Possible Glutening? I'll Know in an Hour....

Coincidentally, this is the last day of Celiac Awareness Month!  And I may have been glutened...

Tonight, the hubs and I decided to get a small bit of sushi from a local place.  I've been there many times before, but they do their carry out orders from a location across the street.  When I called to place the order, I asked about whether the spicy sauce they use has any soy sauce (which isn't gluten free).  She said no, but there is soy sauce in the rice.  In my head, I was screaming "What?! Are you sure?!"  But I was at a loss...I'd never heard this before...from this place, or at any sushi place I'd gone to.  So I just said "Uhhhhhhh, I'll have to call you back" and hung up on her.

At my husband's suggestion, I got on the phone with the main store, and told them of the interaction I just had with their "to go" store.  The lovely lady informed me that there was indeed, no soy sauce in the rice.  Wonderful...I'll call back and place an order.

But...this had me second guessing EVERYTHING.  What if the original person was correct, and they had mixed the rice differently that day?  Did they get the rice from the main store, or did they make their own in the "to go" store?  The "to go" menu didn't have the same (gf) or (gfo) labels (gluten free or gluten free option)...maybe they make it differently all the time?  Maybe the main restaurant server was new and didn't know?  Who gave me the right information?!  AHHHHHH!

This is a good example of the difficulty that happens when attempting to eat out with a food allergy or sensitivity of any kind, not just Celiac disease.  It's a risk every time...because that server just has to not remember something correctly, or not remember to go the kitchen and read a label for you...and you're sick.   In most cases, I would ask more questions, be specific, or just pass on anything questionable.  In this case, I decided that calling back or getting upset wasn't worth it.  I decided to trust that one of my favorite restaurants, who has never glutened me before, would not steer me wrong this time.

I finished my sushi about 20 minutes ago, and no tummy rumbles yet...I may have escaped without consequence...

Sleeping With The Windows Open

I'm always reluctant to put in the window units at our house.  Our house isn't large, but it still takes 3 units to cool the house effectively.  One smaller unit in each of the bedrooms, and one large unit in the main living space.  The main reason I don't like putting them in, is the battle with white noise.  This isn't a quiet white noise, like a small fan going.  This is a loud and invasive white noise, that causes you to breathe a sigh of relief when they are off for a while.  If it wasn't so damn hot and uncomfortable to sleep at night, the choice would be easy.  We finally put the A/C in our bedroom the other night, and I did a little happy dance getting ready for bed in a nice cool room.

The A/C unit also helps with filtering pollen, which is a godsend for someone with allergies (me).  Breathe Right strips help a little, and so do eye drops, but nothing beats a good air filter.  Leaving bedroom windows open during pollen season isn't the best option....

Another complication:  because of my paranoia of living in a less than reputable neighborhood, I don't like to leave the windows open wider than the little security tabs.  I'm sure they aren't much help in preventing a break in, if someone really wanted to get in...but it adds to my piece of mind when I'm sleeping.  The downside is severely reduced air flow in the 2 inches of open space that is left.

Lately, we've had some birds singing at night...sometimes till 3 or 4 am, and LOUDLY.  Last night I noticed that the bird was in our front bushes, right outside the window.  I sat and listened for a while, and realized it had to be a mockingbird.  There were calls that sounded like frogs and car alarms, thrown in with the largest variety of calls I've ever heard!  Here's a sample of what I found on YouTube:

I should record my own video to put on YouTube because our guy is certainly interesting.  At least I can hear him when I choose to, and not have to deal with him keeping me awake.  One plus to the white noise that is loud enough to drown out a car alarm.  

I've done my gardening for the day, and decided to hunker down in the cool bedroom since it's close to 90 degrees out today, and the other window units have yet to be taken out of the attic.  Later I will be venturing out to a talk at Ellwood Thompson's Forgiveness Farming with Joel Salatin.  It's going to be awesome and informative.  For those of you haven't seen it, watch the movie Food Inc.   It featured Mr. Salatin and his farm, Polyface, which I plan on making a trip to visit in the near future.  

