Friday was Fabulous! Monday was Horrible!

Guess what I got on my Fabulous Friday

My free sample of rice cakes…Three…3…yes three different kinds of Quaker Gluten Free Rice Cakes. Lightly salted, caramel corn and apple cinnamon. I’ve tried the apple cinnamon already and I love them. At first I was thinking I’m sure these are ok but I bet I’m going to need to spread something on them to give them a little boast but what??? Nope they are very very good all by themselves.

Saturday was very rainy but relaxing. Sunday was sunny and warm and we spent the day doing more yard work and vacuuming the pool. That may sound like work but it really feels good to stand by the pool in the warm sun and guide the vacuum around. Yes I know the vacuum should go around on its own but it always goes in the same pattern and misses spots or gets stuck somewhere or clogged.

Well thank goodness for fabulous Friday and relaxing Saturday and Sunday because Monday….yeah Monday was just plain horrible! CT Scan horrible, contrast drinking injecting gagging horrible.

Wake up…No food for you.

Arrive at hospital…wait…fill out forms…wait…register…wait…get forms back…wait…get IV started

Drink 3 bottles of contrast similar to this (my bottles were bigger about 32oz each I think blah)



Gag, gag, gag, gag, almost throw up, squeeze hubs fingers off, gag, gag, tantrum, gag, gag, almost throw up, beg hubs to drink some for me but even my most pathetic face can’t convince him (can’t say I blame him), gag, gag, must find bathroom (over about 45 min.) (vow [like I always do during this test] that I will NEVER have this test again)

Wait…(about 25 min)

Climb onto machine similar to this



Scaned

Injected with contrast similar to this



Scaned again

IV removed

All done

Must find bathroom

Home sweet home…eat…bed…nauseous the rest of the day…I hate Crohns

Love, Laugh and Always know where the nearest bathroom is…

I Think I'll Plant Flowers

We had a lot of rain this week but last weekend was beautiful and we were able to get a lot of work done outside around the house. This is the first spring in a couple of years that we have planted flowers. Having two sons playing on several baseball teams makes it difficult to keep up with watering and weeding beds of flowers so we have opted for some well placed potted plants the past couple of years. This spring and summer with J in his second year of college and B now too old for rec. ball B is only playing on his AAU traveling team so we will have a little more time for weeding flower beds but not much so we just planted a small row of flowers along two walls around the driveway and have flower pots and hanging plants by the front door and back deck as seen in the pictures below:
















We will be pouring a new bigger front porch and sidewalk soon so it would be a waste to plant anything around there like we use too. We also ripped out our front hedges and front gate…yes all gone no pics of that yet. Hubby has been wanting to do that for some time now. He has always hated trimming them. Now are you ready for this news sun bathers…. Yes the pool is open…now all we need is the SUN! Getting the deck furniture out and the pool open explains why we have had rain and cold weather most of the week. That’s just always how it works. It’s the same way in the fall. It’s cold so you close the pool and then it gets hot again. But it is warming up again so let the pool side cookouts begin!!!

I went to the doctors on Monday for my blood work results and it was all good news. My B12 and D levels were all up to normal levels. He gave me a new med for my migraines that I can take daily for preventative measures. I am gradually working to get to the regular dose so it has not kicked in yet. I hope it helps because I really can’t take the headaches anymore. The Imitrex is great and works well but my insurance will only cover 9 pills a month and I get the headaches almost every day.

We thought J’s baseball season was over but they qualified for the ECAC tournament and won their first game so they will move on to play in Delaware this weekend. He got creative with his hair for the tournament:

Wow what a day…

Yesterday was a good day!

First: I commented on the blog Quaker Large Rice Cakes Now Labeled Gluten-Free and Giveaway at http://glutenfreefun.blogspot.com/ and won the giveaway, a free sample of Quaker Gluten Free Rice Cakes. I’m so excited, I never win anything. Well that’s not really true. For some reason I always win A LOT of gifts but only at wedding and baby showers. It’s really kind of strange and my family (well my sisters) gets very annoyed. I walk out of these showers with almost as much as the bride or mom to be. At one shower they were pulling names for a door prize, my name had already been pulled so my niece said “Come stand by me so I win something”. I went over and……..she won lol.

