New additions..

And Now for an update from the ever so thrilling lives of Davina and co...
There have been some new additions to the family. My younger brother and his wife welcomed their 4th child, and first son into their home last month. yay, they finally got their boy. They named him after our father who passed away in 2003 and only ever got to meet my brother's oldest daughter and my step son.
And closer to home, we decided to do some fostering. We are fostering dogs. We got our first one in November. His name is Baxter, he's a mix of maybe 300 different terriers. He's a very sweet little boy, some minor separation anxiety but that has eased up a great deal already. He is a very people oriented boy though. And very much a terrier. Oh and only about a year old, so add "puppy" into that. lol
And today I brought home an approximately 4 yr old pom or pom mix. no one is quite sure. he looks full pom to me, but he's bigger then most, so he could be mixed with something that looks similar but is a bit bigger.. but my mom had one about this size that was full pom, so who really knows.. he's been here just over an hour now, and so far they are all getting along fairly well. Baxter is the main one following him around and likely the main one that might get into trouble with him since they both want attention and play time all the time, but, tomorrow I will theoretically have others in the house, and Monday for sure, for a few weeks so that will help. And even more hopefully, Baxter has started going to adoption clinics and he is sure to find a home fairly quickly, which is exactly what he needs.
But right now, I need to go bathe a dog and probably do some laundry or dishes or something, and certainly need to dig through recipes in preperation for the Christmas invasion.. Bree gets in tomorrow, Tom on Monday, and Mattie next Saturday and then just about everyone will be here. Except, of course, Dakota and that's only cuz no one knows where he's gone to and he's not talking to anyone these days. Silly boy.. ah well. On to bath time!

dang time sneaks up...

and I get busy and forget to take time to update this.. I've spent the last few months off and on busy, some at work, but mostly canning! I've bottled all sorts of things. I've pickled potatoes, turnips, beets and carrots. I've bottled carrots and apple pie filling and applesauce and beef broth. I've even bottled french fries! And I've been playing with some other gluten free recipes.
I've tried making naan bread for hubby, though so far we haven't found a recipe that works for him yet and is gluten free for me. I have got cheese crackers figured out well though, I can't seem to make them fast enough to keep up with hubby eating them! We're hoping to try a few more recipes this weekend. Maybe even the long awaited pretzels.
And I've been trying to get a blanket done for my new nephew, who should be born any week now..
A while back I let hubby convince me to go to a salon and got my hair cut and highlighted. It looks very nice, but I still cringe at the cost of it. I'm just too darn frugal.
I'm finally fairly recovered from Gobo's loss. I still have moments, but I'm not a complete basket case and don't burst in to tears at the thought. I'm toying with the idea of fostering dogs for one of the local rescues, but haven't decided for sure yet.
I have had a bit of a set back health wise, but we're pretty sure it's ok, just part of the normal process of making such 'drastic' changes to my diet and getting all the gluten out. Lots of long term things to get resorted and balanced back out. I have been very tired and just unenergetic for the last month or so, but this week I seem to be finally improving some. Sadly, that was just in time for a head cold.. *sigh* but there we are. lol
Adoption is still in holding pattern. Hubby's dr appt is taking forever since he's going through the VA. He finally got his first intro appt this month, but now we have to wait til next month for his actual appt with the doctor. Still hoping I can manage to get everything turned in by the end of the year though. That will be so nice to finally have done.
And we've made some progress with the remodel! Hurray! Not as much as we'd have liked, but money has just been too tight this year. But, we have gotten the closet completely walled in. I just need to caulk the corners and do some painting, and I can start getting the closet set up. Still need to do the flooring in there and get the bathroom itself done. We're hoping to get the drywall around the tub up before hubby goes back up this time.
Girls will be here for Christmas this year and we've got their tickets ready to go. Bree will get an entire extra week this time, which will be nice. Thanksgiving will be quiet this year though. No one will be here but me.. Bailey and her family will be doing stuff with her grandparents and aunt, so I get to have a quiet day of not much. Will still do some cooking, but not the whole shebang.. save that for Christmas. This will be our first major holiday since I've gone gluten free and I've got to make sure everyone is happy with the food so they can better understand that we don't have to miss out on anything even with my new diet. I don't think I'm missing out on much (cept maybe the convenience of lazy food.. and travel food.. travel food is hard.. eating out is ok, but limited here in Alaska..) and they need to feel that way too.
So, that's my update for now. Hopefully I won't get so behind again for a while.. :)

