Sinking

I feel as though I am hanging over the edge of a deep abyss (are there any abysses (abyssi?) that aren't deep?) and the rope that is holding me is frayed to a thickness of mere millimeters.

Emily got up from her nap Monday afternoon and proceeded to sit on the couch whimpering. Every exhalation ended in a painful "uh" sound. Her ear hurt. The whimpering progressed to full-on crying as we traveled to the pediatrician's office. Diagnosis: ear infection (no shit). The afternoon trip to the doctor's office threw me into a complete tizzy, partially caused by the loud BANG! that eminated from my car as we were leaving the driveway. Diagnosis: broken coil spring.

I went to the doctor yesterday morning to get an order for a bone scan, since as a celiac patient, I could have been ingesting less calcium than I previously thought. My doctor, bless his heart, suggested I talk with my GI doc about that. Except the whole reason I was there in HIS office was to get the bone scan order. I calmly asked that HE do it since I was THERE for that very purpose. While I was there, he mentioned that my kidney doctor? Sent a letter indicating that he thinks that my IUD (which I pink puffy-heart love) is what is causing the hydronephrosis. This is news to me. The kidney doctor further thinks that the IUD needs to come out post-haste and that I should go on the pill. For as much as I pink puffy-heart love the IUD, I have the same, if not more, hatred for the pill. He, my regular doctor, thinks that I should get the IUD out and have Mike go for the Big Snip. Except for that niggling detail: we're not 100% sure we're done having kids. I told my doctor I would talk it over with Mike and we'd take it from there.

I go home and am digesting all of this information, because, seriously, there are WAY too many people interested in my and my husband's private bits and my phone rings. It's my gynecologist. She wants to talk to me about the letter she received from the kidney doctor. It's the same one that my regular doctor got. Awesome. She doesn't think that the problem is with my IUD at all. So she and I came up with a workable solution that involves me going on the pill AND keeping the IUD for now. We'll see how that goes.

I took myself to Target, with girls in tow, this morning to pick up my new prescription and get my mother-in-law a birthday present. The girls had a recheck appointment at 1040 and I figured I had plenty of time to get both things accomplished.

I did and we did and all was wonderful. And we took ourselves off to the recheck appointment at the pediatrician.

It turns out that Lucy still has an ear infection. It would seem that the antibiotic she was on for the ear infection didn't clean it all out. So I got a prescription for a new antibiotic.

Guess where I got to go again?

Yep. Target.

Now, I loves me some Target. But, seriously, twice in less than 2 hours? Is a little much.

Now, at a time when clearly I have plenty of stress in my life, guess what I am doing?

If you guessed moving Lucy into a big-girl bed in Emily's room, you guessed right. Yeah, as though I don't have ENOUGH to do, I am going to spend the weekend combining the two rooms and remaking Lucy's nursery as a playroom.

I am really excited about this and so I am going through with it even though the potential for stress is great. And all this is happening while Mike is in the middle of demolition on our master bathroom. Basically, all that means is that I will be doing the majority of the work myself. So if you'll excuse me, I have some bed pieces to clean up.

Tagged

Courtney and Liz tagged me for the Honest Scrap meme. I am supposed to list 10 things about myself and then tag 7 more people to do the same. Since I was tagged twice, I did 15 things. I tried to do more, but ran out of ideas. As for the tagging of others, well, I'm not going to. If you want to participate, feel free.

