In mei is de tuin altijd zo mooi. De tulpen op hun laatste benen en de rozen nog niet begonnen, en in dat gat zijn het vooral de akeleien die zorgen dat de tuin er fleurig bij staat.
I just need to vent. We live with 3 people in this house and 2 of them have severe food allergies (one is me). No.3 offered to cook dinner a week ago because they craved a certain dish.
Turns out they did not cook from scratch. I only ever cook from scratch because that's the only way to make sure there's absolutely zero allergens in my food. They used a sauce/curry from a certain brand and did not check the ingredients on the back.
I had no idea, enjoyed my meal, even had a second serving, and got a stomach ache in the night, didn't sleep until 4.30 and had diarrhea the next morning. I thought maybe the chicken hadn't been cooked properly. My gut still hurt all day long, in that annoying way where painkillers don't work.
Before bed that night I threw something in the paper bin and saw the box in which the sauce had been, coincidentally with the backside up. There it was, in bold capitals: MILK. I was livid. It was so obvious among the ingredients, but apparently they hadn't even checked. Living with 2 severely allergic people and not even a glance at the ingredient list.
So I confronted them the next morning and the answer was "we've eaten that brand before" so I had to explain that "brand" is no guarantee that "ingredient" isn't in it. And that "brand" has several sauces, all with different ingredients. And that when cooking for allergic family members, ingredients should _always_ be checked. Even if you've made it before, even if you've used this very product before. Because recipes may change, production lines may change.
I confronted them with the reality of having a food allergy: you always, always check every single ingredient before anything goes into your mouth. Yes, that's a lot of work. Yes, that's annoying. But you know what's more annoying? Having pain in your stomach still a week later, your gut still inflamed a week later. Having to eat low fodmap food all week in an attempt to calm the gut down.
Or worse, had it been the ingredient person 2 is allergic to: epipen and a trip to the hospital. I just can't understand how a family member can be so inconsiderate. It's not just annoying, it's potentially dangerous.
Thanks for reading
(And no they never apologised.)
Edit: it's my husband we're talking about, I didn't want to be too specific. Person 2 is my child.
I had a BSH before, from 1993 to 2009. She was a very good cat. In 2011 I called the same breeder and asked if she was still breeding BSHs. She did and had three kittens available at the time, all equally cute, but one stood out. Two months later we welcomed this 15 weeks old girl home. She's remotely related to my first BSH! She grew into a 12 lbs beast that was often mistaken for a male (now down to 9 lbs/4.5 kilos). She's a grumpy girl who only loves one human and that's me ❤️. She's still in reasonable health especially given her age. Arthritis has slowed her down significantly (imagine a lazy BSH but slower even). She's by far the best cat I've ever had. I hope she sticks around for a while longer. Every day she's still with me is a blessing ❤️
I thought you guys might like it. 7 million tulips, 800 varieties. I took 300 pics in one afternoon. These are my favourites.
I wasn't sure which sub to post this, but I think this is the best one since you guys probably understand best.
I wanted to know how to handle this. My neighbor is "too nice". There is a path next to my garden where people walk their dogs. When I am pottering about in the garden (my main form of "exercise"), most passers-by say nothing or just a quick "hello," but this specific neighbour always comes to my fence for a chat when she's walking her dog.
As you'll all understand even a 5-minute chat is often too much: standing still (POTS), talking while I don't want to, being interrupted while I was carefully pacing; it all drains my energy.
My garden is the place where I relax and don't want to have to worry about anything. It's is the one place where I don't need to be "socially switched on", so to speak. Letting my mind wander and just do the light activities of pulling a weed here and there with the birds singing in the trees around me - that's therapeutic, it helps me manage my cfsme. Is it too much to ask for some privacy in my own garden?
She is someone who likes to chat with everyone and I understand this is good for the social cohesion in our neighbourhood but I just feel uncomfortable with it. A quick "hello" and then going back to what I was doing just doesn't work to get rid of her. She always wants to know more, talk for a bit, hear how we are doing, and I have no desire to discuss that with her; she is a neighbour, not a friend, and I certainly don't want to tell her of all people I have a chronic illness. (She's the type that comes with all kinds of unsolicited advice and treatments that are proven to not work.)
The problem is that she's a genuinely kind person, just not my kind of person. She has tried to invite me for coffee so many times over the past years and declining has become more and more tiresome, but she keeps trying. The stress of seeing her approaching is draining, even if I manage to get away in time.
I also don't want to be too blunt, because she does live around the corner, and I don't want to be the cause of a bad atmosphere among neighbours.