Monday, April 30, 2007
A Little Mommy Talk
This weeks question :Describe your pregnancy...cravings, sickness, etc...
hosted by: A Little Mommy Talk
I'm not feeling well today, actually I haven't been feeling all of last week, but it came to a head today. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that I'm on Cipro and hope to be feeling better soon. I wasn't going to blog today, because other than writing a post about not feeling well (which is BORING) or my kids taking off and running through the Doctors office while I was trying to pee in the cup, I have nothing to write about today. But, I saw this topic on a few blogs today and thought I could join in on this one.
Both of my pregnancies were wonderful. My first pregnancy pretty much followed the book "What to Expect When You're Expecting" except for a few key items (massive weight gain). Each month I'd read a chapter and say Yep, that's me, that's exactly what I'm going through.
The first 3 months were a blur. I pretty much slept through them all. We were moving and were in our new house 2 weeks before I took the test and found out "what was wrong with me". I kept seeing that commercial for Zoloft on TV and I kept telling my husband that "I think I'm that sad little cartoon rock on the commercial". I have no energy, I'm lifeless, and I don't want to do any of the things I usually do. I should have been excited to move into our house, but instead all I wanted to do was sleep. Then I took the test and found out I wasn't depressed, just pregnant. We were trying, but we only tried one time and I thought it would take longer. What did I know?
Cravings: I craved EVERYTHING with my first pregnancy. Let me start off by saying that I am a reformed nicotine addict. I smoked for 13 years before I found out I was pregnant (1-2 packs a day). Then I took the test and quit cold turkey. I'm not tooting my own horn here or trying to say it's easy to quit, but want to explain how I gained more weight while pregnant with my first son than any human being on the planet should ever be allowed to gain while pregnant (transfer of one oral fixation for another). I can't tell you how much because if I tell you I have to kill you. But let's just say I could have given birth to an adult by the time the baby came. Biggest cravings: pickle flavored potato chips (1st 2 months), ice cream (entire pregnancy), peanut butter (entire pregnancy), icees (1st 3 months) and the best craving of all: A vidalia onion chopped up in a bowl with Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese. Yep, just the onion. My hubby loved that phase and lucky for him it ended with the 1st trimester.
I had massive heart burn starting in the second trimester and kept a bowl of tums on my nightstand and tums stashed all over the house. I retained so much water that you push on my shin and the skin would stay pushed in (very attractive). My hubby said it looked like a bullet hole. Through all the eating and weight gain though, my blood pressure was a steady 120/80 although there was some concern about it the day I went in to be induced.
My second pregnancy was less weighty. I didn't have any particular cravings, and I tried not to eat too much (I still gained 53 pounds though- all of it lost within 7 months after baby was born. Thank you Weight Watchers). I was going to exercise through this whole pregnancy, but 2 days after I took the test I was on the treadmill (just walking) and afterwards I had breakthrough bleeding and was put on couch rest for a few days. That scared me away from any further exercise during my pregnancy. This time there was no massive water weight and my heart burn wasn't that bad either.
I was lucky too. I never had morning sickness with either pregnancy. I little nauseous for the first month or two in the early morning, but I'd sip ginger ale and was fine.
Being pregnant was never an issue with me. It was having to lose massive amounts of weight afterwards and dealing with a colicky baby (1st son) and a reflux/allergy baby (2nd son).
I loved being pregnant. Oh, and I lost all but 7 pounds of the 1st baby weight and I'm currently working on that too.
Labels: mommy talk
Saturday, April 28, 2007
It Was A Rockin' Friday Night At Our House
Well, not really, but the kids had fun. We were invited to join the school the Older Boy will go to next year for Family Fun Night at the local park. This would have been really fun, except that it was 57 degrees, very windy and sprinkling. But the boys had a great time. It was a pizza party, so I took extra pizza pancakes for The Little Man and he had so much fun, he never stopped to eat. I, on the other hand, was freezing so after about an hour of Family Fun Night I was ready to head out. I was losing the battle of leaving until the Little Man decided that he would try and jump off the top of the jungle gym (about 10-12 feet off the ground). My shrill screaming put a damper on the rest of his Family Fun Night so we were able to depart at that time.
Our next stop was to a "Madness" sale at my favorite local nursery. The kids were excited to see what the "Madness" was all about. Although it was about 50 "Senior Citizens" all vying for the free margaritas (yes, they had free margaritas at the nursery which was the highlight of my evening), the kids still had a good time. There were chips and salsa, a fire outside and a guy singing Jimmy Buffet while playing a steel drum. It's easy to impress preschoolers, especially if the 2 year old gets to play the steel drum. I did manage to get 2 free margaritas and a great deal on some Boston ferns for the front porch. 4 ferns for $40.00 is "madness" considering I paid $25.00 each for them last year. I think the "Madness " sale will be an annual tradition at our house. Keep in mind this is Ohio and considering it was 46 degrees here for the better part of the day (it just warmed up to 61 degrees at 7:14 pm - a front must have come through), the ferns are hanging in my basement so they don't get too frosty.
Other than that the weekend has been relaxing so far. I'm getting caught up on laundry and trying to get caught up on rest.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. It's supposed to be 70 degrees here tomorrow so hopefully the kids will get outside and burn off some energy!
The sky and how it looked for Family Fun Night:
Ferns in my basement (they scare the heck out of me everytime I do down there):
Our next stop was to a "Madness" sale at my favorite local nursery. The kids were excited to see what the "Madness" was all about. Although it was about 50 "Senior Citizens" all vying for the free margaritas (yes, they had free margaritas at the nursery which was the highlight of my evening), the kids still had a good time. There were chips and salsa, a fire outside and a guy singing Jimmy Buffet while playing a steel drum. It's easy to impress preschoolers, especially if the 2 year old gets to play the steel drum. I did manage to get 2 free margaritas and a great deal on some Boston ferns for the front porch. 4 ferns for $40.00 is "madness" considering I paid $25.00 each for them last year. I think the "Madness " sale will be an annual tradition at our house. Keep in mind this is Ohio and considering it was 46 degrees here for the better part of the day (it just warmed up to 61 degrees at 7:14 pm - a front must have come through), the ferns are hanging in my basement so they don't get too frosty.
Other than that the weekend has been relaxing so far. I'm getting caught up on laundry and trying to get caught up on rest.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. It's supposed to be 70 degrees here tomorrow so hopefully the kids will get outside and burn off some energy!
The sky and how it looked for Family Fun Night:
Ferns in my basement (they scare the heck out of me everytime I do down there):
Labels: Friday, madness sale
Photo Scavenger Hunt
Hi all, this weeks theme is "RARE":
It is RARE that my youngest son just suddenly falls asleep while playing.
Grandma babysat that day and said " he just didn't need a nap today ". I guess he really did.
Visit www.tnchick.com to participate in the hunt
Labels: photo scavenger hunt
Friday, April 27, 2007
Favorite Ingredient Friday (Baked Ziti)
Baked Ziti: from MayoClinic.com
SERVES 2
Ingredients
1. 2/3 cup uncooked ziti (about 2 ounces) - For gluten free use Tinkyada Pasta Joy Penne Pasta
2. 1 can (14 ounces) low-sodium tomatoes, drained (reserve 1/2 cup of the juice)
3. 1/2 cup sliced carrots
4. 1 cup chopped broccoli
5. 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
6. 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
7. 2 garlic cloves, minced
8. 1 teaspoon dried basil
9. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
10. 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
11. 1/2 cup reduced-fat mozzarella cheese (Omit for dairy free)
12. 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (Omit for dairy free)
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly coat a baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Fill a large pot 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente (tender)/If using Gluten Free Pasta under cook because gluten free pasta tends to get mushy. It will finish cooking while baking, 10 to 12 minutes, or according to the package directions. Drain the pasta thoroughly.
3. In a nonstick frying pan over medium heat, add the reserved juice from the canned tomatoes. 4. Stir in the carrots, broccoli and green pepper. Saute the vegetables until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, basil, oregano and black pepper to the vegetable mixture.
5. Cook over low heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a large bowl. Add the cooked pasta and mozzarella cheese(omit for dairy free version). Toss gently to mix.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese(omit for dairy free version).
8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the mixture is hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil after 15 minutes.
9. Divide the pasta among warmed individual bowls. Serve immediately.
Labels: Favorite Ingredient Friday
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Some New Recipes
Most of today was spent in the kitchen. I made my usual banana bread, and then I tried 2 new recipes. Both were big hits with the whole family.
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies: from Spark People
I had to tweak the recipe a bit. We can't use peanut butter, so I subbed soy nut butter. We also can't use eggs, so I used Ener-G egg replacer instead. Because the kids aren't on a diet and because, well, they're kids, I increased the amount of sugar too. I'll post the original recipe and put my substitutions in parenthesis.
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter (1 Cup of Soy Nut Butter)
2. 1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar [packed] (3/4 Cup of brown sugar - packed)
3. 1/4 cup egg substitute [such as Egg Beaters brand] - (2 Eggs Worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer Prepared)
4. 1/2 tsp (gluten free) vanilla extract
5. 40 pieces semisweet chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate candies (sprinkle in as much Enjoy Life or other safe brand Chocolate Chips as desired)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with canola oil (or use parchment paper).
2. In a medium size mixing bowl, place the peanut/soy nut butter, brown sugar, egg substitute, and vanilla extract.
3. Stir together well.
4. Using a small scoop, equal to about a rounded measuring teaspoon, drop cookie dough on the prepared cookie sheet.
5. Take a fork and make a criss-cross pattern on each cookie. Add one mini chocolate chip or mini chocolate candy to the top of each cookie.
6. Bake approximately 8 or 9 minutes or until cookie is lightly browned on bottom.
7. Remove cookie sheet from oven and let rest on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before removing cookies to rack to continue cooling. Makes approximately 40 tiny cookies.
Pizza Pancakes: from Angela's Kitchen
1. 1 Cup Garbanzo and Fava Flour
2. 1/2 Cup Brown rice flour
3. 1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
4. 4 teaspoons baking powder
5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
7. 2 Tbs. Italian seasoning
8. 2 cups GFCF milk substitute (ie: soy, rice, etc.)
9. 2 eggs worth of Ener-G egg replacer, prepared
10. 4 Tablespoons oil
11. 1/2 cup GFCF pepperoni, ham, or sausage, diced
12. 1/2 cup chopped plum tomatoes (I used drained canned tomatoes)
13. 1/4 cup chopped black olives
14. Jar of pizza or spaghetti sauce, warmed, for dipping
Directions:
1. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Mix the wet ingredients (GFCF milk substitute, egg replacer, and oil) together until blended then add to the dry ingredients.
3. Stir until blended together. There will still be some lumps, but try not to have too many.
4. Stir in pizza toppings, except the sauce.
5. Cook 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake in a preheated lightly oiled pan as you would regular pancakes, flipping pancake over when there are bubbles on the surface and the bottom is golden brown.
6. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.
These pancakes were a huge hit!! The kids ate them up (The Little Man ate 5). My hubby thought it was a bit odd until he tasted them, then he became a fan too. These are a definite keeper.
Now I must go clean up the kitchen. It is a disaster!
***Added to say: Anyone interested in the normal Pizza Pancake recipe can go
HERE.
