Sunday, September 13, 2009

My 200th post, a meme award

I'd just like to say how sweet both Amy from Tales of a Transplanted Gardener and Shawn Ann from Shawn Ann's Garden are for nominating me for the meme award that's going around. You're both dears - thanks! I completely don't deserve it especially since I've not been posting much lately as I've been really consumed these past few months with lots of other things besides blogging about my garden. More on that in a little bit.

The Meme award guidelines:
1. Link back to the person who gave you the award

2. Reveal 7 things about yourself

3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and link to them

4. Let each blogger know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

5. Let the tagger know when your post is up.

So here goes...

1. Our only daughter is just starting preschool for the first time. She's very vivacious and outgoing so is completely loving school. We're easing her in with about 2.5 hours a day, two days a week. It's mostly to get her used to the idea of schedules, routines and getting in some peer play time. Of course it's thrown our house hold routine on its ear. We've had an adjustment period. I now have nearly five hours a week all to myself though and I foresee I'll have no problem filling in the time.... just too bad none of it will be at home as her school is a bit of a drive from the house.

2. One of the things I've been working on a lot lately is my other "life" which I haven't really commented about here or kept here with my other blogs mostly because I don't want them knowing too much about my personal life. I'm a volunteer for the local branch of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America and have been for upwards of five years now. I produce the quarterly newsletter and write our local support group blog, Grain Damaged. I also help run the support group meetings occasionally. It's very tough for a lot of people to transition to living without wheat, barley, rye and in some people oats. However if you have to have a chronic autoimmune illness this is the one to get. If caught early enough nearly all symptoms of the disease (over 200 of them!) can be negated by simple diet changes. How did I get involved with this? I have it myself. Which, bringing it all back around, makes me just adore my garden where I know all the food is gluten free! ::shudders at the thought of using rye as a cover crop:: lol

3. I grew up in California and sometimes I miss the diversity, the climate, my old friends (my best friend especially), fresh *fresh* fruit and veggies. The beach and the sunsets didn't suck either. I do not however miss the expense, the crowding and general chaos. I should go visit.

4. I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.

5. Once upon a time I got paid to color. No kidding. Best gig ever, not sure why I gave up being a color designer. Oh yeah, a promotion to a much harder job. I did get to travel to China and Korea about four times a year though. The movie Lost in Translation cracked me up. Guess you've had to live that life to get its surrealness. I will say this however, China is a beautiful country (if you can overlook the pollution) and the people love to have a good time. I quite enjoyed my stays there. Their food philosophy on the other hand, If it won't kill you, eat it can make for some *very* scary meals!

6. Speaking of travel I've been to quite a few places, some for work, some for play. Honduras is not some place I'd like to go back to. El Salvador is slightly better. Singapore is exotically beautiful (just don't chew gum or spit on the side walk), Ireland is like going home, England is like visiting a cousin, France is pretty to look at but is a bit stuck up, Korea seems like it's going to be more fun then it is, China is more fun then it seems like its going to be. I've also been in many states all around the US and Canada is so culturally similar to us it hardly feels like "going" anywhere. There are still so many places I'd like to travel though. Australia and New Zealand and PNG are high on the list. Africa is both appealing and intimidating at the same time, war, famine, racial tensions and disease may put me off forever. Then again, never say never.

7. Okay and I have to think of one last thing. Hum. Oh DH and I will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary next month. =D

This is the part now where I'm supposed to tag seven other bloggers. Ah. That's tough, so many of the blogs I read have been tagged already! How do you choose?

I just stumbled across A Hand Made Life this morning which seems pretty cool.

In no particular order, I think you should check out:
1. Annie's Kitchen Garden
2. Our Engineered Garden
3. Tales of a Transplanted Gardener
4. Toni's Weedless Square Foot Garden
5. Shawn Ann's Garden
6. The Corner Yard
7. Give a Girl a Fig

5 comments:

Sue said...

I love reading little tidbits about other folks-it makes them a bit more "real"

Daphne Gould said...

My dad is allergic to gluten. I've actually found it really easy to cook for him (just cook from scratch, boxes are evil). The problem is traveling with him. You've been all over the place. How in the world do you travel and still eat? Do you always get a condo so you can cook for yourself?

Just Jenn said...

Heehee Sue, I can assure you I am quite "real". ;^) I know what you mean though. When people only blog about a topic of interest it's hard to see beyond that little slice of their lives. There's so much more depth and interest to a name on a page when you can see other facets of their world.

Daphne, Yes it's much easier to scratch cook for a celiac then to use packaged foods, however unless you're drying your own herbs and growing your own spices and making all your own sauces too there's a limit. We live in a packaged foods society. I'm pretty adept at reading labels these days. ;^) As for the traveling I wasn't diagnosed till I was thirty, most of my traveling was done before then. The few countries I went to post dx I brought a lot of easy to eat, on the go type foods (bars, nuts, dried fruits, crackers, etc). It was a total PITA. I don't travel much these days. When I do travel, I stop at grocery stores over restaurants, I research were I can eat in the area ahead of time, etc. I don't usually get a condo as the cross contamination would likely render me ill unless I bring dedicated pots and pans. When I do eat in a restaurant I have a lot of talks with wait staff and the chef directly if I can.

Annie*s Granny said...

Thank you for the meme, Jenn (see http://annieskitchengarden.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-14-2009-high-five.html).

Why did I already know about that cherry stem, LOL?

Stefaneener said...

Sounds like tons of adventure. I know what you mean about California, though in my case I found out that living elsewhere is too hard for me! You should come visit, and see our gardens!