Woe is me (or a long, rambling post with no pictures)

It's been a busy past week for me. My great aunt had cataract surgery on one eye and with me being her transportaiton, that pretty much ate up all of Monday day. Then it was a mad dash home to get the girls' ballet outfits, pick them up and rush back across town to their ballett class. After that I had to stop by the store because we were completely out of milk, which I hate shopping with the girls, least of all at 5:30 pm when we're all starving, but it just couldn't be helped. We needed that milk so we could make our latte's on Tuesday morning. It was necessary. Thankfully the girls did just fine, well, as fine as can be. It was mostly painless. But by the time I got home Monday night I was exhausted, and yet I still had to warm up dinner and make lunches and help with homework and all that normal after-school/evening stuff that us Mom's get to do. I was so glad to be able to go to bed that night!

And the week just continued like that. Everyday I had something to do that took up most of the day. My to-do list didn't get much crossed off and the house stayed dirty. Except the trash got taken out and the bathrooms were wiped down because I hate dirty bathrooms. Oh and the sheets, I changed them yesterday at least. I just amazes me how busy things are right now, between the girls's activities and my activities and responsibilities, its almost as if it is busier now than during *gasp* December. I'm just exhausted, even still today.

Despite my exhaustion I did get outside to "fix" my flower bed. I was dismayed to see that none of my crocuses or tulips were coming up this year. The only thing that has bloomed was the daffodils, which is unusual, usually the other two are up first. Erik had said a month or so ago that he thought we'd had a rodent of some sort out there, it looked dug up, and so we are thinking that whatever was out there maybe ate the bulbs or destroyed them in some way. My flower bed was looking dismal. So, I decided to dig up a couple of the perennials that I've grown out of love with and plant some new stuff. We picked up a couple plants out at Home Depot and in an hour, or less, I had dug up the uglies and planted the pretties. I also let the girls pick out some annuals and so we put a couple pots of those on the front steps, which looks rather nice I must say. It all looks good now, but I decided that I really dislike gardening. There is absolutely nothing I enjoy about digging in the dirt, getting dirty, kneeling/squatting down to try to get stuff planted. It just does nothing for me, so I really hope that what we planted today will live for several years so that I don't have to do it all again too soon. Although, I will pick up some new tulip & crocus bulbs in the fall and plant those, because I love how they come up first thing in the spring. But planting bulbs is easy compared to actual plants!

One of my lovely appointments this week was with my doctor for the much loved annual exam. I don't mind it, after having a couple of babies, its not really a big deal, but I had a million other things I would've rather been doing. But just like going to the dentist, I do it because I know that if I treat my body like a car and take care of the routine maintenance, it is less likely to brake down later.  While I was there, I was rather encouraged to find out that there is a benefit to getting old. I guess that the medical community has decided if you're older than 30 and don't have any risk factors, you can get by with only having the actual P*A*P* once every three years. Isn't that wonderful news? Although they still recommend the rest being checked every year so you still get to see the doctor, just not that cold metal tool. Anyway, while there I talked to my doc. about my weight loss, or actually lack of it, and cholesterol. For an active 30-some year old who eats healthy, my cholesterol is high, like 213 & 140. Basically, the bad cholesterol is too high and the good one is too low. Now, that is from last January, I'm due to get it tested again next week, but still. It's not good. And when you add into that equation the fact that my hormones were on the wacky track the past couple of years, it becomes a complicated puzzle. And here is where the woe comes into it. My doctor suggested that it might help all those things (in a complicated way that I have a hard time explaining) if I stop eating two things: gluten and dairy.

*sigh* Have I ever mentioned my one-to-two a day latte habit? How about my love of peanut butter on toast? Or pasta? Or anything whole wheat? How about my newly developed love of greek yogurt?

Yeah. Woe is me.

It was rather intimidating at first to think of giving up two huge parts of my diet. But since then I have talked to some friends that eat either gluten and/or dairy free and I've found a couple of blogs with yummy looking recipes and I've thought about what I do eat and how difficult it would be to change it, and I'm not completely hopeless. I actually think its do-able and I'm almost excited for the challenge, especially if it makes a difference. I still have questions and a lot to figure out, like what exactly do I do with all the gluten products in my pantry already that I won't eat? And how do I eat gluten-free and not spend an arm and a leg? (Most of the specialty gf products in the stores are pricey). And how do I travel/go out to eat?

I have pretty much decided that I will do it, though. I have too much to possibly gain by trying it. I have to at least try. I'll give it a month or two and if there is no change in any of it (weight, skin, etc) than I'll know that isn't the solution and I'll do something else. But I won't know unless I try, right? All I know is I'm gonna have to find me a really good gluten-free chocolate chip recipe! :-)