I Shouldn't Be Excited

[Timber4est]

Small things make such the difference these days. Being several weeks into my new eating style, most foods remain on my “not” list. I haven’t focused on sweets or treats, I have been trying to learn how to make pastas and main dishes so that I didn’t have to survive on carrot sticks or salads.

I was really down in the dumps yesterday when my royalty check arrived from the publisher of my last cook book as it was chalk full of foods I will never eat or cook again. Besides the fact that I haven’t been in the best of moods for a week.

A 20 year tradition of making large heart sugar cookies and decorating them went down the drain this year as I was unable to find all the special flours I needed to make several of the recipes I have found in gluten-free books. I special ordered them, but they haven’t arrived yet. This tradition was left to my daughter who tried so very hard to decorate them as best she could. In the end, plates of standard sugar cookies with a frosted top and sprinkles made their way to the neighbors and friends homes.

I called my husbands and my favorite restaurant for Valentines dinner and they had very little on their menu (Italian and every thing drenched in amazing sauces). Out went the quiet, romantic dinner for two we have had together all these years from our favorite location. True, I did find a great totally gluten-free Italian restaurant, but it is family style dining and not really romantic as a Valentines dinner for two should be.

The dumps, plain and simple I was in the dumps!

Suddenly late last night the doorbell rang, it was nearly 9pm, who in the world would be ringing the doorbell at 9 o’clock at night? I opened the front door and was greeted with this huge basket, big enough to hold about 4 days worth of the family’s laundry. Excited I took it from my husband, gave him a hug and began to dig into the treasures that awaited to be opened. From cereals to crackers, hot cereals (cream of wheat was recently removed from my “yes” list), cookies, flours, spices and dressings. This basket was filled with Yes, Yes, Yes you can eat it items.

A new hero is born! This was the best Valentines present and day ever as I embark on the use and pleasure of each and every item and morsel.

Strange, small things make such a difference these days.

[elonwy]

Wow that totally made me cry, thats awesome. Thats a great gift. He sounds like a wonderful guy.

YAY!

Elonwy

[mommida]

How sweet is that!!?

Isn't life really about taking the time to enjoy the "little things"? Getting diagnosed changes a lot things in our lives, but learning to appreciate the little things is the greatest blessing in disguise.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Laura

[Guest Viola]

Wow ... what a wonderful surprise! He's a sweetie and a keeper for sure!

Happy Valentine's Day!

[Guest nini]

Wow! that is so sweet! what a lucky gal!

[Canadian Karen]

What a wonderful surprise! He's definitely a keeper!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hugs.

Karen

[lonewolf]

That's so GREAT! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day. If you lived closer to me I'd bring over one of my huge gluten-free heart-shaped cookies with pink icing that I'm getting ready to deliver to my kids at school. Once you have the right flour you can make almost everything again. I'm sure you'll get the hang of cooking gluten-free really quickly - especially with all the cool stuff your husband gave you!

[WGibs]

Wow! I am in love with your husband. What a great guy!

[floridanative]

Wow - and here I thought I'd win best Celiac hubby contest. Mine brought home roses last night (couldn't get them today). Then I almost cried when I saw a jar of lemon curd on the counter this morning after he'd already left for work. I was so upset that I have to take my own scones and tea sandwiches to a tea party next month and my normal lemon curd is not gluten free. So someone told me yesterday that Whole Foods carried Stonewall Kitchen gluten-free lemon curd and I mentioned this to my hubby and he was asking how it was spelled and I was thinking what is he asking this for.... he got the roses at Whole Foods so he could get the lemon curd too. I can't imagine what that whole basket made you feel like but I know it was awesome!!!

[jenvan]

timer--

how awesome! it sounds like your husband cares for you well. it makes my heart glad to hear what he did!

tiffany--

your husband rocks too! lemon curd is pretty obscure to most men and i'm impressed he found some gluten-free!

great gifts!!

(don't judge me if you disapprove of the show but i got sex and the city on dvd for my gift i was shocked by such a big gift, but my dh said he knew it had been a hard year for me and wanted to get me something good. i got him the original out of print johnny cash autobiography

[Rusla]

Wow, you have one awesome husband timber, would he like another Celiac wife? I don't know where you found him but if I were you I would hang onto that one.

[jerseyangel]

Jen--the Johnny Cash autobiography--wow! I'm a real fan.. My husband and I always watched SATC--you guys are some good gift-givers!

[Rachel--24]

Timber,

That was really sweet of your husband! I got all choked up reading your story. I'm glad your hubby found a way to brighten your day. Sounds like you really did have the best Valentine's ever!

[kevsmom]

...And I thought all men were pigs. He proved me wrong. You are one lucky lady.

Cindy

[Guest nini]

my husband painted a family portrait for me! It's adorable! He painted it in watercolors...

[jenvan]

Patti- woo hoo, another fan of SATC we loved walk the line...big johnny and june fans. the autobiography, the new one tells these amazing stories about the two of them...ones that give you chills! i'll have to tell you my favorite one sometime.

Nisla-wow a painting! is he an artist?

[floridanative]

Yeah Nisla - is your hubby an artist? That is so thoughtful of him.

Patti and Jen - I watch the repeats of SATC on TBS all the time. They're toned down of course but I find them entertaining none the less.

[zip2play]

Timber that is awesome. A huge basket of goodies, that's my kind of man! I have to ask, YOU write cookbooks?

I was distraught at the thought of trying to figure out some where to eat for our V-day celebration. ( we celebrated Saturday night, when we had a babysitter). My hubby made me a wonderful dinner of spinach salad and alfredo with shrimp. He made the cream sauce himself! He also made a wonderful flourless chocolate brownie type thing. He decorated the plate so lovely! It was arranged on the edge with sliced strawberries, brownie and ice cream in the middle with chocolate drizzled over it all! It was all fabulous!

Monica

I too am new to this. gluten-free since 01/09/06

[qwertyui]

That is one wonderful guy! My husband still has a hard time with my intolerance to wheat. He did however spend almost an hour at the new Superstore in our area the other night while I read labels. He then wanted to me to buy all of the cookies! I love cookies - but I don't need them (waistline and all that).

Last night we had grilled steaks, steamed asparagus and some fabulous sauteed mushrooms with garlic. All that with a great cabernet, and candle light. It can be difficult sometimes, but being healthy is so worth it! You may not be able to eat chocolate cake, but you can be fed strawberries dipped in chocolate!

[floridanative]

Speaking of cake, I made a gluten-free vanilla Namaste brand cake in the shape of a heart for my hubby yesterday. I tasted a sliver of the cake before I iced it and it wasn't very good. We went out to dinner last night and I told my hubby we should have dessert out because I didn't have high hopes for the cake I made. When we got home we test tasted it and agreed it was really bad. I'd heard the Namaste choc. cake was great so I'm not sure why their vanilla cake is so bad. It tasted like it had wheat germ in it but obviously it didn't. I was going to put the cake out in the back yard for the birds, squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks to enjoy it but then I thought that wouldn't be very nice of me cause I like the little critters and all the sugar in the icing might harm them. So into the trash went the entire cake...less two bites of course.

[tiredofdoctors]

That made me cry!!! That was the sweetest thing. I thought my husband was good about gluten-free, but yours takes the gluten-free cake! How excited you must have been to get a basket like that! That is so cool . . . after feeling kind of "blues-y" today, you made my day. Thanks for sharing a GREAT story!

[Guest nini]

Nisla-wow a painting! is he an artist?

nope, not an artist! I didn't know he had it in him! big surprise!

[maryn]

Where in the world did you find a completely gluten free italian restaurant? I would love to go. My son would be thrilled!