30 Days!!!

And the count down get really serious.  Either today or Friday I will practice pack my one carry one bag I intend to take with me.  I can only practice because the clothes I have for Italy are basically the only close which are fitting right now.  I plan to fix that problem by having a fabulous seamstress come to my house and help me with my wardrobe.  She specializes in people who are in transition due to illness or other things and are going up and down with their weight.  So far I'm just going down, but ya never know.  Right now I'm in an awkward size between a 10 & 12 and my wardrobe is almost exclusively 14 so I need a bit of help.

I'm hoping to get a call saying my travel purse has arrived at the store.  I'm so eager to get it.  It totally hugs the body which Goat says is perfect for international travel.  I'm also going to start spending some time each day with the small Italian language program I purchased and focus on the food segment.

33 Days!!

It's been a busy week and things don't look like they're going to slow down anytime soon, which is good. These 33 days are going to breeze bye.  I'm ready to back my bag and have it next to the door for the trip. Next up is Miss Ro's birthday.  She will be taking the test for her driver's permit and I'm fairly confident she's pass the first time.  That means we'll have another driver in the family.  Yay.

This week I got my traveler's wallet and ordered the purse I will have overseas.  "Overseas" - tee hee.  I'm going to Europe!!!!  It's beginning to sink in but doesn't seem real just yet.  I ordered my Italian dining cards and they came in the mail this week as well.  My mom went even further and did some research.  Turns out Italy has its own Celiac support group and they have gluten free restaurants in the towns we're going to be in.  She's a gem, ya know.

Amongst all this preparation, I also got excited about the possibility of reentering the work force.  It really wasn't on my radar, but after our visit to Baker, I just knew I wanted to be a part of the admission team there.  Luckily I have some inside contacts so we'll see where this will go.  Miss Ro was terribly creeped out that I would apply at the college my son is seriously considering attending.  The Man's first question was, "Do I get reduced tuition if you work there?"  That's my boy.  He's not creeped out and I'm very happy about that.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!! 40 Days!!!!

I'm having a great time with my mom visiting this Mother's Day.  We went shopping for bathing suits for Italy along with a couple more dresses.  We mapped out the different directions we would need to get from town to town.  Later today the other grandparents will join us and will be going to Miss Ro's puppet show, having dinner, and just enjoying each other's company.  It's a great day.

44 days! Go Wildcats!!

The visit to Baker went very well today.  It put The Man in a tough spot; now he has two very different colleges that he likes and will have to make a choice.  And as the admissions counselor said, "You're in the driver's seat.  You have the grades and the test scores to go anywhere in the fine state of Kansas.  What would your dream college experience be like?"  Good question, don't you think?  Big school vs. small school, highly specialized degree in stage management vs. well rounded/eclectic theatre degree with stage management focus, off campus living tradition vs. on campus living requirement, quarter eating laundry machines vs. free laundry machines, professors with 1-2 posted office hours vs. professors who give out their cell numbers and invite students over for brunch on occasion, and on and on.  Either way he decides he will be a Wildcat.  Now it's whether I should buy purple or orange?

46 Days!

So what did I make tonight with my new found cooking skills?  Tacos, of course.  Simple and quick.  The Man was starving when he got home and was tasked with mowing the lawn.  I did purchase butter filets wrapped in bacon and plan to use the new cooking method tomorrow to make them.  I'll also get a fresh delivery of organic fruits and veggies from "door to door organics" so I'm sure we'll have some lovely side dishes.  I'm thinking rice pilaf and steamed broccoli.

We got Miss Ro enrolled today and it was an interesting experience.  The guidance counselor called Ro in before I had completed the paperwork to start looking at the classes she wanted to take.  I was pretty much left out of the loop, except that we had printed off the worksheet and gone over it together before the meeting.  It turns out the high school has a program for upperclassmen that focuses on early childhood development and/or early childhood education.  Ro is very interested in that program and we wanted to make sure her classes were in line with entering that program when the time comes.

