Pre-Birthday Fun

I had a great dinner at my In-laws house and my sister in-law made me gluten free brownies and cake for an early birthday celebration.  I went to Nashville the next day to spend time with my best friend, we went for a 8 mile bike ride, Had a great dinner at PF Chang's then she took me shopping to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (I had never been there before, lots of gluten free options).  Finally we went to see Rock Of Ages, which was pretty good. I am not a big fan of  Tom Cruise and his crazy antics, but he is a great Actor and I never knew he could sing like that either. I had a great weekend and more birthday fun to look forward to.

A strange thing happened though.  On the way back from Nashville, stopped at a red light looked over at the van next to me and they had a strange bobble head on the dash. The bobble head was a naked baby with red x's where the eyes should be and black electrical tape over the mouth.  Um, I have never wanted a light to turn green so bad in my life.  What was even creepier was the music they were listening to, I would expect like metal or alternative, but it was Patsy Cline's "Crazy".  Um there's no place like home, there's no place like home!  I was so happy when the light turned green.  I understand people want to express theirselves with art, fashion, music, whatever, but that was a little too creepy for me.

It's official, test confirmed

I haven't gotten around to posting this yet,  but it is official, I do have celiac disease. I had to meet with a Gastroenterologist to discuss tests I have to go through to see how bad the damage from the celiac disease to my small intestine is.  The Dr pretty much put me down by saying, "Wow, people with celiac disease are usually skinny but you were 80 pounds heavier, wow"  Gee um thanks, I guess I don't follow the typical stereotype of a celiac.  That being said, I already kind of knew I had it because of all my other symptoms and my general Dr was pretty sure that I did.  So, I have been on a gluten free diet now for 2 and a half weeks, I have tried new recipes and checked out books from the library on it and done my research about what items have gluten in them.  It hasn't been too bad. I am just glad I can still have chocolate and peanut butter.  The problem with this gluten free stuff is there isn't anything quick and easy, you have to make everything from scratch or pay the high prices at the grocery store for the gluten free pizza and burritos.  I will definitely be learning  a lot in the next few months, I feel like I have to learn how to cook all over again, cause everything I knew before is completely different when cooking gluten free.

The Kid is happy

For the most part, during the work week Jack and Jason are eating whatever Daddy makes, cause I pretty much will eat a salad and a huge bowl of fruit for dinner.  They have already eaten dinner by the time I come home since Jason has to go to bed pretty much as soon as I walk in the door.  On the weekends I have been experimenting with recipes I can have that they will eat too.  I have gluten free vegetable soup in the crock pot for dinner.  I didn't realize that chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup and pretty much all other soups have wheat in them, so I got gluten free vegetable broth and added everything else.  This morning for breakfast I made gluten free pancakes, I added cinnamon and a few organic chocolate chips to Jacks (he loved them), then I made scrambled eggs with gluten free cheese for my picky fellas.  I had a mushroom, spinach and mozzarella omelette.  Jack and Jason said they like Mommy experimenting on the weekends with recipes cause they get to be the taste testers.
Now on to a different topic, Jack's baseball coach finally let him do something else besides being the catcher.  He was the catcher for 6 games and getting pretty bored with it.  The look on his face when he was made 3rd baseman was priceless.  I noticed on all the other teams that they have played they use a different catcher for each inning, but I couldn't figure out why Jack was ALWAYS the catcher.  Last night he came home talking about how excited he was to play in the outfield.
Now on another topic my husband is obsessed with Diablo 3.  I am not bitter though, I think it is great.  When I first met him he was obsessed with some other game and then we had Jack and he was home during the day. Instead of putting Jack in daycare, he took care of his son all day long until he was 3 and preschool started then he got a 4 hour break.  I am a woman, who is a neat freak and a multi-tasker,  men seam to be just one-task oriented (like make sandwich then answer phone).  He would go play games with his friends every Friday night, but that is the only guy time he got.  So, now Jack is old enough to watch him play or help him, or he will play in his room so Daddy can play his game.  I am glad he found his game time again.  I wished my friends lived closer so I could have a girls night once a week.  I have been trying to spend more time with my sister-in-law, we have been watching an old tv show and having lots of girl talk and it has been nice.

I love my game/tv obsessed family (trust me I have been trying to get them outside more).     I think Daddy is counting down the days until kindergarten starts. I give him credit, cause most men could not have taken care of a child 4 days a week for almost 6 years.

