DeAnn's Delights

A hiccup in life

2011-11-09T20:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Gluten Free blog readers-
I wanted to write to you and explain my absence. I have been dealing with some health issues and had surgery last week...I'm still waiting on some biopsy results. It's been difficult to do much cooking, much less come up with inspiring gluten and dairy free recipes... I do have some recipes that I worked on while I was feeling up to it, so as soon as I am feeling better, I will be thrilled to share these recipes with you! Unfortunately, I can't tell you how long it will take before I feel better. Until we "meet" again, keep up the gluten free diet, I'm pretty sure what I'm fighting is in part caused by eating gluten when I didn't know that it was a problem for me. I've been reading some really great articles about gluten and it's relationship with autoimmune diseases. If I feel up to it, I'll try to put up some links so you can read up on it, too.
Until next time...Happy Eating from DeAnn

A Gluten Freebie

2011-08-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't already know this, I love freebies! Today I saw that my favorite freebie blog, Freebies4mom.com had posted a free downloadable Back to School booklet and it's a gluten free tip/recipe book! Hooray! So in case you like freebies as much as I do, I thought I would share the link with you. Just click on the title of the book: Back to School with Jules and use the code: 2011BTSebook It's free to download right away. There's also a blog connected to this, it's geared toward her flour blend that she sells, but it still looks good. Enjoy!
Happy Eating...er Reading!

Some Product Reviews

2011-05-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share with you some of my family's favorite gluten-free products, since it's always nice to know what someone else thought of a product that you're thinking about trying.
I'll start with the family's favorite pancake mix. We use the Gluten Free Mama's Pancake mix. Of course, I like my pancakes a little different than the recipe on the package, so I add some sugar, vanilla, a drizzle of olive oil and extra rice milk until it becomes a thinner batter. It's a winner around here, even my son's friends gobbled them up and had thirds (and they don't have to eat gluten free).
Our pasta choices come for two sources: Trader Joe's Brown Rice pasta (we usually buy the penne, but they have spirals and spaghetti, too) and the brand Tinkyada, which I buy from Azure Standard. I've only tried the elbow macaroni, but we make good use of it for mac and cheese (with Daiya dairy free cheese), macaroni salad, tuna noodle casserole and goulash. It's worked great in all those dishes. The penne I usually buy for spaghetti as my son doesn't like spaghetti noodles, he says they "smack him in the face", so penne it is.
Bread is always a tricky thing when you're eating gluten free. For a long time we bought Pamela's bread mix, but after a while it became apparent that it wasn't the right consistency and it was too sweet. So, I either make my own using the Gluten Free Mama's Almond Flour blend or we buy one of two excellent gluten free breads, Udi's or Rudi's Bakery. Just be careful if buying Rudi's bread, they make regular and gluten free bread and do follow the directions to keep it in the freezer and using only what you need. I tried keeping in the refrigerator and it dried out rather quickly. Udi's is all gluten free and they make several different products, bread, pizza crust, muffins, bagels, etc. I've tried the bread, muffins and pizza crust and have been very impressed with the products. Udi's can be found at Whole Foods Markets and locally I've found their products in Tumwater at the Fred Meyer and also at Gluten Free Joe's. The drawback to buying gluten free bread is, it isn't cheap, it's somewhere between $5-$7 a loaf. Udi's does offer a coupon to print out and when I bought some at Whole Foods, they had coupons placed by the product. Rudi's can be found at some Costco's and they've been advertised the price is $6.89 for 2 loaves! I know the Costco in Federal Way has these, it would be nice if all the Costco's started carrying their bread at that great price!
We have lots of "favorite" gluten free products, but if I highlighted them all I'd been writing a book instead of blog post! These are some of our favorite that are products that were hard to do without or duplicate the right flavor at home (or just added convenience for us).
Hope you find some products that work for your family. Next time, I'm going to be sharing links to some of my favorite gluten-free blogs and a link to a wonderful dinner roll recipe that's gluten-free! It's actually soft!
Until next time...
Happy Eating!

Some reviews

2011-02-25T13:47:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you're waiting anxiously for new recipes. They're coming, I promise. Until they're ready I will be featuring some reviews of products and some books, too. This might surprise you since the majority of my blogging features the gluten and dairy free recipes we use in my house. But, the blog is called DeAnn's Delights, so please indulge me as I share about some things that delight me.
Today I received a free trial of a new product from Purex. I had signed up to be one of their "insiders", which basically means I'm a guinea pig for new products and I get to share my opinion on the product with, well, the world. The new product is a softener for clothes, but it's crystals, not a liquid. It comes unscented or scented. I got to choose which I wanted to try for (not everyone got picked to try the product). I picked the scented product and crossed my fingers that it would be a scent that I like. The one they sent me is Fresh Spring Waters. It smells great in the bottle, so good that I had to do a load of laundry. We'll see what it smells like after it dries.
Here are the features about the product (the promises from the company) that I like: you can use on towels and they won't lose absorbency, it won't make those flame-retardant jammies become flammable and it isn't oily. Plus, if you spill it, you can sweep it up!
You can still sign up to be a Purex Insider, just click on the highlighted words and you can sign up. I don't know if they'll still be sending the crystals out, but they definitely have future promotions coming!
Well, I just put the laundry in the dryer and it smells wonderful! I think I may have just found a new delight!
Check back soon, next time I'm going to do a review of a line of gluten free products and a gluten free cookbook that goes with the products. Until next time...
Happy laundry and happy eating!

Mac -N- Cheese Recipe

2011-02-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

I know you've been anxiously waiting for this recipe, so I'm sharing it now. Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado, I give you Macaroni and Cheese (the gluten, dairy and soy free version). We all really liked this recipe, although my son Ian told me it was "too creamy". I'm not really sure there is such a thing as too creamy, but he seems to think there is. He liked this better the next day as a warmed up leftover because the noodles had soaked up a lot of the sauce.

This was my first time using Daiya cheese and I was pleasantly surprised. Since it's dairy free, vegan, soy free etc. I had hopes for it since it had won some awards, but some doubts, too simply because of what it is. Thankfully, I can say it's good. Sort of tastes like a cross between Cheddar and American cheese. The sauce was so yummy, I'm thinking it would be pretty easy to turn it into a Mexican cheese dip if you had the right seasonings!
I hope you like the pictures. I wanted to make sure that you could see the cheese package (that always helps me when I'm looking for something in the store). You can also see just how much onion I added. I really like onion in it, gives it great flavor, but you can always use less or omit the onion depending on personal tastes. Let me know what you think if you try this recipe.
Happy Eating!

The Verdict

2011-02-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

Dinner is safely tucked into our happy tummies, so now I can share with you how my macaroni and cheese experiment went. It was great! Did it taste exactly like the dairy versions I made in the past? Well, no, but I didn't expect it to, I just wanted it to taste delicious and it was. How did it compare to the boxes and all? Better, in my opinion. Definitely better Velveeta Shells and cheese (yuck, never liked that stuff).
The Daiya cheese tasted great and it melted (well, mostly melted...probably 98-99%, there were a few unmelted pieces in the cheese sauce when I added it to the macaroni in the casserole dish, but I did not see any unmelted pieces after it baked).
So, the verdict: this one is a winner! We will definitely be buying Daiya cheese again (probably will try the mozzarella with pizza next time).
I took pictures and just need to review the recipe before I post it, so keep your eyes open for that recipe coming soon!
Until then.....
Happy Eating!

Super Bowl and an experiment

2011-02-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I'm not watching, but I hear my guys watching it in the background. Funny, I just remembered that last year for the Super Bowl we were in Hawaii and Colin missed most of the Super Bowl because he had the stomach flu...which I also came down with a few hours after Colin. So, this year we feel better, but it's certainly not as sunny as last year!
Since I'm not watching, I thought I would work on an experiment with a new product, Daiya cheese. I recently spotted this product on another blog (don't ask me which one, because I am a SERIOUS blog surfer...there are too many to keep track of all the sites I visit). I was intrigued by the promises of this "cheese". No dairy, no gluten, no casein, no gmo's. So far, I've seen two flavors available, Cheddar and Mozzarella. My plan was to purchase Mozzarella to make pizza, but plans don't always work right when you send your husband to the store without you. He came home with Cheddar. So, I have decided to make macaroni and cheese. Wait, that wasn't enough oomph...MACARONI AND CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There, that's better. This is a huge deal in my house. There has only been one attempt at "macaroni and cheese" since we went gluten and dairy free and it was terrible, nasty stuff (it was from a box that was gluten and dairy free) . I made it, we tried it, we threw it out and haven't tried anything else that had the word cheeze on it. So, let the experiment begin....
I'll be back later to let you know if it was...
Happy Eating!

How did the time slip away...

2011-01-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's the middle of January! Poor little blog sitting here, waiting for some great recipes to share while I've been fighting little colds and some winter blues. Both, I must tell you are buggers when it comes to cooking inspiration...it's just not there. I know I promised you some Christmas goodies, but, to be honest, I hardly made any this year. Just the Almond Chocoroons (gave you that recipe last year) and some Peppermint Patties (okay, those were delicious and I promise I will try to get the recipe up here...it's one I adapted from a allergy cookbook).
Since you've been waiting so patiently for something to appear on here, how 'bout I share my recipe for gluten and dairy free Hot Cocoa? Sound good? I thought it might.

Hot Cocoa (Gluten and Dairy Free...oh, and soy free, too)
1 container Vance's Dari-free (19.5 oz. container)
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
3/4 c. cocoa powder (not processed) I use Trader Joe's unsweetened cocoa powder. Do NOT use a regular Hershey's cocoa powder, it doesn't dissolve well. Oh, note...I like my cocoa very chocolatey, if you don't like it very choloclatey, use less cocoa, maybe 1/2 c.
In a very large bowl mix all ingredients. Pour into a seal-able container. To make hot cocoa: 8oz. of hot water + 1/4 c. of cocoa mix. Drink and enjoy!
This is a very good alternative for us. It's already hit the spot after sledding at least twice...yum! Vance's DariFree isn't cheap (close to $10 a container), but buying a gluten and dairy free cocoa mix (if and when you can find one) isn't cheap either. In the long run, this one is worth the little bit extra we pay so we can enjoy one of our wintertime favorites. So, if there's some snow in your forecast, better get busy, looks like it might be time for a cup of cocoa!
Happy Eating (or drinking cocoa in this case)!

Christmas Goodies

2010-12-23T00:02:00.000-08:00

I know, I promised you a post about Christmas goodies... and I intend to share some with you, but they will probably be more like New Year's goodies. This year, more than ever I feel like I'm just not ready for Christmas. It feels like it should be in two weeks, not two days. I haven't even made lots of Christmas goodies this year. What have I made? Some awesome Mini peppermint patties, some almond chocoroons (I shared that recipe last year), caramel popcorn and a really yummy Cranberry Chex Mix.

So look for a post sometime between now and New Year's. I promise I will post recipes as soon as I come up for air!
Happy Eating and Merry Christmas!

What to do with Turkey Leftovers

2010-12-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

I love having leftover turkey, there are so many things to make using it. The ever popular turkey sandwiches (and yes, we can still have them, just use gluten free bread), turkey soup, turkey divan (still working on making that one gluten and dairy free) and my favorite turkey salad. Growing up, I cringed when I heard the words turkey salad or chicken salad. In my house, it meant something similar to tuna salad (the meat was ground up) and not nearly as tasty.
The first time I tasted this version of Turkey salad I was in the hospital waiting to be released a week after major surgery. Sounds promising, right? Hospital food. It wasn't only hospital food...it was AWESOME hospital food (although you didn't get very much). I told my mom to try some and she politely refused saying it was my lunch, but I told her she had to try it so she did and was as impressed as I was. Simply divine. I waited years to find a recipe similar and I finally did five years later in a Taste of Home magazine. I made it and again was so happy with the flavor. Unfortunately, I don't always keep track of magazines and haven't seen the recipe since, so I had to make this one up with a few changes to the original taste. The salad I had in the hospital had slivered almonds and maybe cashews? It's been a long time, obviously. I tend to put whatever nut I'm in the mood for in this salad. Almonds are great, cashews, too. I don't think I'd like it with peanuts, but I see potential for using macadamia nuts. Right now, I'm using toasted pecans...yum!
Enjoy your leftovers and next time we'll talk about Christmas goodies.
Happy Eating!

Happy Thanksgiving and Beyond...

2010-12-05T00:56:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a very lovely Thanksgiving. Sorry, I left you hanging about mashed potatoes and cranberry relish. Hopefully, you managed without me. Mashed potatoes are, of course, quite simple to make dairy and gluten free. I use Earth Balance soy free instead of butter and rice milk or coconut milk instead of regular milk (or a combination of the two) and salt and pepper to taste. Simple!
As for cranberry relish, that is a recipe that my grandma made every year and then my mom made it and now I make it. The original recipe called for 1 bag of cranberries, 2 apples,cored, 2 oranges, juiced and you run all this through a food grinder. I am food grinder challenged (no good spot to set one up in my kitchen) so I make all this in my food processor on mince and usually, in batches. Then, I mix it all together with 1/4- 3/4 c. sugar (it depends on the tartness of the cranberries and the sweetness of the apples and oranges...it's all to taste). This year, I only used one orange and two medium apples...my orange was huge!
Anyway, just wanted to make sure you had those recipes! My next post will be talking about using leftover turkey (or chicken) so check back soon. Then, I will be starting a series for Christmas cooking gluten and dairy free. Until next time...
Happy Eating!

Pumpkin Pie

2010-11-23T15:10:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love pumpkin pie! This is my "must have" dessert for Thanksgiving. No other pie will do! My mom always was the one to bring these for Thanksgiving and they were always a slice of homemade deliciousness. Yum. We've always used the Libby's Canned pumpkin and the recipe on the side, so when it was time to make my pie last year, I knew what recipe I wanted to use, I just needed to find some substitute for dairy and find a gluten-free pie crust. The pie crust was simple, I used a bag of Pamela's Products Wheat-Free & Gluten-Free Bread Mix, 19-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6). The recipe was on the bag, but I know that there are several versions at the Pamela's website, I linked one for you, just click on Pamela's to get there.
This year I'm trying out the Gluten Free Mama Pie Crust Mix, it uses some almond flour, so it definitely isn't for anyone with a nut allergy. I'm making my pumpkin pie tomorrow night, so I'll try to capture some pictures of it to share.
As promised, my next post will be talking about mashed potatoes, cranberry relish and dinner rolls. Check back soon as that will be the conclusion of my Thanksgiving series, but I plan to start a Christmas series next and for those cold days ahead, I'll be posting a recipe for a dairy free hot cocoa mix. Until next time...
Happy Eating!

Green Bean Casserole

2010-11-23T01:48:00.000-08:00

Just typing the title brings back memories of so many Thanksgivings with my family. Green Bean Casserole was always what my aunt Gail brought for Thanksgiving. My mom always made the pumpkin pies and she never touched the Green Bean Casserole, she didn't like it. My brother and I, on the other hand, loved this stuff and still do to this day. It isn't quite Thanksgiving without it, but last year it looked like I might have to forgo this ultimate Thanksgiving side dish. I was determined not to go down without a fight, so I started searching the internet and found several gluten free blogs that had recipes for GBC (sorry, I just had to abbreviate). None were exactly what I was looking for, but I adapted them and the casserole turned out fabulous, better than the original. Try for yourself and see what you think...Green Bean Casserole with French Fried Onions.
Here's the link for the Cream of Mushroom Soup, I shared it earlier when I made Sausage Green Bean Casserole.
So now you're set for the best Thanksgiving side dish. Come back soon, I'm going to share my pumpkin pie recipe in my next post and then we'll talk about mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, rolls...etc. Boy! This post is making me hungry! Until next time...
Happy Eating!

Dressing/ Stuffing...Whatever!

