Why Blame it on the Vegans?

There's an article that appeared in the Guardian a few weeks back about quinoa.  The title of it is : Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa?

Why vegans?  I doubt very much there are enough of us to create the high demand for quinoa.  I personally haven't eaten any in a while although I did just buy a big bag last week.  I know a few co-workers who actually eat quinoa more than I do.  And they aren't anywhere near being vegan.

There are also a few misconceptions in the article.  One of them being the mistake everyone does about soy.  The majority of it is used to feed animals, not to make tofu or soymilk.  (It was corrected the next day in a footnote.)

Another misconception is about depending on food coming from other countries  :

 "rummage through the shopping baskets of vegetarians and vegans swiftly clocks up the food miles, a consequence of their higher dependency on products imported from faraway places. From tofu and tamari to carob and chickpeas, the axis of the vegetarian shopping list is heavily skewed to global."

Has the author even spoken to vegans or vegetarians? Or even done her research?  Most of my shopping list is not for food coming from around the globe.  A lot of it is produced and transformed here in Canada.  According to Pulse Canada :

Canada has emerged to become the world's largest exporter of lentil and pea, and a top five bean exporter.

I understand there are issues with food consumption but this article just added to the confusion instead of helping to understand the issues. 

Actually, there are issues with a lot of what Westerners consume since they are usually made in Third World countries by people who are paid a pittance and work grueling hours.  Will the author stomach the unpalatable truth about her computer?

Organizing My Coffee Cup Cozies

I may have finished this One Cup Cozy a Day project last September but I now have a bunch of cozies that were just bundled haphazardly in big plastic bins.  They weren't colour-coordinated at all which made it very hard for me to find the cozy when I sold one.

The article in Ladies' Home Journal's February 2013 issue means I have been getting more sales and looking for the correct cozy has been a pain.  Looking through my stuff I found these shoe-sized plastic bins and seperated them by colour.

Red, Blue and Multicoloured Coffee Cup Cozies

The multicoloured red one in the middle bin is one of the cozies featured in the article.

Pinks, Blue, Lilac and Purple Coffee Cup Cozies

I had to seperate the blues because they didn't all fit in one plastic bin.

Green, Yellow, Orange and Brown Coffee Cup Cozies

This one is a bigger plastic bin since I ran out of the smaller ones and probably would have needed at least 2 more. 

Now, it's certainly going to be a whole lot easier for me to find the cozies when I sell them in my shop.

Now it's Freezing Cold

Last week we had record amounts of snow and this week it's damn cold.  This is the one reason winter is my least favorite season.  I love the snow but hate sunny, damn cold weather.  A sunny day usually means it's going to be so cold.

This is what I looked like this morning leaving for work.  Bundled up and hoping not to fog up my glasses too much while I breathe.

And this is how the cats have been during this cold weather.  I don't even have to look for them around the apartment.  They have spent the entire time in my bedroom.  They only come out to see me when I get home and to eat.