Check-In December 2008

[aklap]

Last night's snow was another reminder that it is indeed winter here in the northern latitudes. I got to try out my new snowblower this morning. It works pretty well however it will take me awhile to get used to it. I've used my old one for about 30+ years.

We are in the process of getting geared up for Christmas around here. Over the weekend Peg did a bunch of decorating. We put the tree up, put our Snoopies outside, made sure the outside lights worked.

Peg's family is having their Christmas on Sunday since her niece will be back home. Things might be a bit less hectic on the 24/25th this year.

The support group is going well. We've had 2 meetings so far, thankfully we only meet every other month. It gives us a bit of a breather. Speaking of the group - I've got some flyers and brochures that I need to get done. ACK!

Nothing much new on the GF front...keeping status quo

How 'bout everybody else?

For those that may be new...Check-In is a place to introduce yourself, tell us how things have been going, whatever comes to mind. If you post your progress in the GF diet, you can use it as a gauge to see how you've progressed. You can check back over the months a get a snap shot of how things were...

The Check-In Time Tunnel

Here's what we were doing last year.
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[sweetea]

Ok, HI everyone! This is my first 'check in' post.

We put up all our xmas decorations too... got trees lit up outside ... and two put up in the house. One in the front room and one in the TV room. The one in the front room is all white lights and silver, yellow, gold and blue bulbs. The tree in the TV room has color lights and has all the family ornaments.

This weekend we'll be driving to Wisc for my Dh's family gathering. I'm a bit grumpy about it because I'm not really good at the travel diet plan yet...so I guess that will be on my 'to do' list this week...to figure out how to pack up some munchies and meals for me so I don't get tempted to try something I might think is 'safe' only to find out in the middle of the night (or next morning on the road back home) that was a food that I should have avoided.

I'll be gluten free for a full month on the 4th... and I'm feeling a lot better. My digestion feels all normal again... but the 'reflux' feeling is still mild...and hit or miss. Can't figure out if I have another food sensitivity? I'm hoping it's not dairy... coz I loves me some cheese. And I like to eat plain low fat yogurt to settle my stomach...but maybe it's only a temporary thing and it's aggrevating my stomach.

I really hope going gluten free heals my stomach...and the 'gallbladder' issues go away with it.

It's really great to be here... and I've gotten so much info from this website! I'd like to thank you all!

Ok next update...

Oh... question... I keep having this little headachy feelings...anyone have these as they started to go GF?

[isto]

[ostrich]

Well, I survived Thanksgiving. Let's see if I can survive Christmas. If you don't hear from me after the 25th just assume I died in some horrific Christmas feast glutening.

The Christmas decorations, lights, and tree are up. I really, really hate doing that before Thanksgiving. But we had relatives over who've never seen our house, let alone our house all decked out. So up went the Christmas stuff. Now I just need to figure out how to get my cat to stop perching in the tree. We also appear to be the only people in the neighborhood who didn't put up white icicle lights. Are those "in" this year? I'm so bad at these things.
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Ostrich :>--O==={

Time falls away, but these small hours
These little wonders still remain

[cruelshoes]

I spaced out my update for last month, so I will make sure to do one this month.

We survived Thanksgiving very well. For the first time ever, I was able to make pumpkin pies out of pumpkins from my very own garden! They were delicious. I am really excited that we are still getting carrots and lettuce from our garden in December!

The baby has learned the really neat trick of climbing out of her crib. Nothing is scarier than to come in to the room, and see her perched on the top of the side rail swinging her leg over to make her descent. So the crib has been dismantled and she is now sleeping in one of those play yard things (can’t call them playpens anymore cause it makes kids sound like pets.) She can still climb in and out, but at least it is close to the floor.

All of our chickens are going through a hard molt. It’s something chickens go through occasionally when they lose all their feathers and then grow them back. When they molt, they stop laying. I really miss the fresh eggs! Believe me, there is nothing uglier than a molting chicken! They look like they have been through a blender.

I filled out the paperwork to make my support group a Gluten Intolerance group Partner. We are now listed on their webpage, and I am starting to get inquiries from people about coming to our group. I got one yesterday from a woman whose 2 children (7 and 11) were just diagnosed with celiac, and she was looking for support. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to help people through this. I am such a dork about things like this, but I really love our support group, and I want to make it grow, grow, grow!!!!

