Oh the joys of being gf

No, I don't mean girlfriend. I mean gluten free. Yep, I have been (mostly) gluten free for about 3 1/2 years now.

No, I'm not dead. A lot of people tell me, mostly guys, "I would DIE if I couldn't eat wheat!" But here I am, still living and breathing, and living a lot better than I was before, might I add.

What happens when I eat wheat? Well let me divulge once and for all. I get sick. Not just kinda sick, as in I walk around whining, "my tummy hurts", but pretty grossly sick. Stomach pains that make me curl up in fetal position, throwing up my guts every hour or so, complete inability to eat for 3 to 7 days at a time, thus resulting in rapid weight-loss, (I know, it's a great crash diet) other non-mentionable things that make me blush to talk about... I think you get it. So, I am HAPPY, that's right, HAPPY not to eat wheat. I'll whine and complain a bit on occasion, I'm only human, and we humans don't always know what's good for us. But it's okay. I'm okay.

But today I have two complaints to make about being gluten free. The first is Costco.

Trips to Costco used to be sheer joy. You know why. Because you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, all in ten minutes by making the rounds to the sample tables. Oh, and you can wash it down with a juice sample too. Now, as I walk through the store, not only am I denied the simple pleasure of sampling, but I look like a total stuck-up snob as I ever-so-politely refuse almost every single sample. Those nice old ladies have faced a lot of rejection from this girl. So, I always face a mild onset of depression when shopping at Costco. What do I have to say to that store? I'm truly, sincerely, not trying to offend everything you stand for, Costco. I still love your free samples, even if I can only imagine how good they are.

 Complaint number 2. My weight. Okay, so I have been told by many a female, "Well at least you won't gain weight!" False. TOTALLY false. First of all, when you have a gluten intolerance, it causes your body to not absorb a lot of nutrients in the food you eat, and so it can actually keep you skinnier (see people who look like they can eat anything and never gain a pound). I was that way. Before I went off gluten, I was 5, sometimes 10 pounds lighter than I am now. Refer to me previously mentioning the crash diet thing. Also, I find maaaannnnyyyyy ways to still eat junk food. Four words, chips ice cream candy. So I guess my main complaint is this; ladies, when I look like I may have put on an extra pound or two, please don't look at me and think, "She has no excuse, she's like totally on the Atkins diet permanently, OMG." Okay, so I know you wouldn't think that, but yes, I DO have the capacity to gain weight, and pretty easily I might add.

First gf pizza crust I tried. It wasn't great, but you learn as you go :) We have since found better.

So being gf really isn't that bad. Yes, it was hard at first, I went into denial a lot. ( the state of mind, not the river) But now I can have pizza, pasta, cookies, cake, lots of things as long as they are made specially. And guess what! Bj's Brewery now has gf pizookies!! I have yet to try them though. The last frontier; Olive Garden breadsticks. ttfn!!

The proper place for tires

So I have been in just such a dry spell with this blog stuff. But sometimes the cool people I know who blog re-post posts that were more exciting than some. Remember the tire fiasco of 2011? Probably not, so I am re-posting because it was just so fun. Also, this is in honor of my poor car named T-Mu, who has been in the car hospital this week and the car doc can't figure out why T-Mu is sick :(

Here's ye olde post --->



New story in my ever-so-interesting life. (sarcasm) I ran over a tire. Yeah, a tire. You would think, "Savannah, how did you run over a tire? Aren't you always "running over" tires?" WELL, somebody, a really SMART somebody, misplaced their tire. In the middle of the Pyramid HWY.

Oh, don't worry, Sir/Ma'am, I misplace things there ALL the time. Especially my giant, off-road tires, because I have a bunch of those just lying around.

You might also ask, "Savannah, didn't you see the giant, off-road tire in time to brake or something?" Well, I sure didn't, seeing as how it was night, about midnight to be exact, and the tire is black, and the road is black, and my headlights aren't the brightest, and a lot of other excuses I've got up my sleeve to keep myself from feeling like a total idiot.

To paint an even clearer picture of this dramatic event, the tire is probably AT LEAST 12" thick. My little saturn? A piddly 9 or 10"  inches off the ground if even. So, that doesn't really make sense, how did I make it over that thing? Easy. I skid across it using the momentum I had from NOT SLOWING DOWN AT ALL BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE TIME. And not without repercussions. Now my car is in the shop, hip hip. For the second time this summer!

