I have a lot going on, and its hard to keep with the momentum of frequent posts. It's not that I'm unusually harried, but there's always a lot going on with a toddler in the picture. For kicks, I enrolled in a creative writing course at the university - it occurred to me that paying the hourly tuition rate to have an accomplished writer critique my work in-depth was a pretty good deal, especially when compared to the cost of, say, a writers conference. I'm doing a lot of writing, but not a lot of blogging. I have to be selective with my free time (poor me).

I decided to stop buying industrial produced meat. The latest beef recall cemented my ethical reservations in that regard - did you see that undercover video? No more supporting animal cruelty, or eating sick, contaminated meat. It isn't so difficult to find locally produced meat - actually it's readily available in the organic co-op in the town we're moving to. But I did run out of meat the other day, and started to wonder if I would succumb to the convenience of buying meat at Wal-Mart. Right now, we have to drive an hour to buy natural meat. Then, late Saturday night, I got a call from my spiritual mentor/ Godfather, telling me he killed three Axis deer ( this is a long story - Axis are an invasive species in Texas, where he owns land) and wanted to share with me! Now I have a freezer full of frozen deer, and more time on my side. I greatly admire people who raise and kill their own meat. If we're going to eat it, I think we should take a realistic look at what we're doing. Plus, it insures the animals are well treated.

Now here's where I make a confession. I bought lunch meat at Wal-Mart today. I was shopping around lunch time, and was only thinking of my hunger. For some reason, I didn't make the association with raw meat and lunch meat - but it likely does come from the same place (note: all confessions are accompanied by excuses). It takes time to form habits, and obviously, human nature dictates that mistakes will be made. I've also, in weaker moments, forgotten my Lenten sacrifices, and also forgotten that Fridays are days of abstention from meat. It becomes second nature, eventually. I stand by my convictions, but right now I'm nothing but a big hypocrite.

Just a quick note to tell you that the Value Market in Cloverdale has local meat and they butcher on the spot. I buy almost all my fresh meat there because it doesnt come from "Only God Knows Where". Now for their processed meat......probably just like everyone else. Bologna is Bologna. Anyway you don't need to drive an hour, just 11 miles. Try it. Love Ya,

If all else fails in your thoughts on a new home....have you considered buying a small farm house and raising your own meat and chickens? You would always have fresh eggs and you could have a fresh garden of herbs and veggies. Lou would love to feed the chickens I'm sure and having a pig or cow would make for fun...until of course it goes to market. Just a thought.

Love ya!
Mom