Day 299 - Nightly update

The poster above is on our fridge, but it is hard to read in the photo. Here's the text.

Nature is the one place where miracles not only happen, but happen all the time. Thomas Wolfe

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would be as it is, infinite. William Blake

Every moment Nature starts on the longest journey, and every moment, she reaches her goal. Goethe (I don't get this one at all, so if you do, do share.)

We must never lose our sense of awe at the magnificence of our planet. Anonymous

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. John Muir

Though the poster has been on the refrigerator for awhile, it seems extra apropos as I saw an interview of Johnathan Safran Foer NY time bestseller, on his book, Eating Animals. He discusses the horrors of the meat industry (factory farming, not free range) and how we do more harm to the planet through our diet, than any transportation issue. He mentions people comparing a Hummer to a Hybrid, and that that decision will have little impact on the planet compared with the food we choose to eat. And also that we sort of don't want to know what happens before we get the neatly wrapped packets of meat at the store, which I think is true.

I fast forwarded through the horrors part - I've been a vegetarian over 10 years now and don't even want to know that sort of thing. But he did stress some of the cruelest practices were to laying hens. I now buy organic eggs that are stamped "Certified Humane" by the Humane Society, but I wonder what the standard of humane is. He talks a lot about figuring out for yourself your ethical stance on the whole issue. So I'm wondering if the fact I "like the taste" of milk and cheese is ethically enough - what if I liked the taste of dogs? I wouldn't even consider killing a dog to eat it, so why taking eggs from a chicken that will only be kept alive two years or so when her laying ability is high, then killed?

Anyway, lots of thought here. There are a LOT of vegan protein sources, including nuts, tofu, soy foods, whole grains, especially quinoa, beans, legumes, etc. My goal for the new year is a vegan diet. I've tried and failed at this several times, but one thing I've learned is I seem to need to try something several times before I succeed at it fully.

Marriage - Check.
Parenting - Read a bit in Redirection Children's Behaviors. The first chapter is about the importance of self-care in the parent. The more rested, relaxed and happy you are (i.e. taking care of yourself) the better able you are to then try to redirect your children's behaviors....makes sense.
Business - Organized sheets and sheets of notes from brainstorming sessions into some semblance of order.
Book - Some research.
FI - Updated accounts
Garden- Plan to peruse a garden book at bedtime.
Spirit- Nice chat with a good friend.
Health - 30 minutes cardio
House - Tackled "the corner pile" the place everything is dumped daily, which gets crazy within any given 24 hour period;-).
Bus. Vocab. law of diminishing returns, acceleration principal, working capital, 403(b) plan.

Good night and good wishes!! We're closing in on 2010!!!