Food Friday - Gluten Free

So I have shared some different meals that the bf and I have made recently and I figured I should explain why we have to use some uncommon items.

Back in high school I was breaking out really badly on my chin and we found out I was allergic to yeast.  I ate better for a while and my face cleared up.  I started eating normal again and the break outs came back and I would have a horrible stomach ache for hours after waking up.  No matter what I did it still hurt.  The pain would last until about 11 in the morning.  We went to a different doctor and found out it was actually wheat that I was allergic too.

And that is when my world turned upside down.  I quickly learned that I couldn't have a lot of different things... like bread, pizza, cakes, crackers, most candy, cereals, and more.  It was very very hard, considering that I LOVE anything with bread.

Now my allergy to the wheat is not super severe.  I can eat wheat for several days before I notice any of my symptoms.  So it is very easy for me to fall into a pattern of eating badly for a few days or so.  I mostly am able to stop eating bad before my symptoms show up.  There are people so allergic that they are not able to touch wheat or eat things that were made in the same place things with wheat were made.

Just recently my mom has been wondering if she is allergic to wheat.  She stopped eating anything white and bread to get her cholesterol under control.... which she did and lost a lot of weight too!  Anyway, she has been eating bread with sandwiches and what not every once and a while.  After she has eaten the bread she feels like her stomach gets puffy and she feels slow.  She went to the doctor and sure enough she is allergic to wheat.  So all of my troubles are my moms fault. :)

Through my many years of being forced to try to eat wheat free I have learned that most of the foods that taste the best are the ones that are also gluten free.  Now gluten is the binding that keeps all of those wonderful foods made with wheat together.  Gluten free foods normally fall apart very easily.... eating a gluten free sandwich is just not the same.

I have created a document that contains my reviews on most of the foods/brands that I have tried and my opinion of them and where you can buy the products.  I have given that to at least a handful of people because I don't want them to have to try the yucky food that I had to try to get to the good ones.

So I have decided that I will begin featuring a gluten-free/wheat-free product a few times a month.  The bf actually enjoys some of the things I have found.

And since I promised a picture:

I was at Publix the other week and this is what I parked next too...  The license tag was 1 ofakind...

Thanks for reading!!

Obligatory 1st Post... and it's a doozy

I have finally gone and done it... found the perfect name for my blog and hopefully soon my etsy shop.  BUT I am getting ahead of myself.

Hi, my name is Amanda and I have wanted to start my own blog for over a year now.  Why did I want to start my own blog?  Well it all started when my sister (I have two of those by the way) introduced me to the www.newdressaday.com website.  I read through one, just ONE post about how she turned an old outfit she bought for a dollar into a new and very cute outfit.  It was hook, line, and sinker for me.

From her website I was linked to other blogs done by very talented women and from theirs to more and more.  It was an obsession for me to read each blog from the very beginning to see how the individual began and grew into the crafter they are today.  As I settled into my routine of reading and catching up on each blog everyday (because I now HAVE to know what they have made or are making or are planning to make) I started to picture how I could have a blog someday too.

Granted at that point in my life I was in a temporary job (that I hoped would transform into something permanent) after having tried teaching for a year (more on that one later) and at a place where I did not feel the least bit creative.

Fast forward four months and I was making a personalized baby blanket for my coworkers baby shower and realizing I AM CREATIVE.  I CAN make something beautiful and well made.  A month later I was invited to a friends baby shower out of state.  Mind you it is one of my dearest friends, so I secretly planned to attend.  I made another personalized blanket which turned out just as cute as the first so I knew I was onto something.

Since then I have been trying desperately to get back up to date with all of the blogs I follow (May to September is a VERY busy time where I work) knowing full well that I know had found my crafting side and wanted to blog about my experiences.  That's when I realized my roadblock.  I could not for the lift of me come up with a name that I felt would symbolize not only me as a person, but the type of craftyness that I wanted to attempt to do.  I had all of these examples every day of such amazing blog names and I felt nothing I thought up was as well, creative, as the blogs I read everyday.  I shared with my sisters my desire to write a blog and how I needed a name.  I confided in some of my crafty friends and coworkers.

Finally after months and months, today I struck gold.  I brainstormed with my coworker for hours (all the while we were working away) and it felt like every amazing perfect name she came up with was already taken!  I was beginning to feel defeated.  I brainstormed on my way home from work, only coming up with a handful of ideas.  I mentioned one of the ideas I had with my boyfriend and lo and behold his most fabulously creative mind (yes I am jealous of the funny and creative things he is able to come up with) produced the perfect name: Crafty Quackers.  Well, when I was typing it into my phone to remember it (yes I tend to loose out on my brillant ideas if I don't immediately capture them on paper) the autocorrect changed Quackers to Quackery and the deal was done.  Crafty Quackery it was.

I practically ran to my computer hoping beyond hope that this name was free in the blogging word.  I checked and I could not believe my eyes, it seemed my luck had turned around!  I check etsy and it too appeared to have a void in the username of Crafty Quackery.  I took it as a sign that I MUST create now.

I now have an email address devoted to this name, this little blog, and an etsy user profile (I am a little nervous to sign up as a seller as at the moment I don't have anything made to sell).  I feel accomplished and very excited for my craftyness to surge full force and hopefully take over.  A far away dream of mine is to craft as my job... maybe this will get me there.