what i did today

OK it’s been about 10 days since we started gluten/milk free (technically 12).  I told my mom two and a half weeks this morning.  Clearly I am delusional and want this over fast.  Speaking of, we go back at the end of this month for a check-up to see how it’s going.  This week I started to get super frustrated with all these changes.

On top of simply going gluten/dairy free I was also introduced to the book Wheat Belly.  Has anyone read/heard of this book?  I haven’t read the book but just a few articles and perused their Facebook page.  And they say no grains at all, even the non-gluten ones and of course, sugar is a no-no too.  Oh and I read another article that said I shouldn’t be eating spinach because it’s bad for people like me who have thyroid issues.  After a week, I thought I was starting to make progress on finding new recipes and spent all this money on new flours only to be finding out I probably shouldn’t be having those either.  So frustrating!

But a few friends talked me down and made me realize I just need to concentrate on one change at a time.  Gluten free first.  Then if we decide, we can eliminate more grains later.

But even still, going gluten and milk free is not all rainbows and puppies. 

My biggest frustration is dinner and that Lexi is super picky.  And I hate.  Hate, hate, hate having to make two meals.  I was always very insistent that Lexi ate whatever we all ate.  Usually it was something I knew she would like but she was just being picky.  But now, I’m fixing things like gluten free, dairy free spinach pizza and ya’ll, I just can’t make her do it.  So I’ve been fixing two meals on many nights.  And really I just mean I fix Lexi a quesadilla while the rest of us eat soup or pizza or stuffed peppers.  I guess I could keep it really simple and just have baked chicken and two veggies every night but everyone knows that gets tiresome. Plus, the other thing is there are a lot of sauces you can’t use because of the gluten and dairy.  Who wants bland baked chicken every night?? I could do BBQ sauce but Lexi hates BBQ sauce.  Anything creamed is out because of the milk.  Anything breaded is out because of the gluten.  We all love steak but it’s expensive and I’m trying to stay away from red meat because that is known to lead to cancer.  It’s just frustrating to be honest.

Lunches at school are really hard too.  That first day they were home and serving fresh fruit is really easy.  But for whatever reason, they never eat it if I sent it to school.  We bought several lunchbox friendly gluten free items like fruit bars but they aren’t too into them.  They end up eating their PB&J and cookie and then come home starving. 

Afternoon snack and desserts have been the easiest though. I’ve found great banana and zucchini breads and old standbys like deviled eggs, tuna salad and popcorn do the trick.  Dessert is a cinch.  Did you know gluten free desserts are pretty easy to come by?  In fact, I have found A LOT of gluten free recipes use a lot of sugar.  It’s kind of ridiculous actually.  We easily found a dairy free ice cream and even gluten and dairy free donuts that are to die for.  Yum.  Dessert is definitely not an issue.

I think in general too my two biggest frustrations are that I HAVE to meal plan and we can’t eat out like we used to.  I have said on multiple occasions how bad I am at meal planning and just having to think about dinner all the time is hard and that has absolutely nothing to do with the diet changes.  I’m just being forced into meal planning and I don’t like it.  Whine, whine whine.  Plus, I miss Taco Bell, darn it.

BUT.

Emma has only had two stomach aches since we started.  Both were mild and after eating boiled eggs.  She’s had scrambled eggs and eggs cooked in things with no problem.  She’s also had softer stool even though it hasn’t been as regular as it should be.  (Sorry for TMI) Scott has had no acid reflux and his gas has certainly decreased.  I asked him if he was just being polite around me and he nearly laughed.  I definitely can tell a difference.  His whole attitude has been generally better too thanks I suppose to the serotonin spray.

So all that whining to say so far it’s really been worth it.

But also?  All that to say it really is hard at times. I didn’t want to leave with the last post sounding like it was simple because it’s not. Or maybe it is and I’m just trying to make it difficult.  In any case, cooking is my main priority.  I’ve been spending lunches cooking breads, desserts and even dinner and the evenings finding recipes.  Let’s not even get into the cost of this.  But like I said, it’s worth it.  We’re only 10 days in and already seeing changes.  And who knows what changes there are we can’t see.  I just have to believe it’s worth it.

And on that note, if anyone out there has some ideas for dinner that might work for Lexi, please lay it on me.

