Toy Story in 3D

Our big excitement from this past week was getting to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. We watched the first one, had a 10 minute intermission with Toy Story Trivia, then watched the second one. We went on Saturday with a few hundred other parents and children. We bought our tickets early that day and then showed up about an hour before the movie was to start. We had to stand in line, and we were the only ones without children. It was crazy, and we even got to see a 4 year old dressed up as Buzz! That unfortunately was the only costume we saw. I suppose though that those adults who dress up for Star Wars and Harry Potter don't really dress up for animated kids movies they grew up on so that kind of makes sense.

The movies were really neat. I did not get to see them in the theater the first time around so seeing them on big screen wearing crazy glasses was fun. It was funny to see kids reach for things they thought they could touch. Several of the kids around us did that several times thoughout the movies, so I think the 3D was realistic enough. It was also really cool to hear the gasps and exclamations of surprise for the effects that happen in the movie. You know like when Buzz proves to Woody that he can fly and the angle was from Buzz's helmet, with the movie being in 3D it actually kind of felt you were doing the car track yourself.

It was also nice to go out on a date. Since we can't go out to eat anywhere we've kind of become homebodies and don't ever go out. We still weren't able to go out for dinner after the movies, but it worked.

We've also really gotten involved in a small group from the Lutheran church we've been attending. They started a new group that meets later so we don't feel bad about showing up late, since we start later and that makes it less likely that we will be late in the first place. We're doing a "One Church" study -- so imagining what could happen if all the denominations stopped fighting and bickering over minute things that don't matter and all truly focused on doing God's work while here on earth. It reminds me of Mosaic in Little Rock and how they didn't care what your theological background was, just that you had a passion for serving Christ.

Anyway, I need to get going with my day. I hope everyone is having a good day and that all is well.

Race for the Cure

Last weekend was the Race for the Cure here in Chicago. They added a 10k race this year and I decided to participate. Chris discovered that if I have some external motivation (like races to run) that I stick to my diet significantly better than if I don't have some external motivation. I decided to run the 10k because of the challenge the distance would bring. I've been regularly running 4-5 miles for 4-5 weeks now, so taking an extra couple of miles was something I thought I could handle. I did well. I averaged 10 min miles, which is very slow for me. I also had to walk several times and so know that when I was running I was doing significantly less than 10 min miles. I'll get the time down, but I was just happy to be out there. It was a pretty run, even though it was so humid we felt like we were swimming. We ran through Chicago's Grant Park and on the Lake Front. The lake was steely gray and choppy. I missed having my mom there this year, but am looking forward to next years race. We are trying to get a team of people together to do the race next year so think of us! If you want to plan a Chicago trip to do the race with us you're more than welcome to! :)

Last week was pretty mild. Fall finally came and we had warmer temperatures the first few days of fall than we did most of summer. Last night though we had wind, as in 50+ mph standing wind. The wind whistled as it went through the screens and the air conditioner. Normally it only does that when we are getting a lot of snow (and having the phenomenon of blowing snow -- which really really sucks by the way) so I expected about 6 inches of snow when I woke up this morning. Apparently I even dreamed that it snowed so when I got up this morning and there was no snow I was kind of disappointed.

Other than that, I'm finishing up my first round of midterms for this semester. I can't believe it is week 6. I have been prepared, but its wild with everyone catching on to the fact that we are over 1/3rd of the way through the semester. I do have an exam tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Hope all is well with everyone.

White Sox win!

We had the opportunity to go to a Sox-Royals game last night and we took it. We took a very slow train in and then managed to get lost in the stadium. We've decided that U.S. Cellular (or the Cell as it is referred to around town) has the worst signage of anywhere. We sat behind the bull pen for the Royals. The Sox ended up winning 13-3. The Sox hit two grand slams. Since my interest in baseball is all of zero (or approaching zero if you want to take the limit of it) Chris was like, "If you were waiting for something exciting to happen, it just did."

Anyway, we went with some friends from church, actually it was the softball team. They've even asked me to play softball again with them next year. We'll see if that happens. Who knows what will be going on next summer. We've decided that we kind of like our holding pattern right now -- we are managing with our jobs and we like the Chicago area, so we don't really want anything to change. That's typically a good recipe for change though, so we'll see what happens.

