Cup of Coffee with Katie

“But what happens if you just cheat?”   I’d say that question has officially been added to my   “If I only had $1 for every time I was asked this question, I wouldn't have to work 3 jobs to get by…” list. (I'll leave you to guess what the other 2 questions are on that list!) One of my caring students I mentioned in my Christmas post posed the   question:  “Miss Burke, what if on Christmas you just said ‘Oh forget it’ and ate a bagel?” Yes, I know it’s a hard concept to understand why this would never even enter my mind as within the realm of possibility. I know why non-celiacs don’t get it. I mean if someone has an anaphylactic allergy, the answer is obvious. No one questions someone with a nut allergy…clearly staying alive is reason enough to avoid them. But what about those of us with the autoimmune food illnesses? We’re all too often misunderstood and confusion-inducing. And though that at times can be infuriating, I also can say I’ve reached a point wher...

You've made it to December 23rd and if you're anything like the people I saw swarming Target last night, you're still wrapping up that last-minute shopping. Or just taking advantage of the 10% discount...I certainly did. And I paid with cash so no hacking worries for me :-) Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that gift-giving is an art. A fine one at that. Some gift exchanges are simple: they follow a tradition. Each year I give you a different themed rubber duck, you give me a new Chia pet, we excitedly hug and that's that. Others are predetermined and thus also simple: you buy tickets to this event, I'll make reservations and cover dinner beforehand, we both add it to our calendars and look at us: we've gifted ourselves time together (which I'd argue is the most valuable gift of all). Others however can be more complicated. What do you get for the crotchety man down the street who seems unimpressed by life, let alone gifts? How about tha...

Yes, it happened…somehow I blinked and here it is just 4 days before Christmas. I know I’ve heard from some readers who were worried I had fallen off the face of the earth…or worse that I had abandoned my writing and decided I was done passing on knowledge/reflecting on life. Have no fear: neither of those is the case. Rather, I’ve been entirely consumed by the madness of report card craziness which then morphed into two weeks of non-stop work editing units in a role which is new to me this year: clinical faculty at the University of Notre Dame. (It’s still rather surreal to me to be on the other end of the ACE portfolio, but what has still remained unchanged is that ACE teachers never cease to amaze me with their dedication or inspire me with their talent.) Throw in wrapping up another semester with my construction men, a few weekend shifts at the hospital, and as any teacher knows, the madness which is December in a school setting, and I’m sure you can see why I didn’t have time to ...

Ah yes, it seems as if we blinked and here we are in November. Those shiny saddle shoes have dulled and the once-brightly-colored tennis shoes are showing the wear and tear of 3 months of gym classes, recess soccer games, and some kind of zombie apocalypse tag I have yet to figure out. Yes, we’ve made it to that hallowed beacon of light in the world of teaching: Thanksgiving break. It means 5 days away from the stresses of daily life that have once again become so routine. 5 days without worrying about whether an objective is clearly stated or a lesson has adequate closure; 5 days free from remembering to submit attendance, post homework on your website, and to hit the “adjust density” and “hole punch” buttons before you run copies; 5 days to wake up, eat, and use the bathroom without following a prescribed schedule; 5 days free from worrying about which students forgot the proper uniform belt, need to see the nurse for medication, have band rehearsal, have been in the bathroom too lo...

Every so often in an allergen-filled existence, you have moments which excite you, touch your heart, and make you want to hug random strangers.   As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, my autoimmune journey has certainly been littered with such moments: Mom’s Organic Market (where I really did hug an employee very early in my gluten-free days), Whole Foods (though I still feel like people judge me there because I almost always forget to bring my re-usable cloth bags), locally-operated co-ops, farmers’ markets, etc. There’s nothing quite like that moment of pure joy when you find something you didn’t know existed or a place that offers a new (or even revised to avoid allergen) treat that makes eating fun again…if only for a moment. Of course these joy-filled moments are often tempered by a harsh reality of allergy-friendly eating: a hefty price tag. I mean don’t get me wrong, I will cough up $4 for the occasional gluten-free, dairy-free cupcake…but my frugal, coupon-clipping heart...

To say life has been crazy lately would be an understatement. Well, actually saying “Target dollar bins can be dangerous” would be an understatement. I’m not even sure the category for my life lately. It’s been almost 2 months since I moved and I STILL have a corner of unpacked boxes that haven’t been touched; I’m operating on such a sleep deficit some days that I think I could replace the bunny in the next Energizer commercial; my to-do lists could fill a small novel…and they’re quite eclectic enough that it might be an entertaining one at that. I’ll even admit last week I had a moment when I realized I’d reached an all-time low: I stopped at Target for some last-minute Halloween candy and I put a package of socks in my basket…because I wasn’t sure I’d have time before my weekend trip to do laundry and I’d run out of clean socks. And I’m also not ashamed to admit that those socks proved to be the only useful purchase I made that night…because I was so tired from All Saints’ Day m...