Gobo Update

My poor little boy didn't have as much time as any of us hoped he would. Sunday, July 31, 2011, Gobo passed away. He'd basically stopped eating Friday and wasn't drinking much on Saturday. He sat and stared at the wall for a bit and was very lethargic. I honestly didn't expect him to make it through the night, so was very happy when I got up Sunday morning and he was awake and alert. He followed me around most of the morning and early afternoon. I thought maybe he'd gotten a bit of energy from somewhere, but he still refused to eat or drink anything.
Then, shortly after 3 PM (I'd just texted with my husband to let him know Gobo was still hanging on...) his legs gave out on him. Based on how things had gone with Rocky 4 years ago, I thought we had a few more hours. I wrapped him up in a towel and his blanket so I could hold him for a while and he went limp on me but was still breathing; then he started coughing. I thought maybe he needed to stretch out more so I moved him onto the couch and he just kept coughing up blood for a minute or two; still had no control over his muscles, he was completely limp. He finally quieted down and then he just stopped breathing. He was gone. From the time his legs gave out to when he was gone, was about 15 minutes. 3:20 and he was gone.
He'd been my baby for 4 years and I've been completely devastated by his sudden loss. The girls were out camping with their sister and brother in law that weekend, and Hubby was still away at work far off up on the slope. I miss him and want him back. I had to put this post off until now because I just couldn't handle writing it. Honestly, I can barely handle it now. I still cry sometimes and keep calling the other dogs by his name. We've lost other dogs before, but his hit me hard.

Gobo

This past weekend my little baby, Gobo, was sick. he seemed constipated and eventually decided he really didn't want to eat. When we did get him to eat, he'd eventually just throw everything back up. So yesterday he and I went to see the vet. I was hoping they'd find a blockage or something that could easily be "fixed" though deep down, I suspected something more. We spent 3 hours there yesterday while they ran blood tests and tried to collect a urine sample to test that. Unfortunately, we got our answer. My poor little boy is dealing with kidney failure. He was born with several obvious birth defects and we always kind of wondered if there might not be some internal issues he'd eventually have to deal with as well. We never expected this, at least not his soon. He is 4.5 years old, barely out of puppyhood and kidney failure this severe and sudden is very uncommon for one so young. Because things have already progressed as far as they have, and as sudden as this all was (he really didn't seem at all sick or have any sudden changes in habits until this past weekend, though he has lost nearly 3 pounds since last year's visit..) there really isn't much we can do for him except wait and try to keep him comfortable. He has managed to keep some food down since yesterday, so that is good.
At this point we are just hoping that he can do ok and keep going for another 2 weeks at least. Tom would really like the chance to get to say good bye. The last 2 dogs we had that passed, both went while he was away and very suddenly. This time we at least have warning and can prepare, though that just means my grief has already started to set in. They figure he probably has a few weeks, maybe even a few months. Any treatment we could do would be very expensive and, even then, maybe only give him an extra month or two, if it did anything at all.
I really do wish there were more we cold do for him, but at this point, there just isn't. The numbers from his tests were insanely high, several were well beyond the parameters, they were literally off the charts.
I'm loosing my baby and it's tearing me to pieces..

Tom's Crazy Suit

I forgot to mention in my last post, so it's it's getting it's own, and perhaps it needs it...

Last week we were browsing through a local thrift store for sweaters and other things for a few projects, when Tom found a suit, well, he found 2 suits, one a very shiny brown that fits him nicely and the other, well, it kind of defies explanation. It also fits him well, though I needed to replace the buttons and still need to hem it properly. Any way, this second suit was only $5.50 which knocked it into the "OK, we HAVE to get this and embarrass the kids with" range..

As you can see, it is also very shiny. And off white. And plaid. He decided to go with his purple shirt and tie because the outfit needed some color. We will likely be getting several more brightly colored shirts to go with this thing.


