[aklap]

Once again another month has slipped by.

Peg's SIL is a HUGE flower nut! They've dug up 1/2 of their yard to plant flower beds. Heck, they even got flowers on top of their garage roof...complete with a watering system so they don't have to climb up there an water them! They've got a 4 way splitter on their outside faucet for all the hoses. The picture above is one of many I took last Sunday while attending a cook out.

Along with eating, taking pictures, hitting the volleyball around with Peg's niece, I managed to mess up my left heel again [from said VB fun] . Luckily I had some meds left, so I jumped on it right away. Today...pain is almost gone.

Only 27 more shopping days till my birthday...just in case anyone is interested. LOL!

How 'bout the rest of y'all ~ fall out for Roll Call!

For those of you just tuning in, Roll Call is chance to introduce yourself, check-in and let everyone know how you're doing, what you're up to, to touch base...something, anything, just let us know you're still around

NT's Roll Call Time Tunnel

[jccgf]

June already? End of the school year activities are in full swing. We attended my daughter's 5th grade school play last night, and she had one of the leading roles . She did a great job both acting and singing! We were very proud of her. Today she is off to an all day field trip at the Milwaukee Zoo, and next week is the school award ceremony and 'graduation' from elementary school. Middle school... here she comes.

On a sadder note, my mom died a week and a half ago. The last day I actually saw her was on Mother's Day. This wasn't unexpected, as many of you know. We had a lovely service for her at my sister's lake home that is built on the lake my mother spent much of her childhool. It was attended by family members only, and we sang a few songs, shared memories, etc. My mom never wanted a funeral, but we think she would have appreciated the casual service we had. Then we had another memorial visitation in the city where they spent most of their adult life, and I couldn't believe how well attended that was. Again, it was held in my sisters home, and was a very relaxed casual event. It seemed everybody really enjoyed offering their condolences in a relaxed home environment. My two sisters, Dad and I spent ten days together surrounding all of this... that was so nice. Not everyone has that luxury, and we cherished it.

Then, I have this wedding to get ready for! My son is getting married in two weeks. Luckily, as the groom's mom I don't have too much to worry about. The biggest worry I had was whether my mom was going to be able to attend, and I guess that question has been answered. The bride's dress is made from the lace of my mom's dress, and coincidentally, my son and his fiance shared the same engagement date (October 23... my mom's birthday) and wedding date (June 16) as my mom and dad. She will be there in spirit, I know.

I'm feeling emotionally spent with all these things going on. My plans for the weekend are simple... to get some flowers planted around the yard and unpack my suitcase!

Cara

[Swuzly]

Our lupine are up. I'm trying to load a pic to, but so far no luck. Is there a trick?

I am 8 months gluten free next week and 3 weeks dairy free now. Sometimes I don't even remember cottage cheese. Sometimes, like this morning, I do.

It's cold and rainy today so CC and tea would have been a good start to the day, but then I'm also off tea, chocolate and a few other tannin offenders for now. Corn, Soy, nightshades and chicken are still of the list.

Gene results are in from enterolab. I'm DQ3 and DQ1 (subtype 7,6) which makes sense as all of my symptoms present as neurological and auto-immune.

Our farmers market opened this week and I am busy again getting things ready for market. I am there as a tea business and gluten free baking. I made "Black and Whites this week. 4" chocolate cookies with frosting- half chocolate half vanilla. They sold out in the first hour to wheat-eating customers. We'll win a few over with baking instead of trying to tell them about gluten. I've been told by customers these need to be there every week.

We're wrapping up school for ds this year and then I'll have to put together a portfolio for his annual review, Whew! 11th grade done. Next year I hope for the harder classes to be taken at the community college.

Next week much-needed, long-procrastinated bathroom renovations take place. No bathroom use for Thursday, maybe a day at an inn on the coast.

Here's to a wonderful June for all!
Cheers,
Leslie

[darlindeb25]

I went to Michigan in May for my nephew, Troy's wedding. Was great seeing everyone, especially my grandkids, even little Harley warmed up to me. She has the biggest, most beautiful deep, brown eyes, much like her grandma ! The trip was a little hard on me, the ride is rough on neuropathy. Then, I fell down the porch steps at my mom and dads, kind of hurt my pride and to further the pain, on my way home I tripped over the gas pump hose at a station in Penn. Threw me into the pump, bounced off that and into my car, BUT, I didn't fall ! Of course, I must have pinched a nerve, been having trouble with my left leg since I have been home.

