For the past few months little N's digestive system hasn't been up to par, so for several weeks we've started an elimination diet. Firstly we've eliminated all dairy and egg sources, therefore no muffins, cookies, or other baked goods that contain egg or dairy. There's been no improvement.
We are now cutting out soy products. No soy-anything, which I am finding sad and difficult to do in his diet. This limits his Asian food, and even more (store-bought) baked items, since right now he is also avoiding egg and dairy everything. I am so glad that he likes rice, though, because that will be his go-to starch from now on (if it wasn't already).
To accommodate his new diet, I am now baking him "special" foods. Special muffins, special cake, special cookies, etc.. I am hoping that he is young enough that he doesn't feel that he is left out of too much eating choices. So what is special about these homemade baked items? I substitute everything... substitute the egg, dairy, and milk. My kitchen now has an assortment of vegan items, like vegan butter blocks for baking, vegan butter-type spread, even some vegan muffins since they contain no dairy or egg.
We began this diet on Monday, and it should be done for a full two weeks, for us to notice a difference. If there is no difference, then we move onto the next elimination. I am hoping that the issue is soy, because the next elimination will be even more tough. Keep your fingers crossed that we figure this out soon!
October 21, 2015
October 07, 2015
Vacuuming - A Fun New Chore?
This weekend we purchased a new Dyson vacuum! We took the plunge and bought a brand-name, high-end vacuum cleaner, and it felt kind of like Christmas at our house (for the adults). Yesterday, we unboxed our lovely vacuum and proceeded to test it out in our basement. It was a family event, with Kid N looking on, and Hubby and I taking turns. It was quite exciting. And to my surprise, Hubby made a comment that he's always wanted one ever since he saw the first Dyson commercial many years ago. Really?? Well darn-it! We should have bought a Dyson many years ago, then!! And who knew that husbands could get all excited about household appliances! But I suppose that anything that makes chores easier, is a good thing!
The next test will be to vacuum the upstairs. We have colonies of dust-bunnies hiding under our couches, and flaunting us under-foot! We also have stubborn lint that refuses to lift off our carpet, due to our poorly-suctioning old (and now, dead) vacuum cleaner! For the last few weeks, we've been living vacuum-less, since our old (and weak) vacuum broke. Since then, I've been randomly picking up dust-bunnies with paper towels whenever I get tired of looking at them. Well, my dear dust-bunnies...you can't run or hide from the Dyson. You can't even stubbornly cling to the carpet due to poor suction, anymore. The Dyson will find and get you.... MUAHAHAHAHAHA... well, as soon as I pick up all the toys from the floor... We can't have the toys being sucked up now!
The next test will be to vacuum the upstairs. We have colonies of dust-bunnies hiding under our couches, and flaunting us under-foot! We also have stubborn lint that refuses to lift off our carpet, due to our poorly-suctioning old (and now, dead) vacuum cleaner! For the last few weeks, we've been living vacuum-less, since our old (and weak) vacuum broke. Since then, I've been randomly picking up dust-bunnies with paper towels whenever I get tired of looking at them. Well, my dear dust-bunnies...you can't run or hide from the Dyson. You can't even stubbornly cling to the carpet due to poor suction, anymore. The Dyson will find and get you.... MUAHAHAHAHAHA... well, as soon as I pick up all the toys from the floor... We can't have the toys being sucked up now!
October 04, 2015
Wildlife Backyard Adventures
This morning was Husband's yard-cleaning day... meaning, it was weed-mowing day! Remember how I said we have more dandelions, than grass? Well, Husband decided to just mow it all over. Someday, eventually, years down the line, we will re-seed the entire lawn, or lay down new grass... But until then, the plan is to just mow them down, and/or pluck them out if we felt like doing some extra back-aching work.
Anyway, while in the shed, Husband found a dead rat. Wonderful. We decided it was best to bury it (deeply) in an unused corner of our yard. The only worry is that the neighbourhood bears might smell the rotting carcass and dig it up for fun. But we can deal with that another time, if it happens.
