Mosaics' Blog

I'm usually a stickler about not cheating on the diet even though I never had any really terrible reactions. But a couple of months ago I went to a tea that a friend had for the ladies at church. Of course, tea sandwiches were served. Lots of different kinds of yummy things on little tiny pieces of bread. I love that kind of stuff. I didn't want to NOT eat anything and all the ladies said, "Oh you can just scrape the bread off and eat the fillings." I knew that the gluten leeched into the fillings from the bread, but I thought there would be no harm in having just a little bit. So I scraped the fillings out of several little sandwiches and ate them. Then I ate one tiny little piece of bread...no bigger than a two inch square.That night I had heartburn. Hmmm, maybe I'm more sensitive than I thought.Then just last week we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant. I wasn't very hungry so I just ordered a bowl of eggdrop soup and a scallop stick. I didn't know the scallops were breaded. When they arrived, I was disappointed but didn't want to send them back (even though the owner, who took our order, knows that I can't eat wheat). So I picked off most of the breading and ate it anyway.That night I woke up very nauseated and with chills and sweats. Yikes! I'm even way more sensitive than I thought. I've only cheated purposely maybe about five times in two years and previously had never had a reaction. Now I'm thinking that the longer I'm gluten-free, the more sensitive I am becoming to gluten. I would have thought that the opposite would be the case because my intestines would be healed (if there were any damage in the first place...I didn't have an endoscopy) and that they could take an occasional bit of gluten. On a different subject, I've had my back patio extended and am painting it to look like flagstone with a stream running across the back of it. I've finally finished the flagstone part and put the last protective top coat on this evening. Yay! Now I just have to paint some fish and critters in the stream part and put a blue glaze over it to look like water (hopefully) and I'll be done. I bought a little fountain to put out there so I'll have the sound of trickling water...got it on sale 50% off! When I'm finished painting, I'll assemble the gazebo I got and put out the new patio furniture I've been accumulating. It's pretty hot here in TX, but it's nice to sit out on the patio some morns and eves. And it will be especially nice out there in the fall. I'm going to eat dinner now.