#36: I'd Like You to Meet My Friend MEAT.

WHATWHAT!!! 


This has been a really good week. 


1) There are officially 2 days left in this hell-month of no meat. 
2) I have had a professionally exhausting, yet rewarding week with a couple of huge firsts. 

• We graduated our first Gateway class in Bastrop, a small city east of Austin that has been known most recently as destroyed by wildfires. Their residents are in great need of workforce development training opportunities and it felt so good to assist with that. 
• We are 38 hours from the opening of our first Online Auction to raise money for the Skillpoint Alliance programs. This event has taken many hands, and lots of work. But we are almost done. IT's a really cool combination of items to bid on from April 30-May16: www.biddingforgood.com/SkillpointAlliance
• We are 80% of the way thru our very first grant proposal to the Department of Labor. Aside from asking for almost $1.1 Million, DOL grant are incredibly complex and lengthy. 
• I just realized that next week we will both submit that grant and start the Auction making next week a lot of fun to look forward to too. 

3) I have had a really fun week with The Boy. It isn't just the fun, tho; it's the partnership. It was a long week for me, with long hours each night (and a headache Monday-Wednesday) and he picked up all the dinner/kid slack that I usually handle. Add to that some great conversation, big laughs and real realness. GREAT. 

4) I have dates scheduled with The Bestie and Mrs. Favorite for May. 

5) I cheated on my Challenge, eating one-bite of chicken. It was good, I don't feel bad in the least, and it was on day 25 of this Challenge, so WHATEVS!

6) The kids are having good weeks with behavior, attitude, school, grades, music, sports. 

So, let's get back to the most important 2 items on here: #1 and ... nope, at this point only #1 matters to me at all. 

I love veggies. I love eggs.

Oh, wait, that reminds me. This week I got into a ridiculous debate about whether eggs are meat. Eggs. So, I understand they come FROM a meat-maker. I understand that if allowed to develop they BECOME a meat-maker. But, in their form as an egg, they are EGGS. Why is this complicated? And don't even get me started on The Nephew who chimed into the debate to suggest that they were DAIRY. (Which, by the by, I Googled and apparently quite a few other people think eggs are dairy, not to mention those who think they are meat. COME. ON.) This debate, of course, was fueled by someone trying to convince me that I wasn't allowed to eat them in April. After the string of expletives they got from me, I went about explaining how dumb they are. That, apparently, is NOT an effective argument point. 

Back to the point I was making ...

I love fruit. I love peanut butter. I "like significantly" tofu. I "like moderately" grains. 

But I miss meat. 

Meat and I have big plans in May. BIG PLANS!!!!

I was surfing the internet looking for pictures of meat, as we all do. And I found my first official meal in May:

Who's with me??

But seriously, I have found quite a few new friends on the WorldWideWeb. Here are some that I'd like you to MEAT: 

In T minus 52 hours, I plan to introduce myself. In fact, my alarm is set for midnight May 1, just so I can eat. 

What I have failed to mention is the hell I've created for myself in May.  My May Challenge is "No Spending Outside of Bills & Necessities." This means that unless other people take me out to eat, I will have to make everything I eat in May. I mean, there are plenty of other issues I'm going to have with the May Challenge, but that's what the May blog entries are for. Today, I'm solely focused on the fact that I won't be able to go out for a yummy steak dinner or a juicy burger. There will be no trip to Fogo de Chao or going out for Chicken n Waffles. 

Better break out and dust off all the meat-making cookbooks. 

By the way, if you're looking for something else almost as awesome to read at this blog, check out averycan.blogspot.com.  These parents are the epitome of embracing life no matter what it brings and focusing on living fully. Prayers and awe for them.