He did wear this to Church last Sunday, with the boyfriend who was visiting and we still didn't seem to manage to scare him off. We've told Tom he needs a hat to go with this suit to really finish it off. I did replace all the gold buttons (some were missing anyway) with silver ones and we didn't have time to hem it, so it was just pinned up, but I will need to do some hemming on this, as the pant legs were extremely long. The whole things seems to be made of polyester and was made in Korea. And is now a proud member of Tom's closet where he will be making all sorts of use out of it. Future weddings, halloween costumes, formal events, whatever he can come up with, I am sure.

4th of July

Ok, it has been a crazy month so far. Girls are here, and Tom is home, yay! Bree's boyfriend came up from Washington to visit us for a week and was here for the 4th. Most of his week here was spent with Bree dragging him all over the state, but for the 4th, we had a relatively quiet day at home. Bailey, Caleb and Gaia came over, as did our defacto substitute son Chris, so the whole gang was pretty much over. Tons of food was had (I made the BEST slow cooker boneless short ribs, and we grilled chicken and moose steaks and burgers for the younger ones who wanted burgers, plus there was pickled potato salad, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, quinoa salad, several kinds of mini pies and a cake. Then Bailey brought masked potatoes and biscuits. Everything except the biscuits and the burger buns was Gluten Free and so yummy. We still have tons of left overs and they are still so very, very good....) and we followed it up with a game of Risk. I actually won, which was a first. I haven't played it too often, but everyone was surprised, especially since I started with basically just basing myself in Europe. Apparently that's not usually successful.. worked for me though, so, yay!
No fireworks for us this year, apparently all the big shows had been the night before and outside of the shows, fireworks are illegal in most of the state due to risk of fire. Not to mention it really doesn't get dark enough in the summer in the part of the state we're in. It would be like most of the lower 48 wanting to set them off at 4 to 5 PM, so we just never bother with them. The big shows up here are for New Year's.
Our guest seemed to enjoy his time up here, and seems a decent sort of fellow. He certainly fits right in with our variety of insanity.

In other news, my garden is doing very well. I've pulled a few squash out already, and the pumpkins are just started blooming. My bell peppers are going like crazy, and I've got a fair number of little tomatoes started, and the jalapenos are starting to go crazy as well. We've pulled the first carrot, which wound up being a LOT shorter then we expected, but was still very good. And the peas.. oh those were good, so sweet.. it will be hard letting them all sit out there while we wait for enough to do anything with to get ready. I could so easily just go eat them right out of the pods..

And my brother has announced that, at long last, they are expecting a boy. He's got 3 girls out of nearly 10 years of marriage and they are finally having a boy. They've been trying for a boy forever and have had several miscarriages, so this is exciting news for them. My new little nephew will be due later this fall.

June!

Ok, May sucked. Shortly after posting last we found out that my youngest step daughter had been hospitalized. We still aren't sure what actually was going on. (the perils of step kids living out of state and an ex who won't tell you anything...) We heard that she was on IV antibiotics for infection, but no one knew what kind. There was talk of kidney failure and other things. She was in the hospital for about 4 days and then sent home. As far as we know, all is back to normal and well. We will hopefully be able to get better details once the girls are here.
Mom's surgery went well. They think they got it all and her test all came back clear. She goes in next week for her pre-radiation consultation and then will start 6 weeks of radiation therapy. She is in great spirits though and doing well.
As for my gluten test, well, I don't know if it was effected by not being on gluten long enough or what, but the test showed I was negative for celiac. That really doesn't matter to me though. Just doing that gluten challenge was enough to verify intolerance for me, even if it isn't (yet) celiac and I am back off the stuff for good! I am so much better, healthier and happier.
My garden is doing great this year. I've got squash! And peas and it looks like I've got carrots! We've never had any luck with carrots before. The pumpkins and watermelons are still growing and we're hopeful for them this year as well. Indoors, we had a bit of a fight with aphids (where, oh where, did they come from?!?!) but it looks like I won. My peppers and tomatoes are doing well as are my herbs. I will have to work on getting pictures posted in here one of these days. I have at least 3 little baby tomatoes. They are fully crowding my windows already so it's hard to get a good count until they get bigger, and maybe red, but there are some showing up.
Girls will be here soon, and this year we've got a brave boyfriend coming to meet the folks and check Alaska out as well, so that will be interesting.

