Many Happy Returns

I have noticed a theme of "returning" happening a lot in my life this week.  Fall always makes me feel nostalgic for past falls, so maybe that's why I am noticing returns more now than usual.  In any case, here are some things that have returned:


-Salads returned to my daily lunch menu!

Oh how I've missed you!

- I returned to baking

They don't look yummy, but they definitely are!

I haven't baked or made any treat-type things in over 3 months (!) because I completely lack control around unattended baked goods.  However I had some almond flour to use up and a GAPS almond cookie recipe, so I went ahead and made them today.  I still ate more than I probably should have, but plenty made it into the box to be put away for later which is a big accomplishment for me.

-This praying mantis, who lived on our porch glaring at me for awhile this summer, has returned.

I'm in your mums, biding my time

Now I have to pretend not to be afraid of it every time I walk by so as not to pass my ridiculous fear of bugs on to my children.

-My urge to garden and decorate returned, as it tends to do whenever the weather gets chillier.

I finally got around to weeding the garden and putting in bulbs, plus putting up fall window boxes and decor on the front porch!  I LOVE hyacinths and mums but I haven't ever planted them because I can never figure out THE perfect place to put them.  This time I just decided to plunk them wherever and move them if they annoy me.  At least I'll have flowers that come back every fall and spring!

-I returned to Ann Taylor Loft.  Several times.

Oh my.  I tried to convince myself not to buy a bunch of clothes (even though my current clothes had gotten unattractively baggy) because I have lots of clothes I will probably fit into in about 10 pounds, but Ann Taylor Loft got me.  I bought one of their 25% off savings cards which is stackable with their sales, and damned if they didn't start rolling out awesome sales every week.  At least I have some (many) clothes I feel good in now!

-Charlotte returned to gymnastics (over and over)

We are doing some makeup classes this week so I'll be at the gym 3 times total.  I know that this is but a taste of what's to come if my girls keep up with this activity, but it still seems like a lot for now!  However, the teacher of Charlotte's class today saw her hopping around doing her thing and said to me (in her impressive Romanian accent) "Do not walk away from this gym.  I want to train her."  True, Charlotte is at the very top of the age range for her class so naturally she's ahead of most of the other kids, and true, the woman probably says that to every mom just to get them to keep bringing their kid and paying the gym, but still, I couldn't help but be a little proud!

-Kale returned to dinner again tonight

I made the mistake of only making one bunch of kale chips for dinner last night, and my kids fought bitterly over them.  They fought over kale, y'all.  So I made copious quantities for dinner tonight so that no one had to walk away unsatisfied with their kale allotment.

-I returned to the psychiatrist.

 Prozac has done nothing for the hair-pulling, so the result of today's appointment was:

-I returned to the pharmacy to get some Zoloft.

We'll give that a try, then if that doesn't work he said I can try anti-psychotics (!) and/or anti-anxiety meds.  On the one hand they sound scary and I don't know if I'm willing to try either one of those classes of drugs, but on the other hand why not try everything out there to see if it will work?  I can always stop right away if I am seeing unpleasant side effects.  I am not a big fan of doping yourself up for the heck of it, and I honestly don't think I WILL find a drug that "fixes" my hair-pulling, but now is as good a time as any to experiment and see for myself.  If nothing else, it will give me information about how my body reacts to some of these drugs and that information might be useful in the future, for example if I need something to help me get through the yucky symptoms of menopause.

-Liver returned to my plate

Yes, I did.  Again.  I cooked a duck last night and I convinced myself to give its liver a shot since I had it laying right there anyway.  The consensus?  Duck liver is better than beef liver, but still gross.

-I returned to being dairy-free :-(

I thought I was in the clear and have been enjoying kefir, yogurt, cheese and butter without any digestive upset to speak of.  However, I have started having wicked postnasal drip that makes my throat feel like it's full of sandpaper when I wake up in the morning, and it has started heading into my lungs too, unfortunately.  I feel fine otherwise, so I chalked it up to allergies and made a couple snide remarks about how I thought the GAPS diet was supposed to fix all my problems forever and ever.  Then Will asked when I had reintroduced dairy, and when my symptoms had started.  Hmmm.  Right about the same time.  Apparently a doctor had told him before that dairy can exacerbate allergies, so that's my working theory now.  I'm cutting dairy back out (it was SO nice while it lasted) and seeing if that helps my stupid dripping sinuses.

-Modern Family and The Office returned with new seasons!

Now if only My Little Pony would return for its long-awaited third season, Emily (and to an embarrassing degree me too) will be super-happy.

-And this week, Will and I made the decision to return to Disney World again next year.

Not pictured....SO much barf

WHAT?!?!

Are we insane?  After barfapalooza 2012?  I can only say that yes, we probably are insane (and I might soon have the anti-psychotics to prove it).

We had planned to go on a cruise out of Baltimore sometime next year, because #1 how awesome is it that we could leave our house and be eating lunch on the cruise ship an hour and a half later without having to fly anywhere and #2 CRUISES INCLUDE ALL-DAY BABYSITTING!  Oh yeah, and the kids would love it and going somewhere warm in the winter is always nice.  The only cruise out of Baltimore that worked with Emily's school schedule is one that stops in Port Canaveral FL, Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas.  I'm not too psyched about any of those stops, BUT, that's kind of a good thing because I won't feel pressured to go see and do everything there is to do and I can just hopefully relax and focus on making it fun for the kids (which by extension makes it fun for me).  When I saw that you could take a day trip from Port Canaveral to Disney World, I kind of felt like we HAD to do it.  What else is there to do in Port Canaveral?  And the cost of the entire cruise is not THAT much more than the cost of flying our family down to Orlando, so why not take advantage of a chance to surprise the girls with Disney World when they're not expecting it and BLOW THEIR FREAKIN' MINDS?

I'm hoping that by avoiding a flight on a plane we can avoid contracting virulent barf germs.  And I realize that I'm probably cursing myself by saying that and our cruise ship will end up being one of those you hear about where there's a Norovirus outbreak.

BUT, when you take a family vacation with kids that is always a risk.  We'll just have to bring our vitamins.

-And this one is cheating because it happens next week, but I AM RETURNING TO CHICAGO!!!

I was trying to figure out how many times I have been there...I'm not quite sure but I know it's at least 5.  I LOVE that place, and I haven't been in years so I'm super-excited for Will's and my (kidless!) trip next week!  I don't know how GAPS-style eating will work there, but I already know of a tasty raw-food vegan restaurant and I've scoped out a few juice bars (that I figure will have more local and health-conscious fare as well) so hopefully it won't be too difficult to stay pure of stomach while I'm there.