Archive for: December, 2011

Eleven lists of 11 for 2011

Dec 28 2011 Published by under Happiness

Pen and PaperLike many people, I like to pause and reflect as the year draws to a close, and think about all that’s transpired in the last 12 months. Since I have a tendency to be highly self-critical—over-blowing my failures and minimizing my successes—making lists can help me see, in black and white, that even though I may not have achieved everything I intended, a lot of pretty groovy stuff went down in 2011.

Top 11 Peculiar Girl articles of 2011 (most read)

  1. Bravery and the pursuit of compassion
  2. My small, cheap, nonconformist vegan wedding
  3. The anti walk-in closet project
  4. 10 favorite vegan staple foods
  5. How I went from bad performance review to dream job in two months
  6. Easy vegan chili with soy chorizo
  7. The 1o dumbest, weirdest, and most insulting stereotypes I’ve ever heard
  8. Project 333, Phase 3: Mix, match, or toss
  9. Gender stereotypes and the pressure to comform
  10. I am nobody’s bitch
  11. My final farewell to chemically dyed hair

My 11 favorite blog posts of 2011 (written by me)

  1. Lessons from the world’s weirdest grandma, for Be Irreplaceable
  2. Get it off me! Get it off me!
  3. What is white privilege and why should I care?
  4. How do we know when we are doing our best?
  5. I am nobody’s bitch
  6. Don’t buy stuff you cannot afford
  7. Keep your trends off my body, part 2
  8. Seven days of vegan eating, for Low Impact Betty
  9. A few of my favorite (secondhand) things
  10. Favorite Things | Kitchen Tools, for Simple Black Coffee
  11. Overcoming gender stereotypes in marriage

My 11 favorite blog posts of 2011 (written by others)

  1. Griffin and me, by Tom Breuer
  2. Big Booty Judy: Can I Live?, by ThePBG on Dirty Pretty Thangs
  3. How to make a love list, by Courtney Carver on Be More With Less
  4. If you’re a bigot when you’re angry, you’re a bigot all the time, by Tami on What Tami Said
  5. Mondo Labia, by Christa Faust on The Hairpin
  6. Vegan Parenting and “Forcing Beliefs,” by Vegan Vixen on That Vegan’s Blog
  7. So you accidentally shaved your head? 10 tips for coping, by Rebekah on Jaunty Dame
  8. How I got my voice back, by Tara Mohr on Wise Living
  9. Adventures in depression, by Allie on Hyperbole and a Half
  10. Quashing the self-improvement urge, by Leo Babauta on Zen Habits
  11. The Dog Whisperer: Frequently Asked Questions, by Lisa Mullinax, CPDT for 4 Paws University

Top 11 proudest personal and professional accomplishments of 2011

  1. Published a personal essay on choosing not to becoming a mother in BRAVA magazine (May 2011 issue)
  2. Published two food writing articles in Isthmus (Eating vegan in Madison restaurants, Whoopie cookies and more among Madison’s vegan sweets)
  3. Earned my first-degree black belt in The Blend, a martial arts program that includes Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, boxing, Escrima, and self-defense
  4. Participated in three rounds of the Project 333 minimalist wardrobe challenge
  5. Was hired to write a book for Heartland Farm Sanctuary. This will be my first book and we are still in the early planning stages. Stay tuned!
  6. Peculiar Girl was accepted into the BlogHer Publishing Network
  7. Was asked to be a judge in the Alliance for Animals 8th Annual Vegan Chili Cookoff. Yum!
  8. Wrote the Dog’s Best Friend Training tagline: For the joy of a good dog
  9. Launched a bi-monthly e-newsletter for Dog’s Best Friend Training, The Joyful Companion (Subscribe for free on Facebook)
  10. Wrote the tagline for the upcoming Heartland Farm Sanctuary One Square Fun Run event: Changing Lives in a Single Lap
  11. Helped coach three of my martial arts classmates as they competed in the 2011 Muay Thai Classic tournament in Des Moines

