a P H o M

A profound hatred of me.. seems to me that I have an amazing ability to destroy all the things I love. Despite not wanting that to happen I always end up there with my finger on the kill switch... and no one ever stops me it just happens as I intended it to. And yet somehow though it was all through my own effort I am dumfounded by what has happened.

Panties, tarts, and kiwis oh my!

Today has been  very weird day. Nothing went quite as I'd have hoped. Didn't end up getting to work or to schedule an appt I wanted to. Couldn't take a drive and get stuff done. I did make a delicious vegan potato soup. I really like my vegan bacon. The boys did too. Bean gave me a touch of attitude, but that was more to do with the celery than anything else. The kids have been a bit woooo since they got back from their dad weekend. I was hoping to make gingerbread men today, but they were too amped up. So instead we just hung out read and played. That aside it was the VS show today! And boy do I love VS. Still not feeling the ridiculous rave colored pink collection. I am however feeling the lace merry-widow, so gorgeous! Issues with him again making the sadness creep back into my soul. I am so tired of the back and forth. He'd say it's me. And maybe it is but if I am unhappy because of all  of it and he won't change maybe I should walk away again. But every time I try it feels wrong. BLEH.
 Had an issue on my favorite message board to top of my day, I am already feeling fairly lonely and what not with people I know irl... I don't especially want e-drama. So I won't post on that thread anymore. I am not dealing with crap from people I don't know. psssssssh.
I made myself a kiwi peach Italian soda. It was refreshing and tasty. The kids all stole from it, lucky for them they are cute. I do love me some kiwis. I also can't wait to use all the coupons I got for free stuff from Victoria Secret!

Oh Today Today... BLAHHH and WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Today was such a busy day. I spent yesterday baking and preparing for today. I made the aforementioned faux peppermint joe joe's. They were messy and the recipe was poorly adapted, but the cookies are nommy. The filling was a nightmare but with much effort I made it into a really tasty peppermint glaze! Even Auntie loved it and she does not dig on pepperminty stuff. So I decided to make brownie bites for the scouts meet and Jen's reception. Then I topped them with some of the peppermint filling. Tres good! I still have so much no clue what to do. Auntie says I should stop baking so much and rest. But that's so not me. >>  The kiddles were at their dad's so I had the day to do whatevs.. which was making breakfast one hour of me time, then cleaning, dressing up to try and look nice for the days events. Shopped for the next week and a half. And got all the nonfresh prep stuff I need for Thanksgiving, except I need to go back to Golden Harvest and snag some vegan broth for to make stuffing! I have all the ingredients I need for the next few days when I am planning to experiment with potential Christmas goodies. I hope that people at open mic want to sample them, because at this point unless crazy stuff happens I will have three or four goodies. I digress. After shopping was a quick trip home to unpack them. Played with the pup for a few minutes and then a surprise mid day visit from the children. Then got Aidan in uniform and it was off to the scouts big popcorn sale pick up,  Turkey bingo and potluck. It was fun, but Noodle totally crashed out on me. So we left before bingo. Thanks to all who bought popcorn, Aidan is a popcorn knight again! I have to find out how he can earn the belt loops we missed at the last scout meeting I did not know when it was., :( After scouts I delivered some of the popcorn. Then went for tea and toast with Auntie. We chatted and relaxed. Then we got ready and went to Jen's and Ivan's reception. They picked a super place for a reception. It was very serene and smelled lovely like autumn leaves and a nice fire. Scott was there grilling away on some ribs. Jen was totally adorable as always with a phenomenal green coat! Aunt Julie and I had a nice time and they had a great spread of nommies. I got to have some homemade hummus and some zucchini salsa! I must say both were excellent! Plus some ho-hocake!  Nom. And Jen serenaded Ivan with "Make you feel my love" while Scott and Bob played. It was beautiful! I had a great time. Then back to town. Home for a little cleaning and moving of things. Then kissed the kiddles bye and back out the door to see Mandy Mae for coffee! It's always nice to catch up.  And then after like 8 cups of coffee. >> Back home to do some cleaning, packing, present wrapping for Laura Beth.. and getting ready for the home showing tomorrow. I am so flipping exhausted!!! If you made it to the end of this, thanks! <3 It's was quite sweet of you.

Greens, 9 pounds of candy, and toothpaste!