Second: I qualified for a survey about Crohns Disease and they are sending me a check for $50.00. YAY!!!

Other than that it was a lazy Thursday. We are in between baseball seasons so I’m enjoying a nice break. It feels good to stay home and eat!!! I’ve been lounging around in my sweats with my hair pulled back and no makeup….it feels so nice. However, I am getting absolutely nothing done around the house… “I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.” (She says in her Scarlett O’Hara voice)

I did make my first loaf of gluten free white bread. I’ve made several cinnamon and raisin loafs which I love but I wanted some gluten free bread for making sandwiches. I was very pleased with the outcome. I used a Red Mill Mix and it mixed up easily and baked up light (not heavy like some mixes) and made a good sandwich.

So what can I win today??? Anyone have a good giveaway out there for me???

Love, Laugh, and always know where the nearest bathroom is

Meg Rocks

My beautiful talented awesome friend Megan worked her magic with two of my pictures and made me look like a rock star….well as close as I’ll ever get to looking like a rock star anyway. I will not allow anyone to take a picture of me again unless Megan edits it before anyone else sees it.

What do you think???



Edited by: Megan Salisbury



Singled Out: Edited by Megan Salisbury

Day 3 with no nausea!

Welcome to day three with no nausea!!! I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to NOT feel like I’m going to puke all day and NOT feel suddenly dizzy…especially when I’m driving somewhere. Maybe I’ll feel more comfortable driving more than a mile away from my house now. I wanted to celebrate and paint the town red but I settled for painting my nails red. Do you like???





Big Apple Red BY OPI





Love, Laugh, and always know where the nearest bathroom is

Nausea Be Gone and stay gone!!!

Well I hope everyone who is a mom had a wonderful Mothers Day yesterday…I know I did. Where else would a baseball mom spend mother’s day but on a baseball field? Yes J had a double header and he even pitched so it was a great day for me. After the games we went out for a nice dinner with another baseball mom and her family.

Nausea:
I have been feeling a bit better these past couple days. Less nausea YAY! I had been experiencing some other symptoms that I didn’t share with you. Mainly because I just didn’t want to think about it anymore then I had too. This horrible nausea has been accompanied by some occasional light headed episodes. One night about 3 weeks ago I had a major episode where I got so nauseous and light headed I wasn’t sure if I would throw up or pass out or both. I made it to my bed but my hubby said I was so pale. He went and got his blood pressure cuff and took my blood pressure. It was extremely low. The nausea and light headed symptoms passed and my pressure (which is always low to begin with) went back to normal. A few days later I mentioned this to my sister-in-law and she was very concerned and told me if it happened again I was to go right to the ER. She also insisted that I monitor my blood pressure in the morning and at bedtime. I did this and it was always normal. I continued to have the bad nausea in the mornings and occasional moments of light headedness (mild compared to that one night). R came over last week and gave me my Cimzia shots and checked my blood pressure. I showed her the results of my monitoring and she told me to start checking it when I had the mild episodes. Shortly after she left I had a mild episode and….you guessed it, very low. Must check with my doctor. R discussed this with her co-workers (doctors office) the next day and they looked at the new vitamins (B12, D, digestive enzymes) I started taking about two months ago (which is when the nausea got really bad). They recommended I stop taking the digestive enzyme. So I stopped the next day. The nausea has slowly gotten better and today for the first time in a long time I have not had any nausea yet and I haven’t felt light headed or a drop in blood pressure since??? I will still mention this to my doctor next week when I go for my blood work results but I hope this is the end of these symptoms. Now to get rid of the fatigue (which has improved since the B12 and D) and headaches and I’ll be a happy camper!!! Thankfully the joint pain is still gone with only mild pain here and there.

Baseball:
Well Spring Baseball Season is over for both J and B. Here is the good the bad and the ugly of the 2010 College and High School Season:
First of all Congratulations to CC for winning the AAAA Section 4 Title and you’re going to the playoffs…..YAY!!! KEEP WINNING! We have many friends on this team.