May sucks

May has not been a fun month. I decided to go back on gluten so I could do some preliminary blood testing. Almost immediately I started getting sick again. I have felt so miserable the last 2 weeks. Last weekend we went and signed up at the gym, too. This will be a good thing, but right now I feel so terrible I can't do much and what I can do makes me feel nearly dead. I have been so very very tired and sore and, quite honestly, moody. I'm back to bottomed out where I have to plan everything I do and any little surprise can completely ruin my day and my mood. I hate it. This is not me and I was so much better for the 3 months I was off gluten. I already decided that, regardless of what they blood test says (which might not be entirely accurate anyway since I've been off it for 3 months and only back on for a few weeks..) I will be going 100% gluten free forever more.
Then, 2 weeks ago I got an email from my mother. She had gone in for her annual mammogram and they found a "shadow" and wanted to do a biopsy. That was done and they sent her right off to a specialist and she is now scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor and test lymph nodes, etc to make sure the cancer hasn't spread. We are all hoping that this was caught early enough that the surgery (and then about a month later she will start radiation for a few weeks) will catch it all and we can be done with this... I worry, however, as I know she's already got autoimmune problems because of her MS.
Anyway. So I'm stressed out and feeling horrible and I decided I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and I'm done with gluten. (Ok, will be officially done tomorrow since I've already planned tomorrow's dinner and would be difficult to convert at this point..) So this afternoon I took the test. (It was an at home self test from a company in Canada. I had to import it via my mom in Idaho because for some reason, Canada doesn't want to ship to Alaska...) It is suppose to be fairly accurate, but, you have to have been on a "normal" gluten-filled diet, and having been off gluten for 3 months and only back on for a few weeks, I might not have built up enough anti-bodies yet. I had planned to be on for 3 weeks, but I really just couldn't take it anymore.. I tested negative for celiacs. But that doesn't mean I don't have it. There are various levels of reaction and I might not be damaged enough yet to actually be positive. (It is, sadly, one of those illnesses that many doctor's don't acknowledge until serious permanent damage is done to your intestines, and sometimes not even then..) Anyway, I know I have some level of gluten syndrome. The HUGE massive difference in my health, energy levels, emotional stability, etc between when I'm on gluten and when I'm off of it.. it really is amazing. I'm sure that if I left things alone and kept eating gluten I'd eventually get damaged enough to be considered fully celiac, but, seriously, why should I have to?
Doctors don't tell people to keep eating sugar and we won't treat you or ask you to change your diet until you're diabetic, why should celiacs be any different?
Just making the decision to stop the gluten test has lifted my spirits and improved my mood. I've had too many dizzy spells, too much weakness, too many aches and pains everything else. I am so looking forward to feeling better again.
And hopefully my mom will get good news next week, too.

1 week

I've been back on gluten for one week now. I hate it. Everything that had slowly gone away the last three months, things I'd never even noticed or put together to link with this.. all of it has come back and I hate it. I've been making a list of everything as it comes back, because, this time, I'm noticing. The list is very long, nearly fills 2 columns in my steno notebook/diary. The worst are the lack of energy, the loss of coordination, the fuzziness of mind, clouded thinking, inability to remember things I know I should know, the aches, the pains, the emotional roller coaster..
I know I need to be back on this stuff for several weeks before I can do blood work, but, honestly, I'm this close to calling it quits. I know that, regardless of what ever the tests say, I am never eating gluten (knowingly) again unless there is some serious life or death thing going on.. cuz it is not nice to me at all.
And, honestly, I've used this as a chance to splurdge a smidge and have all of those "oh no, I'll never have ______ again" foods I first worried about, and I've been surprised, they just really didn't taste as good as I'd remembered them being.. Ok, a few things still are, but, for the most part, I was loosing my taste for them, so that will be good for me. If I survive this challenge anyway.
At least Hubby is home now to help out while I slowly fall back to pieces. And he's already told me that he wants the "new, gluten free" me back, and he's only been home a day now.. so this will help encourage him to support me in this, and maybe I can use that support to help get him eating better when he's home, too.

Back on wheat - for now..