So how did this lovely rat die? We don't know, but I'm glad it is dead. Apparently there were no visible signs of trauma, so my not-so-educated guess is that it ingested some rat poison, and crawled into our shed to die. Or maybe the neighbourhood bears found it and wanted to play with it, and the rat found refuge in our shed to die quietly. But like I said, there were no obvious signs of trauma or open wounds.
So about those pesky bears... yes I am now speaking in the plural form. There are at least two bears in the neighbourhood. A mama and a cub, spotted by two of our neighbours, now. They are regular visitors to our backyard, as noted by 4 more piles of bear pooh. They are also regular visitors to our neighbours, as noted by eyewitness accounts. Anecdote tells me that trail-building near a mid-sized park has been disturbing the bears, causing them to explore and wander outside their usual haunts. The trail-building includes activities such as digging and cutting down trees. Conservation officers are aware of the bear visits, but so long as they do not act aggressive, nothing will be done about them (which is fine by me, because if "something" were to be done, it would more than likely involve something lethal to mama and cub). So what do we do now? We just keep an eye out, mornings and evenings, and just keep reporting them, if seen.
On a happier-wildlife-note, in the last month, we've seen a Heron fly over our neighbour's house at least twice now (very majestic to see). I also catch glimpses of jays and robins, and other small birds (finches and/or sparrows?) while looking out our windows. They like to perch on our trees and hide in our bushes, and they peck away at the insects in our yard. Some birds are kind of squawky, while others whistle or sing! These little creatures are not a worry. My concern is mostly that the bears have decided that our yard makes a good bathroom, for them! Eww!
Anyway, while in the shed, Husband found a dead rat. Wonderful. We decided it was best to bury it (deeply) in an unused corner of our yard. The only worry is that the neighbourhood bears might smell the rotting carcass and dig it up for fun. But we can deal with that another time, if it happens.
So how did this lovely rat die? We don't know, but I'm glad it is dead. Apparently there were no visible signs of trauma, so my not-so-educated guess is that it ingested some rat poison, and crawled into our shed to die. Or maybe the neighbourhood bears found it and wanted to play with it, and the rat found refuge in our shed to die quietly. But like I said, there were no obvious signs of trauma or open wounds.
So about those pesky bears... yes I am now speaking in the plural form. There are at least two bears in the neighbourhood. A mama and a cub, spotted by two of our neighbours, now. They are regular visitors to our backyard, as noted by 4 more piles of bear pooh. They are also regular visitors to our neighbours, as noted by eyewitness accounts. Anecdote tells me that trail-building near a mid-sized park has been disturbing the bears, causing them to explore and wander outside their usual haunts. The trail-building includes activities such as digging and cutting down trees. Conservation officers are aware of the bear visits, but so long as they do not act aggressive, nothing will be done about them (which is fine by me, because if "something" were to be done, it would more than likely involve something lethal to mama and cub). So what do we do now? We just keep an eye out, mornings and evenings, and just keep reporting them, if seen.
On a happier-wildlife-note, in the last month, we've seen a Heron fly over our neighbour's house at least twice now (very majestic to see). I also catch glimpses of jays and robins, and other small birds (finches and/or sparrows?) while looking out our windows. They like to perch on our trees and hide in our bushes, and they peck away at the insects in our yard. Some birds are kind of squawky, while others whistle or sing! These little creatures are not a worry. My concern is mostly that the bears have decided that our yard makes a good bathroom, for them! Eww!
October 01, 2015
A year later, and I'm back!
Wow, it's been a year since I've blogged about anything, and let me vague-post about why!! Life is pretty much as fun or as dull as you make it out to be. For the past year I've been floundering a bit in my own personal reflection. I've come out of that funk, all shiny and happy again. So voila, I'm back!
Yesterday:
I've been staring at my garden and lawn for the past little while, thinking... "Ewww, there's sooo much work to do out there!" Weeding, maintenance... ugly lawn... that sort of thing. So yesterday I went to Home Depot to buy a weed-claw thing-a-ma-jig for pulling out dandelions, because well... we have more dandelions than we have grass! So with my new-fandangled garden tool, I go out into the backyard to try it out. It's definitely not as effective as I thought it would be, so I give up on my masses of dandelions, and start shoving leaves, twigs, branches, etc into my giant compost bag. It's almost completely full, and I've only tidied 1/30th of my backyard! (Seriously, I've cleaned up a corner of the yard!!!) Sigh! This is going to be a veeery long task, and I'm already getting achey!
