Friday

I gave my arm a good rest this week, and it feels much better. I'm now typing again, and it's beginning to feel bad.

Damn it.

Onwards and upwards anyway -- my mouth is too big. The kids start school on Monday, and already I am baking gluten-free stuff for them to accommodate the first day. Kindergartners in Fang's class get to hunt around the school for a gingerbread man, and so of course I am now scrambling to find a viable recipe and make some up, without it looking like I'm doing this because it is supposed to be a surprise. I've got a late night ahead of me on Sunday.

Today will be my first contact with Pickles' teacher, since she's a fourth grader. There's not too much prep at that age, other than warning the teacher off about using flour tortillas for science projects and please FFS you really do need to tell me about classroom events so I can provide her with food, because no, it's not all right for her to have to sit there and watch everyone else have fun. Having a food allergy or intolerance does not automatically mean they don't get to have fun too and it just has to suck to be them.

Er...sorry. I've had some run-ins with care providers in the past,who were insulted that my child had the nerve to have a food issue on their watch -- like we owed the care provider a better immune system than that!

Why yes, I did tell her to take a flying leap, why do you ask?

Anyhoo, it's time to start all that up again. But you want to know something really nifty? The GF community has made such terrific strides is making the food industry aware of the condition and the diet that mainstream companies like Land of Lakes and Betty Crocker are now producing mixes and recipes and such. Yay!

The next step is to educate educators that YES YOU DO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS. It's not an anomaly. And you think we have it bad? The kids with shellfish and peanut and soy allergies -- real, honest allergies -- are so much worse off. Poor kids can't even eat at the same lunch table as their friends. GF kids just need to not eat wheat, rye and barley. The kids severely allergic to peanuts can't even be in the same room!

Story-wise, I'm bogged. I'm seriously bogged down. This was supposed to be about a whole gang of people, and it's really come down to just two. I like it that way, and it apparently reads fine from what readers have told me, but it's not where I thought it would be. Weird, that. Stories have a way of working themselves out, but it's unexpected and maybe disappointing to a few people. I don't know. I guess I just have to finish it first.

I did read over a great deal of it, several chapters back, and it works pretty well until the latest ones. The problem here is that I have serious story fatigue and its beginning to show. So I am delaying posting and taking my time. But I can't work on it right now. I have a bum arm, kids starting school, and immediately right now, an office full of kids designing tombstones for the front yard.

Rar.