Happy ? Halloween...

It's October 31 again...

Which means Halloween is almost over...

Officially, it's today only, but the entire month of October is one big creep-fest for most people...scary movies on tv and in theatres, kids trying to find the creepiest, ghouliest (it's a word) costumes possible...my boys trying to figure out how best to scare the crap out me...

I hate it.

I hate being scared. I hate scary movies, scary costumes and scary music. Hate it, hate it, hate it...I know there are others out there who feel the same way I do (my sisters being two of them, not sure about my brother), but we seem to be few and far between...

We used to have a babysitter who would watch horror movies after she put our kids to bed.  One night, we came home to find the house dark (or mostly, only one light was on upstairs), and our lovely babysitter Ashley, sitting in our darkened basement, watching "The Fog"...

"Are you well?" I asked her.

"Oh, I love scary movies," she told me.

I'm creeped out just thinking about it.

Personally, I'm a Christmas girl...I get giddy seeing Christmas decorations in the store in August.  I call my husband and giggle like a school girl each time I see some new sign that Christmas is getting closer...I plan baking and turkey dinners and where to hide the gifts so the kids don't find them...I love Christmas music (and especially the radio station in town that plays Christmas music 24 hours a day, seven days a week from November 24 to December 25)...I love watching Christmas specials and watching the first flakes come down...

It's almost here...I just have to get through today...

Gluten Kicked My Butt Again...

A few weeks ago, my sister, who was in town for work, told me that she doesn't believe that I have celiac disease.  "I think you're gluten intolerant, but not an actual celiac," she said. "Because you don't get sick like two of my friends back home."

"Well," I replied. "My doctor, the guy with the medical degrees, says that I do, so I'm gonna go with that, 'k?"

On Sunday morning, my husband sent my sister a text describing my reaction to ingesting a tiny amount of gluten (and who the heck puts barley in chicken broth?  Oh yeah, Campbell's...thanks a whole heck of a lot boys)..."she looks like the Stay Puff marshmallow man"...if you've never seen "Ghostbusters", then you won't get the reference, suffice it to say that I was a tad bloated.

And in pain.

I had a blinding headache, my eyeballs hurt, my feet were so swollen I had trouble getting my shoes on (and in fact, Saturday night when we got in the car to go home, I took off my socks and shoes because they were too tight), my stomach was bloated out so far I looked about 7 months pregnant, every bone in my body hurt, and I was so exhausted I did not want to get out of bed.

Then there was the nausea.

What was that about not being sick when I eat gluten?

It's three days later and I'm finally starting to feel human again...but damn, that gluten is a bitch. A nasty, take-no-prisoners-slash-your-tires-because-you-broke-up-with-her-bitch.

I hope I never run into her again...