* I love things to put things in, like boxes and purses and containers. I could spend hours and LOTS of money in stores with organizational stuff. It's a test of wills for me to stay out of the Get Organized store in the mall.
* I don't do Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. I am intrigued by all of them and tempted to start a profile but I don't want yet another distraction from the stuff I should be doing. Plus, my brother-in-law has said he's specifically looked for me on Facebook. If that isn't a reason to stay outta there, I don't know what is.
* I wanted to be a lot of different things when I grew up. Among them, a veterinarian, teacher, and pharmacist. To that end, I have a Bachelor's degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. I can't really do anything with it and further schooling would likely require that I retake at least a couple of the classes due to poor grades.
* I absolutely love to read and will read anything. Well, almost anything. Like everyone else, I wish I had more time to read. Lucy seems to have inherited my love of reading and that thrills me to no end. Emily likes books, too, but Lucy seems to be fascinated.
* I love to watch dancing, but can't do it myself. I have NO rhythm and an overdeveloped fear of making a fool of myself. That pretty much nails my feet to the floor.
* The more I think about it, I think my favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. What better holiday than a day when you get to tell everyone around you how much you love them? I know some people feel that it is just a Hallmark holiday, but even if it is, telling people you love them is a good thing.
* I don't like change. At all. I tend to freak out pretty spectacularly when my plans change unexpectedly. Like when I have to take the kids to the pediatrician because someone woke up with an ear infection. I need to get over this.
* I learned to drive standard car because Mom said it would make my husband/boyfriends happy. I'm not so sure of all that, but it has come in handy many times. I asked Mike a few years ago if he was impressed that I knew how to drive standard and he said not so much.
* I didn't wear red or pink until late 20s because of Anne of Green Gables. Totally silly, I know. Even more silly because red and pink are great colors on me. Both of my jackets are red and I love them.
* I am as addicted to sheets and bedding as I am things to put things in. Bed Bath & Beyond is just as dangerous as Get Organized for me. I am loving the sanctioned buying of bedding for the girls' new beds.
* I have (re)discovered a deep and abiding love for The West Wing. I bought the first 4 seasons and watched them all, loving every fast-paced minute. I'm waiting on Season 5 to arrive, but my addiction is such that I decided to start back through the first 4 seasons again while I'm waiting. Mike says he thinks the reason I like it so much is that it moves quickly.
* I played Baritone Horn in school. I really enjoyed being part of an ensemble that made beautiful music, but my lack of rhythm coupled with the fear of making an idiot of myself held me back. I quit after college and miss it. I drive Mike batty pointing out minute parts of songs that I enjoy. I hope that the girls will take up an instrument and keep at it.
* I am a terrible procrastinator. I have to fight daily to overcome what feels like a greater than average case of inertia. I am sure everyone fights with this, but it feels like my butt glues itself to the couch and then I don't want to get up to take care of my chores.
* I am really bad with names. I frequently mix up people's names, even after I've known them for a while. I try to remember names, but they just seem to slip out of my head.
* I like to quilt. I have slowed down on my quilting since the kids were born, but I am starting to get an itch to do it again.
* While officially "on the fence" about having a third kid, I am pretty sure we're done. I know that three is the new two and Mike would really like a boy, but I really think I am done. Two is a nice manageable number. We're nearly done with the diaper thing and the up-in-the-middle-of-the-night thing and I don't think I want to start all of that all over again.

So there you have it. 15 somewhat random things about me. Enjoy!

Footloose and Fancy Free

Today was a very exciting day.

Not only did today mark Emily's triumphant return to preschool after missing all of last week (I know, two measly days, but still), but it was also the first day Lucy was able to attend swimming lessons.

The session at our local park center (well, my mom's local park center) started last week when the girls were at their absolute clingy and coughy-est. There was no way that they were going to be able to go swimming.

Swimming and preschool neatly coincide so that I have the morning ALL to MYSELF.

And this morning was the first Tuesday of that new pattern.

It was heavenly.

My mom came and picked Lucy up at about 8 this morning and then I took Emily and Elliott to preschool (they are fondly known by their preschool teachers as the "E girls").

And then I went to the bank (I know: woo! exciting!) and then to Wegmans.

After all that excitement I went to Target for the truly exciting part. I bought some of the supplies we need to have to move Lucy into a big girl bed. Specifically, I got two blankets and two sets of twin sheets. I've discovered that multiples of just about everything is handy for those middle-of-the-night puke episodes. I need to hunt down mattress pads and pillow protectors (I'm picky and I want to get something very similar to the ones I reviewed 85 years ago) since I couldn't find them at Target this morning. (Seriously, every single standard sized pillow protector was GONE. Very strange.) While I was making my leisurely way through Target this morning, I also took the opportunity to pick out the girl's new bedding. Mike's mom kindly offered to buy new bedding for the girls' new beds. Now that I know what I want I need to set up a time for us to go get it.

I went shopping for twin mattresses this weekend and just need to go back to make the actual purchase. I also picked up the bunk bed we're going to use from Mike's parent's house and just need to wipe it down before setting them up as twin beds. (We talked about making them into bunk beds right away, but we decided that Emily is just a little too young to be in the top bunk.)

I am so excited about this stuff, I can hardly tell you. We're going to put the two girls in Emily's room and make Lucy's room into a play room. I am mere weeks away from being toy-free in the living room! (And anyone who points out that I am likely to still have toys in the living room even after they are moved to the playroom MIGHT get a diaper sent to them. Just sayin'.)

