Hrm. What to wander about today...

Hrm...

Jason Boland has a new album out. It rocks my socks. There's a great line in "Comal County Blue" that goes "Sometimes the only answer's Austin" that makes characters in my head go YANGYANGYANG.

We watched Descent, which was better than I feared and not as good as I hoped. Caves, lots of pretty women, gore, blood, weird-assed cave-bat vampires - all good. The rest of it including the bitchy unpleasant women and the endless pointless snark? Eh.

I bought dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free ice cream type food. I'm going to have it with almonds and raspberries at 4. Then arepas at 6. Vietnamese vermicelli bowl at 8. The yacon syrup (which is a plant extract from Peru made from cactus and tastes sort of molasses-y) came in. We may have to invent ginger cookies.

The brownies from last night? Taste-wise were great. Consistency? Dude. Bad. Very bad. Next time, less applesauce, more rice flour, no eggbeaters (I was out of whole eggs) and possibly a handful of almond flour...

Also, I need to make mayonnaise.

happy birthday to the bassetts

Today the puppies are a year old. O.o

Grown up bassetts! They are a joy - of course, they're sleeping right now, so that might be part of it...

Sadie's still the smart one - no question. Goober's much more easy-going, unless he's being super-testosterone bitchy dog, which happens. Goober's the brave one; Sadie's our hunter. Sadie's faster; Goobie's more tenacious. Goobie gives the best hugs. Sadie's our flip-top head dog. Sadie loves holistic dog food from Whole Foods (we got little free samples and she thinks they're treats - she *loves* them) and Goob's favorite food is Frosted Mini Wheats.

They love their walks; they still do that Wonder Twin Powers, Activate thing where they put their ears together and discover trouble. They are still lost if you separate them - they can't understand any situation where they wouldn't need to be together. They still need the periodic snuggle throughout the day.

They still lose their minds when you wash their ears.

*grins*

Babies!

Tomorrow marks a month on the new diet - no wheat, no dairy, no refined sugar, no artificial sweetners, no fast food. I'm doing okay with it - I haven't cheated once, I've kept under the recommended calories within reason (I had a couple of days with 10 calories over, etc.) and I've been eating every two hours.

Do I feel better?

*ponders this*

My face absolutely feels better - I've had 5-6 bad episodes in 30 days and all of them can be directly pointed back to wheat/gluten. I haven't experienced any stomach upset since being free of the dairy. My sinuses are 100% better.

I get a little growly about things and I'm tired of health/food/diet being such a huge part of my life. I know that it's just because it's all so different (and hell, I was pretty into food anyway), but I'm ready for it to become something easier.

I'm dreading being out of town this weekend - trying to find safe foods to eat, eating every two hours - how do I *do* this at a three-hour event where the healthy food is a corn dog?

*grins*

When I was a teenager all I ever wanted was to be 'normal' and I failed miserably at it. I haven't gotten any better.

there is GLUTEN in my SINUS PILLS

GLUTEN IN MY SINUS PILLS!

*stomps around screaming*

*ahem*

Thanks to Lorna for going... wait. What did you eat that gave you an attack?

Still.

Gluten.

In my SINUS pills.

ARGH!

first day of school

And the kid's off again. *chuckles*

Four cooking classes this semester, jeans and a t-shirt, almost 19 years old - two weeks from today, actually. I think she was ready to get back this time and that makes me happy.

I can't wait for her to come home to tell me about her day. I've always loved that part - the coming home with adventures part.

I can tell you exactly how it'll go too -

Me: Hey, Tootie. How was it?

A: *shrug*

Me: What's up?

A: The sky.

Me: Learn anything?

A: Not yet.

Me: Make any friends?

A: Yep.

Me: What was her name?

A: *shrugs* I don't know.

(this is where I start rolling my eyes and muttering about how she always says that and she starts laughing)

Me: What's your professor's name, then?

What can I say? I live for this stuff.

Lord help me, I think I'll keep her.

Food and turtles and books and things

Soy yogurt? Well... dude. It's brown.

Brown.

Gads.

However, it made a nice raspberry smoothie and for the first time in my life the yogurt didn't make me throw up. (Which I haven't had less heartburn *ever* than I have since giving up dairy...)

Still.

Brown.

On the down side, the cheese on the rice crust pizza was enough to make my throat swell up and I had to take a benedryl. I wonder if I can order frozen rice crust soy cheese pizza...

Lorna and I bought a goofy little single omelet pan with a hatching chick on the handle. Manda just stared at us like we were insane. ;-)

I'm seriously considering buying a food dehydrator and making jerky, because, you know, I have an arepa maker and a zillion other small kitchen appliances, one more can't hurt.