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies: from Spark People
I had to tweak the recipe a bit. We can't use peanut butter, so I subbed soy nut butter. We also can't use eggs, so I used Ener-G egg replacer instead. Because the kids aren't on a diet and because, well, they're kids, I increased the amount of sugar too. I'll post the original recipe and put my substitutions in parenthesis.
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter (1 Cup of Soy Nut Butter)
2. 1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar [packed] (3/4 Cup of brown sugar - packed)
3. 1/4 cup egg substitute [such as Egg Beaters brand] - (2 Eggs Worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer Prepared)
4. 1/2 tsp (gluten free) vanilla extract
5. 40 pieces semisweet chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate candies (sprinkle in as much Enjoy Life or other safe brand Chocolate Chips as desired)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with canola oil (or use parchment paper).
2. In a medium size mixing bowl, place the peanut/soy nut butter, brown sugar, egg substitute, and vanilla extract.
3. Stir together well.
4. Using a small scoop, equal to about a rounded measuring teaspoon, drop cookie dough on the prepared cookie sheet.
5. Take a fork and make a criss-cross pattern on each cookie. Add one mini chocolate chip or mini chocolate candy to the top of each cookie.
6. Bake approximately 8 or 9 minutes or until cookie is lightly browned on bottom.
7. Remove cookie sheet from oven and let rest on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before removing cookies to rack to continue cooling. Makes approximately 40 tiny cookies.
Pizza Pancakes: from Angela's Kitchen
1. 1 Cup Garbanzo and Fava Flour
2. 1/2 Cup Brown rice flour
3. 1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
4. 4 teaspoons baking powder
5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
7. 2 Tbs. Italian seasoning
8. 2 cups GFCF milk substitute (ie: soy, rice, etc.)
9. 2 eggs worth of Ener-G egg replacer, prepared
10. 4 Tablespoons oil
11. 1/2 cup GFCF pepperoni, ham, or sausage, diced
12. 1/2 cup chopped plum tomatoes (I used drained canned tomatoes)
13. 1/4 cup chopped black olives
14. Jar of pizza or spaghetti sauce, warmed, for dipping
Directions:
1. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Mix the wet ingredients (GFCF milk substitute, egg replacer, and oil) together until blended then add to the dry ingredients.
3. Stir until blended together. There will still be some lumps, but try not to have too many.
4. Stir in pizza toppings, except the sauce.
5. Cook 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake in a preheated lightly oiled pan as you would regular pancakes, flipping pancake over when there are bubbles on the surface and the bottom is golden brown.
6. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.
These pancakes were a huge hit!! The kids ate them up (The Little Man ate 5). My hubby thought it was a bit odd until he tasted them, then he became a fan too. These are a definite keeper.
Now I must go clean up the kitchen. It is a disaster!
***Added to say: Anyone interested in the normal Pizza Pancake recipe can go
HERE.
Labels: cookies, pizza pancakes
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
I've Been Critiqued
I saw that several blogs that I read were critiqued by Bill at Critique My Blog. I was hesitant to do this, because a. I'm not a writer b. I'm a mom blog c. I write about mundane things like cleaning, cooking, and throw up and it's not like my blog is really exciting or thought provoking. But I threw caution to the wind and sent Bill an e-mail and this is what he had to say:
Another well organized blog with lots of quality content! I'll never cease to be amazed of how fantastic some of these blogs are and how much time and energy goes into them. Perfect example is this one where the blogger clearly loves her family and with little ones involved you can always count on endless amounts of material to write about. Pictures and writing that keep your interest is what a blog should be about. Nice work and keep it coming!
Not bad! Thanks Bill for the kind words. Hopefully I can live up to them.
Another well organized blog with lots of quality content! I'll never cease to be amazed of how fantastic some of these blogs are and how much time and energy goes into them. Perfect example is this one where the blogger clearly loves her family and with little ones involved you can always count on endless amounts of material to write about. Pictures and writing that keep your interest is what a blog should be about. Nice work and keep it coming!
Not bad! Thanks Bill for the kind words. Hopefully I can live up to them.
Labels: critique
Show Me Your Handbag
I was tagged by Laura to show you my handbag. I'm the typical "mom". I don't carry a handbag. I carry a diaper bag. There is just too much stuff to put in a purse/handbag and most of it is messy. At the Kindergarten screening the other day, most of the ladies had these gorgeous Louis Vuitton or Channel purses and my bright blue Vera Bradley stuck out like a sore thumb :) But it's practical, it works, and it's washable (try throwing a Channel in the washer when a sippy cup leaks or Glutino pretzels are all over the bottom). Here's my pictures:
The bag:
It has 6 pockets on the sides of the inside to hold my things (EPI pen and Benadryl shown):
3 little pockets on the front and I usually slip my cell in one of those:
I bought the matching wallet with strap so if I go anywhere without the kids, I can just take that:
OK, that's it. It's functional (and in my opinion kind of cute).
So I'll tag Sue, Michelle, and I'll leave it open to anyone else who wants to join in.
The bag:
It has 6 pockets on the sides of the inside to hold my things (EPI pen and Benadryl shown):
3 little pockets on the front and I usually slip my cell in one of those:
I bought the matching wallet with strap so if I go anywhere without the kids, I can just take that:
OK, that's it. It's functional (and in my opinion kind of cute).
So I'll tag Sue, Michelle, and I'll leave it open to anyone else who wants to join in.
Labels: handbag
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sometimes It's Necessary To Take It On The Road
The kids woke up this morning and the day started off on a bad foot. There was crying and fighting and screaming and it wasn't even 7:30 am yet. The Older Boy was already in Time Out twice and the Little One had made his first appearance in the Time Out corner and at that point I knew that staying home today was just not going to work. So we packed it up and headed to the zoo. It was a beautiful day here, about 60 degrees F and sunny so what better place to take two unruly animals than the zoo. We have a zoo pass so the only thing I have to pay for is the Older Boys lunch (obviously we have to pack for the Little Man. Not much in the way of allergy friendly food at the zoo). We had a really good day. The boys had fun and I got to walk around for 3 hours (lots of exercise). We have a beautiful zoo and we always enjoy going there. Now that we're home, of course the bad behavior has started back up again. Only 3.5 more hours until bed time.
One of the Koala's had a baby. Isn't it the cutest little guy?
The wildest animals at the zoo:
One of the Koala's had a baby. Isn't it the cutest little guy?
The wildest animals at the zoo:
Labels: zoo
Kabobs and Some Awesome Nachos
Over the weekend I wanted to use the grill. The temperatures finally had gotten into the 70's and there is nothing better than puttin' the grill on. The food tastes yummy and the clean up is a snap. Saturday I made kabobs (chicken and beef)From this recipe, but I added This to it too. It kicked it up a little and gave it a real nice flavor and mixed it up a little. Very tasty!
On Sunday, I just did hamburgers and hot dogs (and veggie burgers for me) on the grill. I've been dying to try this nacho recipe. It was really good and I could have made a meal out of it by itself.
Nachos Fabuloso from Gluten Free Goddess. I made 2 versions of these. One for myself and hubby with the cheese and jalepenos and one for the kids sans cheese and jalepenos. Both were good.
On Sunday, I just did hamburgers and hot dogs (and veggie burgers for me) on the grill. I've been dying to try this nacho recipe. It was really good and I could have made a meal out of it by itself.
Nachos Fabuloso from Gluten Free Goddess. I made 2 versions of these. One for myself and hubby with the cheese and jalepenos and one for the kids sans cheese and jalepenos. Both were good.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Life Is Wonderful
Labels: Jason Mraz
Oh Look, An Actual Post and Tackle It Tuesday Rolled Into One
After this post, I'm heading to bed. I'm so tired. The kindergarten assessment went fine, I guess. I don't know because I wasn't really there. I was sequestered in a basement filling out inane paperwork for "volunteer" work (volunteer: a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking. Yeah, I didn't really get the whole "voluntarily" feeling here). Apparently I'll get a phone call to let me know how it went. Hmmm, just what every parent wants to wait for. Everyone seemed very nice. Do you sense apprehension?
This weekend was busy, but good. Saturday started off lovely with the Little Man throwing up. Luckily it was a one time thing. One of the problems with kids with food allergies is that things that seem normal to most parents never seem normal to "allergy parents". Throwing up: Could he have eaten something he shouldn't have and is he having a reaction? This question is asked when: 1. The child sneezes more than once. 2. His nose runs in an excessive manner 3. Skin takes on a red hue 4. Vomiting 5. Abnormal bowl movements 6. Odd dry coughing fits. Yes, we are hyper sensitive. Luckily on Saturday, he woke up saying that his tummy hurt. He hadn't eaten anything, so it couldn't have been food. Had it have been, say, noon, I'd have pumped him with Benadryl and sat staring at him for at least an hour to make sure no other symptoms popped up. But he said his tummy hurt, it only happened once, then he ran around like a nut for the rest of the day, so I guess it was just "one of those things".
We weeded and I was finally able to trim back all of my perennials. My azaleas are a sad lot. Last year the tree trimmer told me to pull them all out and replace them (but I forget why, but I think he said major scale infestation beyond repair). 2 were completely dead so I replaced those. I'm trying to save the last 4, but we'll see.
Picture of the old dead ones in the compost pile:
Picture of the new ones (that aren't the right color purple, but at this point, who cares?):
A picture of one of the other ones with the scale:
Hey, some bulbs are finally coming in:
We tried to teach the older boy to ride his bike without training wheels. Apparently this is going to be an ongoing process:
(Look the crazy lady has the camera again)
Keep pedaling:
Oh, road rash:
It's OK, walk it off:
Now for the photo frames that are part of my " 30 day organization challenge".
blank wall:
We ran out of time, and these still need to be hung. This is my hubby's grandfathers high school diploma and an old family photo from the early 1900's:
Just to let you know how dedicated I am to Tackle It Tuesday, this "raptor" kept circling my head ready to dive bomb me as I was trying to tack pictures of the azaleas:
Then there were the ANTS. The weather is nicer so the ants need to come inside now. They come inside the coat closet, so I had to take care of that nastiness too (I hate insects). But I'm done for now. And I'm going to bed. Goodnight fellow tacklers.
I'll post about the yummy recipes tomorrow. One is a rub and one belongs to
Gluten Free Goddess. Sweet dreams all!
Labels: 30 day org challenge, plants, Tackle it Tuesday
No, I Haven't Given Up Blogging
I've just been butt bustin' busy. Oh, my what a weekend! We did some yard work (weeding, cutting back old plants, etc), I went to 3 different nurseries to find the right color purple azaleas to replace the 2 dead ones (and still bought the wrong ones), tried to figure out what's killing the other 4 azaleas (I think it's scale), hung the picture frames (and then some), cleaned up throw up (had to add that in there), made 2 totally delicious meals (will share recipes later), played with children outside because the weather was gorgeous, went to church (must thank God for my wonderful life) and did a boat load of laundry. Today I have the older boys Kindergarten assessment, but when I return, I will actually write a real post, I promise.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Photo Scavenger Hunt
I know I'm really early and it's only Friday, but it's finally in the 60's here and tomorrow is "yard work" day, so I won't have time to post. So here is this weeks photo scavenger hunt.
This weeks theme is "STEPS":
Baby's first steps:
Our deck steps (oh, so exciting I know):
Visit www.tnchick.com to participate or see next weeks theme.
Labels: photo scavenger hunt
Beware: There's Fish In Your O.J.
