Thursday, December 17, 2009

GALLILVANTING AGAIN--ANOTHER BUSY DAY

Yesterday ended rather nicely.  We picked up my car, and the Midas man said, we could not find anything wrong, we do not know why you had a mysterious blinking light, bring it back if it does it again.  That is frustrating.  I know it will do it again--at night when garage is closed--and probably strand me in the process on a dark and empty road.

Mother had another doctor's appointment today--different doctor--but canceled it as she is "too" busy doing Santa's Elf stuff.  Nice that she stays busy, just wish she would not cancel the doctor.

Baked my white and Hershey's cocoa marbled rice flour birthday cake last night, tasty!  I ground the brown and sweet rices in my Vita-Mix, then mixed the dough in my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer.  Cooked it in a Pyrex sheet cake pan for 40 minutes. Here is the link to the lady who told me about her technique so that you may try it for yourself.
Source: www.gluten-free-chocolate.com
MY GUT REACTION?  Everyone loves the rice flour cake!

Another busy day of errands, taking mother to visit grandson at college, doing some once a month cooking, and squeeze in some study time before heading out to a Boy Scout monthly meeting.
MY GUT REACTION--today is looking as busy as yesterday was.  At least we will eat well.
For those of you who are interested in your pet's health, have you done any reading on pet nutrition?   If you are interested, here is an interesting web site:
http://www.catinfo.org/index.htm
I have not yet fed my two cats much in the way of raw foods, however, at Thanksgiving, they were given some portion of the liver and gizzards, raw.  But, I have been swapping them over to canned meat I buy at the local warehouse club by the case now.  The are absolutely loving the meat!  Additionally, their fur is much more lustrous now, and they are not shedding nearly as much nor hacking up as many nasty hair balls.  Once I've found an affordable source of organic meats for them, I do think I will begin switching them over to raw. I have not noticed fewer things in the cat boxes yet, but that is not my job in the house, I need to ask other people if that has changed any.  MY GUT REACTION?  I am glad the litter is spouse's job!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

WAITING AND WAITING

I got Mother to her doctor's appointment, and we had to wait an hour.  After, we had lunch and I took her home, stopping to gas up the borrowed car on the way.   At least during the wait and lunch, we had nice conversation and began plans for an 80th birthday party reunion for her next year.  After I took her home, then I rushed the car back to it's owner and he followed me and my car to Midas to check out the mysterious light (no longer blinking) on my dash and get an oil change--and now I wait to hear from Midas.

I have managed to make a pan of gluten free peanut butter fudge for Christmas giving-and eating, to join the black cherry fudge and the butter pecan fudge.  Slowly, on the rare low humidity clear day, I am getting the candies made.  Still need to make divinity, chocolate covered cherries and fudge.  On the other hand, I am making a batch of cookies on the days when I cannot make candy.  The freezer has bags of frozen cookies ready to gift wrap and give.

On a good note, my ear is not hurting for some reason.  I have no idea why, though my sinuses are bothering me.  I wonder how many people in this region have sinus troubles.

Still have not made the fruit cake but the batter is in process.  I just have to be sure that I do not have to run to Midas while it is in the oven, so it will be baked after that errand.

I have not yet squeezed in time to study for a professional licensure test I am scheduled to take in January.  Time is more fleeting every day.  How many of you are in permanent time crunches?  Does anyone have any ideas on better time management?  Please share them.

Midas just phoned.  Now to coordinate getting me to the shop and pickig up the car.  I wonder what the damages are going to be.
MY GUT REACTION I could use a split personality very well indeed one of me to do this, the other to do that.  It would be nice to enjoy a slower pace sometimes.  How about you all?

Ear Aches at MY AGE!

I have an earache.  Weird, I know.  When I was a child, I had a sibling who had frequent nasty earaches.  I did not.  Today, my sympathy for my sib's experiences just increased.  Wish I was still in ingnorance of what ear aches were like.  I tried warm oil, short term minor relief.  I purchased ear drops but they made my ear itch inside the canal so that was not a success.  Today, I guess I will be foreced to call the doctor.  It is actually somewhat embarassing to have to call the doctor for an earache.
My Gut Reaction?  I do NOT like earaches at any age!


Our family has had a difficult year.  I guess your families may have had also.  The hard knocks just keep coming for many of us.  I wonder how you all are weathering this difficult time.  Please let me know what you and  yours are doing to get through this and maybe your experiences will help other people find an easier path through this age of job loss, higher and higher costs, and worry.
My Gut Reaction?  I am afraid this hard time is not going to go away soon enough to help many of us recover financially before we fall into retirement and medicare years.




Today is another doctor appointment day for my mother.  At 79.5, she amazes me with her determination to continue to live independently (with our frequent support).  I wonder what I will be like when I am her age.  I was impressed when she decided to quit driving several years ago before she began to decline in health.  I guess she knew that her driving reactions were declining and had the wisdom to quit while she was ahead.  I am borrowing a car today to take mother to her appointment as my car has a funny light blinking in the dash and I really do not like the idea of driving if there might be a car breakdown--having experienced one in the past, I know I would not like that to  happen when I  have  her in the car with me. 

My Gut Reaction?  I know it is better to be careful than sorry, especially with my aged fragile mom aboard. 

I found a Gluten Free Fruitcake recipe while surfing the net the other day.  My mother always made me a fruitcake for my birthday (recipe had been in her family for generations).  Now that my wheat allergy makes me strive to remain wheat (gluten) free, she did not make me a cake this year which makes me sad and nostalgic for years past.  I shared the printouts of the top  four recipes I found with her and we picked one to try first.  Today is that day!  After her doctor's appointment, we get to taste test.  
My Gut Reaction?  I hope it is good and wonder how soon we can adapt the family recipe by this new method.
 




 

Monday, December 14, 2009

GUT REACTIONS, The Beginning

Allergies have developed me and molded me into the person I am today.  They have impacted me throughout my life in ways I am only just beginning to understand.
In my childhood, I lived with allergic misery, endured painful tests, took my prescription anti-allergy symptom medicines, and lived in a medically induced mental fog for many years.  My allergies never went away nor really improved.

Today, I am learning how food allergies--largely ignored to date--have negatively impacted me lifelong and I have begun learning how to avoid foods I am allergic too (NOT EASY) and learning to reach for alternatives (ALSO NOT EASY).

When I tally my allergies and other health conditions (and family health susceptibilities) that I try to improve for myself, but also for the other people in my life, I find that I am always searching and researching for healthier methods of preparing the foods we eat.  I try to find affordable organic foods when I can, low glycemic foods and methods to cook that encourage lower glycemic responses by our digestive systems, but also supplementation that aids and abets healthy lives.  So I will always try new recipes--once--the original recipe method (mostly) and only after an audition, will I begin tweaking and tweaking to improve and  make the product healthier for those with diabetics, high cholesterol, allergies, diverticulitis, IBS, etc.  To do this, I keep a notebook with the original recipe and I write any modifications on it as well as peoples' critiques.



This quest for health, not misery, has been both long and short.  Long in the sense that I have always had health issues and impairments; short in that I have only in the last three or four years begun relying on my own initiative--research and study--to find wellness answers for my problems that my physicians have tried to fix but failed to help as much as I would have liked.  I have absolutely no knowledge of the monetary costs involved from childhood thru Grandmotherhood, but I'd sure like to have had that money as disposable income.


This blog is for you and for me as a information and advice exchange for allergy sufferers and their families and friends as well as a forum to discuss midlife issues in general.  Here's to good health, good food, and many happy middle years!


Kitten