Arktoi

Reading over my past entries on this goal, I see that things didn’t go exactly as planned, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t going great. We didn’t end up paying off Dell. We had a few things come up one after the other that prevented us from making much progress toward the end of last year. However, we are humming along again.

Last week, we paid off a loan that was a $233/month payment and found out we’re getting $1000 on our taxes (as opposed to owing $1300 like last year). As soon as our refund is direct deposited, we’ll be able to pay off another loan that has a $140/month payment.

I can’t wait for the day when the only bills we have every month are a mortgage and utilities. I hope everyone else is hanging in on this goal!

Since officially going vegan Oct. 1st, I’ve taken at least one dish to every family gathering.

Sept/Oct Birthday Party: spanokapitas (sp?) and key lime pie

Annual October Cook-Out: corn chowder

Thanksgiving: white bean & roasted garlic soup, corn muffins, and apple pie crumb cake muffins

Christmas: to my mom’s family – 3 Sisters casserole and ginger sparkle cookies; Christmas morning at my dad’s – lemon corn waffles with blueberry sauce; to my dad’s family – corn chowder and raspberry cobbler. Also, my brother’s girlfriend and I made an entire Christmas dinner at my mom’s, including mashed potatoes and chickpea gravy, mushroom risotto, sugar cookies with peppermint icing, gingerbread apple pie, brown rice & lentil loaf… I can’t remember what else, but it was awesome.

Easter: chickpea noodle soup

So far, my mom’s family has been more willing to try new things than my dad’s, but I’m slowly winning them over. I’ve been consistent enough with this that I feel comfortable marking it as complete.

I recently registered for the forums on the Post Punk Kitchen, www.theppk.com, and ran across an incredibly disturbing post regarding “mucus weight.” Evidently, when people go vegan, they generally lose weight as the extra mucus caused by dairy and eggs leaves their bodies.

First and foremost, I am appalled. I get seriously grossed out when I have a runny nose, and my best friend’s sister nearly caused me to have a total meltdown by describing the loss of her mucus plug before going into labor. I understand the purpose of mucus, thanks to my oh-so-graphic biology major cousin when we were in college (also the first person to ever give me the “plants respond to stimulii too” b.s.), but the idea that there might be extra – as in excess, as in surplus – mucus in my system is beyond disgusting. It makes me physically ill.

Second, has anyone ever heard of this? Can this be confirmed?