Perhaps Not What We Thought

So after my milk in the fish mishap and my lunch debacle yesterday I started rethinking exactly what was causing my discomfort…I was stumped.  It wasn’t until Darling Hubby came home, looked at the facts of my day (that I ate an egg salad sandwich on bread with no milk and with Miracle Whip which contains no milk and had a pretty quick onset of pain) and suggested that it might be a soy allergy.

Well, duh, that makes total sense…It’s pretty much after every meal or snack with prepared ingredients that I start having pain…turns out that pretty much everything, aside from the fresh fruit/veggies and made from complete scratch stuff, contains some form of soy.  It’s in the cheese crackers, it’s in my bread, my Miracle whip, my vegetable oil, my ice cream, my cream cheese, my chocolate, my candy…the list goes on!  It’s actually really ridiculous just how often soy pops up in pre-packaged foods.

In looking at my daily meals, I was thinking that milk was the culprit because every time I’d have an attack, I’d have some milk product – flavored milk (ovaltine), hot chocolate, ice cream, chocolate candy, cream cheese, cheese crackers, pizza, Hamburger Helper, coleslaw…turns out that all those things have soy…Even during the last week when I’d completely sworn off milk I still had the occasional twinge of pain after eating…it was after consuming the wraps and salad dressing, the fish, and the Miracle Whip (all contain soy) that I had problems.

So, today was the first day of a soy free diet.  I had a cup of Chai with honey and lime juice and a banana for breakfast.  My snack was a Yoplait light yogurt (key lime) and I didn’t have any pain…My lunch was a big bowl of plain pennette pasta, my mid-afternoon snack was an apple, dinner was oatmeal with maple syrup and brown sugar (there’s really nothing left in my house that doesn’t contain soy, so my pickin’s are pretty slim!) and my evening snack was a box of apple flavored raisels and a cup of chamomile tea.  Nothing…I’ve had yogurt and not a twinge. Again it makes me think we’re on to something.  The weird thing is that now I’m actually hungrier more often…probably cause my stomach doesn’t hurt anymore and I’m not afraid to eat.

I’m going to have to do a lot of research to see what all contains soy and what I can substitute for it.  It seems that soy isn’t as well labeled as milk, nuts and wheat allergens are and there are several names that you might not consider to be a soy product.

I’m not 100% sure that we’ve come to the right conclusion, but I’m fairly certain Darling Hubby is right.  My big concern is that soy is found in everything…I’m going to be very limited in what I can eat and I hate to deprive the rest of my family of the things they enjoy eating simply because I can’t have it.  Darling Hubby has already said if I’m going soy free then we are all going soy free for meals where we all sit down together, snacks are a horse of a different color.  I think if this pans out and I really am sensitive or allergic that I’ll be making my own bread for me in my bread machine (everyone else can still eat the store bought bread).  I might look into a hot air popcorn popper so I can have some healthy popcorn rather than the microwave/bagged stuff that I’m sure is laden with soy.  We’ll probably be eating a lot more pasta.  I’ll love eating more of my homemade spaghetti sauce…

As for substitutions, I’ve already found out that the margarine I’ve been using has soy…as well as the unsalted butter in my freezer.  Salted butter is, oddly enough, soy free.  I’m going to have to switch from the vegetable oil, which is made solely from soybean oil to olive oil, which is probably a better switch.  Darling Hubby suggested we could make our own mayonnaise in addition to our own bread.  Even tuna canned in water contains soybean oil.  I’m still planning to do lots of fresh fruits and veggies and make my own sauces and gravies from scratch.

The whole thing is actually really overwhelming.  I’m dreading going to the grocery store Saturday…I’m going to have to look at everything and probably take notes!  Gah!

Ouch, That Hurt

So I’ve been doing pretty well with avoiding all things with milk.  I’ve still had a few twinges of the usual pain, but they’ve been few and far between and don’t last as long as usual, usually just a few minutes

Last night I made the mistake of not looking at the label of what I was eating for dinner.  I made fish fillets, fries and mixed veggies.  Stupid me didn’t look at the fish fillet bag until I started feeling funny about 30 minutes after I polished off 2 fillets and the rest of my plate.  Yep, the breading contained milk.  DOH!  I’m also concerned because it has wheat in it as well…makes me think that it could be a gluten/diary combo issue as I’ve had twinges after eating the wraps, which also contain wheat and soy.  Those twinges, like I said, didn’t last long but they were there.  But, I know I can eat white toast without having issues and I know that contains wheat and soy…

