Seriously!

Kids are the most entertaining thing on the planet! I regularly babysit 3 kids on top of my three. This morning was pretty typical, I woke everyone up at 7am to get dressed and eat breakfast. There was nothing out of the ordinary about that. After I got them on the bus, I proceded to get my day started. Miss JJ had made a small mess in her room so I aske her to go and clean it up. She went in there for a few minutes, and sat there, then she proceded to come out to the living room to draw on the chalk board. I called her on it and told her she needed to get back in the room and finish picking up the few toys laying on the floor.

You will start laughing here in a minute (I had to hold back myself). She raised her hand and moved it around a little (somewhat pointing it in my direction) and told me "you don't see me"! Seriously, I think my children like the Star Wars movies a little too much when my three year old is trying to do Jedi mind tricks on me! I have to give an A for effort, but evidently, her Jedi skills have not been perfected! I'm definately putting this one in the memory bank.

Day 3

I'm on day 3 of being gluten free. So far I've had the best beef stew I've ever eaten, (I'm a little biased, as I made it) lots of fruit, some tasty apple cinnamon rice snacks, some vegetable chips (TERRA exotic vegetable chips, Mediterranean flavor) which I think are my new favorite snack, some yogurt, more beef stew with a side of brown rice, and (as we like to call them around here)shish-ka-franks with  side of a great wild rice blend made with beef stock. I'm taking this whole gluten free thing as a challenge. So far, I am winning, and I like that. The next step is to come up with a grocery list (that I can eat) on a budget. I have two days to work on it, but it is going to take some time to fenagle (of course I'm sure I spelled that wrong, but oh well.)

I am very proud of myself. I am a carb-aholic and this is a very difficult task to give it up cold turkey. I stopped by GoodWill ysterday and searching long and hard through the cookbook section, I was lucky enough to find (and pruchase) the one and only gluten free cookbook they had available. I'm sure that there will be moe of these in my future, but one is fine for now, at least I have a place to start. My biggest challenge is starting my pantry storage over from scratch. There are many great alternatives to using rehular flour, but none of them are cheap, so getting a pantry of staples is going to take me a while.

Tonight, I think we are going to have baked potatoes with all kinds of toppings. I can't wait! I am so proud of myself!

EUREKA!

So the results are in! I have an auto-immune problem called CELIAC DISEASE. It is basically an allergy to gluten.

I have been doing some research on the topic, since I now need to know as much about it as possible, and have learned a few things. First off, this is how it works. When I digest gluten, my body can't process it like other people and it kind of kills the villi inside my small intestine which ae responsible for absorbing nutrients from my food. When these villi aren't working properly, I don't get the vital things I need to stay in good health including vitamin D (which mine is super low) iron (which makes me constatly anemic) and everything it takes to sustain a pregnancy.

I am thrilled to have an answer, and not just that but one answer that covers each and everyone of my ailments. I honestly can't believe that it is such a simple thing. Yes, it is simple, on paper, but it is going to be a lot more difficult than it sounds. Gluten is in so many things that a person wouldn't believe it.

Another thing I have learned is that it is genetic. So for those of you (especially those related to me) who have GI issues, it is a good idea to get tested for it. Evidently, celiac disease can cause chrone's disease, type 1 diabetes, colon cancer in some untreated cases, and many other things.

I am going to have a hard time with switchng my diet over to gluten free, but I know I can. There are many things that I already love that are gluten free such as rice and potatoes. There are of course many foods that I will no longer be able to eat such as most breads, pastas, and many sneaky things like licorice, and many others. A gluten-free diet is very healthy so I'm sure I'll benefit from that, but it will take a LOT of effort. I even have to be careful of many pharmecuticals and cosmetics because a large portion of them contain gluten as binders.

From here I have to g to a Gastroenterologist. They may or may not do a biopsy on my small intestine to 100% confirm the diagnosis. According to the rhuematologist I saw yesterday my bloodwork indicated a highly positive result so it may not even be neccessary for the biopsy. So, we'll see what they say. In the mean time I hav to stick with my regular eating habbits so that if they choose to biopsy, then they have normal results instead of recovoring ones.

I am not always the best at describing things, so here are  few websites that may better explain things.

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/

http://www.bing.com/health/article/mayo-117393/Celiac-disease?q=celiac+disease

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/features/learning-to-live-with-celiac-disease

I know that ther will be many things that I am going to miss, especially pie, I love pie. I'm trying hard to look at thi whole thing as a new adventure. I get to try all kinds of new things and learn to find new favorite recipes. Wish me luck!