I was experimenting with turnip greens today. They were delicious. I sauteed four cloves of garlic, grated half of a small sweet onion, in a tbsp of olive oil. Then I added 1 1/2 pounds of turnip greens and tossed them in the onions and garlic. I added a tsp of ground cayenne pepper. Then in a cup of veggie broth I added two tbsp of sweet spicy mustard whisked them together. Then I added it to the greens and cooked them until the liquid was gone. They were nommy! I know most people are like ewwww greens, but seriously they are so delicious. And also full of vitamin k which I am totally hoping will heal the wound on my lip from the pinata incident!
I have depressingly not had a chance to make my peppermint faux joes.. which I am very sad about.. but there was much to do today. Got my secret Santa person. Sorted through multiple bags of Halloween candy from the kids. Saved each a gallon bag and a popcorn tin of candy. Well the tins are for the candy house and for m&m cookies. They are excited to make the m&m cookies. But they will not usurp the peppermint faux joes.. nope! Anyway when I turned over all the extra candy, which will be shipped to the troops <3, we had given 9 pounds. That's 3 pounds a piece and came out to 9.00. Which I will be using to buy them new toothpaste. Deliciousssss irony! I am planning on making broccoli and tofu with peanut sauce. So good sounding.. I love tofu so much!

Candy Cane Joe Joe's!

I recently learned of the existence of this double decker candy cane and creme filled deliciousness... I was saddened to learn they only hail from  Trader Joe's... because there are none of those near here. Then again other than trees, deer, water, and mosquitoes there is not much near here.  I am excited to try the recipe that I found for them. I will have to mod it slightly, because... it's me and I do that. But I am excited to give them a whirl. I think some happy baking will take my mind off the upcoming shit storm. I have to sort candy from the Halloween bag for the children's ginger bread house... and then ditch the excess at the dentist. I feel bad taking away there candy but there have to be consequences for raiding the cupboards and stealing and ruining three containers of sprinkles at 6 am. My irritation at waking up to three sugar crazed muppets was immense. But quickly faded as they are the ones who will be depressed at the loss of all that candy, candy, candy! And there is a dentist who is buying it. So that gives it a place to go to. Ditch the candy and use the money to buy toothpaste. That may upset the balance of the universe.. but it pays off part of their cosmic sprinkle debt.
 Anyway I am off to scan some papers and such... catch you all on the kale side. <3

Shame on me?

If I give you my heart again and you break it, who's to blame you or me? Why can't I just take my heart and keep it until I find someone who will want it? But my heart knows what it wants. It is beyond rational thought and reason. I am not beyond reason and yet I can't let you go either. And then you hurt me... like clockwork.

My thoughts on a not so pleasant request...

You know it does not matter how you start the request out, telling me at random that you want to see me naked is fairly offensive. Especially if you just got done telling me that you are dating someone and moving to live with them. It is also offensive since you know  I am  interested in someone else and have made no attempts to make you think that I want you to ask to see me naked. If I don't respond well to talk of cuddling do you think I will find requests of naked pictures or peep shows less offensive? Finishing off by saying you'll settle for seeing my nipples or even one nipple is also repulsive. I don't care how attractive you find nipples, that is vile! Honest to God I can't begin to understand why anyone would think those choices are a good plan at anytime... I don't know who the hell thinks it is okay to randomly begin discussing my naked body. News flash you're my friend because I don't want to date you. And at this point I'm so disgusted with you I don't even think I want to be that.  But in regards to nudity requests unless we are dating and very serious you're not seeing me naked. Which means you will never see me naked. And I certainly am not the kind of girl who would get naked for someone else's boyfriend. I have to wonder if that stuff works on other girls? Well sorry I'm not that skank who screws around with taken people and I don't associate with the sorts of girls who would either so you're SOL. I don't appreciate being treated like a slut by anyone. I'm a person, and I have boundaries. Saying 'I hope you  won't be offended by this' does not change the fact that I am entirely offended. That being said I'd like to get a bit personal about what I want to do to your man parts...  but let's make this clear the only thing I want to do to your penis is repeatedly kick it, sir. Does the use of sir lessen the blow for you? Does it make the idea of me injuring you less awful? No I didn't think so. A douchey thing with a bow tied on is still douchey, it's just accessorized douche baggery. But you know if a full on penis assault is offensive to you then I'd settle for kicking those wrinkly things you have dangling back there. I'm not picky, I could happily kick just one!  And you know what I don't think your girlfriend would mind. Maybe next time you'll keep your mouth shut and your mind out of what is under other girls' clothes. Because loss of friendship and bodily harm seems likely if you continue down the path of vile behavior you are on.

