Things I love:
- Udi’s bread
- Terra Burger (delicious burgers with GF buns, tasty fries, and rich chocolate milk shakes!)
- GF beer and the fact that it will soon be regulated by the FDA
- GoPicnic box lunches (mainly for the convenience of them)
- Betty Crocker’s GF cake mixes
- Pamela’s pecan shortbread cookies
- Pamela’s pancake/waffle mix
- Kind Bars
- GLUTEN FREE FOOD FAIRS!!!
When it comes to dealing with Celiac disease, I still have bad days. Something minor will happen, and I’ll turn it into something much bigger than it should be and end up crying uncontrollably about how life isn’t fair. The most recent example: buying bread from the grocery store.
I now have a bread that I love. It’s called Udi’s, and it’s so far superior to every other gluten free bread I’ve tried, that I will never go back. I absolutely love it. The problem is that the only place I know of that sells it is Central Market, and the nearest location to my house is 30 minutes away. This really isn’t a big deal because there’s another location that’s only about 5 minutes from where I work. So ideally I can just go pick up a loaf (or 5) during my lunch break and bring it home with me later.
But this weekend I wanted bread right then, and it wasn’t convenient. Suddenly I got really angry and started yelling at my fiance for something that was no fault of his. I blamed him for not wanting to spend over an hour making a trip to a specialty store just to buy bread. It wasn’t my fault I couldn’t get bread at a more convenient location! This is my life now, and he should be more accommodating no matter how inconvenient!
… And then I was crying. I realized how stupid and selfish I was being. It would be so easy for me to buy the bread on Monday while I was at work instead of wasting so much time doing it right then. But I was angry at my body and at life for putting me in that position. Normal people don’t have to drive 30 minutes to get bread, why should I? Why do I have to have such a broken digestive system? Why can’t I be normal like I used to be? I cried for a good while, with my fiance – despite the blow up – speaking words of encouragement to help cheer me up. And he did.
Now life is back to normal, and I’m doing fine again.. until my next bad day.
The new gluten free Betty Crocker mixes have finally started to show up in Austin! So far, only the chocolate chip cookie mix and the devil’s food cake mix have been seen, and only at Randall’s, but that’s big progress! I tried the cookies myself this past weekend. They were tasty, but dried out very quickly. I think it’s because they cooked so thin. The box calls for the cookies to be made using butter or margarine, which is what I did, but I think next time I will use shortening instead. That should keep the cookies from spreading so thin as they bake, and it will hopefully keep them a little more moist as well. I haven’t tried the other mixes yet, but I’ll review them once I do.
It’s been awhile since I last posted, and a lot has happened. July 16 (exactly 2 weeks ago) was the 1 year anniversary of my diagnosis with Celiac disease, and although it may sound strange, I decided to have a celebration. Not to celebrate being diagnosed with a disease, but to celebrate managing to successfully eat gluten free for an entire year, despite the challenges. Nine of my closest friends and family joined me at the Outback Steakhouse (which has quite an extensive GF menu, including drinks and dessert!) for a wonderful meal and plenty of laughter. I have the best friends/family in the world. They all support me and help me as much as they can as I struggle to maintain this lifestyle, and it was so nice to be able to celebrate a year of success with the people I love most.
In other news, the Fiance and I bought a house! Well, technically we haven’t closed on it yet because it’s still being built, but we signed a contract and we’ll close next month. I can’t wait to finally live with him under the same roof!
The wedding planning is virtually non-existant while we deal with paying for and moving into this house, but I’m still coming up with ideas in my head. And I did go ahead and buy a dress. It’s beautiful! We won’t have a date for the wedding until we figure out how much money is left after purchasing the things we need for the house, but it will almost certainly be sometime in 2010. (Preferably sooner rather than later, but we’ll have to see how the finances work out.)
So as you can see, things have been very busy around here, which is why I haven’t gotten around to posting for the last two months. But I’ll try to get back in the habit now that I’m not spending every waking moment house hunting. (I’ll just be moving and wedding planning instead!) =) Until next time…
I have way too much stress in my life, and I feel like I might break down at any moment. I’m tired of dealing with Celiac and VCD. I have no money, but I somehow have to pay for a house and a wedding. I’m not that thrilled with my job right now. And I spend way too much time apart from my fiance (we don’t live together). Right now I could really use a box of tissues, a comforting hug, and a nice big bowl of ice cream.