2010-11-19T15:37:00.000-08:00

So, onto dressing, which is, of course the same as stuffing but it isn't stuffed and is instead baked in a casserole dish. At least, that's how I differentiate between the two. My sweet husband read my last post and wondered if I was going to share my ranch dressing recipe. I thought he was cute and honestly, if you don't cook (and maybe even if you do) the terminology is sometimes confusing. So, to be clear, this is a bread dressing (or stuffing, either term works, but I never stuff it in a bird, it gets too mushy and you run the risk of salmonella, which is not what you want to give your guests!)
The recipe I use is out of an old Betty Crocker cookbook, although we did tweak it a little even before we had to change it to make it gluten and dairy free. Last Thanksgiving I did something to this dressing that I'd never done before due to a lack of time, I made it the night before and put it in the fridge overnight. I didn't think anything about it until I made some dressing this summer (I know..but in my defense, it was cold this summer) and it didn't taste quite the same. I thought about it and realized the only thing different was I hadn't let it sit in the fridge overnight. So, I am definitely making it the night before this year...I want that great flavor again!
So, I have pulled out the 1970's version of Betty Crocker (I do own 3 of "her" books 1950's, 1970's and 1990's) it's the same one my mom has, so I'm rather partial to it. As I'm looking at the recipe, I see that it's called Bread Stuffing. Whatever! My version isn't really in the book anyway, the casserole version, but thankfully, I know that part well.
If you're ready to make the recipe, just click on the name (Thanksgiving Dressing/Stuffing) and it will take you to the document. I'm nice like that, you know, thinking of you and making it easier for you to print the recipe. Sorry, I don't have a picture, I'll try to take some pictures of all the yummy Thanksgiving food this year!
Look for my next post. I'm going to share how to make Green Bean Casserole (and yes, it will have gluten free French Fried onions). Until next time...
Happy Eating!
P.S. A little side note about what gluten free bread I use:
I use Pamela's Products Wheat-Free & Gluten-Free Bread Mix, 19-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6) for the bread. I make it in my bread machine at least a day in advance. And, um..I tweaked the recipe for the bread just a little bit. I add : 2 eggs, 1/4 c. olive oil, 3/4 c. warm rice milk, 3/4 c. warm water, bread mix, 1 t. sugar, yeast packet from mix + 1/2 t. yeast. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bread machine and stir in any flour that hasn't been mixed when the machine gets to the first rest cycle.

Beyond Survival: Enjoying Your Holiday Gluten and Dairy Free

2010-11-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finally back from that "little cold" I had. Turns out, it was pneumonia. Now that I'm on the mend it's time to start thinking about the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving. This year will be our second Thanksgiving without gluten and dairy. Last year, it took a lot of research, but I was able to enjoy all my favorite Thanksgiving food (and I do mean all). I enjoyed turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry relish and pumpkin pie. Yes, it meant I practically catered Thanksgiving even though we were celebrating with family, but it was so worth it. In fact, my dressing turned out so wonderful that my MIL commented it was the best she'd tasted and I didn't bring much home in spite of the fact that there were two other gluten versions being served!
So, I thought that a little series sharing my favorite Thanksgiving recipes (with my makeover for them) might be just the ticket, especially if this your first holiday season without gluten or dairy.
First, a little advice about the turkey. Turkey sounds safe, right? After all, it's just meat, right? Well, not exactly. Read, read, read your label (and if you're buying a frozen one, you might want some gloves so you can read the label). Make sure there aren't any gluten ingredients listed. I checked the Butterball website and according to them unless it's a stuffed turkey, it should be gluten free (but read the label). Also, yes, it will be a problem if someone else is cooking your turkey and wants to stuff it with gluten filled stuffing, there will be cross-contamination and that can cause you some misery. Natural turkeys seem to be the safest, but they aren't going to be on the great Thanksgiving sales, but it's worth the cost if you don't feel miserable after eating it.
Okay, that's enough advice for today. My next post will share my dressing recipe ( would you be surprised if I told you it's the same one my family has been using for years?). Of course, I tweaked it (that's what I do!). Until next time...
Happy Eating!

Christmas is Coming...Time to think about Photo Cards (and a deal for you!)

2010-10-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

I admit it...sometimes when it comes to Christmas cards, I um, have good intentions, but sometimes fail to follow through. Okay, seriously fail to follow through (as in I didn't send any for 4 years). I know, it's bad, but in my defense, the Christmas letter seriously bogged me down. Last year, though I had a revelation, photo cards! No letter required, people can take one look at it and see how our family is doing. If I decide to get ambitious, I could try to produce one of those elusive Christmas letters to go with it, but, most likely I'll stick to the photo card.
This year, I'm going to try the cards from Shutterfly.com
I already love their photo printing and their photo books are marvelous! The hard part is deciding which card to choose, although it's a must that it says Merry Christmas...I am so NOT into a wimpy "Happy Holidays" message. Hopefully, these are able to be completely custom and I can change the message to my preferences. So far, I like Warmest Wishes, it would go with a family picture from Hawaii, which would save me some photo sessions (although, I do love taking photos). I also like the Chocolate Lime Snowflakes card and part of the profits from that one go to the American Lung Association.
Decisions, decisions I guess it might take me a little while to make up my mind. If you want some great Shutterfly Christmas cards for yourself...and I'm sure you do!
Shutterfly is offering 20% off all holiday cards
Leave me a comment and let me know what card you like and what you do for Christmas cards (or if you send any).
Happy Shopping!

Oh, My Poor Neglected Blog

2010-10-25T01:52:00.000-07:00

This poor little blog. It's been sitting here, lonely, just waiting for me to share the culinary delights in our life. There have been some delights, but mostly there's been a lot of little colds that my son and I have been passing back and forth between each other. And soccer and life in general. Life always interferes with my good intentions! I must admit that this cold that I have is not really making me want to cook at all. I'd rather sleep...when I can. Usually, I'm just coughing and coughing if I try to sleep. Not fun.
I have been keeping track of some yummy recipes for you, I promise. I'll list a few that I want to share and I will try to get them posted soon. I have a great recipe for Turkey salad (which would be perfect to use up some of those turkey leftovers next month). I made a delicious Hamburger Goulash that my guys gobbled up. I have a review of a Gluten and dairy free Ranch Dressing recipe and I know there are some other fun things in my notebook. So check back later this week, hopefully, I will kick this cough and be back in action.
Until then...
Happy Eating!

Happy Anniversary

2010-08-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

This week marks an anniversary for our family. One year ago we embarked on our journey in living and eating gluten and dairy free. It wasn't an easy decision, it would effect everyone in our family, but we decided that to help our son and our various minor health issues, it was worth trying.

We learned a lot this past year. We started our journey relying on soy as our go to substitute for dairy. Then a friend casually mentioned that her son can't have dairy and she won't give him soy because it isn't good for guys (hormones and estrogen), so this set me on the research path. I realized soy wasn't a great choice and that it can actually be toxic due to the fast processing times in the US. Plus, it gave me really bad headaches. So, soy was out. Now we were gluten/dairy and soy free, we could deal with this.
Then we realized that yes, we should avoid nitrates and nitrites just like our book had recommended. It gave me a headache and we were very cranky for a couple of days until it went through our system.
So now we were gluten/dairy/soy and nitrate/nitrite free, I could deal with it. Then Ian had some candy with food dye (red is especially bad) and we watched him lose focus and become a moody irrational creature. So we added food dye to the list of food to avoid.
Thankfully, we were able to go off of foods that bothered us gradually. Gluten and dairy were immediate and quick, but the rest we discovered as our bodies were no longer reacting to gluten and dairy (it became very obvious what foods caused problems).
So here we are a year later. Has it made any difference? I would say, YES! My son can focus better, he's still a 9 yr. old boy, so he has his ups and downs, but for the most part, it's better. My hubby has lost around 20- 25 lbs. and has fewer tummy troubles. I have lost a few lbs., but the biggest difference for me is that I am off all my allergy medicine. I was on allergy shots, zyrtec, claritin, a nasal steroid spray, occasional benedryl and sometimes allergy eye drops and none of it worked! I still got terrible sinusitis that would last for a month at a time and require antibiotics (not that that really did much as it was most likely a fungal infection). I am happy to say that I went an entire year without needing to go see the doctor. That hasn't happened for years! Oh, and when I did go to the doc, it was for a condition review, not because I was sick.
I have had questions about our new way of living/eating, so in honor of our one year anniversary, I will answer them here.
1. Does it cost a lot to eat this way? It does cost us a little bit more since we decided to go more organic and processed foods are pretty much out of the question. Cost really depends on your choices. If you are eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and meat, it probably isn't much of a price difference. If you are buying lots of gluten and dairy free specialty foods (crackers, donuts, bread, etc) expect to pay a whole lot more. For the most part, I try to make the treats we want, it's a lot cheaper. For us, the cost evens out when you look at how many trips to the doctor and prescriptions weren't needed.
2. Isn't it hard to cook this way? Not really. You just have to be creative and have a good cookbook and GF/CF blogs to help you out. If you can cook from scratch with gluten and dairy, you can cook from scratch without them.
3. Is it hard to get your son and husband to stay on the eating plan? Not really. My son is very good about watching out for foods he can't eat. He likes how he feels without these foods, so he makes sure that the food he eats doesn't contain anything not on the plan. My husband is good about staying on the plan, too. He likes to snack, so we've just found snacks that work for him on this plan. Thankfully, we don't have any nut allergies, so at work my husband will snack on some peanuts. It actually helps him not come home starving.
4. Is it worth the effort? YES! It is so worth it. It is a huge change at first, but it becomes easier over time.

Banana Bread

2010-07-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

I have threatened/promised for months that I was going to make gluten free banana bread. The only problem with that (besides the fact that I hadn't found a recipe) was that my husband isn't picky about bananas, not at all. Me, I prefer my bananas with a touch of green left right after they've turned yellow. I can tolerate a few brown speckles on the banana, but past that I wait for it to get really brown for banana bread. I actually know someone who thinks that bananas are ready for banana bread when they start getting the brown freckles, but I know better than that, they need to be really brown almost black to make really good banana bread. My husband will eat them even when they're about to be black(yuck). Which leaves me with no bananas for banana bread, until today. I finally bought enough bananas that even my sweet, non-picky, banana eating hubby couldn't keep up and I found 4 ripe bananas sitting on the counter calling to me to make them into beautiful, delicious bread. So I did. I went online and googled gluten free banana bread recipes and found one I thought looked good and promptly changed it. I added banana, changed the flour, used a shortening/ earth balance combo instead of butter. Actually, during my search I came across banana bread recipes that used only one ripe banana. What's up with that? I like to KNOW there's banana in my bread, not just have a hint of banana. There's no doubt with this one, it uses 4 bananas.
My son and I just tried the finished results a few minutes ago and it's good. Both of us responded to the first bite with a soul satisfied uuuummmmmmm. That means, it's REALLY good! My son even helped me make this, what could be better? If you like banana bread, this recipe should satisfy your craving! Click on the name to go to the recipe: Gluten Free Banana Bread
Happy Eating!

Fried Chicken

2010-07-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

I love fried chicken! It's one of my favorite things to eat. Growing up in Kansas, I had several options for really good fried chicken. My favorite was the Olpe Chicken House. We'd go there for special occasions with my Grandma and the food was always delicious. It was 10 miles away from my hometown, so we didn't go there all the time, but , boy what a treat when we did go!
I even worked as a waitress there for a few months during college. So I KNOW good fried chicken when I see it.
Then I moved out west and fried chicken, at least good fried chicken was nowhere to be found. Nowhere. Only the fast food fried chicken, which isn't the same at all. And grocery store deli fried chicken, sigh, let's not even talk about it. I made my own fried chicken sometimes, but usually, I just didn't bother. Then, we went gluten free and I thought it was over. No fried chicken in my future.
Until, one day I had this huge craving for fried chicken and knew I had to find a solution. So I decided to make a cornflake fried chicken, not baked like you do to most cornflake chicken, no this was fried. I used chicken tenders (I know, completely cheating, but it's so much easier) and used my food processor to make the cornflakes into almost a powder, added some seasonings, coated the chicken, pan fried it and tasted the yummiest fried chicken I'd had in a long time. So good, that my son requested it for his birthday dinner. So good, that I made it for my parents when they were visiting this summer and they loved it, too. Trust me, it's good. Not the same as Olpe Chicken House fried chicken, but still delicious and simple to make at home. It's a winner in my book.
Happy Eating!

Uninspired

2010-07-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

Inspiration has been elusive lately and even when I was inspired, I only had time to write things down to save for another post at a later time. I did make some great recipes that I will share soon and I have a HUGE gluten free cookbook that I got for my birthday that I will be reviewing.
Life is so full of ups and downs. Sometimes I am so inspired that I just overflow with ideas to share and other times, I can't seem to find much to be inspired about.
First, it was cold weather in June, then a mini-vacation to the Oregon Coast, then a prayer request to pray for a sick child from church, then the news that she hadn't survived the illness. It sucks inspiration right out of you. Then busyness strikes and parents are visiting and VBS and the inevitable minor illnesses that seem to strike our family after VBS. Sometimes I have to remind myself to breathe in the midst of the craziness.
So please forgive me for being absent from blogging for a while, life was interrupting, as it should. Hang in there, I'm sure inspiration will strike any time now.

Fishy Business

2010-06-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

This is long overdue. I hope you enjoy a little "fishy-ness".
Before we stepped into this new world of gluten and dairy free living, my guys loved fish sticks. They still do, I suppose, we just can't eat them. We're not really big fans of fish, mostly we like the kind that you probably shouldn't like, namely, breaded or batter dipped and fried. Yum! Give me some fried fish and hush puppies with yummy coleslaw at Long John Silver's and I'm a happy camper. In fact, when I moved out west, there wasn't a LJS anywhere near where I lived...I actually had cravings for it! When I visited my parents in the midwest we HAD to go to LJS, just to satisfy my longings. Then one store opened about 2-3 hrs. away from where I lived...I planned it into a trip that way so I could eat my lovely fried fish. Then one day last spring I came out of a restaurant and smelled fried fish. I thought it must be McDonald's making a lot of fish sandwiches because there wasn't any fish place near where I was (or so I thought)and then I saw it, a brand new LJS/KFC had opened just down the street from the local Wal-mart. Birds started singing, life was good, we ate dinner there that night. I think we ate there one more time (it was always crazy busy) and then we found out we needed to switch our diet. Such sadness.
Desperation leads to inspiration in times of intense cravings, so I have come up with some versions of my own favorite coleslaw, fish and hush puppies.
I hope you enjoy them as much as my family did. Just to be clear, the fish is not like Long John's, it's just tasty. Sometime, I'll have to tackle making batter fried fish similar to Long John's. I'll share it with you if I'm successful!
Happy Eating!

Updates coming!

2010-05-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have some great new recipes to send your way. I know, it's been a while since I posted a new recipe. In my defense, it's May. If you knew what my May is like you'd understand. Somehow, every year, May explodes with activities! Most of them are for my son, baseball, AWANA, swimming lessons, piano lessons,etc. If that doesn't sound too bad, did I mention that only one of those activities is in my town?? The rest are in a town 30 minutes away from home and a town 45 minutes away from home.
I seriously love June when all the madness ends! I will be back to my blog as soon as I can. I have a great coleslaw recipe, a pan fried fish recipe and I played around to make some gluten free hush puppies. So check back soon for some tasty treats!
Happy Eating!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

2010-05-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize that this "holiday" is really kind of made up here in America. Yeah, yeah there was some sort of historic event that happened in Mexico a long time ago, but guess what?! They don't celebrate Cinco De Mayo...to them it's just the 5th of May. So who came up with this idea? People who wanted a reason to drink Mexican beer or people who wanted a reason to eat tacos? Whatever the reason, we do celebrate this..uh, er...holiday. We celebrate it rather mildly, but we do celebrate.
In fact, my menu today is based on the fact that it's Cinco De Mayo. We will be having Spanish Rice and salad for dinner. Yes, I've posted this recipe before, but I'm changing it up a bit. To convert it from a side dish into a main dish, I will be adding 1 lb. ground beef, browned and crumbled and I'm also going add 1-2 c. corn.
This should be an easy "Mexican" dinner and since I'm still fighting a head cold, easy is a bonus for me! Plus, this recipe always makes leftovers and they're popular with the fam, so I don't feel guilty sending them off as lunches later in the week.
So that's my Cinco De Mayo plan. Have you thought about yours? Or did you forget about this "holiday"? Either way, why not have a Mexican meal and celebrate? This recipe doesn't take too long to prepare, so you'll have a Mexican treat ready in no time!
Happy Cinco De Mayo!
P.S. If you just really want a taco for Cinco De Mayo, here's a link to the recipe for my taco seasoning mix. Just make sure that your taco shells don't have any added gluten.

