Wrapping up 2007

We're sitting at home, wrapped up in our bathrobes, blankets with kitties.

So much for our other plans.

Thursday and Friday I went dancing and found some old muscles that haven't been used in awhile. This was after spending the day with HB running errands, and eating nummy food.

Saturday Mr. Red and I woke up to Mr. Red puking. We soon figured out it wasn't just something he ate but instead stomach flu. Oh joy. After a wee bit of food he decides that being sick at the beach sounds way better than being sick at our apartment. Needless to say we eventually checked in and immediately take a 4 hour nap. Both of us.

Sunday woke up to stormy weather. We made the most of it and went to the aquarium and hung out with the sea otter. Ended up taking a drive up the coast.

But I started feeling weird, we were wondering if it was the bug or if I'd eaten something I shouldn't had. Turned out it was the first. Lets just say not pretty and not a happy RHCD.

So waking up this morning, still feeling like I'd been run over by a freight train. Needless to say we canceled out plans and just drove home. Yeah - Happy New Year to us.

Gift horse

So my cousin drew my name in the family xmas draw. She gave me a mastercard gift card. Cool I can use it any where. But I have to register on line. Coolio.

Snag #1 - Can't register thru safari.
Snag #2 - Can't register thru firefox.
Keeps telling me IE only. Um we so don't have IE on any of our two laptops and the PC isn't hooked up. The only IE computer we have is my work laptop. Not going there for now.

So I call the number on the card - they send me a text that I can respond to... um looks like spam. Have Mr. Red check it, then FGI. Yep spam.

How the hell am I going register it so I can get my monies...

That whole last name thing

Christmas cards have been coming in and some days I'm amused by the combination of Mr. Red's name and mine and other times I'm exacerbated. Let me back up, when he and I wed I added his name as my second middle. My last name did not change. Therefore things that are mailed to Mr. and Mrs. Red go to him. My passport, SSN, and drivers license all have two middle names. I am also a Ms.

I am not Mrs. Red. That's my very lovely mother in law and her mother in law. Seriously they are two of the coolest women I've meet in the last five years. But we do not share a name. Typically things get handed to Mr. Red since we've adopted Mrs. Red as his feminine side.

It's our second Christmas together as married partners - but I'm noticing some people just don't aren't getting it; like my family. I know that I'm the first in my family to not take the husband’s last name in some form formally. I'm the oldest in my generation (there's only two girls on each side anyway). I guess I'll still plug away at correcting people. Thankfully Mr. Red is no board to help (like I'd of married him if he wasn't).

But this got me thinking...

At a bday dinner for a friend of ours I noticed of the 5 or so married couples I don't think any couple had the same last name. We were all in married in our late 20's or later, all with various stages of established careers, all urbanites, some with children, some due anytime and some with no intention.

I then looked back on this year with the 7 weddings we attended:
• Two of the straight couples kept their respective names,
• Three straight couples went traditional (including my other girl cousin),
• One lesbian couple went to one partners name,
• One lesbian couple; one partner hyphenated the other kept hers.

No wonder people are confused.

caffeine plus scary movie...

I can't sleep!

We went and saw I am Legend which not a bad movie. Parts of it really freaked me out and I'm not usually freaked out by movies.

I then made a mistake of having a diet coke around 8ish. I know I shouldn't have anything with caffeine in it, past oh noon but for what ever I did. When I went bed around 1ish my mind just would not stop going to scenes in the movie. Yeah so much for sleeping. crap.

So I'm now sitting up on the couch watching really bad tv. I'm hoping it'll put me to sleep. I could happen. Really.

I just need a kitty on my lap.

um so yeah

Not doing much on the allergies. There was no way I was going to try to figure this out going into Thanksgiving. Not because of turkey day itself, more for the fact my very cool inlaws were coming into town. Surely they won't mind you say. No they won't, not in the least. It's more for the fact that we eat well. Very well. Too well.

Friday we picked up Red's Mom and started at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Where we watched them make the most amazing and huge (36" dia) ornament. Red and I actually watched from above the workshop space. You could feel the heat from the glass and furnaces. I think I found a craft that I won't get cold in.