Right now we're just waiting for the season to change. We're having a nice Indian Summer here and it finally rained today. We're not really looking forward to the autumn equinox coming up this week -- that means we'll start seeing less and less of the sun. But we do have some fun trips planned for the winter that will allow us access to sun in normal daylight hours. This will be our third winter in Chicago, hopefully it won't be as bad as last.

We've got a busy week ahead -- Chris is alternating working early and late shifts at work since his co-worker is back. I have a pchem exam, and work to do with my adviser so we can get undergraduates in the labs starting the 28th. Does anyone know where September went?

Week back at work

We had a safe flight back from Boston last Monday. It was uneventful for the most part. We landed very early -- as in had our bags by the time we were scheduled to land, so that was good. A friend picked us up at the airport and we got to chat. We found out that two members of the small groups we've been in the past two years are pregnant, so that's going to change the dynamics there. We are no longer going to the church that small group is associated with so we're changing small groups and this is probably a good time for that.

Basically this week we've just been working. Over the weekend we wanted to catch up on sleep (since we didn't really get enough in Boston) and it didn't happen. We ended up sort of helping some people move out. Their U-Haul woke us up before eight on Saturday and they kept needing tools from us. We just sort of helped them with what they needed and asked for. We didn't do much though on Saturday. Sunday we went to church (finally!) and then I went searching for a winter parka. I want one that's about 3/4 length (so that it covers my bum and some of my thighs) and has both a zipper and clasps of some form to cover the zipper up) that I can wait for the trains/buses/whatever in and not freeze. The farmer's almanac is forcasting a frigid winter with averages in the upper teens. The NWS is forcasting a mild winter though. I'm more trusting of the farmer's almanac than the NWS but hoping the NWS is correct.

Not a lot is going on. We're trying to add foods into my diet so that I don't start getting sick from the dozen or so foods that were initially okay. Friday when I went to the doctor she agreed with me. Apparently my immune system is in full blown reaction mode and we can't exactly figure out how to calm it down. We've changed some medicines around and we're going to see how that works before any more tests are done. We've also started experimenting with tapioca pudding and seeing what we can put in it. I made some pretty good banana tapioca the other day, and made some cocoa pudding today. Both of them are very tasty, so that's encouraging to keep trying new things in the pudding.

So that's basically it for us here in Chicago -- work, school, church, feeding me. I'm off to bed and I hope that all is going well for you.

Boston for Labor Day

Well, we went to Boston for Labor Day. Actually we are still in Boston and are leaving today. We rented a house with some friends and its been a lot of fun. I just got in from a very pretty run and no one else is up yet. I need to go shower and pack as we leave in a few hours, but I just don't want to. I ran on some horse trails and it was very pretty to have the tall trees with the sun just starting to come through. I mean, the sun wasn't fully up yet, or anything. It was also nice to have hills. Granted the hills mean I have to work that much more, but running on flat can get old.

Saturday we walked the freedom trail backwards. Meaning we started at the Old Courthouse and ended up at the Bunker Hill Memorial. It was pretty with lots of fun places, but I recommend starting at Bunker Hill, especially if you're from a flat part of the country like we are. Surprisingly enough the Bunker Hill Memorial is on the top of a hill and is in a very hilly part of Boston, so walking up and down those hills after having rolling hills or winding through the flat parts of town is kind of a killer on the legs. It was cool to see the old buildings and the Old North Church. Paul Revere Square was neat and we realized that a lot of the old "founding fathers" were neighbors.

Sunday we went to the Museum of Science here in town. We were kind of disappointed with it actually. Thankfully our tickets were free (with our Field Museum membership and all) and our planetarium tickets weren't that expensive. A lot of the museum exhibits seemed very very very basic. I know that for general admission in a museum it has to be fairly basic, but the show on electricity and lightning was so boring we left after 10 minutes. There was a very large van de Graff machine (one of the largest in existence and built by van de Graff himself) that was supposed to be "shocking" but wasn't, either that or we weren't patient enough to wait for the shocking part of the talk. However, the museum here is getting the Harry Potter Exhibit and it opens in October. I'd almost like to see it again, but there probably won't be nearly the same amount of stuff in the exhibit here. The only real place to put the exhibit is inside and so that means there will be several pieces that won't really fit. They did have the knight Ron rides in Sorcerer's Stone in the main foyer though, so that was neat to see.

