The Food and the Restless

Overly dramatic you say? Perhaps. Those who know me know one thing for sure: I love food.

I am not in any way shape or form referring to my ample waist line, though that may be considered proof. Also, I don't mean to imply that I have a lot of experience with many of the finer dining experiences. On the contrary, I love nothing more than a great pizza and a perfect beer. I would like to think I would know something was great cuisine when I tasted it. My point, should I ever get around to it, is that food is a great joy to me.

A couple weeks ago, my husband stumbled across an article on-line and it instantly clicked with him. We should eliminate gluten.

sigh

There are very VERY few forces on this world that could convince me give up pizza for any length of time.  My husband is one of those forces. I was further convinced by Lucky Charms.

My Tuesday morning is mine alone with both kids at school. Of course, I go right for the good stuff: Lucky Charms in a big bowl of milk. Mmmmmm. Until later that afternoon, that shitty little leprechaun turned on me. My stomach hurt so badly!  That was about a week and a half into the gluten free (er) eating.I'm a believer.

In any case, I am on my first trembly little colt legs on the journey of gluten free living. My tummy is feeling much better. My energy is up and I'm losing weight. I haven't explored much into the vast and complicated realm of baking yet, but our dinners have been mostly brown rice and whatever veggies we have and chicken with various seasonings. Not much sacrifice there.

So dinner is not so bad, but I'm home most of the day. Any person who has been home for any period of time knows the strange and secret power the kitchen has to lure you in with the promise of treats so lovely, so rare that you wander in several times a day. Perhaps such a thing has materialized! Well, there is nothing new and special, but I'll take some of these pretzels or crackers or whatever is most interesting. Only now, I have much less to choose from.

And honestly, I can't recall what I used to eat. I know that I miss it though.

The case of the haunted cat

Well, more like the inhabited cat. I had to take her to the vet for the first time in many a year. She's probably 10 years old? Carrie, do you remember?

And here's the story: I noticed a round wound near her left back leg. Odd, because when cats fight, a round wound is not what they leave behind; more like a torn ear or scratch. I thought maybe a stray bb shot?

I took her to the first vet that would take her which was the Alpine Animal Hospital in Hood River. After a little wait he took a look at her.

"Well, you certainly can't blame another cat for this one. It's a critter," Dr. Foss said.

He explained to me that while this particular kind of parasite called Cuterebra (look it up at your own risk-think Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn bug in the ear kind of gross) was rare in cats, it was seen commonly in rats and mice and VOLES and MOLES. We have our culprit. So I asked what we do now and he said he would take it out.

"It's alive in there," he explained.  While it doesn't eat, it creates massive pockets of infection. "You can actually see it move."

"Ohh, gross! Can I see it?" I asked. Come on, how often do I get a chance to see something like that? It was gross/cool.

"So it's not hurting her?" I asked.

It was hurting her. After picking her up, the Doc said she probably had it in there a lot longer than she had let on. They kept Grey and removed the little worm dude. She is shaved and stitched and she has a drain in her side for at least 10 days.

I love my kitty. She's been around longer than my husband. I was really worried about her. I know how scared she was staying some place strange with all kinds of strange smells. She may be a tiger to a vole, but she's a timid little thing most of the time.

She is staying in the basement because the drain is doing its job and I have a feeling whatever comes out will be easier to clean off concrete than carpet. I'm need to give her meds and a warm compress twice a day. But there is a problem.

THE SMELL

It is the worst smell EVER. Even with Vicks inside my nose I can smell it. How in the heck am I supposed to take care of her??? I am seriously worried I am going to throw up on her! How do I deal with this??? For 2 weeks!!!!

I love my cat. I love my cat. I love my cat. I love my cat.....

PS-I also love my husband who is helping take care of her while I attempt to quietly heave over my shoulder.

Uh, okay so it's been a while. I never said I was gonna be very good at keeping up a blog, just that I wanted one ;)


I have also decided to make my blog a forum of sorts to share some of what I have learned in my research on being green and couponing and whatever else I can think of. I don't guarantee to be unbiased or even right, but I'll do my best.

The first topic I want to touch on is the idea of Free Trade.

For those that don't know, a short laypersons (actually this particular layperson) definition of Free Trade might be a fair and healthy work environment for the folks who do the hard work to actually pick or make the product. Basically, the little label means the workers are getting paid a living wage.

Not much to think about right? OBVIOUSLY Fair Trade buying must be the way to go.

And it very well could be.

Here's where I get hung up: there's no standard. No set of rules governing what "fair" really means. Not only that, but Fair Trade is monitored by several companies who each have their own set of guidelines to gain that little stamp of approval on my coffee bag or chocolate bar.

Then there is the question of everybody else. If the brand I usually buy is not Fair Trade, what's happening to those workers? Is there anybody trying to protect them?

But Sarah, you say, how can Fair Trade be bad??? Good money, ethical treatment of workers...sounds alright to me.

Of course, the idea of Fair Trade is great. There shouldn't even be a need for Fair Trade because all people should be treated ethically. Children shouldn't be put to work. A day of work should pay enough for a family to live on.

Look, I have only just begun to explore how I can use the one voice, the one power I have for good. The only thing that gets one little person heard: money. I think what I buy can make a difference in the right coffers. I'm just not sure Fair Trade is, in fact, the right coffer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade
http://www.fairtradefederation.org/
http://www.equalexchange.coop/index.php
http://www.fairtraderesource.org/
http://www.crsfairtrade.org/