So my not-so-fit, achey-self decides to do a walk-about in the backyard to survey what else I can do that won't be so tiring. I take note of the dug-up yard that our neighbourhood bear has made, take note of the taller weeds, and shorter weeds, dead grass, no grass, etc., and then spot a giant pile of bear-pooh! Yuck! Well, I got my wish... this is something to do, that doesn't require a lot of muscle!! And it definitely needs cleaning up, because of the kids! So here goes...
Gloves... CHECK!
Shovel... CHECK!
Compost bag... CHECK!
Holding my breath so as not to smell or gag... CHECK!
Well, the thing to picking up bear-pooh, is that I really should have used a good-sized shovel. Instead, I had with me, a little trowel that I use for my garden. I naively thought that this little trowel would be enough to shovel bear-pooh. I misjudged. I will only say that bear-pooh is heavier than you'd think it would be, and with a trowel you will not be able to shovel it with just one movement... Just give that comment some thought...
Anyway, after accomplishing this lovely task, I was quite proud of myself for not running away to my husband to ask him to clean it up (which is my usual reaction when there is something horrifying for me to do... like catch spiders and bugs). Now I am ready to head inside after cleaning up this terrible horror, when... I spot another pile of Bear-Yuck! REALLY?? Ugh! Ok, repeat the above.
After one final, slow walk through of the backyard, I declare that I now have a pooh-free yard. Hooray!! It's a good thing that the next day is garbage / recycling day! The garbage guys can take my bear-pooh infested bio-degradables, where they can turn it into something better. And now I can run inside the house to shower!
And that my friends, is my shitty story from yesterday! Life can just keep going up from here!
Yesterday:
I've been staring at my garden and lawn for the past little while, thinking... "Ewww, there's sooo much work to do out there!" Weeding, maintenance... ugly lawn... that sort of thing. So yesterday I went to Home Depot to buy a weed-claw thing-a-ma-jig for pulling out dandelions, because well... we have more dandelions than we have grass! So with my new-fandangled garden tool, I go out into the backyard to try it out. It's definitely not as effective as I thought it would be, so I give up on my masses of dandelions, and start shoving leaves, twigs, branches, etc into my giant compost bag. It's almost completely full, and I've only tidied 1/30th of my backyard! (Seriously, I've cleaned up a corner of the yard!!!) Sigh! This is going to be a veeery long task, and I'm already getting achey!
So my not-so-fit, achey-self decides to do a walk-about in the backyard to survey what else I can do that won't be so tiring. I take note of the dug-up yard that our neighbourhood bear has made, take note of the taller weeds, and shorter weeds, dead grass, no grass, etc., and then spot a giant pile of bear-pooh! Yuck! Well, I got my wish... this is something to do, that doesn't require a lot of muscle!! And it definitely needs cleaning up, because of the kids! So here goes...
Gloves... CHECK!
Shovel... CHECK!
Compost bag... CHECK!
Holding my breath so as not to smell or gag... CHECK!
Well, the thing to picking up bear-pooh, is that I really should have used a good-sized shovel. Instead, I had with me, a little trowel that I use for my garden. I naively thought that this little trowel would be enough to shovel bear-pooh. I misjudged. I will only say that bear-pooh is heavier than you'd think it would be, and with a trowel you will not be able to shovel it with just one movement... Just give that comment some thought...
Anyway, after accomplishing this lovely task, I was quite proud of myself for not running away to my husband to ask him to clean it up (which is my usual reaction when there is something horrifying for me to do... like catch spiders and bugs). Now I am ready to head inside after cleaning up this terrible horror, when... I spot another pile of Bear-Yuck! REALLY?? Ugh! Ok, repeat the above.
After one final, slow walk through of the backyard, I declare that I now have a pooh-free yard. Hooray!! It's a good thing that the next day is garbage / recycling day! The garbage guys can take my bear-pooh infested bio-degradables, where they can turn it into something better. And now I can run inside the house to shower!
And that my friends, is my shitty story from yesterday! Life can just keep going up from here!
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