The Birthday Bug

I had originally wanted to do his birthday at Insectropolis, the Bug Museum in Toms River, NJ, but I thought that many people would not come because it was over an hour away.  I remembered the great show we had seen Rizzo’s Reptiles do over the summer, so we decided to go with them, which turned out to be wonderful!  While the kids waited for Mr. Rizzo to set up, they made bug sticker scenes that I purchased from Oriental Trading.  Mr. Rizzo himself did the show and he is quite the character.  Not only did he entertain the children for an hour (and keeping the attention of 3 and 4 year olds for an hour is no joke!), but the adults, too.  He presented the animals to the children, allowed them to touch and explore them and told them facts that were easy for them to understand.  He goofed and joked with the kids and the parents along the way!

The first animal he brought out was a Hissing Cockroach.

Hissing Cockroach

 Next – a scorpion.  The Destroyer, surprisingly, wanted NOTHING to do with the bugs.  He was so hell-bent on a bug party, but seemed freaked out by the bugs.  Thankfully, there were only 2 and he warmed up much more to the other creatures.

Scorpion

 The tiny crab was a HUGE hit!  All the kids loved him.

Mini Crab

 The tomato frog was also cool.  He hopped around with the kids.

Tomato Frog

 As you can see, Mr. Rizzo is a funny guy!

Snake Glasses

 The mini turtles were another big hit.  These reminded me of the mini pets we see on the streets of Chinatown.  I just giggle every time I see the pictures of them.

Mini Turtle

 Next up was the big turtle – a box turtle, if I remember correctly.

The Big Turtle

 Finally, out came the snakes.  CheezWaster was the only volunteer brave enough to stick his hands into the snake bag.

Snake Bag

 Finally, was the GIANT snake.  It took 4 adults to hold this thing and it was STILL heavy!

The Giant Snake

 The kids loved the show and it was very reasonably priced.  Many of the parents commented on how they couldn’t believe how long their children sat quietly and attentively.

I was torn on what to do about a cake.  In the past, we’ve always had decorated bakery cakes and we wind up taking half of a cake home.  So, this year, we went with simple cupcakes.  I made CheezWaster a caterpillar for his candles.  I used the basic picture from Eric Carle’s The Very HungryCaterpillar.  It was simple and quick.  I used colored sugar on top of the icing and twizzlers/m&ms for the facial decorations.  I made all of the other cupcake different shades of green and inserted cupcake pics that I made from the printable rainbow bug party from Paper & Cake.  I also used this printable file to make a banner, a paper chain and bug signs for the party.

Cupcake Caterpillar

 I made bug cookies using Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, Wilton tube icing and the Wilton Bug Buddies Cookie Cutters.  We also served normal party food such as chips, animal crackers, veggies and fruit.  I purchased spider chip bowls on clearance after Halloween.

Bug Cookies

 We did a Bug Hunt for the kids.  We bought a ton of plastic bugs of all sizes (another great Halloween clearance bargain) and scattered them all over a room.  Each child was given a big plastic cup and could take home whatever they “captured”.

The Bug Hunt

 The favors for the party consisted of mini eye spy bags that the very awesome Greathouse Women made in bug fabrics, Bug Coloring Book sets from Oriental Trading, and a Battle of Nara Battle Bug that I got on an awesome deal from Woot.com.

After my last post, I began to really watch my food diary and pay attention to my reactions.  The result:

Not bad, right?  I was hesitant to post this picture because my camera is so kick ass that is shows all of the redness and my years of scars in detail (so much for my kick ass camera working in my favor!).  But, if you compare to the last picture, 100% better.  Unfortunately, it didn’t last.  Last week, right before Christmas (naturally!) I had a reaction – a BAD one – to I have no idea what.  I have been so careful not to eat gluten, corn or soy.  It is very likely that it is an OVERreaction due to holiday stress as well.  However, that aside, it is still ugly and painful.  This latest reaction was not very cystic at all and for that I am grateful, but there were many spots and they are taking a long time to fester, come to a head and heal.  So, it looks like I end yet another year with ugly face.  I’m feeling discouraged because when I removed corn and got the above results, I thought I had finally figured it all out.  At this point, I have a sneaking suspicion that I am allergic to a salad spice or some component of that spice that my parents use.  We eat with them on the nights I work and the last 2 weeks when we’ve been eating A LOT of salad, my reactions have been bad and are not getting better.  A few weeks ago, we hadn’t had salad for a while and everything was ok.  So – it is back to the drawing board……again.  Hopefully I will be able to post in 2012 with good news and a good face.  Until then friends, Happy New Year.  Be well.

FYI – If you are ever in the Hershey, PA area and have food allergies, please visit Piazza Sorrento or the Houlihan’s in Hershey.  I called beforehand and both of these restaurants and their chefs were AMAZING!  They went out of their way to accommodate me and made me some of the best (safe/allergy-free) food I’ve eaten outside of my home in a very long time!

Reaction from eating the plant family Pooideae

Ugly, cystic, red and painful…..the story of my life…..perhaps….until now.  In the past 20 years, I’ve tested many theories about my allergies/intolerances, done many elimination diets, tried many products and seen many doctors.   I already know that some of my intolerances don’t show up on allergy blood tests – tree nuts make my mouth swell up, but have never appeared; soy appears sometimes and not others.  But this week, I think I finally had the epiphany I’ve been looking for.  2 years ago was when I had my last allergy test done.  The only thing that came up was Kentucky Bluegrass – and it came up majorly high (which explained why when I went into my backyard barefoot, my feet itched for days).  This was the first allergy test ever done on me that wasn’t just straight foods.  So, I hit the internet (my blessing and my curse!) and found that many of the grasses are in the Pooideae family which also contains Kentucky Bluegrass.  This week, I also suffered some majorly itchy ear reactions when I ate rye and oats and I had some tummy troubles after eating pasta several days in a row (trust me, you don’t want the details on that).  In the past, my diets have been wheat free, but never gluten free or completely free of a certain family of grains.  The Pooideae family includes wheat, rye, barley, oat, spelt and triticeae.  Rice, Corn and Sugarcane fall into the large Poa family, but not the same subfamily.  Well, I will tell you, that in the last few days, I’ve only eaten rice and corn as my grains and my face is clearing up and starting to look normal.  I know what this means.  It means a very restrictive diet.  Been there, done that.  It is a pain in the neck, but if it means I’ll feel better and not look like I have the measles, I’m in.  Sign me up.  So, it is back to Whole Foods I go to read label after label.  And hopefully soon, I’ll be able to put up a Nice Face Picture rather than an Ugly Face Picture.  On a side note, I must thank someone above for the blessing of Janet Sartin makeup because without it, I don’t think I would ever leave my house.  They make skin care products for people with extremely sensitive skin and have been my saving grace/face for many years.