Sweet saturday sigh

I can practically feel the yeast colonizing in me...I have been consuming much sugar.  The time to stop is right around the corner.

Cap and I had a nine o'clock appointment with our accountant this morning.  I loooooove having an accountant.  As you know, understanding money is not a forte and my consciousness has been unburdened of much stress thanks to forging this new relationship last year.

I read a terrific graphic novel today, The Voyeurs, by Gabrielle Bell.  It's not so much a novel as a collection of memoir vignettes in comic form.  I liked it a lot.  It was kind of mesmerizing to recognize myself in some of her self-characterization.

I have been focusing on getting more sleep (successfully though not so much on the falling sleep earlier thing) and cutting out gluten.  I'm in a hormonally indulgent phase and have been eating quite luxuriously.  (That's popcorn popped in coconut oil and drizzled with Kerrygold butter and sprinkled with truffle salt.)

Next week, bringing Qigong fully back into the picture and cutting out sugar.  And hopefully reading some more.

Peace.

Occupy

Thanks to my friend, Elizabeth, who coordinated a hyperlocal effort to donate to the greater Occupy Sandy relief efforts underway in parts of NY/NJ, I was able to do something to help today. Picked up supplies (pet food, instant coffee, and stuff for bagged lunches) and made some vegan sammies. She is on her way to the Rockaways, her Kia loaded to the gills.

(There was homemade hummus meant for the sandwiches...but it ended up locked inside a house this morning... Whole Paycheck to the rescue...)

The NY nieces came over yesterday.  Exhausting but fun.  (One does forget, survival of the species imperative, like forgetting the pain of childbirth, how much energy is required to care for and entertain a toddler.)  Crazy auntie face or crazed auntie face?

Today is day 2 of gluten- and sugar-free.  More to come, decided to do this in phases.  Asleep by 9:30 last night.  Feel both good and bad today, the good outweighing the bad, for sure.

Peace.

Yes, mister miyagi

Finally, finally...it's so freaking hard to shift into reverse in order to get back on the righteous path.

This morning I heated up last night's steak's fatty juices which were still in the cast iron pan (risky?  it cooled down last night, I thought it was alright...), plopped in a generous tab of Kerrygold, tossed in chopped chives from the farm and scrambled two pastured eggs.

It helps when going off gluten (can I push to make that all grains?) and sugar, again, to satisfy oneself with a breakfast like this.

I have my eyes on the prize, though.  I am going to visit B in Oakland for five days in October and my eating plans are already in full swing.

So, clean up, enter the new season with healthful, loving and bountiful intention and action...breathe in...breathe out.  Wax on, wax off...

Addendum

And, my mosquito bites are SO itchy now.  Systemic inflammation brought on by gluten, no doubt.

Overload

I've been eating very small amounts of gluten here and there since coming off of Whole30 (which a slew of folks started today, including Shannon!) 

After my session with Vinny this afternoon (neck and shoulders very tight again, but he was excited about my sleep change and upbeat mood), I took the kids to the comic book store since Cap is pulling a late-nighter getting the editing done for camp.  This is exactly the kind of thing I haven't had the energy for this summer.  But, today, I was completely up for it.

As we were driving home, I realized we'd be driving right by The Pie Store.  I had dinner set for the kids and Cap wasn't going to be home for dinner.  If I had given my brain a moment to breathe, I would have thought: I have leftover braised cabbage...liverwurst...eggs...a beautiful head of lettuce from the farm.  But, something in my mind started dancing.  I wanted a savory pasty.

I picked up two sweet potato and blue cheese and onion pasties.  One for my upstairs neighbor, who loves them, and one for me.  He was so pleased, his joy was totally worth it.

And for me?  Now I know.  A pasty is way too much of a gluten hit.  My mind feels woozy, my head heavy.  My stomach is so bloated.  Blech.

Now I know.