Well, I've decided I need to do some testing to maybe confirm this whole celiac thing. I've found a home test kit that I can order and do myself for much, much less then I can at the doctor's office.. so I'm going back on wheat for a few weeks then will take the test. If it gives me a positive result, I will be discussing biopsy options for later this year with my doctor. Though, honestly, I'm pretty sure that I have it. It just, seriously, makes too much sense. And if the doctors are willing to make do with blood tests, then maybe I won't need the really pricey biopsy (and 3 months back on wheat before that test...) I will also likely be contacting one or two of the local labs around town to see if any of them will run some other blood tests for me to get it all official and in my charts, etc.
But, it means that right now, I'm back on wheat. Tonight was my first jump back in. I've decided that I'm mostly going to stick with only doing wheat in the evenings, and see how that goes. I want to still be able to function during the day and all. I've been pleasantly surprised this evening, in that I haven't reacted nearly as badly as I have in the past when I've had accidental dosings. This is actually a good thing, as it shows that my intestinal tract has been healing somewhat in the 3 months I've been off of it. Things are coming back though, just slower and not as intensely as I expected. Haven't had the headaches yet, though the body aches are starting to creep back in, and there was some straight up nausea and bloating after about half an hour. Thankfully those seem to have subsided again. It's going to be a long couple of weeks, and part of me really hates that I'm doing this to myself. But, must get an actual answer about all of this. Either way, if not needed for testing, I'm going to be going and staying gluten free. The testing and medical confirmation would be nice, as it will allow me to claim some of the extra costs of going gluten free as medical claims, but, honestly, I personally already know that this is the answer I've needed. This lies at the root of everything (or nearly) that I've been having problems with for years. I've been doing a lot of reading, and a lot of symptom tracing and I know when things started to get bad, I know that all of this is linked, and I know that it's all connected to problems with gluten. If I've got celiacs or if I'm just gluten intolerant, that doesn't matter. I have my answers, and I have hope for a lot of things now that I'd more or less given up on. Now I just have to convince my doctors :)

National Infertility Awareness Week

If you weren't aware, it is National Infertility Awareness Week. Hurray!
This week we have been challenged as bloggers dealing with infertility to post a bit about our struggles and the myths that surround infertility. The things everyone tells us that don't help and eventually grate on our nerves. (We know you mean well, but, please, telling us to relax or go on vacation or stop trying and then it will happen, really don't help one little bit...)
The myth I've chosen to write about is the old phrase, "Well, you can always just adopt, there are tons of babies out there just waiting." This is kind of a two parter.
Firstly, there aren't millions of babies out there in limbo just waiting to be adopted. If there were, the process would likely be a lot easier then it is. These days, especially, more and more unwed women tend to chose to parent their children. Society has accepted that as a viable option and it works for many of them. The kids who are waiting in the foster system tend to be older or have medical problems that make them hard to place. Many couples dealing with infertility do eventually take in these children, but it is a tough decision and takes time. Like every other couple, they have their dreams of the perfect little newborn, and that can be a very hard thing to give up on. And no child was ever unwanted. Adoption is a tough decision made by the birth mother because she loves her child and wants to give it the best possible chances in life.
Secondly, adoption is in no way easy, quick, or cheap. Depending on what options and agencies you work with, it can take months or years just to get through the paperwork and approval stage. Then there is the waiting. Once approved, you have 3 years in which to hope you are picked. After that, you have to start the paperwork over again for reapproval. And the fees.. thousands of dollars for paperwork and home studies and legal fees and adoption costs, and the finger printing, and medical visits.... it adds up to some pretty hefty sums, and that's just domestic! If you go international add in travel costs, sometimes for weeks or months in a different country, sometimes multiple visits. Then there is the invasive nature of the whole thing. There is no promise that just because you can fill out paperwork and have money that you will be approved. You are left feeling that you are at the mercy of total strangers who will come in and poke and prod at your life, your home, everything, then they get to decide if you are "good enough" to go on the waiting list to be parents.
It can be hard to do, to give up that level of control. You worry that maybe you're not good enough, your house isn't clean enough.. all on top of already feeling like a failure because your body doesn't work right in the first place or you wouldn't have this problem, and you've probably been poked and prodded medically in the diagnosis phase and maybe even tried ivf or something a time or two (again, very pricey treatments that insurance doesn't always cover..)

