Bright Sunshine and Gluten-Free
Today is Saturday, and it is a beautiful day outside. Hot as hades, but still quite lovely and bright sunshine-y. Despite waking up with a headache because I had an extra glass of sparkling rose last night, I really wanted to not waste any part of my weekend off. I have been in the house buying funk for a couple of days, and I’m trying to shake it off. For the most part, I have shaken it off. Not to the point that I want to really keep looking, but enough that I’m not totally sad about it now. I’m still in the “I don’t know” stage where I can’t figure out what my next move is. Keep looking? Put it on the back burner? Who the hell knows.
Anyway, I woke up today and decided to spend a couple of hours on Pinterest looking up gluten free recipes that will not leave me feeling like I didn’t eat at all. I’m kind of tired of feeling like crap, but I have never exactly been good at following a plan. When I went on the IC diet ten years or so ago, I felt like my world had just come to a halt. I know that’s totally dramatic, but I referred to it in my blog as the “water and air diet.” That’s kind of how it felt. Since then, of course, I have expanded my cooking skills, so things aren’t quite so dire. (Again, dramatics). Last year when we were in Michigan on vacation, it occurred to me that I was also having issues with gluten intolerance, which exacerbates my IC issues. I ordered some cookbooks, did some research, and played at being gluten free for a few months. Let me tell you, that mess was hard. It probably wouldn’t be so awful except for the fact that I am vegetarian, too, so once you stack the IC diet, gluten free restrictions, and vegetarianism together, you end up with a (you guessed it) water and air diet. Oh what fun.
I feel inspired after this morning though. I spent a lot of time planning and pinning. I ordered new index cards and a recipe box from Amazon. I know that in order to pull this off, I have to make sure that I am super organized. I placed a grocery order and was actually surprised at how many fresh fruits and vegetables I ordered. For breakfast, I made a quinoa bowl with almond milk and added in honey, walnuts, and cinnamon. It was delicious. For lunch, I made my favorite Mediterranean buddha bowl with quinoa, hummus, feta cheese, and cucumbers. I drank a lot of water today. I’m really trying here.
After staring at my laptop all morning, I asked the twins if they wanted to go to the park. I just felt like going for a walk outdoors. I’m getting chunky and my self esteem is in the tanker. It has been four years and I still haven’t lost any baby weight. I’m pretty sure that I am actually adding to it, and that’s not how it is supposed to work. So off we went to City Park and unfolded our double stroller and took off. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t almost magical. There weren’t a lot of people there, and the playground was closed, but we just walked all of the trails, up and down the hills, weaving through the trees. There were several wooden bridges that crossed over the same stream, and we made a point to stop and look for fish. There were minnows and a tiny little turtle swimming toward a rock. Just before we left, we paused long enough to see a bright red cardinal splashing around in the water. It was my favorite part of the day. The girls played in the common area for quite awhile, and then we stopped at the Pavilion and pretended that we were singers on the stage. We are now significantly exhausted and ready for naps.
Because it is Saturday, it is our living room campout night. This became our ritual a couple of months ago. We bring the girls’ big white confetti comforter from their bed and spread it on the floor, then pile every pillow that we own around. Throw pillows, regular pillows, you name it. It has to be cozy enough. I make microwave popcorn and serve it in a cracked pink plastic bowl that we have owned for many years past its prime, and the girls pick a movie from Netflix or Disney. We have alternated between Frozen 2 and The Willoughby’s for the past several weeks. I promised the girls that we would make our own tortilla pizzas tonight just to do something different. They are really excited.
It’s nice to have plans that aren’t crazy plans. We are going to relax and just enjoy ourselves. And tomorrow, we are going back to the park. Only this time, I promised that we would take the twins’ big wheels so they can ride around on the sidewalk. I am looking forward to another bright sunshine-y day.