Anyway, coffee is done and I'm starting to shiver because I'm cold. I need to go wake the masses, or at least Chris so that he too can get packing.

School started this week

so we've been absolutely exhausted. The stockroom Chris works in has been one man down this week and has been checking people into labs and all sorts of fun stuff like that. I have been working at the zoo and classes started, but thankfully I only have class on Tuesday and Thursday. So I went to the zoo MWF and the uni TR. We've had a long week, and are looking forward to the trip we're going on this week. The third person in Chris's stockroom should be back this Monday, so that should help Chris some.

I leave on Wednesday for New Hampshire and Chris will join me in Boston on Friday. I get to see Maggie and then we're meeting friends in Boston. :) We need some time away from Chicago I think. We've not been away all summer. We've been grateful for everyone coming to visit us, but I think we need to get away a little too. We're staying in a house while in Boston so that we can cook and all that jazz. I think we need a vacation from cooking, but not sure when a vacation like that will come.

We're still trying the very restricted diet. We're tempted to start trying foods, but kind of unsure about what will happen. I've tried adding apples a few times now and have always ended up feeling worse, being in a bit more pain, being nauseous, and burping a bit more than normal. It doesn't seem to matter if I incorporate apples with a meal or eat them alone as a snack or just have apple juice. I just wasn't aware that apples have proteins. Apples are typically known for being a good fructose and fiber source, so I really can't imagine what protein my body is attacking here.

LEAP MRT Test results

A few weeks back I had a special test run for food sensitivities. I finally got my results. They are about what I honestly expected, with a few surprises.

My list of foods that I should never eat: cauliflower, pinto beans, and tilapia
My list of foods that I shouldn't ever eat, but may be able to try in a few months/years to see how my body handles them: Amaranth (african grain that is typically used as a wheat replacement), Apricot, Barley, Blueberry, Broccoli, Cabbage, Candida albicans (a chemical preservative), Salicylic acid (another preservative), whey, cottage cheese, coconut, parsley, honey, plum, pineapple, hops, sweet potato, white potato, wheat, catfish, yeast mix, sunflower seed and pecan.

Some of the foods are a surprise because they don't seem to make sense. I mean -- who's sensitive to cauliflower or broccoli? Some of the fruits are hard to understand. In terms of how the program groups foods though there are entire families of foods that I can't have. And some they've listed as being acceptable, but we probably won't try those for a while. For example, Kamut is a starch that I'm supposed to be able to eat. However, it is in the gluten family and is highly related to the gluten family so we aren't wanting to try it because having an adverse reaction can set me back several days in trying to figure out what I can eat or not.

This week I can eat: pork, eggs, quinoa, tapioca, asparagus, spinach, green pea, carrot, banana, avocado, cherry, pear, cow's milk, coffee, sesame, hazelnut, cinnamon, lemon, and black pepper.

Tonight Chris made some fried quinoa. He cut up the carrots and asparagus and made quinoa like you make rice. Then he fried and egg in a skillet and added the peas, carrots, and asparagus. After cooking that a minute he added the quinoa and it ended up being quite tasty. It will definately be done again. Plus he even liked the quinoa that way! The quinoa naturally has kind of a nutty taste to it that he doesn't like, so frying it like this pretty much made it a great food.

We're also discovering how to make real old fashioned tapioca pudding. I'm eating it as a snack, as breakfast, as dessert. Its a good thing I like tapioca pudding. Making the tapiocas has been fun. Its nice to see them swell and then become soft. Since we haven't figured out how to add the whites to the hot tapioca mixture, we keep getting little egg pieces in the pudding. :)

Anyway, if you have any recipes that you'd like to share, or ideas of what we might be able to prepare with easy modifications let me know! We can only do pork and eggs so many ways before we get sick of it. Next week we get to add more veggies and fruits for the most part. The week after that we get to add chicken, so it will be a while before we can do a different protein source.