What a difference a YEAR makes!!

YIKES!!

It's been almost a year since loquacious, always-has-something-to-say Stephanie Abney posted anything on her blog, well, MY blog - that sounded weird. Well, it's been a weird year so no biggie.

Things I never wrote about this year (in a nutshell - a "Stephanie-sized" nutshell):

~ I finished off a wonderful, stressful, lack of sleep, and frequently ill year of teaching 4th grade at ALA (American Leadership Academy) - last day was June 2nd. (LOVED, LOVED, LOVED my students and working directly with Theresa Sneed, the other 4th grade teacher and all of the staff at ALA).

~ During Spring Break (in March) this year I went to Guadalajara, Mexico for a week to visit Kaci and Adam and the grandkids because Adam is a student at the medical school there (just finishing up his 1st year - SO PROUD of him)!!

~ We went to a fun Family Reunion in California near San Diego around the 1st of July - had a blast - Matt's family, Kaci's family and Mandy's family made it - rest of our family couldn't come due to conflicting reunions on other sides of the family and such.

~ Adam flew home to go to school after HIS family reunion, which was on the heels of OUR family reunion, also in CA and Kaci and the kids stayed with us for the rest of the summer through most of September ~ SO GREAT TO HAVE HER AND THE GRANDCHILDREN HERE. We miss them! (Adam flew back to AZ on Sept. 23rd, his sister got married Friday, Sept. 24th, and the following day - they all drove back to Mexico).

~ Went to a 3 day writer's retreat in July at Christopher Creek, AZ (PERFECT).

~ I thought I figured out my health issues - after some research, it LOOKED like I might have Celiac Disease (I missed 21 days of school during the 2009-2010 school year). I seemed to have all of the symptoms so I took it upon myself to start eating "gluten-free" and things were much improved. When I got an appointment with a GI doc, and got blood tests and scoped "coming and going" (endoscopy and colonoscopy), it turns out I do NOT have Celiac. Go figure. Doc says I obviously do better on gluten-free (he said I have carbohydrate issues/sensitivities) and maybe a hint of Chron's disease but to just eat gluten-free and check back in 5 years. Hmm. Okay. I REALLY love this doc so I followed that, still got sick, just not as often and not as severe, which led me to further research and I landed on the SCD eating plan (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and I'm just starting out on that one - will have updates as they occur. Hope this is the answer. Looks good.

~ I changed grade levels and moved up to Middle School and when the new school year started (still at ALA) I was teaching 2 classes of 8th grade English, 2 Creative Writing classes, 1 Drama class, and 1 Journalism class ~ very soon the demand for Drama was so high that we changed one of the Creative Writing classes to Drama so then I had TWO drama classes. All I can say is, "Oh, wow." Fun times, for sure!!!

BUT THEN:
~ I was considering going part time after the 1st quarter ended in order to get a better handle on my health when I discovered the SCD plan shortly before the end of the 1st quarter. I knew I needed to really focus on it and my health in general, plus I still need to take a few classes to complete my certification, etc and it came to me that I should just take a "leave of absence" and get everything taken care of and return NEXT school year, healthy and ready to go!! And ... that is what I did. (With the blessing and understanding of ALA school director, Paul Sinclair). PLUS, by the time I come back - the new school buildings should be all finished!!! :)

~ My students were so sweet and cute with all the notes they plastered all over my whiteboard and that they gave to me at the end of the 1st quarter last week. I will miss them and teaching terribly, but I know for a fact that this was the correct decision for me.

So, that's my "nutshell" version of the past year. Now that I'm not teaching, I plan to keep up with my blog MUCH better and it should prove interesting with all the dietary things I'm trying - NO wheat, NO sugar, NO corn, NO rice, NO potatoes (that's the worst), NO to a bunch of stuff (very little dairy and quite specific about it MUST be homemade 24 hour yogurt, most hard cheeses are okay and YAY ~ butter is on the list). I'm actually surprised at how good some of the recipes look; there are plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as meats, fish, poultry, nuts, seeds, etc. You just have to start out very bland with just a few things and slowly add the allowable items back in and watch for reactions. Most people can handle all of the "legal" foods but NO to all the NO's in this paragraph. So, we shall see.

OKAY, I'm actually done! Glad to be back posting - love to all my amazing family members and friends. Talk to you later!! :)