Sugar Rush

At a recent family gathering, I splurged and ate a lemon pie that had sugar in it. It was the first time I've had cane sugar in over a year, and I'm fascinated with how it's affected me.

Sugar changes my personality. I become snappy and wired, even after the initial sugar high has passed. I get frustrated with the simplest problems, and I feel like I'm always on the look out for an argument.

I hate the aggression that sugar stirs up. It reminds me of days when my anger was out of control. Not that it's out of control now, but its presence is unsettling apart from the actual emotion.

Thankfully, I won't have to endure this long. I just need to stay away from the sweets.

P.S.

My mom's "waiting for the off-sugar Janelle to return."

Decontamination

I have a very specific routine after an outing. Even if the contamination didn't smell too extreme, I still like to follow it because I feel a lot better later whenever I do.

The first thing I do is take charcoal water. I used to take it in capsules, but we got some loose charcoal and it works much faster. I swish it around if I taste the contamination and then down it.

Taking a shower is probably the most important element in this whole sequence. It washes the toxins off my skin and out of my hair. Washing off sweat is very important also because we sweat out toxins and the body can reabsorb them if they're not washed off. Every time I come back to the Bub feeling exhausted and brain fogged after exposure, I feel alive again once I take a shower.

I put the clothes I wore out and about in a plastic bag until they will be washed to smell lovely again. Often times my clothes reek from absorbing what's in the air. It's worse when they actually come into contact with a contaminated object. Thankfully, almost every smell can be washed out.

Then I change into fresh clothes.

Recently, after showering and changing, I've used a Neti Pot to clean out my sinus passages. I have my aunt to thank for this awesome addition. I sometimes used to smell contamination even after I was basically clean, but the Neti Pot gets rid of any lingering toxins. My nasal passages feel clean and clear after using it.


P.S. I find it funny that most people take showers before going out, whereas my mom and I always save our showers for afterwards. Oh goodness, I have such an upside life.

A Confession

I get really frustrated when someone suggests what I could be smelling. My first snarky thought is, "Just because I don't tell you doesn't mean I don't know what it is. I know the difference between mold and cut grass."

But I have to calm myself.

They're only trying to help. Instead of putting up my defenses, I should thank them for being thoughtful.

Crossing the Line

Something I don't often mention is that I can tell the difference between molds and their toxins. Not just tell, but smell. Each kind has a unique scent. But it's more than just individual molds; there's regional molds as well.

I'm currently back in Maryland, and there's a distinct difference between what I smell here and what I've smelled elsewhere.

Coconut Ginger Biscuits

Another recipe! I'm so excited about this one!

These aren't like American biscuits, buttery and fluffy. They're more like English biscuits, a dense sweet bread in a cookie shape. English biscuits are typically hard, but this recipes makes soft and slightly crumbly pastries. I hesitate to describe them as cookies because while you can eat them by themselves, I find them a bit dry alone. I like to dip them in milk or yogurt, and I suppose you can dip them in tea too. I also love to crumble these biscuits on fruit or even plain with milk in a bowl as a sort of cereal.

Without further ado, I present Coconut Ginger Biscuits!

How to Naturally Treat Minor Burns

In the past two weeks, I've accidentally burned myself twice, the second time just yesterday. Yet surprisingly, I'm pain free, and the burn on my palm is not even visible today.

A week ago, I rushed as I tried to get my coconut spice biscuits out of the oven. My fingers knocked against the grating, and I received a small but painful burn on one knuckle.

Yesterday, I lifted a bowl of chicken from the microwave, and some hot juice splashed on my hand. I had a lovely red splotch on my palm. But within a few hours, the redness was fading, and the pain, once biting, was barely noticeable.

Pizza Party

I've been dying to share a recipe on this blog, and finally! I took photos as I came up with this last one.

The other day, I saw a billboard for a major pizza chain, and my mouth instantly watered for the bread and cheesy goodness. Mom and I discussed what we'd need to make our own improv pizza, and afterwards I promptly forgot about my desire to make one. I was therefore pleasantly surprised, after Mom went to the store yesterday, when I found goat cheese and tomato paste among the grocery bags.

And now I happily share this egg, grain, and gluten-free pizza. It tastes exactly like regular pizza; I could hardly believe it when I first tasted it. I almost cried. Really. I haven't had pizza in over two years.