We also met with the nurse who intimidated the heck out of Miss Ro.  The nurse eased up a bit when I explained Ro has been home schooled and doesn't know what to expect or what to ask for, but simply knowing the nurse is available and an advocate was reassuring.

Tomorrow is the big field trip with my financial foundations class.  We have 4 chaperones for 17 kids that will be split into 4 teams to shop for $45 worth of groceries each from the hillbillyhousewife.com emergency menu plan.   It could be rather chaotic but I'm hoping it will be educational for all.  I went to my local Hy-Vee where I do all my shopping and formally requested 4 gift cards in the amount of $50 for each team.  I suppose to call tomorrow morning to see if we were granted the gift cards.  Hopefully the answer will be yes.  I do enough business there you'd think they'd be jumping at the chance to help me with a class activity.  That, and I'll be bring the students and chaperones to eat at their kitchen for lunch tomorrow.

Just over 6 weeks and I'll be in Italy, expanding my cooking knowledge even further.  What fun.  Touring some of the most gorgeous countryside. Beautiful. And generally enjoying life. Grand.

Day 2 of Boot Camp - 47 Days to Italy!

Day 2 of Boot Camp went very well and we had some mighty fine dishes.  It's a bit of a blur right now as we had a tornado scare. My Love and I went away from the experience excited to try new methods of cooking proteins along with just trying new foods.  Vinegar has a place in sauces and we could stand to make use of sauces (not gravy) more often.

I'm excited to work in the kitchen more with My Love.  I think we'll both be braver to try new things.  Did I mention how happy I am that we were able to take the class together?

Tomorrow is a big day.  We have an appointment to enroll Miss Ro in ninth grade at the local high school for next year.  The trip to Florida was more taxing on her system than I had hoped but she remains in high spirits.  She knows what she needs to do to take care of herself and is taking the appropriate measures.

The Man is still excited about K-State and is planning on submitting his application at the earliest possible date, June 1st.  I took the advice of my pastor and went to the high school's website and found several scholarships The Man can apply for right now as a junior.  There's even more for when he officially becomes a senior.  I'm hoping he can keep an open mind as we visit one more school near us this Wednesday.

All of this is keeping me busy as I have another countdown to my follow up appointment with my GI doc on the 15th.  The marker test for Crohn's came back negative so I guess the next step is to swallow a pill cam.  I've probably already mentioned that.  I'm not sure how that procedure works, maybe something else to google.  Maybe the breath test will come up with something.  Maybe I'm just whack.

Boot Camp - Cooking School Style

What a terrific first day!  We started off the day with toasted Quinoa with a touch of honey served with CarCar Oranges and Plain Yogurt.  Next we worked on our knife skills dicing onions and carrots that would go into a chicken stock and beef stock.

For lunch the chef had us help prepare his famous, from scratch, marinara & Alfredo sauces and they had gluten free pasta for me. It was a brand and style, mini lasagna noodles, that I had not tried before and it was delicious.  He used the infamous "herbs de Provence" my favorite cookbook calls for all the time and I can't find anywhere.  When I saw it I blurted out, "Where did you get that?"  His answer was simple, "Across the street at the herb shop."  So when we adjourned for a break, I promptly went to said herb shop and bought myself a bottle.

After the break we got more hands on with me getting a chance to make a risotto with asparagus tips while My Love made Ranch dressing from scratch and other class members made a vinaigrette.   As we sampled our creations, the chef quickly prepared some seasonal veggies for us is a lightly oiled pan with minimal seasoning to demonstrate the proper doneness of veggies.  It seems all to often we in the midwest are guilty of cooking our veggies way to long.  Of course these veggies were delicious.

Our hands on experience continued as we were given a recipe for pork tenderloin with both a savory and sweet reduction, split into teams, & told to get to work.  My love got to flambé the pork.  Talk about impressive and oh so tasty.  Our team member didn't want any of the leftovers so of course we brought them home.