This probably isn't a big deal unless you're allergic to fish. Although I have to tell you, for me it's less than appetizing. We've been staying away from Minute Maid orange juice, which used to be our brand of choice, because they make a Heartwise O.J. that contains plant sterols from the peanut plant. So we switched to Tropicana. Today I noticed they have a new Healthy Heart with Omega 3 O.J. and I thought great, what's in that? Well, it's fish. So if you have an allergy to fish, beware.
You can check it out here:Here. We are avoiding fish for my son, so that cancels out Tropicana for us too. So here we come, Florida's Natural. Wonder what they'll start adding to theirs....
For more info on the Minute Maid with plant sterols Click Here
You can check it out here:Here. We are avoiding fish for my son, so that cancels out Tropicana for us too. So here we come, Florida's Natural. Wonder what they'll start adding to theirs....
For more info on the Minute Maid with plant sterols Click Here
Labels: Orange Juice
This Is My Lucky Day
Update on:
I decided to take one more look at the camera. I had it in it's box with all paperwork and cables nestled nicely in place ready to go. To go where, I wasn't sure. There is a sticker on the box from Circuit City that said "14 day return policy, see back of receipt". Well, I was going to take it there tomorrow anyway and play dumb and see if they'd exchange it (maybe I could cry or something). Otherwise, I'd have to ship it off to Illinois to some service center to have it fixed and probably wait 3-4 months to get it back. Whatever happened to returning broken merchandise to the place you bought it? Now, no one wants it back, they just want you to take it somewhere else. Like this tractor we bought at Lowe's. It broke a month after we bought it (the front tire came flying off while my hubby using it) and Lowe's said "Not our problem, call MTD". Not even a "Sorry". I think they were laughing at us and calling us names behind our backs too. So we called MTD and they said "well, we only make them, not fix them so you'll have to call your local Ace Hardware because they are our authorized repair people". We called them and they charged a fee for everything and we fought with them most of the summer to get it fixed and returned. For the 3 years we had it, we actually paid for it twice with the amount we spent in repairs and I fought with that Ace Hardware more than I care to remember. But I've gotten off track here haven't I.....
I plugged the camera in one more time and it worked. Don't know how or why, or why it wouldn't for the last 3 days, but maybe the camera gremlins are gone and it will be ok now. I hope so. The e-mail gremlins are still here, but I can get around those. Wanna bet our computer blows up in the next week or two?
Here are the picture of the baskets I bought to complete the closet organization for the 30 day challenge:
The baskets are wire like the closet shelves and they clip on underneath. I have a lot of space between the last shelve and the floor, but I don't want to store linens on the floor for fear of mice (we only had one, but one is enough).
Another view:
You can clip 2 baskets to each other, so technically I can have 4 baskets down there if I need to:
Here are the frames:
And the scrap book:
So I'm moving along. Slowly, but surely. Hopefully if all goes well the frames will get hung this weekend.
Oh, and just because they're pretty, some flowers I bought today:
Have a wonderful weekend!
I decided to take one more look at the camera. I had it in it's box with all paperwork and cables nestled nicely in place ready to go. To go where, I wasn't sure. There is a sticker on the box from Circuit City that said "14 day return policy, see back of receipt". Well, I was going to take it there tomorrow anyway and play dumb and see if they'd exchange it (maybe I could cry or something). Otherwise, I'd have to ship it off to Illinois to some service center to have it fixed and probably wait 3-4 months to get it back. Whatever happened to returning broken merchandise to the place you bought it? Now, no one wants it back, they just want you to take it somewhere else. Like this tractor we bought at Lowe's. It broke a month after we bought it (the front tire came flying off while my hubby using it) and Lowe's said "Not our problem, call MTD". Not even a "Sorry". I think they were laughing at us and calling us names behind our backs too. So we called MTD and they said "well, we only make them, not fix them so you'll have to call your local Ace Hardware because they are our authorized repair people". We called them and they charged a fee for everything and we fought with them most of the summer to get it fixed and returned. For the 3 years we had it, we actually paid for it twice with the amount we spent in repairs and I fought with that Ace Hardware more than I care to remember. But I've gotten off track here haven't I.....
I plugged the camera in one more time and it worked. Don't know how or why, or why it wouldn't for the last 3 days, but maybe the camera gremlins are gone and it will be ok now. I hope so. The e-mail gremlins are still here, but I can get around those. Wanna bet our computer blows up in the next week or two?
Here are the picture of the baskets I bought to complete the closet organization for the 30 day challenge:
The baskets are wire like the closet shelves and they clip on underneath. I have a lot of space between the last shelve and the floor, but I don't want to store linens on the floor for fear of mice (we only had one, but one is enough).
Another view:
You can clip 2 baskets to each other, so technically I can have 4 baskets down there if I need to:
Here are the frames:
And the scrap book:
So I'm moving along. Slowly, but surely. Hopefully if all goes well the frames will get hung this weekend.
Oh, and just because they're pretty, some flowers I bought today:
Have a wonderful weekend!
Labels: 30 day org challenge, camera
Favorite Ingredient Friday (Vegetarian Edition)
As someone who once was vegetarian, this one is right up my alley. I am still not a big meat eater, but I will eat chicken and I actually ate beef on Easter (not much beef, but I haven't eaten beef since I was a teenager). There are actually several categories of vegetarian.
Vegan: NO animal products (nothing with cheese, egg, milk, etc). Most Vegans also refuse to wear leather, wool or silk
Lacto Vegetarian: will include milk into their diet
Ovo-Lacto: Include milk and eggs in there plant based diet (this was my diet)
Pesco Vegetarian - includes fish into their plant based diet
Pollo-Vegetarian - includes chicken, turkey and duck (I have a hard time thinking of this as vegetarian)
(all recipes are safe for my sons allergies when proper substitutions are made - wheat, rye, barley, egg, milk, peanut: please check to make sure that ingredients are safe for your own)
Southwestern Vegetarian Pasta:(www.allrecipes.com)
INGREDIENTS
1. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2. 1 onion, chopped
3. 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
4. 2 cloves garlic, chopped
5. 2 tablespoons chili powder
6. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
7. 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
8. 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas
9. 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn kernels, thawed
10. 1 (12 ounce) package uncooked elbow macaroni or gluten free pasta
11. 1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (omit for dairy free version)
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet. Saute onion, green pepper, garlic, chili powder and cumin. Stir in tomatoes, chickpeas and corn. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until thickened and heated through.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni or gluten free pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. Combine pasta and sauce. Sprinkle each serving with Monterrey Jack cheese (omit for dairy free version)
Vegan Spinach Frittata (www.sparkpeople.com)
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup raw spinach
2. 4.5 ounces silken, extra firm tofu
3. 2 Tbsp. fat-free soymilk
4. 1.5 tsp vegan egg replacer (such as Ener-G brand)
5. 1/4 tsp fresh thyme, crushed
6. Dash each of sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a small baking dish with olive oil or no stick spray and set aside.
2. Clean spinach and steam lightly (about 3-5 minutes).
3. Mash tofu in a small mixing bowl.
4. Add thyme, salt and pepper and mix well.
5. Sprinkle egg replacer over mixture and mix well.
6. Add soymilk and stir well.
7. Add steamed spinach and stir evenly.
8. Place mixture into prepared oven dish, spread evenly.
9. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden on top.
Serve with hot toast.
Visit www.overwhelmedwithjoy.blogspot.com for more Favorite Ingredient Friday recipes.
Labels: Favorite Ingredient Friday
Thursday, April 19, 2007
I'm Tired
I think that pretty much says it all.
I took the boys to my moms this morning so that I could go and get my grays colored. I'm happy to report that my hair is a lovely shade of dark blond again (minus any gray roots peeking through). After that I headed on over to JC Penney to pick up the older boys pictures from a few weeks ago and a new pair of dress shoes for hubby. Then off to Michael's to pick up some frames for the new pictures and this is also part of my "30 Day Organizational Challenge" hosted by Laura. Michael's has decent frames for a reasonable price. I didn't get ALL the frames but I got 5 and it's a start. I also picked up a cute scrap book so I have a place to put all of the pictures that I decide not to put back on the walls. Then my next stop was the gas station (exciting I know) and lastly Home Depot where I did manage to find the hinge for the broken jewelery box (and it only cost $3.77) and I picked up the remainder of the organizational items for the linen closet that I started last week. And I couldn't resist buying one of those laser leveling devices so that my pictures will be hung straight. I still can't get my camera to work, but I'll post pictures for Laura tomorrow with the old camera.
Blog news:
Andria gave birth this morning to a healthy baby girl. Mom and baby are doing fine. Go on over and give congratulations.
Heather's love fest was amazing. God bless her and her family.
Happy Friday everyone!
I took the boys to my moms this morning so that I could go and get my grays colored. I'm happy to report that my hair is a lovely shade of dark blond again (minus any gray roots peeking through). After that I headed on over to JC Penney to pick up the older boys pictures from a few weeks ago and a new pair of dress shoes for hubby. Then off to Michael's to pick up some frames for the new pictures and this is also part of my "30 Day Organizational Challenge" hosted by Laura. Michael's has decent frames for a reasonable price. I didn't get ALL the frames but I got 5 and it's a start. I also picked up a cute scrap book so I have a place to put all of the pictures that I decide not to put back on the walls. Then my next stop was the gas station (exciting I know) and lastly Home Depot where I did manage to find the hinge for the broken jewelery box (and it only cost $3.77) and I picked up the remainder of the organizational items for the linen closet that I started last week. And I couldn't resist buying one of those laser leveling devices so that my pictures will be hung straight. I still can't get my camera to work, but I'll post pictures for Laura tomorrow with the old camera.
Blog news:
Andria gave birth this morning to a healthy baby girl. Mom and baby are doing fine. Go on over and give congratulations.
Heather's love fest was amazing. God bless her and her family.
Happy Friday everyone!
Labels: gray hair, organizing, shopping
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
It's Been One Of Those Days
But it could have been worse. Much worse.
The day started off this morning with my e-mail not working. I tried to fix it, but I think I made things worse. After I brought the boys home from school, I called our provider, but they said it wasn't on their end, and I would have to call Microsoft. I called Microsoft, but they wanted to charge me $59.00 to help me and the gentleman on the other end of the phone had an accent I didn't understand, so I opted to keep working on it myself. It's working again. For now.
Our chest of drawers in our bedroom has a jewelery box built in the top and one of the hinges is bent and it is cutting into the wood and doesn't go up properly. It hasn't worked right for a while, but it's gotten progressively worse. The furniture manufacturer will only speak with dealers, so I called the store where we bought it today. Since it's out of warranty, they gave me the number of a technician who will come out and take a look at it for a fee. I refuse to pay for a "Technician" to fix a hinge, so I'll be heading to Home Depot tomorrow to see what I can do.
My camera is still not working, so I'll be heading to Circuit City tomorrow too. Hopefully we can get it taken care of without them having to keep it for eons.
