I was randomly searching the internet this weekend and wandered onto an event I hadn’t heard of before!
Wishes for the Sky is an annual kite flying happening, this was the 4th one, and it took place on Sunday.
When I read about the event on warm & shiny Saturday, I told the kids we’d bike down to Harriet Island for the fun. Oh, yeah – SURE we would…
But on Sunday it was rainy and cold and miserable. Gerry and I did duty as crossing guard / door openers at the Temple for Hebrew School, and I felt like an achy mess when I got home.
But Hannah would have NONE of it. She fixed a beautiful lunch (gluten free soup for me, a sandwich for her) and gently bullied me into the car so we could go to the event.
BOY was I glad she did! The kites are reused every year, they’re sturdy little structures and stand up to a LOT of crashing! Each year when folks get their kite they use black or white pens to write a wish on the kite, then they go fly it for as long as they like. A suggested donation of $2 helps to cover the costs of the event.
When finished you turn the kites back in (or you can purchase your kite for $35 if you want, the steep price a deterrent to folks just wandering off with their kite) and the happy day is done.
It was really lovely; a windy, overcast day in St. Paul, but a LOT of fun!
PROOF
If I needed proof that wheat / gluten is a culprit in my fibro journey, I got it yesterday. Sheesh.
I drove out to Goodwill to look for luggage (we needed suitcases for our trip, I have them, but the kids could use cases with wheels so we can travel easily) After checking at several 2nd hand shops and discount stores, Goodwill was my last stop.
By the way, I found the best deal at Tuesday Morning – 2 nice Dockers suitcases for $29 each on special clearance – yay!
Anyway, I try not to eat out, and I have avoided fast food places since my diagnosis, but I was absolutely starving so I figured I’d have a bite at one of the few places I can get something satisfying with no gluten; KFC. I like their grilled chicken, and it has no batter.
But my two pieces DID come with a biscuit. Damn.
I ate the chicken, it was delicious, but all the way home the biscuit was calling out, “Annie, Annie, you KNOW you want me, I’m your FAVORITE thing! Take a walk down memory lane and enjoy the wheaty-crunchiness & fine, fine smoothness of a baking powder biscuit…”
Before I even knew what I was doing, the biscuit was GONE. Inhaled. Like a drug.
Stay in school, kids.
It took about 40 minutes for the effects to begin to show. I was fascinated while watching myself change, like Frederick March in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.
- First I became irritable and had a sort of hollow, dark feeling. Just an overall malaise.
- Then my throat began hurting and my nose felt stuffy.
If I didn’t know better I’d have thought I was getting a cold. I know now how often I’ve made this mistake this in the past. - The sore throat evolved into a headache, with VERY sore shoulders and neck.
(Luckily I have my Relax Pack, which helped quite a bit after being warmed in the microwave!) - Eventually the soreness traveled to my joints and down my back, sending me to bed early.
I tried to read in bed, but I just felt like crap. Movement was painful, lying still was painful, and I felt just as irritable as I had hours earlier.
So I took the Trazadone (to help me sleep) that I keep by my bed but seldom use, and this morning I feel much better. Hooray sleep!
AMAZING FRIENDS
A good friend dropped by yesterday with dinner (oh, huzzah!) cooked by another good friend in my knitting group. I felt embarrassed at how incapacitated I was, and I had to admit to her that it was my own fault for scarfing a biscuit in less time than it takes to turn on my windshield wiper. She understood.
My knitting group has decided that they will fix us a dinner once a week and drop it off, and it’s been a most appreciated gift!
Aside from the food, which is amazing and delicious (as with the Minnesota driving test, there’s a cooking test one must pass in order to bring a hot dish to someone) the love is overwhelming. Mondays are hard here, getting back into the school routine, Sunday night with less sleep than we all need, you know the drill. Having one evening when dinner is taken care of is pretty delightful.
We are very lucky, you know?
THANK YOU, ROVERS!
BUTTONS
I have meant to write about this for weeks, and I’ve been SO remiss!
Nicky Epstein (one of the best designers I know and a hell of a good and funny friend) has started making buttons! Her buttons are pewter, they’re adorable (that seems like too flimsy of a word – they’re whimsical!) and I can’t WAIT to use them in my next sweater!
I already have an idea for a wide belt using the bustier closure, isn’t it amazing?
You can find out how to order her amazing buttons at her website, nickyknits.com, and if you’re lucky your local yarn shop may be carrying them soon!
AND THE WINNERS DON’T STOP!
I want to send these off before I head over to the Emerald Isle, so here are the winners of the John Irving & Laura Hillenbrand audio books!
CONGRATULATIONS to both winners, I hope you thoroughly enjoy the audio books!
Bonny McCormick is the winner of Last Night In Twisted River
Beaweezil is the winner of Seabiscut
Ah, Annie, don’t beat yourself up too much about the biscuit, just consider it a “reality test” that gluten really does affect you badly. It confirms what you though/knew etc. There is a pretty good glutenfree biscuit mix out there, and sometimes I just “remember” what it was like to eat/chew/taste a piece of fresh bread and let myself experience it that way. And believe it or not,it works pretty well. I feel so bad, like you, when I’ve eaten gluten, it’s just not worth it…and I NEVER thought I’d say that about FOOD.
And what great friends those Minnesotans are!!! I’m originially from Minnesota so I’m so proud of them.
Next time, tell them “Hold the biscuit!”
I didn’t know there WAS going to be a biscuit or I would have asked – I always have my toast/bread removed before I order just so I don’t mindlessly wander over to it and start eating! Now I know, though!
Yet another reason why knitters are the best people on earth.
My step mom can’t eat wheat either, and I’ve seen her do that too.
She also keeps some gluten-free snacks in her purse for the times where she gets really hungry out and about…
A link for you,this is excellent flour,sold in most supermarkets and now gluten-free
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/glutenfree/
That fibro is really a bitch! I also have gluten issues, but nowhere near that severity. Sunday it was cold here and I’d spent the day training for a part-time/temporary job with the census on top of my full-time job. I was hungry and pizza just popped into my head. I also have dairy issues and those happen almost immediately. It really stinks. I am definitely exploring gluten-free food more these days. I just tried this terrific cereal today: Nature’s Path Organic Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise. It’s got a bit more sugar than I’d like, but it’s quite yummy, and makes a good quick meal.
I’m not as sensitive to gluten as you, but I can’t eat it and it still took me years to quit having “just one bite” once in a while. Until I really, really got it that the consequences were NOT worth what my tongue pleaded for.
Now I see it as a true winning choice to not get pulled in by yummy looking gluten poison!
I’m so sorry to read about your struggles. I’ve been going through something similar with gluten, although I don’t have fibromyalgia. The doctors thought I had lupus because I was so fatigued, my memory was gone and I was sleeping 12-14 hours a day if you gave me a chance. I stopped eating gluten and started taking vitamin D. I felt like a new woman within about a week. I did the same thing you did – I succumbed to temptation and ate a piece of cake. I was zonked out the entire next day – as if someone had slipped me a sleeping pill. I only had to do that once to realize gluten really was causing these crazy symptoms. People look at me funny when I suddenly have to turn down wheat at my age, but I’m sticking to the new diet.
By the way, if you go out to eat, ask for the special menu. You’d be surprised! Chili’s mashed potatoes aren’t gluten free and I’ve found wheat in things like jelly and french onion dip. I can’t wait until the food industry gets on the ball and starts labeling gluten as an allergen instead of just wheat.
Can I still buy your patterns? I am interested in the corselette pattern. It has taken me a few years to find the perfect yarn and finally found it at the Maryland Sheep show yesterday. Now I can’t find the pattern on your site.