Stand and Share Your Story

God, I love this quote!  I want to plaster it on billboards and t-shirts!  Never in my life have I been afraid to share my story, talk about my struggles, and celebrate my successes.  To some, this is considered brave.  To others, stupid.  Some even distance themselves from me because they fear that MY story will somehow impact THEIR story in a negative way.  Whatever.  To each their own.

The Mental Health Family Tree

Although I love both the visual and the sentiment expressed by the above graphic, I beg to differ.  I do not claim to speak for everyone's experience, but it has been my own experience that when the branches of that family tree contain mental illness or mental health issues, the roots do not keep us all together.  The roots divide us.  Sometimes permanently.

A-N-X-I-E-T-Y

This week's blog post is brought to you by my 13-year-old son.  I have spoken of him before.  He was diagnosed with a Generalized Anxiety Disorder at the age of 7.  Recently, his school held a public speaking competition and all the kids were expected to write and present a speech, 3 to 5 minutes in length.  These speeches were presented in class, and then some were selected to present their speeches to a panel of judges from the community in the school gym.

Diagnosis: Drama Queen

We all know that the field of Mental Health has taken leaps and bounds in the past few years.  The information, support, and mental healthcare available to our children today is far superior to what our generation (speaking as someone in their 40s) had access to.  Was it that mental healthcare wasn’t accessible back then, or what it just that children’s mental health wasn’t “a thing” when we were kids?

My Intervention Addiction

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the show "Intervention" on A&E.  It's brilliant.  And heartbreaking.  And frustrating.  And gut-wrenching.  And uplifting.  It is all of those things and more.  Which is why I consider myself to be a bit of an Intervention addict.  I cannot get enough of this show.  Sunday nights I am glued to A&E.  If there's a marathon playing, I'm watching.  And don't even ask me how many hours I've watched online.  I have truly lost count!

Taming the Worry Dragons

My 13 year old son started with a new therapist recently.  We moved to a new town about 6 months ago and have been searching for someone suitable since our move.  He had been in therapy previously for his Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and had been utilizing the skills he had been taught over the years, but we knew that ongoing support in the form of therapy would be necessary for him.  Navigating the teen years without anxiety is hard enough.  Navigating it WITH anxiety is going to be a challenge.

The Coffee Lie

I should preface this blog post by saying that I'm a little pissed off at the moment.  No, no, that's not true.  I'm a LOT pissed off at the moment.  And that anger has led to hurt, and confusion......and this blog post.

"No" Is A Complete Sentence

As I sit here writing this, I have no idea if this will ever be published.  But I'm writing because it needs to come out.  Because I am strengthened and inspired by all the #beenrapedneverreported stories trending on Twitter right now, and because it has remained hidden in the shadows for too long.

Off We Go.....

Join us as we begin our journey to bring another Little Free Library to Grimsby!

Our Facebook page is up and running here - https://www.facebook.com/littlefreelibrarymovementgrimsby

Feel free to join us on this journey as we crowd fund, collect books, and engage our community in this amazing project.

Give our Facebook page a LIKE and a SHARE and help us make this dream a reality for our neighbourhood.

Happy Reading!

~ The Lazy Gourmet

The Little Free Library Movement

 So, in case you haven't noticed, I have become OBSESSED with the Little Free Library Movement since discovering there are 2 (that I know of) in Grimsby already.  They are beyond cute and the most basic, yet important, idea ever!

I Am Finally Home

I have to begin this post with a HUGE thank you to all of you who read my blog on a regular basis, and to those of you who are new here over the past little while.  The response to my last post entitled "My New Small-Town Life" has been nothing short of overwhelming.  It has been read (to date) more than 225 times, shared on Facebook pages and websites, and I even received a message from the woman who owns the Little Free Library that I raved about!  Talk about a small world!  

My New Small-Town Life

For 3o of the past 40 years of my life, I lived in what I deemed to be a medium-sized city.  Burlington, Ontario - current population 285, 000.  We had everything we needed right there - a great hospital, waterfront trails and beaches, annual music festivals, Canada's Largest RibFest!  Did I mention RibFest? ;)  And because I had lived there for 30 years Burlington grew along with me, so it never felt big to me.  I could get around it with my eyes closed, knew where obscure little side streets were when people mentioned them, and could do that whole "jeez remember when the Go Station was a corn field?" thing, that proves you have grown right along with your city.

And then, 4 months ago, we made the decision to uproot ourselves from that safety zone (my 12 year old son has never lived anywhere else) and move to Grimsby - population 25, 200. Blending households with a significant other in your 40s inevitably means one party makes the sacrifice of moving to the other party's comfort zone.  We were willing to make that sacrifice.

The Power of a Positive Environment

Between February and June of this year it was proven to us, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what kind of extreme power lies in a positive school environment.

More Gluten-Free Hits & Misses

Hello GF peeps, and Happy Wednesday!  Time for another addition of Gluten-Free Hits & Misses, as we continue to try new things every day on our gluten-free journey.  So off we go......

Anxiety Has Opened My Eyes, Mom....

Many, many times in my 12+ years as a mother, I have been stunned speechless by the wisdom of my son.  Usually with statements far beyond his 12 years.  Last night was another such time.

This story http://www.cbsnews.com/news/darpa-program-to-develop-brain-implants-for-mental-disorders/ came on the news and gave us pause for discussion.

The Results Are In!

Well folks, the results are in!  Our family doctor called yesterday with the results of my son's abdominal ultrasound and blood work.  It is essentially good news but still leaves a lot of questions regarding what he can and cannot eat.

Gluten-Free Hits & Misses - Weekend Edition

 Happy Weekend GF peeps!  And Happy Memorial Day Weekend to my friends south of the border!  For us, this weekend will be spent continuing to pack for our move in August.  Although we are excited about the move, this whole packing and purging deal sucks!  I'm just sayin'......

Anyway, in an effort to delay that fun-filled job for as long as possible (just being honest!) I thought I'd share a few more Hits & Misses that we discovered this past week.

Getting To the Bottom Of Things....

I am happy to report that my kitchen, fridge, and pantry are now approximately 50% gluten-free.  As my son is the only one who NEEDS to be gluten-free, I find we are slowly paring down on the "old" food and replacing it with the GF variety.

Gluten Free - 2 Hits & 2 Misses

 Good morning everyone!  And a warm hello to all of our new followers.  Udi's Gluten-Free was kind enough to direct many of you to my blog via their Twitter account and I am very thankful for the kind words and useful advice that has been coming our way.  As many of you know, we are only 2 weeks into this gluten-free journey and it is an adventure filled with trial and error.  So, as we try to figure out what my son likes, and inevitably doesn't like (!!) I thought I'd share some of those Hits & Misses here.

Gluten Free Hits & Misses - Volume 1

It has been 2 weeks today that my son has been gluten-free and our household has been gluten-reduced.  And as we continue on this journey we are discovering new products almost daily.  Many of which we have never eaten or tried before.  So I thought we would share some of our "Hits & Misses" in the gluten-free/healthier eating department as we go along.