Darling Hubby is on my case to start trying dairy products again.  I really wanted to give myself a couple weeks to 1.) keep track of what I’m eating and when (and if) my stomach hurts again. 2.) to give myself time to adjust to not having certain foods. and 3.) to give myself time to possibly feel human.  When my stomach hurts I’m miserable and end up making everyone around me miserable.  I really just want to curl up in a ball and sleep and not deal with anyone when I’m not feeling good and I just can’t do that, not with 2 kids and a house to keep up on.  I end up being short with everyone, I yell a lot more and I don’t have motivation to do anything, even my beloved crafts or reading.

I might have to go with a fresh fruit/veggie and tea diet…lol  That seems to be the only stuff that I know for sure doesn’t bother me!  I’ve had a cup of chamomile tea today for the first time and I actually really enjoyed it.  I also ate a banana and I’m feeling pretty good (aside from being tired, aching all over and the headache I woke up with, but that’s a whole other issue!)  I know I can eat apples, bananas, fruit cocktail from the can,  strawberries, grapes, tomatoes and lettuce without issue.  I know I can eat mixed veggies (carrots, corn, peas and green beans) and baby carrots.  I’m fairly sure broccoli (cooked) doesn’t bother me.

Tonight I’m double checking that pasta doesn’t bother me.  I’m cooking for craft night again and making pasta, some jarred sauce and some Italian bread.  We’ll see how that affects me. Better make sure I check that pasta and sauce first, huh…you never know now a days.

The major downside of this diet experiment is that fact that I can’t have chocolate…that’s what I’ve been craving lately (it’s like me being pregnant…I wanted nothing more than a big cold sub with lots of turkey and cheese, and  since cold lunch meat was on the banned foods list, it made me want it all the more!)  A friend suggested that I try dark chocolate, but even that contained milkfat.  It’s probably for the best that I’m not eating all the junk food like I was.  I’m gonna lose weight!  lol  I’m already down to 137lbs…that’s 3lbs lower than my weight loss goal when I was doing the 30 Day Shred and 11 lbs lighter than I was when I got pregnant with Fidget, 3 years ago.  I just wish the new size 12/14 jeans that I bought weren’t too loose already!

This is a crazy journey…I’m really hoping that I can figure it out and be able to live a happy life.  I do hate being miserable and not feeling well.

Hair We Gone!

I did it.  I had my hair chopped off this morning.  Went to a sweet girl named Tori at the Joli Salon and Spa.  She was great!  I showed her my picture and she looked at my hair and we talked about what I wanted.  We chatted about her son and my kids and her training and work. She did an awesome job and I’m loving my new hair style.  It’s gonna be so much easier to manage, though it will take a little extra time to style, but it makes me look different, which is what I was going for.

Here is a before picture of me with Fidget.  You can see I’ve just got it all twisted up and clipped on the back of my head.  That’s pretty much how I wore my hair…all the time!

Here’s the new do!  I’m really loving it.  Now, hopefully I can recreate the same effect when I wash and style it on my own.

What a Difference a Day Makes

So yesterday I decided to cut out all dairy to see if it was the cause of my stomach pain.  Since around 10am yesterday I haven’t had a single drop of dairy, despite everyone in the house scarfing down the homemade macaroni and cheese and the buffalo wing potato chips that contain milk.  My stomach has been totally pain free.  Yay!  *doing a happy dance!*

I’m really hoping this will be the answer I’ve been looking for.  I know I really shouldn’t get my hopes up since it’s really only just been 24 hours, but it looks promising.

I just hope it’s not a placebo effect and I’m just convincing myself that I’m feeling better cause I want the pain to stop.  I’ve been told before that it’s all in my head and while I don’t really think that’s the case, I could see how others would see it that way.  It’s one of the reasons that I tried not to complain about it often…I figured no one would believe me.  Even when I was a kid, I can remember from 3rd grade on that there were many days when my stomach would hurt for no apparent reason and I was forced to suffer though school because no one believed me that my stomach could hurt all the time.   The school nurse and I were practically best friends I saw her so often!

