The subtle art of prose ** Many people misinterpret things, and those who are prone to anger far too easily (and foolishly interpret others words as they would mean them, rather than the author's original intent), have been around as long as language itself. And as long as complicated, run-on sentences, too. I'd just like to say that I found this link from someone applauding a contrarian in the comment section, while I actually found the original objectionable post quite pleasing. I guess it matters whether you would rather respect someone's intentions or attack them when the intentions fail. I'm not saying Wil is perfect, or innocent, anymore than I am or anyone else is, celebrity or not. And if I had the traffic to my website he does, sometimes at the expense of my wonderful husband, I can't say I wouldn't say something stupid along the way too. The difference is, if I do something offensive here, all 5 of my visitors might notice. If he does, it's a little different story. /soapbox
Posted 11:15 AM by Kerry O.

Too much information for me ** If you're here for Celiac info, please visit Celiac.com or my personal page here. There's not much on that page yet, but I will have lots of links soon. Feel free to send me suggestions for links, information, etc. if you have any. Thanks!
Posted 10:26 AM by Kerry O.

Friday Five Time **
1. What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for someone else? I don't actually remember the most romantic thing. I think the one Joe thought was most romantic was about 6 months before our wedding. I was learning to scrapbook, and I'd gotten a big package of multi-color die-cut hearts from Michael's. I had way more than I can use, so I took about 25-30 of them, wrote "sweet nothings" on each one, and hid them. I put one in his wallet, his jacket pocket, inside his sunglass case, under his pillow, etc. He was finding them for weeks.

2. What are your erogenous zones? Neck is #1. My husband knows just where to kiss me!

3. How old were you the first time you had sex? Care to expound? Not telling. Who knows who might read this? Hi, daddy!

4. What's the most unusual place you've ever had sex? Not telling. :-)

5. Do you have plans for Valentine's Day or is it just another Thursday? We don't usually do much, just dinner or something. I have a feeling my husband might be surprising me for the first time ever, though. He's being weird, like actually remembering on his own when V-Day is!
Posted 8:42 AM by Kerry O.

Broken record ** Sorry to have bored you all with my recent doctor activity! I promise I will not mention it again unless asked. I remembered last night how annoying people who constantly whine about their illnesses are. I do not want to be that person. I have had some hits from searches for Celiac, so if you are visiting for that reason, sorry! Soon I'll put a link to a page with some information for people who are looking for it. But basically, this was a fundamental part of who I was growing up, and now it is again. It's almost too big to talk about much. If that makes any sense. Being female is a huge part of who I am, but I don't generally blog about it (unless I have good reason). People with diabetes don't generally talk about it every day in their blogs either, nor will I with this. So, without further ado, it's back to the regularly scheduled programming for us. Let me know if you have any questions, but let's get back to the fun!!!
Posted 10:08 AM by Kerry O.

My so-called illness ** Ach, well. All cannot be perfect in the world. My doctor's appointment was short and sweet. No surprises. My life as a normal eating person are over. Effective immediately, I'm on a gluten-free diet for good. We're going to do another blood test in 6 months to see how I'm doing. The one interesting thing I didn't know about Celiac is that women who are pregnant with Celiac and not being treated (i.e. still eating gluten products) can have babies with dangerously low birth weights. I told this to Joe, who looked at me and said quietly, "Maybe He was looking out for us when that last [pregnancy] test was negative, then." Maybe, indeed.
Posted 7:23 PM by Kerry O.

Welcome, Baby! ** Yay! Heather posted her baby's birth story. I've been dying to know how it went. I'm so happy Heather and Matt and baby Alyssa are doing so well. Enjoy your time together and congratulations!!!
Posted 2:07 PM by Kerry O.

Enjoy the Silence ** Sorry I've been so quiet today. My computer at work took a flying leap this morning (figuratively, unfortunately), and I have just now gotten the replacement back up and running. It's a lovely midnight black. Grrr. Not the aesthetic look I wanted on my desk with my IBM-cream monitor, but beggars can't be choosers. At least it's got a Pentium 4 and doesn't crash. I'm off to my Dr.'s appointment in an hour, too. This is really my day, isn't it? Hope yours are all better than mine!
Posted 1:11 PM by Kerry O.

Just make sure you don't tell on me ** The radio is playing a new Alanis Morissette song right now... It's catchy. I like it.
Posted 4:15 PM by Kerry O.

Well, the news just gets better ** I just got a phone call I'd hoped I wouldn't get. My Dr. got some blood tests back, and wants to see me ASAP. It's not really the end of the world, because I know what it is. But it is not good.

When I was an infant, I had something called Celiac Disease. It seems so ironic that 2 words can sound so simple and yet represent such a huge portion of my life. At 12 months of age, I weighed 1 pound less than I did at birth. My mother had switched from nursing to baby food, and my little baby body couldn't process it. They all had a form of gluten in them that was the mysterious culprit of my illness. I spent a good portion of the first 2-3 years of my life in and out of the hospital. My mother traveled to D.C. and studied what could possibly be wrong. I was so unresponsive, they performed a spinal tap under a local anaesthetic, and told my mother I would be lucky to live a moderately normal life with close-to-average intelligence.

