Allergies and Area Governor Stuff

Since March, I've had hives. When my friend and I cruised to the Western Caribbean the end of April, I was broken out the whole time. I took the max dose of benedryl the whole time. Needless to say, I was tired and sort of grumpy the whole time.

I finally visited with an allergist, and we discovered that I'm allergic to garlic, onions, peanuts, mustard, soy, peaches, malt, and green pepper. These foods I should avoid completely. Other allergies I have are corn, pinto beans, string beans, lettuce, milk, rice, rye, soybeans, and spinach.

I've heard of allergies to garlic and peanuts, but mustard, peaches? I've eaten mustard instead of mayonnaise on my burgers for years, and I love raw garlic. I used to buy a small container of garlic and eat them like candy. I even took garlic pills! It's supposed to be a good way to keep your system clear of infections. There goes my spinach dip, peach jelly, garlic chicken, almost any ethnic food.

I was just looking online for recipes without these trigger foods, and a website that advertises they have recipes without onion and garlic didn't actually have any without these ingredients.

A couple of weeks ago I told my son that I was considering eating like a cave woman -- no more processed foods, no more fancy, complicated recipes, just meat and vegetables, and fruit. And, now that's what I HAVE to do. We're even going to have to find different restaurants. No more Carraba's or Milano's or Olive Garden, Mexican food, or Chinese food. Even Bill Miller's BBQ brisket caused a minor hive breakout last night. Waaa

I bought groceries last Sunday and got spinach dip, garlic cloves to roast, 3 large juicy peaches, hamburger helper, Italian sausage and tomato/alfredo sauce, so many of my favorite foods that I cannot eat. I'm sort of freaking out here. Instead of concentrating on what I cannot have, I should look at the list of foods I was tested for that I DID NOT have a reaction to.

Almonds (all nuts except peanuts), apples (all fruits except peaches), avocado, barley, beef (all meats and seafood), broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, cinnamon, CHOCOLATE, coconut, COFFEE, cucumber, eggs, ginger, hops, lemon, mushrooms, nutmeg, oats, olives, peas, potatoes, squash, strawberries, tea, tomato, vanilla, wheat, yeast.

So, with this list in mind, it's not so bad. It's fresh food for me. This is probably the only way I'll ever lose weight -- cut out the processed and over spiced foods. I think God had a hand in this. :O)

I've had fun this week. It was a crazy busy week, and it was stressful, but in the middle of it all, I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride.
I attended 3 Toastmaster meetings this week, 2 last week, and I completed the club visit requirement. Now I just have to fill out the area governor club visit forms and get them in to TI.

We'll probably have a club contest because a member wants to compete in the humorous speech contest. I thought I was going to get away without having to deal with a contest. But I think he was talked into competing. He is funny, and he's gone all the way to District before, so he could be a contender.

My work life had a hitch thrown into it last week when we met with our director. He had a meeting with one of the 11 VPs who told him they were unhappy with our website and service. He told me to take off my mad face. After I got over my hurt feelings, I mobilized and figured out how to address their concerns. They want to be able to get into their web pages and tweak the text when it's time to update them. Because I manage our Intranet, and it works by having many subsites for non-web people to update their own pages, I suggested we do the same with our internet server. It worked like a charm. Our new website design is set up with modules and divs so we can sort of pick and choose the parts we want to use. The first guy out of the shoot to do this using the new update feature was someone who never did a web page before. We worked out a way for him to use his Word file and insert photos. He was very happy with the results. He also wants his website updated to match the new one he just did. Yea!

I'm in the process of converting a website to the new look, and I'll teach the other 2 people on my team to convert as well. Then we'll start updating the website department by department until it has been done. The difficult part is the departments have to pay to have their sites updated.

A former coworker/friend died Thursday. I went to the visitation with a friend yesterday after work. Her funeral is happening at this moment, but I choose not to go today.

There's a bead market today that I'd like to go to, but I'm seriously thinking about staying in the house. I've already cut and dragged a huge branch from the backyard to the front for brush pickup. I've taken the recyclables to the curb, and brought the bin back. I should run to the credit union to straighten out my credit card issue. THEN I'll stay in. I'll probably go to the bead market tomorrow after church. I have flower duty tomorrow, so I'll run by the church, drop off some of the foods I cannot eat anymore with my daughter and then head to Universal City. Or maybe not . . .