What Inspires You?

2010-05-04T01:19:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been watching Jamie's Food Revolution on the internet. I missed it while it was on TV, but have been enjoying watching the transformation of this town that Jamie Oliver has set out to revolutionize by educating the people who live there on how to cook and eat healthier and take better care of themselves.
We tend to try to eat very healthy around here, but sometimes it can be easy to slack off on the veggies. Fruit I don't need to worry about, at least for the guys, they're great about snacking on fruit (sometimes I need to be better about that, but they're great about it). Watching the show, though has inspired me to be a little more creative and purposeful in adding more vegetables to our every day meals. Even if it's just adding more vegetables to our favorite things. Like adding zucchini to our already vegetable full stir fry or tossing carrots and red pepper into my chili in addition to the onion, green pepper and green chilies. In fact, the chili turned out to be the first one I've made that my husband has declared that he liked (not that the others I've made weren't great but, he isn't much of a soup eater and doesn't like much spice, either). Of course, it didn't hurt that the chili also had some bacon and extra meat in it, but the point is, it had extra vegetables and the family loved it. So now I just need to think outside the box and add those veggies, I know we'll all feel better for it.

Happy Healthy Eating!

Product Review: Chicken Italian Sausage

2010-05-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

I guess by now it should be obvious that sausage is popular at our house (especially if you look at my last post prior to this one). Maybe we can blame it on my husband's Austrian heritage. His aunt and uncle even own a little restaurant at the Olympia Farmer's Market called the Bavarian Wurst (devoted to selling all kinds of delicious brats and sausage, click the link and you'll even see a picture of my hubby's aunt and her daughter, his cousin). I think this theory might have some weight to it...well, if he did the shopping, but since I do the shopping, I think it's safe to say, we just love sausage!
Now that our diet is different, we also find it necessary to watch out for nitrates and nitrites (they can give us headaches if we aren't careful), so we look for sausages that don't contain those ingredients. Once again, we find Isernio's sausage fits the bill. Their products are also hormone and antibiotic free, which makes me very happy to see!
This time we tried the Chicken Italian sausage. I'd heard about it, but I hadn't seen it in the stores before, but I found it at Fred Meyer's in Lacey and it was at least a dollar cheaper than the other stores where I had purchased the pork Italian sausage before (the pork and chicken sausages were the same price at Freddy's). I made the New York Style Italian sausage stir fry that I blogged about previously, adding chopped zucchini to the mix. Overall, we really liked the sausage. I still prefer the pork, but I like that it's chicken because sometimes pork can make me feel tired or achy. I know we'll be getting product again and again...I told you, sausage is popular around here!
Happy Eating!

Chicken Sausage Gravy

2010-04-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

I know, chicken sausage sounds like it might be too healthy to taste great, but it tastes wonderful! We tried Isernio Breakfast Chicken Sausage this morning for our breakfast. I didn't think ahead, so it was frozen. I decided to make sausage gravy over toast. I know, the traditional is gravy over biscuits, but I'm not much for biscuits, never really have been. My family is used to this, in fact, when we were on vacation a couple of years ago with my parents, my mom made biscuits and gravy and my son actually complained that he didn't have toast to go under his gravy!
I admit, I expected this sausage to taste, well like chicken and not as good as regular sausage. Boy, was I wrong! If I hadn't told the family that it was chicken sausage, they wouldn't have known. It's seasoned perfectly and really stands up to your typical pork breakfast sausage. It got an A+ from our family.
I'll share my Gluten and Dairy Free Sausage Gravy recipe with you, just keep in mind that it's hard to be exact in measuring when making gravy, so most measurements will be approximate, not exact. Just click on the title and it should open the recipe.
I served it over toast made from Pamela's bread mix.

Happy Breakfast!

A night at the Teriyaki Restaurant

2010-04-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

I know, the title of the post sounds like we went to the local Teriyaki restaurant, but that just isn't possible with our new food requirements. I love Asian food!!! Love, love, love it! Growing up, we didn't eat Asian food often and when we did it was chow-mein from Chun-king. Not the real deal AT ALL. I wasn't very fond of it. We did have a couple of nice Chinese restaurants in our town and very rarely, we got to go one of them. I liked the food. A LOT! I think we didn't have Asian food much when I was growing up because at that time, my dad just didn't like it. I think it reminded him too much of Vietnam. Whatever the reason, we didn't have it often and my brother still doesn't like Asian food. My dad has gotten over it and loves it almost as much as I do.
Growing up in a town in Kansas didn't really expose me to much variety in Asian food (and yes, I know that it's really very American, not what true Asians eat). We had the two Chinese restaurants, House of Ma and New China and then Yan-Yan's opened up right next door to Pizza Hut where I worked. Yan-Yan's was revolutionary for me, they delivered. I was introduced to Crab Rangoon, fried rice, hot and sour soup, I loved it. My waistline did not, but my mouth was happy.
Then, I visited my aunt in Kansas City a few times and we tried a Japanese Steakhouse, a Thai restaurant and a little Chinese takeout place. Then came the west coast and I tried Teriyaki. Happy Teriyaki and a little hole in the wall in our new hometown, they were great, one of my favorite things. I even felt a little better about the fact that the food wasn't fried. And then, we had to cut out gluten and dairy from our diets. So long Asian food? Well, no. Mostly it was so long Asian restaurants. The soy sauce has wheat and if the food is breaded and fried, it has wheat. So, it was up to me if we were going to have Asian food. So far on our journey into this I have made egg rolls (I'm still working on perfecting that recipe, so you'll have to wait on it) using rice wrappers. I've made General Tao's chicken (I didn't have to change anything about that recipe except I used gluten free soy sauce). Last night I made Teriyaki Chicken with rice and salad with Asian restaurant salad dressing. It was fabulous! Colin made sure that he got to take the leftovers (a sure sign that dinner was a hit). The Teriyaki Chicken recipe actually came from a Japanese exchange student who was staying with some people we know from church. She shared the recipe with their family and the mom put the recipe on her blog. I took the recipe and tweaked it to make it gluten free and also to add a little bit more depth to the flavor. The Asian Salad Dressing recipe is something I just made up based on the salad dressing I've had from Teriyaki restaurants. Hope you like them.
Happy Eating!
P.S. As a little bonus, here's where to find my favorite fried rice recipe:
Benihana's Fried Rice
It should be simple to convert to gluten and dairy free, just use gluten free soy sauce and dairy free margarine instead of the butter.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

2010-03-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! I didn't realize how long it had been since I blogged a new and exciting recipe. I guess going on vacation started my distraction and life just kept right on moving fast after that. I do have a new dessert recipe to share with you. Since it is extremely late (or early, depending on how you view 2 am), I am going to type this here and later do the link to Google documents for printing.
This recipe is actually one that my mom has had since I was a little kid and she sent it to me. She also sent me the recipe for the flour blend that I used. It can be quite helpful to have a mom who is also eating gluten free! Anyway, I made a few changes and the recipe is simply delicious. you'll have to try it for yourself and see.

Pumpkin Pie Cake
1/4 c. canola oil
1 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 small can of pureed pumpkin (about 1 c.)
2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. rice milk
2 eggs
1 c. flour mixture (recipe to follow)
3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1/4 t. ground ginger
2 T. flax seed
3/4 c. raisins
1/2 c. sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square pan. Combine all liquid ingredients, mixing thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients and then combine with liquid ingredients making sure all ingredients are mixed together well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes until top springs back when touched lightly in the center.

Flour mixture:
1/2 c. sorghum flour
1/2 c. potato starch
1/3 c. tapioca flour
Mix thoroughly before using.

Happy Eating!

Casserole

2010-01-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

I think this recipe that I'm going to share with you is one of my all-time favorite casserole recipes. I only have a couple that I have had all my life and still keep making. This is one of those. Actually, it's the first copycat recipe I ever had. A restaurant in my hometown made this and my mom copied it. We're both still making it over 30 yrs. later. That is the sign of a good recipe. I've also made this for friends after they've had babies and needed a dinner and then I promptly had to share the recipe. Of course, this was before gluten and dairy were a problem (or at least before we realized they were a problem). It used canned cream soup, a big no-no on the new diet. I wasn't going to make it again, I thought. Then Thanksgiving rolled around and I KNEW I had to have green bean casserole. So I searched and discovered recipes for Cream of Mushroom Soup and tried one. I ended up tweaking it to make it to suit my tastes and when I finished I wondered why I had ever purchased the canned soup. They are a poor comparison to what you can make at home yourself.
Once I made that cream of mushroom soup, I knew that this recipe would be back in the menu rotation. So here it is: Sausage, green bean potato casserole I know, it's a pretty fancy title for a casserole! Well, at least you pretty much know what's in it by the time you finish saying the name. Try it, you'll like it! I even put the Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe with the casserole and by itself, just so you have it for reference.
Happy Eating!

The Rainy Season

2010-01-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here at the computer listening to the rain pouring down outside and thinking about one of my favorite winter time meals, potato soup. Nothing brings back memories like comfort food. I remember having potato soup as a little girl (my mom probably made it not only because she liked it, but it was an easy way to get some milk in me. I never liked the stuff, guess now we know why. It doesn't agree with me). I liked potato soup. It was warm and creamy and delicious. The recipe my mom made wasn't one of those loaded with cheese and sour cream, it was just potatoes, onion, celery, milk and salt and pepper. I've had the ones loaded with cheese. I even have a great recipe for one of those, but I can't eat those anymore and after adapting a recipe for potato soup from the AIA Gluten and Dairy Free Cookbook, I don't even want those cheesy potato soups. This new recipe is great. It has a few new elements different from my mom's recipe and one from the loaded baked potato soups (bacon). I shared this recipe with my mom and I think that she might try it with some Jimmy Dean Natural Sausage. I might have to try that next time, but for now, the version with bacon was wonderful! Ian was hunting for the bacon in every bite. He wasn't happy when he thought he'd run out of bacon, but thankfully, he still had a couple of pieces.
So, if you're in need of some warm comfort food, I'd recommend this recipe. It'll put a smile on your face!
Potato Soup
Happy Eating!

The Spicy Side of Life

2010-01-09T00:50:00.000-08:00

Lately our go to food (meaning quick to make and popular with the whole family) has been tacos. We don't do pizza much any more since we aren't eating dairy and soy gives me a headache, so tacos work quite well. I make my own taco seasoning mix. I found a recipe on Top Secret Recipes website and changed it to make it gluten free and also to suit my tastes. It tastes fabulous...enough to make my husband actually ask for tacos (which, if you knew him, would amaze you. He's not really a Mexican food fan). I love to pair the tacos with some refried beans and Spanish rice. I have a great recipe for Spanish rice. Boy, typing about these makes me want Mexican food. I might just have to make some this weekend!
Happy Eating!

Time To Play Catch Up!

2010-01-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

Well, Happy New Year. I am really behind with the recipes I'd like to share with you. I still need to share some of my successes from Thanksgiving and Christmas. I guess I'll go with Christmas for now as it is still fresh in my mind and doesn't require looking up several websites (as Thanksgiving does). So...Christmas, what to say... I did make a couple of Christmas cookies that were gluten and dairy free. One of them was so good, it's on the list to make for Valentine's day as a treat since we can't have some of the more traditional treats. It's called Almond Chocoroons. It's fabulous and I actually found the recipe in Family Circle. Of course, I changed it just a smidge and it's even better. Plus, I can tell you that one of their instructions was not good...using an ungreased cookie sheet...ugh! This cookie is too sticky to get away with that. Just click on the name of the cookie to see the recipe.
I'll share one more of my new recipes for now. It's my Asian Cold Noodle Salad. I'm not bragging, but....yum! I found a recipe that like for a cold noodle salad and then I changed it to suit my needs. Instead of soba noodles, I used pad thai noodles. I also added a couple of ingredients like red pepper and green onion and changed the carrots to julienne carrots (although I'm very tempted to just buy matchstick carrots at the store and save myself a lot of chopping...if making julienne carrot strips it too much work, you can just grate the carrot). By the way, this salad was a big hit at my Bible study dinner (although a bit spicy for some..cut back on the crushed red pepper flakes if you don't like it spicy. I only added one teaspoon the last time I made this and it still had zip without being too spicy). Hope you like it. I'll try to post some of my other recipes from the holidays soon.
Happy Eating!

Gluten Free Corn Dogs

2009-11-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

Note: I realize this post is long overdue, my recipes with notes on them were "lost" for a while. Thankfully, they have reappeared and I can share them with you.

I planned a fun menu for our Halloween dinner this year. Corn dogs, tator tots and popcorn balls for dinner. Just your basic food groups (well minus a couple, but ketchup makes up for the veggies, at least on Halloween). The tator tots were easy. I bought Cascade Farms Spud Puppies because, not only are they gluten free, they are free of MSG and they're organic. Hot dogs were found at Trader Joe's (gluten free and nitrite and nitrate free). All I needed was a recipe for corn dog coating and popcorn balls that had no gluten or dairy in the ingredients. I found the corn dog coating recipe on a message board (and tweaked it a lot) and the popcorn ball recipe on a gluten free blog somewhere (I will look for that site so I can give them credit).
Both the corn dogs and popcorn balls turned out tasting absolutely fabulous. I will make them again in the future. Sometimes I just crave a little junk food, it's nice to be able to make it a little healthier without sacrificing the flavor.
Click on the recipe name to access the recipe: Gluten Free Corn Dogs
Enjoy!

New Exciting Recipes.....To Be Seen in the Future

2009-11-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while since I've been on here. Life in general interrupts and I don't get on here as often as I would like to. That being said, I do have some exciting new gf/cf recipes to share with you very soon.
I don't think I've shared my meatloaf recipe yet and I also have some recipes from Halloween to share. Homemade corn dogs and popcorn balls. Yummy!
Plus, I announced tonight to Ian that we will be looking for new recipes for Christmas cookies this year. So far, I've found some that look easy to adapt and I even found one in Family Circle magazine that doesn't need to be changed (well only the chocolate from bittersweet to semisweet, but that's a minor change). So stayed tuned for some great recipes in the days ahead.

The Things you Bring Home from the County Fair....

2009-09-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

Back in August our family went to our county fair. We had a great time and while we were there my husband had to get a New York style Italian Sausage sandwich. It was very messy. My sweetie was so excited about this sandwich. He'd had it two years ago when we had attended the fair and was still drooling at the thought of it. So of course he wanted me to watch the vendor make the sandwich and he asked the guy a lot of questions. He also mentioned to the guy that I am capable of recreating things that I've tried. To which the man replied "a lot of people have tried to make this at home, but they don't succeed." Oh, did I hear a challenge?! It certainly sounded like it to me. So I kept all the info that we had gleaned by watching the guy and after we were home I searched the internet and found something that sounded about right. I combined my info. and that recipe and made a very good copy of the sandwich, if I do say so myself!
And then we realized we needed to not eat gluten and dairy. Dairy wasn't a problem for this sandwich, but gluten...hello...the bun! So I tried using Tapioca buns. Yeah, not so good. The filling still tasted great, but the bun? It had the taste and texture of socks and paper. Terribly dry and tasteless. Horrible in fact. Ian's still talking about how bad those buns were and we had them a month ago!
So I had a little discussion with my sweet hubby and told him that I'd like to try turning his favorite sandwich into a very tasty stir-fry. We tried it tonight and I have to say, I like it better than the sandwich. The sandwich was always a messy thing because the vegetables were diced and you put a lot of them on the sandwich. The thing was always dripping veggies in your lap! So here's the recipe and a picture even (I managed to snap one before the food was devoured).
Fair Inspired Italian Sausage Stir-Fry
Happy Eating!

