6 Days of no corn

Well, it has been six days since having corn of any kind. Mom and Dennis have been great in finding foods to eat that dont' contain corn and we are constantly amazed at what products do have corn. I thought I would give you all a very short list of what we've discovered so far in the corn product department. Really, the best thing to do to avoid corn would be to eat fruit, veggies, and meat. The problem is I'm not a huge fan of vegetables and there are only so many meals you want to eat with just 3 different veggies, a variety of fruit available this time of year, and meat.

Things with corn:
Baking powder
Chocolate
Ice Cream
Pop
Most things with bread
Cereal
Gum
Syrup
Margarine
Potato Chips
Peanuts in a jar
Dark chocolate covered pomegranates
BBQ sauce
Hot chocolate mixes

Surprising things without corn:
Pepsi throwback (made with real sugar)
Sugarless gum (not nearly as good as the real stuff, but it works)
Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chocolate bar (made with real sugar)
Maple syrup
Rice & Wheat Chex cereal
Butter
Milk chocolate covered cherries

The Little Joys in Life

Yesterday was a 1/2 day at school, in which the kids watched a play performance, a video made by students and a music concert. As my coworkers and I were sitting around in between making or students get caught up we had the opportunity for some great laughs. The best one came when the school newspaper was delivered. Inside were ten pickup lines that people could/could not use if they wanted. I would love to share some of them with you. (No, I will not be trying these out for myself!) A student wrote these so I'm not guaranteeing anything.
1. Hi, can I flirt with you?
2. Hi, I need help! My mom says that if I don't get a date by tomorrow she's putting me up for adoption.
3. Are you going to kiss me or do I have to lie to my diary?
4. If this were a meat market you would be prime rib.
5. Hey, kitten. How about spending some of your nine lives with me?

Last night I got the chance to go babysit Elyse (5) and Jackson (3). Jackson said that Santa was bringing his presents to put under the tree. Elyse pointed out that there were presents under the tree from her, but she wasn't telling because she is a very good "secret keeper." After I put Jackson to bed for the second time, he remembered that I should look at the "nutcracker with the jewels." I asked him where it was and told him I would look when I went downstairs. He said, "Look with your eyes, don't touch. The mouth cracks open nuts, but we don't have any nuts."
The joy of kids.

Food Update

Well friends and family, it's time for another food update. I would hate for you all to be left out of the loop of my wonderful dieting experience. I went to the osteopath yesterday and was explaining that I'm just not feeling up to par. I feel tired, sluggish, my hair is falling out etc. Then I casually mention a phenomenon that I had noticed. When I eat popcorn, I get a headache. The first time it happened, I shrugged it off. The second time it happened, I started to wonder. Last Friday when it happened, I was paying attention. At this, the doctor got excited and said, "I think you have a sensitivity to popcorn." I thought OK. I can avoid popcorn, not a big deal. I asked if there was a test to take to discover if I was sensitive. He said, "No, you just eliminate that product from your diet and then you'll know. But we're not just talking popcorn. Popcorn comes from corn, so you need to avoid corn." I thought to myself, "No big deal." Three seconds later I hear, "Corn, as in everything made with corn...IE...corn syrup." At these tiny two words I sensed a huge problem. Are you aware of what is made with corn/corn syrup? The Dr. sent me a link to a website that lists a few foods to be aware of that have hidden dangers of corn. Now, keep in mind that this avoidance of corn also comes on top of: no processed foods, no white flour, no sugar, no bananas, and no potatoes.

If any of you would like to join me in this endeavor please call: 1-444-4NO-CORN. This diet is a guaranteed way to LOSE WEIGHT or YOUR MIND. Money Back Guarantee if you haven't lost weight or lost your mind in the next 30 days. But wait there's more. If you call in the next 10 minutes you can have the pleasure of experiencing this diet during the Christmas and New Year's Holiday! So what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and dial. 1-444-4NO-CORN.

BBRRRRRRRRRR

Okay, it is officially cold here. Monday night it was -6. Tuesday it got to about 13. Yesterday was more of the same. Today, we might be having a heat wave, as it is 18 outside. I was not made for cold weather. I've decided that I'm a fair-weathered creature. Having to go to work in layers is a little challenging. On the top I wear: tank top, long johns, long sleeved shirt, and sweater. On the bottom I wear tights beneath my pants and put socks on to keep my feet warmer. This is just to work inside. Reminded me to not live where it gets really cold. I'm grateful for my electric blanket at night. One night I woke up and thought my room was warm. Well, come to find out, I just had my head completely under the covers so it was warm. As soon as I poked my head out I discovered out cold it really was.