Oh, in other news, I ordered an eyeglass chain that has pink turtles on it. Why? Well, I'm always taking my glasses off to read a label, etc. Not only that - pink turtles.

Pink.

Turtles.

*grins*

I'm reading a book I got at one of the trade shows - The Little Giant of Aberdeen County. It's very well done - something that I would have happily written, except it's based in upstate New York, which I know nothing about. As it is, it's going in the keeper pile and it's one hell of a first novel.

I picked up the new John Saul novel, too. I'm hoping it's better than the last one I bought of his. Manda's named after a character in one of his books - Comes the Blind Fury - it was the first 'grown up' book I read. I was little; Mother got it in hard-back from one of her book clubs and I snuck it out of the shelf. I read it in horrified fascination and I knew I couldn't go tell anyone that I'd done it, even if I was scared as hell. It started a life-long fascination with horror, especially in novel-form. Movies, eh. I can take them or leave them, but books? Man.

*grins*

Scariest book ever?

Rosemary's Baby, I think, although Beloved scared the shit out of me. Door to December was deeply disturbing.

Best horror novel?

Hrm. I'd have to say I love The Stand and The Talisman both, but The Shining will probably always be my favorite.

Lord, I've rambled enough, I guess. Time to haul my heinie to work.

I'm getting old...

I had to go buy reading glasses today because I can't read with my standard glasses anymore.

Then I bought 3 cowboy (snort) based Harlequins and read them. They were each exactly the same.

They weren't deadly or anything, but they were *exactly* the same.

O.o

you know...

those little rhythm gymnasts are flexible...

*grins*

As easy as our blessings

Okay, I'm over the whine now.

I ordered gluten free mustard (3 jars - we go through a lot of mustard). My new bread machine came (the old one can't get cleaned enough to be gluten-free) and it has a gluten free bread setting (it only needs a single rise). I like my new gluten-free cereal and the gluten-free bacon (yes, you heard me. Gluten. Free. Bacon. Hey, I had to go buy gluten-free toothpaste) still tastes good. Coffee Silk Soy milk mixed with the chocolate protein powder? A win for me.

Oh, and I have positive reports about the soy mozzarella. I like it just as much.

And, you know what? If my bitch is that I can't have pasta when we're all three going to SPAIN and ITALY for 3 weeks? *snort* Self-indulgent much? Jesus, y'all whack me next time and tell me to get my head out of my butt, I'll have clearer vision.

Okay, to work.

Much love, y'all. I mean it.

I am going to indulge in a whine

My mustard had wheat in it.

Frigging MUSTARD!

It's in everything and they don't label it as 'wheat' and then there's casein (which is the same kind of molecule as gluten, but in dairy form). And what doesn't have wheat has dairy.

No one's ever going to want me to come visit ever again. I have to eat every two hours. I can't eat a thousand different things or there's reactions. And I have to figure out con season.

And I'm going to ITALY and can't have pizza OR pasta and I have to deal with the diet stuff in a foreign language and...

I've become one of those high-maintenance food types that people *hate*.

Okay, I'm done now.

I promise.

so, I did a face plant into the wire rack on the pantry

This was, actually, not a bad thing. For lo, it hurt, but it didn't set my face off.

And, after 12 years of constant pain, I have this amazing pain tolerance, so I sort of went, 'ow. oh. cool.'

Yeah, I'm a dork. Sue me.

*leans*

Man, I didn't sleep well last night. I kept dreaming about work. :P

I have a ton of work to do, and very little of it is fun today. (I know, I know, bitch bitch bitch . I love my job.)

Also, I think there's something in the tea at my favorite Mexican restaurant. We went yesterday for lunch (I had black bean soup and a side of guacamole, yum) and my kidneys are screaming today. I'm a bruise from knees to underarms. :P

Also

my sugars today?

275 and 230!

:D

(and that's without insulin or oral meds! A drop of over 1000 points in 17 days!)

Hatch Green Chile Season

Hatch chiles are in season, which is good because we just used our last bag of roasted chiles yesterday.

During the season, Lorna and I will roast around ten pounds of the chiles. The first three bags have been on the grill and are waiting to be peeled and seeded and chopped, then bagged and frozen and used throughout the year in enchiladas and stew and beef and and and...

Mmm.

Eats roast cooked in green chile.

Uhn.

looks out the window

looks like rain.

hurting a little, watching the Olympics, working.

lalala.

:)

An open letter to the universe and all the people that love me

Today has been a very normal day.

