First Meatless Monday

Yesterday, I received a cheerful, super-excited email from Dave with a link to a CNN article about meatless Mondays. While this concept is nothing new -- especially both growing up Catholic (which made Fridays the meatless days rather than Mondays) -- and Paul McCartney, among others, have been doing it for awhile -- it's new to us. Or, at least, a new idea to try. So, we made a couple of large salads and ate plenty of pasta with veggie-laden tomato sauce. Oh, all while watching the 3rd installment of our Netflixed Ken Burns' "Jazz". Fun night!

So, after one day of it, what do I think? So far, it didn't feel like anything different. I think that if we went vegetarian for a few days a week, it'd be much more noticeable. But, we were still excited to be making an effort and, in a way, feel like we're part of a bigger "movement" -- although we're not ones to be categorized (especially politically, and particularly since Dave takes his news job very seriously) or do things because a group is doing them. :-)

Last Sunday, we did some shopping at Hannaford to start our process, from buying their bulk corn meal and raw sugar to picking up some great fruits and veggies. It's hitting the pocketbook pretty hard, but it's not getting us down. Oh, I even got some organic shampoo and soap, which Dave loooooves the smell of -- I'm getting used to it. ;-)

I'm now off to research soap-making. I find myself getting distracted by about a million different things to research, from safe cosmetics to Earth-friendly cleaning products, when I'm suddenly hit with "get simple about it -- look up historic ways of doing this" to stay true to my historical interests and to avoid overdoing things. Thanks for checking in! Things are definitely going very well and even bringing Dave and I closer and closer together.

By the way, check out Dave's blog, Dave's Path to Enlightenment, where you can follow his thoughts while reading and learning more about the how to incorporate Buddhist concepts into his everyday life.