a lot of things just to "get by" and a lot of it tastes pretty damn bland (ie. could use some cheese).  I did try one new recipe this week though.  My cousin, Mollie, her husband and daughter, were in town this week and came over for dinner one night. I wanted to make chicken tikka masala since it's pretty tried and true now, but obviously I can't eat that, so I found a recipe for aloo matar http://allrecipes.com/recipe/aloo-matar/detail.aspx to go along with it. It was really good.  Well, I liked it at least. (I'm not sure it was much of a hit with anyone else in the house, but oh well... more for me!).  It was great, and potatoey with a great Indian flavor, very much yummy and satisfying comfort food!  I'll definitely make this again.  It was great to have on hand this week.  The only other real dish I made this week was fettucine with an almond pesto with a side of spaghetti squash.  Those two were my favorite meals of the week.  Aside from those, I ate rather simply, sunbutter, oatmeal, salads, beans, oranges, guacamole, hummus, and semi-sweet chocolate chunks with almonds for dessert.

This week, I'm hoping for a little more excitement and variety in my diet, and a clearer head and more energy.   I hope so.  I'm happy so far.

Days 3 & 4--Detoxing

What makes you sleepy all day and gives you insomnia at night?  Giving up caffeine and alcohol in the same week.  Between that and the headaches, I've lost all interest in food.  I expected to be excited about trying new recipes, and I know I will be later, but right now nothing sounds good to me, so why bother?  lol.  I have to be careful not to just grab a bowl of pasta when nothing sounds good, but my tummy is telling me I better eat!  This is doubly strange because I should be smack dab in the depths of PMS, which usually means cheeseburgers and tater tots, and although I could justify the tater tots (they're vegan, aren't they?), it's just too much trouble.  It's "cold" here too (I know that's a relative term when you're living in Orlando, but I have a turtleneck sweater on right now, so that counts as cold), so I don't want to do anything except huddle in bed.

Fortunately, I have a nice, warm front room with big, south-facing windows.  We don't have much furniture in there at all, so it's a great space to do some yoga in the sunshine (good inspiration for some sun salutations...Hello, Sun!  Thanks for warming me up!).  I was also able to rally enough to shower and dress, and even dance around in my towel to "Rock Around the Clock", from my arguably favorite Christmas present--the American Graffiti soundtrack given to me by my mother-in-law.  My dad had the 8-tracks as a kid, and I used to listen to them all the time, thus establishing my love of the Golden Oldies.  The disc had been on my Amazon wishlist, but I had forgotten about it.  I burst into stupid ugly tears when I opened it, because all these awesome memories of my dad came rushing back.  But I digress.  My point here was that I was alone in the house (Alone!!!  I haven't been alone in a long time.), and dancing around with abandon, so there must be some energy lurking in this body of mine.

So I was thinking, (not like I don't have enough resolutions going on here or anything), I think one long-term resolution for the year is to choreograph a hoop routine to a song.  I have a few songs in mind that I'm always mentally creating hoop dances too, but never anything real.  I'd like to see what I could come up with and if I could practice one dance enough to really master the flow of it.   Maybe it will be to "Rock Around the Clock."  Have a great day, everyone!  And if you can, find a reason to dance around with a little abandon.

Day 2-In which I am a cliche.

I'm sitting in bed right now with heating pad on my neck and an ice pack on my knee.  My neck has been screwed up for about a week, a leftover from sleeping in the camper while the in-laws were here (doubly not fair because I like sleeping in the camper!), and the knee...well, the knee...I'm so sick of my knee!  It's never really been good since the ACL tear.  It started getting a lot worse this fall, beginning to really kick in when I was cleaning out the Albany house, leading me to start bracing it again, and even resorting to crutches a couple of times.  Between that and weddings, my knee definitely had some recuperating to do here, and it has somewhat.  I still have "spells" where a trip through the mall about does me in.  I had another MRI done to see if there was something else wrong, and basically my cartilage is wearing away behind my kneecap and there's not a lot you can do about that.  For now I'm on arthritis medication for the inflammation.  So lets go top to bottom just to have it all on record.  This is what ails me...

1. Head-migraines, easily distracted, foggy, sleepy

2. Neck-hurts.  I'm thinking about finding a new chiropractor.  I saw a guy last year for about 6 months and felt much better.

3. Left shoulder-Joint pain.  It's not stiffness because I've been trying to work it out with yoga.  That does help a little, but mostly it feels sprained and I have poor range of motion.

4. Right elbow-Tennis elbow from shooting weddings.  Not much you can do about that one either other than rest it and let it heal.  Sound good until you realize that lifting a cup is the exact same motion that caused it and it's pretty impossible not to be picking things up constantly in your daily life!

