I did it!

Well...I started living gluten-free on October 18...so I did it! I officially made it past the "one month" marker! Sure, that's no big feat in the grand scheme of things, but that is pretty amazing in my head! I really did it! No cheating, either! :) I didn't eat anything that was overtly wheat containing and everything I put into my body, to the best of my knowledge based on the information available to me, was gluten free!!!

I had a long day at work...and after I got home, ALL I wanted to eat was some popcorn (if you've been following this blog, you've probaby noted that I LOVE popcorn lately!). Well, I popped some "gourmet black popping corn" (the unpopped kernals look black, but the popcorn is white after it pops)...and it sucked! Most of it didn't pop, and what did pop was these small black kernals. They were hard and crunchy and NOT at all satisfying. I did my best to eat most of it so as not to waste it, but I did end up throwing a lot away. YUCK! How disappointing!

Well, Jeremy is at work (he works late today...12:30-9pm) and (as is the case when he works late and I am left to myself) I kind of just ate whatever was "around" for dinner. I ate that popcorn, and a big glass of PULP-filled orange juice (we started buying separate orange juice cartons! Seriously. For over a year of marriage we only bought pulp-free, which he prefers. Well, I prefer orange juice so thick and pulpy you can almost chew the stuff. I decided that I would start buying two cartons so we could each have what we prefer ;).)...and then I decided I wanted some cornbread. I know, real balanced dinner, right?! ;) Well, I cracked open the trusty Carol Fenster 1000 Gluten Free Recipes book and found a recipe for cornbread. I mixed it up, baked away...and ate a piece fresh from the oven. It is tasty! Really! I had been craving bread...especially since we went to Famous Dave's on Friday night with Dan and his girlfriend Laura. Famous Dave's has these AWESOME cornbread muffins. Well, naturally I couldn't have one :(. Yahoo for another successful gluten-free baking experience! :)

Today at work we had an in-service over lunch on the difference between a medical diagnosis of Autism and an educational diagnosis of Autism. It was pretty interesting, actually. We have in-services about once per month. Anyway, the highlight is typically that we get a yummy free lunch for attending. Well, naturally the thrill has worn off for me because, as you can imagine, the meals are always FULL of gluten. Take today for example: they got Avanti's! Avanti's is a great local Italian place. They ordered gondolas (sandwiches with meat, cheese, and lettuce on their awesome Italian loaves), spaghetti with meat sauce, and bread. Sigh! I knew ahead of time that we had this in-service, so I did pack a lunch today. It was somewhat sad to sit there and smell the yummy Italian food! Avanti's used to be one of my favorite places to go. It is definitely one of Jeremy's family's favorite places to eat here in town...and now I won't be able to share that with them :(.

Ok, enough pity party ;).

Have a wonderful day!