Crackers

Trust is like a two sided cracker with very different flavors. The one side is sweet and allows you to feel pleasant about it. The other side is bitter and hard to chew or swallow. It reeks of betrayal. What happens when as you are happily eating your cracker you begin to suddenly taste a hint of the bitter. You want the sweet deliciousness but now suspicion and doubt are wrapping around your tongue. And then the taste begins to spread. And suddenly it's down your throat and on it's way to sitting heavily in the pit of your stomach. And a quiet voice screams against the din of doubt that the cracker is still sweet. But who to believe the maddening sense of betrayal that has overwhelmed your senses, or the echo of the sweet. The memory of what once was.

 Well for me I choose the sweet. I know what it's like to suddenly be labeled the bitter cracker when it was never me who changed but the other person. So until I see the bitter being added.. I will happily eat my sweet cracker. Because I'd hope someone would do the same for me.

Carmelized Onion BBQ Pizza

So I was messing around with a honey wheat thin pizza crust trying to decide what to do with it. The only cheese I had on hand was smoked mozzarella, which doesn't lend well to a normal pizza. So I decided to make BBQ sauce for my sauce. Which then left only the issue of what would I put on said pizza. Now I don't have any "chicken" on hand.. so I decided to go with the other usual suspect on a BBQ pizza, onion.  And what came to be was so damn delicious it's wrong!!!
So here is the recipe.
Barbeque Sauce

• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp or less brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like it. I usually go 1 1/2 TBSP)

PreHeat Oven 425 degrees. 
 On your crust of choice (I used a nice thin honey whole wheat pizza crust) brush with olive oil. Then spread BBQ sauce as thick as you like. Then sprinkle with smokey cheese.
In a small skillet melt some earth balance. When pan is hot and before butter browns add one sweet onion cut into thin strips. Cook until onions begin to brown and release their sugar.
Put hot onions on pizza. Put in the oven. Cook 12 minutes or until your crust has achieved delicious browned-ness and cheese is bubbly! :D
And then enjoy!!! XD
 

It's officially at the point where it is all too much. And I begin to wonder if things are ever going to get better. It gets harder to continue with the happy whistling teapot ideation as the water gets higher and higher and hotter and hotter. I don't want to give up but the butter is spread too thin and the knife just keeps scraping and I find myself worn thinner and thinner. If I could just get through one issue before three more pop up.  I don't want anyone to talk to me right now.. anyone but him. I want peace and quiet. I want to be held and told everything is going to be okay, even when maybe it won't be. I want so many things I can't seem to make happen. And it's not like my wants are fueled out of greed and a sense of entitlement. I just don't want to struggle so hard to keep a float. And I don't want to be reminded that I am resilient and have been through worse. And I don't want to be told I can take it. And I don't care if I have and I can. I am sick of fighting.. and I can't give up. So I'm sort of stuck.. my mantra isn't making me feel better. Reality is becoming crushingly bad.. and I am just trying to put out fires before another one springs up. And everyone wants to talk about my plans for the future. I sort of need to get through the immediate issues before I can tell you what I will do next.  I am not in the mood to smile and say things will work out today.. I am not able to be anyone's rock. I just need to survive the day.. so maybe I can work on tomorrow.

Apple Nachos Eat Your Heart Out

Sissy inspired me to make apple nachos. Crispy fresh honey crisp apples drizzled with melted peanut butter, topped with un sweetened shaved coconut, vegan chocolate chips, and pecans. The children are in love with apple nachos. They even eat the peels! It is the only way I have ever gotten them to eat apple peels.
Aunt Juj and Miss L came to dinner tonight. They too are in love with apple nachos too! Apple nachos and salted tomatoes were pretty darn popular tonight. I love farm fresh tomatoes. I want it to be summer again. Although now is the time for squash and pumpkin tastiness. I am going to tackle the Tofu Guru's pumpkin pancakes either tomorrow or Tuesday. I think I may make soup tomorrow.. I bought this awesome looking butternut squash. I don't have a ton of experience with squash soup, but it sounds like it would be great.
 Side note I am starting to wonder how sane my recent endeavors are. I don't know how much distance I am really keeping. It's like a game of how far can I lean over the edge before I plummet. And then there is this nagging urge to just tumble over the edge and see what goes happening. I have been down the Rabbit hole and come back out much worse for wear, and yet there is a toxic hope that lingers. I keep trying to remember that it's poison and not candy and yet... I can't seem to resist the urge to have a taste. Just a small taste. One small taste of poison won't kill me... will it?

