"Baby Half Off Blog" Birthday Celebration Giveaway.

HERE IS A GIVEAWAY found at "Baby Half Off Blog".   It's easy to enter, and sounds great, doesn't it??  (I never win anything, but figured if I at least posted it on here, maybe one of you would.)  : D

Click HERE to get to that giveaway.

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Mommy Mystery Bag Giveaway!!

by BABY HALF OFF on AUGUST 17, 2012

Today’s Birthday Celebration Giveaway

is

one Mommy Mystery Bag,

valued at over $90!!!

To enter:

1)  Leave a comment…..anything!

2)  Share this on Facebook/Twitter/Blogs and return here to leave a separate comment with the link to where you’ve share it.

THAT’S IT!  So easy!!

***This giveaway will close on Friday, Aug. 24th, @ 10 p.m. 

Thank you for celebrating with us this week,

and don’t forget to enter all of our giveaways,

including our Video Contest Giveaway 

where the Grand Prize Winner will receive $100 in BHO Rewards Bucks!  {Don’t know what those are?  Read about them HERE!}

Botched Circumcisions

(Get this bumper sticker HERE.)

I'm posting this because there are far too many people still, who think that their unborn son NEEDS to be circumcised to "make him look normal", or to "match his father."  

The following links (to photos) will clearly show that the circumcisions performed on these men certainly did not make them "look normal".  And I'm pretty sure they don't "match" their dad.  To ALL the men in these galleries, my heart goes out to you.

We can't prevent every bad thing from happening to our children, but EVERY SINGLE ONE of these injuries, scars, etc., were 100% preventable.

This is VERY GRAPHIC and should probably not be viewed at work, or in front of children.

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The link below shows photos of "skin bridges" caused by circumcisions. 
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched1sb.html 

This link shows scarring that occurs with circumcisions.  There is also a set of pictures on this link that show a man who had multiple botches.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched3sc.html

This one shows skin tags, common in circumcised men.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched2st.html

This one is a gallery of photos showing too much skin removed.  This is more common than most people know, and can be devastating to men.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched7ex.html

This gallery shows photos of uneven scarring.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched6un.html

I am pretty sure anyone who has seen a circumcised adult male has seen this.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched5va.html

Malapposition.  
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched8ma.html

Wound dehiscence (re-opening).
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched9wd.html

This link is even more graphic than the rest, and I am warning you.  Sometimes things can go very wrong.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched4ga.html

ALL of the above links are from Circumstitions.com.  They have a ton of fantastic information for anyone questioning circumcision.

You can purchase this shirt HERE.

They're Starting School Soon...

Well, maybe you don't care.  But I thought I'd update about my twins starting school.

They have their vaccine exemption forms handed in.  They have a "Lemonade Picnic" to meet their teacher and the other kids in their class, at the end of the month.  And then, a week and a half into September, they start JK.  (Junior Kindergarten, for those that don't know what JK is.)
They'll be going 2-3 days a week, full days.

I cannot even tell you how anxious I am.  I'm trying to pretend that it's not bothering me.  But it is.  I am so unhappy about them going to school.  They JUST turned 4 in June.  This is ridiculous.  I don't think children need to go to school before they're 5...and really...they don't EVER need to go.  I could teach them JUST FINE at home.

But they're going.

The only reason they ARE going when I'm so against it is because I'm afraid that I'm projecting my own feelings about school onto them.  And that's not fair.  I HATED school...but what's to say they will??  My job is to show them the world...to give them every opportunity, and to let them do things they want to do, even if just for the experience of it.

They're going to be given an opportunity to try it out.  And if it doesn't work out, I'll homeschool them.

Maybe this is normal...this anxiety.  Maybe it's because I know we're going to be apart, and I don't want that at ALL.  Maybe it's the fact that suddenly they just seem like they're growing up so fast...too fast...
I don't know.  I just know I'm sad about the whole thing.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about this for right now. 

Even the "baby" is growing up too fast for me...

Maybe it's knowing we won't get to do this again until next year...

I wish we could live at the beach.  Forever.

Haters Gonna Hate

I would like to take the time to thank my latest (most vocal, to date) hater.  I appreciate that you've taken the time to read my blog posts...even though no one is making you, and it's a conscious choice.

Thanks for sticking around here, even though you claim to hate my blog...and me.  Thank you to this hater for not only taking the time to read "the majority" of my blog posts, but for sending me those little love notes.  They're super special to me!!  I'll treasure them always.

Oh no...wait.  That's not right....HERE'S what I meant to say......

I suggest that if you don't enjoy reading this blog, you find another one to read.  There's no reason to keep reading something that makes you mad.  LOL  This isn't high school...there's no test at the end, or anything.  If this blog doesn't float your boat, find one that does.  I'll be fine...though I'll miss those lovely notes.

All the best to you in the future.  Bye bye.

~K.

Well, I took the last step...

Remember a while ago I said I was still eating fish?  I haven't re-read that post, so I don't know if I said I'd eat fish forever, or not...LOL  But I stopped.

I don't like saying things publicly...especially here, online, where it's all forever documented...until I know what I write is going to remain true.  At least for some amount of time.  (Hey, crap happens, right?!)

But it will be 3 weeks on Friday (August 3rd), since I last had fish.  And, of course, like every goodbye...it sucked.  That fish sucked too.  And it figures, doesn't it?