Holding Hands

On Sunday at church, Lucy was sitting on Mike's lap and Emily was sitting with Mike's mom. For some reason, I looked over at Lucy and held out my hand. I'm not entirely sure what I was looking for, maybe for her to give me five, but instead she threaded her fingers through mine.

We sat there, holding hands for the longest time, easily 10 or 15 minutes. It was so sweet to have her little hand in mine. I rubbed my thumb along the back of her hand and marveled at the softness. I squeezed her hand gently and she squeezed back.

The position of my arm wasn't very comfortable and my right hand was completely out of commission, which made turning pages in my Bible challenging, but I wasn't going to let go for anything.

I have these moments as a parent when I realize that they really like me. I love my kids so incredibly much and I know that they love me, too, but they aren't always good about expressing that love. Especially Lucy, whose verbal skills are only a few steps up from the caveman. Emily is just now starting to be expressive about her feelings, telling us she loves us or that she's happy to see us (she told my mom that she was really happy my mom was with us today*, which melted Mom into a giant puddle of Bwama** goo.)

I was also strangely reminded of my first date with Mike. It wasn't supposed to be a date, we were "just friends" and were supposed to be going out with another couple. The other couple backed out at the last minute (which was really ok with us, since the guy was a complete jerk) but Mike and I decided to go out anyways. We saw Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. During the scene where Doctor Evil and Frau Farbissina get together, Mike and I started holding hands. And it was the same kind of I-don't-want-to-do-anything-to-make-this-stop feeling that I had with Lucy.

* I took the girls to the pediatrician today. They've been running fevers since Monday and Emily was clearly having trouble breathing AND she told me it was hard to breathe. Emily has walking pneumonia. Lucy has walking pneumonia, though to a lesser extent, AND an ear infection. AWESOME. Again, I went to the doctor's office fully expecting that she was going to say it was just a cold and it would clear up in a couple weeks. Not so much.

** Bwama is how Emily pronounces Grandma. There's an "r" in there somewhere, but I'm not sure where. I will be really depressed when she gets the pronunciation of all her letters right. Her toddler speak is just so darn cute.

Oh! And while we were at the doctor's office today, my mom figured out a Lucy-ism. Lucy's been saying something-something-dah! I knew that dah is "down" but I couldn't figure out the rest of it. It's "We all fall down" from Ring Around The Rosey. Genius, that mom of mine is.

The Horrible No-Good Very Bad Night

10:07 pm - Mike turns off Zelda and announces that he's going to bed.

10:12 pm - coughing from one of the girls rooms. It's ... Lucy.

10:34 pm - coughing from the other girl joins Lucy's chorus of one.

10:37 pm - Emily starts crying that she's going to throw up. Get out of bed, take her to the bathroom, hold her hair back as she spits into the toilet. No barf.

10:39 pm - Put Emily back to bed, get back into my bed.

11:21 pm - coughing from the girls' rooms. It's ... both of them.

11:23 pm - both girls crying. Get up, settle both children down, return to bed. Mike is snoring. Nudge him so he'll roll over.

11:24 pm - remember scene from The West Wing (Season 4). try not to laugh. (the one, if you saw it, where the president stashed his notes for his commencement address in his suit pocket and then put on his robe, so he lifted his robe in the middle of the invocation and got them out, giving the impression that he was groping himself. Hm, maybe you had to be there.)

11:51 pm - both girls still coughing and crying. Get up and administer cough medicines and inhalers.

11:53 pm - return to bed.

11:54 pm - realize that I am very tired but I cannot sleep. also realize that Mike is encroaching on my side of the bed AND has stolen all the covers in my absence.

12:13 am - Emily coughing and crying again. She gets up and goes to the bathroom. pray that she does it quietly so as not to disturb her sister.

12:16 am - No such luck. Lucy now coughing again.

1:21 am - Lucy crying again. Get out of bed, give her a hug and put her back to bed.

3:45 am - Emily coughing and crying. Get out of bed, give her a hug and put her back to bed.

4:45 am - Mike's alarm goes off.

4:54 am - Mike's alarm goes off again. Mike gets up. Oddly enough, he asked me if I was getting up with him.

4:56 am - Realize that Mike coming in to get his clothes will render me totally awake (he has no night vision). Get up and gather his clothes, put them on the couch.

4:59 am - Mike comes in to get his clothes. Before he turns the light on, tell him that his clothes are waiting for him in the living room. Hand him his glasses, which I forgot. Go back to sleep.