Fortunately, they were very very wrong. My childhood was normal, and I was the youngest student ever in Peoria School District's gifted program (from Day One of Kindergarten). Okay, my childhood wasn't completely normal. I wore a Medic Alert bracelet, and couldn't eat what everyone else ate. The bracelet told any reader that I was allergic to "gluten, oats, wheat, barley and rye." I had those 5 words memorized before I could spell my name. I didn't even really know what they were, but I knew whatever adult I was talking to would know. I was forbidden to eat anything with those grains: most cereals, bread, pizza, cake, cookies, candy bars, pasta, tortillas, etc. Birthdays sucked. My childhood best friend and her twin brother had birthdays the day before mine, so we always had two cakes: theirs (big) and my little, malformed rice-flour cake. Sometimes I sneaked a piece of pizza and spent the afternoon in the bathroom as my little body's personal punishment. Ah, but I had rice cakes before they were cool (usually toasted - yes, toasted - with butter and cinnamon sugar) and I know what rice spaghetti tastes like.

Well, the non-pregnancy-related Dr.'s appointments I mentioned last week were with the gastroenterologist (sorry for the TMI). Curious to see if Celiac was in any way related, she ordered a blood test. This is an improvement since when I went off the Celiac diet when I was 14, the only method of diagnosis was internal intestinal biopsy. Apparently now they can diagnose the disease through blood tests. And now her office wants to see me as soon as possible, perhaps tomorrow morning. My question? "Oh, so the Celiac was positive, huh? Great." Her comment? "Please don't kill the messenger."

Like I said, it's not the end of the world. There are worse diseases to have. I have been blessed to have lived for the last 12+ years normally, and enjoyed pizza as my favorite food, with the occasional burger or cookie. At least I have a medical excuse to cut most carbs out of my diet now, except corn (in small amounts) and rice. But I'd really hoped it had left me for good. They told my mother when I was 14 that there was "always a chance it could come back" in my late teens or early-20's. Well, I'm 26. They were close.
Posted 9:59 AM by Kerry O.

If you're really happy and you want the world to know it ** I swear, I found this after I titled the entry below, but somehow I sense a theme. Look at this picture!

I mean, I'll be honest. If you've got a tush that tight, you have every right to show it off (though I have the same right to question your choice in undies). But it's still a little much for an Olympic speed skater, IMHO.
Posted 9:22 AM by Kerry O.

If you're happy and you know it ** Today's Friendliest Person award goes to the friendly elderly crossing guard at 52nd Street and Greenway Rd. in northeast Phoenix for his cheerful, unfailing smile and wave to every passerby during his watch. Thank you for making me happy this morning and keeping the kiddos safe at the same time, Mr. Crossing Guard!
Posted 9:18 AM by Kerry O.

Thrifty girls ** I was over at Gretchen's blog and she was talking about her conversion to consignment (a/k/a thrift) store junkie. This is a metamorphosis I can appreciate fully. I was the same way, with envy for the other junior high girls' pegged Z Cavaricci jeans and perfectly-white Keds sneakers while mom loaded us up with K-Mart specials. We weren't poor, but like any practical mother, she reserved the great clothing expenditures for special occasions. This was reasonable and appropriate, looking back on it, but I didn't always get it at the time.

Then in high school and college years, I discovered that many of my friends had this strage thrift-store addiction. Usually Value Village or Savers. When I lived in Seattle, grunge was still "in", and the general Gen-X trend was strongly anti-new/perfect/clean/trendy clothing of any kind. Topaz took me to my first Value Village there and I was changed forever.

It was still slow in coming for me, but after a relapse, I'm recently back into the bargain-hunting mode. My brother's boyfriend is a thrift store God (he can make stunning tree skirts out of nasty kitchy ones, and turn pea-green lamps with orange burned lampshades into beautiful, classy housewarming gifts), and he got me back into it. Then, all by my lonesome, I discovered on Saturday Savers' once-in-a-while 50% off everything in the store weekend. I walked out with a gorgeous almost-brand-new All That Jazz blue floral sundress, a lavendar fuji silk Liz Claiborne long-sleeve blouse, and a forest green longish knit sweater - all for just under $10. I'm officially hooked again. Joe is not happy. I have to do something about all the clothes I have before they swallow us up whole - but it's worth it!
Posted 2:08 PM by Kerry O.

And out ** Ugh. My property taxes are going up 29.8%. That is not a happy thing. And I was so enjoying home ownership.
Posted 11:16 AM by Kerry O.

And the money kept rolling out ** "Red Cross officials held a press conference last week to assure the world that they were on track to give away all the money as quickly as possible. As if that were the issue."
Posted 10:56 AM by Kerry O.

Another Monday ** Back to the grind today. The game last night was awesome, though. Other than our disappointing news, we had a very nice weekend. The Super Bowl was a really good one, my friend's party was really fun, the puppy is cuter than ever, Major Lingo was great as usual, we got to spend time with our friend Kendra, and lots more. I don't even mind coming back to work today, except that I am tired from waking up unexpectedly at 4:00 and not being able to go back to sleep. Grrrr. I just wish I knew what was happening with Heather.
Posted 10:45 AM by Kerry O.

Random Acts ** We're walking out the door to a Super Bowl party, but I just wanted to say thank you to Sarah out there. I don't know how, but you managed to say just the right words I didn't even know I needed to hear. Thank you! :-)

And Heather - Hang in there, it's almost time! I can't wait to see Alyssa. Happy Super Bowl Day to you!!! I hope Matt gets his party and his baby today!
Posted 2:59 PM by Kerry O.