Section 4: (Section Record) (Overall Record)
#-PH Indians : (9-3) (12-5)
#-PCC Vikings : (9-3) (11-5)
*-P Mustangs : (8-4) (14-5)
x-G Gators : (7-5) (11-7)
x-FR Panthers : (5-7) (8-8-1)
x-WH Wolverines : (3-9) (5-12)
x-MK Tigers : (1-11) (3-14)

There we are in second to last place :(
B fought a hamstring injury all year and his cyst is back…more surgery in August :( He did make the Baseball Statistical Leaders:

Baseball Statistical Leaders
Friday, May 07, 2010
PPG
________________________________________
THROUGH SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2010
BATTING
(Minimum 32 at-bats)

Name, School AB H Avg
BT, WHHS 33 17 .515

RBIs
18 -- BT, WHHS.

J’s team qualified for the Quarter Finals but unfortunately lost both games yesterday. I did get to see J pitch one last time as a sophomore so I was happy about that. Most of you know I always sit behind third base (sometimes behind first) and take pictures but at J’s games I usually only take pictures of the game when he is pitching and he closed the first game. I still hang out at third base but my presence was requested in the bleachers for the second game because there was a very rude loud obnoxious parent from the other team annoying my favorite LRC parents. Now those of you who have seen me in action can sympathize with the poor man. While my cheers are never rude I can be very loud and annoying when I want to be. Let me just say he only lasted for 2 innings….I lasted all 7 hahaha.

J:
Category Leaders


________________________________________


The Automated ScoreBook
Pitching Leaders for LRC (as of May 10, 2010)
(All games)

Hitting minimums - 1 Games
Pitching minimums - 1 Games

Opposing bat avg
----------------
Cory.......... .154
Jeremy....... .200
JJ.......... .206
Anthony..... .227
Adam......... .236


Saves
-----
George........ 4
James...... 1
JJ.......... 1

Innings pitched
---------------
Addison.... 56.2
James...... 46.1
Adam......... 41.2
Reed...... 40.0
JJ.......... 17.1

Games finished
--------------
George........ 8
JJ.......... 6
Justin....... 6
Reed...... 4
2 tied at........... 2

Games in relief
---------------
Justin....... 10
George........ 9
JJ.......... 8
Reed...... 5
2 tied at........... 4

Hit batters
-----------
Adam......... 8
Reed...... 7
Addison.... 6
JJ.......... 4
James...... 4

Batters SO out looking
----------------------
Addison.... 16
Adam......... 8
James...... 7
JJ.......... 6
George........ 5

Sac bunts allowed
-----------------
JJ.......... 3
Addison.... 3
James...... 2
Adam......... 1


Home runs allowed
-----------------
Nate......... 0
Cory.......... 0
Justin...... 0
JJ.......... 0
John........ 0

Love, Laugh, and always know where the nearest bathroom is

Gee Thanks Crohns

So you all know that I have been having a lot of nausea and fatigue yadda yadda yadda, and baseball season is always a difficult time for me. For me Crohns and baseball just doesn’t go well together. As I’ve said before I don’t do porta johns unless it’s an extreme emergency. So I avoid extreme emergencies by not eating. As you can imagine this makes even a good day turn bad very quickly. So I’ve been struggling through the season going to all of B’s games and most of J’s home games. This week however I was just worn out and feeling extra nauseous and fatigued on Tuesday so I decided not to go to B’s game. Now my kids are wonderful and they completely understand if I can’t make it to a game. As a matter of fact when they know that I’m not feeling well they encourage me to stay home because they want me to feel better more than anything. It’s me being stubborn and not wanting/letting Crohns interfere with any part of my kids lives. But I do know my limits (most of the time) so I stayed home and it felt good to stay home until I hear “B hit a homerun” his third one this year and I missed it. I missed it because of you Crohns. You are such a pain in the butt Crohns (pun intended). All I can say is it’s a good thing I got to see the first two. I am very thankful for that!!!

J’s team is doing very well! They qualified for the Quarter Finals that will be played on Sat. at their home field. If they win they move on. GO TEAM!

