17 Mai!

Our day began with our pool crashers returning, and they spend the whole day here. As nice as they may be they still made a mess out of the pool.

We also took a road trip through New York. We went to Brooklyn, Queens, and SoHo. It was a beautiful day to be out and about. Unfortunately, morning traffic sucked. You know it is a bad sign when even the traffic sign does not state the approximate times.

I did however discover that a large turbo iced blueberry coffee is not large enough to make it to NY in the morning, then I discovered that it still makes you have to pee when you finally get on the the BQE!

Today is our independence day for Norway. While we may no longer be there, we still celebrate. We do miss the big parade in Norway though.

We spent the evening grilling hot dogs and burgers. Dad still had his beer and we of course had aquavit.

And our neighbors and ducks had to suffer through our singing of the Norwegian national anthem. Surprisingly our singing did not chase them away. They did however finally leave, for now, when dad said f###!  Apparently that is close enough to duck for them to run away. Lol!

So all in all, it was a pretty good holiday. We are wishing you all a happy 17 Mai!

The Place Time Forgot

Today we took a road trip to a town that calls itself the place time forgot. Our trip there was long and we stopped for breakfast at Perkins.

Now I have to say Perkins today reminded me of my current disdain for restaurants. We asked if I would be okay eating there since I can not eat gluten. The woman responded with "Not a problem, we have a gluten free menu." Apparently everyone working in a kitchen in this country needs to be retrained. It is fine having a gluten free menu, but it is not truly gluten free if it gets cross contaminated by gluten in the kitchen. Shortly after leaving Perkins the pain and swelling starts. My pants are tight and I cant help but rub my stomach as my intestines are painfully swelling. So that is how the day starts.

As we finally near no-mans land in the middle of nowhere, we got hit by a sudden snow shower. Suddenly we lose all cell signal. Checking out this little bed and breakfast in a town with no grocery store or gas station we are struck by other peculiarities. Not all the houses have numbers. The lady explains that the numbers is a new thing they have started for fires but the town does not use numbers for the residents. Every place instead has a name and they do not deliver mail to houses, everyone is forced to get a p.o. box for mail and pick it up at the post office. Since you can not use a p.o. box for licenses everyone has licenses that say for example the corner of Mary street and Silver street. There is no cell service in town and approximately 60 residents who live there year round the rest just come up there seasonally.

Imagine life without a cell phone in todays day and age. I actually saw a working pay phone, the old school ones that took change. I have not used one of those in years and apparently she says guest complain they can not figure out how to work it. As we walked around town to see the lake we got caught in another snow shower which lasted about 30 minutes. There was not much open in town either, We did not see a place to get a cup of coffee or even a gallon of milk for the residents. When we left we looked at the booklet for the town we were handed and it said "The Town Time Forgot" which we found very fitting. On the way back to civilization we also passed a road with a sign that read Worlds End State Park. It took about 20 minutes of driving to get cell signal back.

We are finally back home, where unfortunately I will be on a liquid diet for a few days because I wont crave food until the stomach swelling goes down. I also am back to appreciating the usefulness of cell phones and internet. Sadly it takes being without to appreciate what we have, and that kiddies is todays lesson of the day. Well that and if you work in a kitchen you shall be retrained because most likely you are doing things wrong.

A Spot of Sunshine in the Storm

Have you ever bought something sight unseen? Any person would tell you that it is one of the most dangerous investments, and its true. To a certain degree we made this mistake. You see when we purchased this house, there was a huge green tarp in the backyard covering a pool. Being that it was winter we did not see it and we assumed the tarp was over-sized. We were told it was maintained and in perfect working order, they even did some recent repairs to it. Unfortunately the sellers could not locate their receipts, so they included a 1 year warranty.

The warranty they provided was American Home Shield home warranty with the pool added. Now that warranty claims to cover non detectable pre-existing conditions, which it does not. When we removed the smokey mirrors the wall by the fireplace crumbled due to a leak from a radiator, which apparently was leaking for years. In order for it to cover non-detectable pre-existing conditions, you must prove it was in perfect condition when you bought the home. Sounds like that would cancel the whole point of it. For every person they send out they charge you $95 as well, and most collect the money and say they either do not do that sort of work or it is not covered and leave.

Needless to say the pool was not maintained. When we removed the cover it was full of dirty black water. No one had touched it in 5 years, which is how long this house has been vacant. The electricity to the pump wasnt working, the timer had been busted and was not even attached. We were scared. "Just fill it in!" Mother kept saying.

We gave AHS one more shot, which they claimed would be complimentary, yet we still had to pay. Once again the pool guy said we needed an electrician, and the electrician could not find the problem but took his money and went. We finally called an electrician on our own and in 15 minutes the power was working. We purchased a new timer and he installed it as well.

Now for the filthy pool. We drained it and tried to scrub it on our own.

 When that did not seem to be enough, we had it power washed. It still looked dirty and we were told we needed to paint it.

Luckily we ended up at a local pool supply place, and they knew our pool. Seems years ago they used to maintain it. They sent someone out who acid washed it, and got it all set up. Today they added the chemicals and our pool is open for the season. Of course the first one in to celbrate was one of our dogs, Prince Charming.

So even with a little drizzling rain today, we are enjoying a little victory. One more item up and running smoothly. And we learned our lesson and will not be using the AHS warranty again. When we told one of our state farm insurance people about our experience(He just bought a home as well), he threw his AHS policy in the trash. Well the sun is peeking out of its hiding spot again and I am heading back out to the pool with the dogs.