Zesty Oven Fried Chicken and Super Easy Parsley Potatoes

2009-09-25T03:46:00.000-07:00

Finally a picture to go with some recipes. I made this last week before I got sick. The chicken was fabulous! Ian loved the crispy skin and even called it "fried chicken" which it isn't, but it is tasty. The Parsley potatoes were a snap to make because I baked my red potatoes in the oven and just cut them up to use them.
Click on their names to look at the recipes.
Super Easy Parsley Potatoes

Zesty Oven Fried Chicken
We added a salad with the chicken and potatoes to round out the meal. It was very tasty and best of all, gluten and dairy free!
Happy Eating!

A Momentary Break

2009-09-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering where all the new recipes are... I really do have some, but this cold I've been fighting is still working on me, which means my brain is in slow motion right now. I promise I'll be back to share more recipes. Tonight Ian told me I should put my meatloaf recipe on here because it's really good. I'm with him, it's yummy (and that's not me bragging, that's my taste buds smiling at the thought of that meatloaf). Meatloaf is on the menu for next Wednesday, so I'll try to post it by next weekend. Hopefully, I'll feel better before then and share some other recipes. And yes, I have several pictures of food to share, but again...the brain is foggy and tired, so I'll wait until it's working well again. See you soon!

There's Gluten in....Tea?

2009-09-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

The more I read, the more amazed I am at where gluten is hiding in the American diet. I've read about gluten in some toothpastes and now I have to investigate my tea. One reason that there might be gluten in your tea is the process the factory uses for sealing the bag. Some factories use a wheat paste to "glue" the bag shut. Of course, when you make your tea that is in it and you're drinking gluten!
Right now I'm fighting a head cold, which is exactly when I like to drink tea. I pulled out a box of green tea and even though it didn't say gluten free on the box, I examined the tea bag and thought it looked like it would be okay. Uh, probably not. My throat was starting to feel sore before I finished the cup, so I tossed out the rest and made a new cup of tea using Celestial Seasoning (their boxes are marked gluten free). I did some research online and found that all Stash teas are gluten free (they have no gluten in the factory at all) and Bigelow teas are gluten free except for: Blueberry Harvest Herb Tea, Chamomile Mango Herb Tea and Cinnamon Spice Herb Tea. They also stated on their website that they do not use wheat paste to seal their bags, they use either a heat or crimp seal.
I also found the Republic of Tea products are all gluten free. What a relief to find companies that are making gluten free tea.
I also found a web page that linked to a lot of companies lists of their gluten free products. If you'd like to look at that, just click the link.
Gluten Free Shopping
Happy Sipping!

What to make when you feel under the weather...

2009-09-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

A yucky head cold has hit hard at our house. My son got it first, starting with a bark and progressing to a fever and a runny nose. Poor baby, he's been so tired. When I suggested a nap today he agreed with me! No 8 yr. old would ever agree to a nap unless they are sick!
I woke up this morning and started feeling yucky almost right away. I'm coming down with it, too. Usually, when I don't feel good I have a can of chicken noodle soup. That's not happening for me now that we've switched our food and my mom isn't going to fly out to make her homemade chicken noodle soup for me and even if she did, I'd need some kind of gluten free noodle. So what's a girl to do? Get creative and pull out that crockpot!
I decided to make a chicken noodle soup without noodles. I used potato chunks instead. It's still simmering in the crockpot as I type this (I started it a little too late, it happens when you don't feel well). I did sneak a taste and it looks like it might be my new recipe to pull out when sickness strikes our house.

Chicken and No Noodle Soup

Almost Homemade Salsa

2009-09-17T02:39:00.001-07:00

I got this recipe a few years ago and it's been one that Ian absolutely loves! He gets very excited when he knows I'm going to make it. The only problem is, it makes a lot of salsa and there are only 2 of us eating it. It would be perfect to take to an event or a tailgate party. Best of all for me, it's gluten free (as long as I'm careful about the stewed tomatoes).
Almost Homemade Salsa
1 bunch cilantro, washed and chopped
2 cans Mexican stewed tomatoes
Jalapeno pepper (to taste, I use a small fresh jalapeno to keep it mild)
1 t. salt
1 t. cumin
1 t. minced garlic (or one garlic clove pressed)
1 can peaches, drained
Blend in the blender. Serve with Frito-Lay tortilla chips
Salsa may be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Product Review: Trader Joe's GF Brownie Mix

2009-09-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

I found Trader Joe's Gluten Free Brownie Baking Mix shortly after we switched from gluten and dairy. About the time that my husband had started moaning that his life was over and he'd never eat anything yummy again. Such drama! I assured him that his life was not over and as soon as I bought groceries, he'd start having some yummy things again. I'm not sure he believed me until I whipped up a batch of these brownies. That was the beginning for him. We were having a date weekend (the kiddo was spending the weekend at Grandma's and Grandpa's) and my dear hubby had been moaning about the new food. So I decided it was a good time to make some brownies.
I looked at the ingredients to add (1 egg, 1/2 c. oil, 1/4 c. water) and immediately decided I would need more egg in it (I like my brownies a little cake-y). I mixed in my two eggs plus the other ingredients and decided it looked a little dry, so I added a little more oil and water. It took 30 minutes to bake and when they had cooled down (well ok, they weren't that cool, but I NEEDED brownies) I sprinkled them with powdered sugar and snuck a hot little nibble. Oh. YUM. They were SO good.
That was Friday night and by Sunday night all that was left was the bite we were saving for the kiddo.
I also made these a second time to take to my Bunco night. They went over quite well even though there were 2 desserts and ice cream, too! I took the leftovers with me to my friend's house the next day for our yard sale and my kiddo ate the last brownie on the way home that evening.
These brownies are great! Of course, keep in mind that I did adjust what was added to the mix (I do that to almost everything I make). If the mix looks too dry after you've added everything it calls for, add a little more liquid. They taste like regular brownies, not gluten/dairy free brownies!
These are now on my grocery list permanently. Both Colin and Ian(hubby and kiddo) have asked when we are having them again. That's a big thumbs up in my book!
Happy Eating!

Ghee for me!

2009-09-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Since we have started this new eating "adventure" we have been getting very creative around our house. Since we can't have milk and related products we were trying to figure out what to use instead of butter. We tried Smart Balance and then we realized it had to be Smart Balance light as the regular has whey in it. Ugh!
So I looked around and found that ghee (also known as clarified butter) doesn't contain the milk proteins that we need to avoid, making it the perfect replacement for regular butter. I searched around on the internet to find out about ghee and found a couple of blogs that shared how to make it (and also told me it was expensive to buy, which didn't really matter to me as I haven't seen it in any of the stores around here). One blog said it would take 45 minutes to make while another said it would take 15 to 20 minutes to make. I'm sure you can guess which one I decided to try. The shorter time recipe, of course!
So the recipe told me I could use coffee filters or cheesecloth to strain the milk proteins after they had separated. I had coffee filters, so I decided to use those. DO NOT USE COFFEE FILTERS! Unless you enjoy waiting for something to strain one slow drop at a time and also watch part of your ghee be absorbed by a coffee filter. I ended up calling the local hardware store to see if they had cheesecloth in stock and sending my husband to buy some. It was really cheap, maybe $5 total and you just cut off what you need to use. It's washable, too. I think I'll need to buy some more in 10 or 20 years! Anyway, I'm sure you would love to see this recipe for ghee yourself, right? Well, here it is: Making Ghee At Home
Hope you like it as much as we did!
Happy eating!

Picnics and Potlucks

2009-09-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of weeks our family has been to a picnic and a potluck and I have gone to Bunco. These kinds of events can be challenging when you aren't eating gluten or dairy. Most comfort foods have one or both of those items in them. So what can you do? You can be creative!
Actually, I didn't have to be too creative. I found two new recipes and one old favorite that were completely gluten and dairy free and still would be great tasting to share with other people. I'll share them all with you, starting with what I took to our homeschool picnic.
Picnics mean yummy salads and rich desserts. I didn't bring a dessert (next time I will, thankfully some people brought fresh fruit) I took potato salad. I love potato salad! My recipes in the past have had Miracle Whip or sour cream in them. Definitely not on the menu now at our house! I was looking at a little "sampler" cook booklet from Better Homes and Gardens that I had sitting around the house and found a recipe that seemed simple, easy and gluten/dairy free. Of course, I changed it a bit because, well, that's what I do!

Creamy Dill Potato Salad
6 medium red potatoes (about 2 lbs.) 1 1/3 c. mayonnaise (gluten free, I used Best Foods)
1 c. sliced celery
4 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
2/3 c, thinly sliced green onion
1/4 c. sweet pickle relish (this is really to taste, I think I used about 1/2 c.)
2 t. celery seeds
2 t. dried dill weed
1 t. salt
1/2 t. paprika
Hard-boiled eggs wedges (optional)
celery leaves (optional)

Scrub potatoes. In a large saucepan cover potatoes with water. Bring to boil; boil for 10 min; reduce heat and simmer for 25- 30 min. or until tender. Drain; cool. Cut into bite size chunks after cooled.
In a large bowl combine the potatoes, celery, green onion and hard boiled eggs. In a separate bowl combine mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, celery seeds, salt, paprika and dried dill weed; mix together thoroughly. Pour mayonnaise mixture over potatoes and toss gently until mixture completely coats potatoes. Cover and chill for at least 2 hrs. (overnight is better). If desired, garnish with egg wedges and celery leaves. Makes 12 servings.

For our potluck at church I made a couple of favorites, Three bean salad and coleslaw. I didn't have to change the Three bean salad one bit, but I had to find a new recipe for coleslaw as my "go to" recipe has sour cream in it. So, I tried a new recipe and immediately changed it and after it sat overnight, I decided it needed one more change. You are so lucky to be able to make this without all the trial and error.
Since this post is getting long, just click on the recipe name to get the recipe.
Three Bean Salad
BBQ Slaw

All these recipes did really well at the events. The only one that had any leftovers was the Three Bean Salad and that was because there were two of them at our potluck! I didn't mind, I like leftovers, especially Three Bean Salad.
I'll tell you what I took to Bunco in my next post. It will be a product review.
Happy Eating!
P.S. I know I don't have any pictures of the food up yet. I'm working on that. I just have to be quick about it before everyone gobbles the food up!

The First Gluten Free Recipe

2009-09-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is, my first gluten free (and dairy free) recipe on this blog. I actually got this recipe from another gluten free blog GlutenFreeGobsmacked.com. Click on their name to link to their blog. Before you think "great, she's just passing along someone else's recipe", please note that this recipe has been changed to work in the bread machine. Originally it was to be made by hand, which I don't do, don't really want to do and don't have the time for even if I wanted to, which I've already said 'I don't want to'. So without further ado, here it is:

Gluten Free Sunflower and Millet Bread for the Bread Machine

1 1/2 c. warm water
2 T. honey
4 T. canola oil
2 eggs
1 c. raw sunflower seeds (processed in a food processor until somewhat smooth in texture)
1 1/3 c. millet flour
3/4 c. quinoa flour
1/2 c. potato starch (not potato flour)
1/3 c. flaxseeds (not ground/meal)
2 1/2 t. xanthan gum
1/2 t. salt
2 T. brown sugar
1 1/2 T. yeast (yes, I mean Tablespoons)

Mix together in a separate bowl, processed sunflower seeds, millet flour, quinoa flour, potato starch, xanthan gum and salt. In bread machine pan place water, oil, honey and eggs. Pour in flour mixture then add brown sugar and yeast. Start bread machine. I have a Breadman machine and I set mine to white bread medium setting. It turned out perfectly. I did watch at the beginning and used a spatula to scrape some of the dry ingredients back into the mixture (they tend to fly up and not get mixed in sometimes. Just make sure to only do this at the beginning as it will mess with heat levels if you do this later. Hope you like it! We sure did. It was much softer and moister than store bought gluten free bread. Thanks to GlutenFreeGobsmacked for sharing the original recipe.

Under Construction

2009-09-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

This blog is officially under construction! It is about to go through a complete transformation. In the past it has been about my thoughts and my family activities, but soon it will be full of recipes and pictures of food! Our family has stepped into the world of gluten-free and dairy free food and I thought I could share our experiences and good recipes here. However, since today is the first day of homeschool, the blog will wait for a little bit! Check back later to see the transformation!

A New Blog?

2009-07-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering why this blog has been silent for a while, let me explain. July has been busy with Summer Hummer and then a sinus infection for me...ugh! Right now I'm busy exploring a blog site at Shutterfly. So far, I'm liking it because it's much easier to upload my photos (some are already uploaded from when I ordered photos and I must admit, I like the fact that I only need to upload them once). So, if you've been invited, swing on over to my shutterfly share site. There are a lot of updates there!

Don't Fence Me In....

2009-07-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

Obviously, it's time for a much needed update! I haven't written for some time, yet I have a few stories to share. We'll start with the story about Dilly.
So, when we got Dilly a year and a half ago, we thought we'd try to teach to be off-leash. We could have saved a lot of time by skipping that idea! A dog who is easily spooked is NOT a good candidate for being off-leash! She decided that rather than play fetch with Colin, she'd rather play "try to catch me", which ended our off-leash training immediately. However, a big, bored pup in your house is just asking for trouble so we hooked up a kind of lead for her with some rope and a leash. It worked quite well until she got a new collar (actually, a new collar and a haircut). After the haircut she was able to slip her head out of the collar if she tried. Colin even bought a choke collar for when she was on the lead. She still managed to get off the lead at least twice without removing the collars...we don't know how! We spent way too much time chasing that dog this past spring. She thought it was great!
So, in June, shortly after my birthday, Colin's parents told us that for part of my birthday and part of Colin's birthday, they would help us put up a fence. Hooray, we thought, our days of chasing Dilly are over!
Over the course of two weekends the fence was put up and we put the dogs in. It was great, they could run, they could play all within the safe area of our yard. It worked for a couple of days and then, Ian came running into the house saying Dilly wasn't in the yard. We looked and sure enough, she wasn't there, but all the gates were closed. So we started searching. Ian was very cute. He came outside and said "The first thing a good detective needs are clues." and he began to search around the yard. Thankfully, my parents were visiting so we were able to send Colin on a bike, my mom and I went in her car and my dad stayed at the house with Ian. We drove toward Dilly's favorite spot to escape to, a field about half a block away. We didn't see her there, but my mom thought that the neighbor said something to us, so we went down the block and turned around. Turns out that he just thought my mom was lost (since she had out of state plates), but it was a blessing because right about that time my dad started waving at us. Dilly had been spotted by none other than my little detective, Ian. So we drove toward the house just in time to see Dilly run across the side road by our house. We turned down that road and called for Dilly. She stopped and looked at us, so I told my mom to stop the car and open her door and call. I got out of the car and crouched down and called Dilly (it's the only position you can be in to get that dog to come to you when shes in runaway mode). Dilly ran toward me and came within arms length, but dodged out of my reach. I hadn't tried to grab her yet, so she was still coming to me. Finally, she came close enough and I grabbed her collar and walked her home.
Once we got home, Ian showed us where Dilly had gotten out. She had discovered a loose spot in the fence and had simply pushed it and crawled under into the woods behind our house. My mom told Colin he should get some stakes for the fence to help keep it from being able to be pushed.
The first thing the next morning Colin went to the hardware store and bought 30 stakes. He put in about 8, I think and then he let the dogs into the yard and we went inside. Wouldn't you know it? That crazy dog pushed and bent some of the fence and managed to get a spot where she could crawl out and escaped! Colin caught her quickly this time and then added many more stakes to keep her in. That seemed to work.
That evening, we were getting Ian ready for bed. We sent him to brush his teeth. The dogs were still outside. Everyone else was sitting at the kitchen table talking. The next thing we knew, the dogs came prancing into the kitchen, pleased to be inside. "Ian!" we hollered, " You left the screen door open!" Ian apologized and we thought nothing of the incident until the next morning. My mom had fixed breakfast and everyone was at the table (except me, I was still snoozing a little bit), suddenly, Dilly and Buster came traipsing into the dining room. Colin blamed Ian, but my mom said that Ian hadn't opened the door. So who opened the screen door to the home school room? It was Dilly. The screen had had a small tear in it, but by now it was much larger. Dilly used her paws to let herself and her buddy, Buster into the house without any human assistance!
Is it any wonder the neighbors have suggested that we might have named her wrong? The name they suggest for her? Houdini!