We split the party after an amazing dinner at the Lobster Shop, where Mom and I headed to Anacortes to check in for the evening. The Mr would be bringing up him and his dad later that evening. Saturday the party woke up bright and squirrelly to catch the daily fairy to Vancouver Island. Yes in Canada.

After an amazingly scenic ferry ride, a quick dropping of our bags at the condo we were staying at, then lunch at Superior Cafe recommended by my brain partner, (seriously the food is divine). Took a we bit of a stroll where we met Sammy the local Harbour Seal. Anytime you'd walk near the smoked salmon shack he'd pop his head out of the water and give you the puppy (okay seal) eyes. It didn't work. I'm immune. But it was a great photo opp. We then decided that the drippy and wet day would be oh so much better with a nap. Yeah nap.

For dinner we took the rents to their first sushi outing. Which meant I was ordering for the table. They had Toro for way cheaper than I've ever seen. Needless to say I ordered some.

Saturday we woke and went for a drive out into the countryside for a few of the Pacific Ocean and the Olympic Mountains. Have I said how much I love this area. I felt at home in the trees and the water.

After our drive we had lunch at the Empress. Followed by us wandering down to the water to buy a few live crabs. Did I say they were live and didn't have their claws bound? We put them to sleep (in the fridge) after we got back to the condo, while Dad and I head to the store for fixings.

Let's just say crabs are exciting to cook. That likely makes me a horrible person. But they are tasty and tasty won in this case.

Okay enough for now - I need sleep.

Food Allergies - wtf man

My allergy report came back. Which is going to have an impact on my diet. We've been trying to nail down why my system is all over the place and I haven't been able to get back to an even keel. These all showed as the “not immediate reaction.”

Right now we're going to tackle the High/Moderate and then perhaps the Low reaction foods (but due to the numbers maybe sooner rather than later). Which means an elimination diet.

Thankfully absent from the list: Dairy, meat/fowl/fish most fruits & veggies, and wheat. So then what’s the list:

Highly Reactive:
Cayenne Pepper
Horseradish
Nutmeg
Pysllium seed
Vanilla

Well with the exception of the pysllium seed I love the other highly reactive foods. Vanilla is in just about everything. And we use nutmeg/cayenne often. Horseradish = wasabi which um hello sushi lover here.

Moderate Reactive
Coffee
Yeast, Bakers
Blueberries
Sesame
Curry
Ginger
Pepper, Black
Aloe Vera
Dong Quai
Licorice
Valerian
Mung Bean Sprouts

So the coffee is no lose as I find it horrible, but the bakers yeast = bread. Then we start seeing the spices. I like spices but it appears we don’t get along.

Low Reactive (but still some reaction, not no reaction)
Eggs (yes both whites and yolks)
Almonds (just barely low)
Cinnamon (just barely low)
Cumin Seed
Paprika
Parsley
Thyme (just barely low)
Astragualus
Chamomile
Dandelion
Ginseng, Siberian (just barely low)
Goldenseal
Gymnemia
Milk Thistle
Saw Palmetto
Spirulina
Wild Yam
Cantaloupe
Chili Pepper
Millet
Navy Bean
Watermelon

See more spices! So here’s where I get to go thru all my vitamins because I know most of those things are in there somewhere. Of course I get to figure what some of those things are.

Grocery shopping and going out to eat should be fun.

Business travel isn't always fun

So despite the nice flight to the the east coast, the rest of the trip was long, hard and I came home sick. Didn't see much of Buffalo itself, but did see Niagara Falls (the US side). I should have gone over to the canadian side but I was the only one in our group who actually brought my passport. Monday I first noticed my sinuses giving me issue. That and my face broke out horribly. Yeah.

Flew back to Newark on Wenesday. Which means no playing in the city for me. Bummer. Sinuses were in full revolt. Thankfully I'd brought sudafed. Which while makes my sinuses empty they make me dehydrated. Friday I get to fly home (which at noon was looking unlikly - but yeah boss man said come home). Flight was only delayed an hourish. By only I do mean only.

But coming home I get loving from Red and from my kitties. I'm happily sitting on the couch, my sinuses all wonky, feeling like crap with both my kitties snuggled up next to me, including fluff the not snuggler is snuggling up next to me. Life is good.