Possibility

Hi!  I'm just stopping by to take a quick break.  I've been working on editing/correcting the English on a thesis that a friend has written for her Master's degree.  It has been daunting.  She told me that she wrote it by translating from Spanish to English.  That makes it very difficult to figure out at times.  So, I am hoping to be finished with it by Friday because she is going to have to make a ton of changes and her deadline for the final paper is Monday.

I've always loved editing really and I've sort of been reflecting on why these past two days.  I think it's because I know the rules and I love taking something messy and making it neat or taking something that's unclear and making sense out of it. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm a neat person, just that I'm a stickler for neat and clear writing.  But I've also been wondering if I like editing because I lack the courage to write something big that might need to be edited.  I have been asking myself that.  Its not that I feel the urge to write a book or even a thesis, its more that I'd like to take ideas and make something bigger out of them.  Maybe I'm not quite explaining myself.  That's ok.  I like this feeling because it gives me the sense that there are possibilities that I haven't explored.  And in this wonderful, crazy life of lunchboxes and soccer practices and homework and being absorbed into daily activities, it's nice to feel like there are some things I do well that have nothing to do with being a wife and mother.  

My break is over.  See you soon!

Gluten Free in Mexico

Hi again!

Back in February I was feeling a bit run down and depressed.  I had also gained some kilos over the holiday season and they weren't budging. I began to wonder if it had anything to do with my thyroid so I started researching a little online about Hashimoto's thyroiditis and ways to combat it besides using medicine.  One thing that kept popping up was the connection between gluten and a long list of auto-immune diseases, including Hashimoto's.  I spoke to my sister about it since she was diagnosed with gluten intolerance almost ten years back, and she started sending me specific articles with research linking gluten to Hashimoto's and other thyroid problems.  She'd been urging me for years to quit eating gluten but I never really gave it much thought until I started reading all the info.

Around the same time I ran into a friend who was doing a juice fast.  She talked me into doing one too. I still wasn't totally convinced about cutting out gluten but the juice fast helped eliminate it for a week anyway, since I could only have fruit and veggie juices.  After I finished the fast I stayed away from gluten for a second week until I acidentally got some.  I didn't realize that french fries could be cross contaminated with gluten in a fryer that also fries breaded products like chicken nuggets.  I had taken my kids to Carl's Jr to have a hamburger and I stole a fry. One fry.  My body started reacting almost immediately.  I got a rash on my neck and started feeling dizzy and then got a horrible migraine.  At that moment I knew I would never intentionally eat gluten again.

Its been a long and difficult process since February.  At times I have really hated not being able to eat pizza or tortas or any kind of bread, cookies or cake.  The list is very very long of things that have gluten in them.  I especially have to be careful with things like peanuts or chips or anything packaged, due to how they've been packaged and if there could've been products with gluten packaged nearby.   Mexico, at least in this region, has very few products that have the gluten-free symbol and also very few products that explain what possible allergens they may contain.

Little by little I've been figuring out what has gluten and what is safe.  I have seen the headaches diminish to almost zero.  I also know that when I've gotten some gluten by accident I will get a headache or rash.    I think the most difficult thing has been convincing my husband that this is really what is going on with me and I'm not being paranoid or exagerating the situation.  After eight months he finally doesn't suggest we go eat tortas or offer me a slice of pizza or invite me to eat pasta.  He finally gets it.  I told him, "You know me, you know that I love bread and pizza.  Would I really stop eating those things if I wasn't convinced they were harming me?"  He just laughs because he knows it's true.  The test to show a gluten intolerance or allergy is so hit and miss.  Even though I had an allergy test done, it didn't show up.  From what I've read, the only certain way to know is to eat about four slices of bread's worth of gluten a day for a month and then have an endoscopy to get a biopsy of the intestine.  I don't think I'll go that route.

So, I am gluten free now.  I can still have lots of yummy foods, thankfully and I think I'm finally past lamenting all the things I can't have.  Occasionally I will go to the expensive Mega and buy gluten free bread or pizza bases.  Well, I've really only bought bread and pizza bases once each.  They are super expensive and go bad very quickly.  Also, as my sister wisely advised me, "gluten free is never the same as gluten, just get used to it."

Well, I guess I will go have a tamal :)  Hope to post again soon!

Hi again.
Did I mention that I turned forty this past summer?  My husband and I both have birthdays in July only two days apart.  This is a picture of us on his birthday just before we went out for breakfast with the family.  Since I turned forty, we had a party!  We went to a bar that overlooks the zocalo and had a fun time with lots of friends.  I am not at all embarrassed to say that I sang and danced to "All about that bass".  Two friends were supposed to dance with me but one chickened out in the end.  I hear we bombed but it was really fun.  I'm glad there is no video clip as evidence.

I was sort of dreading the big FOUR OH, but it was a fun time and well, what can I do about it?  I'm forty.  Ni modo.  Life marches on, like Dolly Parton says in Steel Magnolias.  Then she says something about realizing that it has marched right on across your face.  That's also true. I told my husband, who is eight years older than I am, that I love the lines around his eyes because they show how much he laughs and smiles.  I love his lines but I don't reallly want any like them even though I've already got a few.

Party 40 (just getting started)

Well, I'm on a roll.  I hope to post again soon!

Still Here!

Hello!  I'm not sure anyone even looks at this blog anymore.  But I'm still here.  We still live in Mexico.  Life is busy.  These are a few pictures of my boys and me and hubby.  Its hard to get a picture of all four of us together.   Life is good.  There is always so much going on with these two boys.  I help out at their school when possible.   Now they are in fourth and sixth grade!  The sixth grader, Alex, is not so excited about me showing up at his school or anything to do with him being seen with me in front of his friends.  I hear that's normal :(  The fourth grader doesn't mind yet so I will keep hugging him and helping with his class until he asks me to stop!

I still have gripes with living in Mexico but there are so many good things too!  I will try not to complain about the things I don't like.  

Over the past year and a half or so we have been missing two of my closest friends and their families.  One got a job at a school in California and the other in Maryland!   These are families we have always spent time with and our kids are best friends.  That has been difficult.  Thankfully one of the families came to visit this summer and the other one will hopefully make it back for a visit in December.  It seems so ironic that my two closest Mexican friends both moved to the U.S. and we are still here!  I really can't see us leaving Mexico in the near future, though.  That desire is on the back burner for now, and we are content with our life here. 

Well, I hope to post again soon!