Fooling Myself

Yesterday morning I woke up disappointed.

As a writer, I had set a goal to finish my current work's first manuscript by then, the first of June.  Having only 20% of it completed, I would never finish it in time.  Especially since Mom and I were due to travel.

We hitched up the Bub and started for the park we'd stay at next.  As we passed blooming purple red buds and budding spring-green trees along the highway, I suddenly laughed aloud.

Bitter & Sweet

Just like many things in life, molds are not created equally. Each, and their mycotoxins, have their own unique smells.

There is a sweet mold, or mycotoxin, which smells like perfume, but I know for a fact it's not. It's like a fancy casket to me. It's a light scent and easily dissipates with fresh air. Of all the toxic scents I encounter, it's the most common.

Another is what I call 'baby-powder mold.' It has thick smell very similar to the white substance. Sometimes I wonder if it's not mold but actually baby powder or some other beauty product. It's not as common as the perfume one, but I still smell it on a regular basis.

Finally: the nightmare mold.

Freak Out! (Part 3 of 3)

Part One and Part Two

~*~

Winter has almost passed with weather mostly balmy and luminous. I'm amazed at how alive I feel and how far I've come in physical energy. When we entered the Bub in late May of 2013, a good day involved simply getting out my pajamas. Now a good day is traveling three or four hours to a new campground and still having the energy to write.

Writing is interrupted, however, when water seeps from its designated pathways. Or, in the case of the fourth water leak, floods.

The black water (the stinky tank) was full on a chilly February night, and Mom nor I realized it. We also didn't realize that, unlike all the other faucets which drain into the grey water, the bathroom sink drains into the black tank.

The bathroom faucet was left dripping.

Freak Out! (Part 2 of 3)

Part One

~*~ 

Summer passed in a warm and wonderful blur. My energy returned a little every day, and I was able to write more than half of my long-imagined novel. Best of all, no water issues.

Then reality happened.

In August, Mom announced that once September fell we'd travel to the Airstream factory in Ohio.

"Why?" I asked.

"There's another leak."

Freak Out! (Part 1 of 3)

Okay, actually, let's not. But I have been on the verge of a break down several times since we got the Bub.

Mold & Chemical Sensitivity

One thing tripped me up for a long time about mold illness: how mold, a biological organism, can cause sensitivity to chemicals.

Pondering this question a few months ago, I realized it was not mold itself that made me chemically sensitive.

It was mycotoxins.

This often confuses others because they don't understand that mycotoxins are separate entities from mold spores. Spores are essentially seeds. Mycotoxins are gases that certain molds produce. Some of these toxins are so powerful they have been used in chemical warfare.

The Food Tradition

For thousands of years people have been gathering together over meals. Good food is something all enjoy, and sharing it together is an even sweeter experience.

It's also one I no longer have.

Precision

Whenever my mom and I are at a beach location, we like to take a walk along the sand everyday if the weather's good.

Today happens to be one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen. From our site in the woods, the sky looks like it's threatening to build its cotton candy clouds into a fortress of thunder and lightening. From the beach, it is dramatic collage of shifting blue and white, and the gaps in the shadows on the land and sea make the water a glistening cyan.

The wind made too long a stroll uncomfortable, especially for me who has problems maintaining a consistent body temperature. But the salt air is healing to the lungs, however long we're out there.

That is, if the air isn't contaminated.

Ice Storm Aftermath

While the Bub, Mom, and I stayed toasty with the lit furnace last night, the trees throughout the state park suffered.

Mom took a walk this morning to see what damage had occurred around the park and specifically at our evacuated site. She brought back pictures that made me exceedly grateful God had led her to move the Bub.

Two significant limbs had fallen right where the Bub had been parked.

Atypical Morning Adventures

My morning began at 3 am, the Bub's lights on and Mom sitting on the floor with a flashlight pointed at the base of the kitchen counter.

First thinking we had another water leak, panic tightened my chest. Even as I asked what was happening, I tried to remain calm, telling myself whatever happened God would take care of us.

The propane sensor was chirping an eardrum dagger every 30 seconds or so. Since propane gas sinks, the sensor is by the floor and therefore Mom was on the floor.

Wall of Love

I have a wall of love.

It is comprised of cards from my birthday taped to the Bub's inside wall. A lot of people probably do this with the cards they receive, but most of them probably don't seal them in plastic bags first.