5:30 am - Listen to Mike's car leave the driveway. Roll over and go back to sleep.

6:40 am - Emily comes in to snuggle and falls asleep on my chest.

The girls are sick, though so far, Mike and I have avoided it. This particular brand of pestilence seems to be making it's way through the preschool. As of right now, I don't think Emily will be going to preschool tomorrow. She didn't go Tuesday either. We are knee-deep in nebulizer solution, inhalers and used tissues. Run away while you still can.

Sleek

Guess what I did last week?
I finally got my hair cut!

Near as I can remember, I last had a hair cut in November of 2007. That makes it 15 months between cuts.

I needed one pretty badly. My hair was really long and was getting in my way.

So I went and got about 6 inches cut off. And then had the guy blow it straight for me. I loved the way it looked and felt all straight and sleek, but there is No. Way. that I can do that on my own. I would a) burn the house down or b) look like Bozo the clown or c) both.

So this is more or less what my hair looks like now.
Same style, just shorter. And curlier. (I know that this picture doesn't show my hair all that well. I took it myself. Sorry.)

I had it for breakfast

The fluffernutter was ... well, not as yummy as I'd hoped. The bread is very dense and that just doesn't make for a good sandwich.

I'm going to a local organic/health food store after my doctor's appointment this afternoon and I'm hoping to be able to pick up some good gluten-free stuff.

Bread!

I made gluten free bread yesterday and it was good.

Really good.

Like, surprisingly good. Mike liked it. And he's WAY picky about that stuff.

I toasted a piece and had peanut butter toast (with honey peanut butter, which would probably be one of my stuck-on-a-deserted-island requirements for sanity) and it was quite yummy.

It was this mix.

Courtney has volunteered to be a guinea pig and try different gluten free recipes with me. It's nice to have someone who is willing to try things with me. Mike is willing, too, but he is overly critical of the gluten-free stuff (same with fat free, sugar free, dairy free, etc). If it doesn't taste exactly and I mean EXACTLY like the real thing, he makes a face and won't eat it. That makes it hard for me to be open-minded.

So after my couple of days of feeling down in the dumps, I am feeling better. I know that this will continue. I'll be OK for a few days and then feel crappy for a few days. I'm hoping as time goes by that the OK days will outweigh the crappy days.

Also helping me to feel better is my new membership in a local Celiac support group. They have an email group as well as monthly meetings and a known gluten-free product list. All of which is a whole lot of awesome. They also have more senior members who can counsel and provide support to the newly diagnosed. I decided to take advantage of that benefit and have been emailing back and forth with someone.

So Handy So Manny

I have a crush.

I'm kind of embarrassed about it.

But I don't think I can keep quiet about my crush any longer.

I see him each morning and my feelings for him grow stronger every time.

He's just so handy.

Rowr.

That he speaks with a sexy Spanish accent doesn't hurt either. Who doesn't love an accent? And he's bilingual!

I love a man in a tool belt.

Not only that, he's good with his "tools". He knows how to use them. And take care of them. He's handy.

Don't look so worried, Mike doesn't read my blog.

He's musical, too. Did you know Manny plays the trumpet? He can really wail.

That hat... Those gloves... Me likey.

He's nice to everyone, even when you KNOW he's thinking that person (Mr.Lopart I'm looking at YOU) is an idiot.

Keep your hands off my Manny, Kelly!

This post, while true, has been exaggerated slightly for comic effect.

Music-less

Saturday night was a strange and quiet night for us.

Lucy and Emily spent the afternoon at my mother-in-law's house while Mike worked at church and I helped with car safety seat inspections at the State Police Headquarters near our house.

I purposely didn't send Lucy's white noise machine with her to my MIL's house, mostly because she had napped there without it before. And she did again, with no trouble. Actually, she slept longer at my MIL's house without the white noise than she has been sleeping at home.

That got me thinking. I decided to put Lucy to bed Saturday night without turning on the white noise machine. And she did great!

As Mike was putting Emily to bed, Emily asked why Lucy's "music" (which is what Emily calls the white noise) wasn't on. Mike explained that I had decided to try leaving it off. Emily asked Mike not to turn her music on, either.

So both girls slept Saturday night and last night without the white noise. Yay!

I turned the white noise on during naps both yesterday and today, mostly because I knew people were going to be coming over and I was fearful that Domino's barking would wake the girls up.

So far, they seem to be doing pretty good.

