Date Night

This morning, we tried *gulp* oatmeal. Ish. I cringe and turn away just mentioning the concept. I used rolled oats and added vanilla, cinnamon, diced apples, plain almond milk (Aldi's is the best), and pure maple syrup. It was surprisingly tolerable. Ezra LOVED it-- like ice cream. Crazy kid. Jeremiah bolted to the garbage to rid his pallet of the stuff. And Aspen was already at school, though I'm sure her response would have had Jeremiah fighting for his spot at the refuse depot.

Anyway, last night marked our first date night as vegans. It was a little disappointing to have the "restaurant" option revoked. One of the major perks of "date night" for me is wiggling out of the responsibility of cooking and, consequently, doing dishes.

But.

The money we didn't spend on food, we were able to put towards going to a movie theater. That's right. A movie theater. I had mostly sworn off the option of ever doing "dinner & a movie" again because it's so dang blasted expensive! First we spend $30 on a meal (which is a little low for my appetizer-necessitated husband). Next it's $20 just get to get in the door of the theater. Don't even talk to me about the rip-off of popcorn. I theorize that they lace it with cocaine, making it addictive and allowing for jacked up prices. But that's just me. Also, if we have to get a paid babysitter (instead of one of my amazing family members), we add another $20 or so. Then dates never happen. And that's just not good for anyone.

Wow, that was a rant. Long story short, we got to see a movie somewhere other than the Rivoli, which was nice :) A perk to being vegan.

We spent the first part of our date strolling through Woodman's. I thought I'd take Rodney down the hippie aisles so he could see what was there and share my struggle a bit. We actually ended up walking out with this drink (and of course, more V8):

It's fitting for us because Rodney calls me "Cutie" all the time :) Anyway, it has the same consistency as Naked juice. And it is YUMMY :) In case anyone is wondering, it wasn't in the hippie aisle. It was in the produce section, against the wall closet to the "white floor tile" part of the store.

Euphoria

Random fact of the day: a popped bag of microwave popcorn has fewer calories than an unpopped bag. And all this time I've been noshing the raw kernels to try cutting back. Gah!

Anyway, we're now into our third day of the vegan ordeal.

You know, back in high school I was anorexic. And I have to say that at least then, the hunger pangs subsided. *sigh* I just keep telling myself "things will get better." The OCD side of me is pretty sure that once some kind of routine develops, this will be easier.

I do have it better than Rodney, though.

He's on the road. And road food is anything BUT healthy-- let along vegan. He called me last night hoping for some counsel on which of the three peanut/almond butters he bought would be best on his as-close-to-sugar-free-as-Walmart-stocks bread. About 10 minutes after we hung up, he called me back to RAVE about V8 juice. It was amazing, and I should try some.

Side note, I've been trying to get him to drink that stuff for years. I digress.

Apparently he had been living on peanuts and water since leaving home the night before. He was in a pretty big hurry to get to his location, and gas stations weren't very provisional in the realm of produce. I guess after 24 hours of peanuts & water, a good old-fashioned V8 is all it takes to meet euphoria.

And It Starts

Well yesterday was all about binging on sugar, meat and dairy. And since it was coincidentally my birthday (yes, we most certainly DID plan it that way), most of the excess was in the beautiful form of "free." After trashing my body yesterday, I went to bed thinking, "I'm ready to have salad for lunch tomorrow."

Today is day 1 of the vegan life. It's actually going pretty well. That is if you consider feeling every moment on the cusp of starvation "pretty well." Apparently a person can ingest an unthinkable level of almonds, veggies and water and still not feel full. Hey, right now I'd settle for "not hungry" even.

I have heard that this is how it starts, so I'm not concerned. But I am uncomfortable :)

Rodney is going in this afternoon to get his blood work taken. That's the part I'm most interested in. I'm not necessarily excited about the results from today, but what the second lab work shows when this is all done.

Boy, wouldn't cha know, all this blogging has stirred up my appetite. I'm going to go rummage through my fridge brimming with produce to see what I haven't repeatedly tasted already today.

Oh, I almost forgot pictures!!

First is Rod's final burger: his rendition of "Juicy Lucy." It's the size of his plate, bigger than the bread, and loaded with cheese packed into the middle of it :)

Next is just to prove that it was bigger than the bread. And that isn't little square Wonder bread either, folks.

After that is Rodney with his last burger and of course Mtn. Dew.

Then my beautiful plate of thick, amazing, wonderful, tender ribs. Mmmmm. . . happy birthday to me!

Lastly, Ness & I went shopping this morning. I was amazed at the sheer amount of JUST fruits & veggies that I had purchased. So I took a picture to share with ya'll. Here ye be.