Saturday, May 30, 2009

Springtime!

Today is another gorgeously sunny day. There's a good breeze, so I've been doing laundry and hanging it out on the clothes line. Ralph Jr. strung it up for me a couple of years ago around some oak trees, and strung some lines down low so the girls could help me. We wear aprons with pockets to keep the clothespins in. The birds are singing, we saw goldfinches and red-headed woodpeckers. Toby came to keep us company and sprawled out in the grass, and even Scamper, who had five kittens yesterday, came out to enjoy the sunshine and butterflies.

It's been an interesting spring.

The cold/cough that we all had we think was whooping cough. Nothing much can be done about it, since it's a virus, just lots of fluids and rest. Those of us that had it back in 99 didn't have it for long. The girls, including Kit, had it worst. By worst I mean it stuck around for a good month. Papa ended up getting pneumonia with it, he's on antibiotics and is feeling much better. Didn't make any difference if we were immunized for it or not, everyone has had it now, those that had all their shots and those that didn't.

In the midst of all of this, I had a food allergy test done. Turns out I'm allergic to wheat gluten, dairy, eggs, peanuts, almonds, kidney beans, and garlic. I went cold turkey off of those foods, with a few accidental exceptions, and I felt a lot better within a few days, and MUCH better after a couple of weeks! I'm very excited that it's made such a difference. I've been gardening and cleaning things, I even took over milking the goats for Kit for several days, and I haven't felt wiped out at all! My mind feels clearer, I have a LOT more energy than I've had in years. Praise God!

I'm having to learn some new cooking and menu planning skills, and get over the idea of eating grains for breakfast. Now I have dinner for breakfast. I'm rotating my diet so as not to eat the same thing in four days, that's been kinda hard to keep up with. I'm really thankful that this is something relatively easily dealt with, not like chemotherapy or surgeries or extended hospital stays. I've had to learn how to cook without garlic, praise God it wasn't onions. Not sure I'd know how to cook without onions! I haven't missed kidney beans at all. The gluten and dairy has been a challenge, especially since I've been relying on dairy for quick protein snacks for the hypoglycemia. Now I'm trying to keep straight which nuts I can eat on which days. I've been able to reintroduce duck eggs, that's a nice easy breakfast. Unfortunately, the ducks either quit laying or are laying somewhere else. I've been saving a stash of them in the fridge. They hypoglycemia symptoms seems to be settling down now that I'm not stressing my body out by eating allergens.

Books I've read recently: The Dry Divide, by Ralph Moody; Opal, The Journal of an Understanding Heart, by Opal Whiteley, adapted by Jane Boulton; and The View from Saturday, by E.L. Konigsburg