Let Them Eat Cupcakes

So Mr. Tide and I have been completely gluten free for a week.  Gluten is a protein found in wheat and is found in countless numbers of products we eat and cook with.  We didn't find it too difficult to make the transition here at home since we've been semi gluten free for awhile now.  Week before last, I read Kate's blog and how she was feeling much better sans gluten, so we decided to go cold turkey.

My niece has Celiac's disease, and my sister is also gluten intolerant, so I'm well versed in what has gluten in it, or so I thought.  What I wasn't expecting was how difficult it is to really be completely gluten free.

I mean I knew a lot of things secretly contain wheat, like salad dressings, etc. but I wasn't fully prepared to be completely on my own when trying to find out what does or doesn't have gluten.

For instance, many restaurants are now touting gluten free menus, Panera is one of them, but when we went there for dinner the cashier couldn't tell me exactly what was truly gluten free and what was not.  Thankfully I had a smart phone that allowed me to look it up thanks to the help of some really great websites created by people who are gluten free.  And thankfully I'm not truly gluten intolerant, so eating a little gluten won't hurt me.

After several more instances where people working in stores or at restaurants either had no clue what gluten free meant or couldn't help me discern what was gluten free, I really began to have a much better appreciation for how difficult it must be for my college age niece.

Not only is she in college, the land of pizza and every other wheat laden carb imaginable, but she is also an athlete who has to travel because of her sport.  As I went through my week gluten free, and fairly frustrated at not knowing exactly what I could and couldn't eat, I kept thinking how hard it must be for someone who is forced to eat fast food while on the road.

For her, it's not a choice, if she eats even a tiny amount of gluten it makes her very, very ill.  My heart goes out to her, and I will try and be even more aware of her condition and be more vigilant about keeping lots of gluten free items in my house for when she comes over.

After just one week, and not feeling any different, Mr. Tide and I broke our gluten free streak and ate a cupcake.  I have to admit that I felt a little guilty for giving in so quickly, but I truly have to say that I didn't notice any changes, not in my weight or how I felt.  Now I know that one week probably isn't long enough to figure out if being gluten free made me feel better, but I would have expected to feel a few changes, and I did not.

So we are back to being "semi" gluten free, which does seem to make us feel slightly better overall.  But the most important thing I learned was how my niece and now my sister must feel braving a world where gluten rules!

And although I would like to take full credit for the gorgeous Tiffany blue almond butter cupcake with raspberry filling pictured above, that I devoured...I can not.  It came from a lovely new bake shop in our area called Anita's Cake Shop.  They create a new signature cupcake each week and feature it on their Facebook page.

Her cupcakes are yummy, and she also makes all sorts of specialty cakes, including wedding cakes.  But the best part is that they will also create gluten free items on request.  I hope that in the future they will be able to offer gluten free items on their regular menu so that I can say to my niece and everyone else who is gluten free...let them eat cupcakes!

4 Letters

Love can't be bought or sold...

it is simple and pure...

requires give and take...

hard to explain...

not limited by a date on the calendar...

or squeezed into 24 short hours...

Love is every day gestures...

like a yummy lunch waiting for you when you're busy making cupcakes...

Or a hug from your children when you least expect it...

diamonds, flowers, and chocolate are only symbols for something much larger...

Something intangible, something so blissful...

 

something I'm so very fortunate to know every single day...I am Loved!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I'm linking up for Sunday Songs over at 5 Minutes Just For Me!

Sweet!

I'm thrilled that it's February 1st, it means we are that much closer to spring!  And I'm pretty happy that my house is smelling a lot sweeter today too...click here if that last statement made no sense at all!  I also think that it's pretty sweet that two of my favorite bloggers gave me awards recently!

The talented and witty Rebecca, or R as I like to call her, from Acanthus and Acorn gave me the Super Comments Award!  Thank you R, I feel like these days I haven't even gotten to comment much on other blogs, so it was especially nice to receive this wonderful award from you!  I always enjoy your blog, and who wouldn't want to comment on your great posts?!  Pop over to R's Blog and check our her new digs, she's been busy revamping her blog and it looks fab!

With this award I'm supposed to answer a few questions so here goes.


1.  Why do you blog?  Hmm good question, I think I'm a social person by nature, so blogging seemed like a natural way to connect with other like minded people who love decorating, entertaining, and staring at beautiful things online for hours!  What I didn't realize was how much I would enjoy it, and how many great friends and wonderful connections I would make along the way!


