Kit Catchup

I haven’t posted my released kits for a while so I thought I would do a bit of a catchup.

At the start of October, WOW has it really been that long! EEEK!, I released Photoshop Brushes, Custom Shapes and PNG set of Swirls & Curls. Great for adding popular swirls to all your layouts and kits in all sorts of ways. The set is available for personal or professional use. (image clickable)

 With Autumn recently in the USA I released also an Autumn/Fall themed kit in October,  Falling Into Autumn.

Also available in a paper pack!

With Christmas rapidly approaching I have also been working on some Christmas kits. I released a wordart set last month perfect for all your Christmas layouts and Christmas cards.

Unfortunately thanks to several gluten contaminations I haven’t been able to yet complete my Christmas kit,  but I am still working on it and HOPEFULLY I will get it done BEFORE Christmas! LOL Fingers Crossed! At least I managed to get a couple of papers done for it already and have used those for our Christmas cards which look like they will be going out late again this year! Will have to get down to the photo lab Monday and pick them up! Aussies should get them in time, hopefully all our overseas friends and relatives still will if I am quick about it!

Anyway, those are my works since my last kit post.. hopefully my gluten contaminations will become more under control in future and I will be fitter and healthier and subsequently have time to do more kits and enjoy the family!

This article really spoke to me…

Firstly, I have been a bad blogger… with the silly season approaching and busy weekends I have had several gluten reactions thanks to eating away from home, causing me to be extremely tired and subsequently zonked for most of my non working hours.

Dean bribed me into coming along to a golf resort (I wasn’t really interested in going and leaving the kids for the night) for the Ozgolf Champs by offering a Spa Treatment while he was out playing. He dutifully rang in advance to make sure they would able to cater for my Gluten Free dietry needs. Of course we got there and there was NOTHING for me to eat on the menu except for salad. I have never been one to eat salad and certainly not for an entire weekend! Had we known we would have brought meals for myself and lugged along our microwave to heat them up if need be.

So rather than starve on lettuce (why is it that people consider this a acceptable single menu choice for gluten free diets?) I asked them to make me steak and salad. Of course, steak was cooked on a likely to be contaminated grill, and later I asked for a steak sandwich without the bread and sauce and cooked in a seperate pan to prevent contamination. Well I reacted even more severly to that meal. Of course at night there was VERY slim pickings from the menu and I opted for the closest to gluten free I could find which was lamb roast and vegies.  I strongly suspected that they were however far from gluten free.

In any case, I had a strong gluten reaction to the weekend and was sick with diarrea, extreme tiredness & lethargy and also fevers, bloating etc etc.

Then this past weekend, I had JUST gotten over the golf weekend, we head off to Sea World Nara for a 5 day holiday, which was full on but loads of fun by the way - photos when I get a chance. We got a kitchenette so I could cook my own meals, and planned on eating some at quality restaurants there. That was a great idea, but I think I will trust the restaurants less and bring more of my own food next time. We went to a LOVELY Italian restuarant/cafe that went out of their way to be helpful cooking me gluten free meals on two occasions, but I think knowledge of the strictness of a gluten free diet is not as good as one would hope even in quality establishments. I suspect that either cross contamination or lack of knowledge of premade stock or sauces ingredients may have caused a problem. In any case, I was ‘fortunate’ enough to suffer another gluten free reaction, again lasting for more than a week, diarreah, fevers, bloating and extreme tiredness. I was falling asleep in our room after our busy days at 7pm.. even before the kids!

As much as I was in denial, thanks to only minor reactions if any when I first went gluten free, I am discovering that as time goes on my reactions are becoming more intense and lasting longer,  and that there are very few establishments in the hospitality industry which have sufficient knowledge to cater successfully for a gluten free diet. I will do just fine for weeks eating my self prepared food, or prepackaged food labelled as gluten free, but when I go out with friends for a meal, eat away from home or come along to a work ‘do’ where food cooked by others is involved, I inevitably 95% of the time end up with a gluten reaction.

I find myself with a dilema, I can either come along and eat nothing, bring my own food which frequently is not allowed, take a risk that they will know what they are doing, or just avoid food prepared by others altogether..which is to me a totally unsatisfactory lifestyle choice.

In a couple of weeks we have our work Christmas Party. The owner of the restaurant has assured me he will look after me and make sure he has gluten free bread for me etc. What should normally be something to look forward to is giving me a feeling of dread. What if the knowledge isn’t quite there, and I end up with yet ANOTHER gluten reaction. That will leave me feeling crook over Christmas which is something I have no desire to endure. I feel stressed every time there is a function or a reason to eat out with friends etc. I hate to miss out, but I also hate being sick. I find myself no longer looking forward to social occasions, and sick of feeling like a social leper.

I am having another winge, but I am sick of being labelled as a fussy eater, because I am SO not, I love food, I love a large variety of food, my diet is not a choice and has nothing to do with fussyness. I have had a workmate say to me I should be used to looking at other people eat food I cannot have (while I sit there hungry and eating nothing) by now. I don’t think I will ever get used to it.

Anyway, I just intended to post a link to this blog post by Gluten Free Girl because it really spoke to me, but once I started just kept going! LOL Anyway, a great read this article, it really speaks to me, have a read.