and here we go...

     Welcome! Really, was that the best I could come up with? Actually, it is. Hopefully things will improve and I will be able to write with more interest and originality. But for this first "official" post, I am struggling. Nerves? Weird. To make it worse, my struggle is with telling you the truth. Yeesh! Okay my gluten free followers... I am sitting in one of my favorite coffee houses in North Park (San Diego), because I am pretty sure that you must sit in a coffee house in order to blog, and am enjoying the city's best mocha and a gluten containing muffin.
      If you took the time to read my Who Me? section, then you will already be generously on your way to forgiving me because you know that it is my daughter who has Celiacs and not me. I will occasionally tuck in here, or  another similar, while the girls are in school and order that muffin, or a croissant. I can't always say it is worth it though. I wash my hands 3 times before collecting them from school, I furiously scrub my lips and drink copious amounts of water to get rid of all traces of gluten that could infect my sweet girl with one kiss from me. Worth it?  No!  I am writing through tears (i do that a lot!) because it isn't worth it!  Damn it.  I will say that it is less and less of an occurrence as time goes on.  Maybe because of my newfound and growing knowledge, or my insurmountable guilt at being able to eat whatever the hell I want that my daughter can't, or the real danger to her from my cross-contamination,  or that i don't always feel well after eating gluten products now after going almost without them for about a year.
      I will stop here I think for two reasons. I have only 4% battery left (and no power cord) and because I have SO much I want to share, ask, explore through this blog but I want it to be enjoyable to read and written in somewhat of a coherent fashion. I will share our long road to where we are today in the hopes that someone will find it helpful and possibly hopeful. I will share recipes (my first passion is cooking) that Libby and I discover together and ones I have developed. I will blog a bit about restaurants who adhere to the GF safe cooking practices and those that don't (but say they do!)  Libby herself will have a 'column' that she can share anything that comes to her beautiful mind.  Oh and so much more!  I do hope you return.  I promise to always try to be honest and somewhat interesting.
 Kelly