I’m sure the time when I was 14 when I went through my “not eating anything phase” to impress a boy didn’t help matters any.  I lost like 10lbs in a little over a week that way and after a while got to where I felt horrible no matter if I ate or didn’t eat.  So not healthy, that’s for sure!  But then, I started dating Darling Hubby and things improved.  I found a love of food again, started eating regularly, gained back some weight and didn’t feel sick all the time, but I still had days when my stomach just hurt for no apparent reason.  Maybe all the time it was just milk that was doing me in.  I’m still holding out hope that I after a couple weeks I can go back to having some dairy…not having yogurt is kinda depressing.  That’s all I really wanted last night for a snack, that and those buffalo wing Ruffles that Darling Hubby brought home when he stopped at the store to get me some lettuce, a tomato and some wraps so I could make a chicken caesar wrap for lunch today.  I adore Buffalo wing food and sadly, they contained milk.    But, I made due with some fruit cocktail, some lemon flavored raisels and a spoonful of peanut butter.

I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I have a good feeling about this exclusion diet.

A Health Experiement

Since around the summer of 2007, I started having pain in my stomach after eating.  At first it was tolerable, not happening that often, but now, it seems to happen several times a week.  The question is, what is the culprit that’s causing the issue?

I have a feeling it’s dairy, or at least milk.  I began noticing that when I’d have a big steaming mug of hot chocolate, my stomach would start to hurt almost instantly, well, at least within 30 minutes.  The reason that I don’t think it’s all dairy, including cheese and yogurt, is because for a while I was only eating yogurt and was fine and sometimes I can have mozzerella cheese either sliced or melted on pizza and not have any issue.  I also have a feeling that there is a cumulative effect going on.  If I have milk in the morning, in say a cup of tea, if I eat a yogurt or some pizza later in the day, I’ve already exposed myself to whatever was in the milk that’s bothering me so when I eat other dairy it causes the pain to return.

My plan now, for the next couple weeks at least, is to cut out dairy as best I can and see if I have any improvement.  If I start seeing a decrease in my stomach pain, I’ll gradually add in the yogurt, since it’s easier to digest, and provided there is no issue again, I’ll try cheese.  I also plan to keep track of what I’m eating on what day to see if there is any other correlation between other food and the pain.  Over the summer I seem to remember a week when I ate nothing but homemade chicken Caesar wraps and I never had an inkling of pain…maybe I should eat nothing my wraps and salads…

Oh, and I’ve already cut caffeine out of my diet.  I’m only drinking caffeine free Pepsi (and that’s only for Craft Night…I really only have Pepsi then), which I drank all through Bug’s pregnancy and I’ve switched to decaf chai tea and caffeine free herbal teas.  I’ve noticed a slight decrease in the amount of energy I have most days, but I’ve found that I no longer hit that 4pm wall of exhaustion when my body crashes.

If I fail to determine the cause of the pain, I guess I’ll have to break down and visit a doctor.  I really should go see one as I haven’t been to a non-OB-GYN in years…Bad, I know, but I’m always afraid they are going to tell me the worst…and I just don’t want to hear it.  I’m like my mom and prefer to suffer in silence, even though that silence has a tendency to affect everyone around her.

Hair We Go Again

I’ve suddenly got the bug to cut my hair.  I hate when that happens cause I never know what to do with it.  I’ve always liked my hair long and have pretty much had long hair for all but a few years of my life, but after having kids it just seems to be a pain.  Fidget is still pulling it (esp when he gets angry) and 99% of the time I’ve got it pulled back ….I rarely ever dry it.  Again, 99% of the time I just twist it up and clip it or do a quick braid and be done with it.  Part of it is because I’m lazy and just don’t want to put in the effort or I’m rushed for time and the other part is that I usually shower at night when both boys are in bed or during Fidget’s nap time and our bathroom is right across the hall from his room and I don’t want to risk waking him up running the hair dryer.

The downside to having shorter hair would be that I can’t pull it back as easily to get it out of my face for things like cooking and playing with the kids.  I hate having my hair in my face.  I’d love to go super short, like pixie, but with my facial shape (heart shape) I could never pull it off.  The shortest I can really go is chin length.  The last time I had my hair cut (professionally) was about a month before Fidget was born…so nearly 2 years ago, and despite me telling the girl exactly what I wanted, she didn’t follow my instructions and I wasn’t happy.  I’ve had Darling Hubby trim it a time or two, but he didn’t take off very much.  But, having shorter hair would make it so much easier for me to color every month.  With it being so long I tend to make a mess and it’s just really difficult to manage.  Plus, I wouldn’t clog the drains as badly and it would make showering easier and I’d use less shampoo and conditioner.