Catchin' up

I had a great weekend! Saturday several friends and I had breakfast together. Again, I was late. I thought the email said 9:30. I don't know why. I arrived at 9:15 and waited patiently for the others to arrive. When I noticed a car that looked a lot like my friend's car, I started to feel like something was off. Then I saw another friend in the dining room standing up. They were all at the table. A mix of feelings rushed through me. Why didn't they wait? How could everyone have arrived so early and left me? How could I have been wrong AGAIN? I double-checked the email before I left the office Friday.

I used to have a reputation for being late when I was younger. Then, when I was a Mary Kay consultant, we learned to be early. I was a single mom for so many years, and we tried to be on time, but sometimes, we just couldn't make it. I really disliked that people didn't feel they could depend on me. Now, I'd rather wait on others than have them wait on me.

So, yesterday I had lunch with my dad. This time I took my grandson with me. Daddy and I decided to meet about 12:45. My grandson and I arrived at 12:45, and Daddy was already there. Again, someone was there before me. We always have a good time visiting and talking about old times. I told Daddy that we had a charmed childhood because we went to Medina Lake every weekend from the time I was 5 until I got a job working on the weekends at 17.

Every weekend except the winter! We had a blast. Water skiing, boating, fishing, swimming, just hanging out. There was the obligatory 1 hour after a meal that we had to wait before swimming, and that was my time to explore. We had a huge wooded area next to our cabin, and I loved walking through there, enjoying the solitude. I hardly ever invited someone to go with me. When someone did accompany me, I usually got irritated at them. They didn't want to go where I wanted or they would get hurt.

Once, something spooked me and I ran back to the cabin, grazing a cactus on my way. Ouch!!! That cactus got me good. I must have had 50 needles of all sizes stuck in my leg. Lots of tears. Wanting Mom to get them out. But don't touch it! It was excruciatingly painful, and I learned to respect cactus and to give them lots of room.

My grandson is amazing. He's 3-1/2 and he speaks clearly. He puts sentences together well and can tell you how many things there are without having to count them out. We were in the ladies room and he was talking about the changing station in the stall. He saw the elephants and said there were 3, the daddy, mommy and baby. He said that there were 3 of us at the table, not 4, not 5, 3.

My son applied to go to college this weekend. I hope it isn't too late for the fall semester. He is interested in Lakeview college in Universal City. Why there, I don't know. I think he's intimidated by the size of SAC, but he'll be driving much farther every day. He also applied for FAFSA, scholarships, and work study. He's planning to study to be an Art teacher. Maybe he'll be able to substitute teach and continue his studies to get his Bachelor's. He's excited!

I've been thinking about starting another Toastmasters club here on the Northwest side of town. There aren't any here that aren't corporate clubs. Several people are interested, and they are trying to join corporate clubs. Unfortunately, those clubs are closed to "outsiders." Slick Talkers is the only open club on the Northwest side. I think we could sustain an evening club. I'm currently a member of a Saturday morning club, and I hate it - not the club or the members - I love them - I hate the Saturday morning thing.

It seems that I always have something to do on Saturday morning, which means I can't hang out in my pjs for any length of time. It's OK to have occasions to meet friends and Altar Guild, but having something on every Saturday gets old quick.

Anyway, I had a great weekend catching up with family and friends. I hope you did too.

It's So Hot!

Last year my friend and I walked several times a week after work. People said we were crazy because on a few days, it was 99 degrees outside. We never got started this spring, and now, it's 105! I keep hoping it'll cool down soon. But we really have at least 6 weeks more of this heat. If it would only rain, it would help cool things down.

Maybe my son and I should go camping. When the kids were little we camped with Parents without Partners once a month. And just about everytime we camped, it rained. It got to where people would call us to see if we were going so they could decide if they wanted to deal with the rain. If feel we aren't doing our civic duty because we aren't going camping any more.

I walked at the mall Tuesday during the lunch hour. It took about 17 minutes to do one lap, walking briskly. I only went one lap . . . baby steps. I'll probably try again tomorrow.

I'm meeting a few friends for breakfast. We call ourselves the balcony group because we lift each other up. We haven't met in a long time, and I miss them. They are actually the first group my kids and I camped with in 1988 or 89.

I've been receiving the emails for the Jim Rohn Personal Development class, and I've been faithfully printing them out. One of these days, I'll actually get back into reading and doing the exercises.

Now, I'm catching up with Toastmasters Area Governor duties, editing a book for a friend, and busy with volunteer duties at church.

My dad called last night to see if I could meet him for lunch Sunday in Kerrville. I'm babysitting my grandson, so he and I are heading to Kerrville to visit grandpa! I love visiting with my Dad. We have a good time.