As Paul Harvey Would Have Said...and now, The Rest of the Story...

2009-06-18T00:16:00.000-07:00

Our story did not end with the second person who claimed to want the piano and it will not end with the third, but I will lead through the rest of our piano giveaway adventure.
The third people in line were a family with seven children whom they wished to instruct in the art of playing the piano. They had emailed us, so I happily emailed them and informed them that it was their lucky day, the piano was now indeed theirs if they chose to come and pick it up. Then I waited for their reply. And waited and waited some more. Then I got the reply. Remember the loose leg on the piano? The one that probably just needed a dowel to be able to use the screw again or a good dose of glue?? The one we had described in our ad? Well, it seems that the father of this family had written to us, but the mother was afraid the piano would fall on one of her precious offspring (keep in mind that it hadn't even wobbled once in the 2 years we had this piano, the leg was only an issue when moving the piano...like relocating it to a new house). So this family no longer wanted this piano. I did compose an email to them after piano taker number 4 fell through, although I never sent it. The main idea of the email said something like this, "the piano is very stable once in place in your home, so unless your seven children plan to drag the piano around the house every day, I don't see the leg as being a problem for you." I deleted that email, but it sure felt good to write it, even if they never saw it.
Piano taker # 4. A woman named Tina who lived about 50 minutes away and again was someone who was going to rely on a friend with a pickup to help her get our piano. We set up a time that her friend had agreed to the next day after contacting her. The next day arrived and she said she was coming and then at the last minute she says her friend can't make it that day, could we make it the next day? We said, fine and said to let us know what time would work. The next day we get an email saying she will be coming around 6 in the evening, she confirmed it with her friend, they are getting ready to leave. 6 o'clock comes and she's not here and she hasn't called. Colin checks the email and sure enough, we have an email from her saying she would have called, but she doesn't have long distance and her calling card was all used up, her friend had bailed on at the last second. She was very nice and apologized, telling us we had been very patient and that if we still had the piano on June 12th, she would rent a U-Haul truck and come get the piano. June 12th??? We certainly hoped it would be gone by then!
So we moved on to taker # 5. A man in Puyallup (huh, the spell check hates that one...you say it Pew-Al-lup, it's a town out here). This man promised to call at 4:30 the next day when he got off work and then head out to get the piano. 4:30 the next day, he didn't call, so Colin called him and got nothing. I called and I believe he answered, but then he hung up. I called back and left a voice mail saying you can call us or we're moving on down the list. That wasn't entirely true. We wanted to move on down the list, but didn't have any more names.
When Colin got home that night I asked him to please list the piano on 2 good 2 toss, which is a little more local than Craigslist, which is where we got all but one of the lovely people we had dealt with so far. I had wanted him to list it on there in the first place, but he had listed it on Craigslist and one other local site and figured it was good enough, which it usually is, but it wasn't this time. So Colin posted it to the site and then we went to the table for dinner. That night at dinner, I not only prayed a blessing over the food, I prayed about giving away that silly piano. I prayed that God would send the right people for this piano, someone who had a real need for it. I told him how frustrated we were with the whole process and that we just wanted to be done and know that the piano was somewhere being put to use. We ate our dinner and after dinner, Colin checked our email. We had an email from a woman in our OWN town wanting to know if her family could take a look at it the next night. So we made the arrangements and gave them directions and waited with baited breath to see if this was it. The next evening arrived and so did the dad and grandpa from this family with a boat trailer and lots of straps for tying down a piano. It turned out to be the girls softball coach from the local high school whose daughter was taking piano lessons from one of the music teachers, but only had a tiny keyboard to practice on. And that loose leg?? Not a problem according to the grandpa, he'd just use some gorilla glue and it wouldn't be going anywhere. And so we watched them strap the piano in and then we stood back and watched it drive off into the sunset, knowing that God had just answered prayers for both parties involved with the giving and receiving of this piano.

To Continue the Story...

2009-06-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

So, after a long delay, back to the story. Piano taker #2. We called him right away after the first people didn't come for the piano. He seemed very excited to get the piano and he was coming quite a way to get it. He told us he could pick it up the next day, which was Memorial Day.
Memorial Day came and we didn't hear from Shane (that was his name) so we called him. He said he still wanted the piano, but he had forgotten it was Memorial Day and his buddy was doing some things in honor of the day and wouldn't be able to bring Shane to get the piano (I haven't mentioned this, but Shane didn't drive, so a buddy had a truck and was going to bring him to get the piano). He wondered if it would be okay to come the next day around 10 am. Colin wanted to be home whenever the person came to get the piano so we told Shane that it would be better if he could come in the evening around 6:45pm. He agreed, so we were all set, or so we thought.
The next day 6:45 pm rolls around and no Shane, no phone call, nothing. So we called the number we had for him which was his cellphone. A man answered the cellphone (who sounded a lot like Shane, but claimed to be his brother). He told us Shane had already left, but had forgotten his cellphone. He promised to try to get a hold of his brother and call us back. He didn't call us back and Shane didn't show up. We decided we would call the number again the next day.
The next day I called and got the same man. The "brother". He said "He never arrived? I thought he was staying with some friends in a town near where you live. I know he's kind of crazy, er, uh, not crazy, um different. I guess I'd better start calling around to the jails. I'll call you back and let you know what's going on."
Well, that conversation sure made me feel good about having this strange guy coming to my house! I don't know about you, but when I can't find someone, the jail is NOT the first place I start looking! Of course, the "brother" never called back, not that I really wanted him too!
So...he was either really one person messing with us, a nice split personality person, or one very strange person who went missing on the way to pick up our piano! I didn't know the Bermuda triangle was in Washington state!
Unfortunately, this was not the end of our quest to give away a piano (although probably the strangest experience). I will conclude the story another day soon!

The Great Piano Giveaway

2009-06-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

I see that I entirely missed the whole month of May with this blog. It makes sense, the calendar at our house for the month of May was, as Colin puts it "covered in blue ink". I think there were only a couple of days where we didn't have something going or somewhere to be, sometimes multiple places in the same day. I am thankful June is here and the schedule isn't quite as booked anymore.
So, the piano. I'm sure you were just starting to wonder when I was going to get around to the topic of this post. The answer is, right now. And our story begins.
Early in May I saw a posting on my email from my homeschool group from one of my friends saying she was giving away her spinet piano. I quickly emailed and called and left a message for her, but I figured it was probably already spoken for since it had been posted to the loop a couple of hours prior to my discovery. It wasn't and she called me and told me it was mine if I wanted it (which we've already established that I did).
Now, we already had a piano that we had gotten free two years ago that was in fair condition, not great, but most of the work it could use was cosmetic and it needed tuning and probably a little work on the keys. I hadn't had it tuned because I was scared the tuner would tell me it needed more repairs than I could afford.
So now we were the owners of two pianos. One needed to go. Our schedule and my friend's schedule weren't matching up for about 3 weeks, so we had plenty of time to post it and give it away, right? Wrong. We put it off until the day we were supposed to pick up the new piano. Colin posted it on Freecycle and Craigslist. He asked responders to call (I prefer email, it's easier to sort). This is when the craziness started.
Our first caller was eager to pick up the piano the next day, so we told them they could have the piano. We forgot to ask what time they planned to arrive but, we figured we'd just call and ask the next day. A good plan, but it didn't work. They had used a neighbor's cell phone so when we called we got the neighbor. We asked him to contact them. We tried twice, but they never called back. So we moved on to the next person on the list who turned out to be an even more interesting experience than the first person on the list.
I will continue our saga tomorrow.

The Guinea Pig

2009-04-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like I've been slacking in the blogging department (notice I said "looks like", just wanted to clarify that). I have thought of many different things to blog about, but either didn't sit down and blog or got interrupted when I was trying and by the time I returned, the thoughts were gone. Maybe it's just that my brain is starting to function better now that my thyroid medication has been increased. Even though I'm fighting a sinus infection and I've only had the new dose for two days, I have noticed a little improvement.
Of course, you are probably sitting there, reading this and thinking "what does that have to do with a guinea pig?". Nothing. Absolutely nothing, but it's about me, so I put it in to get you caught up with me. Now on to our topic.
We had a sort of reoccurring mentioning of guinea pigs around here for the past year or two. First, we found these cute books about a classroom guinea pig named Fluffy. Ian adores these books. Fluffy, of course so no ordinary guinea pig, he has wild adventures! Then we recently watched Bedtime Stories, which has a guinea pig in it. I had a guinea pig in high school thanks to a friend who bought one for herself and ended up buying a pregnant female.
Fast forward to present day. I had been thinking it would be fun for our family to have a guinea pig (in addition to two dogs). Then a friend posted on our homeschool group email that she was giving away two guinea pigs. I decided that we should get one. I thought I should hurry and contact her before someone else claimed them. I needn't have worried. I spoke to my friend and after talking to her decided that we would like to have her female guinea pig. As far as I know, she's still trying to give away the male. We got our guinea pig Friday afternoon after we had shopped for a cage and other things for her. I'm not quite sure what her name is...we've had several so far. I think we started with Calliope (Callie for short). We've also called her Snuggles, Jenny, Miss Guinea, Miss Piggy and Bunny Rabbit. I'm sure something will stick at some point!
What cracks me up is how much Colin is enjoying the guinea pig. The idea was to get something that Ian could help with a little more than the dogs. He's still working on being able to pick up the guinea pig carefully. Colin, however, gets the guinea pig out and cuddles with her...it's very cute!
Of course, the guinea pig is already super spoiled! In her out house she lived in a large box. At our house she lives in a very nice cage with an edible "log" (it looks like a log but it's made of stuff she can eat, not that she does). She also has a stack of wooden blocks to chew on with a bell attached and if she's tired of her cage, we have a kiddie pool she can run around in. She seems to like the kiddie pool better than running around on the floor. She's a lot more fun than my first guinea pig. I think that's because I'm not the only one interested in what she's doing and taking care of her. It's more fun because we're taking care of her as a family.
I'll let you know if we finally decide on a name!

A Taste of Spring

2009-04-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

Life in my area has been winter-like for quite some time now. Even the arrival of spring did little to change that. Last week on Ian's birthday we had rain mixed with snow.
Today, however, was a taste of something new. Spring! Over the weekend the sun had come out and the temperatures climbed into the 60's. People came out of their homes after what seemed a long hibernation. Today was the climax of the nice days. 70 degrees, sunshine, birds singing and the hummingbirds zipping through my yard. We put out the hummingbird feeder last night and it didn't take long for them to find it. I did research to find the best sugar solution and found that a solution of 60/40 sugar/water will attract them quicker because it has more nutrients for them. Now I need to buy another feeder. I did more research and found that once the male hummingbirds decide they like your feeder and your yard, they will chase off other hummingbirds. They were already doing that today. Ian and I sat on our front porch and watched them. Fascinating.
Appropriately enough, Ian and I are on spring break this week. So Ian enjoyed a day of playing with his Legos, watching some Veggie Tales, playing on his fort and being read to from the book Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary (she's the author, I was the one reading to him).
I didn't know we really needed this break until we were already on spring break, but we needed it. A break paired with a sunny day is pure joy to my soul. I feel renewed, ready to tackle new projects and maybe finish some old ones!
We even cooked out for dinner. I think today was one of those days that if you could bottle it and bring it out again and again, I would. I will take it for what it is...a gift from God. Thanks, God! I needed a day like today!

In Case You Were Wondering...

2009-03-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering how my last story gave glory to God or delighted in him, I'll remind you that I did say that I would still share stories. That being said, I find much delight in my last story.
God provided that big goofy dog for our family (she was born on the same day that Ian accepted Jesus as his savior, when we didn't even know we would be looking for a dog). I know that God has a sense of humor or he never would have made Dilly. She is huge, but afraid of things like laundry baskets and big objects being carried through the house. Don't pick up and move a chair in our house unless you want to see a 60 lb. dog run like a chicken! She's also afraid of the vacuum cleaner!
She has provided our family with much laughter and an unconditional love that's so sweet. It's nice to have something love you just because you are you and that's what she does for our whole family. So when I share a funny story about Dilly or Buster or anyone in my family, I am giving glory to God because without him, they wouldn't be here!

A Well Buttered Dog

2009-03-15T00:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally had enough energy to attempt to make dinner. After a few days of the stomach flu it was no wonder that meals hadn't seemed very appealing to me, especially not cooking them. So I made some very easy porcupine meatballs and buttered noodles and broccoli. We ate dinner, which everyone seemed to enjoy very well and then headed off to various pursuits in our home. I sat on the couch to try to find something on TV to watch as Colin helped Ian with the new Lego he had purchased the previous evening (he had earned by finishing his new Awana workbook in two weeks).
After a little work on the Lego project it was time for Ian to go to bed, so we read him his devotion and tucked him in. Colin got his computer and I returned to the couch to rest as I still wasn't feeling very energetic after the flu. As I sat I listened to Dilly drinking water, which seemed to be taking a long time. I realized that the sound of the dog drinking water sounded funny. So I called her. "Here Dilly". To which I received no response, which made me all the more suspicious so I said in a stern voice (the one that says...I know what you are doing and YOU are in trouble) "Dilly!" She came running out of the kitchen and went straight into her crate. Now I knew she had been up to something and went into the kitchen to investigate. At first, nothing seemed out of place. Then I saw it, a butter wrapper with a tiny sliver of butter on it in the corner by the stove and the garage door. The truth was revealed to me and I called to Colin to share this great tragedy with him. He walked into the kitchen and I said "Do you know what that dog did?" He gave me a look which clearly stated that no, he did not have the foggiest idea what had happened. "She ate butter!" I told him. In fact, even without having seen her take the butter with my own eyes, I knew exactly what had happened.
When I made the noodles for dinner they were done before the meatballs and so I had taken a new stick of butter and set it on the counter and used about a third of the stick to butter the noodles and I had left the butter on the counter. Dilly has tried in the past without much success to swipe butter from the table (as long as it's still sitting in the wrapper). She's so tall that she acts like a giraffe and uses her tongue to try to get it. Never mind the fact that if she would stand on her hind legs she would be taller than me, she reaches with her tongue until she can get something or we catch her in the act. She had used her tongue to slide that butter right off the counter and onto the floor for her own butter feast. The sound I had heard was Dilly licking that butter. She licked it all the way across our kitchen until she reached a corner where it couldn't move anymore and that's when I caught her.
Now the whole time I was explaining this to Colin, Ian kept popping up out of bed and we kept sending him back. He would pop up again and open his door and say "Finish the story!" He wanted to hear all the details of Dilly crime.
Well, Dilly and her crate were banished to the garage for the rest of the evening and into the next morning because I wasn't willing to find out what two thirds of a stick of butter do to a dog. Well, at least not in my living room!
And do you know what Colin said when I was muttering about Dilly being a giraffe? He told me "She's your dog. You're the one who wanted her!" He's right, too. She is my dog and she's great, but she certainly makes life interesting around here!

