Where has January Gone?

Yes, I do realize that it now the last few days of January and I still have yet to post pictures dating as far back as the end of November. Is this where I can play the "I have seven children" card?!?!lol
*sigh* I will eventually get to it, if not for the sake of saving myself therapy bills from the children who did not get their birthday pictures posted on their Mama's blog! HA!

My brain is a complete pile of mush, now that may not be much of a surprise to some...har har....but in all reality it truly feels like it is. This is Brain Fog and is a symptom of Fibromyalgia and yes, Celiac. Brain Fog really bites, it is not fun being lost in a complete sentence or totally blanking out on someone's name or other information that you know.  Thank goodness this is temporary. Thank goodness that very soon I can make it all better!

The dinner theater we went to on Sunday night was positively awesome! We had so much fun. It was fully interactive and hilarious. We get to experience another dinner theater on Tuesday evening as well. Bill won tickets again to a different venue. It's a bit more formal and a little less interactive, but it is supposed to be just as wonderful. Exciting!


You may notice on the left hand side of my blog here that there is a button labeled 'A Year of Choice'. If you click on it and follow to the site it explains what it means. Yes, it is from last year, but I just came across it and I thought it was a fantastic idea for this year as well. (Well, every year for that matter) I think we as human beings have a choice for everything, even if it is just in how we react to a situation. I know life can toss us sticky, yucky messes but we can ALWAYS choose how we respond and react to them. I think if we all try to keep that in mind, we could all be better off emotionally. Keeping in mind that anger is a response to our needs not being met. This is one of my biggest goals for this year, to really focus on emotional well being. It's an interesting journey. There is sooooo much negativity filled in this world and I truly believe it creates a negative energy force that can engulf and encompass us if we allow it. So we can choose to focus on positivity and surround ourselves with positive energy which will in turn attract more positive energy. I firmly believe we manifest what we think, so as the saying goes 'Think Happy Thoughts'

My choice this week has been staying positive while Bill has had to work late almost all week. It really sucks when he isn't home for dinner (we eat dinner as a family EVERY night) and not until later on in the evening, so I decided to try out some new recipes for dinner (the kids are typically more adventurous with different tastes) and I also made some killer desserts (which we have saved for Daddy to enjoy when he gets home!!) So while it is crappy not having him here for dinner, I was able to focus that energy towards something else and make it positive! Yay!

Of course the biggest challenge has been staying focused on positivity while doing this Gluten Challenge...ugh.....but, it will answer some questions and be worth it in the end. The best part about it is I know what is causing all my discomfort and I know I will be better in a couple of weeks where as before, I had no clue what was wrong and if I would ever figure it out!

On that note, here's to sending you all positive energy!!
Blessed be!

Well Hello!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year thus far. We certainly did, although we got hit AGAIN with another bug the first week of the new year. It hipped through everybody again, except for me. I attribute that to the fact I was practically eating an entire garlic bulb each day!!lol I also was taking Oil of Oregano in water, I think it worked!

I had an appointment with my family doctor last Friday, my first one in almost three years. It was actually pretty weird, I thought it would be awesome to share all the wonderful things I have done and discovered about myself, but she didn't seem to excited about it and actually shrugged off my gluten issues until I finished telling her all my symptoms and how incredibly better I am not consuming gluten AND that my sister had tested positive. However, in order to get a somewhat reliable test for antibodies, I have to be consuming gluten. I have thought about that for quite sometime now, and I finally decided I want to know. If anything for it to be on my medical record (if I am in fact Celiac) and to keep an eye on the kids since it's hereditary. So, since the 13th, I have been eating Gluten. YUCK! My body is a mess, I am right back where I was before Breanna was born and my stomach is actually worse. The leg pain is insane, I truly do not know how I dealt with this on a daily basis for over 5 years. I know one thing for sure, whether the result is positive or negative, I will NEVER eat gluten again. No matter what, my body does not like it at all.

Funny enough though, I have spent the last 3 years sometimes thinking about all the foods I miss eating or no longer can eat. This has definitely been an eye opener because a lot of the stuff is just gross to me. It tastes so bland and quite frankly like paper. I thought it might be nice to eat some breaded fish (ohhhh, a rebel, I know!!!!) and it was terrible. Pasta (I buy brown rice for myself typically and whole wheat for everyone else) was not nice at all. Brown bread tasted like toilet paper (or what I imagine TP would taste like anyways...lol)

I am honestly looking forward to getting back to MY foods not only to heal, but to enjoy the taste of food again.
Tonight as a treat, Bill and I are getting some Chinese take-out, we NEVER get take out anymore so this is a double treat. I am hoping that it will taste as good as I remember!!

Sunday we are going to a dinner theatre, Bill won tickets through our local radio station awhile back, so I am looking forward to that. We figured that while I am doing this challenge we might as well do all our eating out!lol Except fast food, ick, gluten or no gluten there is no way I could stomach any of that.

We had a huge stretch of warm weather for a bit and it totally got my garden bug itching. I was flipping through my seed catalogs and deciding what to grow this year and all that good stuff. Then we just got hit with bitter, cold temperatures...like -32 degrees Celsius...brrrrrrrrr!!!

Blessed be!