5. Stomach-Intestinal issues, not specific, also newly lactose intolerant.  I'm a complete apple shape. 

6. Right hip-"hooper's hip" is a well-known malady in the hoopdance world.  I have it.  Basically, it's from overuse.  All of these things are signs of arthritis, and arthritis is basically the wearing down of cartilage from overuse.  Apparently, I'm getting good at that.

7. Left knee. - see above.

8. Both heels- I have plantar fascitis.  It can cause a lot of foot pain, but that is one thing that hasn't been hurting me for awhile.  Thank you Fit Flops! (squishiest most comfy shoe in all the land)

So that's it.  Those are the reasons I keep doing these challenges, because almost every single thing up there (quite likely everything) would improve immensely if I would lose weight.  For years, I would listen to my mom groan and moan, just getting up from the couch to walk down the hall to the bathroom.  It hurt her and she would bitch constantly about her knees hurting.  I can't count the number of times that I would think to myself that if she would just lose some damn weight, her knees wouldn't hurt her so bad.  So it looks like now it's time for karma to kick me in the ass and make me do something about it.  I won't go so far as to say I caused all of my problems up there.  I do think genetics plays a part in it (clearly, my family has week knees and are prone to arthritis), but the way I live my life certainly exacerbates the problems.  I'm hoping the change in diet will help with the inflammation, which has been slowing me down from doing a lot of activities.  Aside from headaches, until I hurt my knee two years ago, I've lived a basically pain-free existence.  I've never had a major injury and I've never broken a bone.  Now, pain has become a constant companion, and as tired as I was of hearing my mom bitch about her aches and pains, I'm even more tired of myself doing it. 

Day 1--a kickoff and a set of rules.

Here we go!  I stayed up late, enjoying the New Year festivities...we didn't really have any other than rewatching the Harry Potter series, but there were lots of outside parties and fireworks in the neighborhood so that was neat.  Holidays are certainly different here and I'm all for it!  (although I had a small pang of  nostalgia for the snow slide that inevitably got built in the front yard before New Years, leading to some bumps and scrapes when the drunken adults decide to try it out.  Still, I'll take shorts, sandals, and fireworks instead!

I spent some time indulging in food and drink last night, but mostly I spent it getting ready for the challenge...at least mentally...and settling on the rules.  Those of you who know me and know how I love a good challenge may think this is overkill and I really don't need to be this extreme, but extreme works for me and helps keep me motivated.  My diet has changed a lot for the better over the years, but it still doesn't show on the outside, and I don't feel it on the inside.  100 days of following these rules will show me something for sure!

Rules:

1. No meat or meat products.  No dairy, butter, or eggs (oh how I love eggs).  However, for the sake of family harmony, I am likely to turn a blind eye if Dax cooks with chicken stock.

2. No Caffeine.  No soda.  No coffee.  No black teas.  As a migraine sufferer, I reserve the right to use Excedrin as needed to get me through the worst of the caffeine withdrawals.  Maybe that won't be as "caffeine-free" straight out of the gate, but it's good enough, and hopefully won't even be needed.

3. No alcohol.  I do enjoy some red wine on occasion, but I'm sick of using caffeine to wake up and alcohol to wind down.  I want to be far more present in my life.

One final note, as much as I want this to be about perfection, I know it's different from other challenges I've done in the sense that the ultimate goal here is eating a mostly plant-based diet.  A slip-up, however undesirable, won't derail that.  I promise to confess any sins that may come my way, but I also promise not to fall off the wagon completely.

The Bitch Train's a'comin'. All aboard!

I haven't prepped much for this big challenge I've talked myself into.  I had planned on trying a few new things with my mother-in-law when she was here, since she's vegetarian, but she's the kind of vegetarian that usually prefers grilled cheese and french fries with a big side of dessert, so there wasn't much experimenting going on.  However, if I wanted to have a big junk food binge leading up to the challenge, well, I think I got my wish there! I've indulged in almost all of my favorite things I'm sure to miss, but I could always use another good cheeseburger or three.

For the first time last night, I actually looked on the calendar to see just how far away 100 days is...it's April 10! That seems so far away!  I'm a little afraid of how hard it's going to be.  Just yesterday, we were out of coffee, so I decided to "get ready" for caffeine withdrawals with some Diet Pepsi and my best friend, Excedrin, in lieu of the coffee.  I still ended up an edgy mess with a headache.  I wonder how long I'm going to feel miserable at the beginning of the challenge, and how long it will take to start feeling wonderful (assuming that happens.  I don't see why it wouldn't).

Still, I know there's going to be some rough times ahead for my friends and family.  I'm just going to have to apologize and keep apologizing for being a crabby bitch until I get into the groove of this.  I know it's going to be an adjustment for them too, just having to remember that there's one person in the house not eating any meat products.  I just hope at the end of it all it will have been worth it for them too.

