Wednesday, February 26, 2014

gluten free, grain free, grass fed

many of you know about my beautiful little barbara. and many of you know that like any good mother, i will skip buying things for myself in order for my sweet child to have only the best. for example, bill and i may have to eat hot dogs in order for barbara to eat grade 5 dog food (and let's be honest, she'll probably eat some hot dogs too), but she will eat only high grade food. i think it's safe to say that someone in our house will always be eating well, but it may or may not always be bill and me.

The other day, in addition to buying Barbara a giant pink NC State collar (you know, because she too agreed to be a State fan upon marriage), Bill picked up a sample of this food called "Taste of the Wild." It just so happens to be the Wild Boar formula and actually has roasted wild boar in it. Which is perfect since Barbara makes piglet noises when she eats every night. Roasted pig for our favorite little piglet!

Barbara went NUTS over this food. And it was dry food, mixed with her normal, also high grade, wingaling wet food (yes, this child literally gets chicken wings for supper). So Bill, being the doting father he is, called the pet store to see if it came in a wet food formula. Oh yes, they said. And then they went on to tell him that dogs who lick their paws or have tear stains may have gluten or grain allergies. Funny. Barbara does both. Here I was thinking her tear stains were from her crying because she missed us so much, but it turns out she cries because she has an allergy!

So you can imagine what happened next. If you imagined BIll and me spending hours online pricing out the Wild Board Stew at various pet food sites, then purchasing exactly a whole case of it to be delivered within 2 days, then your imagination is spot on!

And if you imagined me feeling bad for making fun of all those fad people who claim to have a gluten allergy, and simply must eat dried out gluten free waffles, well you are wrong. I'm still not sold that everyone in this world has a gluten, grain, potato allergy, but isn't it funny how we react when we find out our children may be suffering? There was absolutely no question in mine or Bill's minds that Barbara simply must need to go gluten free so her tears will stop staining her beautiful face and her paws will stop being so tasty to her.

next up: a pair of vegan toms to go with her gluten free, grain free, tear unstained face.

Monday, February 17, 2014

snowmageddon 2014

if you know me, you know that i have quit skiing. After having one too many panics attack, the last of which was at the top of the big hill in the middle of Squaw Valley two years ago, I threw in the towel, sold my skis on craigslist and i haven't looked back. in general, i just don't love snow anymore. it causes too much heartburn and headache. it makes the entire world just shut down. and i do NOT have time for that.

so you can imagine my chagrin when Big Weather announced on the radio AGAIN that we were expecting snow. I just had too much going on last week to deal with more snow. Barbara isn't exactly impressed with snow, we had errands to run, I needed to grocery shop for the beach trip, I needed to wash clothes, I needed to be able to freakin' leave the house (notice work is not included in these items. I did not NEED to work although I did have to at some point in there). Plus, let's be honest. When are the weather men ever really right on par with their weather guesses anymore? So you can imagine the state of panic I was in when the sky opened up last Wednesday and dumped snow all over the Triangle.

At 1p I got a text from Bill that he was leaving work and was on his way to get me. The snow was starting to fall and he wanted to get out of Durham and back to Raleigh before the roads got bad. Except apparently everyone in Durham and RTP had the exact same thought at the exact same time. At 115, Bill picked me up. At approximately 120, I began to cry. The roads were already parking lots, people were abandoning their cars and walking, tires were spinning, everyone was in a state of duress. I just knew we weren't ever going to see our home again. We were going to be stranded and die. And Barbara was going to die because no one would be able to go check on her.

Somewhere along the way, Bill informed me that I was not very good in a crisis and he didn't know if he would put me on his lifeboat. I managed to stop planning our funerals long enough to ask "you wouldn't save my life?" To which he responded: "well, I would. but i would knock you out cold first."

22 miles later and four hours later, we did finally make it home. and in case you were wondering, i still hate snow.

Married Valentine's Day - Part 1

We had some bad weather last week, so our plans to go see Les Miserables (first date throw back!) got rescheduled. Luckily, Bill was still able to pick up the flowers he had ordered for me. One thing about Bill - he's really thoughtful. So he had ordered Valentine's flowers from our wedding florist Gregg that matched our wedding flowers.  The flowers are beautiful and our house smells like a floral shop now! We were even able to carry them to the beach with us so we could enjoy them all weekend. Three cheers for a man who knows his wife loves flowers, she loves fancy flowers and the less store bought they can be, the better!


monday's musings

whew. it's been busy the past few months. actually, since we got married it feels like it's been one thing after another. i think it's safe to say we've had our fair share of newlywed fun. and we've had our fair share of newlywed challenges.

In the past four months, we've both: had car issues, health concerns, and started new jobs. We've moved. We've thought about - and talked about - finding a new church. We've even picked a few to try for when we're in town. We've combined incomes, spending styles and decorating skills. We've had to learn how to better and more effectively communicate. We've had to adjust some of our plans for the future. And we've realized that what is important to us - him and me - has to be protected and fought for, sometimes it feels like daily. We have to protect our marriage. We have to fight for our marriage. And we have to consciously decide to put the other first.

Bruce, our wedding minister told us that marriage will make you realize just how selfish you are. And boy oh boy. He wasn't kidding. I used to think I wasn't all that selfish and I used to think I would make the perfect wife. Hello, I love to cook and clean! And I will happily do so if he wants to bring home the bacon!! But I was wrong. So so so wrong (not about the cooking and cleaning. It is in fact true about me that I love each of those things). Over the past 4 months, I have learned just how selfish I can be and how much happier I am when I am making decisions to put his needs before mine. I have also learned how much better we do as a unit - as a team - when we are prayerful in our thoughts and intentional in our decisions. It's so much fun - such a blessing - to have a teammate, to be his helper, to learn how to love him well and to learn to do life together.

But it is work. Hard work. And while I always knew marriage would be hard, I never thought it would be so hard so fast. I always knew being married would change things but I don't think I realized just how much things would change. Marrying Bill has been the absolute best decision I've ever made. But learning to be less selfish, to put my husband's needs and wants before mine, and to allow him to fully see my brokenness, my insecurities and how wicked my soul can be sometimes has been hard. Even though I know he loves the depths of me and the ridiculousness that can be me, it's been hard to give someone everything and just believe that he won't run away.  It's definitely been a tug of war with faith.

In a sense, it's overwhelming that this man chose me and wants to be with me through thick and thin. For better for worse. For richer or for poorer. in sickness and in health. and at the same time, I think it is just that - those very things - that make marriage so profound and so worth it. and i wouldn't trade any of the past four months for anything.