The program for the 2009 GIG conference is complete, and nearly half the speakers have been identified. It should be available on the GIG page in February or so. It’s so thrilling to have the conference coming to Seattle next year. I really hope some of you decide to come so we can have a close encounter!
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-Colleen

Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handcart?

[kscolorado]

This is my first check in too! I also survived Thanksgiving. I bought a pumpkin pie from Outside of the Breadbox (dairy free version) and it was very very good. Everyone was impressed! I bought my first fake tree in the 24 years that we have been married. I always suffered with sinus pains from real one's so I asked hubby and kids if we could go fake this year and had only the youngest complain (she's 17). I spent more than I should to get the realest one possible. As far as how I feel. I got glutened eating out on Saturday night and today am starting to feel normal again. Aside from that, the no dairy and soy lite seems to be working.
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Kathy

[forinajoy]

Hi all! we had a great Thanksgiving Day....and then.....Ina got glutened ...I have no doubt it was a CC issue...it is almost impossible to avoid at MIL's house....she tries really hard, but her house/kitchen is so cluttered....I always feel like there is flour lurking everywhere...anyway Ina did not get sick until about an hour before we left to go home on Friday...at this point she started whining and at first I thought she was just tired, but we got in the car and she started telling me that she had a tummyache and within an hour the big D started, we had to stop about every 30 minutes...poor thing....(we had a 6 hour drive without the frequent stops)....we all thought we would never get home, but she finally fell asleep (which she never does in the car) and we made it home.....her tummy is still not back to normal, but the Big D has stopped.....I am going to push for Thanksgiving to be at my house next year......Ina is so funny, she said "at least it isn't a milk reaction"....milk makes her mean (no kidding)....

Anyway, we have been putting up Christmas Decorations this week....it feels a little wierd, because it is the first year that I have done this without my oldest 2 children...one of which is married and the other who is in graduate school and has permantly moved away (when he was in undergraduate school he came home every weekend)....I am really looking forward to them coming home for Christmas... I miss them alot.....We have not done outside lights and do not know if we will....my oldest DD always did these and now that she is gone, my Hubby will have to and he is just soo busy....but the inside of the house is all decked out ...

Isto, I sure hope that you get to feeling better...you are in my prayers

Al, love the pic...I am jealous...we rarely get snow in my neck of the woods

Welcome ks and swettea...I am glad that y'all are aboard...
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Connie, mom to Ina, 14 y/o with CD

[Deb]

I am not much for snow anymore. I spent my years of having fun in it, and I used to love to go Christmas shopping in the snow...now, I want 60 all winter!

I remember when I used to think I had to have a real Christmas tree, now I have a fake one too. Kev bought me a pine scented candle last year, it smelled beautiful, but I can't breathe when it's burning! So, I either die happy, or moan that it doesn't smell like Christmas!

The neighbors are all putting lights up, it's all very pretty, except for the one house that has their lights on an obnoxious blinking system, it actully makes my tummy queasy to see it going.

All the talk here is about the poor Walmart worker that was trampled to death on Black Friday. There is nothing in a store worth killing another person over. What is wrong with our society. I have never been a Black Friday shopper, and now, I never will be!

I have an appt with the sleep doctor tomorrow. He isn't going to be happy with me. Our brains are very powerful. He put me on sleeping pills that should make me sleep for at least 7 hours..at first, I was sleeping 7 1/2 hours, but not, a month later, my brain has shooed the pills away, and I am back to sleeping less. Waking up at 5:30 again. I have such a stubborn old body.

Merry Christmas everyone.
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You can't discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore!

[zip2play]

Well I had a fabulous Thanksgiving in colorado. I loved every minute of it. We got there on Wednesday and it was sunny and 55 degrees, NO SNOW! But by Thanksgiving afternoon, the snow started and didn't stop! When we left Sunday morning it was still snowing! Not fun for our already 9 hour drive, but it WAS fun to play in. We went Tubing in Keystone, hiking near our cabin and the kids went to Ski school. First time for them and they loved it. Instructors said they couldn't believe neither had had on ski's before!

