Coming down from the sugar high...

Most kids do this, right? Sort and organize.
How nice of them to place it next to the broom and dust pan -
making my job so much easier to just sweep it all out the door...

This is my current view. I am once again sitting where I normally end up most evenings - at the kitchen table with my head down on whatever I can find that is soft (tonight it is my scarf). I stay here (rather than go to bed) because then I can still participate in family life - even though that participation is limited to directing lunch making. My stomach is troubled again and I have come to the conclusion that eating sugary things pushes me over the edge. The edge is that line where I have had enough calories and need to stop. We all know stopping is hard - think (with slurred speech) "I couldn't eat another bite"...(now with a French accent) "but it is just wafer thin..." Although I don't explode my body sure reacts differently than it used to.

I eat way less now because I do so much less than I used to. It has been a hard adjustment and I am still learning. Foods that contain lots of sugar seem to have become a trigger for feeling awful. I have been trying for over a month now to not eat sugar. This includes all processed sugar as well as honey and maple sugar. It does not include fruit. Do you read labels on packaged food? Ketchup, all Kraft salad dressings, flavoured yogurt - second ingredient is sugar; crackers, baked beans, most cereals - third ingredient. It is very hard to escape unless you make everything yourself. This of course takes time and energy.

It's about balance for my body, and being knocked on my ass by three infections in two months was what made me decide I needed to do it. I know other women with paralysis who fight the dreaded UTI by eliminating sugar - and they swear by it. The balance you see is in having the right flora in your body and feeding it well. Having lots of sugar feeds all bacteria, good and bad. It's my hope that reducing the overall amount of sugar in my digestive tract and blood stream and taking in more good bacteria (probiotics, yogurt, fermented foods) I will end up on the good side of balanced.

Our Hallowe'en sunset

I have been doing okay with this sugar reduction, only the occasional transgression (like a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows one night last week before bed). Last night was another cheat night - how does one ignore the temptation to steal from one's own child when they have SO much candy? Hallowe'en - it is such an odd tradition! Dressing up and going to friends, neighbours and strangers and asking for treats. You can't deny that it is odd!? But so much fun! At least last night was - Spiderman handing me peanut filled treats as fast as he collected them!

I was remembering last year as we got going - I had been home for nine days. I was hurting but so very desperate to participate and be with the kids and our friends. I lasted a half a block in the pouring rain and freezing cold. This year's balmy temperatures only required my down jacket and one lap blanket (instead of two) and my ski mitts. I was still warm(ish) by eight and only had one frostbitten finger (push rims are made of aluminium which suck heat from the fingers - even through the best of mitts)!

Who doesn't trick 'r treat at their local gas station? 

The other thing about this night is that it allows us an excuse to walk down our old street in town and see friends and neighbours that we don't cross paths with very often. Our first visit now though is always to the farm just outside of town where a friends' parents live. They are well into their 90s and are still on their own. I used to bring them eggs and have a brief visit each time - but my egg delivery days are over now so I don't see them often.  They have their own health issues too, but they keep going and they look forward to visits from the local kids every year. I was happy to be able to be a part of these traditions again this year.

Cinderella made her dress from one of mine - a former bridesmaid dress hidden at the back of my closet. I'm sure she found some mice in that closet who helped too. Not sure who that other kid is though, he just jumped into the car. 

Not all things were the same this year, after this picture was taken our two parted ways. Ella decided to trick 'r treat with her friends in a completely different town! We missed her, but know that she had fun too. Perhaps we shouldn't wait for this sugar filled night to get out and see our friends and neighbours. Maybe when the shed is done we'll have a costume-filled candy-free party. Life's short, after all.