Lambrusco

So my favorite wine used to be Moscato, and Jason read online that the only reason to drink wine other than the obvious is the antioxidants.  I don't like red wine I never have, I like sweet wines not dry ones.  Then Jason read somewhere that white wine is basically just sugar that's why it is sweeter and he persisted until I gave in and agreed to try red wine again. Being as relentless as my husband can be, he came home with several different options of a new favorite wine for me, just as long as it was red, then he would move on to another project.  So it was definitely a challenge to find a sweet red wine filled with antioxidants, but I found it.  It is Lambrusco, and it is my new favorite, so delicious.  If anybody out there watches Cougar Town, you know the main character has a gigantic wine glass and it has a name and every time it breaks, she gets a new one and names it.  I think she has gone through Big Joe, Big Carl and now Big Earl.
Well this is the glass Jason got me for Mother's Day along with some Lambrusco.  I think you have made your point honey, I will never drink white wine again (in front of you).
Everyone meet me my new Cougar Town inspired wine glass Big Bob, I just have a red plastic party cup there so you can see how big it is.

Experimentation

I have been experimenting with new recipes since I can't eat gluten now.  Last night, I made gluten free spaghetti with gluten free turkey sausage, gluten free bread from a bread mix, it was delicious, then for dessert I made gluten free brownies.  Everybody ate the food and liked it, even my picky boy Jack.
I found this recipe on pinterest for fruit salsa and baked cinnamon chips, and I made it today for lunch along with banana smoothies and carrots with hummus.  Jack ate it all well except for the fruit salsa and hummus, but hey I'll take what I can get.  It was really good. I used corn tortillas and stevia instead of sugar for my chips. I used flour tortillas for the fellas, the flour tortillas were larger and crispier, but I have to get used to no gluten.

Headed for a big change and I don't like change

So, my Dad was just recently  diagnosed with celiac disease, which is a fancy word for being allergic to gluten.  Gluten is in everything.  It's in the obvious stuff of course likes breads, muffins, bagels, cakes, cookies, but it is also in flavor packets, salad dressings, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, hard candy, flavored and malt vinegars.  It is a hereditary, autoimmune disease, it is the only autoimmune disease controlled by your diet.  The only way to fix it is a complete and total gluten free diet.  I was allergic to gluten as a baby. I am patiently waiting on the results, but the Dr is 90% sure that I have because of the other symptoms I have.  Usually people that are allergic to gluten get sick to their stomach every time they eat gluten, but other symptoms are: losing hair, arthritis, osteoporosis, skin issues, digestive issues, iron deficient anemia.  I have all that but the osteoporosis, which I am going to get my bone density checked eventually after all my other tests.
What does celiac disease do to you?  Celiac disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy.  So if you don't go on a gluten free diet, you become malnurished and sickly like an anorexic person even though you are eating food. 

Because the Dr was so sure that I have it, I organized my pantry yesterday, the fridge and the freezer, I have my own shelves in all.  After I get the results of the antibody test back, it will be official, the I have to have a colonoscopy to see exactly how bad the damage to my small intestine is, then after that I will have the gene test done and they want my Dad to have the gene test done, to know which specific gene to check for in Jack.

So, while this is completely turning my world upside down, it couldn't have come at a better time.  I have lost 80 pounds and gained a lot of muscle definition over the past 2 years, I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, lean meat.  So, at least this didn't happen 2 years ago, I would have just cried, but now I am in a healthier athletic state and can handle another diet change.  I have done my research too, there are several restaurants that offer gluten free menus, and hey I can still eat Mexican food, woo hoo, it just has to be corn tortillas.  Hey who knows, maybe being gluten free will make my thin hair grow back too.  I think the worst is gonna be at work, I won't be able to eat any of the desserts or bagels, cookies that other offices send us. Grrrr.

Mother's Day Weekend

I had an amazing Mother's Day weekend.  It started with Jack's baseball game and a visit from my Dad and step Mom. Then we drove to Mom's for Mother's Day lunch/dinner at her house, the men did all the cooking, cleaning and serving and the women got to kick back, relax and open presents. My Mom got me these great stainless still mixing bowls and dish towels.
My son brought home this flower from his last day of preschool for me and I planted it in this planter that I dressed up with a butterfly rub-on from my craft stash on Sunday

Then my son and husband made this card from my craft stash, so cute.

Then my husband surprised me with good smelling stuff and a giant wine glass to rival the one from Cougar Town.
Then I took my Mother-In-Law out for lunch and we went to see Cats then to Starbucks, then when I came home, the house was clean.  Yep I had an amazing Mother's Day weekend.
here we are before Cats