Seemed Appropriate

I haven't blogged in awhile but since we had pancakes for supper tonight it seemed like an opportune time to "get back on the horse" so to speak. My life has been full of getting my man child off to school, adjusting to gluten free living and starting a home business!  In my free time (the oodles of it that I have) I'm still running/walking and trying not to melt in this heat.  I feel like it's been hot since February and there is no end in sight.  I would love a cool Pacific Grove morning with a latte in hand chatting with friends at Caledonia Park.  Oh California how I miss thee!!!

Okay, so tonight was pancakes for supper. The fridge is all but empty and I wanted something easy that everyone (hopefully) would eat. It was actually my first go at gluten free pancakes and with the help of some Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix I whipped up a batch. After a major bread debacle that involved throwing two loaves of utterly inedible bread in the trash and a nearly as unpleasant birthday cake for my wee baby's first birthday I was a little skeptical that 1) the pancakes would be good 2) that my kids would eat them. Not only did my kids eat them, they LOVED them.  My 3 year old ate four decent sized pancakes and I, in my desperation for normal tasting baked goods, ate well, more than I should have.  BUT THEY WERE SO STINKING YUMMY!  I doused mine in organic butter from grass fed cows and molasses and was in heaven.  All that was lacking was an icy cold glass of milk but I can't really do dairy and I just couldn't stomach the almond milk.

My other news of note is that I'm working as an Independent Consultant for Arbonne International. Arbonne has AMAZING skin care, make-up, and health and wellness products the vast majority of which are gluten free. I've had a fantastic opening month and I'm really excited to have a vision for myself and our family.  Not only do I adore the skin care products but I've been using their health products to support my weight loss journey (31 lbs total lost so far!) Check out my website!

The kiddos are good.  We just celebrated our youngest turning one! This past year has been long in many ways but it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.  The eldest is in school now, with the Hashimoto's and my husbands crazy work schedule coming up it was just too much to homeschool him and give it the focus needed to feel like he was getting what he needed. He's really enjoying being in a classroom and having other kids to play with, he bickers with his sister somewhat less than usual now...  Our days are settling into a good routine and it's been good to get more one on one time with the middle child. She tends to be, shall we say, somewhat strong willed and I think her getting more dedicated time with me is helping her immensely.  

As everything is leveling out I plan to get back to blogging again on a more regular basis.  But anyway, I'm back! 

A Farewell to Arms.....errr Guinness

I feel like I should write but I'm having a hard time fighting the brain fog and actually put my thoughts into words.  There has been much to process the last couple of weeks and I still don't feel like I have fully gotten a grasp on things.  This week I made an effort to do what I could, no matter how small, and to see those things as accomplishments not that I was failing at everything else.  Yesterday was my first day of putting forth a concerted effort to eat gluten free.  I'm also giving coffee the boot for the time being *GASP!* and in general keeping better track of what I eat and how I feel when I eat it.  After scarfing lots of pizza and beer the night before I woke up feeling totally lousy and decided it was time for change.  In addition no gluten I've been using some nutritional products from Arbonne.  The last couple of days with no coffee have been aided by the Fizzy Tabs and for breakfast I blended up a banana with the Chocolate Protein Mix. Yummy, and no headaches while I'm coming down off my daily 24 oz of coffee!  This afternoon I wanted to venture out and raid the bulk bins at a health food store and I found Native Sun Natural Foods.  It was made more exciting by getting caught in a major downpour that put going to farmer's market on hold.

With everything going on and with the ridiculous heat and humidity I haven't had the will to muster the energy to give my poor garden any attention recently.  Our lawn mower also died recently so the kids and I went on an adventure to Pep Boys.  There we traded in our old gas mower for a battery powered one and with the trade in it was only $150!  We then went to Lowe's to see what plants they had left and even this late in the season I was able to get some nice eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers, and some jalapenos.  The tomatoes I put in at the beginning of the summer were taking over so I got a cage to try and corral them.

This past week was the first of the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge and I logged 11 miles!  Off to a great start!

I know I'm just getting started down the gluten free path but I already felt a little better today.  A little less tummy trouble at least.  There are certain things I will miss quite a bit, I can't imagine there is a gluten free alternative that comes close to the beauty that is Guinness.  That being said:

There once was a girl who loved Guinness,
She drank it like it was going out of business.
But then she got ill and though she wanted it still,
Guinness her glass would no longer fill.


Cheers!

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

This week, and by week I mean yesterday, I got diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease/Thyroiditis.  Being new to this disease I'm FAR from the expert but at least I have some answers about why I'm dealing with pretty much everything I've been experiencing from depression to extreme fatigue to the fact that my hair is still coming out by the handful when I shower. (I was still attributing the hair loss to post pregnancy stuff.)

The bare bones of it is that it's an autoimmune disorder where my body is attacking my thyroid gland.  When my primary care doctor got my thyroid labs back his quote was, "Your thyroid levels are off the chain."  Where it gets confusing is that it's not ACTUALLY my thyroid that's the problem, while the levels are off what needs to be treated is my immune system, not my thyroid.  First course of action is to go on a gluten free diet.  Yippy.  I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not giving up beer, warm crusty bread, thick tasty gravy, and PASTA but that I am getting to keep my thyroid gland and hopefully stop damaging it and preserving any function is has left.

All this information is a lot to take in.  I have a plethora of books to read and much research to be done but at least I have some answers and somewhere to go from here.