Of course I didn't go out and buy some enormous chunk of salmon, or anything fantastic like that.  I ate the last of the frozen fish in the freezer that apparently should have been thrown out a long time ago.  It was seriously gross.  Tasted like nothing, really, but felt like yuck in my mouth.  (Don't tell me you've never described something as tasting like "yuck".  It's what you call it when there is no other word to explain what you mean...it's that gross.)

So that was it.  That nasty fish.  And you know, maybe it was a blessing in disguise.  So when I think of fish, I think of it like that.  Maybe I won't miss it so much now.

I also stopped eating eggs about a month ago, which was kind of hard on me.  Not because I love eating eggs.  I really don't.  (I don't hate them, but they're not the first on my list of things I want to eat.)  It was hard because I believe that the whole "vegan" thing is supposed to be about not harming living things (things that can feel pain or fear, that is), and not exploiting animals for our own use.  But our eggs come from a small family farm...the guy works with my husband and these chickens are his pets.  He says that he doesn't even have a rooster anymore, and they keep laying.  Constantly.  He sells them to us for $2 a dozen, and they're organically raised, free-range chickens.  They're living a good life.  They're happy, and healthy, and he's not eating them randomly based on the egg count.  He is a guy who prides himself on his animals.  So I can't see how that's exploiting them.  The eggs would be thrown in a trash bag if he couldn't sell them.

Anyway, I stopped eating them.  We still buy them, because my husband and kids still eat them, but I had to stop.  Not because I think I was hurting any one or any thing, but because of one reason.  I hate when people talk about what I eat.

Funny, right?  Why the hell are you talking about it here, if you hate people discussing your food choices?  Well, you don't know me.  (Not personally, I mean.)  I hate when people I know, and have to encounter on a regular basis, talk about what I eat.  And not really even when they say things to my face. But when I find out after the fact that they were talking behind my back.  THAT is the shit I can't stand.

So even though I had no intention of taking that last step into being 100% vegan (because I hate being part of...well...pretty much any group ever invented), I've done it.  It's easier to say that I'm vegan than to explain to people why I don't eat meat, or consume dairy, but I still eat fish and eggs.

Well, maybe they are grown on trees!

Because yeah.  Clearly fish isn't a plant.  I'm not an idiot.  But this isn't an A to Z road.  There are a couple steps in there.  For me, at least!  (I'm sure I mentioned in that fish post that this is a process, and if I'm going to change my diet for good, it needs to be at a pace I can handle.  Otherwise it's not going to last longer than my guilt about how those animals are raised/killed.)


Well anyway.  Yes.  I'm now completely, for real, vegan.  And I'm not having a tough time with it, other than during things like family gatherings, or going out to a restaurant.  (The latter is easier, though.  Salad is ALWAYS an option.)  At home, my food is getting better.  Slowly.

Tonight I made "Shepherd's Pie", and it was FABULOUS.  I've never even made the "normal" version of this before, so I'm quite surprised it turned out so good!


I also went to a vegan pot-luck on the weekend, and that food was AMAZING. Seriously, inspired me tonight when I made supper.  I have to eat food like that.  Daily.  (So good!!!!)

So yeah.  I've taken the last steps.  What this means for you is that you can expect some excellent recipes, (and some harsh reviews if something I take the time to cook tastes like rotten ass sandwiches).  I'm horribly blunt when it comes to food.  LOL

That is all.  xoxo

Shepherd's Pie...Vegan Style Recipe (SERIOUSLY GOOD)

I'm not going to lie.  I lie to eat.  I've had several jobs where I cooked.  Most of the others were based on food in some way (based on them putting some of that food in my belly, more like!).  So I know food.  I know what things are supposed to taste like.  And being vegan isn't going to change that.  Not at all.  So here's a recipe that I didn't think would taste good, but DID end up being fabulous.

Shepherd's Pie.

You'll need:


~1pkg. Yves veggie ground round.
~Onion, diced small
~Green pepper, diced small
~Mashed potatoes  (Make these before hand if you don't have them all ready in your fridge as left overs.)
~Frozen mixed veggies (beans, carrots, corn, peas)
~Bistro powdered gravy mix

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I wrote out the exact way I did it, and it seems daunting.  LOL  But I always cook with all the burners, so it's really not.  But written down, it looks that way.

So I'll tell you what you need to do, and it's a no-fail recipe, I'm sure.  Even if you have to do it in steps, it'll be fine.


1.  Fry some diced onion and green peppers in a frying pan with oil.  

2.  Boil some frozen veggies until they float.  


3.  Add ground round to the frying pan once the onions and peppers start to turn color.

4.  Once the veggies are ready, throw them in the frying pan too.  Mix them up so the flavors mix, and everything is warmed up.


5.  Mix up a cup or 2 of Bistro powdered gravy mix in a small pot.
(It's vegan by accident, I think.  Check the label before you buy it, though.  I've read online that they sell two almost-identical items, and only one is free of animal products.)


6.  When the frying pan stuff is all mixed and looking yummy, mix in about 1/2 a cup of the gravy, and mix it up. 
(You may like more or less gravy, depending on your tastes.)


7.  Dump it in a casserole dish, and top with warm mashed potatoes.



**If you have time, I'm sure you could pop that in the oven at 350 degrees for like 20 mins., and it'd be even better.  But we don't have that kind of time around here.  When the kids want to eat, they want to eat!  LOL!!

*You'll have extra gravy left, for those who want it dumped on top of their potatoes...like at my house.*

Enjoy!!!