Look at my fools:





Now it is December, this is my altime favorite time of year. It starts in October with the pumpkin patches and my daughters birthday, November with Thanksgiving and December with my son's birthday/sister's birthday and Christmas/New Years! I just love it all! WE decorated for Christmas at the house before we left for Colorado! I collect Santa's and I have 2 trees CHUCK full of santa ornaments! We put up 3 big trees at the house and 3 small ones!

My shopping is all done, the cards are all ordered (should get to us on Monday) and hope to have them out by Wednesday! THen we get to celebrate Son's birthday next weekend and we will blink and it will be Christmas. I made the fleece no sew blankets for many and I have had those done since 11/22!

I love the snow and thus far, NO SNOW in KS! but it is early, right?

Enjoy the season everyone!
Monica

[luvscowznh]

Survived Thanksgiving and a visit from my FIL. It's hard having a mixed household with guests. We kept having to explain why he couldn't spread mayo on his NGF sandwich then put the knife back in for more. I couldn't keep as good of a handle on him since I was also wrangling Joey.

I used the Gluten Free Pantry's Best Pie Crust Mix this year as an experiment. My crust tasted like my mom's NGF homemade-from-scratch crust. I was really happy with the way it turned out. My husband loved my pumpkin pie and my FIL loved my pecan pie. FIL said it was the best he'd had. That made me really happy.

Hopefully we will get our tree this weekend. I am allergic to most trees, so we are getting a pre-lit one this year. I have my cards and just need to take some time to get them all addressed and sent out. Haven't really started my shopping yet. This year, we're on a fairly tight budget for Christmas, so there isn't much to get.

Right now, we are dealing with Joey teething. I hope those little buggers come in soon. Poor little man is miserable. Been about 2 1/2 weeks already. Just after he started sleeping through the night. Now he's up every 5 hours or so. My husband and I are taking turns getting up to feed him.

--Manda
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[rpf1007]

Gosh, it seemed like November flew by! I think December will be the same. I actually had to work over thanksgiving so I had no food/family issues to deal with or survive! That made it kind of relaxing.

I am interviewing these days which unfortunately means a lot of travel and food stress! I'm heading up to Toronto next week- but fortunately I can stay at my parent's place and there is an AMAZING health food store across the street with everything I need. Also, for this interview lunch is "on my own" which let me breath a huge sigh of relief. I'm getting a little paranoid that my food issues are going to make someone not take me. Probably stupid but it's on my mind.

Otherwise- no real food issues recently. I bought all the stuff I needed to make sugar cookies- so that will be my project for the weekend! So excited
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Rachel

[celiacmaine-iac]

Hi all! I always forget to do these, thinking there is more month left than there actually is, so I'm jumping in early.

I have now been GF for 1 year and 1 month. I've learned so much in that time. This forum and the people on it have been my main "go to", and I'm so grateful to all of you. Thanks.

Thanksgiving was great! Totally GF. My weaving teacher joined us this year, and she was amazed how good everything was GF. She said she would not have been able to tell the difference. That made me feel good!

Not much happening here. I've been busy finishing up Christmas gifts. Still have to make a 1700's style waistcoat for my DH to wear when he's doing living history demos. Also need to make a few batches of peanut brittle, and needhams. Since my kiddos all moved away I have a really hard time getting in the mood to decorate for Christmas. Not feeling sorry for myself, I just think I must have done most of it in the past for their benefit more than mine. I think I'm just going to put up a small tree in the dining room this year. A tree in the living room involves moving a bunch of furniture, which is logistically difficult because of the wood stove.

Hope everyone's holidays are wonderful no matter what you celebrate!
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Steph

[nancw]

Hey Monica - when you were in Keystone did you see the free, outdoor concert late Friday afternoon? The stage van and video came from the company I work for.

November was unusually warm for us, which I appreciated. I had a killer head cold for the past 2 or 3 weeks, which seems to be going around and around these parts. I started using a neti pot to flush my nasal passages. It seemed to help a lot.

Mellow Thanksgiving at the in-laws. After feeling like crap for two weeks following last Thanksgiving at their house, I brought my own food this year. I'm just not willing to take any chances anymore. Christmas dinner is at our house, so I have control over all of the food. Our boss takes us to Morton's for our holiday party, and I know I can eat safely there. Since we don't eat out anymore, DH and I had a date night at Morton's last month and it was really great. I figure, we aren't normally spending the $ to eat out like we used to, so why not blow it all on one meal? It was worth it just to have a nice dinner with my honey with no kids around.

