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Oh CRAP! And Other Signs of Age Progression

7 Nov

It has been a while since my last post.  And though I had given a slight clue, in my last writing, as to what I would be writing in this current (or next) post, I have, “Rivka style”, changed direction.  I say, Rivka style, because I have found that the one constant about my direction is that it is always changing.  For instance, my good friend and I travel to Santa Catalina Island once a year for a girls getaway.  This past weekend marked our 14th or 15th year of wreaking havoc on the sleepy town of Avalon.  And as has been our custom, every year prior, we share a barbeque chicken pizza along with a dinner salad for one of our meals together.  However, this year as she excitedly sat at our familiar table ready to order our “specialty”, I spilled the truth.  “Uhm, Candice, I have a confession to make…I don’t like barbecue sauce anymore.”  Now in years past she would give me a good ribbing about it, but this year she resigned to what she has come to know to be true, “Rivka is always changing her mind!”

Yes, folks, I am.  And though I would like to write about the adventure of finding the San Diego Velodrome, it will have to wait; because I have changed my mind.  I have changed partially due to the fact I have been dealing with migraine headaches again.  And the headaches affect my ability to work at the computer because I am a slow writer, as well as, a slow reader.  And the pain is quite intense, and the intensity grows the longer I stare at the screen.

Though I previously had connected gluten as the cause of my head irritation, I have since discovered it is not the case.  Yeast and sugar, perhaps, though I am not wholly convinced (due to my own elimination diets of the past) that the cause is of MY doing.  Truth be told, I have recently shared with Brian that while I am under the ‘spell’ of pain, I am feeling as if G-d is punishing me for something.  I will tell you, confessions aside, that the only real connection I have found is a change in the weather.  It is true, when the seasons change I tend to have the darned things more often.  Yet I have enough insight into the ‘facts of life’ to know that the weather in and of itself cannot be the sole reason for my infliction.  I have considered that my maternal grandmother suffered, occasionally, from migraines and my daughter does as well.  Did I hear the call of “Genetics”?  Blah Blah Blah…what a boring subject!  I have been having migraines so long now that I am absolutely tired of them as a subject matter!

So let me leave you with the instance of how I came to my title.  For some reason I received, in the mail, a holiday toy catalog.  I do believe it was either for Toys R Us, or Target.  Anyway, as I was perusing through the high gloss, and vibrantly colored pages, I couldn’t help but wonder at the types of toys offered to the wee ones of today.  Monster dolls called, Bratzillas and some other name I have now forgot.  Fairies called, “Good vs. Evil Fairies”.  Party Girls dolls, or in other words (mine in fact), super skinny dolls with multicolored hair and loads of makeup on the face.  A family game which involved handcuffs, and a game which seemed to award the art of lying.  And as I sat there, jaw dropped open and mind in wonderment at why these types of toys are sought after, it hit me, “Oh Crap, I am getting old!”  No it isn’t so much my age in number that is showing signs of the natural progression (according my family lineage I will hit middle age in another 15 to 20 years), it is the sign that I am losing touch with that which sparks the fire of the, younger-than-me, young.  Oiy Vay!

Yes folks, I have been away from the computer for a couple of weeks now and with my quick appearance I leave you this tidbit morsel of nothing…sweet as it may be, it is still nothing.  But tomorrow brings a new attempt at fighting the beast of my head (and eyes) and with my new approach, I am hopeful to have the physical ability, once again, to write in a manner more connected to that which I wish to say…without the pressure of pain sitting in the director’s seat.  Crossing my fingers and such.

Adieu

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Bird Flew

2 Apr

I am currently in northern California.  San Jose to be exact.  I drove my son, Cole and his dog, Piper, up from southern Cal, yesterday.  It should have been a six hour drive, but due to an incinerated vehicle in Los Angeles and heavy traffic all the way through, we made it up here in seven and one half hours.

Let me tell you, I am tired today!

We are again up here so Cole can receive the neurological acupuncture treatments from Dr.’s Zhu and Moyee.  The plan is for treatments every day, except Sundays, for the next two weeks.  I will fly home for this upcoming weekend and fly back on Monday.  In my absence, my brother in law is taking charge.  For you new readers to this blog, my son’s face is paralyzed, his balance altered, and he lacks full ocular function.

Anyway, today I took him to his appointment at 11:30a.m.  I then took Piper to an, almost always, empty dog park.  When I reunited with Cole an hour later, he could move the upper portion of his nose…bilaterally!  It is just incredible and almost unbelievable…even when I’m first hand witness to it.  We then took a break for lunch back at our hotel room.  And while Cole finished his bento-box, Piper and I went down to the outdoor pool and jacuzzi area.  Both of which are enclosed by a gate so I was able to take her off leash while I dipped my feet in the warmth of the jacuzzi and made a few phone calls.