Next was a salmon dish with was to be marinated in soy sauce.  Soy sauce's main ingredient is wheat so that wasn't a dish I got to try and, as it turned out, I had to drive a ways to get Miss Ro from her trip back from Florida.  We had the most wonderful chat on our drive home.  My Love stayed to finish the class and normally will not eat anything that comes out of the water.  He prepared the salmon and ate the finished product AND said it was quite good.  I'm so proud of him.

The last thing on the menu was a lemon tart.  Again, not something I could taste but I would have loved to have been there for the skills but I am not a baker.  The chances of me using those skills again are little to none.  My Love will have to become the baker of the family.

I'm soooooo thankful to My Love for this gift.  I am learning so much and it is so much fun to take the class with him.  It's a perfect primer to the Italy trip in 48 Days!  Learning to do things from scratch like the broth and marinara sauce, to simple meals like risotto and quinoa will really help me take advantage of my door to door organic food delivery each week.

51 days!

I threw together a garage sale today.  My neighborhood is having their annual sale and I decided to make a go of it.  I can only participate on Thursday so we'll see what kind of crowd I can draw.  I spent 3 hours putting it together so if I can make $100 I think it was well worth my time.

My mother-in-law will be visiting tomorrow to go to opening night of Twelfth Night, the play my son is in.  The house is in decent shape and I'm looking forward to shopping for her Mother's Day gift with her.

Miss Ro is in Florida, safe and sound.  Tomorrow she'll get to go deep sea fishing.  She's been waiting a long time for this.  I sure hope she makes a great catch.

Only 3 days till boot camp.  Hoo-Rah!

52 days!

Wow what a weekend.  I started my Friday touring the Mormon temple with Miss Ro.  I nurses that were there when I had my ambulance ride were stationed at different locations and were happy to see me.  The temple was pretty special and I can see why it's reserved for special commitments within the Mormon faith.  When I returned in was time to pack and get ready for the second leg of my trip, visiting colleges with the boys.

Let me say first that I am so thankful that we made this trip in the spring of my son's Jr. year instead of waiting until the fall or later of his Senior year.  The early bird truly does get the worm when it comes to college admissions.  Now, our son is looking at a state school and while the admission criteria is a limiting factor like the ivy league school, there are priority deadlines of which to be aware.  The admission process starts as early as June 1 of the summer before his Senior year so his summer job can be to track down any possible scholarship money. Then he can be applying for that now instead of during the school year when he's busy with theater and other distractions of "senioritis".

The lightbulb has finally clicked and The Man is excited, he's motivated.  It's exciting to see that fire in his eyes again.  I haven't really seen it since the day the eye doctor informed my son that he was color blind and the career path in the military he wanted was not to be.

It was a productive few days and we learned a lot.  My advice, don't wait.  Go as soon as they show an interest in college.  At one of the schools they asked the students to mark on the info sheet at admissions what grade they were in.  The youngest grade to mark was 6th.  In some ways I wish I could rewind time and take these tours Freshman year, but my son didn't have a clue what he wanted to do then.  He's on fire now and it's a wonderful thing.

57 days!

Well, the pup is at the kennel: safe and sound.  I think it's her favorite place in the whole world.  They totally love on her the whole time she's there.  It's a nice break for me too, truth be told.  Only 57 more days.  Tomorrow Miss Ro will go up to Iowa to visit her grandparents while the boys and I go to the other set of grandparents and start our mini tour of colleges for the extended weekend.  The neighbor is graciously taking care of the cat, house, & yard.  I tell ya, great neighbors are the best!

While on the road this weekend I'm going to study my Italian Food Handbook.  It's like a translator's guide so I have a clue what dishes may have hidden wheat in them.  Which reminds me, I totally need to order my international Celiac diner's cards for my trip.  I won't survive without those.

My aunt is currently on the Camino in Spain and has a great joke as I think about needing the cards in different languages to explain to the chefs my condition:  What do you call someone who speaks two languages?  Answer: Bilingual  What do you call someone who speaks only one language?  Answer:  American.   Sad, but true.

58 days!

