I am overcoming so many feelings of insecurity as I type this, sitting at my desk wondering if I will be even remotely interesting enough to read about. Then I think, this is as much for me as a kind of journal as it is for anyone else.
Recently, I was informed by my doctor that I am gluten intolerant. Rough news for a bread and pasta lover like me! My doc believes this is the source of years of poor health, which is quite a list of seemingly unrelated minor ailments, which add up to a whole lot of "I have no idea what is wrong, I just feel like crap". Because I am stubborn, and think I can fix everything myself, this has apparently been going on for about 11 years, and it will take a while to heal all the damage, as well as discover all the ways gluten hides in seemingly innocuous foods. Since I now have to carefully plan every meal, I am realizing that it is both easy and hard to cook without gluten. There are a lot of products and books out there, but it is still trial and error working with wheat's stand ins. Some noodles turn to goo, others refuse to cook all the way. Some bread tastes like a kitchen sponge, others I would eat even if I wasn't gluten intolerant. As I wind my way through the health food stores I didn't even know were in my town, I thought I would post my favorite recipes and products, along with mine and my guinea p . . . I mean families reviews.
But because I have never been able to settle on just one interest, I will also be posting about horses. Yeah, I know, they are not related. Not even a little. I will probably toss in cross stitching, camping, photography, and whatever else, has caught my ever fleeting attention span.
To make things even more interesting, just as I begin my foray into the gluten free world, I will be going on a should have been long planned, but turned into a spur of the moment monthlong trip to Canada! The last class available to learn how to make and repair English saddles begins next week. I had been planning on taking this class next year, but since the teacher is retiring, I (with mountains of support from family, friends, and total strangers) have only this one chance, and I refuse to miss it. So now I am rushing to put this trip together, at the same time I am relearning how to cook! Fortunately, I have a wonderful opportunity to stay at a B&B, in an apartment with a full kitchen (one of the total strangers who is helping me).
Because of the passing of my friend's husband, who was the go-to English saddle maker in, well, basically the west coast, damaged English saddles have been piling up in tack rooms, and in tack shop consignment everywhere. There is money to be made in one of the few areas of interest that has managed to hold my attention for more that a few months (18 years now). I also plan on applying my new skill into making saddles for disabled riders. Helping others has always been at the forefront of my life, and here is a way I can do that while enjoying a hobby at the same time.
Anyway, everyone who knows me in real life, knows I could go on forever. So I will end here for today, and save at least a little for future posts.
-Netta