Our company is moving into a new building at the end of the month. I'm looking forward to nicer digs, but am losing my office window. Any suggestions on good, full-spectrum lights to keep me happy and sunny through the winter?

I just came home from attempting to shop at a mall. I feel icky and dehydrated, and found nothing I wanted to buy. Pretty dismal out there. I like online shopping much better...too much.


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Nance

gluten, dairy, soy, rice, yeast and 99% grain-free

[mrsppmrxky]

I think that it has been several months since I have posted on the checkin threads. I haven't had much to say lately to anyone anywhere. Life seems to be rolling along and a steadily slow pace with our getting anywhere on the disability claims for my hubby. It is very stressful and I will admit a little frightening when there is only a little bit of $$$ coming in and then when you ask for help because you have exhausted your resources to be told that you do not need help because you are not behind on your mortgage payments. LOL

I am just in utter over this point! That is the 1 bill we have been paying because we did not want to risk getting to live under a bridge in a cardboard box with the 2 cats.

So, I decided this month to use the mortgage payment to pay the other bills and send a copy of the 'did not pay the mortgage' to the agencies that are supposed to be looking into the claims. Gov't red tape is so much fun to understand

Life has been really strange lately around her. (sorry if this sounds like a drag...................that is basically why I haven't posted. I feel as if I am the "party pooper' lately.)

I went home for Thanksgiving week before Thanksgiving. I had not been able to go home for a year to SC. I had to make the trip this month because my sister that is a few years older than me discovered that she has colon rectal cancer. The surgeon went in to do the surgery and found that the tumor had grown from a golf ball to a fist size in 2 weeks time. It has breached her intestinal wall, so he closed her up and installed a colostomy. She will start chemo and radiation in 2wks time and after going 5 days a week for 6 weeks, she will be tested and then have the surgery to remove the cancer. He said the type she has responds well to treatment and should shrink to a managable size to be sure he removes all of it. She will face more surgery later to remove the colostomy.

I stayed with our mother. She has dementia and is very distraught over my sister. Having to be the 'rock' of support for all the family and try to convince them my sister needs positive support and not weeping or sad faces was difficult. (either I came off as unfeeling to the rest or that I knew it was okay..............either way, the die has been cast that I am the cheerleader when all I want to do is cry.)

The stress has finally taken it's toll and I did not have a good visit with the caridologist yesterday. My cholestrol is through the roof as well as my triglycerides. (poor speller here. LOL) I am basically a heart attack waiting to happen.

He took away all of my comfort foods and wants me on Lipitor, but after reading the problems it can cause and knowing the problems I already have, I am not sure which is worse to do or not do.

I am charing BP and tonight it was in the stroke zone, so I am in the process of trying to 'chill', 'relax' and 'mellow out'. You think I can do that?

I am now needing to eat foods that hubby can't have and he has to have meals for foods that are forbidden. I am having to cook two meals instead of 1 now and I am still supposed to be relaxing. LOL If I ever figure that out, I will be a one shocked person. LOL

I did get 3 casseroles made for hubby today and me a big pot of soup. I made portions for the next 2 days and then froze the other portions. SO< now I am relaxing.

Needless to say, with the economy and our situation, we will be having a Charlie Brown Christmas. (I am not decorating................I am relaxing.) I am not hosting the Christmas dinner at our house this year ( I am relaxing) I am not running around shopping. (this year having no money will = relaxing because it cuts out shopping in crowds and not having to wrap everything all by myself. LOL)

I might get the hang of this relaxing before too long. LOL

I did speak with my sister that has cancer about possibly considering going GF. Even though she is an RN and she knows that we 'need' to be GF for our health, that isn't what caused her cancer, so she doesn't need to be GF.

On the bright side, my DD in Germany sends me pictures of my beautifully handsome grandson and is making movies of him climbing over things in the floor and crawling and getting into his toy basket. That cheers me up and reminds me that it isn't all about me.

Forgive the downer in the catching up thread this month. I have held it in for a long time and it had to come out or bust..................if you now feel down, please don't just take a deep breath with me and we will 'relax' together.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a GF celebration without CC!
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[nancw]

Oh Mrs.P...I'm breathing with you and sending positive thoughts for the family.
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Nance

gluten, dairy, soy, rice, yeast and 99% grain-free