I want something that is both cute and easy to take care of (meaning it doesn’t take me more than a few minutes to style and doesn’t use a ton of product, cause I hate putting a ton of stuff in my hair. )  I like going in with an idea of what I want, though last time at Fantastic Sam’s I didn’t get what I wanted despite telling her exactly.  Maybe I should have brought a picture.

Sometimes I wish I could just cut my own hair.  I cut Darling Hubby’s hair as well as both boys.  It really saves money since they need hair cuts every couple months.  With me keeping my hair long or letting it grow out after I’ve had it cut I only need to have it cut professionally once every couple years and just have Darling Hubby trim it to get rid of any split ends and straighten it up a bit.  I just haven’t found a salon that I’m totally happy with that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to have it trimmed and reshaped every couple months.

Guess I’ve got a decision to make…

Making It Work

For Christmas I got an MP3 player from Darling Hubby.  It’s something that I’ve wanted for a while now and I’m really loving it.  It will help me get through the boring chores like folding laundry, dishes, sweeping/mopping, etc.  I don’t have a radio in every room and I usually do my cleaning while Fidget naps, so I tend to try to stay quiet.

So I have this tiny little MP3 player, cute purple and blue earbuds and Outlander the Musical to rock out to while I’m cleaning.  For those of you who enjoy Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, Outlander the Musical is a musical adaptation written to go along with the first book.   I love it, except for the woman they chose to do Jaimie’s sister Jenny’s voice…she sounds like an elderly Chinese woman, but I digress.  I can sing and dance around while cleaning and no one is the wiser. 

Another perk of having a little MP3 player is that I can use it in my car.  The only down side is that it won’t work in my car…For some reason when I plug it into my USB port in my car I get nothing…I called the dealership and brought it in to be looked at.  They deterimed that the UBS/AUX port wasn’t sending signals to the stereo, so they ordered the part to replace it.  I had the new part installed yesterday and when I went out into the parking lot and tried it before I left, it still didn’t work, even though they assured me it did.  The tech ended up coming out and taking a look with me.  They only tried it with an auxilliary cable and his smart phone and not a USB cable.  I know my USB cable isn’t faulty since it works with my computer to both charge the player and transfer data.  After a few tries of him running back into the shop a couple times (which I felt bad about since it was like 20 degrees out and windy) for a couple USB cables he determined that it just wasn’t working.

He ended up taking it back into the shop and looking at it again in the warmth and decided that it’s possibly the radio not receiving the signals from the port.  He did tell me that this was an updated port since the original model that came with the car had a tendency to malfunction…Great!  Our next step is to order and install a whole new radio…Which means another trip and time spent waiting for that to be installed  (at least I was able to get 4 rows knitted on my Bella Sweater and read a little of A Breath of Snow and Ashes this time around.)  I’m hoping that this is the last time…It’s starting to seem silly to go through all the trouble just so I can have a little extra music, but it would be nice to be able to switch between all my music without having a ton of cd’s clogging up my glove box…

The car is 16 months old, so it should have worked from the get go, but I had no way of knowing since I never had reason to use it.  The only good thing is that it’s all still under warranty, so I don’t have to pay anything out of pocket…or you can believe that I’d just say forget it.  Hopefully this time we can make it work…fingers crossed for me.

Food for Friday! 1/16 – 1/29

I think my grocery bill is gonna be super high this week.  I have nothing in my freezer since we used everything we could out of it so it could be thawed out…there’s still lots of stuff in there like breads and and it has yet to be thawed…better get on that tonight so it’s ice free before I go shopping tomorrow.  Thankfully, it below freezing outside, so we are putting what’s left in a couple boxes on the front porch and turning the freezer off for a while.  Hope it doesn’t take too long…but there is a ton of ice in there.

Monday – Macaroni and Cheese with ham
Tuesday – Craft Night – my turn to cook – BBQ pulled pork, baked beans, coleslaw, and fries or chips.
Wednesday – Homemade pizza – pepperoni and sausage
Thursday – Halupke (Cabbage) Casserole
Friday – Chicken Paprika
Saturday -  Fish sticks, fries and veggies
Sunday -  FFY/LO

Monday – Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and cheddar herb biscuits
Tuesday – Craft Night – Leana’s turn – meatloaf with mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies for the boys at home
Wednesday -Breakfast for dinner – breakfast sausages, eggs and toast
Thursday – Game Night – Spaghetti with meatballs (homemade sauce)
Friday – Chili and tortilla chips
Saturday – Chicken Curry with rice and broccoli
Sunday – Frito Pie

Yet Another Sweater

I’m sure that’s what Darling Hubby is thinking!  lol  I’m sure I’ve mentioned somewhere before that I’m always cold and have a huge love of blankets and warm sweaters.  Since my house practically has blankets in every room (and many in storage) I figured my next crafting project probably shouldn’t be a blanket.

