Rub With Love

Have you tried this? Got a huge tub of it at Costco, having never tried it before (risky, I know), and I'm happy to report that we love it! So far, we've had it on grilled salmon and tonight we're trying it on grilled chicken breasts.

Week #2 of Food Elimination Diet

The other day Katie told me she can take care of herself. So, I asked her if she can drive herself to school and she said, "Well, no." "And, can you cook your own dinner", I asked. She thought about it for a second and admitted, "No, I can't. But, Mom you have to help me to take care of myself!"

This is week #2 of my food elimination diet. I'm surprisingly satisfied with the foods that I can have. I was concerned that I'd spend a lot of energy fighting cravings for all the foods I can't have right now. That's a relief. So far, anyway.

Almost every day this past week, I woke up with a pounding headache. Some of them migraines. However, today I woke up feeling good and felt good all day! Wow, what a treat. Maybe it's the beginning of feeling better.

I messed up a few times during the first week when I unintentionally ate food on my elimination list because it was hidden and I either didn't read the label closely enough or forgot to read it at all! For instance, it never occurred to me that wheat would be in soy sauce! Or, canola oil in peanut butter! And, some companies put wheat in deli meat. Good grief. Even though I made a few mistakes that first week, I haven't made any this week, that I know of.

Just another 100 degree day!

I am in Portland this weekend and they were calling for great weather... it is sunny and 103 by my car thermometer! I just got back from getting a massage - it was really relaxing and a great way to get out of an apartment without air conditioning. Suzie did the same thing in Seattle and Katie is off with her favorie (okay only) sitter playing in the park.

I need to go into the office and finish the employee quarterly meeting presentation so perhaps I will do that tomorrow. For now, I am just relaxing and thinking about shopping this evening to get out of the heat and to pick up the last few things for vacation. I can't wait... we are headed to NYC for a night and then off to a Canadian cruise for a week. We then head to Virginia to visit with Mom and Dad as well as my sister and her family. Katie can't wait to see her cousins (I actually think she believes they are all her cousins - Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents!). She is so excited about the trip. It will be nice to spend two whole weeks with them.

It is starting to get a little hard being in two different cities. Work wants to help get all of us comfortably in Portland so they asked me to look around and see if I can find a house or something bigger to lease (they are paying for my corporate apartment but it is just too small for everyone). I started to check a few things out and will use my HR staff to see what they can find out. I would love more square footage, a garage and air conditioning!

Katie is done with dance and on to soccer. She loves it and has worn her soccer uniform almost every day since she got it a week ago. I looked all over and couldn't find anything close in the stores that resembled a soccer outfit (it would be nice to change clothes!) so I looked on the tag and ordered more matching set in six different colors. I am sure that everyone on the east coast will only see Katie in a soccer outfit! They get here on Wednesday. I don't think they will have the soccer ball on the front but they will all have her number (2) on the back.

Well... off to eat dinner. Enjoy the weekend.

Bonnie's Results...

She is reactive to the following 18 foods:

Almond, Amaranth, Barley, Kidney Bean, Cheese, Coconut, Egg, Cow's Milk, Goat's Milk, Mustard, Pork, Canola, Rye, Sesame, Spinach, Wheat, Baker's Yeast, Brewer's Yeast

*The red items are the ones she and I have in common.

Managing Food Sensitivities

Here's what I have to do... Eliminate all 26 foods on my list for 12 weeks. On the 13th week, begin adding one food item back into my diet, each week. If I experience no symptoms after adding that food, then I can keep it. However, it's important not to eat it every day because my body would likely develop a reaction again.

So, it's possible that I could end up adding all of those foods on my list back into my diet. But first, I have to get through the 12 weeks of abstinence.

Oh no! I think I've become a cat lady...

I dropped Katie off at preschool and drove from there to the shelter where I picked up 2 of Sparkle's 6 siblings. Since Sparkle and Max aren't getting along, and I didn't want to return Sparkle to the shelter, I thought this was the best way to go.

One of the new kittens was covered in poop, so the first thing I had to do was bathe him. So, I ran some warm, soapy water in the laundry room sink and dipped him in. He didn't like it so much, but didn't really fight me. That is, until I did the stupidest thing ever... I turned the faucet on so I could rinse him off with clean water. Well, the noise of the running water made him crazy. The claws came out and he twisted his little head around toward my hand and bit me hard. Even so, I managed to keep a hold of him, turned the water off and decided bathtime was officially over! Don't worry, he didn't get hurt. Can't say the same for myself, though!

