This was a bad idea

Remind me not to go to functions with set menus.

I know if I was one of those crazy Elisabeth Hasselbeck types who doesn't let the bread basket pass her plate for fear of gluten cross-contamination then I would have snagged a waiter to take me back to the kitchen to explain to the chef that,

Me: "Hi, I am allergic to both gluten and dairy, do you have anything on the menu I could have instead of the set menu?"

Chef: "Wow, um, well, both gluten and dairy? So no cheese?"

Me: "Nope, no cheese. Do have just like, maybe plain chicken with nothing on it? Or some sort of plain steamed veggies?"

Chef: "Um, let me see. [blank stare for about a minute followed by himming and hawing] Wow, ya we'll figure something out."

So yes, I know that doesn't seem like all that difficult of a conversation, but when you have to go through that and more every time you go out of your house to eat, it becomes a little waring. You see, what is not included in the dialogue above is all the frustration and anxiety in my head and the over-analizing of everything placed before my plate. It's dumb, I know. Hence the blog title.

Speaking of which, there are a lot of dumb things that go along with being gluten-free. Let's name a few:

1. It's DUMB that I didn't become allergic to gluten and dairy until I turned 20.

2. It's DUMB that I can no longer eat family favorite recipes (i.e. Texas Sheet Cake, Spinach Casserole-although I'm sure anything with "Spinach" related to any sort of casserole is what actually sounds dumb to most of you-pumpkin pie, and lasagna just to name a few).

3. It's DUMB how difficult it is to go out to eat.

4. It's DUMB that I cannot appreciate free food anymore because I can't eat most/all of it.

5. It's DUMB that I cannot lick the bowl anymore.

6. It's DUMB that I have become a wine connoisseur of sorts when it comes to baking (as in, I put it in my mouth to ensure I'm not poisoning others with awful food only to spit it out and wash my mouth out).

7. It's DUMB that I cannot eat pizza when that's the only food available to consume (Z-Pizza's gluten free-soy pizza is JUST not the same).

8. It's DUMB I will not be able to enjoy the feast at the wedding I will be in come November.

9. Speaking of November, it's DUMB that I now have to make a a gluten-free, dairy-free version of everything I want to eat on Thanksgiving just for me.

10.It's DUMB that food consumes my life as much as it does.

There are plenty of more DUMB things about being GFDF, but that will do for now. I hate to overwhelm you with my bitterness.

Back to my original story now. Without getting into detail, I left the table with a twice-my-normal-size-bloated-belly still wanting to be fed. Thankfully I had snacks to tide me over, but when it's 9:00pm and you haven't eaten a meal since 12pm, that doesn't help the situation either.

I'm home now. And after a long night's rest (although perhaps not long enough), I'm feeling mostly normal. Let's hope it doesn't hit my again later tonight, but for the moment I can't complain. OK, I know this whole post is basically one long complaint, but you get my drift. At least I know for SURE that I am allergic to gluten and dairy. Not that I questioned it before (I actually did) but somewhere in the back of my head I am still convinced I've made this all up. Other peoples' dirty looks don't help either.

P.S.

It's DUMB that I take as many digestive enzymes as a woman in her 90's trying to ensure she has a good BM once a week. I'm still thankful to have one a day.

18 months

I must admit (and it's quite obvious) that I don't blog much about my gluten intolerance. It's been a long battle this last year and a half that I sort of put on the back burner. It's not that I don't follow a gluten free AND dairy free lifestyle, but it's not something I put much time into. I eat food I can eat, don't go out as easily as I used to, and go on with life.

Going gluten free has been a HUGE inconvenience. I am thankful, 18 months later, to not deal with many stomachaches any more, perhaps one every two weeks, and not nearly as painful as they used to be. Whatever stomach pains I have now I associate more so with stress, anxiety, and the IBS I will perhaps forever struggle with.

