Friday, November 26, 2004

 

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! We did. Mom and cousin Bruce came over and we feasted. We had duck (there was chicken too, in case the duck didn't turn out), sweet potatoes, fresh asparagus, green beans, sauted mushrooms and onions, and a relish plate full of black olives, green onions and radishes (always present at my family's holiday meals). The family also enjoyed cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, but I didn't. I did have a yummy dessert: 1/2 a sliced and peeled apple covered in butter and cinnamon and baked in the oven at 220 for about 30 minutes. I did put a couple of pinches of stevia (a fake sugar), but I didn't notice it at all. It was delicious! So, except for going over board on butter (it is allowed, but I try to avoid it for my asthma), I stuck to my diet and still had a yummy meal. Another good plus to the day: leftovers for dinner, no cooking dinner! We have been cooking two meals a day for weeks on this diet and it's getting tiresome. Before the diet, we were used to cooking once every 2-3 days. Now we eat a lot and are losing weight too!?!
Anyway, hope you all had a happy turkey day like we did!
More good news- Xander's tadpoles that we caught from his swimming pool are finally frogs. Well, at least one out of the two has finally changed. He/she crawled out of the water on Thanksgiving day. The other one has always been behind developmentally by a couple of days. They are amazing to watch as they grow and change. Feed them (fish flake food) in the morning and by noon they've changed! Now we have to find frog food for them, or turn them outside in the cold! I was hoping we could keep them through the winter and release them in the spring. We'll see...

Dawn posted this at 1:45 PM.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

 

Why is our society so obsessed with sugar? My hubby decided that we all would go on my yeast killing restrictive diet (My son has shown signs of yeast problems too and we thought it would be beneficial to him too). But everywhere we go there are insensitive people sticking their noses into our business. "He's too young... he needs the vitamins/minerals from (insert food item here)." It's not like we've made a lifetime diet change. IT'S TEMPORARY! These people make it out like we are abusing him. We, as capable, well-educated adults made an educated decision about the dietary habits of our family. We feel that right now it is the best for all of us.
What irritates me the most is that everywhere we turn there are people trying to force sugar on my son. If he gets a haircut, the ladies there give him a sucker. Once he came home from there with not one, but 6 suckers! At the bank drive through they give him one. At church there's usually at least one passing out candy. If you try to politely refuse they think you're a terrible parent or something. Then, if my son hears them ask and I refuse, then he'll throw a temper tantrum in public and the 'nice grandparently figures' continue to push their treat on him. It's infuriating.
Then, at a recent meal out, my own mother fusses at me for not giving Xander a piece of white bread roll when he argued with me over it. "He's a growing boy." Oh, like depriving him of white bread is depriving him of such a nescessary nutritional supplement to life! ::roll eyes::
Anyway, needless to say, I'm making it through strictly on the diet, but my hubby and son have been enticed by public eating and have been 'cheating' occasionally. Uh-well, their not the ones with the serious problems. I'm just hoping I can make it to Christmas Eve. I'm looking forward to fixing my Grandma's german fritter (fruden) recipe. Yum!

Dawn posted this at 11:27 AM.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

 

