I changed my mind...

Okay, all that stuff I said about the weather... Just forget it okay. It is GORGEOUS outside. Not to brag or anything, but days like today remind me why I live here! It is sunny and, oh maybe 68 degrees outside. I took the kids straight to the park after school. I couldn't stand have them inside doing homework when it is so beautiful outside.

After my hubby was finished working we went outside and put up our tent. It is a really nice two room tent made out of canvas. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow. It is super nice. My dad is going to be so jealous when he sees it. It even has the opening for a wood stove in the front room. It is awesome.

I just wish it wasn't a school night so we could all sleep out there. I think Eric still might, he has the day off tomorrow. I offered to let him have Leela for the night, but he said no. I don't blame him, she is kind of a bed hog. It's an eight-man tent, but add one large, cuddly German Shepherd Dog and my poor husband would be crammed in one corner.

I think we might go camping over Memorial Weekend and break in our new tent. If we do I'll be sure to get some good pictures.

My Struggle

Okay, I'm going to get serious for a little while. I usually try to keep my blog here up-beat, but I think it's important to talk about struggles. If I'm going through this then other people are too, and maybe they want to read about it.

I am underweight. I'm not anorexic or bulimic, but I do have depression and anxiety issues. I also have Celiac Disease, which doesn't help things. When I get depressed, I don't eat. I know, I know, most people eat when they're upset. Well, I'm the opposite. I get an anxious stomach, and start feeling nauseous. When my stomach is upset I don't want to eat anything. Well, I'd been dealing with the anxiety for so long, that (according to my Doctor) I shut off my hunger trigger. Now, I actually forget to eat. I feed my kids, but then I get busy doing other things and forget to sit down and eat. I am under orders from my doctor to feed myself when I feed the kids, and I am really trying to stick to that.

I don't own a scale, so I don't know exactly how much I weigh, but in February I went in to the Doctor for some shoulder pain and when they weighed me I was 118 lbs. Which would be great, except that I am almost 5'9" tall. That puts my BMI (Body Mass Index)at 17.4. A normal weight person has a BMI of 18.5-24.9.

If someone finds out I'm underweight they'll usually tell me to eat more junk food or to 'carbo load'. Well, that's where the Celiac Disease complicates things. Celiac Disease is an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. That means I can't have most processed foods. There are lots of great products out there that are gluten-free, and more are coming out every day. These tend to be prohibitively expensive. And really hard to find. I can bake my own goodies, but one of the most serious symptoms of my depression is that I just don't have the energy to. This can be a vicious cycle, as being underweight makes me tired too. Food = Energy.

Being underweight causes me all kinds of other problems too. I get sick a lot. I usually catch every bug going around. It's not fun. There's that vicious cycle again. If I'm sick, I don't feel like eating anything. If I don't eat, I won't gain weight or have the nutrients I need. If I stay underweight, I get sick. On and on...


So there's my problem. Every day I fight. I won't give up, I'm too stubborn for that. Some days are better than others, but everyday is a fight. I plan to blog about this in the future, so consider yourself warned!

Photo credit: Tafkabecky at Flickr

Kill the Gluten!

I just found a great new gluten-free blog: Kill.the.Gluten

The ladies who write this blog are terrifically funny, and I just love it.

Great news! Betty Crocker is going launch a new line of gluten-free mixes! YAY! The most promising is the brownie mix, the one thing I miss the most from my pre-Celiac days. I am so excited, I just can't wait to try it out!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Okay, so I didn't wear any green today, but I do like St. Patty's Day. I am of Irish decent on my mom's side. Not Potato Famine Irish, but Revolutionary War Irish. So the whole "Kiss me I'm Irish" thing really applies to me. St. Patrick's Day is the one day a year when everyone who isn't Irish wishes they were. So it's the one day a year when people want to be me! I love it! I don't drink (even if I wasn't Mormon, the Celiac Disease would keep me away from any malt beverages), and I don't like corned beef and cabbage. So it is a minor holiday, but I am proud of my heritage. It's kind of nice when so many other people appreciate it too.

Marry a Handy Guy

I am married to a Handy Guy.

What can I say, I know how to pick 'em. My hubby just happens to be one of those people who are good at taking things apart, fixing whatever was wrong with it, and then putting it all back together. For all you single ladies out there, I highly recommend marrying a Handy Guy. It's great on so many levels. He saves us money all the time. Just in car repairs he has saved us thousands in the last 10 years of marriage. It is comforting too. I know when I hear a weird noise coming from one of my machines or appliances that my hubby will solve the mystery. And I have to admit, I find it incredibly sexy when he's doing the manly fix-it stuff. (I know, I know: overshare)

I love you Eric, Happy Valentine's Day!

25 Things

So the way this goes is if you get tagged you list 25 random things about yourself that people are not likely to know, then you tag 25 friends including the person who tagged you and they are supposed to make their own lists. Kind of like a chain letter, except no bad juju for not continuing the chain. This is my list:

1. I am not that into music. I don't have an ipod, and I don't plan to get one. I blame my apathy on the fact that in high school (formative music years) all my cars either had non-working radios, or radios that changed the channel when you turned the corner. It was just easier to have silence. I do enjoy music, I just don't have to have it playing all the time.

2. I love to cook, but I hate raw meat. Especially raw pork. I don't mind ground hamburger, but maybe that's because it doesn't look much like meat.

3. I have never gotten a ticket. I was pulled over once for speeding, but I was let off with a warning. That's it. Nothing else, not even a parking ticket.

4. I taught myself how to knit.

5. I love sleeping. I think napping should be made a social custom like siestas are in other countries.

6. I want to learn another language fluently.

7. I want to learn to play the piano, but I don't actually own a piano.

8. When I was 8 I wanted to be a nurse, untill I checked a book out from the library about surgery. That changed my mind pretty quick!

9. I wear a size 4 ring.

10. I could (and do) spend hours reading. I get so immersed in books that I can totally block out whatever is going on around me. My husband finds this both amusing and irritating.

11. I grew my hair out to my waist on a bet with my husband. Then I cut it off and donated it to Wigs For Kids.

12. I kill plants, but I love them. I cannot keep a house plant alive, no matter how hard I try. There is one plant in our house that is almost a year old, but my husband takes care of it by himself. I am not allowed to touch it.

13. I like artificial banana flavoring better than real bananas.

14. I love the smell of Almond Extract.

15. I love Old Hollywood. I mean really Old Hollywood. As in Silent Era or shortly after. My favorite actress is Norma Shearer, she retired in 1940.

16. My favorite gemstone is Opal. I also like pearls. I don't like diamonds that much, I think they're kind of boring.

17. I want to wear my hair in a 1920's finger wave. I would do it too, if I could afford to go to the salon to have it set every week.

18. I would wear a hat and gloves in public. If I had a hat and gloves, and the clothes that went along with it.

19. It kind of bothers me when my purse doesn't match my shoes.

20. I love shopping at Thrift Stores and Second Hand Shops, I feel like I'm on a treasure hunt.

21. I think horoscopes are fun, but I don't believe in them. I am a Libra and a Monkey, among other things.

22. I love living near the mountains, I actually get kind of anxious if I am too far away from them.

23. I love it when it is raining, but I hate it when it is overcast without raining.

24. I would rather have a too cold winter than a too hot summer.

25. I love sending and receiving real (snail) mail. I always try to write thank you cards, but they are usually very late.