I got my Cimzia shots last night and I hope its kicking your butt Crohns. Blood work today, ugh more needles. Hoping she can get it on the first stick this time. I’ll be sure to let you know. So until then

Love, Laugh, and always know where the nearest bathroom is

May Already!!!

Is it really May already!!! Of course I’m looking forward to summer but it will be over in a blink. I hope I can get rid of this nausea and get my energy back before June and before the summer baseball tournaments start. It’s getting very hard to get through one double header on a Saturday. J had a double header this past Saturday and I paid dearly for it on Sunday. Tournaments in the summer can consist of 2 or 3 games a day on a Fri., Sat., Sun., and Mon. I feel like the energy is slowwwwwly coming back but the nausea is driving me crazy and I had a horrible headache for three days straight last week. I will be going for my follow up blood work this week and then to the doctor on the 17th for the results. Hopefully there is some improvement and if not I hope they can come up with a plan to get me in shape by June. Especially the nausea, I really can’t take much more of that. It makes mornings very difficult. I don’t know how you pregnant women do it. I never had morning sickness during pregnancy, thankfully!

Speaking of baseball…At J’s game on Saturday I just had to snap a picture of the shoes this lady was wearing.



Who wears shoes like that to a baseball game??? I wear my beat up old tennis shoes 1. For comfort and 2. I sure don’t want to ruin my good tennis shoes let alone dressier shoes. You should have seen what she was wearing!!! I wanted to get a picture of that too but I didn’t have an opportunity to snap a picture without being obvious…darn. She looked like she was in her mid to late 50’s and she was wearing these short black shorts with a black open top tied at the waist with a tiny low cut white camisole under the black top. The black top wasn’t just open at the top to reveal a small amount of camisole…it was wide open revealing the entire front of the camisole down to her waist. Now if she were someone who didn’t really look her age and had nice skin and good posture maybe, maybe she could have pulled this off but she looked like she’s led a very hard life (most likely in some hot desert sun). But hey who am I to judge. Just promise me if you ever see me and the way I'm dressed freaks you out, just slap me....hard!!!

Love, Laugh, and always know where the nearest bathroom is

Sister + Baked Goods + More than one Bathroom = A Lovely Day!

This past Wednesday I had a Gluten Free Baking Day (hopefully the first of many) with my sister. Sister + Baked Goods + More than one Bathroom = A Lovely Day! Of course as usual it was one of those slow moving nausea mornings so I was late getting there. Sis already had the cookies done and the cornbread ready to go in the oven. That’s ok because my favorite part is eating everything! I jumped right in and mixed up some banana bread and then some banana muffins.

Here are the mixes we used and our results:



Betty Crocker GF Cookie mix: I have used this mix before but I just made bar cookies because I was too lazy to do the scoop and drop and bake routine. So it was nice to see that they scoop and drop and bake well. When I made the bar cookies they were kind of on the crumbly side but the cookies held together well and tasted good. (Not nearly as good as my sister in laws chocolate chip cookies mind you but hers are the BEST chocolate chip cookies in the world so everyone just throw in your towel now. Btw anytime I am in the same room with RS’s chocolate chip cookies I will cheat and eat…just saying) I don’t know if its just me but I feel like some of these mixes have more sugar in them then their gluten sisters. If you have an opinion on this please share it with me.



Gluten Free Pantry Yankee Corn Bread Mix: This mix baked up nicely also. A whole stick of butter for this small size corn bread seemed like a lot but it did taste good. I’ve tried the Red Mill Corn Bread Mix and I liked that a little better.



Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix: We used this Baking Mix to make the Banana Bread and the Banana Muffins. Out of all 4 treats I liked the Banana Muffins the best with the Banana Bread coming in at a close second. We used the recipes on the back of the bag. Very quick and easy to mix up and tasted great.

Here are the finished products:



Eventually we hope to forgo the mixes and start baking from scratch. This should be less expensive and hopefully even tastier. If you have any great recipes please, please feel free to share them and I will do the same.

Love, Laugh, and always know where the nearest bathroom is