I went to get groceries with Lorna, I've done dishes, I've worked.

Read a little, answered emails. We cooked. Sang along with the radio, laughed at a couple of jokes, scratched the dogs, hugged the kid.

I'm sitting here in the quiet (it's naptime) and it hit me, right in the center of my chest how incredibly lucky I am and I wanted to say thank you.

Thank you *this* much.

I must have rage

I dreamed last night that I (and Lorna and Manda and Velma) were being tortured by this man and woman and, by the end, I was really irritated and they were hurting my kid, so I beat them both to death with a cast iron skillet.

Then my daddy showed up, and there was some drama about me going to jail...

Lord.

good news and bad news.

Bad news? I'm on pill #4.

Good news? I've verified 100% that wheat triggers my face, even a hint.

Bad news? There was barley malt in my cereal. Wheat in the soba noodles at lunch and barley malt in the protein bar at 6. So, I need to find different cereal, a protein bar I like and be much, much, much more careful.

Good news? It's definitely the wheat.

update

Well, I took 1/2 a pill, but everyone insists that it isn't a loss, that I can't expect a miracle and the improvement is huge.

I'm having periods of pain, but Lorna and I think we've discovered why, so I'm cutting out yogurt because that's the only thing that's the same from each of my three episodes.

We'll see.

It's been 11 days on the new food plan. My sugars are running at 290 today, another 10 point drop (July 30, I was at 1100). I have had one low. It seems to be working. And this is without any insulin or oral medication.

The pain is really sharp when I have it, but I think that's more because I have long periods that are pain-free. So far, I'm able to cope and I'm keeping positive.

Even if this is it - if I have a few episodes a week, that's better. That's enough. That's a blessing and I'll take it.

*breathes*

Okay, I promise to talk about something beside this health thing, soon.

I promise.

having some pain

for... 50 minutes now. Heading from bad to severe and I can't decide whether to take a pill. I haven't for 8 days and I don't want to, but...

*cries*

I'm trying really hard not to get discouraged. I said, when I started, any improvement and there has been and if I get one bad day every week that's better, but...

Damn it. I want the magic bullet.

*pouts mightly*

I also want my mom.

I'm looking forward to the Olympics tonight

I have a good view of the TV. I'm ready.

*grins*

All I need is V here to sit with.

I haven't had a week without a single pain pill in ten years. I'm feeling good. I have a little breakthrough pain every now and again and a lot of what feels like tension in that area of my jaw, but all-in-all it's not bad.

We made cottage cheese pancakes earlier; they weren't bad. They needed more milk and less time in the blender, I think. Just finished eating stir fry. I'm thinking I might make pintos tomorrow, just to have on hand. I will say eating every two hours makes for interesting menu choices. Also, I've gone out to eat *very* rarely because of the wheat issue.

Also, wheat-free baking mix isn't terrible.

patience is a virtue, right?

damned server.

damned webhost.

*stresses*

Storm came.

I didn't hurt.

;-)

6 days without pain pills.

So, the storm's coming

and I'm not hurting.

*grins*

Yeah, I know. Repetitive. Still.

I'm on day 5 of the new eating plan/remedies.

No pain pills since Friday. Big storm coming and I'm not in hysterical tears. Sugars down to 300. Sort of obsessed with the whole food thing, but that's probably to be expected.

Started the exercise yesterday. The puppies were *tickled*.

I'm still neck-deep in my audio book love. Manda is too. It's sort of fun.

Olympics on Friday!!!

:D

So. News.

Big news.

Gigantic news.

Went to the doctor Thursday and chatted.

Bad things happened - I have to eat every two hours, no artificial sweeteners, no wheat, no refined sugar, no gluten, etc., etc., etc. Lalala. I'm managing that pretty well, actually, and my sugars have dropped from 1000+ to 300. For three days, that doesn't suck.

That's not the news.

Nope.

My news?

Well, I started taking a new therapy on Thursday - which involves, believe it or not, bushmaster snake venom. On Saturday I touched my face without pain for the first time in twelve years. I haven't had a pain pill since Friday. I have had my first eight hour stretch without pain in ten years.

I'm still getting twinges, but there are 2-3 a day lasting 30 seconds. She thinks, by September, that I can be 100%. Even if I can't, eight hours.

I got eight *entire* hours. (What did I do? I reorganized my desk, cleaned emails, played Bomberman on my little pink video game doolie, backed up my hard drive, shopped, let the husband take me out, goofed off, loved on dogs, listened to an audio book and cooked. Normal stuff. :D )

*gives thanks in a serious way*