Top 11 happy moments of 2011

  1. Meeting the animals at Heartland Farm Sanctuary 
  2. Enjoying one of the best meals of my life on Valentine’s Day with my husband, brother, and sister-in-law at Vita Rawstaurant in Green Bay (The restaurant has since closed, which makes me very sad)
  3. Holding a live chicken for the first time, my sister-in-law Lisa’s rooster Andy
  4. Afternoon naps with Griffin
  5. Catching my in-laws, married 57 years, sneaking a kiss while swimming in the lake at the family cabin
  6. Seeing the first tiny tomato growing in our vegetable garden
  7. Watching the dogs frolic in the kiddie pool in our backyard on hot summer days
  8. Attending the first annual Mad City Vegan Fest with my husband Tom on our one-year anniversary
  9. Hosting board game nights with friends
  10. Dancing with my husband at our niece’s wedding, and not caring how silly we looked
  11. Enjoying nachos and margaritas with Tom, while watching movies on the night after my first-degree black belt test

The 11 weirdest keyword searches that brought people to my blog

  1. could split peas make my poop a funny color (1 visit)
  2. honk me off (4 visits)
  3. pussiesfemales (81 visits)
  4. mutant toe (3 visits)
  5. asians have sideways vaginas (including variations on the same keywords, 14 visits)
  6. armpit hair ashamed (2 visits)
  7. honk smash (2 visits)
  8. I think fireworks are boring (2 visits)
  9. peculiar boobs (2 visits)
  10. “no handed as fast” bike (1 visit)

My 11 best new purchases of 2011

  1. Furminator de-shedding tool
  2. The Vegan Table cookbook
  3. M Brace raised garden bed system
  4. J-41 Mountaineer vegan boots
  5. 16×20 gallery wrapped canvas print of a photo from our honeymoon (purchased from Picture It On Canvas through Groupon)
  6. Vintage ticking duvet cover and shams in blue, from Pottery Barn
  7. Netflix streaming (good-bye, cable!)
  8. Appetite for Reduction cookbook
  9. Breville BJE510XL juicer
  10. Say Anything board game
  11. Epson WorkForce 630 All-in-One printer

My 11 best secondhand finds of 2011 (See photos on Flickr)

  1. Child’s pastel drawing of animals ($9.99 not including framing, Goodwill)
  2. Marimekko shower curtain ($2.99, Goodwill)
  3. Futon with upholstered ottoman ($15, estate sale)
  4. 1950s Ward Cole painting ($28 not including framing, St. Vincent de Paul)
  5. Vintage tiki plates (.69 each, Goodwill)
  6. Eddie Bauer queen-sized cotton blanket ($3.99, Savers)
  7. Vintage gilded oval mirror ($6, garage sale)
  8. Vintage gilded picture frame ($1, estate sale)
  9. Toile valance ($2.99, Goodwill)
  10. Blond Danish modern chair ($1.99, Goodwill)
  11. Tiered metal shelf ($1, estate sale)

My 11 most-cooked recipes of 2011

  1. Easy vegan chili with soy chorizo, my own recipe
  2. Split-pea soup from The Vegan Table
  3. Creamy chickpea and tahini casserole, from Food.com
  4. Dhal (lentil puree), from Indianfood.com
  5. Senegalese vegetable stew with millet, from celtnet.org.uk
  6. Easy vegan nachos, my own recipe
  7. DIY microwave popcorn with spicy, savory vegan butter, my own recipe
  8. Aloo Ghobi (curried potatoes and cauliflower) from The Vegan Table
  9. Gluten-free penne with spicy vegan pesto and vegetables
  10. African sweet potato and peanut stew, from The Vegan Table
  11. Spicy black bean and pumpkin stew with soy chorizo, my own recipe

Eleven ways we lived more sustainably in 2011

  1. Switched to toxin-free homemade laundry detergent (I used the washing powder recipe from Low Impact Betty)
  2. Started our first vegetable garden by building a raised bed in our backyard
  3. Supported local growers during spring and summer by buying most of our fruits and vegetables at farmers markets (other than what grew ourselves)
  4. Checked thrift stores and consignment shops first when shopping for clothes, home decor, and other needed items
  5. Hosted a swap party for 10 friends. We all traded stuff we no longer needed for stuff we did want or need.
  6. Embraced my natural hair color and said farewell to chemical hair dye forever
  7. Gave up nail polish, which is loaded with toxic chemicals
  8. Installed a high-efficiency furnace and air conditioning unit in our home
  9. Installed a programmable thermostat, which automatically turns down the heat during times when we are not at home and at bedtime
  10. Replaced most household cleaning chemicals with eco-friendly baking soda and vinegar
  11. Replaced traditional light bulbs with compact flourescent light bulbs (as needed)