I Hate Earwigs.....

I fully admit, I'm no country girl. I spent my early years in Queens, NY and cried the first time a stick bug landed on me.  The only bug I will touch willingly is a ladybug....I don't know why, but they are just not as creepy.

I had a firm "if you come into my house, I will smush you!" policy for bugs, until I met my husband. Now we have a catch and release policy for most bugs. He taught me a technique using plastic cups and junk mail, which I use for the friendlier bugs.  I still kill things like house centipedes (google them if you have the stomach), and especially earwigs.

Unfortunately for me, gardening usually involves some contact with bugs. I've developed a more understanding perspective over the years. Oddly enough, I've done exceptionally well in outdoor activities like hiking and tent camping.  When I'm outside, I'm in their house (so to speak), so I don't mind as much.  Today I was dead heading my snapdragons, and I felt something pinch my unloved finger. I dropped the bud, and much to my dismay, watched an earwig crawl out of it.  Cue 15 minutes of hand washing and heebee jeebies. (Not really 15 minutes but you get the point!)

So my veggie garden has been doing ok this year, until last night. I think a vole shredded two of my tomatoes....both Amish paste variety, which I was looking forward to.  The two in the middle were the ones that suffered the onslaught. I kept a spare indoors in a peat pot just in case of critter eating, so I'm prepared to replace one.

Here's the zucchini that got shredded.  I planted two close together, because I figured at least one of them would die.  Sure enough....

My husband is exceptionally pleased that the Amish Pie Pumkin is doing well.  He's dying for some pumpkin pie this fall.

 I have been procrastinating on building my 2 additional beds so it looks like I will have to add some wire mesh underneath....hopefully that will suffice in making the beds more "vole resistant"....

Polymer Clay Galore

I have spent much of this weekend working on polymer clay jewelry and trinkets.  This is in preparation of potentially selling them in a local video game store, so all of the items will be gaming related.  I'm excited to have a focus for my crafting, and it's good to get things done now, while I still have the free time available.  Things are picking up at work, and hopefully I will have a client to work with soon, which will be the end of my free time.

So far, I've been able to finish up a few World of Warcraft inspired Hearthstones. The swirls glow in the dark!  

This morning I finished up a tray of Pac-Man ghost earrings, which I've made before.  I have a pair for myself, and they have been in my Etsy shop for a while.  This is a new batch, with new colors I haven't made before.  Here's a shot before they went into the oven to bake.   Can't wait to get them painted! 

The purple & green thing at the top of the pan, is one of my clay tools that I use regularly.  The rubber grip was caked in clay and falling off, so I threw a quick handle on there out of clay to make it a little more comfortable.  

The downside to working with clay in heat and humidity is that it gets overly soft.  And having the oven warming up for baking items doesn't help at all.  Sometimes details you try to put in, won't stay if you try to move the piece.  Thankfully, the few items I've been working with have been simple, but I've still had some difficulty with excessive sticking to my work surface.  Instead of putting in the air conditioners, I'll put my clay chunks in the refrigerator to cool it off and harden it up a little between passes.  Far too hot and lazy to lug the air conditioners out of the attic today.

Right now, I'm taking a break to eat some chips and guacamole!   But then I'll be back to work later!  Hooray for productivity!  

Etsy and Blogs

Since my work load in my counseling has decreased, I've been working at increasing my exposure online to my Etsy shop and blog.  I've been spending a lot of time playing on other social media sites too.  Which is great, but it will never be a substitute from getting out in the world and talking to people.

This weekend, my sister was visiting with her boyfriend.  We spent some time wandering around a part of the city with lots of small shops and restaurants.  We popped into a used video game store to take a peek, and I noticed a large shelving area that appeared to have handmade, gaming related items.  I spoke with the man working there, who happened to be the owner, about whether they sell a lot of the handmade stuff.  He became visibly excited when I shared some photos of items I've made that were game related.  We wound up exchanging information, and I agreed to work on some clay items this week to bring to him.  

