Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Our Annual Family Photo!

Jeff and I have a little tradition of going on a hike at the beginning of each October and taking our picture in the same place every year.  It's kind of neat to see how our family has changed.  I mentioned this tradition a couple years ago, but I guess I didn't post it last year.  So, here is our sequence:

2009

2010


2011
2012

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I saw your posting in the woodworking site and wanted to see what high school you contacted. I would like to do an adult education class and any help would be appreciated! My email is jnsturze@yahoo.com thanks Emily!

Betty said...

Hi, I found your blog by way of Amazon. I read your review of Great Lakes gelatin.

I was wondering if your husband is tolerating the gelatin well?

I too get bad reactions from MSG.

On the Great Lakes site it does say no MSG. Yet, if you look at the amino acid profile it contains a good bit of glutamic acid. Which according to all I have read is the same thing.

I went ahead and, ordered the gelatin. I am hopeful.

Emily said...

Betty - My husband hasn't had any, because he doesn't really care for gelatin enough to bother trying it. The trouble is, people (and companies) confuse MSG with "free glutamate". So, when you go and tell someone you're allergic to MSG, they say that's ridiculous, because you must be allergic to grapes and tomatoes and dozens of other things which have naturally occurring free glutamate. My husband has no reaction to any of those sorts of things (and I don't think most MSG-sensitive people do). Gelatin CAN occur naturally; for example, if you make chicken broth, you will naturally extract gelatin. My husband is not allergic to fresh homemade broth. However, he has reacted to "gel caps" when he was taking fish oil in capsule form. So, this leads me to believe that when items are hydrolyzed, it somehow creates an unnatural free glutamate that is different from free glutamate that occurs it items like tomatoes or homemade chicken broth. Based on Great Lakes attention to MSG and assay results posted on their website, etc, I believe that their gelatin is most likely to be the natural, non-reactive kind. However, I really don't know. If you want to try any gelatin at all, I would go with Great Lakes. I'm interested to hear whether you react or not. If my husband's reaction didn't last for days, he would probably just try it...but he avoids anything that could be iffy, and this falls into that category. I was also avoiding MSG particularly while I was pregnant (which, I believe, is when I left the review on Amazon). I typically try to avoid it anyway, because I know it is bad stuff. Since I do not react, I am not as careful about the iffy items like this. So, I like GL gelatin.

Betty said...

Thanks for the reply. :)

I started using the gelatin last
night.

So far I am doing great with it. :)
I hope it continues.

I am one that has a threshold level. Meaning a little (very little) MSG won't cause problems.

If I do get to much it is awful, brain fog, fatigue, deep dry cough,
facial swelling and, puffy eyes.

Too, nitrates, nitrites, and sulfites cause all of the above.

Thanks again.