After making Nancy Fry’s “Bella’s New Moon Hooded Cardigan” last year it has been my favorite sweater.  I seriously wear it every week.  My only wish was that I had made it in a darker color…having an 18 month old can cause it to get dirty quickly!  I decided that since I love the sweater so much I would make it again in a darker color.  I was leaning toward a dark grey or a dark green.  The pattern calls for Dusty Green in Vanna’s Choice (which is similar to the color of the sweater Bella wore in New Moon, but when I went to buy the yarn at Joann’s, they didn’t have a single skein of Dusty Green, so I went with Charcoal Grey instead.  My only mistake was that I didn’t realize Vanna’s Choice comes in 170 yrd skeins rather than the 197 yrd skeins that the pattern writer used (she must have bought bigger skeins).  So, I bought 6 skeins like the pattern called for (I’m making the largest size).  They were on sale, so it cost less than $15.   I didn’t notice my error until I was switching balls of yarn for the sleeves… (each sleeve used a little over 1 skein of yarn).  I had to go back to get buttons, so I picked up another skein, but of course they didn’t have the same dye lot…I just hope it isn’t a problem…fingers crossed I don’t even have to use it and I can return it or use it for mittens or something.

Anyway, I started the project on December 27th and so far I’ve gotten both sleeves finished and I’m 15 rows into the body (just past the first button hole.)  I seriously love following this pattern.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way Nancy wrote it out, row by row, giving you a place to check off when you’ve finished each row.  This is, in my humble opinion, how every pattern (bigger than a hat or scarf) should be written.  I’m forever using scraps of paper to write down and cross off what row I’m on.  I’m sending out big KUDOS! to Nancy on her pattern writing skills! 

So, that’s what I’m working on now.  I’m hoping to get if finished before the end of the month.   Last time it took me over 3 months to finish and that was just because of laziness and a bit of frustration!  I had the bulk the of sweater finished in 2 months, but it took me over a month longer to pick it up and do the sewing for the button holes, buttons and getting the hood front assembled.

I think this time I’m going to do the hood a little differently.  I got a bit discouraged last time because I was having some difficulty getting the hood front attached properly…and while I didn’t get it exactly right I finished it and was happy with it…just took me a little longer than necessary.  So, rather than knit a separate front pane like the pattern says, I’m going to pick up stitches along the hood and knit a panel to fold over.  I can’t take credit for this idea…I saw a fellow Raveler did it and her hood looked great!  Hopefully I can recreate what she did and that it will remedy the twisting issue.

Food for Friday! 1/2 – 1/15 2012

It’s hard to believe that in just one day 2011 will be over.   I resolve to make a menu every 2 weeks and try to stick to it as much as I can and I’m going to blog more, both about the recipes I make (hopefully with pictures, if I remember to grab my camera when I’m cooking) and about my crafting.  <3

This menu uses stuff we have from our freezer.  It’s in need of a good defrosting and with it stocked full of food, it’s kinda difficult, so I’m planning to whittle down what’s in there and not buy anything that needs to be frozen this time around.  Hopefully before the next time I go shopping I can get it thawed. 

Monday – Tacos
Tuesday – Craft Night – Leana’s turn to cook – Alfredo for the guys at home
Wednesday – Sausage, biscuits and gravy
Thursday – Ginger-Orange Glazed Cornish Game Hens
Friday – Steak, Potatoes, veggies
Saturday – Turkey burgers, fries and veggies
Sunday -Chicken Sputnik

Monday – Bacon and eggs
Tuesday – Craft Night – Rose’s turn (Pork Chops for the boys at home)
Wednesday – Macaroni and cheese with ham
Thursday – Game Night -On-Cor Salisbury Steak meal with rice and veggies
Friday – Rotisserie chicken, Perogies and veggies
Saturday – Broccoli cheese soup and italian bread
Sunday – Homemade chicken potpie with stuffing.