Long Weekend

Maddie has started doing this weird thing where she barks at her toy basket because she's afraid to get toys out of it. It all started about two weeks ago when she hit her head pretty hard on one of the end tables (the basket is under the end table). So now, whenever she wants a chew toy, she barks at the basket. At first, it was cute. Now it's getting on my nerves.

Last week, I ordered a book on amazon.com called "Endometriosis: a Key to Healing Through Nutrition" and I'm excited for it to come! I've been doing some research online and I've found that women with endometriosis can improve their symptoms, infertility and pain by avoiding certain foods. The big "no-no" food was soy. Soy increases the body's production of estrogen, which feeds the disease. Let me tell you, it is HARD to find food that doesn't contain soy! It's in soups, pasta sauces, salad dressings, Crystal Light drink mixes, Lean Cuisines *sad face*, and a bunch of other foods. For the longest time, I've been eating about 1/2 cup of lowfat yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup of granola for breakfast-- it's high in protein and low in fat. Looking at the labels, I wasn't sure if I could have that breakfast anymore. I did manage to find one particular granola from Bear Naked that is soy-free, so that's good! But I'm going to have to figure out what to do for lunch... I love my Lean Cuisines :( I've found that a few safe snacks are Snyder's sourdough pretzles, Mott's cinnamon apple sauce cups, Juicy Juice apple juice (I love apple juice!), raw mixed nuts (all of the roasted ones had soy!), and Target's generic fruit snacks. Then, things like grilled chicken & grilled pork chops and vegetables are ideal for dinner. I really detest chicken, but I suppose I'll have to learn to like it because the next banned category is saturated fat. I know saturated fat is bad for anyone, but it's hard to completely avoid it. And then, wheat.... I don't know that I can follow that rule. I can't go without breads, pastas, cookies.... Now I'm tempted to go pig out. But I'm going to try my best to stick to it because I refuse to take those horrible Lupron injections unless that's a last resort.

Last Wednesday in class, my left eye kept feeling so irritated like there was an eyelash in it. It was all of a sudden. I kept rubbing it, trying to make it feel better, but to no avail. By Friday morning, my vision was getting blurry and there was a red puffy scratch on the white part of my eye. I was getting ready to head to Tennessee for the weekend (alone) and Aaron didn't want me to drive unless I had it checked out by a doctor. The appointment took forever-- they made me wait about 40 minutes past my scheduled appointment time before I ever went back. But when I got back, I thought it was interesting that when they ask you to read small text, they use John chapter 3 instead of random letters. The doctor said I have a scratch on my cornea (obviously) and I had to use eye drops all weekend, but I am glad it is finally better and I can see clearly again.

I went to Tennessee and spent the weekend with my grandparents. My grandmom's cancer has spread to her lungs, liver, and the lymph nodes in her neck :( It's really bad. I'm so thankful God gave me the opportunity to spend the weekend with her. I got them an electric tea kettle and they really love it, so that was cool. And we went to this new, so-so Italian restaurant in town. The foot was greasy, but the desserts were absolutely heavenly! All of their cakes looked like they should be on some Food Network competition. They were all about 7-10 inches tall with several (like 7) layers and sooooo soooo tasty! Granny, Papaw, and I all split one piece of cake and still had HALF of it to take home with us (which I polished off later hehe).

Well, I have to go make up a quiz for my theology class...