And then I poisoned myself

We had another busy weekend and I’m spent – which is the opposite of how I should feel after a weekend.  Friday I went to a Leadership Forum put on by the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University.  It was a pretty cool forum with several speakers and a luncheon with Senator John Glenn and his wife Annie.  That was definitely my favorite part of the day.  He answered questions and told stories about how he came into leadership and public service.  His message wasn’t political in the least, but he did say that we need to bridge the divide between the two parties so that things can actually get done.  And that is so true.  Just today I got an email forward (doesn’t matter who or what it was about), but it didn’t take 3 seconds for me to realize that it was just false propaganda that didn’t even make sense.  It took another 10 seconds to find sources to clarify the falseness in the statement – there was truth to it, but it was worded in a way to make it seem like it was going to affect almost everyone in a huge way, where the truth was actually that it was going to affect a tiny percentage of 3% of the population in a tiny way, comparatively.  I don’t care what people believe or who they want to vote for, but at least do it based on truth instead of emails that aren’t based on sources or even have an actual author.

After the forum, we had dinner with some of Lo’s family who were in town, and then went grocery shopping to get stuff to make for the OSU v. Nebraska tailgate on Saturday.  I was making Buffalo Chicken Dip and Chipotle Corn Salsa.  We had friends staying the night so once they got there we went for a drink at 101 Beer Kitchen, which just opened up near our house.  It was a decent place, but the bar stools were horribly uncomfortable – my feet didn’t reach the rung, so my legs were just dangling.

Friday was also my sister Christine’s birthday – of which she spent the last part with her oldest son Calvin getting xrays after he fractured his scapula in his football game on Friday night.  So much for going home and watching him play next Friday!  Hope you finally got a birthday drink Christine!  I would have been happy to force one on you again if I was there:

Saturday was gameday!  We went down to campus around 3 in the RV for friends, food, drinks, and football.  It was a sunny but chilly day and then a cold night, but the Buckeyes killed Nebraska, so it was well worth it.

We had a family brunch at Lo’s grandparents house on Sunday morning, which was a little difficult considering we drank all day at the tailgate and got home at 1 a.m.  But we made it in time and got to see everyone.  His family has been very good about letting me know what is and isn’t gluten-free at gatherings, and they often try to adjust any recipe that they can. His grandma pointed out the gluten-free items and explained that they substituted crushed Rice Krispies for flour in one of the egg dishes and it seemed to turn out well.  I forgot that while there are GF Rice Krispies, regular Rice Krispies are not gluten free (they contain malt flavoring, which is made from barley.  Most people wouldn’t realize that because it doesn’t list any allergens on the nutrition label (because the normal listed allergens include wheat, dairy, soy, corn, etc. but not gluten) and many don’t realize that malt is made from barley.  I know this, but somehow in my sleepy, morning-after-drinking mind I completely forgot that fact and helped myself to a piece of the egg bake.  We had a nice visit and headed home.  And then my stomach started to feel nauseous – not nauseous in a hangover way, but where it feels like I have a big pit in my stomach and it’s all rumble-y.  Hours later, I still feel sick.  And it is totally my fault!  But Sadie sure is cute:

So this has been a terrible week as far as gluten exposure and both times could have been prevented if I’d read the label on the granola bar instead of believing someone that it was GF – and if I’d remembered that rice krispies are not GF.

And now I still have to do day one of Sheena J’s Halloween Challenge and my stomach feels awful.  Luckily it’s a quick and easy workout since it’s only day 1!