Friday night the girls stayed at Scott’s parents’ so Scott and I spent the evening watching Big Bang Theory. It’s so silly but Scott and I are really enjoying laughing so much together.  To be honest, we haven’t done that a whole lot lately.  We’re so busy working and getting kids fed and driving them to and fro and when we’re not busy, he’s playing his video game or I’m baking or spending time at my computer or in a book and we just don’t have an occasion to laugh a lot. That sounds so sad but it’s so easy to get caught up and forget to have fun on purpose.  We are now randomly saying “Bazinga!” to one another.  It’s pretty great.

So Saturday morning we got up and listen to this fun…went mattress shopping!  In all of our years of marriage we have never, not ever bought ourselves a new mattress.  Well, Scott’s side had gotten so bad that I really felt like I was being pushed into a ditch when I rolled over to his side.  He was complaining about back aches every single morning.  When a LivingSocial deal came up, it was just the green light we needed.  We’ve also being eyeing furniture for our master bedroom.  The deal also came with a 25% coupon on any same-day furniture sales so we snatched up a lime green couch and two chairs.  And Scott would like to state for the record he picked out the lime green couch.  Seriously.  A man after my own heart.  Or, has my heart.  Or whatever.  Everyone knows I love green.

Aren’t those chairs so fun?  I love that they’re in my sight while we watch Sheldon.

I can barely take all the fun and laughter.

I guess you can’t really tell but that’s a pretty new Tempurpedic-ish mattress.

To be honest, it’s as hard as a rock and I don’t like it much.  Scott loves it a lot and it’s not actually causing me pain so I guess I’m going to live with it. I surely can’t afford one of those sleep number beds with separate sides.  Well, technically I could probably afford it if I really wanted it but I couldn’t bring myself to pay that much.  I already about had a heart attack at the cost of this one.  Did you know brand new king mattresses aren’t cheap?!

So we probably still want a new bedspread and headboard.  That black leather I think is just too severe and the bedspread reads more purple than the brown that it is. Once we get that, we can figure out the wall above the bed and of course decorate the wall with the couch.  It’s slow but it’s all coming together.

The rest of the weekend was pretty easy-going.  The kids had their cousin over for Saturday afternoon, I fixed a nice steak dinner Saturday night, we watched Dangerous Animals of Australia or something Saturday night.  Watching documentaries on Netflix is now Scott and the girls “thing”.

Sunday was church and dinner.  We went to Jason’s Deli.  We’ve only eaten out one other time since going gluten-free (oh my word at all the cooking! breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, it never ends!).  I had to take butter and sour cream for Emma to have on her potato and also bring her cookies since she couldn’t have the ice cream.  I was officially one of “those moms” pulling food out of Tupperware from her purse.  Whatever.

Sunday afternoon and evening we did a whole lot of nothing.  The kids spent the entire afternoon playing with a neighbor and Scott had a meeting at the church.  I baked (surprise) and the kids finished up the evening playing a few computer games and watching TV while I checked out the Oscars red carpet. 

I found this note between Emma and Lexi on my desk just as Scott stopped in today for a break from work.  Speaking of laughing together, this one had us rolling.

Translation:
Emma:

Dear Lexi,

Please play Bearville on your account with me please!?

Love, Emma

Lexi:

Big Fat nooooooooo 

Love, Lexi

Bwahahahaha.  Can’t you feel the sisterly love?

Thoughts on what color bedspread or headboard I should get? Who wore your favorite dress on the red carpet last night? Or just say hello below!  Hope you had a great weekend!

Source: someecards.com via Amy on Pinterest

Feels like a list day today.

