Being An Odd Duck Who Loves Sunrise and Food!

Let's roll backward on that one.  I went to Natural Pantry last night (known by MEH and I as Natty Pants because, hey, it's more fun to say) and found cool stuff! So.  I was really on a mission to MEH his grass fed beef and chicken, but made a detour to see if anyone has started carrying G.T.'s Kombucha, or a relatively competitive brand of the stuff.  I about did cartwheels down the aisle when I saw this:

NEW KOMBUCHA!

Woot!  I was so excited, apparently, that I took this picture, checked out, and never actually put any in my basket! WTF?  Goodness I can exercise the blond roots from time to time.  But got more excited when I found all this stuff!

On the left is We Can't Say It's Cheese Spread with a hickory smoke flavor, the last package of Daiya Mozzarella, and SO Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt on sale!  I've had Daiya before, but I haven't tried the other products.  I went home and devoured a SO Yogurt before. 

Verdict:  SO DELICIOUS!  This stuff is usually at least $2.50 a container, which is the main reason I've never had it before, but it was on crazy sale at Natty Pants, so I couldn't pass it up.  It's gluten free, totally vegan, and quite tasty!  It has a consistency, for non-vegans, between regular yogurt and the Wallaby Yogurt that I used to devour by the half-gallon.  Great stuff!

This afternoon I packed the cheese spread for a snack with some broccoli. 

Verdict:  Nom's the Word!  It tastes exactly like the Cheese Crackball.  You know, that cheese ball that has the nuts on the outside, oh gosh, what is that stuff. . . these things

Courtesy of Cherry Hill Cottage

It's a creamy spread, as one would hope, not all plastic tasting like a lot of faux cheeses, and, thankfully, is not only vegan, but gluten free! Woooooo!

I was as happy as a girl could be!

Middle of the Roll:

I've often said that I could live anywhere with a good sunrise and be happy.  I suppose I should define what I mean by "a good sunrise."  Insert problem here.  I don't know that I have a definition, but I know that I like it when there are mountains and a large body of water involved in said sunrise.  I also like the hour or so before sunrise to happen behind a mountain so it looks like this when I go to work in the winter:

I think that's just pretty.  I've always thought it similar to bedsheets when the light peaks through a window on an early morning.  Just a pretty silhouette. 

And I have a habit of waking up early enough, on purpose, to enjoy sunrise.  I also had a habit in the past, not so much now, to call people or text them to tell them to go outside and look at the sunrise.  Or sunset.  That hasn't gotten nearly as many rave reviews.  But I like seeing the world as it starts to wake up.  Maybe it has something to do with my name, but hell, who knows. 

Are you a sunrise or sunset person?

And lastly, I've always felt like a bit of an odd duck.  Several Reasons:

1)  I used to be afraid to poop.  Perhaps that's oversharing.  But.  If you don't want to read more about my fear of pooping.  Upon hitting "fear of pooping" into my Google Search, I realized that maybe I'm not quite such an odd duck, since a lot of little kids are afraid of pooping.  But I wonder why. Because I know why I  was afraid of pooping, and in little kid me logic, it makes perfect freaking sense:  I thought I'd literally shit my brains out.  There you go.  Yes, 3-year-old me was afraid of literally shitting my brains out.  My brains were very important to me!  They helped me read! Which brings me to reason number 2:

2a)  I used to read with a near pathological passion.  If you came to my house, you read with me.  If you were in my presence, you read with me.  If I was in your presence, you read with me.  Really, I wanted to read with you desperately.  So desperately that if you came to my house, were in my presence, or within earshot and refused to read with me, one thing happened.  I threw a fit.  A World Class 3-Year-Old On the Floor Pitch Fit.  I kicked.  I screamed.  I flailed on the floor like a suffocating salmon.  Read with me, dammit! I probably wanted to say.  I had an incredible desire to know words.  My word bank in kindergarten was topped by one Sam Sheakly.  I hated that kid.  He could pronounce "the" before me.  Bastard. 

        2b)My best friend at the time could write in cursive.  Her older brother taught her.  Jealousy brewed.  It brewed until I tried to devise my own version of cursive that looks nothing at all like what letters should look like, unless of course they come from the pencil of an at-the-time ambidextrous writing, left-hand-dominant kindergartner who has just created their own new alphabet:  Aly Cursive. 

        2c)  I created my own library system at the age of 7.  You think I'm joking?  Ask VeggieMama.  If she remembers.  Good god, what a weird kid.  I gave all of my books their own library card.  If you look in some of the books from my childhood, I'm sure you'd still find some.  Mostly with backward "s's."  I also gave them all different colored stickers on the back cover to indicate where on the shelf they should go.  What's most entertaining is that I am really am compulsively unorganized.  I try.  Really, I try.  But as soon as it comes to maintaining that organization, it's a bust.

So, you see, I dig language a bit. 

3)  I have an abnormal fear of birds.  All birds.  And I don't care if they are small, medium, large, crispy, still squawking, or blackened, I'm effing terrified of the damn things.  They can fly at me.  They have those weird eyes that glare at your all sideways like.  They can hiss!  When I was in London with my friend Nathan we went to Hyde Park.  Nathan, being not an odd duck, wanted to go feed the geese.  Nix that, the HUGE FREAKING BEASTS OF SWANS that were next to a pond.  These suckers came up to my waste, had black faces, and could hiss.  I ran in the opposite direction.  I ran to the nearest stand for some English Breakfast Tea, and watched.  The idea sends shivers through me.  Birds, people are scary freaking creatures.  Oh.  And another friend of mine had a cockatoo who tried to nest and mate with her boyfriend.  Weird.

No Mantra for today - running low on time.  So.  Think Happy Thoughts!

Question of Gratitude.  Who, or what, are you thankful for?:  Natty Pants.  For Getting Kombucha Back! Woot woot!!! Got probiotics!