The idea of "The Vegetarian Experiement" was to prepare only vegetarian meals in our home for the summer. From Memorial Day to Labor Day we would have a vegetarian house. We are a few weeks away from the end of the Vegetarian Experiment. We did really well. We ate some really great things. We also learned that trying out a recipe created by non-vegetarians for vegetarians is ALWAYS going to be a disaster. It's like the meat eaters come up with the nastiest idea and say "Heh Heh, wish you could whip up a burger right about now, huh?"
The kids did well. Chris did well. Of course, I knew Chris would do well because the Vegetarian Experiement covered only those meals cooked in the house and Chris works. He gets to leave the house and find his way to meat. Everyone here, in all honesty, was a very good sport. We have new family favorite recipes that we will always use.
But I've noticed something strange occuring the closer we get to Labor Day. The kids turn on Food Network. They watch Paula Deen attentively, mouths watering. My children covet her food. Will went as far to suggest between Labor Day and Christmas we should cook only Paula Deen recipes. I told him I didn't think that was going to happen. His response? "Man cannot live by quinoa alone." Veggies have increased the speed of his brain and his mouth.
I'll be honest. Writing is HARD when you're a stay home mom. I didn't think it would be. I figured I could crank out about 3 or 4 really wonderful pieces of literary blog awesomeness every day. Truth is it was easier to write every day when I had a job. For starters I got "breaks". Those breaks included walking over to the cafeteria and getting a very large Diet Coke and hitting the vending machine for a B-7 - a Butterfinger. It was heavenly, and not so healthy, but it kept a smile on my face. So while eating a candy bar and drinking a Diet Coke I could write about the one or two funny things the kids did between the hours of 5:30 pm and 6:30 am.
Soon enough we will be searching for school supplies, meeting teachers, discussing the plan for the school year. So far there we've signed up for soccer and dance. Those two activities alone will keep us moving on the weekends. While I'm excited to get back to "work" of the regular schoolyear, I already miss the relaxation of having nothing set to do and nothing requiring us to have a set schedule.
But what stuck with me was that 1. If I'm going to recommend a movie to Mom it needs to either be comedy or tragedy, but there's no mixing the two and 2. Life is often funny and sad at the same time.
So far it's going well... Unless you consider that being a "vegetarian" in Texas is sort of like admitting to being a Cold War Communist.