The part that could have been bad, really bad, happened at school today. The Little Man had his Mom and Tot class today. He absolutely loves that class. And at the end the teacher gives the kids a snack. Sometimes it's fruit which he can eat, but most of the time it's something he's allergic to and I bring him a safe snack. All the kids (all kids are 2-2.5 years old) sit at a table and get their hands stamped and then she hands out the snack and they usually start eating it and we leave a few minutes after that. Today's snack was Cheez-its and I brought Glutino pretzels for The Little Man. He was curious about the crackers, but happy with his pretzels. Then I saw him bend down under the table. I was standing right behind him ready to pounce at the hint of trouble so I went into action. But as fast as I was, he was faster. Whatever he picked up off the floor went into his mouth before I could stop it. He already had so many pretzels in there, there was no way for me to dig out the other item because I couldn't even find it. Now he usually doesn't do things like this, unless he himself drops the food. We always correct him and try and take it away and tell him we don't pick food up off the floor. He's usually not a scavenger so I prayed very hard that what he picked up was his own dropped pretzel. And it must have been, because he didn't have any kind of reaction. BUT my comfort level for preschool next year has been shaken to the core (and let's face it, it really wasn't that great to begin with). I AM TERRIFIED! To say the very least. I already have a 3 ring binder full of questions, an emergency action plan, and a to do list ready to go for our yearly allergist appointment in May. We've been steadily talking to him about his allergies, and not eating anything that we don't give him, but he's 2 (he'll be 3 at the time of school). Is a 3 year old able to handle this? Are the teachers? Am I? I don't know.
I do know that at the library today we rented BINKY GOES NUTS about Arthur's friend Binky who has a peanut allergy and I am making the kids watch it every day and we will have open dialog every day. I'll probably need to be medicated on the first day of preschool.
The day started off this morning with my e-mail not working. I tried to fix it, but I think I made things worse. After I brought the boys home from school, I called our provider, but they said it wasn't on their end, and I would have to call Microsoft. I called Microsoft, but they wanted to charge me $59.00 to help me and the gentleman on the other end of the phone had an accent I didn't understand, so I opted to keep working on it myself. It's working again. For now.
Our chest of drawers in our bedroom has a jewelery box built in the top and one of the hinges is bent and it is cutting into the wood and doesn't go up properly. It hasn't worked right for a while, but it's gotten progressively worse. The furniture manufacturer will only speak with dealers, so I called the store where we bought it today. Since it's out of warranty, they gave me the number of a technician who will come out and take a look at it for a fee. I refuse to pay for a "Technician" to fix a hinge, so I'll be heading to Home Depot tomorrow to see what I can do.
My camera is still not working, so I'll be heading to Circuit City tomorrow too. Hopefully we can get it taken care of without them having to keep it for eons.
The part that could have been bad, really bad, happened at school today. The Little Man had his Mom and Tot class today. He absolutely loves that class. And at the end the teacher gives the kids a snack. Sometimes it's fruit which he can eat, but most of the time it's something he's allergic to and I bring him a safe snack. All the kids (all kids are 2-2.5 years old) sit at a table and get their hands stamped and then she hands out the snack and they usually start eating it and we leave a few minutes after that. Today's snack was Cheez-its and I brought Glutino pretzels for The Little Man. He was curious about the crackers, but happy with his pretzels. Then I saw him bend down under the table. I was standing right behind him ready to pounce at the hint of trouble so I went into action. But as fast as I was, he was faster. Whatever he picked up off the floor went into his mouth before I could stop it. He already had so many pretzels in there, there was no way for me to dig out the other item because I couldn't even find it. Now he usually doesn't do things like this, unless he himself drops the food. We always correct him and try and take it away and tell him we don't pick food up off the floor. He's usually not a scavenger so I prayed very hard that what he picked up was his own dropped pretzel. And it must have been, because he didn't have any kind of reaction. BUT my comfort level for preschool next year has been shaken to the core (and let's face it, it really wasn't that great to begin with). I AM TERRIFIED! To say the very least. I already have a 3 ring binder full of questions, an emergency action plan, and a to do list ready to go for our yearly allergist appointment in May. We've been steadily talking to him about his allergies, and not eating anything that we don't give him, but he's 2 (he'll be 3 at the time of school). Is a 3 year old able to handle this? Are the teachers? Am I? I don't know.
I do know that at the library today we rented BINKY GOES NUTS about Arthur's friend Binky who has a peanut allergy and I am making the kids watch it every day and we will have open dialog every day. I'll probably need to be medicated on the first day of preschool.
Labels: Binky Goes Nuts, broken stuff, Food Allergies
On Your Mark, Get Set...
GO! Go on over that is and give a little love to Heather today. Click HERE to head on over to BooMama's and donate via PayPal or to leave a comment of encouragement. You can also read Heathers story. Whatever you do today, please keep Heather in your thoughts and say a prayer for her and her family.
Labels: Heather, Internet love
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Tackle It Tuesday
Or as it's know in our house today: The "Day the You-Know-What" Hit The Fan.
I've taken pictures of the thing that started the whole snowball effect, but now I can't seem to down load anything from my camera.
Basically what happened was: The kids were acting crazy as usual. They were also destroying the house as usual. It was really getting on my nerves (as usual). Then my 5 year old decided to use the plastic lid from one of the toy bins as a spring board to launch himself from the step in the kitchen into the family room. Not a big step mind you, but enough that he landed on his face, smashing his new glasses. That's when I lost it. The house was a disaster, the kids were crazed and now we had bent glasses. We are lucky that the glasses are the only things that were broken. That's when it happened. I went off the deep end and started screaming like a crazy woman. The 5 year old is grounded in his room for the whole day and the little guy better tow the line or he's in trouble too.
I really didn't plan on doing a Tackle It Tuesday today. I'm tired and I really didn't feel motivated to actually do anything. But after the whole "disaster house" and "unruly children" incident I decided that the first thing that needed to get done was to Tackle the toys....AGAIN. I swear I do this every few weeks. It's like they multiply at night while we're sleeping. I think part of the problem is that for some reason Easter has become Christmas. We used to get candy and maybe a stuffed animal or one toy. Kids today get TOYS (plural). It's crazy. It's Easter, let's give them toys. Someone comes to visit. Bring them toys. Same person comes a month later, more toys. I swear from now on that if anything comes in this house, it means something must leave.
So I spent the better part of the day rooting through the toys again and pulling things I don't see them play with and packing it up to be donated. I also moved a bunch of stuff from upstairs on the main level to the basement. If there is less stuff for them to scatter about then there is less stuff for me to pick up. If they want to play with something that is downstairs, I'll be happy to get it, but then they better pick it up and put it away when they are done.
And may all that is holy help the person who lets them play in the basement without picking it up when they are done. I'm tired of being the only person who goes down there and straightens up.
So the toys on the main level have been lessened. Then if I'm going to be calling for Purple Hearts to come and make a pick up of donated items I should go through more stuff. So next is the spare bedroom which is part of my 30 day organizational challenge. There was a large bag of stuffed animals in there that needed sorted. So the kids and I went through and decided which ones we were keeping and which ones we were donating. I'm also planning on having a yard sale when the weather warms up (if it ever warms up) so I went through some of the baby clothes today to see which I was going to try and sell and which were going straight to donation. We have quite a few bags of things going to donation. I know if I look hard enough, I can find more. I'm all about organization and lightening the load right now.
It's funny how one crazy act and some bent glasses started all of this. Now I have to figure out why my camera won't down load. The last time this happened it was because the Mother Board on the computer was going (Oh don't let it be that again). If I get it fixed, I'll post pictures later. If you don't hear from me for a few weeks, we lost the Mother Board (Oh please, please don't let it be that).
Oh, and the last thing for Tackle It Tuesday. I'm instituting a new rule. Any toy or item that isn't picked up is going into a bin and the owner can't get it back until they A. buy it back or B. perform tasks to get it back. I saw this last week (I think at http://www.orgjunkie.blogspot.com/) and it sounds like a plan that will work to get the masses to start picking up after themselves.
***UPDATE: Still no pictures. The computer just can not find the camera (although it shows the hourglass, so it's trying). I've tried both USB ports, 2 different cables, and I ran the recovery disks (incase it was the computer. The wind caused a brown out yesterday and we have battery back up, but who knows). I don't think it's the computer, I think it's the camera. Equally a bummer. I just got it for Christmas and it was expensive. Guess I'll be heading over to Circuit City on Thursday for an extended part of Tackle It Tuesday. The fun never ends. On a positive note, I did down load our Christmas pictures off the old camera trying to check the USB cables and ports. Only 4 months after Christmas. Yes, I'm totally on top of things.
Labels: Tackle it Tuesday
Monday, April 16, 2007
Please Pray For These People
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Sunday Stuff
After I wrote my scathing post yesterday about the peanut responses, I felt horrible. Not about the post (I still think those people are "nuts" for being angry at a small child), but because I'm coming down with a bug. I ache all over and my head hurts horribly. I spent the better part of the afternoon, from 3 pm until I fell asleep in bed. Good news there is that I was able to watch a whole season of "America's Next Top Model" (obviously there was nothing on TV yesterday). I had so many plans for yesterday and all of them got shelved. No trips to Home Depot. No catching up on laundry. No flank steak for dinner (see Barb for the recipe). Nothing. Today doesn't appear to be much better. I woke up achy and my head still hurts. I think I'll be skipping church this morning (Sorry God, but I don't want to pass this on to the masses), and hopefully as the day wears on I'll feel better. Maybe I can at least get some laundry done. I was hoping to scrap book today, but I don't think that'll happen either. We have a busy week ahead and being sick is not in the forecast for me. I just hope the boys don't get this (hubby either).
I love the responses I got to yesterdays post. Yes, I was angry when I wrote that. I thought about going back in and editing myself, but that is how I was feeling at the time, so I left it. That's me and if you read it, then you read me. Since it's my blog, I guess I don't have to censor myself :) I just want to clarify that I wasn't angry about the "non peanut free school". I was angry at the attitude toward the boy himself. He's six. He didn't ask for an allergy. There is no need for adults to speak about him that way. My son has so many allergies (egg and wheat being his most severe) that I could never ask for a "free" school. Besides, in my opinion, my son needs to learn to advocate for himself and learn how to live in the real world. But maybe that child's allergy prohibits him from doing that. We could at least have compassion.
News from blog land: Don't forget about Heather on Wednesday April 18Th. Donations or Prayers are appreciated.
Kelli could use some prayers right now too. She's going through a difficult time.
And please keep Andria in your prayers. They should be adding a new addition to their family this week.
OK, I think that's it. I've given you a lot to pray about. Sorry to ask for so much. I'll try to keep the requests to a minimum for a while. Have a wonderful and blessed week!
I love the responses I got to yesterdays post. Yes, I was angry when I wrote that. I thought about going back in and editing myself, but that is how I was feeling at the time, so I left it. That's me and if you read it, then you read me. Since it's my blog, I guess I don't have to censor myself :) I just want to clarify that I wasn't angry about the "non peanut free school". I was angry at the attitude toward the boy himself. He's six. He didn't ask for an allergy. There is no need for adults to speak about him that way. My son has so many allergies (egg and wheat being his most severe) that I could never ask for a "free" school. Besides, in my opinion, my son needs to learn to advocate for himself and learn how to live in the real world. But maybe that child's allergy prohibits him from doing that. We could at least have compassion.
News from blog land: Don't forget about Heather on Wednesday April 18Th. Donations or Prayers are appreciated.
Kelli could use some prayers right now too. She's going through a difficult time.
And please keep Andria in your prayers. They should be adding a new addition to their family this week.
OK, I think that's it. I've given you a lot to pray about. Sorry to ask for so much. I'll try to keep the requests to a minimum for a while. Have a wonderful and blessed week!
