Archives for March 2011

Disaster Zone

Filed Under: GeneralLeave a Comment

I’ve decided that we are officially DONE with cold weather.  Yesterday I started the dreaded task of removing our thick sweaters and long sleeve shirts from our closet.  I’m so glad they’re gone, I’m sick of feeling bundled up and claustrophobic… we are ready for Spring!

I had to warn Jesse that he should just avoid our bedroom for a while. He doesn’t do well with seeing the chaos that happens during a project. Which is actually pretty funny considering how messy he was when we first met. He was sharing a two bedroom condo with a guy we knew from church. The first time I saw his room there was a pathway from the door to his bed, and from his bed to his computer. The rest of the floor was covered in about two feet of stuff (I’m not allowed to say junk). That’s not to say my old bedroom was always that clean, but it sure wasn’t that bad. Now Jesse often gets annoyed about messes before I do, and he can’t stand it that messes often have to get worse before they can get better. I’m not sure how it happened, but his OCD has come out a bit when it comes to neatness.

Closet cleaning

Since I was already making a mess of our entire bedroom, I figured I might as well go through the closet for clothes I don’t wear anymore.  I’ve lost a bit of weight since being on my allergy diet and had a lot of stuff that I know I can’t wear that was just taking up space.  There is nothing like shopping for new outfits in your own closet… I forgot about some of the things hiding in there!  I think there will need to be a shopping trip in the near future to refill the empty spaces.

Of course, once you clean out one closet it just makes the other closets seem that much messier. Where does all this junk come from? How do we end up with so much stuff anyways? I guess the next step will be to see what other treasures I have forgotten about.

I Outrun CF

Filed Under: Cystic Fibrosis1 Comment

Yesterday Jesse and I participated in the Outrun CF Virtual Race.  Hundreds of people across the country signed up.  Everyone mapped out their own course near their house.  It’s so neat to think that so many of our CF friends were participating in this cause at the same time.  Check out the Outrun CF facebook page to see how others ran their race.

Outrun CF

How did we outrun CF?  Well, we actually walked.  Jesse has a nasty sinus infection that is slowing him down a bit lately and I wasn’t feeling too great myself so we determined that running wasn’t the best idea for us.  But we still wanted to be in on the action.  We put on our running shoes and did a lap around our neighborhood.  That’s what was so great about this race, no expectations about how far or fast you needed to go.  Everyone participated to the ability that they were able to prove that CF was not standing in the way of what they wanted to do.  We are definitely looking forward to future races where we can push ourselves a little harder.

Allergic Girl by Sloane Miller

Filed Under: Allergies, Food Reviews2 Comments

Sloane Miller’s Allergic Girl: Adventures in Living Well with Food Allergies is a great book. It is definitely a must read for anyone with food allergies or anyone who cares and cooks for someone with food allergies.

Allergic Gril

In my never ending google-ing for information to make my new, food-allergic life easier, I came across a blog called Please Don’t Pass The Nuts. I discovered that the author of the blog had also written this book. Sloane is a psychotherapeutic social worker who coaches people on how to live with their food allergies. I found that since she deals with multiple food allergies herself, she had tons of helpful advice and stories that I could relate to.

Here is what I learned from Allergic Girl:

1. Know when you’re having a reaction, and when you’re not. Let me explain. One of the first things that my allergist had me do after the results of my allergy testing was start keeping a food diary. I wrote down every single thing that I ate and any reaction I felt as a result. I now think that was the worst thing I have taught myself to do. Before long I couldn’t tell if I was imagining symptoms or actually having them. I was concentrating so hard on every little throat tickle that I was afraid to eat. I began crossing more and more foods off of my safe list. This book let me know that I was not alone in my ability to worry symptoms into reality. Now when I feel something I take a deep breathe, drink some water, and reevaluate when I’m calmer.

2. Love your food. I’ve always loved food, especially pasta and sweets. For a while I felt like my world ended when everything was eliminated from my diet. It wasn’t that I was going hungry, but I sure wasn’t feeling satisfied with my food life. This book helped my to start to discover my inner foodie by focusing on all the foods I could have instead of the foods that I couldn’t. I’ve been enjoying foods I’ve never had before and never would have been willing to try before. Cooking is still difficult because it still takes a LOT of planning, but it is also fun and exciting!

3. How to eat away from home. I haven’t tried this one out too much yet. I feel so much more comfortable at home where I know every ingredient and exactly how everything is prepared, but eating at home is not always possible. I’ve learned to trust that other people are just as capable at cooking within my new rules. I feel more confident that I can communicate my needs to others and still stay safe. This will really be put to the test this summer, as we are planning a trip. We will be away from home for a whole week (yikes)! When the idea of the trip was first presented to me I thought there was no way that I could go, but now I’m determined to work it out. Even though I’m still a bit scared about the idea I know that with some extra planning it can be done.