In the last 18 months I graduated from college, moved, got a new "real" job, and survived my first year out of school. It's been a hellish year, but I am on the back end of it now, I hope. All that being said, I didn't have much energy to put into being creative with my diet or experimenting with new recipes or ingredients.

I realized this was especially true when at a celebratory dinner the other night a friend/co-worker revealed to another co-worker, "she eats tuna sandwiches on rice cakes!" To which I cringed at the thought. I eat some weird things and sadly am ashamed of most of them! Sure, I have always had some odd eating habits (thanks mom), but it's only gotten worse since going gluten free.

So what do I miss about gluten?

I miss the ease of making a sandwich for lunch, eating at Subway, baking cookies that don't melt over the entire pan, holiday goodies, Saturday morning pancakes, Texas Sheet Cake, eating out without modifying the menu, pizza, burgers with buns, not drawing attention to myself for what I eat, not having to think about the food I am about to put in my mouth, and free food provided by special events. The list goes on, believe me.

But to be honest, it's not that bad anymore. I have found a variety of restaurants that cater to my food issues and most the people around me understand my issues and trust my judgement. 18 months later I am finally feeling mostly OK, and believe me, that is a HUGE relief! I don't feel perfect all the time, but who actually does these days? Over caffeination, extreme servings or fat, sugar, and sodium along with diet soda, eating while driving/running/standing, consuming portions too big for any human make it quite easy to suffer from occasional digestive discomfort.

All that rambling to say I have GOT to start making more of an effort with my diet. It's about time I remember to enjoy what I consume through that pie hole in my face.

Blank Stares

Tonight I hosted and led my 8th grade girls small group with little success. OK, that's an understatement. The girls are great, they had fun eating, destroying my home and making themselves more than comfortable, but the problem lies when we actually get to the Bible. Blank stares. That's all I got. Blank stares. It seriously felt like pulling teeth to get anything out of them. Half way through I did not even know where I was going anymore. Whatever train of thought I had writing the lesson went out the window as I got stared down by all those beady eyes looking down on me.

Better luck next week?

Pet Peeve

I think it is incredibly rude to cut people off in the middle of their sentence. It is especially rude to never acknowledge your criminal offense nor go back to their original statement.

Why do I think it is rude do you ask?

It is rude because it implies that you don't actually care what I have to say.

It is rude because it tells me you think what you have to say is more important.

It is rude because it shows you are impatient.

It is rude because it implies you have all the answers and don't care to know what I think.

It is rude because it disrupts my train of thought.

It is rude because it brings the conversation back to you and your thoughts.

It is rude because it drives me insane.

It is rude because it hurts my feelings.

Being cut off implies the other person was never listening to you in the first place. Even when "quietly" paying attention to you they are never really paying attention because the only thing they can think of is what they plan to say next. I cannot say I have never done this before as it is is easy to do, it is part of conversation. But I can pat myself on the back for trying very hard not to cut others off, almost always letting others get a word in edgewise, and regularly reverting conversations back to let others finish their thoughts. Toot, toot. There went my horn.

This lack of etiquette makes me appreciate the great friends in life who try their best NOT to cut you off, but when they do, always make a point to redirect the conversation to its original direction. I have a close friend who is very good about doing this. To this friend I say THANK YOU. You remind me that some people really are aware of their actions and care about the person they are talking to. It is NOT all about you.

If you are going to cut someone off, do it on the road-at least you'll never be face to face with that person.

Yet again...

...I find that it is very tricky to have a weekend off! I guess it's kind of like planning a wedding and then having to plan on another person executing all your plans on the day of. As a "coordinator" you are a wealth of knowledge that no one else is in the loop on-unless you prepare them. It can be difficult, but it is also something I am getting better at. The best I can do is communicate what I know in the simplest terms possible. Maybe it's that I am a control freak, or maybe it's that I don't want to lose my job. O.K., maybe I am being dramatic again, but it's a valid fear when all goes to the crapper when you're not there...especially when it's happened before.