I put the three kittens in a large cat playpen, with everything they need. Sparkle seemed to recognize her siblings and almost immediately she wanted to play. The two new ones were a bit on edge, not yet able to relax and play. Even now, it's been all day since their reunion and I don't think the two newbies are relaxed enough to enjoy themselves. Hopefully tomorrow they'll settle down enough to frolic together.

Every day for the next two weeks, I have to give each of the three kittens antibiotics. I was nervous about doing it tonight because they still see me as a threat. The claws came out, but if I grab the scruff of their neck, I can avoid getting hurt.

Hopefully it won't be too long before they purr when I pick them up!

The Results Are In...

The following 26 foods make up my list of

things that could be the cause of my chronic aches and pains:

almond, asparagus, brazil nut, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cashew nut, cauliflower, chili pepper, egg, eggplant, garlic, cow's milk, millet, mustard, onion, pineapple, sweet potato, white potato, canola, radish, tomato, wheat, yam, baker's yeast, brewer's yeast.

My doctor gave me a lot of information to read about how to go about elminating these foods and suggested I use the next week to figure it all out and wait until I'm comfortable with how to do it before I actually start.

My goal is to begin eliminating all these foods next Monday.

Yikes. It's not gonna be easy, but I'm willing to try it.

Cat Spat

Okay well, bringing home another foster kitten (Katie named her Sparkle) to play with our sole-survivor kitten (Katie and Regina named him Max) isn't quite working out as well as I had hoped it would. I've resorted to having them in separate rooms!

Yesterday and the day before, I had them all in the same room, but different crates at night. Because I knew the Momma cat wasn't thrilled about Sparkle, I left her in the big cage all day while the kittens were loose in the room, in hopes that they would begin to like each other and play. Well, anytime they would run into each other (We would try to lure them together with cat toys.), Sparkle hissed and growled. Immediately, Max would back off and run over to the cage where his Mom was, climbing the outside of it, trying to get inside with her. So, for most of yesterday, I had the Mom and Max in the big cage while Sparkle was loose in the room so she could play and run around.

Later in the afternoon yesterday, I had all three of them loose in the room. The Momma growled and hissed at Sparkle, but kept her distance. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore and she lunged at Sparkle. I was on the floor with them at the time, so I reached out to pull her back. Both cats emerged unharmed, but I got a claw in my thumb that drew blood. So, that's what has prompted me to separate them.

This morning when I picked up Sparkle to move her and all her stuff, she purred, for the first time! She's a sweet kitten, but maybe she's not the right choice for Max. I don't know. Anyway, I'm thinking about calling today to see if her sibling has recovered from a case of diahrrea yet and if so, I could bring him here too, to keep his sister company until they can all be adopted in a few weeks.

Finally, the sun came out!

Our foster kitten - 7 weeks old.New foster kitten. It's a girl!
One of our cats ~ Mater.

Lake Sammamish
Katie playing in the water this afternoon.

Katie, the soccer player. Practicing in the backyard
after we got back from Red Robin.

Where's the SUN???

Our weatherman sucks! I kept hearing over and over that we were to have clouds in the morning, giving way to sun in the afternoon, everyday starting on Wed ~ 3 days ago. Well, at least here at our house, that's NOT happening. The sun has made an appearance only a couple of times, for a few minutes each time. Oh well, at least it's not raining, right?!

Katie started soccer yesterday. I signed her up for an Arena Sports Lil Kickers class in Klahanie. I didn't take video of her first class like I planned. Ended up talking the whole time to another Mom there. Next week I'll get pictures.

I have another appointment with Dr. Nowicki, the naturopathic doctor I met with a couple of weeks ago, to discuss the results of my blood work. In particular, we will go over the list of foods on my "food sensitivity" results. I spoke to him briefly when I was in there with Bonnie this past week and he said he skimmed the results. He said I have around 26 foods that I'm sensitive to which could be causing some or all of my problems. I'll find out on Tues (6/17) what those foods are and what I need to do about it.