The reasons I am so wiped out today is one, I was up working past midnight the night before we left.  Two, I drove all the day in traffic yesterday.  Three, last night I had crashing-the-car-nightmares which kept waking me with a jolt.  Four, I had a dog on my bed the whole night.  Five, I’m wrangling our luggage, my purse, the car and hotel doors, my son, his dog, my beverage, and the hotel room/door key.  Shoot, that last one is enough to make me tired all by itself.  I’ve decided I need to hire a “Rivka Wrangler”.  Anyone looking for a job?  I pay with “please and thank you!” 🙂

Well we finished up at the clinic today at 4p.m.  Actually, Cole called it quits…his threshold had been met.  So with us both being so tired I knew I needed to let Piper have one more go round on the enclosed courtyard grass before heading up to our room (where I hoped to land for a while).  But as my life would have it, my full-proof, proactive planning, backfired.  Piper spied a cute bird couple “twitterpating”… and then all of a sudden, BAM!! …one was in her mouth.  She then paraded her kill while the other widowed avian spouse flew around quite disgruntled.

So here I was, just a few minutes ago, first day in our hotel and my son’s dog hunts, kills, parades, and then proceeds to eat one of the little birdies that lives here.  I don’t even know what to say…  After I once again wrangled Piper back onto her leash (after her first victory she was ready for round two, three, who knows probably four and five), we returned to Cole in our room and I told him what had happened.  He asked, “Did anybody see?”   “Heck if I know,” was my reply–because I nabbed Piper as fast as I could and pretty much ran back to our room.

I called Brian and told him.  I also mentioned, “I am not much for ‘animal kingdom’.  I don’t even know what or how to handle a bird eating dog!”  To which he replied, “Me neither.”

HELLO SAN JOSE; THE BENTS ARE HERE!!

p.s. Still no migraine, even with lack of sleep, a stressful drive, a son, and a bird dog!

Beauty AND the Beast!

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Gluten Free

1 Apr

To wheat, or not to wheat?  That is the question…

I am not one who likes to follow the trend…of anything!  So when going “wheat free, or gluten free” became the nutritional fad of the year, a few years ago, I was adamantly opposed to investigating its principles.  But as my nosy and incessant drive for knowledge (especially in the field of the human body and nutrition), overtook my elites attitude, I found myself acquiring a broad sense of the gluten free world.  And yes, I would pride myself on introducing products, resources, recipes, and vendors to my glutenless peeps (peeps=friends and family), even though I still refused to eradicate my own diet of wheat bearing products.

I even had my sister and her husband avow to a strict wheat free regimen for a one month, very loose, very nonclinical, trial.  Instead of learning how the GI and Excretory systems of a Crohn’s sufferer could benefit from the dietary change, I learned my sister makes for a poor lab rat and her husband, who is not a victim of chronic intestinal disease, is highly sensitive to the criminal grain.  I know, not the scientific method of the academic sect…though interesting just the same.

But alas, an “issue” of inflammation has been pestering me, off and on, for quite some time, so this past month (actually two) I felt inspired to give the ‘ol wheat-less diet a try.  Now I will tell you that I did not scrutinize ingredients too carefully.  For example, when eating at a restaurant I did not concern myself with the ingredients in my balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, nor the possibility of miniscule droppings of a glutenous product on my french fries.  Nor did I become preoccupied by the ingredients of a wine sauce.  My intent and execution of the imposed restriction was only to abstain from the obvious wheat choices.  For me, this was not too difficult a task, except when I was craving a bowl of Grape Nuts Flakes cereal; then, and only then, did this new diet hurt my feelings!

Now at about the second week into my loss (of bread, pasta, cereal, etc.), I noticed no improvement in my random acts of gastrointestinal inflammation.  So I said, “to heck with it”, and ate a piece of chocolate cake and a hamburger with a bun.  However, the next day I awoke with a migraine headache.  I then went wheat free again for another week or so; but being I hadn’t received the GI benefit I was looking for, I joyfully gave into the craving for two pieces of toast one night after dinner…a guiltless indulgence I assure you.  But guess what I was given the next day?  That is right, another migraine headache.

Now mathematics have always been a challenge for me, one I love but challenging just the same.  Yet in this case, I was definitely catching on to the 2+2 of my wheat-free equation.  And since I have been a long time sufferer of serious migraine headaches, I am now living wheat free because I am also living migraine free.

Have I checked the research to back up my claim?  Heck no, you think I have time for that?!  This is junk science, remember?!  But I have to tell you, my results are more than compelling and I have been undergoing several of my migraine triggers without succumbing to having the nasty beast of a headache.  You know what that means?  I have finally joined in league with the masses…I am living the fad, and will do so for as long as I am on the receiving end of my benefactor.

Wheat free, Gluten Free, NOT fat free, thus completely DELICIOUS!

The Best Recipe (courtesy my Jillian)

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