Delight in the Lord

2009-03-02T00:11:00.000-08:00

I remember when I was a little girl and my dad would come home from work. I was so excited for him to be home! I would run to the door to see him and give him a hug and see if he had anything special for me. Ian did the same thing to Colin when he was little (he still does once in a while).
My niece on the other hand, always ran and hid when her daddy came home. Not because he was mean or anything...just so he would look for her. I still prefer the running to Daddy.
I think we do the same thing to God. We either run to Him or we run from Him. Adam and Eve did both. When they were right with God they eagerly awaited time with Him. After they sinned, they hid from Him. There's nowhere to hide from an omniscient God, but they tried and so do we at times.
How much more enjoyable is it to be in fellowship with God and have a right relationship where we run to Him out of love and joy instead of desperately running to him to fix what we've messed up.
We are supposed to delight in the Lord. How much more do we delight in other things? Delight in our family, our job, our friends, there is so much that we delight in, but so often we spend our time with the things and not with God and we cheat ourselves of true delight.
You might notice that the name of my blog has changed. There's a reason for that. I feel the need for this blog to be bigger, to focus on more than just me. I have a desire for this blog to be a delight. To give glory and honor to God. So I will still post stories and share, but hopefully, there will also be some devotions and insight along with the stories. I hope you will join me as I seek to delight in the Lord.

A Winning Week

2009-02-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

Well, life at our house has been interesting this past week. Of course, I already told you about Ian winning for his awesome Valentine box. On Saturday, he had his last basketball game and grandma and grandpa came to watch since they were picking him up for a sleepover anyway. Now Ian's team hasn't been the best. I think before this game they had won one or two games and they'd played five. This was game six. At one point in the game, Ian had the ball passed to him and actually managed to get it and dribble for a few seconds before he stepped out of bounds. That's huge progress for him! This year was his first time to play basketball ever!
The other team was good and they were ahead of us before we had a chance to even get going. I didn't hold out much hope, but our team rallied and they won! How exciting! It was even more exciting when we were told that we just beat the first place team! Hooray!
Then Ian was off to spend a couple of nights with grandma and grandpa and Colin and I had some much needed couple time. We went out to dinner Sat. night and then watched Fireproof. Sunday we made it to church (late again, but at least we realized it wasn't only Ian who has been making us late. We need to get up earlier on Sunday morning). The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing at home.
Monday afternoon we picked up Ian and ran a few errands. We finally found Wii Fit in stock so we bought one, it's been a blast so far!
Tuesday I started trying to reset my internal clock, so I started getting up around 7 or 7:30 which meant everything started earlier which has been a good thing at our house.
Last night (Wed.) I asked Colin to tag along with Ian during AWANA so we could see how he is behaving. Colin didn't want to , he wanted to watch a movie instead, but I said I really wanted him to tag along, so he did. Good thing he did, it turned out to be the night where Ian got clubber of the month. I was misty eyed for my sweet little boy. It might sound silly, but the clubber of the month award caused much heartache and anxiety in our household last year. Ian wanted that award so bad he could taste it and then several of his friends won the award. He wasn't happy for them, he was jealous and angry that he didn't win. We had several serious discussions about it. I finally told him to stop thinking about it so much and just do what he was supposed to do and tell God what was in his heart. So it was a sweet moment Wednesday night for my son to be called up to receive the award that his heart had longed for so long.
What a week for winning moments!

Valentine's and All that Jazz!

2009-02-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well, what do you know, it's still February and I'm writing again. Must be because a few people have wondered why I haven't blogged much lately. I'll tell you why...mostly no inspiration or the things on my mind weren't things I wanted to share on a blog!
So what's been happening in February? Well, Ian has had some appointments at the dentist to get some fillings. That has been interesting to say the least. First, I took him in for his appointment and the assistant swabbed the left side of Ian's mouth so it would be numb, but when the dentist came in, he put the shots on the right side of Ian's mouth. Ian is such a trooper, all he did was say "ouch, ouch ouch". He didn't wiggle or try to close his mouth or anything. Then, the dentist drilled on one tooth, looked at it and said it would need a baby root canal and filled it in and said we needed to go to a pediatric dentist for that and he didn't do anything else in Ian's completely numbed up mouth (he had 3 other teeth that needed fillings, too). Then when I was dealing with the office staff they told me I would have to take Ian to a pediatric dentist from now on because he wouldn't sit still(and it would be about a hour and a half or two hour drive from our house). I tried to talk to the girl, but it wasn't getting through, so I left, but called the office back within 5 minutes. It was crazy!
I had to take Ian back the next week and found out that you can't (with our insurance) go to a pediatric dentist for 1 procedure (which is what the dentist was trying to have us do). Ian got one filling done and still has appointments to get the other ones done.
I had to get my teeth cleaned this week and when I went in I found out that the dentist who saw Ian (he was pretty new, our other dentist had left to open his own office) wasn't with the group anymore and that a new dentist would be starting at the end of the week! What a crazy thing!
Today Ian had a Valentine party at Homeschool Sports. The teacher had announced the party and told kids to decorate a box for the Valentine's to go in. We were just going to decorate a bag, but Monday night when I was having a hard time sleeping I thought up an idea for a really cool box. A Vale-gator. A box that looks like an alligator with hearts to make the scales. It took a lot of work and running around to get supplies, but we did it. Ian helped put scales on (there were hundreds of them) and I helped with assembly and wrapping the box. He took it to the party today and it won the prize for the best Valentine box. I'll try to get a picture of it up soon. It's really cute.
So that's what's been going on around here...crazy projects and crazy dentists. Hope the new dentist is better.

A New Month

2009-02-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

I see that it's been almost a month since my last post! No wonder my mom mentioned that I hadn't blogged lately. Sorry about that. I've been busy dealing with some pain and a new addiction to Facebook...all my comments have been there lately.
January was pretty good except for pain. Ian has been playing basketball games on Saturdays. He has two more to go. The last one is Feb. 14Th. Not sure who thought that Valentine's Day would be a great day for basketball, but that's the way it is.
January also brought some unwelcome van problems that we're still trying to figure out. We replaced the alternator, thinking it was possible that it was the trouble, but it wasn't. Right now we're trying to figure out why our oil light keeps coming on...I'm sure it has nothing to do with going 11,000 miles between oil changes!!!! Ugh! I'm not in charge of that, but I think I'd better mark the calendar so I can remind the person who is in charge of getting the oil changed...he shall remain anonymous!
After all the snow in December, we had flooding in January and then Ian got sick and shared his illness. We're still trying to get back into our normal routine..last week was the first week we resumed activities. It felt good to be doing "normal" things.
Today is Groundhog Day and of course, he saw his shadow! I did see a promising sign today...I saw the first crocus in bloom, a pretty purple one. A nice reminder that winter won't last forever. It's nice to be reminded!

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope you had a Happy New Year! We celebrated twice on New Year's Eve. Once with a kid party with games and free play, a fancy lunch of PBJ sandwiches, carrots, chips and capri sun drinks. We counted down at noon and shouted "Happy New Year". We called it our "Happy Noon Year Party". Ian had a blast and so did I.
In the evening we had munchies and played games on the Wii. We had picked up 2 new games the day before (Carnival games and Mario Kart). We got Mario Kart because Colin really wanted it and I had just received my $50 gift card that I won from Nabisco. Sure didn't take long to spend that!
Ian went to bed around 9 and I woke him up at a quarter to midnight so he could see the fireworks show at the Space Needle. We said "Happy New Year" and headed straight to bed after the fireworks show concluded.
Saturday Ian had his last basketball skill clinic and next week will start playing games. This should be interesting! We'll see if he likes the games as much as he liked the clinics. After basketball on Sat., we headed to the Washington State History Museum to see their model railroad displays. Wow! So many trains to see. Ian's favorite was the train set made of Legos and yes, it was powered, too! It was really cool. Because of that display we discovered that the man who owned the display has a Lego studio near the museum. He's a certified Lego artist (there are only six in the world) and he has the only Lego artist studio that is open to the public in the world. Did you catch that? There's only one in the WORLD and I live less than 2 hours from it! Unfortunately, it was closed when we got over there, but we were able to see some of his work and it was really cool! He had a Space Needle (made of Legos, of course) that was a little taller than me (5 ft.). We also saw a Statue of Liberty and lots of other cool things. Ian is already planning our return trip!
Today we taught Children's church, which went well. We talked about the story of Jacob and Esau and how Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing instead of his brother. After the story we played Bible Baseball with questions from the story. By the time we got home I was getting tired (I haven't been sleeping well lately) so after a few games with Ian on the Wii, I took a nap. When I woke up from my nap Colin showed me what had happened while I tried to sleep....2 inches of snow!! I am already tired of snow!! Later, it turned to freezing rain. I'm hoping it will get warm enough to just be rain so Colin has a safe trip into work tomorrow and doesn't have to worry about slipping and sliding!!

To Christmas and Beyond

2008-12-26T23:26:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas was a little different this year to say the least. We've had so much snow that the majority of our holiday festivities were either canceled or postponed. We did make to our homeschool Christmas party, that happened right before all the snow hit and hit and hit again. I think we had at least a foot of snow, but I'm pretty sure it was more like 16 or 17 inches (although it partially melted one day, before we got a ton more). Our street was full of icky snow ruts and frozen melted snow. No fun!
Thankfully, we were able to get out this week and even managed to finish Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. I haven't shopped on Christmas Eve for years (in fact, I'm not sure I EVER shopped on Christmas Eve before) and I don't intend to repeat that next year! I've already started my Christmas shopping for next year. I got some good deals on some nice things, so I have a head start!
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at home, just the three of us. We spent Christmas afternoon and evening at Colin's parents' home. Ian was so antsy to open presents! He just couldn't wait. We had a nice Christmas and got a really cool present for the whole family. Colin and Ian were really trying it out today!
They played Wii bowling and Ian even managed to get a strike or two!
Tonight was Ian's Christmas program at our church (another thing that was rescheduled due to snow). The kids were performing the Christmas musical Christmas Comes to Lone Star Gulch. It was really cute. The kids dressed up like cowboys and if they didn't have a main part, they were a towns person. Everyone was on stage for the whole performance (except for the tiny kids, 2's and 3's). The two and three year olds came in at the very end, dressed for the nativity scene. I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to dress the little ones as Joseph and Mary and a lamb and an angel, but that's what they did. It led to quite a bit of laughter. The lamb was all over the place. He stared in amazement at the audience, tackled his older sister twice, ran off stage and later returned. Mary spotted her mother in the front directing the singing, so she hollered from on stage " Hi Mama! Hi Mama! Mama! Mama!" while waving and holding baby Jesus rather peculiarly and then proceeded to run off stage to make sure her mama knew it was her and managing to lose her head covering. When she returned to the stage she tripped on her robe climbing the stairs! Ian was certain that the little kids had ruined the play, but we told him they didn't, they just provided the comic relief! And yes, I did manage to get most of the chaos on video. I'll try to post it later. What a hoot!
Hope your Christmas was filled with love and all the people you care about and that you remembered why we celebrate Christmas...the birth of our Savior, Jesus.
Merry Christmas!

The Movies

2008-12-18T23:55:00.000-08:00

You know, I used to love to watch movies, not every single one that came out, but a lot of them. I used to care about what the movie stars did and thought...now, not so much. One reason for my change in attitude is movies changed. They used to be fairly clean or they were rated so you knew it wasn't what you would want to see. Hollywood and the constant paparazzi gave us a little too much information if you ask me. I honestly don't care what kook is running around in their underwear or without it...ugh!
Enough of the soapbox. What I really wanted to talk about was a movie I watched tonight and an article I read this week about romantic comedy movies.
I'll start with the movie I watched, Click. I watched it on TV so I know I escaped some bad language (thankfully). I really liked the message of the movie. If you haven't seen it, it's all about a man who is basically overwhelmed by his life. Work and family are hard for him to balance. He ends up getting a "universal remote" that actually can control his life. He can now fast forward to the "good stuff". Only when it is too late does he realize that all the stuff he thought was unimportant really was the good stuff. It does end happily.
Very good message in that movie. Don't wish your life away. It goes by fast enough without us wishing we could get past where we are today and get on with better things. Treasure what you have been given. Your family, your friends, even your work. Make sure your priorities are where they should be. Treasure each moment.
So, that was topic number one. On to the second topic, romantic comedies. The article I read said if you want to stay together, don't watch romantic comedies because they lead to unrealistic expectations from love and relationships. I happen to like romantic comedies. Without them, I never would have met Colin. About a month before I met Colin, I watched You've Got Mail and the idea of chat caught my fancy. So, disregarding my mother's sage advice on chat rooms (for the most part she was correct) I signed up and about a month later I met Colin and the rest is history.
I would really be interested to know some background on the people they did the study on for this article. Were they only influenced by romantic comedies to have all these unrealistic ideas? Did they read trashy romance novels which are WAY more unrealistic? I'm just really curious, because it seems to me that if you are already firmly grounded in reality, a romantic comedy is just a sweet, fun movie!
So I guess, unless I find more information that supports their ideas, I'll just stay where I am, enjoying my occasional romantic comedy. Maybe I can find one of favorite ones on television this month, Christmas in Connecticut. I love the old movies!

Snow Dogs

2008-12-15T01:07:00.000-08:00

Well, we got snow today. Enough to make driving on the road a bit treacherous and make our big ditch the perfect sledding spot. So after arriving home safely from the harbor area, Ian took his disc sled out to the hill and had a blast. His first path that he chose made him wind up in the bushes (not that he minded) but Colin saw and helped him choose a better path. The snow was just right to pack down so Ian's path got smoother and faster each time he used it.
While Ian was playing in the snow we took the dogs out in the snow. Oh my, they love the snow. Dilly turned into this crazy snow burrowing thing, leaping and dipping her nose into the snow, she was nearly dancing in the snow. Buster thought it was great, too even though the snow was up to his belly. He was hopping through the snow like a bunny and then he thought it was great to eat the snow. For a while the dogs played together in the snow. They were hilarious!
Usually we get snow and then it's gone the next day. We'll see what tomorrow holds for us, it's really cold, 27 degrees, so this snow might still be here tomorrow and maybe for most the week!

The Christmas Party

2008-12-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today we went to our first home school group Christmas party! Ian was up early, he was so excited. Colin surprised me last night by saying that he was going, too. I loved that! I didn't expect it, but was thrilled to have him along.
We met at a church and the party went in stages starting with crafts. Ian made Christmas dog tags, a gingerbread man magnet, a snowman pin, a wreath ornament and a cute paper Christmas tree. I got to make the Christmas tree, too! I don't think there was a craft there that Ian didn't like. He was very serious about his crafts, too!
After all the crafts were in their drying spots, it was time for lunch. We all brought goodies to share. I took little smokies with cranberry sauce and chili sauce mixed together as the sauce over them. Very yummy! Colin and Ian enjoyed the oranges and grapes, too. They're such fruit bugs!
After lunch, it was time for some games and face painting. The big kids did a Rudolph relay (they put Vaseline on their nose and had to stick a red circle to their nose while they ran down and back). I helped with Bingo and then there was a "snowball" toss through a snowman with 3 holes. The kids got to keep their snowball and eat it later (they were marshmallows in a bag).
The entire thing was very laid back and no one felt pressured to move faster or anything. It was a great time. In fact the only bad thing about the party was the wind and rain outside making us nervous about an approaching storm!
This party was the beginning of what should be a very Christmasy week. Ian has a party at AWANA on Wednesday and at Home School Sports on Thursday. Colin has a party at work on Thursday and I have Christmas Bunco on Friday! Whew! I'm tired just thinking about all of it. That's a lot of cooking! It's okay, though, some years are full of Christmas parties and some years aren't. I like the ones that are full of parties, it's more fun!

