Vegmom Moments

Vegan Books at the Book Fair

I was so excited to spot the word "vegan" multiple times at our Book Fair:

I also saw some Gluten Free Baking, Dairy Free Cooking, and Organic Family type books.  

What a change from years past, a welcome change!!

NICE WEEKEND

This post is a random one with nothing too exciting to report...  Veg enjoyed helping with chores today, we all had a nice lunch, a short walk, did our shopping together... And got some stuff ready for our trip.

The boys went to bed before I had a chance to Pre-Prep my food for the week and I don't want to make too much noise... this means tomorrow will be a busy one.

Yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market and sadly found NOTHING!... So bummed... Never been this time of year, but I was expecting lots of stuff..... Probably the same thing happened to their crops as mine.... 

Thinking the rain washed them away... My poor sprouts... Not so much happening in the garden now.  *sigh sigh*

We had a nice lunch yesterday too (do you see a theme here)... Went for a nice short walk, had some amazing pumpkin spice soy latte's at a small local coffee shop.  The best I've ever had actually....

We went to Soccer, where we sat for an hour because of pictures that didn't even grab smiles from ANY of the kids that we had to pre-pay before even seeing that no one smiled.  (can you tell I'm a little bitter about the pictures) 

Then the kids played... My boy's team was short 4 players due to the flu bug, So there were 7 on the field the entire time against 8 from the other team.. we tied 2-2 which isn't so bad considering we were down 4 players... 

My young one, blocked 2 shots as goalie which made the coach pretty happy.  Now, as long as he can stop playing in the grass, taking off his shoes, and doing cartwheels during the games, he may actually get to play a little offense sooner or later.  But at least he's having fun... and Coach said he was "hero" for the game because he stopped a ball and went up against a kid 3 times his size.  All was good...

When we got home, hubby was working out... "YAY HUBBY!!"  So I went for a 2 mile run "YAY ME!!", before it got dark!  And we both lifted weights when I got back....then I did some Balance Ball exercises... Veg joined in by jumping on the little trampoline thing... "YAY VEG!!"

We were an Exercising Family!  It was tons of fun to have everyone doing this together... I've been flying solo on this front for way too long.  Nice to have Hubby back in to the mix.

Here we go with the random'ness...

I was just checking out Endless.com with all their free shipping and shoes and bags... And while I'm not a "shoe" person per say, I like finding Vegan selections where I can...  So while searching, I found these:

Garmont Kiowan Vegan Hiking Boots  I haven't purchased them, but was having fun looking through all the selections.

And how cool are these Reusable Shopping bags... I have a feeling these will be gifted to someone this Christmas..  They had packs of 3 and 6... I could buy a multi-pack and throw one in every box.

Now, why was I looking at that site??  Because I found it, while going to Amazon.com  to look for this book that I wanted to show you here.

My Kid has Skipped the step 1 and step 2 readers.... He has gone straight to the big reads.....They are reading this at his school (the teachers are reading to the kids) and while at a book store yesterday he found one and HAD to have it...  Then I get home and look at Amazon at the reviews to discover some interesting facts about the Author and the book... hmmm?  (click on the picture to see what I'm talking about... whoops!)
 

FYI - I'm in a Quandary regarding how much to sensor now that he can read on his own.  Before, when he wanted to read World War 2 books for example, I was doing the reading, and could skip the parts that weren't so kid friendly... I'm thinking that has gone out the window... about as much as hubby and I spelling words to each other that we didn't want him to hear... HAHA... Do all parents do that??

He's read through the 3rd chapter in two days... Not me reading... HE READING... And even took it to Soccer with him.  Told the kids he'd read it to them before the game, but warned that their aren't any pictures.  The other kids weren't too interested.  *smile*  Which is probably a good thing, after reading the Amazon reviews.

***UPDATE***  Got a note from the teacher that content is NOT SO Appropriate... Great, Now What?  Apparently the teacher was filtering when reading it to the kids.... Not so much the case with him reading it to himself... oh my!

We also got one of these, its about dinosaurs though... I totally couldn't stand these as a kid, but Veg loves it... And he is so Silly as intended.  But cool because the Junior versions help teach nouns, adjectives,etc.  Plus writing and reading skills.   So he's had a blast the last couple days with this thing... And will make for a very good road trip toy.

