Well, I finally got a couple of minutes here to post. Last month I had an awful time getting free time to post much at all and so missed the roll call completely!!

I'm glad to see that since last week, everyone seems to be settled bit more. I always enjoy reading what's up with everyone in the monthly roll call...

Anyway, we had a lovely Christmas and quiet New Year's Eve. Our 9 year old decided to stay up and watch her favourite movie to bring in the new year. The rest of us went to sleep.

It's been a good year and health-wise we are better than ever (knock on wood). I aspire to continue that and do some more work on organizing my recipes for a year round rotation diet.

Beautiful grand-kids Deb! And that Benjamin is just adorable!

Awesome photo Al!! It made me smile, first thing this morning... and my kids will tell you that THAT's always a good thing.

Thanks. It's one of my favorite things to do

Happy New Year everyone!

I am amazed at how my body continues to heal. I owe it to you folks who have helped me with so many questions! And ... to my gluten-free diet, and ... finally, to those vitamin supplements I insisted I did NOT need for far too long. My thinning hair is growing again! I've had two 30 day cycles in a row - sure beats every 17 days! And I have so much more energy than I did before. Amazing! Oh yes, and when I ordered new B12, I decided to scale back to 1mg ... and it wasn't long until I felt those shooting pains in my foot. I upped it right back up to 2mg and all is well again.

My young son is doing well on his so-many-things-free diet. Taking out the last vestiges of corn in the form of citric acid and xanthan gum has seemed to do the trick. The wet night symptom is happening about once every 9 nights now, but there is always a "maybe" explanation for it. I do think we're on the right track. I'm hoping to reintroduce soy to him at some point - that would make him very happy!

I'm even baking more often. I've found I can grind my rice into flour in my K-TEC blender (although I expect it will require repairs again soon), so we've eliminated that cross-contamination issue. I've also started using arrowroot and tapioca flours again. And when a recipe calls for xanthan gum, I substitute equal parts agar agar flakes and ground flax seeds. LOL, I even tried Cara's best buns recipe yesterday, veganizing and de-corning it! It turned out much better than expected, but not as good as the original, I'm sure!

Still here and grateful for you all. I read more than write these days. Got glutened again by nutrasweet- I should know better and stick to equal. I know you all don't like artificial sweeters but it is now my only vice so forgive me! I'd forgotten how debilitating the fatigue was and how quickly the cough and congestion came back, and the bathroom soreness. How did I ever live that way? No wonder I was tired and anxious! I hope more people just try the gluten free diet and see if their symptoms don't get better (after traditional testing no matter what the results).

Still more work to do on the 20,000$ (so far) dollar heating pipe freeze damage. Now they need to peel back the roof and reblow urethane spray. I'll be glad when this problem is truly over.

I use more and more rice. Tinkyada rice noodles, rice tortillas, and 100% brown rice flour in my baked goods. I don't use any tapioca, potato, or arrowroot starch any more. Perfect loaves every time and easier too. No mixing and better nutrition.
Wishing the best,
Leslie