My Nativity

Here is my cute little nativity. Mom and Dennis made the main part of it in 98. However, it was sadly missing some sheperds. So I asked, begged, and pleaded for some sheperds. Mom told me there weren't any in the book. After asking for 9 years, Mom opened up the book and there they were. Sheperds! I got them and now my nativity is almost complete. Look at the top of the nativity. There is no angel to announce the birth of a King. How sad. Now I realize that there won't be an angel for the nativity this year, but I'm hoping that when I put out my cute little set next year there will be an angel at the top declaring Christ's birth.

My apartment

Dining/Sewing Room
Living Room
Bedroom

I promised you pictures awhile ago and here they are.

Some Days

Okay, today started out fairly normal. I crawled out of bed a little early and thought I would have extra time this morning. Somehow that didn't happen. Maybe I lost time trying to open my bedroom window to let the condensation on my windows disappear. The windows were frozen shut and took some work to open. Then, I must have dawdalled in the shower because when I got out it was the normal time instead of being early. After that I tried to figure out what shirt to wear. I knew I was going to wear my long johns to school because it was so cold and the shirts didn't look right or fit properly over the top of the long johns. After changing about 4 times, I finally had an outfit and started on making lunch. I quickly decided I wasn't going to have time to make a sandwhich so I threw in microwave popcorn, apple, cheese stick, and an orange. I also threw in peanut butter crackers because I was meeting a friend at 4:30.
I got to work and my supervisor was wired. She must have had 10 cups of coffee before 7:30. She proceed to spout off all the info she had typed up for us today because she was leaving for training. :-) In 1st period I tried to confince one of our students to not throw out his unused lunch pass as it might come in handy. I also suspected his homework wasn't finished and he would be needing it in about 3 hrs. I looked at his homework, incomplete, and told him to use his pass to come up at lunch. He told me he had ripped it up. I gave him a new one and he said no. Second period was a challenge and I gave out another lunch pass. This student also said no, he wouldn't be coming up. During break, I ate 1/2 the apple. Fourth period came and I gave out 2 lunch passes. One student accepted his and the other one said I'm not coming. Since when do students get the right/priviledge to tell an adult no? For lunch I finshed the apple, popcorn, yogurt, and cheese. The periods after lunch were better and I was all set to celebrate when the last period was a little wierd. A student was in class who shouldn't have been there. That got straighten out, but whatever. Then as a coworker and I are walking down the fire escape I notice it's moving quite a bit. The coworker said it had been moving all week and the reason was the bolts that hook it to the wall are coming out!! I run into the office to report this and leave hoping that the chaos for the day is over.
My visit with Grammie and AJ was good. I went to the craft store with my friend, but didn't find what I wanted. Then my friend came to my house to have hot chocolate and chocolate covered pomegranates. I left the apartment around 5:50 to head to the Art Musuem. Since it is First Thursday I was meeting some friends to look at the quilts. At this time I hadn't had dinner and didn't have time to grab any, so I got out my peanut butter crackers to eat on the way to the museum. I needed gas in my car and I really like to fill up at Costco, but that was out of the picture so I pulled in the Chevron on the way. There was one car at the pump ahead of me and my car. I started the nozzle and the numbers on the pumped moved s.l.o.w.l.y. I thought maybe it was my imagination, so I got into my car to fill out my checkbook. The numbers still weren't moving fast. When I got out the woman said her numbers were moving slowly as well. About this time, another car pulled in and his pump wasn't really working. I ran in to tell the attendant and she said we all needed to release our nozzles out the same time and then restart them. We tried this about 4 times. Finally, my pump rolled over to $2. I decided that would get me to work and back tomorrow. I got back into the car and noticed that it took 5 minutes. to get $2 worth of gas. UGH! Well, at least I have some.
I got to the museum in time and the quilts were still beautiful. It was also wonderful to see Julia and Alexa. I got home at 7:45 and got to make dinner. Now, I'm going to crawl into bed and sleep. :-)