Have a wonderful June!

[loisba]

We're into drought here in my part of Tennessee. Wish it would rain!!! My dd's garden is looking nice, but then, she's watering it. My ds is recovering from surgery on his knee, for a torn tendon. I can remember my dh having the same surgery at just about the same age. Poor boy, seems like he (my ds!) inherited everything bad from both of us. From his dad he got a tendency to overeat, bad knees, heartburn, and learning disabilities; from me he got too little hair, an overbite, but hopefully not my tendency to autoimmune diseases. He had an appointment today with his dr. about a knot that has come up on his other knee. The first thing that came to my mind was: "Boy, that looks like an RA nodule!"
As for me, I've been staying GF, just one little run in with cross contamination at, of course, the Mexican restaurant. I know, I know!!!! I gotta learn to stay away from that place. And, I've got a rotten cold!
Hugs,

[KimS]

Sorry you're not feeling good Lois... by the by... that's not a cold... That's the leftovers from your glutening. Yep, that's what it looks like... just ask around.

***

On a happy note: I made 30th place at Hubrid's Hero Heist on Neopets with over 111,000 points! I'm really wanting that trophy... and I'm really wanting to save that last hero!!

Other than that, we are all well here... I'm continuing on with my endeavours... one of which is to learn Dreamweaver... however, now I have to buy it because my trial period is up... and it's over $200... ughh!! I'm going to have to do some saving I think.

I'm learning how to design stuff with Corel Draw. It's fun but I can't seem to come up with stuff as fast as Al does...

So, between learning and paying for these two things, my website has kind of stalled for a bit. Oh well, live and learn, I will get it up and running eventually.

Everyone's well here. There's still excitement in the air about the new chicks and ducklings. Unfortunately one of dd's special chickens looks like it's not doing well. We'll see how it goes.

My old cat (20 years old - almost to the day) died last week. She lay down in the bathroom just too weak to move (so we put her on a big fluffly towel, gave her a couple of dishes of chicken (which she ate all of ) and took all day to die.

She didn't seem uncomfortable at all. At the end, I moved her up onto the wicker armchair that she always used to sleep on in the bathroom and it definitely seemed like she was either having flashbacks or was 'moving forward' as she kept making walking movements with her front legs and meowing right at the end. For her, this used to be her happy behaviour.

She'd walk all around meowing very loudly every night. The older she got, the more she did it. So, it feels like she was happy when she died anyway. I miss her but in a nice memory kind of way, not a really lie-down-and-bawl-my-eyes-out kind of way when an animals dies young... just a peaceful kind of sad. I got her when I was 21, so she's been the only static think for my whole adult life... sigh... speaking of which...

Since she and I always celebrated our birthdays together, that means I also turned 41. I'm sure that when my parents were 41, it was much older than it is now.

[jccgf]

Sorry to hear you lost your old cat , Kim, but you are right.... there is a certain peace that comes when everyone knows it was time to go. I feel that way about my mom.

So... when was your 41st birthday? Happy Belated birthday!

Cara

[KimS]

Thanks Cara. It was at the end of May.

[Electra]

Time flies...
June, my 4th baby was born at the end of January, he'll be 5 months old when this month ends. And it's just flying by already, it's the 6th what happen to the 1,2,3,4,5???
DS2, my Celiac (no biopsy proof needed for us) is now about to start testing with a psychologist for Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID or SPD). GF didn't fix everything...
DS3 is on Glutened Breast Milk until the end of July when we go back to Dr F for testing. I'm tempted to not go back since symptoms are non-conclusive to me. But they will do the gene tests and I'd like to know. If all my kids have DQ2, it is 99% likely my dh has the gene from both of his parents.
DS3 was fussy, he isn't so much anymore. He still isn't pooping what I call Celiac baby poop, he isn't even pooping everyday. He spits up, but he did before. I just don't see what I was seeing at 8 weeks old. HMMM...
On the bright side, the assistant principal (whom I spoke to off the record at a Cub Scout meeting last night) at my sons' school knows about SID a bit and the new principal coming in is a former Special Ed teacher, who's mother is also a Sp Ed teacher. Take about timing of blessings from G-d! She explained how the system has removed more and more kids from IEPs and disqualifying them for services, she isn't happy about the situation for the students or the teachers or the parents. This assistant principal is really nice though I am guarded about what I share. I was a teacher in this county, who was not looked highly upon, I saw the interworkings of the schools and it's just wise to be guarded.
I'm here and busy as usual