Trying New Things Tuesday

Information I run into on a daily basis gives me ideas for projects, places, or new habits I want to try. The problem is, I always decide to do it later, then later I’m doing something else.

I am going to designate Tuesdays as Trying New Things Tuesday. Whether it’s a recipe, project, or organizational tool, my goal is to try something new every week so I can decide what I want to implement to make life easier and what doesn’t work. I'll blog about what we tried on Tuesday of every week.  This is not the same as the Little Things Resolutions because these are not planned, can be something I see at any time, and can usually be done in one shot as opposed to needing to be worked on over time. Some of them may be able to go in either category, but there are some distinguishing differences.  Trying new things should be more like experiments or tests that can be rated.

Here's one we tried last week. 

Garlic

Okay, this is not the first time I’ve tried garlic.  We eat it all the time.  However, a friend from church recommended trying it raw as a natural remedy to help cure colds. My thought?  I like garlic.  Let’s do this!

Sammy and I both had the sniffles which seemed like the perfect time to experiment. I placed a fresh garlic clove in the food processor and waited for it to break into small pieces.  Here’s where the problems began: I can’t smell, so sometimes I forget inhaling is a whole different thing and that I can be affected by really major scents if my whole face swallows the odor.  Without thinking, I took the lid off the food processor, leaned over to make sure the garlic was completely processed and almost died.  I started coughing from inhaling the garlic, which led to me running to the living room (if I am ever running anywhere assume something is wrong, because I don’t run) with tears in my eyes.  That’s when I peed my pants. Coughing, running, and all the stress these activities put on my abdomen while carrying two children in utero led to me having to squat in the floor in front of my family and just commit to the pee, because I couldn’t move or do anything else. We’ll call the results of the first part of this experiment so-so because I don’t believe anything that leads to taking a shower due to wetting your own pants can be called fully successful.

So, stage two. I have on dry undies and I make my way back to the food processor.  Now, I know what you’re thinking: she’ll be careful this time.  Uncooked garlic is pretty strong stuff, and she knows that now. Thanks for giving me so much credit, but that’s not how it went.  I decided to feed Sammy the garlic first because my kids eat powdered supplements dry and ask for more.  They aren’t really phased by much, and he was kitchen lurking and asking for whatever I was making. I gave Sammy a small spoonful of minced fresh garlic covered in olive oil on a tiny piece of gluten-free toast.  He tasted it.  Then the screaming started, the crying followed, and finally Sammy was attempting to lick anything he could to stop the burning engulfing his tongue.  I wanted to show him that this was really awesome, so I ate the garlic.  Then we were both screaming.  I grabbed water and, selfless woman that I am, offered Sammy some first. He absolutely refused to drink it because his trust in me as a human who would never cause him pain was gone.  He didn’t believe what was in the glass would help him.  That kid literally just licked his arm until the pain stopped.

What I did discover, despite the drama created by this experiment, was that my sinuses cleared up. So did Sammy’s, or maybe he just pretended they did so I wouldn’t ever give him garlic again. I actually took more garlic over the next couple of days and felt better. But the taste issues never went away regardless of what I paired it with.  Plus, my initial reaction makes me wonder if I’m part vampire.

Overall result: Successful, if wetting your pants is not a deal breaker.