Wherein a Rainy Day has Us Thinking of Food

Typically a rainy day at home used to mean Chinese food and junk food. As I had previously mentioned the gluten free curse has descended upon our house, at least that is how Father views it.

What brings about gluten intolerance in a family with no history? Well that is a common question I hear. My personal dilemma was caused by doctors. Apparently I suffered since I was a teen with PCOS (Poly cystic Ovary Syndrome) with insulin resistance, yet it had not been diagnosed until a couple of years ago. Doctors treated the symptoms but never looked for causes for years, and when they finally found it the heavy doses of medication caused my body to rebel.

After about 6 months of treatment I was still having serious pain from cysts rupturing and my stomach began to swell, and I mean swell to the point I looked ready to give birth. Doctors told me it was all in my head, but ran some tests anyway and of course tried adding some more medications. They also kept bringing up wanting to remove my ovaries in case they were the culprits, yet I refused. Then they told me nothing was wrong with me and it was not from my medications, I needed Prozac they kept saying. Well I found out a serious side effect from one of my medications was abdominal swelling. I asked and they kept insisting that it was not the case. Finally my endocrinologist admitted it is a serious side effect to metformin, but as no other medication is used for insulin resistance I was given two options: Option 1~ Stop taking it for a couple weeks and build back up to the dosage hoping to lose the side effect. Or Option 2~ Stop taking the medications and wait to become diabetic.

I was angry. I did not want to take a medication that I was having a serious side effect too. I found alternative medications with promising results in studies, and the doctors kept saying no they are not approved yet for use in insulin resistance only diabetes. I got to the point I told them if I became diabetic I would not let them treat me, to which they insisted I had emotional disorders and they wanted to put me on Prozac, again with the damn Prozac. My stomach was still swelling when I ate and I still had pain but it was not as bad as it was on the medications.

A vendor for our health insurance made the suggestion I go to a naturopath, they found out her daughter was allergic to cucumbers. I figured why not, at this point my favorite doctor was my acupuncturist, and I had a lot of doctors. So I made an appointment, and it was the best decision I have made.

She made me go for blood work, 12 vials of blood for my first work up. She found out my progesterone was at 0, and my stomach was destroyed by too many medications. The doctors also on top of dangerous abdominal swelling had me playing life or death every month. The cysts that were large and rupturing every month because I could not ovulate, could of ended my life each time they ruptured which is not normal as my doctor had told me. She also pointed out at this point with all the damage they did it was no surprise I was having bad side effects to all my medications. I had to switch to non synthetics.

Now my daily routine consists of supplements, that unfortunately are not covered by insurance, hormone cream and a gluten free diet. I am proud to report that as long as I avoid gluten my stomach does not swell, and the supplements prevent the rest of my issues. So that is how one with no family history becomes gluten intolerant.

I learned that finding edible gluten free products is unfortunately a issue of trial and error, and more trial and error, until voila success. As many who have tried gluten free products know, many items taste as if you are eating cardboard. As such I figure I might share some of my success.

For bread that actually tastes like real delicious bread:

Pizza was another thing I missed a lot. Especially when a pizza night came around and I could not partake. Thankfully one of our local shoprites started carrying a decent tasting gluten free pizza that is vegan too. Since I am not dairy free I tend to add some goat cheese to it.

Other than being gluten free I try to avoid GMO foods and hormones in my food as they can exasperate health issues. So we buy a lot of organic meats and produce.

So there you have my post for today. Hope you enjoyed or at least found some products to try. Feel free to comment and add your opinions on products.

Wherein Our Adventure Begins and Starts Off with a Little Bang on the Head!

I had been thinking of writing again, I do miss it soo. Suddenly today WHAM a light hit me.. and yes I do mean a light hanging from the ceiling, and it sent a eureka thought craning through my mind. I shall write a blog. It shall be simple and cover things I know and learn.

I give you specimen A~ home improvement/decorating has been our project as many know of late. The house we bought was in dire need of an overhaul. Picture pastel blue carpets, smokey mirrors, and wallpaper everywhere. The den even has burnt umber colored shag carpet. We have completely redone the dining room/living room/ and bonus room. Unfortunately...dumdummdummm... a dastardly sewer backup has made us feel as if our progress has not only halted but made us take a few steps back as we are now having to redo the basement. I can now clearly tell people that stepping barefoot in sewage first thing in the morning is one of the most horrid experiences of my life.

Specimen B~ Food
To my Fathers dismay last year, I was diagnosed as gluten intolerant. Even a little causes me massive pain and discomfort all a permanent side effect from a medication. Other than the near impossibility of finding food at some places, I really don't mind the lack of gluten, and knowing it makes me sick helps me avoid it. My father on the other-hand acts as if the world is coming to an end. Mr. Executive Chef found it hard adjusting to no flour. As they say its hard teaching an old dog new tricks but we are trying. He has been managing fine learning about different gluten free flours and pastas, but he still complains he needs gluten and is wasting away.  It has become a daily challenge of figuring out how to make everything gluten free and we went thru our trial and error in buying products. It took 6 months to find a gluten free bread that actually tasted like good bread.

Specimen C~ I am an avid reader.
You can constantly find me with my nose in a book, and as such I most likely will have from time to time some comment on a great book I am currently reading. Constantly I say "One day I will write one if I can just find the time!"

So there you have it, my grand scheme of a blog. If you find any of it interesting then do feel free to stop by and view the progress at any time.