My True Feelings About Lawn Care (late night imagination)

This might be a scary thing, but I'd like to give you a little glimpse into my late-night imagination. This is a little scene that has played itself out many a time as I fall asleep, and the story has many variants. But here is the basic idea.  The setting: we live in a pleasant neighborhood, own our first home, and consistently fail to mow the lawn.

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Someone knocks on the door.  It is the Head of the Neighborhood Association (HNA).

HNA: "Hello Mrs. Moore. I am here to remind you that your neighborhood contract requires you to care for your outside property so that its aesthetic properties will be satisfactory."

Me: "What do you mean?"

HNA:  "Mrs. Jones across the street, along with several other neighbors, have registered concerns that the grass in your yard is way too long, and smattered with weeds."

Me, still uncertain:  "We do take care of our yard. But, now that you mention it, I don't really care for Mrs. Jones' marigolds."  I start to walk across the street to register MY concerns with Mrs. Jones.

The H.N.A. follows me. "Mrs. Moore, you can't let weeds grow in your yard. You signed the covenant."

Me: "Yes, we said we'd take care of our property, and we do. What do you mean by weeds, anyways?"

HNA: "Ma'am, your lawn is smattered with dandelions and flanked by large bushy things."

Me: "Well, Mrs. Jones's porch is smattered with marigolds, and I don't like those. Can I sic you on her plants?"

Growing up and needing new stuff (and orange furry monsters)

It didn't occur to me when I got married. Or when I graduated from college. It snuck up on me. Maybe I just ignored it, pretending it wasn't there, like the orange furry hunger monster in those Weight Watcher commercials.  But slowly, it began to dawn on me, or maybe I started to acknowledge it, like the orange fur started coming into focus in my periphery.  But I eventually acknowledged the fact that I have outgrown my wardrobe.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't really been clothes shopping in a while.  Other things like weddings and household setup had distracted from my time, budget and desire to shop for many new clothes.  I mean, I would get things here and there like anyone else.  For some odd reason though, my clothes had recently been getting tossed into the giveaway basket at an alarming speed.  That meant I needed more clothes (oh, I hate it when that happens). There is currently a laundry basket in my closet which is not only filled, but heaped like a mountain full of clothes I just DO NOT WANT ANYMORE.

why we don't eat much meat

Last fall I stopped buying meat. Well, at least for a while. I've returned to buying some here and there, but overall, meat is rarely the main attraction in our meals. We aren't going vegetarian, not by a long shot. But we've both agreed that eating meat only occasionally and in small quantities, instead of in large portions at every meal, would be a very good thing...in our own home.

I do not believe it is ethically wrong to eat animals, and I think it is wrong to impose my own decisions on others' cooking when we're out and about.  Just thought I'd get those out of the way.

But I do want to talk about why I...Justin and I...made this decision. (It was my idea originally, but we discussed it a lot, and we are in full agreement.) There are plenty of reasons people may choose to eat less, or no, meat.  For me, three main reasons surfaced as I began thinking and researching.  (Those two things, put together, never fail to result in some new life-changing decision!)

1) Plants and veggies are just plain healthier.  You don't have to look very far to discover some very compelling information: people who don't eat meat (especially red meat), or who eat small amounts of it, are happier, more fit, less likely to be obese, less likely to have cancer or heart disease or high blood pressure or diabetes.  Vegetarians live, on average, ten years longer than their omnivore counterparts. (This can also be chalked up to the fact that vegetarians are also very health-conscious in other areas of their lives.)  It's an established fact that a healthy plant-based diet is one of the best things you can do for your physical well-being.

Plus, the Bible attests to it!  Think about it: a perfect garden, the best conditions imaginable for man and beast, and...Adam and Eve ate the bounty of the earth, not other living creatures. It was God's original ideal. Animals weren't even harmed, much less eaten, until the world was perverted by sin. While we live in a fallen world, it is very obvious that the gifts from the earth--God's best plan!--is the original ideal diet.