• Our adoption home study got turned in this week. Yay! Now we wait for a review and approvals.
• In full disclosure I feel like I should tell you the alarm clock thing lost it’s magic. The girls have spent the last two mornings sleeping until I get them up. Now, they are getting up and getting dressed but no more helping with lunch and breakfast without us asking. Phooey.
• And in full, full disclosure, I haven’t been doing the early morning thing that I was back at the end of the year. A big reason I was getting up early was to get done with my eBook and also because I was working at the office a lot more. Now that I’m home and can do things more on my lunch break and don’t have any extra projects going on, I’ve reverted back to late to bed, late to rise. Also some Big Bang Theory DVDs might have something to do with that. I really do miss it though. I wish I could at least get myself up and get fully ready so I could run a few errands after I drop the girls off.
• I have been eating healthy since this post. Not quite as strict as the Daniel Fast but it reminds me quite a bit of it. I feel so much better, stay full most of the day and have lost a few pounds to boot. It’s odd, when I eat and feel full I have a temptation to feel guilty but I remind myself I’m eating healthy vegetables and fruit and it makes it even easier to make a good choice the next time. HOWEVER. Girl Scout Cookies are getting delivered to me today so we’ll see if I don’t have to do another update on this update soon.
• In that vein, I’ve been swirling with plans to make a vegetable garden this year.  I can’t keep the small flower in my kitchen alive (or any other plant that has ever come into my house) but for some reason I think it’s a good idea to have an entire garden of plants that we’re required to eat.   We’ll see how that goes.
• We have big plans this weekend. We have to travel out of town for a doctor visit (nothing to worry over) and we’re taking the girls to the American Girl store while we’re nearby. It’s going to be a whirlwind visit but hopefully some good memories.

And finally, I’ve gotten a few messages lately from readers that have really been touching.  But all I really want to do is just fall at their feet and thank them profusely for even reading in the first place. For whatever reason, God keeps letting me write for you and I’m so thankful because I love coming here and sharing.  So I need to say THANK YOU for reading.

I would tell you about my weekend in succession but I’m afraid it would be dreadfully boring to read. Scott worked nights all weekend so that means we basically stayed in all weekend other than a few trips to the grocery store, a quick drive-by of the library to return books (before the due date, even), church and Sunday dinner. I didn’t even make my weekly trip out to CVS. At home, the highlight was reorganizing the tupperware. I only needed to do one load of laundry. I never painted the hallway that desperately needs it. We just didn’t do much at all.

And yet.

I layed around the girls’ room while Emma gave me fake tests. I scored a 100 on my spelling test. I wrote an entire essay on an article she made me read. Seriously. Three paragraphs. I turned it in and she didn’t even read it. Hmph! We ate all our meals together. I made all their snacks. We watched part of the Super Bowl together until they got bored. They watched the same movie at least twice. They danced with the music on loud. They played with their cousin. I introduced them to Little House on the Prairie. I referreed arguments. I pushed them on the swings.

It was nothing and everything.

A perfect weekend.

Highlights from the weekend:

• Both girls spent the night with Scott’s parents’ Friday night and we got to sleep in on Saturday.  Scott’s back has been hurting him lately so he didn’t do his normal mountain biking first thing Saturday.  I hate his back has been hurting but I loved sleeping in.
• I got to do a bit of shopping on my own Saturday morning.   I got a belt at Kohl’s for $5.  I wish you could have seen my old belt. I bought that old belt from NY & Company in the mid-90s.  Ridiculous!  I also stopped at Hobby Lobby where I got completely overwhelmed.  So many ideas and so little money.  I walked away with absolutely nothing.  That’s the kind of place I need a friend to filter through all the decisions with me.

• Saturday afternoon we went to the Melting Pot with our friends Jake and Jill.  The girls had a real! live! babysitter!  We usually have family watch them but they were psyched to have a “real” babysitter at the house.  The Melting Pot didn’t disappoint.  If nothing else, you should go and have the dessert and be sure to get The Original – a mix of chocolate and peanut butter.  Yum!

Right of picture: Lexi, Emma, Skyler and Scott in a tug of war at Discovery Place

• After church yesterday we went to the Mummies of the World exhibit in Charlotte.  I’m not certain I have formed a solid opinion of the mummies.  In some ways, it was like a bad wreck you couldn’t look away from.  At times, I wondered why in the world I just paid to walk around and look at dead people.  Other times, it was very cool to see the hieroglyphics on some of the mummies or see how much different people were years ago.  Very fascinating.  But yes, if you think about it too much it’s very weird.  The kids loved it though and were fascinated by how the people died and how old they were.  But at the end of the day, they still preferred all the amazing activities that Discovery Place has to offer.  At this age, they can’t seem to soak in enough facts about science.

The rest of the weekend was filled in with laundry and TV (Downton Abbey! Big Bang Theory!  Blue Bloods!) and shopping.  A great weekend for sure.

I’m curious, do the mummies gross you out or fascinate you?