I've been thinking of trying out craft shows, and been considering selling to local stores.  I've walked by that game store many times but have never gone inside.  It just goes to show you, nothing will get the same success as selling yourself in person.  And you can't know the answer to the question, unless you ask.  If I saw other  people's handmade work, and didn't ask if there was room for mine...well, that would have just been silly.

I already have some ideas about what to work on, and I'll be going to the craft store today to pick up some supplies!  It's exciting to have a more focused project and a goal, as opposed to making random, whatever I feel like, kind of items.  Stay tuned for photos.

In other news, my friend Ben Yolton, is an awesome artist and just recently started an Etsy shop.  I wish him much success, and encourage you all to go check it out!  Yolton's Art 

Star Wars Swag

So....I was browsing Reddit today and noticed this posted by user brownstudy:

This is freakin' sweet.  Most of you might not know who this bounty hunter is from Star Wars, but he is one of my favorites.  I still have my action figure from the 80's.  Here he is sitting on my desk...he even found Mario's green mushroom.  He's too badass for words.

Anyway, I want one of these shirts, and I'm sure you do too.  Go to TeePublic and pre-order one right now.  It's kind of like Kickstarter, in that if there aren't enough backers, the order gets cancelled.  So help me out.  I want one of these suckers!  

Back to my major event of the day....the real life tetris game that is trying to put away groceries from Costco.  *sigh*

Allergies and Gluten

I woke up this morning with a terrible headache.  This is not uncommon for me.  I have had seasonal allergies for most of my adult life.  I didn't know that if you have headaches more than 3 times per month, you should see a doctor (at least that's the recommendation from many professionals).  At the high point of my celiac symptoms last year, I was experiencing 4-6 headaches a week.  I was taking ibuprofen like candy.  However, I had no reason to think my headaches were caused by anything other than my allergies and chronic sinusitis.

According to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness:  A 2012 survey found that 35% of people at risk for celiac disease had no reason to suspect that the symptoms they were experiencing were due to undiagnosed celiac disease.

In my case, this was very true.  Tiredness can be blamed on poor sleep and respiratory allergies.  The poor sleep can be blamed on lack of exercise and work stress.  Tingling in my fingers can be blamed on previous nerve damage and scoliosis.  Joint pain can be blamed on lack of exercise.  Bloating can be blamed on too much salt, not enough water, etc.  The skin rash can be blamed on dermatitis from soaps.  It goes on and on.  I even have another autoimmune disorder, and an aunt with multiple sclerosis.  Until I experienced considerably inconvenient IBS symptoms, I was not able to piece it together.

This first spring of being gluten free, my allergies symptoms have improved.  Even my husband noticed a difference in my symptoms.  I don't know if my headache was legitimately due to high pollen counts, or was caused by something I ate.  Last night I made a bean soup, which came with a seasoning packet.  I opened the innocuous looking spice packet and dumped it into the pot.  After I took a bite to test the level of seasoning, a wild thought appeared:  "I should read the label because I have no idea what was in the packet."  

Now here's where it gets tricky.  The spice packet contained both maltodextrin and modified food starch, neither of which specified wheat.  If the item was FDA regulated (a bag of beans should be), companies are supposed to identify if these two came from wheat sources and place an allergen warning at the bottom.   

If the item is a meat, poultry, or egg product, it falls under USDA regulations, which does not require labeling to specify the source and just saying modified food starch or maltodextrin is allowed.  These should be avoided like the plague.  There are sources that will tell you maltodextrin is safe, even if it is from wheat, but I don't buy that (I'm no scientist or doctor, just a cautious celiac).  Just like companies can label their reduced gluten beer as "gluten free", 5 ppm might be teeny tiny, but it isn't gluten free.

Well, I might have a few bites to see if I can handle it.  I have heard stories of other celiac people who have bad reactions to maltodextrin and modified food starch, even when it specifies the source.  I am becoming increasingly convinced that I need to cut out all processed foods, even the ones geared toward a gluten free diet...

