TRAINING! Dogs are easy... kids, not so much.

Today our new trainer from Bark Busters comes by for Murphy. Murphy isn't a "bad" puppy, but he is mischievous and I swear he has ADHD. Murphy is the puppy we got last July for the kids. My husband at first tried to say he was MY DOG, but no. As the months have passed he is most definitely a kid's dog. He prefers children and other mammals. Yes, he even loves cats. The only thing he really chases are birds. I think maybe he wants to pin one of them down, stare them in the eye and bark, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Meaning flying. He gets really excited when he sees a flock of birds in the sky. Anyways, I digress.

Murphy has gone through a lot in the past 6 months. He lost his BFF (our old foster dog, Avid), then he was unexpectedly attacked by our next foster dog. He got a new brother, Eros, and then he ended up needing a bilateral ulnar osteotomy. (Say whaaa?) Basically it's this, Murphy is 1/2 labrador and 1/2 Welsh Cardigan Corgi. His front legs (the ulna bones) were trying to grow labrador sized, but he is short like a Corgi. His ulna bone was slipping outside of the elbow socket causing elbow dysplasia and if he didn't have the surgery he would be in a life of pain, possibly unable to walk. I couldn't let this happen. As much as a bugger he can be, we love him. So in comes surgery (shortening the ulna bones) and 8 weeks of crate rest. Fun.

But this is the best part, one week after he gets off crate rest we are traveling for 6 weeks! So that majorly messed with the poor pup too. Now we are having issues with him. He needs to get back to the training he started in San Diego. Good thing there is a trainer with the company here in North Chicago! Also, GOOD thing we got him lifetime training. I think that was the best investment we ever put into this dog. Let us see how it goes.

Been a while... again

Boy, do I fail at blogging or what?

It's been too long, but I guess I've been busy. We moved recently from San Diego to Chicago. BIG CHANGE. Huge. We've been dealing with many challenges since the move. Our most difficult challenge was where to put the kids for school. Nothing around here seemed good enough for my kids (in my husband & my opinion) & private school is just totally out of this family's budget. Back to homeschooling it is! Now, I may seem crazy for doing it again, but so far we are doing very well with it and the kids love it. Those who know me well know that my biggest fear in life is screwing up my kids by doing the wrong thing for them. I could have gone back to school and finished my BFA. I could have put them in school and got myself a job. Had I done either of those things, where does that leave my kids? I'm a grown woman & my kids are just that, KIDS. They need a good foundation in life to succeed at adulthood. It took me a year of debating with myself on this to decide what to do. I made this decision and until a better option presents itself, this is what we will do.

Changing The Recipe!

What does one do if you have multiple food allergies/intolerances? Add to that 2 kids who ALSO have food allergies? You learn to CHANGE THE RECIPES!! Myself, I have a wheat/gluten/dairy intolerance and a citrus/melon allergy. My daughter is allergic to dairy and my youngest son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.I have been dealing with my fruit allergy for 12 years. My daughter has had a dairy allergy her entire 5 1/2 year old life. The same with my youngest son's nut allergy, we've known since he was 1 year old (thanks to having a toddler who gave her baby some of her PB&J). So, cooking is NOT easy, but the challenge can be fun! One has to have a pretty humorous attitude when it comes to cooking with allergies or you can get upset, depressed & throw one giant pity party. No one likes that. So go at it POSITIVELY!!

Here's an example:

Golden Sweet Cornbread

This recipe calls for:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Well, I can't have wheat. So what to do? You can go online or to your local health food store and buy Wheat/Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour. Now, you have to be careful with this if you have someone with a NUT ALLERGY. Some are made in facilities that process peanuts or tree nuts. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL! If you can't find the label online, request your specific info! Ask them, "Is your (product) made with or could possibly contain (insert allergen here)?"

• 1 cup of yellow cornmeal
  

No problems for us here. No one has (knock on wood) a corn allergy!

• 2/3 cup white sugar

Well, sugar we don't have a problem with, but if you do then I am sure you can substitute Splenda for Baking or Agave Nectar. Here is the Conversion Chart for Agave .

• 1 egg

No egg problems here, BUT my nephew has an EGG ALLERGY. I do have an egg replacement called, ENER-G Egg Replacer Total awesomeness about this product is that it is free of gluten, wheat, casein, dairy, egg, yeast, soy & nuts!! YAY! I used just egg whites because I wanted to cut down the calories, but in hindsight, I could have used the Ener-G.