Labels: blog stuff, Prayers, sunday
Saturday, April 14, 2007
It's A Sad, Sad World
This whole situation hurts my heart. I am not for banning peanuts in school. But then again, at this point my child doesn't appear to have the type of allergy that warrants that type of action. And if he did, I would probably look into alternative schooling. But that being said, not everyone can afford alternative schooling, and every child is entitled to an education. Well apparently not if you live in Connecticut. Here is the article that appeared in Sundays paper:
CONNECTICUT NEWS
Debate Centers On Boy's Peanut Allergy April 8, 2007 By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press
A Connecticut 6-year-old's extreme allergy is pitting concerns about the boy's safety against the right of his schoolmates to enjoy an American classic - a peanut butter sandwich. A nationwide increase in peanut allergies is prompting a debate playing out in his small elementary school in Seymour and across the country. But while some school districts have decided to bar anyone from bringing peanut products to school, Seymour's and others say such rules are unfair to the rest of the students.
"I think more and more people are looking for protection from cradle to grave, and I really don't believe that's what society is all about," said Seymour school board member James Garofolo. "I really don't believe we can protect people ... from all the things out there that may pose harm."Six-year-old Matthew Searles of Seymour is one of an estimated 12 million Americans, including 2 million school-age children, who have potentially life-threatening food allergies. More than 3 million are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts. The only thing they can do to prevent allergic reactions is to avoid foods that pose a hazard. Many who are allergic can have an anaphylactic response, which can create breathing problems by constricting airways. It also can lead to a serious drop in blood pressure, a weak pulse, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Matthew's mother, Lisa Searles, has urged Seymour school officials to ban peanut butter in the schools. She acknowledges the efforts by school officials to protect her first-grader at Anna LoPresti School, but says it's not enough. "My son's allergy is like bringing a loaded gun to school," she said. "I was just very disappointed with the board. I feel they're ignorant. If it was their child who could die, it would be a whole different story."
Now here are some of the responses that the article got. And I am not making these up folks, actual people (and I use the term loosely) made these remarks:
1.
Kate
Cheshire, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"Perhaps if the child is so medically fragile that he cannot be present in a school where peanuts are, he ought to be educated in a different setting - perhaps homeschooled or in a private school.It's a shame he has an allergy, but why make everyone else suffer? I know of parents of children with SERIOUS peanut allergies who adopt the strategy of teaching their child not to share food, and having their child eat away from other children if necessary. Yes, it's scary, but Mom isn't always going to be around to control every aspect of the child's life. When the kid grows up, he'll still be in a world where others have peanut products with them - you can't very well ban peanuts in a large office building. Children with these life-threatening allergies need to learn how to function safely in a world with those allergens. Peanut butter in moderation is a nutritious, inexpensive source of protein, which is important for families who may not have a lot of money to spend on deli meats or expensive alternative nut butters for their kids' school lunches. It is not all about one kid. Perhaps if the parents did their job and taught him about managing his condition rather than avoiding it, this would be a non-issue, as it is for many peanut-allergic children in the US".
2.
Suzie
Bloomfield, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"I agree - when do we say enough? Unless something is harmful to the student body in general, the school has no obligation to do anything about it. If the parents aren't comfortable educating their child in that environment, they have choices. They can look for a private school that guarantees an environment free of the evil peanut. Or, they can exercise the ultimate in control and home-school. No matter how you slice it, though, the child's allergy is the parents' problem. Not that of the public. He's going to need to learn to function in the larger world at some point. Welcome to America - the land of disability and special needs".
3.
Johnny Jazz
“I like the cut of your jib.”
Joined: Feb 24, 2007
Comments: 507
United States
Sunday Apr 8
"The parents should be thanking their lucky stars that the kid wasn't born with (edited for complete ignorance), or no immune system and has to live in a bubble. Perhaps Darwin is gently suggesting to these parents that their genetics don't make for the best combinations, and to lay off making any more children.But that doesn't give them the right to emburden the other parents just because their children possess superior vigor and vitality".
4.
Jim Beam
Prospect, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"Way to go Seymour school board member James Garofolo.....While I recognize that peanut butter allergies can be life threatening it isn't the schools responsibility to make all the other kids conform to some sort rule to benefit one student. In fact if they do and some kids defies the rule who is responsible??It is the parents responsibility to protect their kid and teach him to protect himself.What about the local rec sports teams this kid might be in, are they banning peanut butter? What have the girl and boy scouts done to make sure no peanuts are in any of the fund raising foods this kid might be in contact with?and to G W Carver "Parents can feed their children healthier food than peanut butter which gets 75% of it's calories from fat." Please go away. You do gooders that pervade our society and especially CT are getting tiresome. Rest assured most of us are going to have fun dispite your attempts to regulate our lives".
5.
Tom R
Newington, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"Have to agree with the poster here. What if a child has a bread allergy? No sandwiches of any kind allowed at school? A chicken allergy? No more nuggets? The line must be drawn".
And this was just a random sampling of the comments left and most of them were similar to the ones above although I'd have to say that #3 takes the cake. I don't understand the hate. Have we become that self centered that we are going to spew hate toward a child because our right to eat peanut butter between the hours of 8 am and 3 pm Monday through Friday may be taken away? This is the fight we want to fight? "SAVE THE PEANUT BUTTER". Screw the homeless, the environment, the people dying in Darfur. We want our sandwiches.
My heart hurts.
CONNECTICUT NEWS
Debate Centers On Boy's Peanut Allergy April 8, 2007 By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press
A Connecticut 6-year-old's extreme allergy is pitting concerns about the boy's safety against the right of his schoolmates to enjoy an American classic - a peanut butter sandwich. A nationwide increase in peanut allergies is prompting a debate playing out in his small elementary school in Seymour and across the country. But while some school districts have decided to bar anyone from bringing peanut products to school, Seymour's and others say such rules are unfair to the rest of the students.
"I think more and more people are looking for protection from cradle to grave, and I really don't believe that's what society is all about," said Seymour school board member James Garofolo. "I really don't believe we can protect people ... from all the things out there that may pose harm."Six-year-old Matthew Searles of Seymour is one of an estimated 12 million Americans, including 2 million school-age children, who have potentially life-threatening food allergies. More than 3 million are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts. The only thing they can do to prevent allergic reactions is to avoid foods that pose a hazard. Many who are allergic can have an anaphylactic response, which can create breathing problems by constricting airways. It also can lead to a serious drop in blood pressure, a weak pulse, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Matthew's mother, Lisa Searles, has urged Seymour school officials to ban peanut butter in the schools. She acknowledges the efforts by school officials to protect her first-grader at Anna LoPresti School, but says it's not enough. "My son's allergy is like bringing a loaded gun to school," she said. "I was just very disappointed with the board. I feel they're ignorant. If it was their child who could die, it would be a whole different story."
Now here are some of the responses that the article got. And I am not making these up folks, actual people (and I use the term loosely) made these remarks:
1.
Kate
Cheshire, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"Perhaps if the child is so medically fragile that he cannot be present in a school where peanuts are, he ought to be educated in a different setting - perhaps homeschooled or in a private school.It's a shame he has an allergy, but why make everyone else suffer? I know of parents of children with SERIOUS peanut allergies who adopt the strategy of teaching their child not to share food, and having their child eat away from other children if necessary. Yes, it's scary, but Mom isn't always going to be around to control every aspect of the child's life. When the kid grows up, he'll still be in a world where others have peanut products with them - you can't very well ban peanuts in a large office building. Children with these life-threatening allergies need to learn how to function safely in a world with those allergens. Peanut butter in moderation is a nutritious, inexpensive source of protein, which is important for families who may not have a lot of money to spend on deli meats or expensive alternative nut butters for their kids' school lunches. It is not all about one kid. Perhaps if the parents did their job and taught him about managing his condition rather than avoiding it, this would be a non-issue, as it is for many peanut-allergic children in the US".
2.
Suzie
Bloomfield, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"I agree - when do we say enough? Unless something is harmful to the student body in general, the school has no obligation to do anything about it. If the parents aren't comfortable educating their child in that environment, they have choices. They can look for a private school that guarantees an environment free of the evil peanut. Or, they can exercise the ultimate in control and home-school. No matter how you slice it, though, the child's allergy is the parents' problem. Not that of the public. He's going to need to learn to function in the larger world at some point. Welcome to America - the land of disability and special needs".
3.
Johnny Jazz
“I like the cut of your jib.”
Joined: Feb 24, 2007
Comments: 507
United States
Sunday Apr 8
"The parents should be thanking their lucky stars that the kid wasn't born with (edited for complete ignorance), or no immune system and has to live in a bubble. Perhaps Darwin is gently suggesting to these parents that their genetics don't make for the best combinations, and to lay off making any more children.But that doesn't give them the right to emburden the other parents just because their children possess superior vigor and vitality".
4.
Jim Beam
Prospect, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"Way to go Seymour school board member James Garofolo.....While I recognize that peanut butter allergies can be life threatening it isn't the schools responsibility to make all the other kids conform to some sort rule to benefit one student. In fact if they do and some kids defies the rule who is responsible??It is the parents responsibility to protect their kid and teach him to protect himself.What about the local rec sports teams this kid might be in, are they banning peanut butter? What have the girl and boy scouts done to make sure no peanuts are in any of the fund raising foods this kid might be in contact with?and to G W Carver "Parents can feed their children healthier food than peanut butter which gets 75% of it's calories from fat." Please go away. You do gooders that pervade our society and especially CT are getting tiresome. Rest assured most of us are going to have fun dispite your attempts to regulate our lives".
5.
Tom R
Newington, CT
Sunday Apr 8
"Have to agree with the poster here. What if a child has a bread allergy? No sandwiches of any kind allowed at school? A chicken allergy? No more nuggets? The line must be drawn".
And this was just a random sampling of the comments left and most of them were similar to the ones above although I'd have to say that #3 takes the cake. I don't understand the hate. Have we become that self centered that we are going to spew hate toward a child because our right to eat peanut butter between the hours of 8 am and 3 pm Monday through Friday may be taken away? This is the fight we want to fight? "SAVE THE PEANUT BUTTER". Screw the homeless, the environment, the people dying in Darfur. We want our sandwiches.
My heart hurts.
Labels: Screwed up people
Friday, April 13, 2007
Another Love Fest Hosted By Boo Mama
When I read about Heather this week and all that she is going through I was dumbfounded. How much can one family be asked to endure? Heather is the mother of Emma and she just found out that she herself has a brain tumor. On Wednesday April 18, Boo Mama will be hosting a fund raiser to help Heather defray some of the cost for her trip to the Mayo Clinic at the end of April. Boo Mama has done this once before for Kelli and it was AMAZING the support that the bloggosphere showed. Please stop by Boo Mama's House on Wednesday to show support for Heather. Donations start at $1.00, but if you can't donate money, please offer up a prayer. If you stop by Heather's Blog and read her story, you'll see that the Lord is already at work. For more information, you can click on one of the above links or the button on my sidebar. To add the code for the button to your own blog, just e-mail Boo Mama (or myself since I have it now too) and she'll send it to you.
Labels: Bloggy love, Boo Mama, Heather
OOO! A Contest!
Haley is having a contest and giving away a Coach purse. Yes, my friends, I said A COACH PURSE. And it is so cute (no, I'm not materialistic. Well, maybe a little). Go on over and sign the Mr. Linky and she'll be giving it away on April 30th (her birthday, by the way). So Happy Birthday Haley, and thanks for the contest!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Revolution Health Interview
Last night I had the privilege of participating in an interview/question and answer session with Dr. Clifford Bassett and several Bloggers regarding Allergies and Asthma.
