Five Questions from Shiny Happy Mama

Wow, how time flies! I just saw that my last post was just about a month ago. And here I thought I was getting better...

A couple of quick things, then I'll get to my point.

Yesterday E and I were carpooling to work in the AM and I saw a HUGE (why do I always put a D in huge?) flock of robins in a local fruit orchard. They were probably resting from their flight back north. It's almost spring...

I went for a long walk with my sister, SS, when she was visiting this past weekend. We saw a cute little muskrat (yes, they look like beavers, but with a rat tail) in a swampy area, he was probably getting ready to go find his new home and mate.

OK, now to the point.
1. How did you decide to become a vegetarian? Do you ever miss eating meat?

The short version of the story is that I started realizing exactly where meat came from. I couldn't get it out of my head. I was a bit of a farm girl, so I had an idea. Little by little, I stopped eating certain foods. Like no veal after visiting a friend's veal farm and feeding the baby cows by hand. But it didn't really sink in fully until my aunt and uncle's cow, Salina, was "sent on the truck". The thought that I could have eaten my namesake did it for me, and I haven't had meat since. I was about 12. Funny thing, the last thing I ate was a hamburger...

I don't miss eating meat, although sometime I miss the convenience of eating meat. When I first said no more, I had meat cravings, especially for mashed potatoes and gravy day at school, and pepperoni pizza. But that slowly dissolved. I think the appearance of a lot of vegetarian alternatives helped. I do miss the convenience, having to check and see if restaurants offer vegetarian food can be a bit of a pain. Especially since I'm onion-intolerant. Yeah, I see the irony...

2. What is your dream job?

Managing a horse barn or a park ranger. I miss being outside. I miss the mountains. I'd like to think that someday I'll manage a horse barn in the mountains, and take care of the conservation lands just off the property. Best of both worlds.

Part of me thinks I should use this education though, so another idea is to be an eco advocate of some sort. I'd love to push the world into the life of thinking about how and what they do affects the world around them, kicking and screaming or not. Part of me thinks I should start a "how can my company be more eco friendly (and save money)" business. Maybe someday...

3. I know you prefer rural life to urban life. If you had to live in the city, what would you enjoy about it?

I'd enjoy not having a car. I feel eco-unfriendly because I drive so far to work. Too far, really. I would love being able to walk everywhere; to the grocery store, to the library, to the liquor store. I miss that. I did live in Somerville near the Davis square T stop for a few years, and I really liked leaving my car parked at home when I wasn't going to work. I'm looking forward to our town putting a trail in on the old rail bed, it would give me a non-highway to walk on to the grocery store.

4. Of all the trips/vacations you've taken, which one was your favorite and why?

Ireland is hands down my favorite place. I've vacationed there 4 times, and could live there if I could convince E to be that far from his family. I feel very at home there. The country is so small that they have death announcements for the entire country, yes, the ENTIRE COUNTRY, at noon. And it rarely takes more than a few minutes. I know, it's a bit morbid, but you see my point. It's so green, and full of, well, country. I could see having a little farm 15 minutes outside of one of the cities where E could work. Or living in Killarney and taking tourists on trail rides through the national park. I could live where it doesn't snow, but it also rarely is above 75F. Definitely my kind of weather. I'd be home.

5. Guilty pleasures - food, books, tv.

OK, this one's hard. Not the foods. Man it sucks to be watching what I'm eating...

Food: Gardin of Eatin' blue corn chips, spicy nacho Doritos, feta cheese (Greek) pizza, strawberries, Beaujolais wine (yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! Can I have some?)

Books: Anything and everything sci-fi. But guilty... that would be spending all day ignoring E to read the Harry Potter and Twilight books on the day they come out. Yeah, teeny-bopper, but good!

TV: Hmm, guilty... During our honeymoon, E and I watched a marathon of Project Runway (season 3). Yeah, real romantic. I think this is the only instance of us watching reality TV. But, hey, in Hawaii, it was on for breakfast. OK, so other guilty pleasure shows... umm, does Privileged count? What about Terminator? I used to like Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters, but they don't have the hold over me like they used to.

On a totally un-guilty pleasure, I'm plugging the new Battle Star Galactica series. Four seasons of complete bliss! I would walk over E's dead body to see this one! Well, OK, not really, he gets the shows for me (stupid sci-fi being a paid channel). Thank goodness for the internet! But I've bought all of the seasons, if you want to borrow the DVDs, just let me know... And I'm counting the days until they come out in blue ray!

So, there's the five things. Hope you've enjoyed it!