This is getting ridiculous!

After a lifelong love affair with chocolate, we have come to a definitive parting of ways. This winter I had a nasty bug that made me vomit for hours. It seemed coincidental that the worst occurred right after a snack of chocolate pudding.

I responded by following a detox diet for the last three months. Recently, I have been reintroducing meat and sweets, one by one. Chocolate was the latest, just this week.

I finished lunch yesterday with a lovely little sundae cup, mint chocolate-chip. By the time I prepped for work, everything smelled funny. I wondered if maybe our drains were backing up, but nothing seemed wrong.

Went to work, and didn't feel great, but didn't feel sick. Couldn't regulate my body heat, and even had that odd feeling of warmth, but with clammy cheeks. (The ones on my face...)

I ate at lunch break, but began to wonder if my choice of food was all wrong, because it wasn't at all enjoyable. If It weren't for being at work, I wouldn't have eaten at all. Gotta have fuel, though, to make it to midnight.

Put the first edition to bed. Stood up to stretch. Walked straight into the men's room, because that's the only one on our side of the building. And tossed my cookies until my gut felt empty.

Went back to work a little puzzled. Left my seat to speak briefly with an editor. I felt queasy after I returned to my seat.

Shipped the replates for the second edition. Jumped up and ran again to the men's room. And tossed my cookies until my gut felt empty.

At that point I felt much better, although my eyes were streaming and I was damp with sweat. I worked right up to quitting time, just to keep from rushing to the men's room.

Got home all right, but couldn't sleep well for hours.

The whole episode was rather similar to the other chocolate-hurling in February.

Damn. Just when I had convince myself that I could go back to (just a little) chocolate.

pb
Little Pond

We limped back home.

The HuggaMutt inspects some enormous driftwood

in the Gateway area, just south of Downtown Elmira.

We both got a little banged up yesterday on our daily jaunt to the river. The cold weather is always welcome, especially after such an early heat wave. The windiness was a little hard on the muscles, though. There was just enough sunshine that I wanted to take full advantage and dressed to embrace it. The biting wind, however, won out.

Today, we are housebound and glad.

pb
Little Pond

My own collection of links...

First off, go visit my BlogBro Norm.

There, watch the video. Now run that in the popup for background music, while I regale you with my latest. And no, it's not all about MS. What with the heat wave, bills, and dirty house, I've enough of symptoms to remind me of MS every minute. Let's move on:

Before it got so danged hot, I took the HuggaMutt to the river to visit with the fishermen. You see, the usual haunts were overrun with visitors to RiverFest.

It was lovely the first few times.

Then the heat wave began to lower the levels, so we went down to the shady Newtown Creek area, and got all nasty, stinky, and buggy.

Finally the heat drove us all indoors. Little Snugglebums was returned to MammaDog and I've been inside, cleaning and waiting for contractors to show.

Lately, every spare minute goes to finishing my book. I would love to tell you that I'm winding it up with a bang, but life is never thus. There is a huge battle for you fans of gratuitous violence. For you fans of gratuituous other stuff, wait for the next chapter.

What? What??? Surely you know I mean over-eating and -drinking... Heh-heh. You'll just have to wait for that chapter, then, won't you?

Good thing my fingers still work. Some of our fellow MSers are having tough times. I know what's she's going through. My very first major attack included it. Right now all the difficulty seems concentrated in my legs, so no hiking for a few. Poor River will miss me.

That's what it gets for being so stinky.

pb
Little Pond

Recovering from the UTI, but

I am in the middle of some sort of food reaction. This time it is Strawberries and/or Blueberries. My mouth is full of sores and my entire alimentary canal is affected, from top to bottom. I have dropped both fruits and will reintroduce blueberries later, but I really need a rest right now. It may be my imagination, but it seems to be affecting the asthma, making my feel completely hemmed in and coughing constantly.

BTW, I wrote to the author of this wonderful site:

www.msgmyth.com

regarding seaweed and soy products. I had wanted to begin making my own maki, a vegetarian sort of seaweed/rice/veggie rollup, cousin to sushi. I started by testing dulse in a few recipes and found it a little hard on my insides. The lady recommends I avoid it, as it is rich in glutamates, a component of MSG, one of my worst bugbears.

Back to regular fresh veggies and canned fruits, I guess.

As to MSG Myth, you will especially want to download her list of related additives, or better yet, buy her book. Read, read, read all food labels. No kidding: there is MSG in some hi-protein breakfast cereals.

This is no joke; people become more allergic to the additives as they age. I started very young. My first major encounter was after Chinese takeout in the Washington, DC area, and it nearly landed me in the emergency room. The reason we didn't go to the hospital was because I was on the floor unable to move, and we didn't have decent insurance--in a very expensive city. We never called the ambulance.

Young people imagine they are immortal. After two very painful hours, the stuff was out of my system, and I never ordered takeout again.

Right now I want a calm morning, freshly prepared light meals, and proximity to our powder room.

pb
Little Pond