surry with the fringe on top

Today was HOT and humid. I was planning on painting but since it was so beautiful out, it seemed a shame to waste it inside a stuffy bedroom. It's all taped up and ready to go, it can wait until the next rainy day, which looks like it might be tomorrow.

Instead, we called up Gram and told her to get her booty out of bed because we were going on a picnic. We thought it would be fun to rent a surry at Lindenwood and then let the kids play at the park. So we picked up Gram and all her stuff (I swear, she is worse than toting around a baby) and headed to the park.

We had a nice short picnic - due to bugs, let the kids play for a while and then were off on the surry around the park. Usually when the three girls, Andreas and I go, it's a workout. Today, it was hell. Not that I had a bad time, only that it's a lot of work peddaling a surry with a 74 year old out of shape partner. At one point, Eden asked her if she was out of breath because she was huffing and puffing and could hardly talk. To which she replied very nonchalant, "No, this is just how I breathe."

Halfway through the ride, Eden and Gram changed places. So with Gram in between us, Eden and I peddaled our hearts out through the park. It was quite the workout! I was sweating bullets. But it was really a great time. Lots of giggles. Then we topped off the afternoon of fun with a trip to Tutti Frutti where I enjoyed the soy version of the frozen yogurt. Still magically delicious.

It is becoming more apparent to me lately that there is something wrong with my gut. I might be lactose intolerant. I'm not positive, but in order to rule it out, I need to stop eating dairy for a while to see if my symtoms get better. This is something that is going to be very difficult for me because I like love my cheese. I rarely drink cow's milk anymore, only if I forgot to buy almond milk and I'm jonesing for cereal. But avoiding cheese and butter and ice cream and yogurt is going to be a sad challenge for me, if in fact it is a lactose issue. Like that week I went without any wheat or products containing wheat, you start to realize how much stuff actually contains it. What a pain to have to be so aware of everything you put into your mouth, but even a bigger pain to eat something that causes such gastrointestinal distress. And all the time I've spent poking fun of my husband's gut issues.....it's karma biting me in the butt!

Sorry, I don't know why I thought you'd be interested in hearing about my gut health. I went off there.

Anyway, we got home and the girls drew pictures while I vacuumed out the van. Then I made wheat rotini with red sauce for me and potato gnocchi with a creamy buttery rich cheese sauce for the girls. Of course I had to taste the white sauce I made (from scratch - no recipe) and it was SO damn delicious that I had to eat some of the gnocchi with it. And I had stomach pains all evening. SEE! I told you how hard avoiding dairy was going to be! I love food, what can I say?