The Bloggers who participated were:
Gluten Free Girl
Allergy Moms
Parenting a Child with Food Allergies
Allergic Girl
Allergizer
Kids With Food Allergies
And Myself
We were moderated by Cindy
Most of the above bloggers can be found on my sidebar and I read them often. It was nice being able to interact with them. The discussion lasted about an hour, and I could have taken up that entire hour and then some with all of my questions and the follow up that I would have liked to do. It was mentioned that we may be able to do this again with Dr. Bassett at another time and I would welcome that opportunity. Here is a list of the questions that I compiled. Some were my own. Some were to clarify things that are often confusing for people when they are first diagnosed or have a child that is first diagnosed with food allergies. Some were from moms from the Baby Center Food Allergy Board, and some were left in comments on my blog. I certainly didn't expect to get them all answered last night. I did get to ask 2 questions and 2 of my other questions from the list were touched on by other bloggers.
1. Because many people/parents I’ve spoken with have been given different definitions, please define anaphylactic reaction for me.
2. When would you say to use the Epi pen over just giving Benadryl to halt a reaction?
3. What is your opinion of the Duke study of using small amounts of peanut protein to desensitize children with peanut allergies? It’s contrary to what we are told regarding total avoidance.
4. Is there any new and promising research out there regarding food allergies that you are aware of?
5. What is your opinion of NAET treatment as it relates to food allergies?
6. If we are following the rule that “total avoidance is the only way to outgrow food allergies”, what affect does accidental exposure, including contact reactions have on outgrowing food allergies?
7. Lately there have been several articles or items in the news regarding avoiding peanuts or peanut butter while pregnant for people with a family history of food allergies or if someone already has a child with food allergies. What is your recommendation to expectant mothers of food allergic children?
8. If you have one child with food allergies, what are the odds of future children having food allergies?
9. Does birth order have anything to do with it? On the BBC FAB, a few moms seem to think that it appears that the allergies become more severe in subsequent children.
10. My son gets RAST tested every year to see where he’s at with his allergies. The son of someone else I know is skin tested every year. Is there a guideline for how frequent tests are preformed and why are some done by blood and others by skin? Why would one be preferred over the other?
11. How do you determine when a food challenge should be performed and what procedures do you follow?
12. Dr. Bassett, I noticed on your blog that you had tips for people traveling with inhalant allergies. Do you have any tips for people traveling with food allergies? (Left on Dr. Bassetts Blog this morning)
13. Since every school differs in their allergy awareness, what do you suggest that parents do to protect food allergic children who are just starting school?
14. It was recently mentioned to me by a mother of a food allergic child that she read a study that said fewer milk and egg allergic children are outgrowing these allergies. Are you finding that to be true and if so in your opinion why do you think that is?
15. What is your position on the new gluten free labeling? Do you have any preference on the Australian or EU standards? Your opinion on the new compounding meds legislation? Are you lobbying on any of these subjects?
16. What is the biggest mistake an asthmatic person or parents of asthmatic children make when it comes to treating asthma?
17. From what you’ve seen, what is the biggest mistake a person with food allergies or parents of food allergic children make?
18. What is the difference between RAD and Asthma?
19. I received a question from a lady today who has a 2 ½ year old son with asthma. They live in Northern Wisconsin (rural) and he is normally fine, but when they travel to visit Grandparents in Southern Wisconsin (city) his asthma flares up. She would like to know what possible things could cause this.
(Questions in red were asked by me, questions in green were touched on by others).
Yes, people I realize these were a lot of questions, and I realize they weren't all going to get answered. These are some of things that concern parents with children who have food allergies. Dr. Bassett did offer to answer questions on his Blog. Of course I've already left him one, but to leave all 20 at one time would be a bit much, even for me.
There will be a link to an audio transcript of lasts night interview and as soon as it's available I'll post it and anyone interested can listen to all of the questions asked and Dr. Bassett's answers. The questions were wide ranging from basic food allergy information, to new studies, to psychological issues of dealing with food allergies/intolerance's, using epinephrine to halt an asthma attack and more.
I'm very grateful to Revolution Health for arranging this discussion. I may not have gotten all of my or your questions answered, but it's a start. Once the ball is rolling, I hope there is a momentum that keeps it going.
Thank you to everyone who participated. And thank you for helping to educate and advocate for people with food allergies and intolerance's.
***UPDATE: ****
Here is the link to the audio transcript: it is 53 minutes and 49 seconds long. I hope you find some helpful information.
Click Here
or click Here and click on the first AUDIO box that you see.
If you have any trouble getting it to work, e-mail me and I'll try and help.
The Bloggers who participated were:
Gluten Free Girl
Allergy Moms
Parenting a Child with Food Allergies
Allergic Girl
Allergizer
Kids With Food Allergies
And Myself
We were moderated by Cindy
Most of the above bloggers can be found on my sidebar and I read them often. It was nice being able to interact with them. The discussion lasted about an hour, and I could have taken up that entire hour and then some with all of my questions and the follow up that I would have liked to do. It was mentioned that we may be able to do this again with Dr. Bassett at another time and I would welcome that opportunity. Here is a list of the questions that I compiled. Some were my own. Some were to clarify things that are often confusing for people when they are first diagnosed or have a child that is first diagnosed with food allergies. Some were from moms from the Baby Center Food Allergy Board, and some were left in comments on my blog. I certainly didn't expect to get them all answered last night. I did get to ask 2 questions and 2 of my other questions from the list were touched on by other bloggers.
1. Because many people/parents I’ve spoken with have been given different definitions, please define anaphylactic reaction for me.
2. When would you say to use the Epi pen over just giving Benadryl to halt a reaction?
3. What is your opinion of the Duke study of using small amounts of peanut protein to desensitize children with peanut allergies? It’s contrary to what we are told regarding total avoidance.
4. Is there any new and promising research out there regarding food allergies that you are aware of?
5. What is your opinion of NAET treatment as it relates to food allergies?
6. If we are following the rule that “total avoidance is the only way to outgrow food allergies”, what affect does accidental exposure, including contact reactions have on outgrowing food allergies?
7. Lately there have been several articles or items in the news regarding avoiding peanuts or peanut butter while pregnant for people with a family history of food allergies or if someone already has a child with food allergies. What is your recommendation to expectant mothers of food allergic children?
8. If you have one child with food allergies, what are the odds of future children having food allergies?
9. Does birth order have anything to do with it? On the BBC FAB, a few moms seem to think that it appears that the allergies become more severe in subsequent children.
10. My son gets RAST tested every year to see where he’s at with his allergies. The son of someone else I know is skin tested every year. Is there a guideline for how frequent tests are preformed and why are some done by blood and others by skin? Why would one be preferred over the other?
11. How do you determine when a food challenge should be performed and what procedures do you follow?
12. Dr. Bassett, I noticed on your blog that you had tips for people traveling with inhalant allergies. Do you have any tips for people traveling with food allergies? (Left on Dr. Bassetts Blog this morning)
13. Since every school differs in their allergy awareness, what do you suggest that parents do to protect food allergic children who are just starting school?
14. It was recently mentioned to me by a mother of a food allergic child that she read a study that said fewer milk and egg allergic children are outgrowing these allergies. Are you finding that to be true and if so in your opinion why do you think that is?
15. What is your position on the new gluten free labeling? Do you have any preference on the Australian or EU standards? Your opinion on the new compounding meds legislation? Are you lobbying on any of these subjects?
16. What is the biggest mistake an asthmatic person or parents of asthmatic children make when it comes to treating asthma?
17. From what you’ve seen, what is the biggest mistake a person with food allergies or parents of food allergic children make?
18. What is the difference between RAD and Asthma?
19. I received a question from a lady today who has a 2 ½ year old son with asthma. They live in Northern Wisconsin (rural) and he is normally fine, but when they travel to visit Grandparents in Southern Wisconsin (city) his asthma flares up. She would like to know what possible things could cause this.
(Questions in red were asked by me, questions in green were touched on by others).
Yes, people I realize these were a lot of questions, and I realize they weren't all going to get answered. These are some of things that concern parents with children who have food allergies. Dr. Bassett did offer to answer questions on his Blog. Of course I've already left him one, but to leave all 20 at one time would be a bit much, even for me.
There will be a link to an audio transcript of lasts night interview and as soon as it's available I'll post it and anyone interested can listen to all of the questions asked and Dr. Bassett's answers. The questions were wide ranging from basic food allergy information, to new studies, to psychological issues of dealing with food allergies/intolerance's, using epinephrine to halt an asthma attack and more.
I'm very grateful to Revolution Health for arranging this discussion. I may not have gotten all of my or your questions answered, but it's a start. Once the ball is rolling, I hope there is a momentum that keeps it going.
Thank you to everyone who participated. And thank you for helping to educate and advocate for people with food allergies and intolerance's.
***UPDATE: ****
Here is the link to the audio transcript: it is 53 minutes and 49 seconds long. I hope you find some helpful information.
Click Here
or click Here and click on the first AUDIO box that you see.
If you have any trouble getting it to work, e-mail me and I'll try and help.
Labels: interview, Revolution Health
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Revolution Health
Tomorrow evening, I'm going to take part in a interview/question and answer session sponsored by Revolution Health. It's an event for bloggers (I think there'll be about 10 of us) to interview experts in the field of Allergies and Asthma. We'll be speaking with Clifford W. Bassett MD. and Mike Tringale, M.S.M. of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation.
Please let me in comments or e-mail me if you have any specific questions regarding allergies that you would like me to try and get addressed.
Please let me in comments or e-mail me if you have any specific questions regarding allergies that you would like me to try and get addressed.
Labels: Revolution Health
Tackle It Tuesday
Todays tackle is getting started on my "30 Day Organizational Challenge" that is hosted by Laura.
Before picture of my linen closet:
I thought I'd start organizing the closet first, so I went to Martha Stewart's towel folding directions on Oprah.com and printed off directions on how to properly fold a towel and BHG.com for 4 easy steps for folding sheets (which really wasn't that easy).
I unloaded the closet and got rid of some towels that had seen better days. I also got rid of the large body size pillow that someone told me I "had to have" when I was pregnant (that I never used). I threw out some worn out things, the towels went for cleaning rags and some blankets and the pillow will be donated.
Here are some during and after pictures:
I'm not done with the closet yet. I still have some extra organizational ideas for it, but I need to go to Home Depot, so that'll have to wait for another day. But it's started so I feel good about it.
I also hope to sort through a huge pile of pictures today. And maybe get some scrapbooking done. I haven't scrapbooked since the fall and I really miss it. I need to make more time to do it.
Visit 5 Minutes for Mom to see who else is tackling or just to see what else is going on in the "MOM" community.
Happy Tuesday and Happy Tackling!
Labels: Tackle it Tuesday
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Easter Fun and More Snow...
Yes friends, it's still snowing. We got another 12-15 inches last night. We probably have 30-36 inches on the ground now. It's probably the worst it's been all winter (snow fall wise). I tell you, I don't know how much more I can take.
Older Boy and Hubby were on our deck yesterday shoveling it off:
Hubby shoveled the deck completely off, but had to go back out this today and do it again (it's 10 feet up and we worry about the extra weight on it).
Since he was tired of shovelling, he thought he'd try the leaf blower (it didn't work).