I'm pretty fortunate. We knew early on that we'd have fertility issues. Hubby'd had a vasectomy near the end of his first marriage, so that was going to cause problems anyway. So we knew going in that we'd either have to adopt or seek assistance. Then we found out about my problems. They weren't a total shock. I'd often suspected there was something going on. And the first few years were just full of all sorts of changes and adjustments anyway.. Married, moved 3000 miles, suddenly had 4 step kids, 2 of them teenagers. We didn't have much money, so I did a lot of reading. About step kids, and infertility and adoption. It helped prepare me for when we started the whole process in 2006. We'd just started on the paperwork with LDSFS, which was a difficult tango because they didn't have an office up here so we were working with them from out of state, when my husband suddenly felt that the timing wasn't right and called it off. I was very upset with him because he couldn't give me an answer as to why. This was early 2007. In August of that year I was in a car accident that took most of a year to recover from, so there was a reason.. then in 2008 we started talking about it again and had to postpone, yet again, because he was going to be deployed. Last year we decided that now was the time and started up again. We've just about got our paperwork ready to turn in (just need hubby's doctor visit and fingerprinting - and this year's tax info..) This time we decided to go with a local agency. There aren't many in the state, but we are going with Catholic Social Services in Anchorage. Hopefully we will be on our way to approval by the end of the year. That would be nice. That would be lovely. Then we just have to work on our profile and hope a birthmother out there likes us.
Meanwhile, I'd better go clean my house :)


If you'd like to know more about infertility or awareness week or RESOLVE (the organization behind this challenge) please check out these web sites: infertility 101 and take charge

Infertility Awareness Month

Ok, so I missed posting anywhere in March. So my goal of posting at least once a month has fallen.. I will state that I was sick for a good part of it, and coping with trying to catch up on things the rest of it and blogging just slipped thru the cracks.
Hubby and I went to Fairbanks this past weekend. We wanted to just get away for a bit, but who can afford to go anywhere, so we went to Fairbanks. Not much to do there this time of year, but it was still fun. I've never been up there before, so now I can say that I have.
It was a quiet month. Spring, or what passes for it here, is upon us, so the ground is getting muddy and the winds are blowing people's roofs off. Luckily ours seems to be secure.
As mentioned in the header. April is Infertility Awareness Month. I mention this because it has been brought to my attention that PETA has done something immensely stupid, even for PETA. (They use to be a worthwhile group, but things have long since gone hill..) They launched a campaign on March 31 where they are having a contest where they will give some guy a free vasectomy as a reward for spay/neutering their pets. They have said they are doing it "in honor" of infertility awareness month.. This is such a huge insult to those of us dealing with infertility, and really the final straw for me as far as PETA goes. There is a petition to tell PETA how much this sucks if anyone is interested.

Wheat free..

well, I have been officially wheat free now for a few weeks. I've gotten lucky and found quite a few more GF items then I expected, and a little local store that has a nice little stock of things, and another store in town that has a ton of things, so it's just a matter of relearning how to do things and being careful about how and when things get done here at home when mixing the GF stuff with the regular stuff for Tom and the kids. We've tried some GF muffins, pasta, 2 types of bread, a cake mix and tonight a pizza crust. They've all been pretty good. One of the breads was very bland, but tolerable, the cake was quite good, and the pizza crust was great, though could be a little crisper, so we will work on that.
Oh, and we bought a new bread maker. My older one does not have a GF setting, and from what I've heard and read, GF bread doesn't work well in machines without one. Am looking forward to using it once I get flours and such figured out. We also bought a meat grinder attachment for my bosch mixer and we LOVE that! We did a batch of ground beef and it was so lovely. We're still using it for things and it is just so much better then what we get at the store. We're waiting on additional dies so we can do different sizes of grinds, but I think we're going to get a lot of use out of this.

week 2 results - oops, a bit late...