• 1 cup milk

Use rice, soy, almond (if you don't have a NUT ALLERGY). We used rice milk. I prefer it for baking certain things. It lends to a fluffier consistency. Soy milk tends to make foods a bit denser than we like and then they would be with regular milk.




This was quite an easy recipe to convert. I have had more challenging recipes. Later this week I will try to put up some of the cookbooks I have found and other converted recipes.

PhotoArt Show! Please Vote! (box on right)

HELP!

I have no idea which piece to submit to the Art Show and it has to go in on MONDAY!

My scanner is old and does not do such a wonderful job of scanning, but these are the best scans I could get of the pieces at home.

Looking Through the Tree 

Children in the Forest

Thank you!

Food Journey

I don't like this, but I am willing to change everything to feel better. Within 30 minutes I know if I have eaten something that I shouldn't have. This sucks. No more caffeine. No more dairy. No more red meat (an easy one to avoid). Low-fat everything.

My stomach hurts badly and then my head hurts, but it's not a normal headache. It's a head pain? I have a hard time describing it, but it's distinct to my food issue. So I own 2 books now, Eating for IBS and Breaking the Vicious Cycle . I am not sure if either are really going to work, but the last doctor I saw was a #$%@ing dipshit and diagnosed me with a stomach virus. Yeah, I have had a stomach virus for 3 months? Asshat. So until I can get my husband to give me a POA or get him to go into the Tricare office to change our doctor, I will try to treat my pain myself. I refuse to go back to that jerk. It's a long story and I just don't want to get into it now.

Basically it's almost a vegan diet, but I can still eat chicken & seafood. I am trying out new recipes. and trying to get my life without pain back. I am so sick & tired of the pain. Hopefully this works and I can be without pain again.

Adventures in Hypnotherapy

For 18 years I have been seen counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists and family therapists to "fix" me. Have any of them "fixed" me? Am I well-balanced? Do I have the self-confidence I desire? Well, it's in the eye of the beholder I suppose. My husband also can be the judge over the past 12 years and he can tell you that nothing has given me my self-confidence that I never have fully had. I have one thing left to try in my opinion (besides hiring a full entourage of people to follow me around praising my every move, but I am not a socialite) & that is hypnotherapy. I have used a form of hypnotherapy once before and that was for my pregnancy and birth of my daughter. It helped immensely and gave me the confidence that the labor & birth of that child would not be the nightmare my first child's was. I believe some of that carried on to my last pregnancy & labor also as it was fairly easy also.

So today was my first session with my hypnotherapist & boy, was it the perfect day to go! I was high-strung and stressed to the max when I arrived! My kids were being difficult this morning and so I was an hour later than I usually am to campus in the morning. Not a single photograph from this weekend's shoot turned out correct & I felt as though I wasted that 3 hour lab away. Then I went to another 3 hour digital lab and had to listen to what I considered was worse than nails on a chalkboard, chewing on tinfoil & the rubbing of styrofoam together at high pitched volumes all at once while trying to concentrate on a project. I got no work done. I also did not get a chance to eat until 4:30pm. Yeah. It was one of my more awful days.

The hypnotherapist & I spent some time talking (after I filled out a couple papers, I do live in California after all) and then he asked if he could place me under hypnosis, to which I agreed. I will admit that I was skeptical, but oh my! What a TRIP! At some points I started to drift away and I knew my subconscious was paying attention, not my conscious and then I would start to pull myself out of the hypnosis. I figured this would happen, but I am okay with this! During the hypnosis he did place it in my mind that it would become easier each time I am being hypnotized for me to become and to stay in a state of hypnosis.

I actually feel wonderful now. It's amazing. I don't feel weird or unusual. I don't feel drugged. I feel very relaxed and happy. It's not quite an overwhelming confidence, but I feel a little more confidence. :) Wow. I feel a little better. I have another session in a week. I'll let you know how I sleep tonight.

Milk

Stupid cows & your stupid milk. I am refusing to blame MY body anymore for YOUR faulty product. I'm not the only one either. Hundreds of thousands of people have milk product intolerance. Others have lactose intolerance. I think your product is faulty & needs to be recalled. My gastrointestional organs are demanding a full refund on the days spent in pain since January.

Also, your product has more than likely been the cause of my fkd up skin, weight gain & bloating. Since quitting your product & picking up the soy life is getting better. While off milk products I feel better. I am no longer in pain. Though there was that ONE night I craved Taco Hell... I am now feeling the Hell. I will be fully recovered from the episode of pain in a couple days, but the other damages will take much longer to go away.

The End... For now...
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