I've Been Steam Rolled...

Today is one of those days where I feel like I have been hit by a steam roller, backup on, and then rolled over again. I think I have a flu of sorts. I have had an earache for two days now. On top of the ear, I started getting a general feeling of "blah" and not feeling great, so I went to bed early. When I woke up this morning, every square inch of my body aches, my head is in a complete fog and it hurts to move. I know I will be resting most of today. Luckily Chris will be home for most of the day and I can actually get some sleep. I'm looking forward to feeling better.

Random Questions from a Random Website

Question #1: Have you/would you join the military?
no, but I have great respect for those who do!

Question #2: do you drink too much coffee?
nope

Question #3: do you have any extra digits?
lol! no

Question #4: have you ever eaten dog food/biscuits
not that remember, but probably when I was little

Question #5: who is your favorite sesame street character?
Grover

Question #6: did you think bert and ernie were gay?
not as a kid, but as an adult it did cross my mind

Question #7: what is your favorite vegetable?
raw sugar snap peas

Question #8: if you were a dinosaur, what kind of dinosaur would you be?
I don't have a clue

Question #9: chevy or ford?
Chevy

Question #10: mac or pc?
PC

Question #11: do you own an ipod and is it full?
yes, and yes

Question #12: do you consider yourself a revolutionary?
depends on who you ask

Question #13: is yes, what have you done that is revolutionary?
IDK--I can't think clearly today

Question #14: what is the last song you listened to?
Um....???

Question #15: top three favorite movies
can't choose 3, I love comedies mostly, but there are too many I like

Question #16: do you eat excessive amounts of ketchup?
no

Question #17: do you believe that corporations should have the right to act as a person in court?
corporations are groups of people, not one individual

Question #18: is there more than one way to eat a recess?
I have never eaten a recess, but I have had a Reeses and yes there is more than one way to eat a Reeses

Question #19: do you hate cats?
no, but wouldn't mind one

Question #20: do you have fillings?
yes

Question #21: do you like matt damon?
I've never met him so I don't know, but hesems nice on TV

Question #22: have you at any time in your life said i smoke too much weed?
no

Question #23: do you have any psycho ex's?
no, thank the lord, because I know people who do and I don't envy them at all

Question #24: do you have any of thier keys?
who's keys, my friend's psycho-ex's? No

Question #25: would you rather jump off a ship into the ocean or parachute out of a plane?
probably to ocean

Question #26: would you rather eat meat and starch the rest of your life, or vegetables and starch the rest of your life?
I'm not sure I could give up meat, plus some starches are veggies, so that one

Question #27: have you ever been arrested?
nope

Question #28: have you ever had your tongue pierced?
nope

Question #29: did you like th emovie labrynth?
yes

Question #30: were you one of the few people who didn't like kill bill?
no

Question #31: are you married?
yes

Question #32: would you rather be in an earthquake or hurricane?
been in earthquakes, some of them are fun, never been in hurricane, so I choose earthquake

Question #33: are both of your parents alive?
yes

Question #34: caramel or chocolate?
caramel, no question

Question #35: do you like your siblings?
most of the time. lol! no seriusly, I love them all to death

Question #36: hve you ever committed an act of espianoge?
if I answered this, wouldn't I be giving away too much info?

Question #37: can you drive stick?
no

Question #38: do you like the opposite sex?
that's a loaded question. generally speaking, yes, I do

Question #39: hav you ever googled the ingredients to anything you've eaten because you didn't know what it was?
no

Question #40: is your favorite season the one after the season you were born?
no

Question #41: Does the time you were born correlate with wether you are a night, morning or afternoon person?
IDK, I never tested it, but I don't think so

Question #42: do you think chuck palaniuk is genius or sick?
a bit of both

Question #43: does the contents of your computer reveal everything about you?
why would I answer this?

Question #44: would like like to get out of the digital age?
a lot of times, yes

Question #45: are you good at puzzles?
depends on the type of puzzle

Question #46: do you lack good customer service skills?
no, I think I am goood at it

Question #47: what are you usually doing when you are wasting time?
playing on my computer

Question #48: have you ever eaten an ant?
not that I know of

Question #49: have you ever spit tapioca pearls through the straw at people?
no, because I couldn't even get them in my mouth, can't get past the texture, eeeeewwwww!