Another 3.5 pounds and about 8 inches lost! Woohoo!!
This gives me a 2 week total of 7 pounds and 23 inches. That means I've averaged a half a pound a day! And almost 12 inches a week! I can hardly believe that! It's just amazing and I love it!
Now I get to start adding things back in a little at a time to see how I react, and to get ready for the Hubby's return on Friday and the return of cooking for someone other then myself who won't eat most of what I've been eating for the last 2 weeks (and who wants to cook twice?). Friday and Saturday night I had the grand daughter for a few hours, so I made some 3 year old friendly foods during that time, and I will admit that I sampled. So I know I'm good with rice, potatoes and cheese already. I really wasn't too worried about having problems with any of them. So it was good to have that confirmed. However, today at Church I had a tiny piece of bread during the Sacrament (it's kinda like the Catholic Communion for any non-LDS folk out there..) and within minutes I had a headache and my throat started to feel a little closed off and tight. So, it looks like I do indeed have a wheat intolerance of some sort. I know I don't have Celiac Disease, thankfully, but I don't know yet if it's just a wheat allergy or if it is an all out gluten intolerance. Will take a bit more experimentation. But for now I am doing some research and will start slowly replacing things in the house with gluten and wheat free alternatives. This is going to be hard though. I love bread, and crackers, and pasta, etc so very much. At least these days there are viable alternatives, and I've already learned quite a bit in just an hour or so online about converting recipes, so, if I can find the things I need, I should be able to still do a lot of things.
Is going to be interesting the next few months while I get this all figured out and get my pantry all sorted through.

results - week 1

Ok, so Sunday was my scheduled result checking day, so Sunday morning I did the weigh in and retook all the measurements. I've lost 3.5 pounds and 15.25 inches over all!! That's just amazing for 1 week (with minor cheating, even!) after not having been able to loose anything at all since the accident. I'm loving the results, though, it appears I'm going to have to do some modification of either the diet, my meds, or both.
I have a new problem. My blood pressure is now dipping too low and I've been light headed and fuzzy brained. Saturday night I was down to 104/50. The combination of this diet and all my blood pressure medications is apparently too much. Saturday night I solved the immediate issue with some turkey bacon, which gave me lean protein, so wasn't too bad a cheat, and some salt which helped bring the bp back up a bit.
So I poked around the web site support group for this plan and found there are several variations. I'm going to be switching to one of those this week for week 2 while also keeping an eye on the bp levels and, if necessary, might have to cut back on the meds for a little while. I don't go back to the doctors until March, so I've got to be careful with what I'm doing. Depending on how this week goes, I might continue for a week 3, or I might have to put things on hold until after I see the doctors in March.

diet update, day 6

Things seem to be going ok. I've not been sleeping well, have had aches, lethargy, and minor headaches. All of these are things we're told to watch for as we detox and our bodies let go of the stuff they're use to getting.
However, I wasn't told to look out for falling blood pressure. Today, mine went down to 104/50 for a while this evening. That is a bit too low for my comfort so I'm going to have to either play with the diet rules and add a bit more salt back in, or play with my pill dosage on the blood pressure meds. I've already cut the bp meds down from 3 pills to 2 pills a day, but I may need to reduce that further. I will be looking at my options and making changes in things starting tomorrow and then throughout the week. I'm now looking at this first round with this as a shake down to see what I will have to play with to make it work for me and my med list.
But, I have lost inches, and maybe even some actual weight. Tomorrow it the official weigh in and measurement taking day, so we will see what the results are.
I did cheat a bit today to counter the drop in blood pressure and had some turkey bacon to raise my salt levels a smidge and some odwalla for some potassium and sugar to help balance that. It did push my numbers back up a little (115/58) so I'm good with that for the night. Hoping the minor cheats won't spoil things too much tomorrow.

in family news, my middle step daughter got 1st place for her oratory at her divisional for debate!! woohoo!! state quals in 2 weeks!! way to go!!

diet, day 3

Ok, so things are going apace.. My biggest craving has been for some nice fluffy, crust french bread. Slathered in butter would be nice, but mostly I just want the bread. I did cheat a smidge today and ate a cracker. It was that or make croissants, so I think I made the better choice, but I just really wanted something bread-ish and caved. It does seem to have satisfied the craving though, so if that is all I do I should still be ok.
Other then that, it seems to be going ok. No big signs of anything yet, but then, it is only day 3, and we must be realistic about that sort of thing :) I do have to say that, over all, I am feeling better and "lighter," might even say healthier already. I seem to be having more energy in getting through the day. Dragging myself out of bed in the morning is still hard; I'm not sleeping well or consistent at night. Last night I went to bed about 11 and woke up this morning around 3:30 and was in and out for the next few hours until my alarm went off. But, surprisingly, I'm not as tired today as I would have expected. I even biked a mile on the stationary. Haven't done that in a while. It feels good. Sunday we will see if we have anything to show for the first week, either via the scale or measurements.
I hate going to the store right now. All those things I can't have taunting me. But, I've managed to avoid buying that one doughnut no one will know about, or that ice cream bar that looks so good and full of milk fats, or stopping for that one time favorite splurdge from high school - french fries and a chocolate shake. But, must be good, be strong, and just a few more days and I will have my first week down. Almost half way there now.