Don't feed the drama bear ... it turns into a BITCH

You know when you become my friend, you have to accept when you ask me about something I am gonna just tell you the truth. People often mistake my honest compliments as flattery and my honest statements as me being a heinous bitch. It's not my intention to stroke your ego or crush your soul. It is my intention to be a good friend and be as open with you as I can. I don't do little white lies, they are still lies. I might lie for your safety, but I won't lie to save your feelings because would you like me if you knew I would lie about trivial things? I wouldn't like you if you wouldn't be honest to me when I need it. If I ask you a question I want the answer not a lie. Because if you lie in the end I will just be hurt anyway. I won't lie that your man gets around, or tell your girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse that you're with me when you are fucking around. It's not who I am. It isn't because I don't care about you, but I don't believe a good friend runs around asking you to lie. If someone is sleeping with the person I love I WANT to know. I won't shoot the messenger because damnit someone should have the stones to tell me what I deserve to know. Having the truth with held makes it all the more painful when it comes out... then nothing seems real. I can keep secrets when need be. I won't tell anyone who you secretly love, that you still adore boy bands, I won't share your trauma stories, or embarrassing moments. But keeping a secret is not the same thing as a lie.
Also when I am not your friend anymore.. do me the courtesy of leaving me alone. Why incessantly bother me and accuse me of things that I wouldn't waste my time to do? I have more important shit to do than spread rumors about people... a lot more important shit. I am not just sitting around wishing we were friends and punishing you because we aren't. So don't text me twenty times to scream at me and call me a child, when it is clearly you with the maturity issue. And don't slander me with your filthy mouth and accuse me of shit talking you. Do you think this is about you? Well if you're reading this I doubt it. But I have a right to vent and so I will.
I don't want drama. I want to live my life, figure out what is going on with my move, and take care of my kids. I don't want to be involved with your pathetic relationship...
I will be there for people who accept me and love me as I am. Because I won't change and become some one else, this is who I am. And I won't apologize for it. I am a loyal friend until I am betrayed and then you may as well be dead or be prepared to offer proof that you would never do it again.. and a live organ sacrifice may also be required.  I can forgive but not easily. Best to just not be a fail human to begin with. I am not hard to please.
I wish the drama bear would go live in a dark cave like normal bears and stop bothering me... Now that I have that all off of my chest I am going to attempt to salvage my evening. Stupid drama...

Super heroes, soy lattes, BBQ tofu, and creamsicle cookies!

Spent the afternoon hanging with Lacey. We went for tasty lattes at the Crimson Cup. I had ginger spice, nom!  Then after we talked about all things ever we decided to look for costumes. I regret to think that the costume box with all of the children's costumes is missing. And so far I can't find a new Princess Peach costume for Bean. I don't know what to tell her if we can't find one. :( We had a silly time trying on super hero masks. And I posed with Paula Deen. She loves butter ya'll! <3 Hehe... Then we headed back to my house to make some BBQ tofu. Which as I lack tons of experience working with was quite a to do. We had to figure out how to cook it. I had this recipe for a delicious BBQ marinade, but last time I made it my attempts led to really squishy tofu. I drained it with a cutting board on it with a tomato can on top but it still came out really squishy last time. Plus I accidentally splatted my tofu when I pressed down a little on it so it was too broken to make big pieces. This time I drained it without pushing on it. I made nice little eighths out of the block. Then I dry fried the pieces on a teflon flat skillet. I did not use any oil on it. I cooked it low and slow. In the end it came out nice and browned with crispy outsides. The middle had a great texture like a well cooked scrambled egg. Firm no gross squish. And the BBQ, which I marinated it in for half an hour  before putting it back on the skillet to fry, was tasty as well. We had it with spicy oven fries and salads. We finished up by baking what was labeled as a creamscicle cut out cookie. But it tasted more like an animal cracker. And with the little piggy cutters I made and elephants that Lacey made they came  out nomtrelescent and adorable! We just finished up the last batch while rocking out to my playlist. Good times! I am full happy and still on a search for a creamscicle cookie. Because while these are great they don't live up to the name that was attached to them. And that's okay. At least I tried it out before the party! I am gonna relax and hopefully get a call. ;)

Angry Political Rant with a Side of Froth.