Did you know Trex had a pig snout, 6000 arms and liked to eat bananas... Now really, what could be more fun? How could I not like this stuff before?

And so there ya have it... A weekend of a whole lot of nothing... But a pretty nice weekend at that!

Hope yours was great where ever you are!

PORK? ITS A PIG

Veg had his first ever field trip today and had a Wonderful time!  They went to a Farm...  and got to see baby piglets, cows, and other animals.  He said it was a real working farm, didn't smell and they were all taken care of very well.  Which was nice to hear. 

Then he shows me his bag of goodies.. 

I had to walk out of the room before saying something I shouldn't.

He got coloring books and activity books and pencils all from the Dairy, Pork, and Beef industry....Made me ill.

When we were kids, we never learned what happened to the cows... We only saw the cute little food pyramid and the cute little signs and coloring books.  We saw the cows grazing on the farm and then they were gone.  I had this image in my head that they got bonked on the noggin so they didn't feel any pain as they met their final moments.  But we never knew about factory farms or what TRULY happened to these critters.

It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I learned what really happens to cows and other critters, especially in factory farms.  And I couldn't understand how I never knew these things before...

UNTIL TODAY!!!  They filled us with the same un-truths that they are filling this generation with.

While I was looking through the cute little "PIGGIE" coloring book that Veg got in his goodie bag, the fact that they are feeding our kids with this Crapola, just disgusts me...

Granted the pigs he saw today were on a nice open farm and cared for very well (according to him) so maybe the message was that eating local, organic, and well cared for animals and supporting these farms is a good thing.....

 I would have rather the message been "How could you hurt or eat that little innocent baby pig you were just holding"... Or why would you ever want to eat such glorious cows... I was hoping the farm field trip would contain that type of message...

Instead they got these coloring books with adorable pictures of pigs.  Says things like "The pigs are happy to be made in to pork."  REALLY?   and  "They are kept healthy, and if the farmer takes good care of them, the pigs will give us food"

Yeah, like they say "Oooh thank you Mr. Farmer man, let me roll over now so you can stick an apple in my mouth and roast me over the coals"  Even if not on a factory farm, do you suppose ANY pig would be happy to be hauled off and tortured then eatin... I THINK NOT!

Then they have a maze in the goody bag.   It takes the pigs from the farm where they are "happy" in to a truck and passed the packer and on to the Grocery... They skip the little step in the maze where they are slaughtered and by the way... They skip the little picture of a factory farm raised pig completely.  And go straight to the pretty little pyramid of the standard american diet. 

That page mentions how good that Pork is for a balanced diet.  And Bologna is listed as nutritious... REALLY???

Don't even get me started on the activity book called "Sometimes its good to be a Chicken"  Hmmm?  Does the Chicken really think that?  Tell me, does the chicken say its happy before or after its head is chopped off and its butt filled with marinade. 

Or the one that says "Our Milk comes from healthy happy cows?"  and "Cows enjoy giving us their milk" Yeah, if you were pregnant or lactating in to machines 24/7 and had your babies hauled off for every bit off your life...would you really be happy?  I'm thinkin' NO!  I used a breast pump on two udders, for a year... I know what it feels like for 8 minutes.  Can't imagine that it would make me a "HAPPY COW" to be pumped dry my entire life. 

Seriously????  I'm soooo disappointed in the overall message of these books... Where is the one that talks about Veggies being good for you?  And instead of a boy eating a chicken bone while playing basketball with a blurb about all the vitamins and minerals in a piece of meat.... Why wouldn't they have them eating spinach, or apples, or so many other great and wonderful truly nutritional things. 

No wonder we never knew growing up what really happened.  I totally get that now....We were given these same messages... We thought the animals were "HAPPY"  But my Vegman will know.  He will be making a very knowledgeable choice when/if he decides to eat dead critters.  He can look at the coloring books all he wants, but I will tell him the truth.

I won't burst his farm field trip bubble, as he is too excited... But I'm hopeful the next field trip is to a Vegetable producing farm.

-----Hopping off soap box------