I performed my civic duty and sat at the courthouse for jury duty. I spent about 3 hours over two days and got paid $20. Not bad for doing nothing while they settled cases out of court.
You know, they say that we're selected randomly, but why is it that I've been called 4 times (5 if you count a postponement) and the hubby none at all. 3 of those have been in this county since we moved here. The time before this call I served on a grand jury and two of my fellow jurors were also called this time. If it is random and less that 150 are called, what are the chances that 3 of us would be called the same two times out of thousands in the county????
Anyway, I'm still struggling with pregnancy related problems. I've put myself on a very low carb diet to kill some yeast in my body. The yeast are putting up a very good fight and my symptoms have gotten worse, so I'm sticking with it. This is one battle I want to win. This low-carb thing is difficult though. According to my yeast information I can basically only have meat, eggs, veggies (minus potatoes and few other high-carb veggies), a few nuts and seeds in limited amounts and limited amounts of oatmeal. I'm finding it difficult to eat a variety and after two solid weeks it is getting frustrating. According to this info, I can add apples and pears after two weeks and then if there are no symptoms I could eat some berries. But, my symptoms haven't improved, in fact they are getting worse the last few days, so I'm sticking to the strict diet for a couple more weeks.
Thanksgiving won't be difficult, we're staying home and can eat what we want so I'm sticking to it. I'm hoping to stay strictly to the diet until Christmas Eve, but there is a family get-together the Saturday before Christmas. I don't think I could stay faithful that day, but if I get off the diet then, I may not get back to it for the week of Christmas. I'd hate to avoid the family reunion though. I've been debating the issue for weeks.
I've been seeing NaNo writers that are really getting down to business. Makes me want to write again...so my mind is thinking down that road...again.

Dawn posted this at 1:43 PM.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

 

After an exhausting fall...here I am, still around. The pregnancy has not been without its ups and downs. First, there was the morning sickness...and a lot of it. A lot of quesiness, but not a lot of actually being sick, thank God. Then, I sort of cruised through the second trimester with some fatigue. Toward the end of it however, I began to have some troubles. My sugar levels drop in the morning and I have 'morning yuck.' I don't have any energy and a few times when I've tried to do too much, I've nearly passed out. I'm dealing with it by eating many small meals throughout the day and night (which is interfering with good sleep). To top it all off, my asthma-type problems have kicked in. I'm doing all I can to keep it under control, but it seems to have a mind of its own.
On top of all that, we've spent a week in Virginia in which I got to go to the battlefield at Manansas, DC, and Pennsylvania again. Nice site-seeing. Xander loved the two 'bat caves' we went to. Then, in Sept/Oct we went on a 2 full week trip to Colorado. It was so nice seeing the Rockies again, but the trip was just a few days too long. The last few days were spent going from hotel room to hotel room and a lot of traveling back home. I prefer to go one place and settle in, rather than travel like that. But it was a fun trip, here's some highlights:
We got to go to Casa Bonita in Denver twice while we were there. It's not just a mexican restaurant, it is an amusement park! Xander loved the train ride through the mountains near Georgetown. The aspens were beautiful between Denver and Vail. We got to play in the snow at Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park and Xander made his first snowman. We hiked a couple of miles total up to a waterfall and then around Bear Lake, Xander walking most of the way (He's a little trooper). He also loved all the little crevices ('caves' to him) that he got to explore and climb on rocks at Garden of the Gods in CO Springs. Then, we went to the Great Sand Dune Nat'l Park in SE CO. Xander had a ball playing in the sand, then we decided too late to hike to a big dune in the area. We were about two miles into the dunes when a hail storm hit. Xander and I were both scared of the lightning and thunder (it was close!). The hail was pea sized, but we were worried it would get bigger and really pack a punch. That was an amazing day. It started out rainy, but by the time we went in late morning, it had gotten a bit sunny. By the time we left, the ground was covered in the hailstones! We were wet and freezing too. I was not happy sitting in the van all afternoon wet and cold. My in-laws insisted that we keep heading down the road to our next hotel stop. I wasn't happy, but I guess I survived.
So, with all that having been over, and Xander's b-day festivities all over, I'm just cruising to the holidays and then the baby's due Jan. 11. We've still a lot left to do around the house to get ready and it's been difficult since my energy levels are terrible. I've put myself on a low-carb, high protien diet for more reasons than one (even though I despise a low-carb life for myself) but it seems to be helping. At the very least I'm not gaining weight: a total of 17 pounds for the entire pregnancy. I'm trying to keep that to 20 or less.
Well, that's enough for now, just wanted to catch up on what's been going on 'round here. TTFN!

Dawn posted this at 6:45 AM.