Family – Page 2 – The VeganAsana

Catnip Tea (for Cats)

By E A | December 4, 2016 - 10:16 am | December 4, 2016 Family, Vegan Recipes, Veganism

Organizing My 2016 – Back to the Future with a Paper Planner

By theveganasana | January 2, 2016 - 5:06 pm | January 2, 2016 Blog Business, Family, Life Management

I’m an early adapter of technology. I love gadgets (see Apple watch on wrist). So, I’ve tried quite a few programs to do my to-do lists, brainstorming notes, etc., as well as calendaring and address book. It has worked well for addresses and calendar (which would be perfect if Exchange would play more nicely with iCal). But, for to-do lists, note making, and general planning, I haven’t come up with something that really works. What I want, ideally, is to keep track of what I need to do, but reduce the amount of needless fretting and spinning in circles. Additionally, taking notes on my iPad works well for group meetings, but for one on one meetings or small groups, I feel like a bit of a jerk doing that.

So, I’m moving back to paper for some things. I got a personal Filofax for Christmas and set about organizing it. I think I have it just about where I want it now. I’m sharing with you here to get any ideas you have on how you organize to get things done!

The Filofax that the Mr. got me is this red Saffiano beauty. And I’ve set up an adorable dashboard page (the post-it is just over my name) to go along with the pretty cover. Since the dashboard is laminated, I’m using the back of it to hold post-it notes and flags.

Behind the front dashboard is a section to capture random jottings that I need to file away later. I also have been sticking post-its that I write when I’m away from my planner to this section until I get them settled.

And then is the section that will likely be the heart of the planner for me, the to-do area. This section planner page (and all of the others, as well as the bookmarks) is laminated for sturdiness. I’m using some principles of the Getting Things Done strategy currently and have categorized the to-do lists by where I need to be to do them (@home,@work, @phone, @computer, @car). This section also includes a list of major projects going on, and a list of things I need to delegate to others.

I’m still working out in my mind the very best way to organize the to-do lists, and even simple things like whether I want to cross things out or check them off. I saw a system today that used 4 boxes for urgent/important, urgent/unimportant, non-urgent/important, non-urgent/unimportant (or something like that). That also seemed sensible to me, because my long lists don’t have much in the way of prioritization going on.

Following that part of the planner, I have an area devoted to lists of things that are not exactly to-dos, but still take a list form. I am a list maker from way back, so this section will also get quite a bit of use. Because I’ve been searching for the right way to take lists with the phone or the computer, my list making has been a little bit random of late, so hopefully this will help me get back into using them effectively.

To make it easer to find things within it, I have added bookmarks for meeting plans (items I want to include on agendas), waiting for (things I delegated and now am awaiting), someday maybe (things I would like to do eventually, but they haven’t really made it to the to-do list level yet, and shopping (no picture, but it’s a red-checked tablecloth pattern). Within each of these areas, I am expecting there to be multiple pages related to different contexts (like work, home, etc.), but I am planning on letting that evolve on its own as time passes.

Then comes a short section for notes. I suspect that I will end up taking most of my notes in a larger Daytimer that just has notepaper in it currently. It’s a bigger area for note taking and provides more room for storage. I have tried moleskins for note-taking in the past, but the binding tends to get in my way.

Then there is a section for jotting down media that I want to read/watch/listen to, purchase, or review. And the last section that I added is for records related to whatever. This might be receipts, expenditures, etc. I’m not quite sure yet.

The calendar pages follow. I’m mostly using them to jot notes of things that I want to do on specific days that I don’t have in the electronic calendar, or things I need to add to the electronic calendar. These pages will likely evolve and may end up as meal planning pages or an exercise diary. I’m just not sure. To reduce space needs, I just have the first 3 months of the year in the calendar for now.

I then have six dividers for the six most important or complex projects that I have going on at any one time. They are listed and numbered in the To Do section, but I have the breakdowns of what each project includes and additional notes in these sections.

At the back, I’ve added a cute folder page and a binder clip to hold an additional pencil, since the planner only has one pen loop. While the folder page is cute, it’s a bit of a space suck because it is card stock on top of manila folder paper, so that may have to come out.

And then there is a notepad of paper. That was there to start with, so it remains for now.