Now, I just have to train myself to not wake up and wonder why it's so quiet.

***
The microwave guy was here today and the microwave is dead. Unrepairable. The arcing that was making the noise has damaged an unreplaceable part on the microwave.

That would be fine if we had bought the microwave from Sears.

We didn't. I bought it off an online classified ad for $75, thinking it was a bargain.

Yeah, not so much of a bargain if it doesn't work.

It looks like we're going to be using our tax return to buy a new microwave. Being a grown-up sucks sometimes, doesn't it?

How She Did It

I didn't tell you how Emily scratched her cornea.

It was one of those freak things that probably wouldn't happen again if we tried, not that we're going to go around trying to scratch corneas. One eye injury is more than enough for me.

Anyways, I was in the ladies' shirt department at JCPenney. Emily backed herself up against one of the round display racks of shirts and ... I'm not entirely sure, since I was perusing and trying to wrestle the stroller back to the clearance section. My best guess is that one of the tags from a shirt caught her in the eye and Swoop! That was it. High pitched shrieking and tears.

I abandoned Lucy in her stroller to go console Emily and then had to enlist another shopper to bring her to me when I realized that this was a problem not solved by a quick hug and a smooch.

The administration of the eye medicine is getting slightly less traumatic. It is not necessary for me to sit on the child to get the medicine in her, so that's good. The process involves a headband, the medicine, cloth tape for the eye patch, two Mint Three Musketeers bars (the mini ones), Oscar and, strangely, Emily's bath towel. We wrap Emily and Oscar in the bath towel, give Emily a "mint" for each hand, use the headband to get her hair out of her face and then try to smear as much ointment in her eye lashes as possible. We try to pull down her eye lid and put it in the little lip that's there, but that usually doesn't work. Then we put the patch back on and we're good to go until the next time.

Tomorrow is the last day of the patch, which is very exciting. She's been doing really well with it and was something of a minor celebrity at preschool on Thursday. Everyone wanted to know what happened and why she had a bandage on her eye.

We'll go back to the doctor late next week for a check up, but I'm not anticipating any long term effects.

Resolved

I'm not a big one for resolutions, especially the big "I resolve to ... change my entire way of life" type.

Last year, my resolution was to finish Lucy's birth record before she turned 1 in July. I finished it the week before she turned 1. It worked out pretty well. Yes, I could have gotten the lead out and finished it earlier, but where's the sport in that?

This year, I have decided to do two things as my non-resolution resolutions.

First, I am attempting to blog every weekday. This is just a laziness thing. Most times I have a post idea in my head, if only a "You'll never believe what happened to me today" post, but I just never get around to actually posting it.

Second, (and this one is seriously exciting) I am going to try to make my bed every day. I know. I told you it would be earth-shattering. Especially for all of you that aren't married to me and don't regularly visit my house. But our bedroom looks so much more tidy when the bed is made (much like it does when the closet doors are closed). Even if the rest of the place is littered with piles of clutter (because it so totally is), having the bed made makes me feel like the house isn't about to fall down around my ears.

Tell me about your resolutions. I hope that they are more exciting (and challenging) than mine.

Captain Emily Feathersword

- Take the Christmas tree down.
- Bring up Lucy's 24 month/2T clothes.
- Finish emptying the bathroom.
- MOMS Club action items.
- Write a blog post about my resolutions.

Those are the things I planned to do this afternoon while the girls were sleeping. Instead, I got to take Emily to the pediatrician with a scratched cornea (Emily; not the pediatrician), get a prescription filled for said scratched cornea, wrestle with an angry and scared 3-year-old over medicine in above mentioned scratched cornea and then take the Christmas tree down while keeping a curious toddler away from the fragile decorations.

Awesome.

I got all the ornaments off the tree and all the decorations are down. The tree needs to be stripped of its lights and deposited outside for Mike to play firebug with later this spring. I need Mike's help with one especially tricky tree decoration and then we are pretty much done with the Christmas thing. Yay.

When I got home with Emily from the doctor, she was just about out of her mind with fatigue. I tried to put the ointment in her eye and she freaked out. It was becoming a big wrestling match and that wasn't a good idea. I made a deal with her that she could wait and get the medicine after nap if she promised to not fight me.

She got up from nap and the time came for the medicine to be put in and she freaked out. I wound up sitting on her so that I could get it in her eye. That was several kinds of awesome. And then I had to take her mints away because she hadn't let me do the medicine nicely, which was a condition of the purchase and dispensing of said mints. Which was even MORE awesome than the sitting on my kid.

