Random Days, or On Westies and Furnace Guys and Insurance Billing Plans

I love those days when you get up with a focus, a list of things you’re going to accomplish, and a state of flow in which you’ll do them. Today, however, is not one of those days.

Today is a disjointed day, when I have a single conference call and it coincides with when the furnace guy is here to service my air conditioners. (There was a 1 in 8 chance, go figure).

Today is a day when I start on one thing, get to a point where it feels hard, and then lurch to another, looking for a state of flow where I can dig in and actually finish something. Feel productive, make an impact.

Today is a day when the weather is changing and my joints hurt. And when every gust of wind or rabbit in the yard sends the Westies barking furiously and dashing for the door. Perhaps they’re a little unsettled today too.

Today is just going to be one of those days. Not in a sad way, not in a heartbreaking way, just a day when things don’t quite click and you do the best that you can.

Life’s like that sometimes. Some days give you joy, and some days you push your way through.

So here’s to perseverance, to pushing your way through the days where you have to work just a little harder to get the basic stuff done, and to realizing how lucky you are that it is just that – and not a sad, heartbreaking day after all.

Hugs to all of you and here’s hoping that my state of flow has decided to visit you instead and will be back where it belongs tomorrow. After all, I have a pile of insurance billing plans to analyze for my customer and there are no elves for this particular task.

Yet Another Dishcloth

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Partly because I’ve been grumpy and I don’t like to post grumpy things, and partly because I’ve been busy. I also like to make sure I have something interesting to write about although today I am going to break that rule and tell you about the rut I’ve gotten myself into.

I’m on a dishcloth-making binge. I’m quite happily doing it, and in fact, my binge is now infecting others as I am teaching the girls in my Sunday School class how to make dishcloths too, albeit with a purpose because we’re going to work up to knitting hats for the homeless.

That said, this dishcloth thing is starting to get out of hand. At this point, my husband comes home each week, counts the stack, and asks how many dishcloths I think we need. (As if knitting had anything to do with need). It’s become a big stack.

OMG. Does anyone need this many dishcloths?

 

See that bumpy thing to the left of the big stack? You got it – another dishcloth. At least this one is a different pattern.

So what got me started on this dishcloth binge? I suspect it’s a reaction to my brain being so busy working on other problems. I have other projects – the lace edging on that cardigan, at least two pairs of socks in various stages of completion, not to mention several fleeces that need spinning.

But dishcloths are the ultimate in simplicity, especially this one. Cast on four, add one increase per row, and knit your heart out until you get to the middle. Then decrease once per row until you run out of stitches. There’s not even a single purl stitch. That’s something my brain can totally cope with right now.

What about you? What do you do when you need to feel busy but really need something mindless?

Here’s to the lowly dishcloth. Useful, versatile, and the ultimate mindless knitting. Now that’s something I can get behind. And if any of you wants to take odds on when I’ll run out of steam, feel free to organize yourselves in the comments. There’s got to be the knitting equivalent of a football pool in here somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gluten-Free Manifesto

Okay, folks, I don’t rant very often and today I’ll try to keep the ranting to a minimum, but I want to get this off my chest. I didn’t start out as a member of the whole foods movement but I am rapidly becoming one because there is just so much junk in the manufactured food we eat. (Trust me, I like Oreos as much as the next guy, but once you read the ingredients list, they become a whole lot less appetizing). What I have found, though, is that opposed to a hundred years ago (at least where I grew up and we mostly grew our own food and stored it for the winter), eating fresh whole foods is actually kind of hard because our food distribution system is aligned towards feeding us what I like to call ‘crap in a box.’

So, today, in the spirit of Karl Marx and Martin Luther, I’m writing the Gluten Free Manifesto, or more accurately, the bill of rights for people with food intolerances.

1) The four most common food intolerances are: Gluten, corn, dairy, and fructose. When making products to avoid one, you will not substitute the others. Most people who have one food intolerance are also sensitive to at least one of the others. (Source: American Gastroenterological Association)

2) You will not create products that are labelled wheat free but actually contain malt flavoring (derived from barley) or other chemicals made from wheat or related grains containing gluten. Ditto corn, dairy, etc. People with experience in their food intolerances know the difference and seriously, that’s not fair to those who don’t or to those who are new and still trying to figure this stuff out.