2.  Name your 3 best memories.  Wow, this is a tough question, I've been blessed with so many wonderful memories throughout the years!  I'll count giving birth to my children and getting married as 1 favorite.  Bringing home every puppy I've ever had.  And last, but certainly not least, every moment that we as a family have laughed so hard we've cried, (I'll have to tell you all my Chick Fil A drive-thru story sometime) those are the very best memories life can give us! 


3.  Name 4 of the best fiction books you have read.  Hah, as if I have time to read!  If you pressed me on this I would say Jonathan Livingston Seagull, any Harry Potter book, To Kill a Mockingbird, and George Orwell's 1984. 


4.  What are the 5 best movies ever made?  Another toughie, since I love lots of different movies.  Love Actually, Lord of the Rings, Amelie, The Sound of Music, Schindler's List, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Crash with Sandra Bullock, and Disney's Cinderella...told you I couldn't pick just 5!

5.  Name 5 things I cannot live without.  My family, my friends, my computer, my sleep, and my dogs! 

6.  If you could change your name what would it be?  Well I already go by so many different names, some people know me as Katherine, others call me Kathy, Kat or Kath, so I'm not sure changing my name would be a good idea at this point, it's already confusing enough!  I used to say when I was younger that when I had a baby I would name it Bob, but spell it Jim...your name is the only thing that no one can tell you how to spell or how to pronounce...fortunately for my children I outgrew that silly notion!

7.  Tell us a unique and interesting fact about yourself.  Not sure how interesting or unique I am but here's one little tidbit most people don't know.  I can't turn the palm on my left hand up.  In other words, where "normal" people can put out their hand and then turn it flat towards the sky to get change put in their hand or whatever, I can't do that.  My parents didn't discover it until I was about 3 years old.  My sister and I were sitting in an old car we had out back eating pixie sticks and I kept reaching across my body with my right arm to get powder from the pixie stick.  Finally she said "why don't you just use your left hand?"  I said "I can't it won't turn over, see...it only goes this far."  This was followed by her yelling for my mother and lots of X-rays at National Orthopedic hospital in Washington D.C.  It turns out the bones in my forearm are fused, a genetic defect, and so I can't palm up that hand.  It's presented little or no problems over the years, holding a plate in a buffet line is a little more challenging and I quickly learned that I couldn't serve a volleyball very well, and I shoot pool in the weirdest way ever, but other than a few minor inconveniences it's not been an issue for me.  Turns out I had a great uncle on my father's side who also had the same condition, but on both arms, so he was not able to serve during WWII because he couldn't hold a rifle properly, so it can be a benefit!  I've only met one other person with the same problem, my dear friend Dan's stepfather and I were chatting when I was in the UK and I said I couldn't turn my hand over, he said he couldn't either, and I thought he was joking, but he wasn't!  What are the odds, since it's very, very rare!

8.  What do you love best about yourself?  That I can talk to a blank wall.  I'm not sure others consider my constant chatter a gift, but I do!


9.  If you had a Freaky Friday experience, who would you change places with?  Wow, not only am I tired of talking about myself...you all probably are tired of me talking about myself too, but these questions are HARD!  I would probably want to change places with Mother Teresa or Gandhi, I think switching places with either of these two amazing individuals would teach me how very far I have to go in finding compassion and selflessness, and I think we can all use more of that in our lives! If I wasn't being altruistic I would change places with a pro big wave surfer or someone who has climbed Everest, that must be so thrilling to ride a 30 foot wave, or stand at the top of the earth!


10.  What is the best thing about being a woman?  Phew, I'm near the finish line on these questions!  I would have to say motherly love, compassion, gentility, and the ability to be kind while still being tough as nails.  Those are the things I love most about being a woman. 


Thank you R for this wonderful award and for making me think!

I also received the Stylish Blogger Award from sweet Kelley over at The Polished Peeble.  Kelley is a girl who lives life to the fullest!  She had an amazingly beautiful home and sold it lock, stock and barrel...I'm talking furniture, accessories, everything!  Now that takes guts!  Of course she's busy creating another beautiful space that I'm sure will rival her last home, be sure to check out her blog by clicking here!

Thanks so much for this award Kelley, and because I've said WAY too much about myself already today, I'll give it a rest and not say 7 more things about me, there isn't enough caffeine in the world to keep people reading more about me!

As always, I invite each of you to participate in these awards.  You can tell 'em I sent you the award in a lovely blue box wrapped in pretty white ribbon.  If you do decide to participate, pick either award and go for it.  For the Super Comments Award you simply copy and answer the 10 questions above and for the Stylish Blogger Award you tell us 7 interesting things about yourself!

Thanks again Kelley and Rebecca for these wonderful awards!

P.S.  The cupcakes came from a coffee shop up near my daughter called Buzz...yum!