So, that’s what it looks like right now. I would imagine that it will change over time, as I find out what parts are working well for me and what parts aren’t. At any rate, it was fun craft work to organize it and make the pretty pages!

What is your organizing method and how is it working for you?

Vegan Cooking for the Unenthusiastic Omnivore

By theveganasana | January 19, 2015 - 8:56 pm | January 19, 2015 Family, Veganism

3 Comments

Note: This post contains discussion of meat, dairy, and eggs. If you don’t want to read that material, stop now.
Simply view this unrelated but excellent image of a dog in a panda hat (taken by Ms.TheVeganAsanaJr2, aka Emmie) and then go off on your merry way!

I’ve written before about the challenges of cooking for a multivore family, and that continues to be something that I get asked about frequently and that occupies my own attention, with a family that has vegans, vegetarians, and very committed omnivores. Luckily for me, my family has always been supportive of my vegetarian and vegan journey; however, I think that is partly because I’ve always treated it as my journey, not as a forced march. In this post, I offer some additional tips and thoughts on how to be the primary cook as a vegan in a household where other members are omnivores.

1. Recognize that your choice is about you.

When you first become vegan or vegetarian, you may find that you suddenly know things about factory farms or animal husbandry or meat processing that you never realized. You may begin to feel that if everyone knew these things, of course they would be vegan. That’s wrong and not really fair. Lecturing family members (or anyone, really) about a vegan diet is no different than lecturing others about why they should convert to your religion. People don’t appreciate it and it likely won’t go well. You are the person that you have authority over. Choosing a vegan/vegetarian diet for you is a choice for you, unless the others in your house voluntarily go along (or you have children that you feel are too young to make a good choice).

2. Everyone has their limits. Know theirs. Know yours.

With six children in TheAsana house, we couldn’t afford (literally or metaphorically) for everyone to want a different dinner. So, that just doesn’t happen. But, everyone got a short list of three items that they just could not stomach in any form (we made an exception such that “meat” became a category that someone could say no to). Some people only had one item (i.e. the dreaded mushroom), while others used all three. But, this gave me, as the cook, a clear list of things that I needed to make substitutions for when they were a main ingredient, so that the naysayer had something to eat.

Similarly, if you have not always been a vegan/vegetarian in your current family, you may not be able to stop having meals with meat in the house entirely (particularly in a family that includes children). So, it is important to establish what your absolute limits are. Many vegans can eat at the same table as someone having a meal containing meat. Many can cook meat for others, as needed, but not consume it themselves. In my house, while I will still cook meals containing meat, I will not (can not) cook the “big dead bird” type of meals and limit meat preparation that requires extensive handling. I also can’t do it every day.

3. Be willing to negotiate.

You probably have full stop no-can-do items (see #2), but after that, there is room for negotiation. If you can’t stand the idea of making hamburger patties, could you cook them if someone else made them or you buy them prepared? Is there someone else in the house who can do some meat prep on the weekends for ease later in the week? Can you establish some compromises on how often meat will be included in a meal? It may seem silly to actually hash it all out, but it really can be helpful in establishing expectations.

4. Get creative!

My grandmother told me that you can catch more flies with honey (or agave) than you can with vinegar. You can also win over more people to the idea of eating vegan food once you show them that vegan food tastes good. This can happen pretty easily if you start with foods where the meat/dairy/egg isn’t the focus and play to the strengths of a vegan diet. Vegan pancakes are lovely, and no one needs to even know until they finish eating. Spaghetti with marinara sauce, maybe even with some TVP thrown in, is a delicious and filling meal. Nachos with refried beans are a fan favorite in a lot of houses, as are bean burritos. And who doesn’t like biscuits and gravy (if it’s you, don’t tell me)? You can also make vegan items that have meat and cheese on the side for adding to the plates of people who eat them (ground beef and cheddar for nachos, sausage with the pancakes, meatballs for the pasta).

Basically, the goal should be that people don’t feel punished or shamed for not having made the choice that you made, and begin to see vegan food as a normal choice, not as an unattractive and overly health option that is primarily berries and leaves.

At the end of the day, there is one person whose eating habits you really get to control, and it’s you. You may be able to draw a line in the sand of not having meat served in your house or not cooking it, but you can’t make others be ok with that choice, any more than they can make you be ok with a non-vegan diet.