If my gluten free buddies out there have any additional comments or stories, please chime in.  I'd love to hear other experiences!

Weekend Gardener

Since we moved into our house, my husband and I have tackled a lot of bush and tree removal in the yard.  The demolition part of gardening is a quick reward.  The yard looks immediately tidied and spruced up.  Currently, we're in the planning and planting phase.  We've moved on to defining beds, and adding new, removing old, or moving favorite plants.  Over the years, I've come to appreciate some of the features left behind by former owners, like the beautiful and healthy azaleas we have...

But I've also come to hate some of the other features, like the yucca plants that get overgrown with trumpet vines and poke my husband's ankles while he mows...or the current crappy view on one side of the house (see pic below).

We are lucky, because even though we are in the city, there is a lot of wildlife.  I've seen a deer in the neighborhood before...but we have tons of birds, squirrels, and regular bunny visits.  Last year, the two vegetable beds were full of veggies (and I've added two more), but I had few problems with the wildlife. Sure, I had to battle with cut worms, caterpillars, beetles, aphids, and powdery mildew...but no bird, squirrel, or bunny issues that were obvious. 

I simply put up bunny fence around the raised beds (you might be able to see in the pictures, and there is my little bunny friend).  No other deterrents were needed.  I don't know if it is because I keep the bird feeders well stocked in other areas of the yard, and regularly throw out munchies for the bunny...but we will see if my luck holds out!  

Treasury Thursday (Etsy)

One fun feature of Etsy is the ability to create treasuries.  You search for items based on your unifying theme of choice, whether it's color, style, mood, season, etc.  I shared my Mother's Day treasuries in an earlier post.

I decided to create one that celebrated the great weather here in Richmond today.  It's one of the first days in a while that it hasn't been raining, or bumped the thermometer over 70 degrees.  This is the longest we've gone into spring with the heated mattress pad still on the bed.  But I've also been enjoying all of the geeky crafts that are on Etsy lately....I recently bought one of these shirts from Enlightened State, to wallow in my love of Walking Dead until the new season starts.

Combining geekery and spring greens was easy and actually produced a pretty cute treasury.  Enjoy!

Spring Green for Geeks

Crochet, Free Time, and Social Media.

This is my most recent project:  a bubble stitch dishcloth.  This pattern is pretty easy.  While I have the time off of work, I'm trying to enjoy it and be productive.  I've been learning new crochet stitches and taking time to learn to read patterns.  I regret not learning how to crochet from my grandma Tessie while she was alive.  She managed to pass on a love of trashy romance novels, and the joys of gin (the card came).  The red and white granny square blanket she made me as a child, is still one of my most treasured possessions.  But I take comfort knowing I will be able to carry on the tradition of creating things with love, for family and friends.

When there is extra time, there is usually extra thinking...which in my case, can be both good and bad.  It's given me the opportunity to do some self exploration about what I want in life, but it's also given me the time to dwell in the past or worry about the future.  In particular, I've been thinking a lot about old friends and how I have very dear friends that live in the same city, but I haven't seen (not even for coffee) in over a year.

This lack of socialization tends to be an overarching trend in my life.  I'm aware of the reason why....I'm a classic introvert.  I enjoy spending time at home alone, and it takes a lot of energy for me to reach out and make an effort to socialize.  Compound that with the fact that I talk to people for a living (I'm a counselor), and you have a person who wants very little contact with people during down time.  This explains why I married a fellow introvert, who spends a lot of time in his own head...I don't mind at all.

I love that Facebook is around and allows me to keep in some kind of touch with friends who I probably would have let slip away.  However, there's a catch.  The thing about social media like Facebook, Twitter, and this blog, is that these sites give you a illusion of social connectedness while sitting at home all day by yourself.  It isn't real.  No one can deny that sitting down with a friend for coffee and a hug, is MUCH different than clicking a button to like someone's post on Facebook.  Your brain gets some validation from the "likes" and "retweets", but it is a hollow feeling over time.  I need those friendly thumbs up and "lol's" in real life too.