Oh my God! I am so sick to death of Republicans. I know that's not nice to say. And it's not like I hate all Republicans ever or even actually hate them. I just REALLY don't understand them. People who have money for trips, vacation homes, new cars, and ect... I don't really think they have a clue what life is like for people without money. And they honestly seem to think that if you don't have money that it is proof you're lazy. You clearly have no work ethic. And clearly WANT hand outs. As a mother of three who put myself through college, while raising them by myself after my marriage failed and working three jobs to make ends meet. Don't tell me that I am lazy. I worked three part time jobs not one of them offered benefits of any sort. I couponed and shopped sales. I scoured the racks of second hand stores and picked through yard sales. I am not living some sort of fast paced rich lifestyle. For months I didn't eat meat because for awhile I could not afford enough for me to eat it too. Now I just don't eat it. But for awhile it was a necessity. I am not deluded into thinking that if people are in a bad place that they are lazy. Because oddly I am aware that people's situations are often so much more complicated than we will ever know. Yes there are many lazy people. Some of them are poor and some of them are not. I know a guy with a great salary job working for his brother who literally does nothing.. he sleeps all day. He lies about what he has done for work. He routinely spends the working hours he is awake playing games. He makes like 4 or 5 k a month... maybe he's not "rich" but he makes more than me and I know he's not earning it. But getting off the topic of lazy people, I disbelieve that the majority of poor people are lazy. Most of the people I know are poor. Very few of them are lazy. So many of them fight to eat and pay the bills. Clearly they are lazy.. seriously WHAT THE FUCK EVER!
 Things won't get better if they go on as they have. I am glad that people are trying to mobilize to make a change. And I am tired of other people thinking they have the right to shut them down because they don't want to hear it. If I have to listen to people go on and on about the right to bear arms or religion or no religion or whatever, then they can listen to me. I am proud to be an American. I love my country. I vote. I try to be up on the issues. But things in our country are broken right now! And something has to change. So I am happy to know that there are people out their embracing their ideas and peacefully protesting for change.

Sleepy French Toast Cupcakes and tears

I found myself up until incredibly late again, so manic sleep wouldn't come because it had better shit to do. Obviously I began reflecting on secrets. With little real mention of confidants I must add that they are exceptionally important when a secret is just too much to keep in. To those few close people that I have confided in, know that I love and trust you dearly. I can't say enough how grateful I am to the people who truly know me and have never turned on me.
Side note I am back to thinking it may be time for something bigger.. a drastic change. Larger than 90 miles. My unhappiness has been fairly palpable lately. I just can't find a niche in this place. Let alone a heart to love.

Moving would make me miss so many people, but also allow a fresh start. Some people get angry at me when I talk about leaving. And I get it. But I have to do something. Crushing sadness seems an awful way to live.
 And as I was told last night when I explained that fear was the thing stopping me from moving that I have myself many times said not to let fear control your life. And it's true I can't sit like a deer in the head lights afraid of what will happen as the truck of life comes barreling down on me. And I don't want to be stagnant. So with or without blessings I think the big move is back on!

Back to the cupcakes at hand... French toast cupcakes are all lovely and cooling on my counter. Baking on 2 hours of sleep makes for some funny mistakes. While baking I was also organizing my spice cupboards, as you know I like to multi-task, and decided to put some dehydrated onions into a spice container.. and nearly poured them into my "buttermilk". After that I poured the vanilla extract into my dry mix which needed to be sifted. So I had to take the vanilla extract coated in flour and cinnamon and put it into my sugar and applesauce bowl (I sub applesauce for oil in cakes.) So then I sifted the dry ingredients over the wet bowl and carefully stirred it. The batter had a few little bumps from the extract crew... but I was able to mostly smooth it out. They baked up to a glorious golden color and taste great. But lack of sleep made me make some silly mistakes that I would not normally make. I also had no luck finding any of my measuring spoons except for the 1/8 tsp and 1/2 TBSP... so I ended up measuring so many tiny scoops of baking soda and powder.
As to the tears I had a blip of sadness this morning.. low and behold it is gone! Happiness has returned! Huzzah! Up to my eyeballs in hot water and still cheerfully whistling along, like the Little Teapot that could.
Side note blogging is sort of cathartic!