So the countdown keeps me on the positive side of things.  Fifty-eight days seems like nothing in the grand scheme of things and will be here in no time.  Heck, it's in just 10 days that I will be enjoying my cooking boot camp with My Love.  I'm so excited.  We're going to have so much fun!

As for the other stuff, well I'm really having a hard time with the Crohn's diagnosis.  When I got the diagnosis I was completely overwhelmed because of all the other stuff the doctor threw at me and the fact that we revisited all of my patient history.  I had mental whiplash and was totally numb by the time she asked me if I had any questions.  Well, I have questions now.  Like is there a particular diet that will help me?  The internet says a low-fiber diet, but I sure do love my organic fruits and veggies.  Do I have to give them up or just limit them and by how much?  I know different things cause flare ups for different people. This episode seems to be triggered by the stress of my last surgery in July of last year (yes, my symptoms have been going on that long).  Should I be keeping a journal of some kind that might list possible triggers or is that a "hindsight's 20/20" type thing?  Have I had Crohn's for a while and the Celiac masked it?  Crohn's can occur anywhere in the GI tract; mine was found in the middle of the bowel, a difficult place to get to.  Will it always occur there during flare ups or can it jump around inside a person? How long do I need to take Entocort to be considered in remission? That's just a start of what's rattling in my brain.

Tomorrow I will be calling the doctor and letting her know I filled my prescription and the cost wasn't too terrible.  Considering the fact that the medicine is working, it's definitely a doable price.  I may ask to talk to the nurse and see if she can answer some of my questions.  I will probably have to wait until my follow up, but it's worth a try.

59 days!

I completed my fasting and the 3 hour breath test this morning.  Man was I feeling weak.  I'm so glad I opted out of working out first thing in the morning.  Probably would have made another trip to the ER for fluids at some point if I had been stupid enough to do that.  I got the test tubes in the mail right away so the doctor should have the results for my follow up appointment on the 15th.

It's been a bad bowel day.  Not sure if it was the stuff I had to drink for the test or the fact that I had to wait to take the Entocort until I was finished instead of first thing in the morning.  Maybe TMI, but it's my glamorous life ya know.

I did make it to Soma to try on a few dresses and found a couple on sale that worked very nicely.  They, along with any summer dress out there, required me to buy a special bra so that was purchased today as well.  Both my mom and I agree: just one carry one bag plus our purse to go to Italy.  We make no promises on what will come home. :)

60 Days!

The medicine the doctor prescribed seems to be helping quite a bit leaving further evidence that this is in fact Crohn's disease.  Right now I'm following a strict diet for 12 hours then will fast for 12 hours.  Then I will complete a breath test for 3 hours by blowing into test tubes every 20 minutes during the 3 hours.  I know, you totally wish you had my life right now.   But, alas, it is too glamourous for most people to handle so I shall keep it and shield you from the rigors.  Then test will determine if the good bacteria in my gut is out of whack in addition to the Crohn's issue.  I know, I told you it was fun.

In terms of the Italy trip, I've decided to start researching handy cameras because I'm going to need something other than my iPhone because I don't think it will be taking the trip with me.  Maybe that's another thing I need to research, an international plan for a month.  I think I'll ask my FB friends if they have any suggestions for cameras.  I know my aunt has a solution for the phone if AT&T can't come through for me, but we'll see.

61 days!!!!

I'm starting the count down ladies and gentlemen.  Just 61 days and I headed to Italy.  I'm soooooo excited. (And I just can't hide it.)  I think it's time to start thinking about my wardrobe.  The other day I picked out a bathing suit for sitting next to the pool.  I want to pack just one small carry on suitcase for the two weeks we'll be there.  The villa has a laundry room available and I know we'll be doing some shopping in Sienna.  I'm thinking I need a couple of flowy dresses to fit the tuscan landscape.  They will also be appropriate for dinner at the villa.  Maybe I should check to see what the temps are like in June in Tuscany.  Fun.  That's what I need to be focusing on is fun things.