Yesterday we got another kitten, for our little sole survivor kitten to pal around with. So far, they are not getting along! Of course, the Momma is pissed. So, we're taking it very slowly.

Quinoa (Kee-nwah)

The other day I was browsing the bulk food section at PCC and came across a bin of quinoa. I'd heard about it from Dr. Oz on Oprah a while back, but never got around to looking for it. He raved about how nutritious it is and highly recommended it.

Today I had some for lunch and discovered that I like it. I mixed it up with black beans and cheese, like you would rice. In fact, you cook it like you do rice, and I imagine you can do all the same things with it that you would do with rice, and it's better for you. It's especially great for vegetarians because it is high in protein, compared to other grains like rice. Although I read that it's not technically a grain, but it's treated like one.

I fixed it again for dinner, but this time l wanted to see how it would turn out in the rice cooker. It came out perfectly cooked. I mixed it up with ham and asparagus, and a little soy sauce. Yummy!

Kung Fu Panda

over the weekend, we saw this movie.
we all enjoyed it.
it kept Katie's interest.
for the most part, anyway.
she giggled a lot.
but some of it was scary
to a four-year-old.
even so,
we all enjoyed it.

Rice Cooker and Warmer

I've been using this non-stop lately and I love it!
Mostly for white and brown rice or steel cut oatmeal.
It does a beautiful job, every time.

It's made by Zojirushi, model number NS-LAC05.

Check it out.

Hooked on LOST

I have finally succeeded in finding someone to watch all four seasons of LOST dvds with me, from the beginning! My sister Bonnie agreed to watch them with me! Hurray! She saw a little bit of it when it first aired, but not enough to feel compelled to watch it every week. We're about to watch the 2-episode finale of the first season and she's hooked! There is so much going on in this show that each episode I rewatch, brings up numerous things that I either forgot or just simply didn't catch when I watched it the first time. This is just too much fun!

Very Quick Update

Katie's favorite part of eating a cupcake...

the frosting, of course!

My sister, Bonnie, got here a week ago. It's been raining almost every day since she arrived, so we've not done much sight seeing. She's gonna be here for several weeks, so we might as well wait until nicer days to get out and about.

Regina came home this weekend and is still here for jury duty tomorrow. I made her an appointment with the naturopathic doctor I met with a couple of weeks to see if he can get to the bottom of her headaches too. I'm guessing she'll be doing the food allergy testing, too.

The momma cat is already weaning her kitten. He's almost 7 weeks old and she started weaning him at least 2 weeks ago, maybe 3. So, he's learning to take care of himself a little earlier than I expected he would have to. He's doing well, but seems to be having some trouble with constipation, on and off. I'm hoping tomorrow to take the momma cat back to the shelter to get her spayed and I'll bring a couple of orphaned kittens home with me to play with our kitten. He's very playful and really needs some buddies his own age. It's gonna get crazy around here!

Gastrointestinal Distress... BIG Time!

Yikes! Today was so miserable!

This morning I had the same amount of Xylitol in my coffee that I'd had the last two mornings without incident. However, today I put it on my oatmeal too. Well, that was evidently TOO much. My digestive tract was in extreme turmoil all day long. Only now, after eating a huge batch of plain rice a couple of hours ago, am I beginning to feel close to normal. I can't wait to get Katie into bed so I can relax!

Being A Slug...

I am in Portland this weekend and the week (it was even a short one) seemed to really take it out of me. I did take a 2 mile walk and watch the Hokies lose in the Softball World Series... but since then it has all been movies! Wild Hogs, DaVinci Code, Failure to Launch and a Bruce Willis movie (can't remember the name of it). I feel rested but now I am missing everyone. I thought about driving to Seattle but since it is after 7pm probably not a good idea.

I am headed back to Seattle next weekend and get to stay for some of the following week as I have been called to Jury Duty again! I think this is the fifth time! Guess I need to do my civic duty... but it seems like they could get more people if they have a voluntary option and only "draft" people if they don't get enough volunteers.

Well, I hear another movie starting... wonder what it is?!

Headache Update

I had an appointment with a naturopathic physician a couple of days ago. My primary care physician urged me to do so in hopes that he can help me with my chronic headaches.