More snow pictures:
Now for Easter fun:
The boys got lots of good stuff from the Bunny-
And Finally (because Grandma asked for it) pictures of the Older Boy in his new glasses:
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and stayed warm and safe.
Older Boy and Hubby were on our deck yesterday shoveling it off:
Hubby shoveled the deck completely off, but had to go back out this today and do it again (it's 10 feet up and we worry about the extra weight on it).
Since he was tired of shovelling, he thought he'd try the leaf blower (it didn't work).
More snow pictures:
Now for Easter fun:
The boys got lots of good stuff from the Bunny-
And Finally (because Grandma asked for it) pictures of the Older Boy in his new glasses:
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and stayed warm and safe.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Indeed He Has Risen!
Glory be to the Father,and to the Son,and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,world without end.
Amen.
Prayer to Jesus on the Cross
O Jesus, for how many ages have you been on the Cross and yet people pass by in utter disregard of you except to pierce once again your Sacred Heart. How often have I passed you by, heedless of your overwhelming sorrow, your countless wounds, you infinite love. How often have I stood before you, not to comfort and console you, but to offend you by my conduct or neglect of you, to scorn your love.
You have stretched out your hands to comfort me, and I have seized those hands - that might have consigned me to hell - and have bent them back upon the Cross, nailing them rigid and helpless to it. Yet I have only succeeded in imprinting my name on your palms forever. You have loved me with an infinite love and I have taken advantage of that love to sin all the more against you. Yet my ingratitude has only succeeded in piercing your Sacred Heart and causing your Precious Blood to flow forth upon me.
O Jesus, let your Blood be upon me, not for a curse, but for a blessing. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on me. Amen.
Happy Easter!
Amen.
Prayer to Jesus on the Cross
O Jesus, for how many ages have you been on the Cross and yet people pass by in utter disregard of you except to pierce once again your Sacred Heart. How often have I passed you by, heedless of your overwhelming sorrow, your countless wounds, you infinite love. How often have I stood before you, not to comfort and console you, but to offend you by my conduct or neglect of you, to scorn your love.
You have stretched out your hands to comfort me, and I have seized those hands - that might have consigned me to hell - and have bent them back upon the Cross, nailing them rigid and helpless to it. Yet I have only succeeded in imprinting my name on your palms forever. You have loved me with an infinite love and I have taken advantage of that love to sin all the more against you. Yet my ingratitude has only succeeded in piercing your Sacred Heart and causing your Precious Blood to flow forth upon me.
O Jesus, let your Blood be upon me, not for a curse, but for a blessing. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on me. Amen.
Happy Easter!
Labels: Easter Sunday
It's Been Quite The Day In The Kitchen
I've been in this kitchen all day today, and it isn't over yet. I still have a brisket in the crock pot that won't be done until 8 PM.
I started off with the brisket, since it has to cook for 10 hours.
Recipe from recipezaar.com (and tweaked a bit)
4 lbs. beef brisket
2 teaspoons paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup hot water
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon basil, oregano, and marjoram
a pinch of red pepper
1/4 cup Open Pit BBQ sauce
1 cup Coca-Cola
1. Throw everything in your crock pot and cook on low for 10 hours.
I also cooked 2 lbs. kielbasa (1 lb. fresh, 1 lb. Hillshire Farm-only because Wellshire Farm wasn't available)
Baked in oven on 425 degrees for 1 hour over top of sauerkraut. Bake covered for first 40 min. Then uncovered for last 20 min.
Then I moved on to the Little Mans request for pretzels.
From Carol Fenster's Cooking Free:
1 tbs. active dry yeast
1/2 cup sorghum flour or brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder
2/3 cup warm milk (cow, soy or rice)
1/2 teaspoon sugar or honey
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. vinegar
1 large egg white, beaten to foam or olive oil
1 tbs. coarse salt
1. In medium mixer bowl, blend dry ingredients on low speed. Add milk, sugar, oil. and vinegar. Beat for 3 minutes at high speed. The batter will be soft.
2. Place dough in large, heavy-duty reclosable bag that has a 1/4 inch opening for small pretzels or 1/2 inch opening for large pretzels cut diagonally on one corner. Squeeze dough through opening in straight sticks onto greased baking sheet. Hold bag upright to squeeze dough out. Also, hold bag with seam on top, rather than at side. Brush lightly with egg white or olive oil. Place pretzels in warm place to rise 10-15 minutes or until pretzels reach desired size.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle pretzels with coarse salt and bake about 15 minutes, until they are dry and golden brown.
Moving on to Bob Redmill's Banana bread (recipe on back of All Purpose Gluten Free Flour bag)
And finally, pizza for dinner. This was the easiest of the day thanks to the Pillsbury Dough Boy (The Little Man had left over "safe" pizza from the other day. Thank goodness no need to make more wheat free, egg free, dairy free pizza).
Is it over? Can I get out of the kitchen now? I still have to wait for the brisket to be done, but other than that stick a fork in me, because I'm done.
I started off with the brisket, since it has to cook for 10 hours.
Recipe from recipezaar.com (and tweaked a bit)
4 lbs. beef brisket
2 teaspoons paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup hot water
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon basil, oregano, and marjoram
a pinch of red pepper
1/4 cup Open Pit BBQ sauce
1 cup Coca-Cola
1. Throw everything in your crock pot and cook on low for 10 hours.
I also cooked 2 lbs. kielbasa (1 lb. fresh, 1 lb. Hillshire Farm-only because Wellshire Farm wasn't available)
Baked in oven on 425 degrees for 1 hour over top of sauerkraut. Bake covered for first 40 min. Then uncovered for last 20 min.
Then I moved on to the Little Mans request for pretzels.
From Carol Fenster's Cooking Free:
1 tbs. active dry yeast
1/2 cup sorghum flour or brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder
2/3 cup warm milk (cow, soy or rice)
1/2 teaspoon sugar or honey
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. vinegar
1 large egg white, beaten to foam or olive oil
1 tbs. coarse salt
1. In medium mixer bowl, blend dry ingredients on low speed. Add milk, sugar, oil. and vinegar. Beat for 3 minutes at high speed. The batter will be soft.
2. Place dough in large, heavy-duty reclosable bag that has a 1/4 inch opening for small pretzels or 1/2 inch opening for large pretzels cut diagonally on one corner. Squeeze dough through opening in straight sticks onto greased baking sheet. Hold bag upright to squeeze dough out. Also, hold bag with seam on top, rather than at side. Brush lightly with egg white or olive oil. Place pretzels in warm place to rise 10-15 minutes or until pretzels reach desired size.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle pretzels with coarse salt and bake about 15 minutes, until they are dry and golden brown.
Moving on to Bob Redmill's Banana bread (recipe on back of All Purpose Gluten Free Flour bag)
And finally, pizza for dinner. This was the easiest of the day thanks to the Pillsbury Dough Boy (The Little Man had left over "safe" pizza from the other day. Thank goodness no need to make more wheat free, egg free, dairy free pizza).
Is it over? Can I get out of the kitchen now? I still have to wait for the brisket to be done, but other than that stick a fork in me, because I'm done.
Will Somebody Please Turn Off The Snow Machine?
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas instead of Easter. This is crazy. Where are the Easter flowers? Well, ours are buried under 2 feet of snow. The Easter Bunny will be getting here on Santa's Sleigh tonight. Good thing I never got a chance to go out and buy an Easter outfit. I probably would have bought something sleeveless and purchased sandals to go with it. Since my in-laws live almost an hour away from us, our trip there on Easter Sunday may be in jeopardy also. Good thing I bought food for an Easter dinner at the grocery store yesterday.
Here's what we woke up to this morning:
Here's what it looked like two days ago:
I sure hope it stops soon!
Here's what we woke up to this morning:
Here's what it looked like two days ago:
I sure hope it stops soon!
Friday, April 06, 2007
Photo Scavenger Hunt
This weeks Theme is CLEAN:
A few pictures of things I use to "clean":
A picture of our fish when his tank is "clean":
Happy hunting and Happy Easter!
Visit Scavenger Hunt HQ to play along or to find a list of other hunters.
Labels: photo scavenger hunt
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Favorite Ingredient Friday (Glazed Ham With Blackberry Sauce)
Happy Easter everyone (and Happy Passover too).
Ham (safe for my sons wheat, rye, barley, egg, dairy and peanut allergies)
Ingredients
1. 2 tbs. Dijon Mustard
2. 1 tbs. brown sugar
3. 2/3 cup seedless blackberry jam
4. 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
5. 8-9 pound smoked, bone-in ham shank, trimmed
6. cooking spray
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. To prepare ham, combine mustard, sugar, jam and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Spread 1/2 of the jam mixture over the ham. Place ham on broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Insert thermometer into the thickest portion of the ham.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 2 1/2 hours or until thermometer registers 160 degrees. Bast ham with the remaining jam mixture occasionally.
Sauce
Ingredients
1. 1 cup apple cider
2. 1/2 cup dry white wine
3. 1 cup seedless blackberry jam
4. 1 tbs. Dijon mustard
Directions
1. Combine the cider and wine in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil
2. Stir in 1 cup jam and 1 tbs. mustard.
For more Easter Treats visit Overwhelmed With Joy
Labels: Favorite Ingredient Friday
A Thursday Without A Thirteen
I didn't do Thursday Thirteen today because I just wasn't going to have the time to visit the other participants. I love Thursday Thirteen, but I don't like to do it if I can't fully participate. So instead, I made cookies. On Sunday, we'll be going to my in-laws for Easter and my mother in law always has cookies for the Older Boy, so I thought I better whip something up for the Little Man so he doesn't feel left out. I decided to make chocolate chip cookies since it appears that I keep buying Enjoy Life chocolate chips, but never use them (It looks like I'm hording them for an Enjoy Life shortage). None of my current recipes ever turn out very well, so this morning I decided to troll the web to see what I could find. Today's recipe is from landolakes.com. Yep, you read that right. Apparently Land O Lakes has jumped on the Gluten Free bandwagon and has a Gluten Free recipe page. Now the Little Man is allergic to dairy and eggs too, so the original recipe wasn't going to work for us, so I tweaked it for him:
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups Gluten-Free Flour Blend (see below)
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 cup Dairy Free Margarine, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer, prepared
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla
1 (12-ounce) package (2 cups) gluten-free semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips
Directions:
Heat oven to 375°F. Combine flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum in medium bowl. Set aside.
Combine margarine, brown sugar and sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add egg replacer and vanilla. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding flour mixture, until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased or parchment covered cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. (DO NOT OVERBAKE.) Let stand 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets.
Gluten-Free Flour Blend: To make Flour Blend, combine 2 cups rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup tapioca flour. Use appropriate amount for recipe; store remainder in container with tight-fitting lid.
This recipe is safe or our allergies, please check to make sure that it is safe for your own. If you can use dairy and eggs, and are gluten free only, click on the Land O Lakes link above for the original recipe.
The cookies look and smell wonderful. I tasted a small piece to make sure they were edible, but I gave up chocolate and cookies for lent and will have to wait to really try them. Older Boy says they are really good. Little Man is napping and will give his opinion later.
I also found some other interesting things on the web over the last few days regarding allergies.
I am totally excited over THIS
Every time we go to a party, I need to bring a safe cupcake for the Little Man since he can't eat the cake and the same will be true for all the birthday parties at preschool next year. They always get squashed no matter how hard I try to protect them. This container is supposed to keep them safe and not let them move at all so even the icing stays nice. I bought them, so I'll let you know after I use it how it works.