The Christmas Snooper

2008-12-09T16:06:00.000-08:00

In my day, I was a horrendous Christmas snooper. I remember being probably 9 and we lived out in the country in Kansas. That meant we had animals to take care of and being winter, it was COLD! So my mom took care of the animals while we kids stayed in the house nice and toasty warm (and by ourselves). I'm certain that if my mother hadn't given us the warning: don't go in mom and dad's bedroom, I wouldn't have had any interest in going in there, but since she did give that warning, I just couldn't keep myself out of there! So I went in and found a big box that wasn't taped up and I looked inside. Jackpot! The presents for me and my little brother. Of course I had to share my discovery so I called my little brother and we looked for a while and then put things back the way they had been. I guess we weren't too successful in getting things back in the same spots because later that night I heard my full name hollered and I got two spankings that night. One for getting into the gifts and one for lying about it. My little brother got a spanking, too, just not as much as me because I led him down the path of Christmas present snooping. I think he learned his lesson and didn't snoop anymore. Me? Well, that's another story. I still snooped, I just got sneakier. I actually partially unwrapped presents just to see what they were! I never got busted for that, though..told you I got sneakier!
Fast forward to Christmas 2007. I had my son Ian's Christmas presents in my closet in a box on a high shelf. When he was supposed to be playing in his bedroom, he had actually gone and gotten a chair, pulled down one of his gifts, examined it and then brought it to me and told me it was as nice as he thought it was going to be! I can say he wasn't being sneaky! I can also tell you he came very close to losing that gift (he probably should have!)
Fast forward to this Christmas. This past Sunday, in fact. Ian had a Christmas program practice so Colin and I decided to run a couple of errands. We ended up buying a couple of little gifts for Ian. Unfortunately for us, Colin is not sneaky and had left the gifts uncovered in the back of the van (no trunk in a minivan). Also, he had left the van unlocked and Ian had heard me tell one of his teachers that we had done a little Christmas shopping. So while we were talking to some people from our church, Ian was hanging over the back seat in the van looking at his gifts! I don't think he saw much. Next time, I'll put the bags in, I know how to hide things in the back of the van!
Well, at least my Christmas snooper isn't sneaky, at least, not yet!

Christmas Shopping Adventures

2008-12-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

Despite my plan of trying to shop throughout the year for Christmas gifts, I have found myself short a few items this year. I think it has a little bit to do with our budget, the horrible gas prices of the summer and fall and two vacations within seven months of each other...it tends to limit available resources for shopping.
So this November I found that I had nothing in my gift box for Ian. I can honestly say, this has never happened before. I always have a gift or two for him in my gift box! This meant that I needed to look at all the Christmas ads, especially the Black Friday ads. I really don't like Black Friday. I love some of the great prices, but I hate the crowds, the deranged morning hours that they choose to start these sales and the general chaotic scene that ensues. Unfortunately, I found that Walmart had a gift that Ian would love, a Lego Castle. Normally $100, it was on sale for $50. So I discussed the situation with Colin and I made plans for him to be at Walmart by about 4:45 am (I told you I don't like the crowds, not to mention early mornings). I had a short list of things for Colin to look for, a game for my nephew Andrew and some other things, but the castle was the main thing. Alas, it was not meant to be. Walmart had put the castles somewhere other than the Lego aisle and by the time Colin located them, the last one was going in to another persons cart. Colin did manage to find the game and an external drive that his dad had asked him to pick up. He headed home so we could drive to the bigger city to go to a couple of other sales and to Group Health so a doctor could look at my lovely new case of pink eye.
We went to Walgreen's so I could pick some webkinz on sale. It turned out to be an okay sale as they were the super small webkinz, not the normal sized ones. We also went to Hallmark so I could get their new singing snowman. While we were at Hallmark, Ian spotted the regular Webkinz and fell in love with a dolphin. Of course, I couldn't buy it with him standing there, so I made plans to go back on Wednesday. I went back to find that it had been sold and that all the Hallmark's in the area were sold out of the dolphin webkinz. They took my name and number and told me they'd call if they got one in.
So when I got home last night I tried looking for it online. It was either sold out or it was an outrageous price ($29.95 for something that was $13.98 at Hallmark...not a good deal at Amazon). So I posted my frustration on my Facebook status and my friend Kitsel responded saying that the pharmacy in her town had a great selection and did she want me to check? I said yes and she checked and they had it! So I will get it from her when I see her at my next Bunco game!
I am going back to my shopping throughout the year! This last minute sale shopping and wondering if the store will have what you want in stock is seriously stressful!!!
Oh, I was at Walmart today and they had two of the castles just sitting on the shelf! Don't you just hate that? The good news is we did get a pretty cool Lego set for $50 thanks to Colin's mom being at another Walmart that didn't even get one of the Lego castles. They said they would make a substitution, so we snatched that up!
I hope the rest of my shopping works out better than these past adventures. I don't think I can stand any more stress!

The Address Book

2008-12-02T01:57:00.000-08:00

So, tonight I was working on my Christmas cards (those of you who know me, please pick yourselves up off the floor, I know you just fainted) and I pulled out one of my old address books. It's not really that old. I think it's approaching 10 years.
It's funny, the changes that have happened since I filled out that address book. It's just a bunch of names and places in an old book, but to me, I see each person in there when I look at their name.
I see family that I loved who aren't alive any more and I miss them. I see friends who have moved so many times, I'm not exactly sure where they are any more. I see people who were married who aren't now. I see people who were single that are married now. In just 10 short years, life, death, love, changes, they're all there.
I look at that book and think, there are people who need to be added. I didn't know them 10 years ago. There are addresses to be changed. Can you believe that most of my family and a lot of Colin's family don't live where they did 10 years ago?
It's amazing, all the changes that I see when I look at my old address book. Wonder what changes the next 10 years will bring?

The Land of Snot

2008-12-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't written for a while. I hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving and that you aren't going too crazy getting ready for Christmas!
I haven't written much because since November 15th I have been living in the land of snot. Yes, you read that right. The land of snot.
Ian came down with a bad head cold the night of the 15th. A really bad head cold. Even with his pretty good immune system, it took him 2 weeks to get over it. Since he can never remember to cover his mouth when he coughs, I was exposed constantly to the cold germs and sure enough, I caught the cold about 4 days after Ian.
I'm still fighting it! I thought it was getting somewhat better last Wednesday and I was semi okay on Thanksgiving but, on Friday I woke up congested and with pink eye! Ugh! Now there's snot in my eye (that's pretty much what it is).
I am ready to get rid of this stuff! Enough already! I have antibiotic eye drops for my eyes, but it sure seems slow!
Hopefully, I'll get over this before I start acting snotty (you know I couldn't resist that one!)

Thanksgiving

2008-11-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

I know, Thanksgiving is next week, but I've been thinking about Thanksgiving lately and I thought I'd share some of my memories.
Thanksgiving, for most of my childhood meant getting up early to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while my mom cooked, driving across (or into, when we lived out in country) town to my Grandma's house. The day was typically crisp, cool, sunny with beautiful autumn leaves in the yard along the drive. I think one year there was snow, but for the most part, it was just a beautiful fall day.
We'd usually arrive at Grandma's around 1 or 1:30 in the afternoon. We'd already be hungry because our house smelled like pumpkin pies and stuffing as that's what my mom always brought. We'd all be snacking from the relish tray, avoiding the celery and trying to grab as many black olives as possible. We always ran out of black olives, for some reason we never had extra cans waiting to fill it back up.
Then we'd eat our Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner, the men would excuse themselves to go back to their football game on TV and the ladies would do the dishes. Only after the dishes were done did we get pie. Then we ate our pie and played Trivial Pursuit. That was my typical Thanksgiving.
One year we had my mom's side of the family over for Thanksgiving. I think it was one of those "we'll celebrate Thanksgiving on another day because that's when we can all come" things. I must have been somewhere around 15 or 16 at the most. We had a fabulous feast, nothing was missing and when we finished everyone was stuffed! My dad was watching TV with my uncle Steve and his twin boys who are 3 months younger than me. My dad likes to make jokes, so he said he had a good idea..."why don't we order some pizza?" What my dad didn't think about was that he was talking to teenage boys, you know the kind, their stomachs are never full. He ended up ordering pizza and they ate it! After having a huge Thanksgiving dinner!
That story makes me laugh every time I think about it. Just shows that sometimes, it's better to keep that funny thought to yourself!
So, those are my Thanksgiving memories, what are yours?

Paula Deen Cookbook Giveaway

2008-11-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

Well if you know me, you know I love winning free things! Surprises are great. You might have noticed the button on the right that has Paula Deen's cookbook for kids. Well they're giving a copy away at : http://www.shortpumppreppyshopping.blogspot.com/
If I'm lucky, the link will be there, otherwise, just click on the button and it will take you there! I think this is a really cute cookbook and I know one little boy that would be thrilled to use it to make some yummy things with mommy!

The Sounds Around Us

2008-11-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

Have you ever really stopped to listen to the sounds around you? All the tiny sounds that if you don't stop to listen to, you never really hear. I did that this morning. I tend to do that when I need to walk the dogs as long as Ian is still in the house. If I have Ian with me, I don't hear the sounds because he is a noisy boy.
So what sounds did I hear? I heard little birds chirping in the field behind my house. They sounded happy to be out flying in the sunshine. I heard the wind blowing through the dry tall grasses and it reminded me of the wind blowing over the prairie back home. I heard the hum of the highway a few miles away reminding me that people are busying going somewhere, even if for today, I'm not. I heard the train blowing its whistle as it roared through town. I heard the large bird that sits up high in an evergreen tree and calls out "mom, mom". It really does sound like that, I've actually thought Ian was calling me before when it was really that bird.
The sounds around us are a reminder that there is life going on all around us. There is beauty in listening to God's creation.

Rain

2008-11-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well, the title says it all. Rain. We've got it and plenty of it. Of course if you don't live in the Pacific Northwest you might not understand what I mean when I say rain. You might think, oh a storm with some showers.
Nope. I mean rain. Constant damp drizzling, sometimes sideways, definitely gusty rain. The kind that an umbrella does very little to help you because it's all blowing under the umbrella and coming in at all sides. Yuck!
And I have two doggies that have to be walked. Yuck again! I've only walked one so far this afternoon and am trying to recover enough from the first walk to venture out for the second one.
Poor Dilly, she's been banished to the garage until she can dry off. Buster thinks he'd like to go out, but I'm sure he'll change his mind once we get out there. I walked him this morning when it was only drizzling and he had to keep shaking off while we were walking. I can only imagine how much he's going to love his walk in a total downpour.
Well, I suppose I can't put it off any longer. Wish me luck and pray for sunshine!

Cooking Day

2008-11-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Today turned out to be a kind of cooking day for me. The cooking started yesterday when I peeled tons of apples (enough to fill up my crockpot) and started a batch of apple butter. I love homemade apple butter! It makes my house smell so yummy.
The apple butter was done this afternoon so I canned most of it. I had a little left that wasn't enough to fill a canning jar full, so that went into the fridge.
I had also promised Colin I would make brirocks, which are rolls stuffed with a mixture of cooked hamburger, cabbage, onion and carrot. I didn't really feel like making them, but I had promised so I made them. Yum. Ian ate two of them! I think Colin was pretty happy with them, too!
I did get a nice surprise in the mail today. I received a prize from Lipton tea. I entered a contest they had an eon ago (okay, it was probably this summer) and I won $25. Pretty cool, huh? I love that kind of mail!
After all the cooking today I don't feel like cooking much tomorrow. We'll see what the menu is tomorrow. It might be Fend For Yourself night around here!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T04:12:00.000-07:00

No, this decoration is not found in my yard. I don't decorate for Halloween. It was in the yard of a house in our little town. We kept seeing it on the ground during the day, but tonight we remembered to drive by so Ian could see Snoopy. Actually, we were on our way home from a fun night of dinner out and bowling. Ian was whining that he needed to go to the bathroom right NOW, when I remembered about the inflatable Snoopy. I gave him a choice, go home now and use the bathroom or go see Snoopy. As you can see from the photo, he chose Snoopy. I'll try to post a picture of Ian in his costume soon!

Wedding Cake

2008-10-30T00:09:00.000-07:00

Wedding Photo

2008-10-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary

2008-10-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today (well almost..30 min. to go)is my anniversary! October 30th. So nine years ago today I was full of butterflies and fairly humming with excitement and stress! I was also doing a lot of packing (with a lot of help from my family). I was getting ready to wear the dress my mom had made (she did a great job)and walk down the aisle.
We got married in Coffeyville, KS, where I was living at the time. Colin had flown out a week before the wedding and his family flew out about two days before. We had our rehearsal dinner at Better-n-Nothin' in South Coffeyville (I know, not a great name for a restaurant, but I promise they had great food).
Our wedding was in the afternoon and the reception was in the church. Just cake and punch, nothing super fancy.
The funniest thing that happened at our wedding was our unity candle. It would not stay lit! The church had a ceiling fan going right over the candles. So Colin and I were lighting the unity candle during the song Doubly Good (I love that song). Anyway, we lit the candle and we're gazing into each others eyes, when we noticed the candle had gone out. So we tried again. Nope, same thing. Colin's brother handed Colin a match or lighter and Colin tried that to no avail, it would not stay lit. So we stood there quietly laughing at the silly candle until the song was over and then my pastor said a prayer. We didn't realize until later that Colin's dad (who was our co-pastor for the wedding) tried to light the candle while we were listening to the prayer. His dad stepped back before anyone opened their eyes. We never would have known if it hadn't been for the videotape of the wedding!
After the reception, we headed for Springfield, Missouri. Well, after we got in the car. My brother had parked the car so Colin would get lots of birdseed on him. He parked the driver's side closest to the building, knowing that Colin would have to go open the door for me and then come back. It was a good plan, only Colin forgot to open the door for me, so I got the most birdseed on me!
We had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel in Joplin on our way to Springfield. In Springfield, we stayed at the Walnut Street Inn. It was a great bed and breakfast. I wish we could have stayed more than one night. I'd love to go back sometime and stay longer.
The next day (Halloween) we went back to my parents house and finished loading up the Rider truck and we headed out on a week long journey to Washington state with a Rider truck full of stuff and a miniature schnauzer in tow.
It was a crazy beginning to a new life as a married couple and it's stayed pretty crazy for the past nine years. Life is full of surprises and I'm happy to face them with Colin by my side.
Happy Anniversary, Colin! I love you!

The Kindness of Strangers

2008-10-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Today started out pretty uneventful. Ian came down with the stomach flu Monday afternoon (of course, we were on a field trip that I had planned). Poor kid, he started feeling yucky right before we left to go to the pumpkin patch and since I had arranged the trip and there wasn't time to call anyone to cover, we had to go. You know your child doesn't feel well when he keeps his head between his knees on a hayrack ride! We made it through, barely and a few short hours later, Ian was sicker than a dog. He started feeling better late Tuesday, but I didn't want him to over do it, so I kept him home from Awana tonight.
We did have to go into town to pick up Pepper, the miniature schnauzer we are dog sitting for a week. I know, we're nuts, having three dogs in our house. So far so good. I was worried about how Buster would get along with Pepper, but they're fine. The biggest problem is the big baby, Dilly. She has too much energy! I tell you, I think Pepper and Buster look at her, shake their heads and mutter something about "kids!"
Since I was in the big city and I needed my allergy shot, we headed over to Group Health, where Ian was having a cow about his shoe being untied. Yes, Ian is 7 and still hasn't mastered shoe tying! I blame it on rain boots! Ian's only had one or two pairs of velcro shoes because I think they slow down the process of learning to tie shoes. However, living in the rainy state of Washington pretty much requires rain boots, which Ian is happy to wear year round (or at least until he can wear sandals). Which is why he can't tie shoes. I have tried to get him going with the shoe tying for 2 years. I got him a cute book to practice with that showed all the steps...not interested. I tried showing him myself and getting him to practice so he could learn...not interested. In fact, that led to hissy fits because 'it was too hard'. He wanted to instantly be good at it without any practice. Finally, I told him he had a deadline. 3 weeks and then he had to be tying his shoes by himself. I was trying to get him to see the need to practice!
Anyway, there we are sitting in Group Health after I had gotten my shot and was waiting my 30 minutes and Ian starts having a cow because his shoe is untied and he wants me to tie it for him, but I want him to at least try to tie it himself before I help him. He's whining and fussing when an older lady in a wheelchair comes up and asks if Ian is a good boy (she sort of states it...like she just knows he's a good boy), to which Ian replies he's no good. He meant no good at tying shoes so I explain that. That leads to a mom and her young teenage son commenting. The son says his sister taught him how to tie shoes and the mom tells a little of the story. In the meantime, the son comes over and starts showing Ian how to tie shoes. He shows him a couple of times and before I knew what had happened, Ian tied his shoes!!! Amazing! He'll still need to practice a bit, but he's pretty much got it as long as he keeps at it.
So I'm saying thanks to God for sending this young man into our life for 20 minutes. It sure helped Ian and it saved us both a lot of frustration! Isn't God cool to do that for us?