3) You will not make products that are the gluten-free equivalent of  ’crap in a box.’

4) Vitamin supplements will not contain extensive lists of ingredients, leaving out the most basic – cornstarch used as filler. (Yes, this happened recently. I’m still annoyed. My daughter will be the beneficiary of a large bottle of Vitamin D that listed every small ingredient including the flavorings but left off the cornstarch. Ditto the $35 probiotic that contains dairy and will be needing a new home).

5) You will not add wheat or cornstarch to spices. (Seriously? Spices? Yes, sadly it’s true as they use it to avoid clumping. I went to add seasoned salt to something the other night only to find it is full of cornstarch).

6) Your baking products should not taste like beans. We know that bean flour is a good substitute in many baked goods but seriously, the last cookies I bought have this lovely raw bean aftertaste. Ugh.

7) The ingredients list on your food product should not require a chemistry degree to decipher.

8)  Don’t make me write to you to find out what is really in your product. Several times I’ve done this, and it’s always been an unpleasant surprise when you responded.

9) If you run a natural grocery store, you will train your employees about cross-contamination. Keep the gluten-y stuff away from the not gluten-y stuff. I now have a $9 bag of coffee I can’t use because it makes me sick – it is labeled 100% coffee so I have to assume it’s cross-contamination from the other bulk coffee bins. (Perhaps someone cut corners and reused a bulk bin without washing it? Ugh.)

So, I try never to end this blog on an unhappy note. There is some light at the end of this tunnel. By now, we’ve figured out that I can’t have gluten, corn or dairy. We also think I may have some histamine intolerance so I limit how much I eat of high histamine foods like strawberries and tomatoes. Almonds are still on the naughty list but may come back on a trial basis. I’m feeling better than I have in a year, and I’ve even lost some weight.

We’re also doing some things I’ve always loved to do – I’m growing fresh herbs in my kitchen and we are applying to the HOA for permission to install a garden in the backyard. We’re eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats and home-baked goods.

I’m trying to keep this in perspective, too, and this time around I think I’m doing a much better job. A decade ago, I had a major health crisis that ended me up at the Mayo Clinic for three weeks. While Mayo was able to get me back on the right track, health-wise, it was a major change in lifestyle and I struggled with that for a couple of years. This time around, I’m seeing it as a minor annoyance and every good day I have as a blessing.

The further blessing is that I’m having more good days than bad now. Finally. And, I’m a bit more philosophical about all of it, too, I guess. With aging comes wisdom, and with aging comes, well…aging. So there you go.

Greetings from Denver, where it was 70 degrees yesterday and today we are getting a foot of snow. Perhaps a little of the unpredictable in life is a good thing. It keeps us on our toes.

Awestruck

Ever have one of those moments that just stops you in your tracks? I had one of those this morning. I guess I wax a bit more poetic during the season of Lent but my Sunday School kids have me filling up a gratitude jar and this morning is definitely going in it.

You see, I stayed up a bit too late last night watching one of those restaurant rescue shows. I don’t know why I like these shows. While I like to eat in restaurants, a life of food service would not be for me. So when the alarm went off this morning, even the Westies weren’t too keen on getting up. But, get up we did and headed downstairs to what is always my very first destination – the coffee maker.

The doggies wanted to go out first, so I headed to the patio door and that is when I saw it, and was awestruck.

You see, Colorado is known for picturesque beauty. We have gorgeous sunrises, but the main living area of our house faces west and frankly, we just don’t spend that much time looking to the east so we usually miss them. (But we enjoy daily sunsets which are equally lovely).  It must have been a trick of the light this morning because facing west, the entire hillside was lit up with golden light. It was a transitory moment, too. Just as I thought to go for the camera, the clouds moved in and the moment was gone.

Maybe there’s a lesson in that though. In the days when we all have a camera-phone in our pocket and we digitally record every interesting moment, this particular day will live on only in my memory. That makes it a bit harder to share, but it does mean that for the one moment, I was really experiencing it – not through the lens of a camera, but real. Direct. Intense. And then it was gone.

A lot of moments of life are like that – real life passes us by while we are busy checking Facebook on our cell phones. (This is not an accusation – I’m as guilty as anyone). What I will take from this is that I need to put down the phone, put away the camera and the computer, and fully experience life every now and then. It’s good for the soul.

Now to go put this in the gratitude jar. Happy Thursday everyone.

