Elizabeth's Blog

OK, so I’ve been thinking about this blog thing for a while and decided what the heck. Why not put these ramblings from a not-so-complex mind in writing.

I know there’s always room for Jell-o, and since I’m back on a diet I had this great recipe for this sugar-free-fat-free-taste-free dessert requiring the stuff. As I mixed the boiling water in with the Jell-o dust, my husband brought an interesting point to my attention. “Hey,” he says, “do you know what’s in gelatin?”

I’ve heard the old wives tales about ground bones and tendons and such, so I smugly say “what, ground bones?” and he says “Yes! And you’re still going to eat that stuff?”

Being a vegetarian for the past 7 years, somehow this fact had eluded me altogether. I felt like someone had given me a kick in the stomach. How could this be? Dare I investigate this further on the Internet? I dare!

So, yes, the fact was confirmed, and as I learned what comprised gelatin and what foods contain gelatin, I found myself spiraling deeper into a hypocritical nightmare. How could I possibly give up all those things? It’s hard enough being the only vegetarian in my entire extended family… and now dear old mom can’t make her Jell-o salad at Thanksgiving?! Come on already!

Thank goodness I, being female, was born with the “rationalization” gene, which allows me to rationalize myself right out of any uncomfortable situation. So here’s what I came up with.

Animals are not actually killed to make gelatin, right? And really, the bones or whatever is left over that is used in gelatin would just be thrown out if it weren’t for gelatin, right? So at least, if the animal was killed, I can sleep better at night knowing that it wasn’t all in vain - every last bit was used for a purpose. Right?

Whew, thanks. I feel better now. I think I will go get that good night’s sleep now.

This movie was on yesterday, so I thought it would be nice for my 4 1/2 year old daughter to watch it. Granted, it’s been some time since I was that age, and I didn’t quite remember the whole storyline. I remembered that it was kind of sad, but hey, it’s a classic, so I fired it up.

Within the first 5 minutes, I had teared up 4 times. Wow. I caught myself tearing up countless other times during this flick and while I kept a close eye on her to make sure she wasn’t getting upset, I thought to myself, “This is the freaking classic? This is horrible!” She was fine, though, and because I was definitely not fine, I immediately got to work straightening the clutter around the room.

If you’re not familiar with the story, it begins with a little girl who lives on a farm, and their pregnant pig has babies. Within the first 5 minutes of the story, the dad is going to kill the smallest piglet because he is a runt, so the girl is begging for his life. The dad says “fine- you take care of the pig then” which she does, then after they become best friends, the pig is sent away to another farm which breaks both their hearts. Then the pig finds out from another farm buddy that his whole existence is to be fattened up for killing later in the fall. NICE. 5 minutes and I’m a mess. Forget it.

So anyway, then Wilbur (the pig) befriends a spider who saves his life by writing cool stuff about him in her web. But then she dies. Wilbur takes care of her babies and then they all leave and go their separate ways, never to be seen again.

I’m all for teaching kids about life and death, but come on… do they really need to know this stuff at 4?! Of course, my daughter didn’t give it a second thought, but I’m still a mess.

I’d much rather see some Bugs Bunny.

Newsflash: Listerine is NOT as effective as flossing. And this little tidbit will cost Pfizer a cool $2 mil to re-market and cover up.

$2 mil could have bought for the tsunami victims:

• 2 million sleeping mats; or
• 400,000 mosquito nets; or
• 133,333 kitchen sets; or
• 11,429 waterproof tents

according to the Red Cross. I’m not saying that Pfizer should be allowed to say anything in their ads for Listerine. Perhaps if they were claiming to cure cancer, that would be a different story. This yet confirms my frustration with the lack of common sense in this country.

Although, the change will employ 4,000 people to place little stickers on each bottle of Listerine, so perhaps that’s Pfizer’s contribution to our unemployment situation.