Diet

I really hate that word... but I am trying a new one starting today. One of the ladies I sometimes work with has had a lot of luck dropping a decent amount of weight quickly using the Fat Flush Plan. She just uses the initial 2 week detox part of the program once in a while when she feels she needs to loose some weight then goes back to her normal routine. That isn't how it's supposed to work, but that is how she does it and she thought it might help me to at least get things started. So I checked out the book and spent the last week looking it over to determine if this was something OI could do or if it would interfere with my meds and all too much. It seems promising, though it's a good deal more complicated then what she does if you look at it long term.
We will have to see how this goes. So far I am on day one and have done well so far, though, honestly, I still feel hungry. The first 2 weeks you can't have sugar, starches, or dairy of any sort and I'm pretty sure those are what I am craving right now.I am so addicted to dairy.. and wheat.. If I follow the plan beyond the initial 2 weeks, I am allowed to slowly reintroduce all of those things I'm not allowed one at a time. The theory is that a lot of people can't loose weight because it's not fat they are holding on to, but a hidden food allergy that is making them bloated. This, sadly, might be the case. Years ago I had a series of allergy tests done then was on shots for about 10 years. One of the many many things I tested positive for was wheat, but it was never much of an issue, or at least it wasn't pressed at the time, that I avoid it. This, however, might now be coming into play for me. This will stink though, because, next to dairy, I love baked goods, breads, pastries, etc.. At least there are a lot more gluten free options now then there were back then, but it will still stink. So, here's to hoping I don't show any reactions when I reintroduce.
Meanwhile, I figured this would be a good way for me to keep myself honest and on track about it, and should get me blogging more as well, which I also need to start doing.

2011 HERE WE COME..

Ok, so I was just reviewing and saw that it had been a month since I posted.. so, it's about time.. My only blogging goal for the year is to post at least once a month on each of my blogs. We will see how that goes.
I did finally get my computer kicked back into shape. A good old fashioned turning it off and on seemed to finally do the trick. Why is it you never think of trying that sort of thing first?? (OK, so I did, but was afraid there might have been some sort of virus that would take hold on reboot, so put it off..)
Anyway, Christmas came and went. I survived working for 2 weeks straight over the holidays and have been in once since then. I was supposed to have gone another time as well, but, I wound up sick that day so didn't go.
The weather has been insane this winter. Every time we've had snow, the winds have come and blown it all away to the south, then the bitter, bitter sub zero temps have come and frozen us all, then it warms up to over 40 and melts what little might be left, then gets cold again.. then snow and repeat... we finally have snow again and I really am hoping it stays this time. It isn't a proper winter without snow. Tom is taking advantage of this and has gone skiing today, though he should be home soon.
Tomorrow we get our new stove at long last!! After having spent most of the last year with the oven not working properly and making due with a large toaster oven, a crock pot or two and an electric roaster oven (thankfully the burners worked! though once in a while you'd have to start them with a lighter...) we are finally getting the new stove we've been saving up for. It will be so nice to actually be able to cook again! And this one is a nice 5 burner, double oven stove. I am seriously so excited. I have no idea what I will cook first on it. I ordered it New Years Day and it will be showing up here just days before our anniversary. I told Tom if he was smart he'd try to make it a Christmas and Anniversary present, but he's even smarter and says he doesn't count major appliances as presents.. Which is almost sad, because he has one of the few wives who would totally count it. lol
Health wise, this week has kind of sucked. I feel fine, actually. Blood pressure and everything are all fine, I've just been dealing with a LOT of pain this week, and that just drains me physically and emotionally. Though so far, at least emotionally, I've been able to bounce back quickly after the worst of it eases up. Just makes housework that much more of a hassle.
Things are brewing with the kids.. most of it I don't feel I can talk about quite yet, though we are waiting to hear back from lawyers regarding options for trying to get the younger 2 up here full time..
but, the eldest has big news.. they finally found a house they felt they could put an offer on and it looks like they might just have a place to call their own soon, if all goes well with inspections and what not. It would only be about 15 or so miles from us, so that's not too bad at all.