I'm hoping that this is the end of the drama over here, but no promises, I guess.

Crunchy & Lonely

Ok, so I am trying to get over my own cheap self and cheer the heck up a little bit.

One of the ways I am going to do that (other than indulging in some gluten-free peanut butter and chocolate goodness) is to remember some of the funny things that happen around here.

Emily has been a little chatterbox recently (well, since she started really talking - that girl is ALL ME) and she's come out with some great one-liners, to wit:

- Yesterday morning she told me she wanted something else to eat for breakfast. I asked her wanted and she said "I want something crunchy." Something crunchy? Where in the heck did she come up with that?! She asked for it again at lunchtime, specifically requesting Cheetos (GLUTEN FREE!) to satisfy the crunchy craving.

- Yesterday afternoon, the kids were playing and Emily looked up and announced "We're lonely." I said "You're lonely?" and she said "No, WE'RE lonely. Daddy needs to come home now." So I called him. Because that would melt the hardest of hearts. Fortunately, he was on his way home already.

- A couple weeks ago, my mom was upstairs snuggling with Emily at her house during nap. Emily was having nothing to do with the napping part and so she started patting my mom's face. And then said "I'm wubbing you wif my fumkin." [I'm rubbing you with my thumbkin]. Maybe this one isn't as cute and hilarious since you can't hear her sweet little voice, but DUDE - I am going to be SO depressed when she learns how to say her L's R's and W's correctly.

Lest Lucy be thought to be the mute around here, let me assure that is far from the case. She has started stringing words together, too.

Mostly she says
Hi
Mommy
Daddy
uh-oh,
NIE! (Milk - always shrieking),
Dommy (Domino - poor dog, he is so NOT a Dommy),
Wah-Wee (Emily),
Woosie (horsey and I think Lucy, but I'm not totally sure),
uh-uh (as in no - I'll ask her to give me a kiss and she'll say uh-uh),
ah (thanks),
Nah Nie (monkey),
fall,
down (either with fall, that something fell down or yelling at the dog to LIE DOWN! a frequent refrain 'round these parts)
wa wa wa (rub, rub, rub - as in the Purell gel. I give her a miniscule amount on her hands and then tell her to rub, rub, rub.)

She will string any of those words into coherent sentences and also signs More and Please. If we give her something, we are almost always immediately rewarded with "Uh, Mommy", which is Thanks, Mommy. The fun part is that she frequently mixes us up and so will say thank you to Daddy when she means Mommy or vice versa.

I love this stage. She's getting to be so darn verbal. We can totally figure out what she's asking for and usually give it to her. Of course, then when we don't give it to her or correct her behavior, the tantrum is all that much worse. Girlykins has a WICKED temper. When we were in Michigan she threw a 30 minute fit because Mike wouldn't let her dump her bowl of taco stuff on the table. And he dared to keep it from her for a few extra seconds so it wouldn't scald the skin off her mouth. The nerve, really.

Mike got Zelda for the Wii for Christmas and he's still up playing. I am going to call it a night.

Here's to more happy thoughts!

Back To Work

Mike went back to work today after being off since December 19. It's very quiet and lonely here without him.

And with Mike's return to work came my return to my usual stay-at-home mom activities. I put laundry away, took care of the fire and cleaned the kitchen before I had breakfast this morning.

It feels like the house is a total shambles. Every where I look there are piles of things waiting for me to do something. And, of course, I have no energy to do any of it. I also need to empty the master bathroom so that Mike can start the demolition work. I am incredibly excited that this project is about to start, but again with the no energy thing.

I've been fighting a fairly good-sized case of the blues about the lack of gluten in my life. When I first started the gluten-free diet, someone told me the first two weeks were the worst, that the cravings would be terrible and I would beg people to just give me a piece of bread, for the love of God.

Strangely, I've found the opposite to be true. I did fine for the first two weeks. It's every day after that's giving me fits. It seems everywhere I turn, there's something I can't eat or something I used to really enjoy, but can no longer have. My parents had us over for dinner last night and went to the trouble of finding gluten-free hamburger rolls for me. And that was truly awesome. Except they were NOT GOOD.

I'm living a gluten-free life in a gluten-full world. And it stinks. I know that this will get better and I'll continue to hone my coping strategies and find alternatives that are palatable, but in the meantime, I'm Debbie Downer.