Secrets

The thing about secrets is ... no wait the thing about good secrets is they leave you with that giddy rush feeling. You have this little bit of knowledge that is just yours and the world at large is not privy. It's an intoxicating thing a secret. Better than liquor or drugs to get you heady and caught up with excitement. Though letting this sort of  secret slip is unlikely to come with serious repercussions. It might ruin a surprise party or make a gift known early, but it's not gonna ruin someone's life.
The thing about a bad secret is they leave you anxious, fearful, and uncertain of when the other shoe will drop. It becomes tantamount that you keep it hidden, more so than a good secret like a surprise party, think like the real reason you got divorced that you just can't ever tell your children. Bad secrets are so tiresome and heavy. The burden can feel like so much that it would be nice to shrug the world off. But alas a secret must be kept.
Then there are naughty secrets the kind that are not necessarily good or bad. Or maybe they are a mixture of both. But whatever the category they are definitely enjoyable. They are akin to the  good secret in headiness. They hold some of the potential for social repercussions like a bad secret. But cheeks flushed and lips curled upward, you know in the end it's worth it.
Then of course there are silly secrets. Secrets you keep for friends about embarrassing interests or a keen stalker like interest in a shameful popstar. And they likely keep the same for you, like if you still sleep with a stuffie. Those kinds of secrets are the little ones that let you feel closer to your friends. Private jokes sort of fall into this territory as well. They are the Pigpens, Matchas, Lucies, Peaches, and Yuh yuhs of the world. The little bits of friendship that bind us.  They are the things that maybe you could explain but if you had to they obviously weren't meant to share in it. There are many subcategories of secret types but I just can't blather on all day and night.
I guess my point is that we all have secrets. We (hopefully) all have people we can trust with those secrets. Sometimes we find that we can't trust certain people with our secrets. And sometimes we just carry the whole weight on ourselves. In my life I have carried the weight of many secrets and still do. Some were made known over time like that a friend liked another, some were eventually shared like a sickness that we were protected from, and some I carry with friends. Like the knowledge of how a piece of cocktail sword really ended up in B's drink. But as I said it's a secret. So I'll never tell.

The thing about being vegetarian...

Honest to goodness people feel they have the right to question what I eat or rather don't eat. I can damn well bet you if I sat there lecturing them about their meal and snack choices they would not like it. I have never been a big fan of meat. I am a huge fan of vegetables. I really like tofu. I also like cakes, kale, and pandas. Though the latter I don't nom on. I won't get on my soap box to ream you out about your steak, so stop trying to feed it to me. You may notice I am a bit amped up about this, well I had yet another annoying experience where a guy tried to tell me what I should eat. One who has no say in what I eat for that matter! But I am not overly worried about balancing proteins. I have a vegan guru to go to. I also have the Tofu Guru to watch, such great ideas and catchy music!
Today's vegan experiment came from a Snarky Chickpea. It was vegan cheddar biscuits! And they were delicious! I mean Noodle, my aspie kid with textural and taste issues, ate his whole biscuit! I made them with whole wheat flour and coconut shortening because they were what I had on hand. Still all in all a success.
I should clarify that technically today I am still a pescatarian as occasionally I eat fish. I am hopeful I will find good vegan substitutes so I can kick the shrimp and scallops. I don't eat other meat or partake in dairy. I intend to kick the fish habit starting today, but even then I will never be vegan. And the reason is eggs. I love them, and they just can't be replaced for deviled eggs, meringues, and dippy eggs. I do usually replace them in baking though, vegan cupcakes are pretty much win... and so is the frosting!
I am hiding this no fish thing from people in general that are happy I still eat them, I get tired of the lectures about my diet. I am a big girl. I will manage my proteins just fine! So here's to being a vegetarian!