Gimpy Hooker with a Twist of Lyme

Cute "Lyme" pic from Neen Crochet

Just a quick update - we may have found what's causing (or at least exacerbating) my gimpy-ness. I'm putting this out there to both hopefully inform anyone who also struggles with a mystery disease, and account for any big lapses in posting.

A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with both Lyme Disease and Bartonella (another tick born disease). This is after having my first POTS episode 11 years ago, and a slew of chronic syndrome diagnosis and no answers. I wrote about my current health situation and the diagnosis journey in detail on my other blog HERE for anyone that wants more detail.

It's going to be an interesting ride from here on out - and to cope, I'll only be selling things that are ready to ship, no more "made to order" crochet, jewelry, or stitch markers. Everything in my shops is ready to go and already made. I'll be focusing on patterns and creating things for fun while I start this long treatment process. I hope to post lots of pretty pictures of new crochet creations, and fun free (and paid) patterns.

Next pattern in the Que!

I urge anyone that has mystery illness stuff going on to get tested! I have been misdiagnosed and left to get progressively worse for over a decade, and I was bitten by my first tick (that we know of) at the age of 12 - so who really knows how long this has been going on?

Cheers and healthy well wishes!
---Claire



 

Recipe Review: Banana Chips, Gluten Free (Gone Wrong!)

Well, I tried. 

I had a sudden burst of unusual upright energy and thought I would try to make a snack. I have serious issues with finding snacks - I do better when eating "smaller meals through the day"....which is fancy health food guru code for SNACKS.

I am not allergic to bananas, thank you Dear Lord, and we had a new bunch, so I headed over to handy Pinterest to check out what was going on in the world of bananas.

BUT! After walking to the computer to check Pinterest, my burst of energy had ended and my heart rate was about 140, so I decided to lower my expectations from fancy modified banana bread, and go with "cook this crap as fast as I can and hope I stay conscious".

I found this lovely and easy looking recipe:

Sweet and Salty Banana Chips

Picture courtesy of A Beautiful Mess

Doesn't that look good? And seem easy? How CAN ANYONE SCREW THIS UP?????

Wellllllp, here's how I screwed it up.The recipe calls for salt, pepper, and brown sugar. That's it! Easy! For anyone else.


 

EASY AS HELL

The Gimpy Allergic To Everything Chef - An Intro

If you are looking for recipes with anal retentive measurements and exact methods, stop now.

If you have a bit of a sense of humor and like to wing it a bit, proceed and enjoy.

This is me. I swear!

I have recently started cooking a little bit as I'm able again, and have had to laugh at how ridiculous it's become! I am the laziest, most non-recipe following, short-cutting-est chef ever. I'd like to blame it all on being disabled and chronically ill, but my artsy-fartsy improvisational side has never been good with recipes, even back in the healthier days.

Can you call that being a chef? Probably not! But I make a mess of Pinterest recipes, am allergic to everything, and usually am cooking with a heart rate in the 130-175 range while seated in my wheelchair. It's quite entertaining. So I started taking some pics and will be blogging about it.