Top 11 “guilty” pleasures of 2011

  1. Vegan nachos
  2. Bloody Marys with Sunday brunch at Mickey’s Tavern
  3. Afternoon naps
  4. Hoarders
  5. Storage Wars (Yeeeeah!)
  6. Eating way too much at the Maharaja Indian lunch buffet (but everything is so good!)
  7. Bejeweled Blitz (no, I don’t have anything better to do)
  8. Jalapeno Krunchers potato chips (a must-have on road trips)
  9. Cake Wrecks, when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong
  10. Yumbutter cranberry & coconutty peanut butter (awesome in oatmeal)
  11. Regretsy, where DIY meets WTF

Have something to add? Please, leave a comment with your thoughts. If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to Peculiar Girl or share it on Twitter or Facebook.

Photo by qisur on Flickr

 

 

 

9 responses so far

Farewell, Monkey Man

Dec 15 2011 Published by under My Story

I’m so sad to tell you that we lost our little Griffin this week. After I wrote my last post, I took him to an internal medicine specialist. She performed an ultrasound of Griffin’s abdomen and saw evidence of what she thought was a foreign object in his intestines, so on Friday night Griffin had surgery. After the operation the doctor called to tell me she found no foreign body, but several abnormalities in his pancreas, intestines, and liver. As we waited for biopsy results, Griffin’s condition continued to deteriorate. He was still regurgitating almost constantly, meaning he was unable to get proper nutrition into his body and was losing weight rapidly.

On Tuesday, the biopsy results confirmed what we feared most: pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is almost impossible to treat, in humans and in dogs. The oncologist didn’t think chemotherapy was an option, and since the cancer had already spread to his liver, there was no surgical treatment either.

Tom and I made the very difficult decision to end Griffin’s pain. We said good-bye to our little monkey-faced dog on Tuesday night, the eve of the 8-year anniversary of the day I adopted him. There are few words to describe how much Griffin changed our lives. Thank you to all of you for your support, prayers, and kind words. The wound is still raw, but we are comforted knowing Griffin is no longer in pain.

This is how I choose to remember Griffin, as a high-energy, vocal dog with enthusiasm for life’s smallest pleasures. Farewell, Monkey Man. May the sunbeams always find you in heaven.

9 responses so far

Our sick little dog

Dec 07 2011 Published by under Uncategorized

A lot of you have been asking about Griffin since I wrote about his mysterious illness in my post, “Rainy days and dog puke always get me down.” At that time, Griffin’s blood test showed no obvious signs of infection or disease, and his stool was negative for parasites. He didn’t have a fever, and his appetite and energy seemed normal. My vet suggested feeding him smaller, more frequent meals and giving him an acid-reducer like Pepcid for a few days. He said it’s common for older dogs to get acid build-up if they go a long time between meals. That seemed to help initially, but then the vomiting started up again.

The vet drew more blood and ordered an ultrasound of Griffin’s abdomen. There was no evidence of a tumor or blockage of any kind. The bloodwork was to test for evidence of specific types of bacteria that can live in the gut. It had to be sent to Texas, so while we waited for the results we put Griffin on 7-day course of antibiotics. Suddenly, his vomiting stopped. It seemed like we had found the answer.

Unfortunately, his symptoms returned with a vengeance once the antibiotics were finished. I called the vet in despair. He said the results of the bloodwork were in, and Griffin’s B12 levels were on the low end of normal. This could indicate a bacterial infection in his intestines, but wasn’t definitive. Since the antibiotics seemed to help, he suggested another round plus weekly B12 shots to hopefully boost Griffin’s immune system and get things back to normal. I also switched to a home-cooked bland diet of white rice and turkey.

We started the second round of antibiotics yesterday. Griffin is still throwing up multiple times a day, and his appetite is very low, especially in the mornings. Yesterday morning he wouldn’t eat at all, not even a piece of banana, which he usually does flips for. If he doesn’t show visible improvement by Friday our next step is to consult with a specialist in veterinary internal medicine. I also have an appointment with a vet who practices eastern veterinary medicine and acupuncture. I’m hopeful we’ll get to the bottom of this soon.

Thank you to all of you who sent your positive thoughts and prayers for our little dog. We love him very much, and are doing everything we can to get him back on the road to recovery.

 

9 responses so far