Then there is revolutionhealth which has an Asthma and Allergy section. I always like finding new resources and new learning tools.
Now I need to make some banana bread (using Bob's Redmill All Purpose Gluten Free flour) and hopefully I'll be done baking for the day.
And speaking of baking....
My hand mixer is broken. It has 2 speeds: Fast and turbo. Someone could lose an eye from all the dough that it throws out when I'm trying to mix things together. I'd like to get a stand mixer, but it isn't in the budget right now. If anyone has a hand mixer that they love, please leave the name in comments. I'm hoping to get a new one in the next couple of weeks and I'd love some suggestions or recommendations.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups Gluten-Free Flour Blend (see below)
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 cup Dairy Free Margarine, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer, prepared
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla
1 (12-ounce) package (2 cups) gluten-free semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips
Directions:
Heat oven to 375°F. Combine flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum in medium bowl. Set aside.
Combine margarine, brown sugar and sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add egg replacer and vanilla. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding flour mixture, until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased or parchment covered cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. (DO NOT OVERBAKE.) Let stand 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets.
Gluten-Free Flour Blend: To make Flour Blend, combine 2 cups rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup tapioca flour. Use appropriate amount for recipe; store remainder in container with tight-fitting lid.
This recipe is safe or our allergies, please check to make sure that it is safe for your own. If you can use dairy and eggs, and are gluten free only, click on the Land O Lakes link above for the original recipe.
The cookies look and smell wonderful. I tasted a small piece to make sure they were edible, but I gave up chocolate and cookies for lent and will have to wait to really try them. Older Boy says they are really good. Little Man is napping and will give his opinion later.
I also found some other interesting things on the web over the last few days regarding allergies.
I am totally excited over THIS
Every time we go to a party, I need to bring a safe cupcake for the Little Man since he can't eat the cake and the same will be true for all the birthday parties at preschool next year. They always get squashed no matter how hard I try to protect them. This container is supposed to keep them safe and not let them move at all so even the icing stays nice. I bought them, so I'll let you know after I use it how it works.
Then there is revolutionhealth which has an Asthma and Allergy section. I always like finding new resources and new learning tools.
Now I need to make some banana bread (using Bob's Redmill All Purpose Gluten Free flour) and hopefully I'll be done baking for the day.
And speaking of baking....
My hand mixer is broken. It has 2 speeds: Fast and turbo. Someone could lose an eye from all the dough that it throws out when I'm trying to mix things together. I'd like to get a stand mixer, but it isn't in the budget right now. If anyone has a hand mixer that they love, please leave the name in comments. I'm hoping to get a new one in the next couple of weeks and I'd love some suggestions or recommendations.
Labels: cookies, cupcake holder, gluten free
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
I Never Received An Award Before
But Sue bestowed this award on me, because she says I make her think. She probably thinks I'm crazy, but she actually says I make her think about food allergies. Her little girl is allergic to dairy and we actually met over at the Babycenter Food Allergy Boards. So, thank you Sue. I appreciate it.
So I am now supposed to list 5 blogs that make me think:
1. Barbara at Stray Thoughts: I linked her post on Testimony, because that is the first one that came to mind. Barbara writes many wonderful posts about her family and her religion. They all make me think.
2. Norma at Collecting My Thoughts: Norma's blog is about politics, libraries, poetry, and the world around us. She blogs about family history and what goes on around us today. I always think over at Norma's. I linked one of Norma's posts about her husbands trip to Haiti.
3. Andria at Boy Crazy: I can always go to Andria's blog and come away laughing. She finds humor in raising 2 boys (possibly 3, we're waiting....) and really that is a hard thing to do. I linked her post about being a "boy mom".
4. PEA over at Peas Corner: Pea is such a sweet person. I love coming here every day and starting my day with PEA. She makes me think that the world is filled with wonderful people. I linked her Christmas cookie post because I "think" about those cookies often.
5. I'll reserve this spot for the other food allergy blogs that I read. I don't think that they would participate in this, so I won't link them and ask them to do this, but I am very grateful for them (see my sidebar for names).
Ok, here's what needs to be done:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote. Here are the two versions of the award:
So I am now supposed to list 5 blogs that make me think:
1. Barbara at Stray Thoughts: I linked her post on Testimony, because that is the first one that came to mind. Barbara writes many wonderful posts about her family and her religion. They all make me think.
2. Norma at Collecting My Thoughts: Norma's blog is about politics, libraries, poetry, and the world around us. She blogs about family history and what goes on around us today. I always think over at Norma's. I linked one of Norma's posts about her husbands trip to Haiti.
3. Andria at Boy Crazy: I can always go to Andria's blog and come away laughing. She finds humor in raising 2 boys (possibly 3, we're waiting....) and really that is a hard thing to do. I linked her post about being a "boy mom".
4. PEA over at Peas Corner: Pea is such a sweet person. I love coming here every day and starting my day with PEA. She makes me think that the world is filled with wonderful people. I linked her Christmas cookie post because I "think" about those cookies often.
5. I'll reserve this spot for the other food allergy blogs that I read. I don't think that they would participate in this, so I won't link them and ask them to do this, but I am very grateful for them (see my sidebar for names).
Ok, here's what needs to be done:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote. Here are the two versions of the award:
Labels: award
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
As If I'm Not Busy Enough
I'm going to participate in in the 30 Organizing Challenge over at Laura's a/k/a Org Junkie. Why am I doing this you may ask? Well, here are two good reasons:
1. My Linen closet -
and
2. The Guest Bedroom (or as we call it, the Junk Room)-
Maybe if I feel like I'm "challenged" I'll get these two spaces organized.
My Action Plan:
1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
I want my closet to be neat and my guest room to be warm and inviting when people come to stay. I also don't want it to be the "catch all" anymore.
2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
I need organizers for the closet and I need new picture frames to clear the old pictures off the bed in the guest room.
3. What can I remove from the room?
I can remove old linen from the closet (and maybe donate it) and I need to remove the pictures and stuffed animals from the guest room for sure.
4. What problems do I see with the room?
The only problem is my unorganization.
5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
Maybe some bins for the closet or shelf separators.
6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
I need to put things away in their proper place and stop just putting them in "purgatory".
7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
A VERY limited budget.
8. What kind of a time line is necessary to organize the room?
Maybe a month.
9. What is my plan of action?
Get in the closet and see what I can throw out. Get in the guest room and see what size frames I need, and what things we are keeping and what things are going to be donated.
10. Who can help me with this? The entire family :)
The pictures in the guest room where all hung on the wall going up my stair case and I called it my wall of "kids". It was a nice idea, but the frames were cheap and mismatched and it just never looked right. So LAST YEAR (yes, last year) when we painted I took it down and there they sit, waiting for me to do something with them. Now is the time.
Head on over to The Challenge HQ to see the rules, sign up, and check out the prizes. Yes, people there are prizes. Not only will your house look better, but you can win stuff. So wish me luck. I need another project like I need a hole in the head, BUT since the guest room has been a disaster for a year now, I think it's time, don't you?
Labels: organizing challenge
Tackle It Tuesday
It's Tuesday again, and time check some things off my "to do"list.
First thing I'm doing today is taking the boys for a group photo. Yes, last week I took the Older Boy for his 5 year picture, but I'm a glutton for punishment and want to get new pictures of the two of them together so we'll be doing that today. Last week we went to JC Penney because I had a coupon, but this week we are going to Portrait Innovations for the $9.99 portrait package. I like to share the love.
If the meltdowns aren't too fierce and if it isn't too close to lunch or nap time (our photo appointment is at 11 am), I want to get them measured for new shoes since it is right around the corner. I haven't gotten them new shoes in a while, and I think they are due.
AND, if I'm in the mood to push the envelope, the organic food store is next door and The Little Man needs more Glutino Pretzels and Soy whipped topping so I may chance it and run in there.
Once we get home and I decompress, I need to take care of this:
For some reason this is my clutter area and it stresses me out. Today it will be de-cluttered. Stop back later for after pictures.
And lastly, I need to pay bills.
So that's it, my day in a nut shell . Wish me luck with the photos and I wish you luck with you tackles! Have a blessed Tuesday.
I'm back and have a few things accomplished.
Here are some of the pictures:
Yes, they took 65 pictures total, so I am not boring you with all of them. Do you think I stuck to the "$9.99 get you in the door, so we can take all your money package"? I think not.
We bought shoes:
We made it to the organic food store and unfortunately they were out of Soya Whipped topping (which was the whole reason we went there in the first place). So I guess I'll have to make a special trip to Wild Oat next week.
Now for lunch, bills and the counter.
***I have to give credit to the kids today too. They were WAYYYY behind at Portrait Innovations and the kids held up really well. There were no melt downs and we were still able to do shoes and the store with no lunch and being way behind on nap schedules. They really came through for me today. Yea, Kids!
***Update #2- there are no after pictures of the counters....yet. Maybe tomorrow. They are only half de-cluttered. I did pay bills. Had to do that. But I forgot that we have a pizza party and play group tomorrow, so I had to stop the counters (at 8:30 PM) to make a Gluten, egg, dairy free pizza for the Little Man so he'll have something to eat. So no counters, but we have pizza. Have a wonderful evening!
Labels: Tackle it Tuesday
Monday, April 02, 2007
Tears, Tantrums and Throw Up.... Oh MY
The title pretty much says it all. Yesterday we went to Palm Sunday Service and then to my families house to celebrate Easter with my parents (we will celebrate with my In laws on Easter Sunday). The boys have an Easter hang over and melt downs are non stop. The Little Man was so overly tired on the way home that he had to cry himself out. Then he woke up 5 minutes from home, threw a fit until we got in the garage, then continued his massive fit as we tried to get him out of the car, threw up in the garage (as he continued to scream), and all in front of our new neighbors. "Hi, welcome to the neighborhood. We are the crazy people with the uncontrollable children". He did take a nap for a short while after that. As of this morning both boys are fighting and alternating melt downs. It ought to be a fun day. And apparently I should be taking lessons from the Amazing Kreskin, but that's a whole other rant.
The beauty of this whole little scenario is, we get to do it all over again on Easter Sunday with my In laws. Hopefully minus the throw up.
The boys did have a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's though and they scored a lot of good loot and lucky for them my whole "giving up chocolate for Easter" doesn't end until Sunday. So their baskets are safe.... For now.
It looks like it's going to be a nice day today, so hopefully I can get these two outside today and they can play themselves out and when The Little Man goes up for a nap, I can put the Older Boy upstairs for some "quiet time" (also known as a ploy to get mommy some "quiet time").
OK, I have to run, the tears are back, they are fighting and the melt downs are starting again. Oh my, why does the aftermath of holidays always turn out like this?
The beauty of this whole little scenario is, we get to do it all over again on Easter Sunday with my In laws. Hopefully minus the throw up.
The boys did have a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's though and they scored a lot of good loot and lucky for them my whole "giving up chocolate for Easter" doesn't end until Sunday. So their baskets are safe.... For now.
It looks like it's going to be a nice day today, so hopefully I can get these two outside today and they can play themselves out and when The Little Man goes up for a nap, I can put the Older Boy upstairs for some "quiet time" (also known as a ploy to get mommy some "quiet time").
OK, I have to run, the tears are back, they are fighting and the melt downs are starting again. Oh my, why does the aftermath of holidays always turn out like this?
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