A better week

Last week was another tough week. We were booked every night, but thankfully the snow cancelled Girl Scouts. Trinks completed her science project and did an awesome job with it. The problem is, all the candy parts of the plant cell melted into the cytoplasm (lime jello) by the end of the day so I have no pictures. Trinks is doing so well at the new school that I am writing the check for next year for both kids. I have seen such an improvement in her attitude about school and her happiness is off the charts. She stumbled briefly with math, but has caught right up. She's also gotten nothing less than 110% in spelling - he last teacher told me she couldn't spell. Now I think she was bored and not trying.

Last week I forgot to figure out my breakfast. That was kind of important. I split the days between rice chex and Ezekiel bread. I like them both, but I try not to have a lot of processed food. This week I have leftover jambalaya and veggie soup. Today was the kind of day that I would have killed for two more crockpots. I cooked my garbanzos first as the chicken bones roasted. Then I swapped the beans for the carcas and made some amazing chicken stock. The jambablaya was cooking in the "good" crock, so I had to make my soup on the stove - GASP! I put together the quiche (broccoli and bacon) for tomorrow night. The crust does have gluten in it. This week I am doing my research and finding recipes for pie crust and pizza crust. I will play over the weekend. The other highlights of the week are: Tuesday - sandwich night, Wednesday - bacon wrapped meatloaf, Thursday - spaghetti (for me it will be quinoa pasta as soon as I track it down), and Friday - glutenfree pretzel chicken. Gluten free pretzels are so good, hubs eats them if I don't hide them. They are, however, a million bucks a bag. I love the sesame seed rounds, but they are almost impossible to find.

Yes, it's a little boring to list our dinners, but I want to track as much of the menu as possible so I can review if I slip. For snacks I have been enjoying raw almonds, raw Brazil nuts, and raw pumpkin seeds. S is allergic to the Brazil nuts, but they are so amazing. I want to check out raw macadamia nuts next.

Well - this week is definitely better planned and prepared than last week. I didn't spend the entire day in the kitchen, although it felt like it. I cleared several flower beds and I look forward to expanding a section for our veggies this year. Composting has been great, so I think we can liven up the nasty clay dirt we have. Next up is moving some shrubs so we can see the bird feeder better from the dining room table. It's our dinner time entertainment.

Oy.

It's been a hell of a month. A coworker, who I had known for 11 years died. I am sick about it. She battled breast cancer for 10 years and then it spread to her brain. She left behind two beautiful daughters; one in high school and the other in college. I am so sick of breast cancer taking away my friends. There seems to be no end in sight.

In terms of the gluten free diet. Well, ummm, hmmmm.... I haven't been as vigilant as I started out. And I feel like crap. My hands are swollen. My face has broken out and I have rosacea. A couple of weeks ago my skin was clear and really nice. I had a lot of gluten, sugar and dairy this weekend and it feels like I swallowed razor blades. I got the message loud and clear. Time to go nuts with unprocessed foods. This week is a tough schedule, but I think I can do it.

Tonight Trinks came into the room and showed me her belly. She has erythema multiforme. LOVELY. I've had it at least 4 times and only learned the last time what works. I gave her coconut oil to rub on the hives and some benadryl. I know vitamin C worked for me, as well as a few other supplements. We'll try more things tomorrow. I made her put on a tank top, put her hair up and drop her comforter. Hopefully keeping cool will help contain the rash. Tomorrow morning we'll evaluate and see where we need to go with it. The dr. can't do anything for it - steroids don't work and there's really nothing else to do for it. I just need to monitor the symptoms to make sure it doesn't turn into Stevens Johnson syndrome. It's a very rare possibility, but I am prepped with the symptoms. I am itching as well, so I really think this is food related. Trinks and I will discuss possible delayed food reactions. Wiki points to benzoates - yes - go check your cabinet. See how many boxes have a benzoate as a preservative. It can also be caused by fungus, and since I am on the FUPO wagon (Fungus Until Proven Otherwise), I tend to believe this one. We'll see what tomorrow brings.