Ah, the Spam!

So, if you’re like me (and I kind of hope for your sake that you’re not), you can’t hear the word Spam without thinking of this:

It sets you thinking of musical Vikings, Spam and eggs, and deciding that maybe you’ll order the Lobster Thermidor.

But if you’re a blogger, you get another kind of Spam; one that has nothing to do with eggs or even Lobster Thermidor. You get a weekly dose of seemingly helpful people sending you comments about your blog, many of which offer you special search engine optimization services, helpful hints on buying penny stocks, and other kindnesses.

I’m a bit weird this way, I guess, because I actually read my spam, both the items posted on my blog(s) and the ones I receive in email. You see, every now and then the spam filter gets it wrong and something important ends up in there. So this morning, I went out to the spam filter, looked through about 30+ items that piled up last week, and found…nothing useful whatsoever.

So why do I keep reading it? Hope springs eternal, I guess, and sometimes the spam is funny. Like the days when I get ads via email for Christian Mingle, J-Date, and hot Eastern European ladies offering services of a type that I can’t and won’t use. Apparently these email friends are confused not only about my religion but also my taste in dating. That, along with Canadian pharmacies offering selected pharmaceuticals (again, can’t and won’t use) draws an interesting picture. Need a knock-off Rolex? I think I can set you up.

On my very lucky days, I get a number of people wanting to send me money if only I give them a bank account to transfer it into. On those days, I think about how lucky I am that 1) I know it’s fake and 2) I am smart enough not to fall for it.

Silly folks; if only they would spam me with advertisements offering free shipments of yarn or sheep fleeces, they might raise my attention.

Next time you’re bored, go read your spam and let me know in the comments who is sending you this virtual love. Happy reading! (Just don’t reply!!)

The No Whining Pledge

Some of you may have read my recent blog post in which I gave up whining for Lent. As it turns out, that decision may have been poorly timed because I have quite a few things in my life right now to whine about. Thanks to food allergies, I’m giving up gluten, dairy, and probably corn and shrimp. (Maybe others, we’re still discovering new things as we go). On top of that, we’re expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow. Both factors are making me decidedly grumpy today.

So, I’m looking for ways to get past this without whining, without descending into that dark place where I sit around feeling sorry for myself for minor reasons, and particularly without ruining someone else’s day with my poor mood. After all, I’m pretty lucky in many ways. I have a nice place to live, a decent car, and a burgeoning new business. I also have a sinus headache (thanks weather).

How do you cheer yourself up when this happens? Do you descend into that dark place, wallow around for a while, then come back up when you’re ready? Or, do you shake it off, move on and put it behind you? Or, do you count your blessings?

My Sunday School class and I recently made “gratitude jars.” They’re pretty simple, really. Just a mason jar, decorated in my not-so-artistic way, sitting here ready to be filled with little slips of paper denoting the things that bless my life. It’s got a few in it already, from previous days when I was feeling less grumpy.

I guess if there’s a lesson here, it’s that being blessed isn’t a feeling. It’s not based on your emotions of the moment. All these little slips were created when I was feeling grateful – but the blessings they document existed the whole time, regardless of how I feel. Maybe what I really need to do to lift my mood is to read them and remind myself of how blessed I really am. Maybe I’ll even find a thing or two to add (although you can bet that it won’t be 6 inches of snow or a sinus headache).

Blessings to all of you. May you find many things to be grateful for and may your life contain no whiners.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good, His love endures forever. ~ Psalm 107:1

Oh, The Precious!

Every now and then a little guy comes along that you absolutely must knit for. My family had a recent arrival of this sort. He’s a very special baby. You see, the next child in that generation is now 18, making this a very long-waited for baby indeed.

And of course, we all think he’s adorable:

Baby Dylan. Adorable.

And of course, in the life of any new baby in my family a little hand-knitting must fall. In eager anticipation of his arrival, I planned and executed a little project of my own:

Knitted Baby Stuff.

The sweater was particularly fun to do, since it’s simple cabling but lets you add owls down the front of the sweater. For wisdom, my dear boy. A blessing from Athena, if you will.

Owl Cables. Fun!

We all send our own blessings to you too, little guy.  We love you and know you’re going to grow up to be smart as a whip and possibly a bit zany (not unlike the rest of us).

Welcome to the family.