Thankfully I have great volunteers who are more than capable to step in, up, and get all over it! They see the need, and are getting better each week at being proactive versus reactive. Shoot, I am trying to get better about that too.

All that to say, I have this weekend off with no plans. This is weird...I am not quite sure what to do with myself. This is not normal for me. Let's hope I don't freeze in the freedom like a caged bird.

Travels with Moses

One of the perks of working at a church, at working in Children's ministry, is that it is not uncommon to come across some fabulous curriculum, games, toys, crafts, pictures...you name it and it's got to be fabulous.

Well, last week, in the chaos of pre-vacation preparation, along with a few co-workers came across a pretty fabulous Moses action figure. Yes, action figure. Not only does he have functioning limbs and hand, but he also lists the 10 commandments at the push of a button. Well, it was too good to pass up, so Moses has now become our own version of Flat-Stanley (I don't actually know who or what this is but apparently everyone else does) or traveling Gnome.

So, here is the start of Moses' adventures out of the Old Testament. Please enjoy and think of what great places you might also want to take Moses.

Travels with Moses: Denver, Colorado 2009

Moses at Garden of the God

Garden of the Gods

My purse

Cracker Barrel

Relaxing at Cracker Barrel

The over-turned car

IN the over-turned car

With Aiden

...more adventures to come :)

2 Epiphanies, 1 Day

I recently learned a few things about life. One was more of a shocker than the other, but here goes...

1. Preparing to take time off from work takes just as much time as the time you would actually put in during that time off. I know, I know, I have heard this all my life, but only recently did that statement come to resonate with me.

A few months ago I scheduled to take one weekday off of work and one Saturday service, which accumulates to about 12 hours of work-a day and a half. Easier said than done. In general preparing to take a weekend day off can be quite stressful, especially when something "special" is going on at church. You just never know what will effect your numbers, and you definitely can never prepare enough for the volunteers who will inevitably not show up. So that, coupled with the kick-off of our newly structured mid-week program created for an interesting, be it, busy week...with a few in-office tears. Man, I have got to cut back on those!

After a grueling (OK, maybe an over-exaggeration) 12 hour long day on Tuesday I am supposed to, and usually do, enjoy my 1/2 day Wednesday where I leave by 1 or 2pm. This Wednesday was not so joyous. I got through the meetings, through the e-mails, through the in-office tasks to be done, only to rush to San Diego to jump back on the computer to complete a mess of e-mails, finish the activity for a lesson, send out the all-important volunteer e-mail, change my voicemail to say I will be out of the office, turn on my out-of-office reply on my e-mail and who knows what else. Finally come 12am and it's time for bed. Phew. Oh, and this was after staying up Tuesday night "post-work" to label and stuff 250 parent letters. I love my job, I love my job.

Long story short, I made it to vacation, with most if not all my ducks in a row. Maybe a slightly angled row, but a row nonetheless. And as far as I know thus far, none of my ducks have been shot.

2. Just because as a child you dealt with a lot of unnecessary, difficult crap, that does not necessarily mean you are ahead of the game as an adult; you're 20's are your 20's no matter your family, your race, gender, religion, location, or your upbringing.

20's are difficult. I am more confident and opinionated in some areas while totally confused in others. I am too responsible yet not responsible enough. I am living the life while stressing through most of it. I, I, I....it's all about me. Is that what your 20's are for?

Just because my dad this or my mom that, just because I moved here, there, and everywhere, just because I did not have this or get to celebrate that, I am not better off than anyone else. I have struggles like everyone else. Some of them look the same, others more unique.

I guess these new realities prove that I am an adult and that I am growing up. These are the growing pains that hurt. These are the pains I'd do O.K. without. If only it were a choice...is it?

P.S. Did you know the term "epiphany" actually refers to Christ's revelation to the Gentiles by the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12)? It also refers to the Christian celebration of this event which is celebrated on January 6th.