Living in Orlando

Orlando is called The City Beautiful, and often it really is. One of our favorite things to do on Sundays is head down to Lake Eola for the farmer's market. Lake Eola is in downtown Orlando and right by Dax's office and a branch of the public library, so we're down there a lot. Dax and I each got early Christmas gifts of new bikes (love my bike! love it love it!). Dax rides his bike to work most days of the week. I'm still getting used to riding in a bigger city, but I'm getting used to some routes I like. Jack will be getting a new bike for Christmas (his is getting too small, and is only a 1-speed), and once that happens, I see a lot more big family bike outings in our future. But back to the farmer's market....I have no reason to post this other than it was taken after Jack had a snowcone there. <3

Such as I don't really have a good reason to post this picture of Kenny except that it's funny, he has a tutu/clown collar, and if Cori and I ever had a booth at the farmer's market, we'd sell tutus along with a lot of other junk.

Dax and I have been trying to get out on our own a little more than we did in Albany, and have been enjoying spending time together sans kids. One night we went to a cool, dive bar called Will's Pub.

It reminded me a lot of Bodies in Warrensburg, MO, and the years I spent there watching going to see local bands and hanging out with friends. It had just the kind of seedy atmosphere/hipster cool vibe that I like.

I'm not a big fan of going to see live music though. I used to be, but over time I've come to realize I don't really like just standing around watching a band play. This was a good night though. It was a very small crowd, which wasn't so great for the band, but nice for us. It was a much more intimate gathering. It also allowed us to spend a bit of time getting acquainted with the lead act.

That's Dax hanging with Jimbo Mathus of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. He's fronting a Mississippi blues band and is one of the most personable people I've ever met. He made an effort to remember our names and he was just steeped in genuine southern charm. Very cool guy and a really good show!

Finally, as I mentioned before, the kids (mostly Mazzy) did not take well to homeschooling. Finding people to socialize with, and outside curriculum enhancement was much harder than I thought it would be. I assumed I would get down here, find a few homeschool groups, meet up a few times and figure out what direction we wanted to go. Well, I would spend tons of time looking for groups, trying to find one meeting up soon, joining the groups so I can get updates, trying to go to a scheduled get-together with the kids only to have no one else show up! It was a lot of time and a lot of disappointment. Combining that with unpacking, finishing weddings, dealing with house issues both here and in Albany (we still haven't even closed on this house yet!), and I just felt like I was doing a terrible job and NO ONE was happy. It didn't help that the kids were barely even meeting any neighborhood kids. We live 2 blocks from an elementary school. There are tons of kids in the neighborhood, but no one ever plays outside. That's so weird to me...especially after leaving Albany where people are outside hanging on their stoops all the time. Our neighborhood can seem really empty. So finally we made the decision to enroll the kids in school for this year at least. I've gotten some info about a great magnet school that has emphasis in visual and performing arts, and there's a high school you can get into too. We're definitely going to apply for Mazzy and hope she gets in for next year. Anyway, here they are for their first day of school here in Florida. They started November 30.

Finally, now that I have finished my weddings, I'm starting to spend more time with the hobbies I never seemed to have time for before. I'm learning how to crochet, and I love it! Mazzy and I had a tea party recently while we worked on making granny squares. I love this space.

I love this girl.

So we are settling into life here in Orlando. Bit by bit, it's feeling more and more like home. I look forward to what the year ahead will bring!

It starts with an idea.

We're going to have the most family with us for Christmas than we have had in years!  Dax's mom, Armen,  and her fiance, Arnie are coming to visit, and we have Cori here too, so I'm very excited for all of that.  I'm happy for the kids that their first Christmas here will be surrounded with people to keep that holiday cheer going.  Otherwise, I think this Christmas might have been a little rough for them.  I don't mind the warm weather and doing my Christmas shopping in shorts, but I think the kids (Mazzy mostly), misses the winter wonderland, and most certainly misses her friends.  So in the frenzy of holiday baking, and prepping for Best Christmas Ever, Dax reminds me that his mom has been eating more and more vegan lately, so I should keep that in mind.  She's been vegetarian as long as I've known her, and usually it's pretty easy to make sure she has plenty that she wants while the rest of us carnivores are enjoying ours.  Vegan is a different story though.  You have to plan a little better, but fortunately, Armen is just beginning to add more vegan meals, so I don't need to worry about perfections.  What I think I want to do though, is use that time while she's here to pick her brain and practice some vegan recipes, and then when the New Year rolls around, I'm going to start a new food challenge.  

Can Melanie be vegan for 100 days?  Can I give up all caffeine, coffee, soda, and alcohol?  I've done the 30-day real food challenge, and I did the 5-day juice fast.  Surely, I can be vegan for 100 days!  I'm getting excited and am ready to prepare for the challenge.  I'm weaning myself off of caffeine now to hopefully make the adjustment a little easier in January.  I really feel like I need to try this for a multitude of reasons.

 In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the toffee and cookies I've got going on here.