I do think my sinus surgery was beneficial in that I am finally infection-free and congestion-free. However, I am NOT headache-free. I continue to wake up pretty much every day with a headache. Some days, like yesterday, it was a relentless, pounding pain that negatively impacted most of my day. It was a three-pain-pill day and I went to bed early. Today I woke up with a headache as well, though not quite as intense. About two hours after taking pain medicine, it had subsided enough that I could function normally. I'm grateful for that because I had to be able to take Katie to a classmate's birthday party.

Anyway, back to my appointment with the naturopathic physician. His name is Dr. John Nowicki (he introduces himself as Dr. John) and I have to say, I was NOT looking forward to telling yet another doctor my sad and depressing headache history. But, he's one of those people you instantly feel comfortable around and I had no problem sharing my story with him.

He said he LOVES treating people with chronic headaches, especially migraines. He, himself, used to suffer from them, but he no longer does. The cause of his own headaches turned out to be the same cause of headaches in most of his patients. Food allergies. He's not talking about the people who are allergic to peanuts, or shellfish, etc., where they have to carry an epi-pen around at all times, but it's possible to be allergic to foods without really realizing it because the symptoms are so common, like headaches or depression or aches and pains, etc. He found out which foods he is allergic to, he now avoids those foods, and he no longer suffers from migraines. So, that's where he wants me to start, by taking a food allergy blood test. I went to the lab yesterday to get my blood drawn. I should know something within the next 7-10 days. I'm excited to find out if this could be the cause of my chronic headaches, but also fearful it'll come back and say I need to eliminate huge food groups, like wheat or dairy. That's very hard to do, but if that's what I have to do to live headache-free, I'll give it a try.

Something else he recommended is that I begin to eliminate artificial ingredients from my diet. That means fewer processed foods, more time in the kitchen making things from scratch. He specifically said to get rid of artificial sweeteners. Well, I love my coffee every morning and in every cup I add a packet of equal or something comparable. He told me to throw that stuff out and use xylitol instead. It's a completely natural sugar substitute, has fewer calories than sugar and actually tastes good without an aftertaste. It can be used in baking and cooking, although I read there's some reason it can't be used in recipes for yeast-based breads. It reacts with the yeast, somehow. Maybe prevents it from rising. Oh, and also, it has several health benefits.

Anyway, I found it at PCC in Issaquah and it's about $8/lb. So, it's more expensive than regular sugar, but I really don't use that much on a daily basis anyway.

In addition to being more expensive than regular sugar, it also has another negative. It has a laxative effect on your body. So, if you decide to switch to it (like I am trying to), you'll want to do so slowly to allow your body time time to adjust. So far I'm having it only in the morning with my coffee and I haven't had any trouble. However, if you have trouble with constipation or irregularity, this laxative effect could work in your favor.

So, that's the latest development in my quest to rid my life of headaches. I'll keep ya posted.

New Clothes and Kitties

It's like all of the sudden the other day she outgrew 90% of her clothes! So, I hit the outlet mall in North Bend and got a few things for the warmer weather. In this picture, she's wearing one of the new outfits. She especially likes this shirt because it has flower beads on the front.

The first thing she wants to do every morning is visit with the foster kitties. I cleaned up their cage while Katie gave them some love, but I couldn't resist taking a break from cleaning to take a few pictures.

The kitten is now 5 weeks old and the Momma is weaning him. It's so hard to watch as the kitten struggles to nurse while the Momma is growling and pushing him away, harshly sometimes. He's clearly still getting some nourishment from her because he is growing, gaining weight and always has plenty of energy, but even so, I worry he's hungry. I have been trying for a few days now to get him to eat food, but he isn't interested. I'll keep trying anyway. I'm happy to report though, he is using the litter box!

Well, Katie has a birthday party at 11 this morning, so I need to get going. I'm cooking steel cut oatmeal in my rice cooker, which should be done about now. It does a wonderful job cooking oatmeal on the "porridge" setting. It's as if I have a chef downstairs cooking my breakfast!

If we are talking about TV shows...

...then tonight we see the beginning of the end for Men in Trees. It was a fun show on Friday nights (yes - my Friday nights are spent watching TV!) that was certainly entertaining. It has been cancelled but they are running the last few shows over the "summer."

I am really looking forward to watching ESPN this weekend as the Hokies are in the women's softball world series tournament in Oklahoma City! Go Hokies!