I am working on putting forth more of an effort to reach out to my friends, and family too.  My friend Bryan used to call me "worst friend ever", and there's some truth in that!  For those who have known me a long time, I want you to know that even though I may not call or visit frequently, I still cherish you dearly and will always welcome a stop over, a lunch date, or a call should you choose to initiate.


"A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely."  ~Pam Brown

May is Celiac Awareness Month!

May is the "real" Celiac disease awareness month.  It used to be October, which is why I posted information back in October about the disease and my own difficulties with it.  I'm going to post some relevant information this month, again, because I know it's important to increase awareness and understanding. 

Did you know:  An estimated 1 in 141 Americans has Celiac disease, yet 83% of those who have it are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.  That's an awful lot of people.  But even with the large numbers of people who are undiagnosed, the numbers of diagnosed individuals has been steadily increasing....and it's not just because of more accurate diagnostics.

The availability and popularity of gluten free (GF) food has increased, but many people have mixed feelings.  Like many trendy, fad diets, the public exposure can trivialize the real need.  I've been exposed to people on the internet who have very negative opinions when someone goes into a restaurant and asked for gluten free items.  Some restaurant workers have shared anecdotes of customers who insisted they were gluten free but ordered a beer to drink.  Behavior like this does have an impact on public perception of the whole gluten free movement. After 9 months of gluten free living, eating out is still the most difficult part for me.  I've learned to specify that I have Celiac disease when at a restaurant.  And even then, I've had salads served to me with croutons, when I specifically asked for no croutons.  I've had to send back sandwiches that came to me on a bun, after asking for no bun...and I had to emphasize that I can't just pull food off the bread.  Celiacs can get sick from the crumbs left over if they try to pick the croutons off.  I don't want to know what goes on behind the scenes in the kitchens, and I'm thankful I have only been visibly sick from eating out a handful of times.  But lack of symptoms does not equal lack of internal damage.

Let me start with the fact that I'm extremely thankful to have figured out what was going on with my body.  I'm thankful that Celiac isn't a more serious disease where I have to take daily drugs, or need to cope with physical deterioration.  However, Celiac disease does have serious consequences on the body, mostly when individuals continue to eat gluten, but sometimes even when an individual sticks to a gluten free diet.

Some of these complications include:

• Malnutrition
• Infertility
• Rickets, Osteoporosis, and other bone density related issues
• Lactose intolerance
• Cancer:  increased risk of bowel cancers and lymphoma
• Nerve issues:  including seizures and peripheral neuropathy.  

It's important for me, and other Celiac individuals to stick to the gluten free diet, minimize cross contamination, and work on healing our body systemically to minimize the risks of other complications.

In addition, if you or someone you love has been diagnosed with one of those more vague conditions, such as chronic fatigue syndrome or irritable bowel syndrome, encourage testing for food allergies and food related disorders like Celiac.  It gives new meaning to the old saying "You are what you eat."

"America's health care system is in crisis precisely because we systematically neglect wellness and prevention."  ~Tom Harkin

Mother's Day is on the way!

Mother's Day is sneaking up on us.  For those of us who haven't gotten their mom anything yet, Etsy.com is a good place to start.  I love the idea of buying from small businesses or individuals, who have some passion about what they are creating...instead of coming from some mass production factory in Asia.  Often the quality of the items is better, and the prices are reasonable (depending on what you buy).  Be careful of who you choose to buy from if you are looking for genuine hand made items.  There are still sellers sneaking on to Etsy who claim their items are handmade, but when you take a closer look, they are selling mass produced junk.  It's been an ongoing issue with Etsy, but I don't see them going away in the near future.  Just be aware that fakers exist!

For inspiration, I made a treasury collection called "Orange you glad your mom is awesome?".  Hopefully this will give some of my fellow "last minute Annie's" some motivation to pick out a good gift for their mother, aunt, wife, or grandmother.

I also made a treasury the other day, specifically to celebrate my mother, based on her interests and fun attitude!  Celebrate Your Mother

Good luck and happy hunting for just the right gift!