Merry Christmas

2008-10-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

I'm really not delirious! I know that Christmas is 2 months from today. However, Christmas has come a little early at my house thanks to my mom and dad. I have lamented to my mom over the last couple of years (or longer...probably longer) of the lack of freezer space in my fridge. We're on our third fridge (one was in the apartment) and still don't have enough freezer space. I always have to be careful how much frozen food I get because there's always a chance that when I get home, it won't fit.
After listening to me for years, my mom saw a great deal on a freezer at Sears and decided it was in her price range for Christmas. Of course, when we tried to look at it online, it was sold out! There was a bigger one for $40 dollars more, so I talked to Colin and we decided that we liked the bigger one and would be willing to pay the difference. Since the sale ended today, we ordered the freezer to be picked up at our local Sears store. So we are getting a freezer for Christmas (and I'm excited about that, so I know I'm getting old...old people like practical gifts).
Actually, speaking of practical gifts and knowing you're getting old, one of the people in my homeschool group emailed that she was getting a half a beef for Christmas from her in-laws (she was looking for advice on a freezer). I thought that sounded like a good gift, perhaps not the most exciting gift, but still, a pretty good gift. I know as a younger me, that gift would have horrified me..meat for Christmas?? Maybe it's perspective after paying these high prices. Although it does remind me a little bit of the movie Scrooged, the part where he's seeing a Christmas when he was a child and his dad was a butcher and came home and gave him some steak for Christmas!
Anyway, we will be able to pick up the freezer this week. I am very excited and very thankful. Colin is excited because now we should finally have room for him to have some ice cream!

Grocery Money

2008-10-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

If someone offered you $20 to help with your groceries, would you take it? Maybe $30? How about $50?? Would you take that? Well guess what?! That's how much I saved just with coupons on my grocery trip this week. Actually, I saved right about $56.50 with coupons only.
By shopping the sales and using my store cards for discounts and using coupons, I saved about $175 on our groceries. Colin did all the math for me. He kept track of the prices and what amount of coupon I was using for each product.
My best deal of the day was getting a bottle of Herbal Essence Shampoo and a matching bottle of conditioner on sale at Safeway 2/$5 minus my coupons $3/1 and $2/1 = free shampoo and conditioner. Sweet! I love free!
I guess I proved that for our little family, using coupons and checking out the sales, really does save us quite a bit of money!

The Frosting on Top of a Great Day

2008-10-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention the end of my great day. This disappointed my sweet husband because he worked very hard to surprise me and then I didn't mention anything about about it!
When I got home last night I walked into a house full of candlelight and soft romantic music. Ian was already in bed. I even got a great foot rub!
What a sweet hubby!! What a nice surprise!

A Day of Blessings

2008-10-18T01:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a great day! Colin was home and I got to sleep in, which is always nice. I made Spanish rice to take to my Bunco game for our dinner and that turned out very well.
I had talked to a friend from our old church who is homeschooling and had extra curriculum leftover from last year when one of her boys was in 2nd grade. So we had set up a time for yesterday for me to come over and take a look at the curriculum. I wasn't sure if she just wanted to get rid of it or sell it. She gave me a ton of curriculum!! That is a huge blessing!! With the price of everything so high right now, we couldn't get all the curriculum I had wanted to get. We had pretty much the most important things, but for the rest, I just had to wing it. I would use books or the internet, which is fine and it's awesome that the material is out there, available, but it's a whole lot more work to keep hunting for what you need rather than having it at your fingertips. I had prayed about the need for more curriculum and I have to say that this was an answer to prayer. Thank you, Janice!!
After I left with lots of great books, I headed toward somewhere to sit and wait until it was closer to the time for my Bunco game. I saw that gas at Albertson's was $2.93 a gallon. I'm sorry that wasn't excited enough. $2.93 A GALLON!!!!! Do you hear me?? I haven't seen a 2 at the beginning of a gas price for a LONG time!! In fact, just yesterday in the small city prices were still around $3.40. Since we're a little picky about where we get gas, I ended up at Costco where I paid $2.95 a gallon. That was a blessing!!
Then I had Bunco and we had all 12 people! No empty spots. We ate yummy enchiladas and appetizers and played and had great conversation and so much fun. I did not win a cool prize this time, but that's okay. I won a huge Hershey Bar and some dish towels. The dish towels are very nice, but I recently decluttered and have realized, I have too many towels for the drawers I keep them in!! Maybe someone would like a few very nice kitchen towels as a little bonus Christmas gift. Maybe my mom, she has to do all her dishes by hand!!
I feel very blessed by such a day!

I'm a Winner, Baby!

2008-10-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

I won something very cool! This summer I found a contest that was giving away two American Girl dolls. It was from Borders Books in honor of the American Girl movie that was released this summer (I still want to see that, it looked really good). So I signed up and didn't think much more about it until September, when I received a notice in the mail telling me that I had won and had 2 weeks from when I got the notice to fill out the forms and have an affidavit notarized and get it back to them or I would miss out on my prize. So I took care of it the very next day and even sent the paperwork priority mail, so it would get there quickly.
I didn't mention much about winning because, well, you just never know. What if the post office lost my letter? Or something in my paperwork wasn't quite right. I'm telling you now because they were in a box on my front step when I got back from homeschool sports today. They are pretty cute. Ian even likes them. He asked me if they had any American Boy dolls, which as far as I know, they don't. He also informed me that when he watches the movie, he's going to need those dolls. I told him those dolls won't be here by the time we watch the movie. They're going to Kansas to hopefully make two little girls very happy this Christmas. They're for my two nieces, Emily and Hannah. I sure hope they like them!

A New Town?

2008-10-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love kids and the way they sometimes are so close to getting something right, but not quite? Ian pulled one of those today. We were in the van and he decided he needed to ask me a question. He said, "Hey, mom?!" and I said something brilliant, "Yes?" And then he asked me his question which totally made me giggle. "Dodge Ball City is in Kansas, right?"
"I think you mean Dodge City and yes, Dodge City is in Kansas."
"Oh yeah, right. Dodge City. Thanks."
So there you go. He was so close and yet so far away. Dodge Ball City. Go ahead, giggle, I did. It's pretty silly.

Photo Challenges

2008-10-14T01:27:00.000-07:00

Well, just for you, I photographed the two dogs. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. Have you ever tried to photograph two dogs who have been playing, are miles apart in the height department and refuse to hold still even for a second? I can now say that I have and it wasn't easy! I'm sure if you look at the pictures to the right you might notice that they're a little blurry. Those were the good pictures. Some of the bad pictures resembled modern art, with streaks of color, mostly black, brown and white!
On top of their constant movement, I also kept getting shots of one dogs face and the other dogs heinie. I'm pretty sure no one wants to look at doggy heinies, at least, I don't! I did get one really good shot, but Dilly ruined it by sniffing Buster somewhere inappropriate! Crazy dogs!
I must say that there seems to be some progress with the dogs. Dilly has started to stick up for herself a little bit and is putting up with less from Buster. She's still pretty laid back with him, but now when he takes her toy or tries to grab her tennis ball, she tries to get it back. They actually played together tonight, which was really cool to watch. Buster wasn't growling and snapping at Dilly! He grabbed her tug of war toy (blue tennis ball with three short ropes coming off of it) and for a couple of seconds, they were playing tug of war. Pretty cool.
Also, Buster is keeping Dilly busy and that girl is actually getting tired. Yay! She can wear out our entire family and still be ready to play some more. But following a little dog around all day, well that's hard work!

Pumpkin Bars

2008-10-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

I am procrastinating. I admit it! I need to be making pumpkin bars for Colin to take to work for a retirement party tomorrow, but I don't wanna. I feel completely unmotivated, even though the recipe is very simple and easy.
I feel more like taking a nap. Although I don't suppose a nap at 7:40 pm is a wise idea. Should have taken one earlier. Drat!
Right now I'm listening to the new Christmas CD from Travis Cottrell (he's the worship leader for Beth Moore). Yes, I said Christmas CD. Don't tell Colin, he'd cringe! He thinks I'm nuts to listen to Christmas music at any other time than December (and he probably thinks I should only listen during the latter half of the month).
I figure Christmas was the best present we ever got, Jesus coming to be a sacrifice for the sins of every person, who wouldn't want to sing about that any time of the year??!
By the way, I do not have the new CD, it's playing on a website. I think I'm going to need this CD. It's great. I really like the song on here called: Jesus Saves, it's awesome! Check it out for yourself here:
www.labmediaonline.com/traviscottrell/index.php
Hopefully, the link will work, otherwise, copy and paste so you can go to the site, it's worth a listen.
All right, enough procrastinating, time to make pumpkin bars. If you would like me to post the recipe, leave me a comment and I'll do it (no need to post it if no one wants the recipe). Night!

Well, Maybe Not Buddy...

2008-10-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

So for two days we've called the dog formerly known as Bummer, Buddy. Until today. He was growling at Dilly and I said "You'd better stop it, Buster.". Hmmm, Buster. That could be a good name. Sounds similar to Bummer, it's cute and he answers to almost any name that starts with the Bu sound.
Colin wasn't so sure. He liked the name Buddy. I said we didn't have to decide right away, just think about it.
Then I was sitting in the living room when it occurred to me....Buster, Dilly...uh, I think we have a theme here. That's right...Dairy Queen has a Dilly bar and a Buster bar!!! Of course, Dilly is just her nickname, but still, I thought it was pretty funny!
Plus, Buster kind of looks like the little dog on Buster Brown shoe ads. So maybe we did find a clever little name for him after all!

Buddy

2008-10-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the new dog is here...on a trial basis. He came yesterday afternoon. Dilly's personality really shined! She was happy to see him, didn't bark or growl at him and she just wanted to play with him.
He, however is not so sure about all this. He has growled at Dilly, nipped at her a couple of times, tried to assert his dominance (yes, by the "traditional" doggy method..humping). Of course, asserting his dominance over Dilly doesn't really work since she's about 5 times taller than he is and easily knocks him off when he tries!
He growls at her over food and people. Dilly on the other hand just wants to play.
We call him "Buddy". His name was Bummer, which is just a sad name for a little doggy. We were going to try to think of some fabulous name for him, but Buddy seems to work, so Buddy it is.
We figure we'll know if he's a good fit for Dilly and our whole family by the time he's been here two weeks. That should give him a week to get acquainted and a week to get settled. If it doesn't seem like a good fit for all of us at that point, then he'll go back to where he was and they'll keep looking for a home for him.
Hopefully, he'll get used to Dilly. We've already noticed that she's moving around more with him here because he's very nosy and keeps moving around to investigate things! I'll try to get a picture of the two dogs over the weekend and post it.

A New Dog or Not?

2008-10-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

So yesterday at Ian's soccer game, one of the moms had a dog. He was pretty cute, a jackapoo (jack russel, poodle cross). Turns out it's her grandmother's dog and he's getting to be too much for her to take care of. He's fairly young (3).
So I said we would be interested. We've been thinking of getting another dog so Dilly can have a buddy. He would be on a trial basis in case he didn't work out with our family.
However, we'll see if any of this transpires. The mom was supposed to call last night and she didn't. She's supposed to bring the dog over tomorrow, but right now I have no idea if that will happen either. If all else fails, I will see her at the soccer game on Sat.
So there you have it...a new dog...or not. Right now, we wait.

A New Look and Getting Caught Up

2008-10-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well, obviously my blog has a new look. And yes, this is all Missy's fault! I'm so excited to find so many new options for my blog. I can't wait to try out the Christmas background! Thanks, Missy!
So on to updates. What's new around here?? Well, I just had a really bad cold and actually am getting over it without an antibiotic! Yes! I think it's all thanks to vitamin c and prayer. I'm really glad I'm getting over it. Ian got a little "vacation" from school last week thanks to me being sick. Well, not a complete vacation, but he got off pretty lightly most days. Which means we have to work extra hard this week to get caught up.
Last night we started watching the "Made in America with John Ratzenberger" DVD's that I checked out from the library. Ian loves them! He especially loves when they talk about helicopters. He made a helicopter out of Legos and he's starting to put together a wooden helicopter kit that my dad gave us as part of his art for school. Today he was sanding the wood getting it ready to paint.
Tomorrow Ian has a soccer game (only 3 more left). Ian really likes playing soccer (even though sometimes he denies it).
Wednesday we have Awana and we're bringing three cousins for Friend's night. That should be fun and somewhat chaotic!!
Thursday we have homeschool sports...hhhmmmm, I'm starting to see why it was so easy for me to get sick.
Believe it or not, this fall's schedule is about half of what we did last year. I think I had a lapse in my sanity at the end of summer last year. I signed up for so many great things to do, only to realize later that they're all great, but not all at the same time. I did learn from that, but sometimes we still get a bit too busy when things overlap!
Well, we're supposed to have another storm blow through tonight and tomorrow. Guess it really is fall now!

Poor Piccadilly

2008-09-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Piccadilly (Dilly) is a happy camper at this very moment. She is rolling around on my carpet trying to make herself stinky again.
I had noticed the last couple of days that she was really biting at herself. I thought she might have hot spots like Lucy had so I gave her a baked potato the other day. She appreciated the thought, but it didn't stop the biting. Tonight I was petting her when I saw a big, fat, nasty flea. For me to see a flea on Dilly's back is a very big deal because she has a thick, wiry, curly black coat. I shouldn't have been able to see anything. Unfortunately, I did. So even though it was already 11, Dilly got a bath. She was happy to come into the bathroom with me until she figured out what I intended to do. Then she tried to dog those long black toenails into the floor. It did her no good, I was determined, so my big dog got half plunked, half shoved into the bathtub where she tried to escape twice and then, halfway through realized she wasn't going to get away, so she sat down in the tub. Just sat right down, still covered in soap. It didn't speed up the process any, but at least she wasn't trying to escape.
So now she's clean and relatively flea free. She even smells nice (although I'm sure she doesn't think so). I think she has decided that whenever she gets a bath she is extra pretty...she sure acted like it after this bath! Dancing around and sitting there looking at me like 'aren't I cute?'. Yup, she's cute!

After the Buzz 2006

2008-09-21T01:55:00.001-07:00

Getting the Buzz 2006

2008-09-21T01:55:00.000-07:00

Say Cheese!

2008-09-21T01:52:00.000-07:00

Fall

2008-09-21T01:48:00.000-07:00

Fall

2008-09-21T01:47:00.000-07:00

Colin's One and Only Attempt at Riding a Mechanical Bull

2008-09-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

Goggles Are Cool!

2008-09-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

Huh, That Pumpkin Might Be Big!

2008-09-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

The Pickle Picture

2008-09-21T01:28:00.000-07:00