Random thoughts

Once again I've been lax in my posting. I find that when I'm busy, blogging is one of the first things to go.

So what have I been busy doing?

**  Looking at lots of houses. We pretty much looked at every house in our target area (and some outside it) that came close to fitting our wants and needs that was in our budget (and a couple that were above our budget). We did finally find a house that we like and we're set to close 10 days before our rental contract ends- just enough time to move everything and clean. I was going to paint the bedrooms before we move, but I decided I want to see our furniture in the rooms before deciding on paint, beadboard, board and batten, and so on. Waiting to paint will also make the timeline on moving everything a lot easier.

** Signing lots of papers. We've been signing papers as we went through the process, which meant more visits to the realtor and mortgage offices, but fewer papers to sign at one time, so fewer hand cramps :)

** Keeping the house clean. There's a contract on it now, but I have to keep it clean for all the inspections, the appraisal, etc. It's been good to see the buying/selling process from both sides, but I will be very happy when we're all moved and done with everything.

** Resisting the urge to start packing already. Since we're only moving 15 minutes away I don't see the point in boxing everything up just to turn around and unpack it again. We'll be taking stuff out of the closets and cupboards, putting them in the car, driving them to the new house, and putting them directly away. Since we won't be using boxes, there's nothing to pack ahead of time. Every other time we've moved, I've had everything packed and ready to go in plenty of time.

** Moving in and out of fuzzy headedness. We tried adding nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers), with limited success. LMS had massive reactions (ie, disgusting diarrhea) to the tomatoes and peppers, but didn't react as badly to the potatoes. I didn't notice a reaction to the tomatoes and peppers, but I did notice an increase in mental fuzziness when I ate the potatoes. So we'll be avoiding tomatoes and peppers and limiting potatoes. This one is a pain in the rear- tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers are in a lot of things. For some reason, frozen stir fry veggie mixes all have peppers in them. There goes my easy, go-to dinner idea.

I also checked my vitamins again and found that several of them are made with corn or soybean oil, which is a problem. I can't take most vitamin c supplements because they have rose hips, which make my throat swell, and the only one I've found that didn't have rose hips was a capsule that has soybean oil in it. How important is it that I supplement my vitamin c intake? My Co-Q 10 also has a soybean oil base. I'm not willing to stop taking the Co-Q 10, so I need to find another brand, though I don't know if I can.

There was some mold in the crawlspace under our house, and bleach was sprayed all over the crawlspace to kill it. We discovered this last night when we got home from errands and the whole house smelled of bleach. Can we say instant headache and fuzziness? We should have packed up and spent the night in a hotel, but I didn't think of it (due to the headache) till after LMS was asleep. So we slept with windows open and lots of blankets on. Too bad they didn't do this last week when the temps were in the 70s instead of this week when the temps are in the 30s.

Food issues and why my posting is so erratic these days

On LMS's last day of soccer we skipped the "banquet" (pizza and cookies), since we couldn't eat any of it. I should have had something prepared, but I've been off my game lately. There's still something that's making me fuzzy headed and messing with my energy levels and attention span.

The supposedly "safe" candy I bought to trade out the unsafe stuff LMS got turned out not to be safe. My stomach's been killing me and LMS has yucky poopy again.  Which means that no store-bought candy is safe.  Grrrrrr. What are we going to do for all the candy-centered holidays? It's easier to downplay it now while she's young and at home so much, but what about Christmas with family, or other times where other kids are eating stuff she can't? 

I've been hoping it wasn't going to be an issue for her, but the week of Halloween has shown that I do have to be careful and not get sucked into the mindset of "it's just a little bit" or "one piece won't hurt". It does have an effect on her, and it's one that neither of us enjoys, especially since it takes so long to clear up.

Since we'll be spending Christmas with her grandparents (and all her cousins on daddy's side) I'm going to have to think of things to put in our stockings so she doesn't feel left out. It'll probably be small toys, nuts, oranges, and some vegan candies. I've seen some recipes for vegan candies, so I'm going to have to try some of them to see if they'll work (translation: edible and yummy).

For the most part, I don't mind not eating what everyone else does, but I'm a grown up and I can be rational about it. LMS is just a little kid. She usually does very well, but there are times where I've had to tell her she can't eat something and she gets upset. I don't blame her- I like m&ms too. That was her favorite part of going grocery shopping: getting a package of peanut or peanut butter m&ms and sharing them with mommy. Ok, the sharing part wasn't her favorite, the m&ms were  :)   I do miss peanut butter m&ms....

Last week we cut out soy, not that we actually ate much soy, mostly just soy sauce (gluten free, of course). It's rather discouraging though: there's only a few things left that we could cut out. Of the major allergens, we're only still eating peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. So I guess we've only cut out half the list, it just feels like more.  We've cut out gluten, corn, oats, dairy, eggs, and soy. Every time we eliminate a food, I feel better for awhile, then start feeling crummy again. Eliminate another food, and start the cycle again. I'm really hoping this is the last time we have to go through it.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get stuff done while feeling crummy, and a lot of things are being left undone. Hopefully things will improve soon.

Hidden gluten got me again

The old nauseous burning pain in the stomach resurfaced this week. At first I attributed it to stress, but then I realized that this is the same nauseous burning pain in the stomach that I had before I went gluten free.

So, either I have another food allergy, which is possible- eggs have given me problems off and on for years, or I've somehow been adding gluten. I haven't been having the swollen throat reaction, so this whole thing crept up on me. After reviewing what I've been eating the last few days, I narrowed it down to eggs, polska kielbasa, or one of my vitamins. If it's eggs, I'll have to completely eliminate them, but that will be the last option I try. The label of the polska kielbasa didn't have anything that should have given me this many problems, but I'll probably avoid it in the future just to be safe.

The most likely culprit at this point is one of my vitamins. I checked all the labels, and my vitamin d supplement could be the one- I recently started using a different brand than I had been buying, and the label says it's produced in a facility that also processes wheat (among other allergens). All my other vitamins specifically say gluten free.

I removed all the vitamin d capsules from my pill box, didn't take it last night, and so far my stomach is feeling better. The nausea burning pain feelings are still there, but not as bad. My appetite also feels a lot more normal. The last few days I've had horrible cravings to eat, eat, eat. After a year of being gluten free I'd forgotten just how I react to it. I need to write down these symptoms so if I start feeling them again I'll realize quicker that something is off.

It's amazing that even tiny amounts of gluten can make me feel this crummy. This also highlights the dangers of cross-contamination, and the fact that it is a real issue.

Ok, so I'm a bit upset right now

I bought some Reese's bells for a quick and easy gift (put them in a whisk with a tag that says "We whisk you a merry Christmas!'), and I sampled a couple while I was putting it together. A little bit later, my throat started to swell up a bit- my body's cue that I ate some gluten. So I started going over what I ate for lunch- all ok, no cross-contamination. The only other thing I'd eaten was two of the Reese's bells. Last time I checked, Reese's peanut butter cups were gluten free. But I checked the package anyway, and lo and behold, there's wheat flour in them. Seriously??!! Come on, it's not in the regular cups, so why does it need to be in the bells?

I'd also bought a bag to put in stockings, so I guess I'll be taking it to the in-laws house to fill stockings there (since my parents' house is now a gluten free house).

It's frustrating, since I hate the reaction I get- it's uncomfortable, and I don't want the gluten in my body. I know I need to be better about reading labels- everyone says you always have to read the labels, since you never know when they'll change the ingredients of something- but it's such a pain and I always forget. Hopefully I'll be able to remember to read labels from now on.