Just a lazy teenager at heart

Let me qualify my heading by saying that I don't think ALL teenagers are lazy!

Yesterday, Vegan Chickie asked me if I was bored.

Vegan Chickie is a thousand months (slight exaggeration) pregnant and understandably finds it difficult to move further than 20 mtrs before requiring a nap (another slight exaggeration), so we are spending lots of time at home on the couch, both with our laptops in front of us and playing facebook Scrabble with each other.

Vegan Chickie works from home and also has a widespread cyber community that she is a part of,  so is a bit more productive with her laptop than I am!

So... being so far away from home, I'm out of my usual routine.  I usually pace my week out with a good range of physical activities.  Monday - golf.  Tuesday - tennis.  Wednesday - aqua aerobics.  Thursday - indoor bowls.  Friday - golf.

Every morning around 6.30am I ride my trusty red tricycle to the bakers, where I buy a take-away skinny cappuccino and then I ride to the boat ramp where I sit at a picnic table with a few of the old locals for an hour or two.  These locals are all over 70 yrs of age, so I hear lots of historic stories about the area where I'm now living, lots of current gossip and lots of utter bulldust!!

It's my favourite way to start the day.  We sit right by the river under a giant fig tree.  They are always happy to see me and I'm guaranteed at least one good belly laugh every morning!

Afterwards, I ride to the Post Office to check my mail, stop at the supermarket for any necessities and then off I go home.

By this time, it's still only 9.30 am.  I fill my day, aside from the sports which uses up between one to three hours of the day, with a bit of housework (but not much because I am a bare necessities kind of girl), a bit of gardening (also bare necessities), a bit of cooking (either breakfast, lunch or dinner), a bit of jewellery making, a bit of television (NOT soapies) and a LOT of time on my laptop.

I literally had to force myself to create this routine in my life because otherwise,  honestly, I am like a lazy teenager.  I would sleep til 10 am or later every day, probably stay in my pyjamas, sit at my computer eating junk food and showering only when I couldn't cope with my own body odour any more!

So, Vegan Chickie, to answer your question "Are you bored?"  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  I am living part of my fantasy life ... sleeping in every morning (I am lying in bed, in my pyjamas, at 10.30am as I write this) and sitting on the couch all day with my laptop!  I am having a lovely self-indulgent time!

However, considering this non-active lifestyle ... there will be no more Tim Tams, Chicken chips or that lovely New Zealand Hokey Poky ice-cream!!



 

Romancing the Vegetarian in you

Meat and two veg was always the theme at our dinner table while I was growing up, aside from the occasional spaghetti bolognese.  

Lunch was always a sandwich with devon, ham, silverside, roast lamb or processed chicken and it was accompanied by cheese or salad.  

A cooked breakfast always included bacon, ham or sausages.  

A meal wasn't a meal if it didn't have meat!

And so, people of my generation and older, equate 'vegan/vegetarian' with 'rabbit food'.  Today I am here to attempt to dispel that myth.

I am in New Zealand staying with my VERY pregnant daughter (aka Vegan Chickie) awaiting the arrival of my grandchild (aka Chicklet).  You can probably tell by her name, that her diet is vegan, although since she became pregnant, her food aversions have meant that, temporarily,  vegetarian is her diet of choice.

Needless to say, for the past 8 days, my diet has also been vegetarian/vegan and  I am  pleasantly surprised by how good my body feels.  

My head feels less 'fuzzy', although I didn't realize my head WAS fuzzy until it wasn't!   My body feels less heavy and bloated, likewise, I didn't realize it felt that way until now.  I also feel more energetic ... and that's after just 8 days.   

Vegan Chickie's husband (aka Bare-chested Chef) is, as the name suggests, a chef, and between them, their culinary skills are of the highest order.  

My vegetarian diet has been more scrumptious than you can imagine!  I feel like I have been missing out on this magical experience all of my life because I placed so much importance on meat.  Such a huge range of menus to choose from with many and varied ingredients.  The colours, the textures, the flavours and the aromas emanating from that kitchen!  A gastronomic delight!

If I have piqued your interest or curiosity then I suggest you try this fabulous website http://veganchickie.com/ and I promise that you will fall in love and have a number of these recipes as your weekly favourites.

Even my husband, who can eat the biggest piece of steak in the world and call it an entree (thank you Sharna for the descriptive), drools over the Leek Mushroom Lentil Samosas.  Personally, I'd like to recommend the Vegan Chocolate Tart (see Dec 2009 in archives).

Soon, you too, can be ROMANCING the vegetarian in you!

fbomb is worth a look!

I'm loving fbomb and the insightful ramblings of teenage feminists, full of enthusiasm, energy and commitment to the cause.

I think I'm now a blogger!

Life is mostly froth and bubble
Two things stand like stone
Kindness in another's troubles
Courage in your own

My mother, Judy, wrote that in my autograph book before she gave it to me.  It was a gift for a birthday or christmas or something.  I had no idea what the hell those words meant, but I was very excited to have an autograph book and my mind went crazy imagining all of the famous people who would sign it.

After about 6 months I had names like Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Freddie Mercury, Marc Hunter, David Cassidy and Bon Scott in my autograph book.  None of them were real signatures ... I had scribbled them in myself.  Isn't that what young girls do when their dreams don't look like becoming reality?

Sometimes, as a 15 yr old, I would lie in bed at night and imagine that I was in my death bed.  All the famous people would visit me to say goodbye and tell me how much they loved me and would miss me.  Peter Frampton would kiss me tenderly and declare his undying love for me.  Rod Stewart would lie beside me and wrap his arms around me lovingly and kiss my forehead.  All of them had tears in their eyes as they left my room.

Was that normal for teenagers of my generation?  Should my parents have considered therapy?  Is there anybody out there from my generation (or any generation for that matter!) with similar freakish thought patterns?

Judy passed away suddenly almost 6 years ago.  After reading this she would have looked at me and slowly shaken her head.  She would have said 'Sometimes I wonder about you Roz'.  I miss her.

Now I am passing the time in New Zealand awaiting the birth of my first grandchild and Judy's first great-grandchild.  She would have been right here with us, still complaining about the autograph book that I ruined with my scribble, but oh so excited about a new member of the family!