So guys, to illustrate, this is where off-road tires belong...

Here.

NOT here.

Here.

NOT Here.

HERE!!

NOT...... here.

I think I've made my point.

And I've laughed about it quite a bit since :)

It isn't hormones, it's boys.

My mom informed me a few days ago that I'm more moody than I was as a teenager. I gently reminded her that it is because I didn't date or have boyfriends as a teenager. Those were the simple times.

Maybe I should go back to my old mantra,.....

But, as I know deep inside, even on the down days, that's not really what I want to do. Boys make life pretty darn interesting for me sometimes. Now I know what boy crazy REALLY means. But I like boys! Heck, I hope to find one to marry someday. So no, I don't think boys have cooties, and instead of giving up on the search for a permanent bf, I'll use these words, "Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."  --Harriet Beecher Stowe

Sorry Mom, I'll try to be more like teenager me again, only the new and improved dating version. 

Peace and blessings, y'all!!

Be that person

New rule! Because I learned a lesson this week that I will never forget. I learned it a few times this week actually. Sometimes, I have personal doubts about other people, if they are being sincere, if they couldn't care less, if they are only saying nice things because that's what I want to hear... It's not good and I have tried to overcome that and have more trust. The lesson I learned this week? Don't say/think things about people I might later regret. Because someone I may have not had the best opinion of can come and out of the blue, be so darn nice to me I just want to cry because that's exactly what I needed in that moment. It happened at least 3 times this week. Someone I didn't think cared a tiny piece of dirt about my life would say something that made me feel so loved. Someone I didn't think I deserved anything from at all would make me feel like the most special person in the world. Someone I didn't think would notice me came and asked how I was doing when I didn't think my day was going very well. And last night, Saturday night. as I was out walking a little girl, barely three years old, looked at me, then my shoes and said in the most adorable little girl voice, "Hey, I like your shoes!!" She's my kind of woman :)

So, don't be like me and not expect much from people. Sometimes I do that and it's not fair or right. People are good, and they feel what you feel. They notice when you're not smiling because for some reason, it's too hard to that day.

This week, instead of looking for what other people do for me, I'm going to look for what I can do for them. Because I need to give back those good feelings I received this week, someone else deserves to feel as loved and cared about as I do.

Oh, these are some pictures I took while on a hike with my family yesterday. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful hike, and I'm so glad I got to go with my family.

No school for you!! (said in a soup nazi accent)

Tomorrow, and last Monday, and next Monday, and the Monday after that,.... whenever the rest of the world starts school, I won't. I'm done. All done. Until I go for a master's, Ph. D., possibly a teaching certificate (new idea as of this week) who knows. But for now, I'm not going back!! Sooo, the main question is, how am I going to advance myself in the knowledge of the world this year?? Any ideas, people?? Here are mine.

Read. I love to read, so this isn't much of a problem. The problem comes from not knowing what books TO read. I need to read smart-people books, not too many romances or novels, more like biographies, non-fiction, historical, those types of books.

Learn guitar. I bought one in May and it's a beauty. I've been trying to teach myself, and let me tell you, it's a whole lot easier when you have someone else telling you what to do.

Explore. I want to know more about Reno, places to eat, shop, hike, attend plays, musical performances,....

Make friends. People make me smarter. It's a fact. I learn so much from talking to others. So many times I find myself saying/thinking, "wow, I never thought of it like that!" when I talk to people.

Study the gospel. People think that I don't know a butt load of crap about the gospel, but I DO.  Okay, sorry, shameful Nacho Libre quote, love that movie. But seriously, I want to know everything I can on this subject!! I will be teaching gospel doctrine in church about once a month, so that's a good start.

Open up. Be willing to accept new concepts, ideas, ways of thinking and handling situations, and most of all, open myself to loving and being loved by others. This is a tricky one folks, as I struggle with shyness.

proof that i really did graduate.

In closing, I just want to say, good luck to everyone this school year!!! You will all do great! Make sure when you stress, you eat some ice cream, when you're sad, you watch a comedy (community or seinfeld or something) when you want to scream, you go for a run, and when you're happy, you dance like a crazy person!!!