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Earlier today I thought: I could stop watching the Olympics and my world would not end.  The novelty has definitely lost some of its luster.  In no small part because of frakkin' NBC and their heavy-handed grubby coverage.  In this age of internet streaming, something has to shift.

I think the two events Sag is really looking forward to start soon: trampoline and rhythmic gymnastics.  I will check the listings for those and record...but otherwise, I have 3/4 of a mind to watch last week's Burn Notice or start my "new" and therefore non-renewable library book.

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Our new-to-us reconditioned Vitamix was either delivered to the wrong porch or lifted off of ours (within the short span of ten to fifteen minutes).  UPS said take it up with Vitamix, but it was too late to call them once I realized the package was AWOL.  I have no idea what will happen.  Will it show up tomorrow or in the next few days?  Will Vitamix send another one?  Will we simply be out a few hundred dollars?  (Yep, they are that expensive.)  Not the way I wanted my long and patient journey to a Vitamix to come to an end.  Fingers crossed.

: :    : :    : :

Peace and love.

GF funny

Dang, after I click "post" I am getting the frick offline.

Check out this tumblr.  'Tis gluten-free funny.

Love and light.

Dododo

the crazy lady with the list.

I haven't been too crazy.  A touch PMS-y here and there.  And even that hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be when I bumped up against what I thought was the tip of a ginormous iceberg last weekend.

The list is divided into household chore items for Cap (separate from the numerous details he needs to attend to for himself before he leaves) and my own set of "to do"s.  I have a boatload an ocean liner's worth of "to do"s to follow.  Ad nauseum infinitum.

Sunday morning is the page break.  We are beginning to feel the pangs of impending separation.  For now, we dododo and keep it going.

Past the pollen sending frissons of fever through us.

Past the death of a high school classmate.

Past the growing piles of less pressing work to be done.

Past the comeback of Pokemon card gaming in our midst.

Past the precarious purchases that keep our engine of four running smoothly.

Past the clearly positive signs of no gluten for Sag.

Past the indicators at every turn of a maturing Gem who turns 12 in less than a month.

Past a compact, but no less lovely for it, date night.

Past our utterances of joy, wonder and love.

Past everything, also, that remains unsaid.

Peace and love.

There and back

I LOVE OUR NEW CAR!!!  Love, love, love, love.  It is so comfortable (my bottom is spoiled for leather seats with power lumbar support forever now...and I so look forward to flipping on the seat warmer switch come winter!) ...and watching the mileage monitor creep up and over 45 miles per gallon cruising along endless I-95?  Enthralling.

We spent just shy of 24 hours in Plympton and it was wonderful.  Jamie came over for the lovely backyard dinner Amy put together.  It was so relaxing and the night was perfect for it.  Cool enough to keep skeeters away but comfortable enough to play and play and play.

Though I can say no toads were harmed in the making of these photos...it was pretty traumatized-stunned, the poor thing.

Mother's Day was spent celebrating Cap's mom, Mummu to the four "grands" as she calls them.  I was very pleased that she seemed to really like our gift, a Barnes and Noble Nook.  We set it to charge right away, but didn't have enough time to go over the ins and outs with her.  We will be calling upon her local techie gurus for help with that.

And what would a visit with the Plympton cousins be without a viewing of Panda Go Panda?  Sorely lacking in tradition, that's what.

Sigh.  Cap and I really miss Massachusetts.  It's always good to visit and a little wistful to leave.

This morning, I treated myself to a belated Mother's Day and took the kids out to breakfast.  We went to Toast and loved it.  They are knowledgeable about gluten issues and we felt comfortable (safe) ordering.  Homemade hash on the menu daily...yum!

Peace and love.

P.S.  We've decided to remove gluten from Sag's diet for the next while (3-6 months).  He has experienced enormous physical growth in the last six months and we suspect there are some hormonal/chemical shifts taking place based on new signs of inflammation (puffy appearance and higher than usual sensitivity).  Cap and I are renewing our own commitments to gluten-free/grain-free...it has become a full blown family affair.