Christmas 2012

Journaling for Colin's scrapbook.  This year there have been a few changes.  For some reason I don't have the same Christmas spirit as usual.  I don't really know why but it really doesn't matter.  Normally we have trees all over the house.  This year only 1 tree in the whole house.  The guys sports tree in the family room.  Colin's bedroom tree  & ornaments was brought down out of the attic but never put up.

This year they did not have a school Christmas program.  The principal was unexpectedly hospitalized 2 days before the school break.

Friday 12-21-12 Colin had 3 parties. 1 at school; 1 birthday party at 5:45 then a breakdance Christmas party.  We made all 3 & got an allergy shot after school & before the birthday party.  I knew it would be a busy day; especially after working all week.

Normally Christmas oozes from every area of our home.  I did put the poinsettias in the flower bed along with the candy canes.  Along with the moving deer momma bought for Colin.

He exclaimed when he saw the deer in her yard.  He exclaimed when he saw them move.  He was so excited Nanny bought one for him.

Well Played Mom

I asked Colin to take out the trash & recycling.  He had a bowl of dry cereal in his hand.  He looked at me & said mom I was going to sit down & relax a minute like you.
I said when you finish relaxing can you take it out.  He said OK.  Then he stopped & said mom there is some milk in the car.  Would you like me to go get it before it molds or mildres?  I buy rice dream milk in the unrefrigerated carton.  It doesn't need refrigeration until after it is opened.

I said sure you can bring it in, he headed toward the garage.  I said you can bring it in after you take out the trash & recycling.  He stopped looked at me & said Well played mom, well played.  Then he took out the trash & recycling.

Chocolate Waffles GF SF DF NF

I made Chocolate Waffles for Colin & made a different batch for myself.
I made extra for Colin to heat up during the week & eat for breakfast.  I used Stevia in his ( I don't like the after taste of stevia).  I will purposely use it in items that I don't want to overeat.  I also used flax in Colin's per the Bob's Red Millls Gluten Free Chocolate Waffles recipe.  I also added applesauce for some of the oil & Oat flour instead of the  GF all purpose flour mix.  I thought I had the GF flour mix but had the Oat flour mix.  Colin & I both have egg white allergy so I only used  1 extra large egg.

My recipe adapted from Bob Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Waffles
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=1447

Chocolate Waffles GF SF DF NF (gluten, soy, dairy, & nut free)

• 1 cup GF ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
• 1 extra large organic Egg
• 1/3 cup oil (1/6 c evoo & 1/6 c applesauce) 
• 1/3 cup Sugar (1/6 c stevia & 1/6 organic sugar)
• 1/3 cup Ghiradelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 
• 2 tsp BAKING POWDER
• 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
• 1 tsp tapioca starch/flour   I didn't have arrowroot
• 1/2 cup BROWN RICE FLOUR
• 1/2 cup Brown Flaxseeds Meal
• 1 cup Milk RiceDream rice milk

Directions

Serves 4

• Preheat waffle iron.

• Mix the Gluten Free All Purpose Flour, flaxseed meal, brown rice flour, arrowroot starch, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, sugar and salt together well in a mixing bowl.

• Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl, then add milk and oil. Blend wet ingredients into the dry mixture, mix together well. (If it's too dry you can add a bit more milk.)

• Pour the batter into your pre-heated waffle iron, according to the waffle iron directions.

• Serve with butter and syrup (or honey), or hot fruit, or chocolate and powdered sugar! Depending on how decadent your feeling! Enjoy

Journaling

Colin lost a tooth October 7, 2012


10-21-12  I asked was his room clean.  He said yes.  I sd are you sure he sd yes, daddy went in there & didn't yell.  Hubby stays on him about keeping his room clean.  He has a place for everything in his room but he doesn't always put items in there proper place.

10-21-12  I told Colin if he got certain marks for the week I would think about getting him a new beyblade.  Think about is Will in Colin's brain.  He asked Friday if we could got get him one on Saturday at 7 pm.  I told him I would think about it.  Saturday at 7 pm he sd mom you remember you said we would go at 7 pm.  I sd I remember saying I would think about it; so no not today.

This morning right after he said "Good Morning" he said mom could I talk to you.
I already knew what he wanted to talk about said yes.  He said can we go...  I cut him
off & said take a look at my List for today.  It was my costume to do list of what I need
to do to finish his Halloween costume.  I asked him "Do you want me to work on your costume or go shopping for another beyblade.  I had told him previously I would not be staying up late & working on the costume for days & days like last year.

I asked him to make a list of his current beyblades & launchers.  I should have kept track so he doesn't get the same ones again.  Of course he takes them apart & reconfigures them.  No surprise to me; he is very creative.

Vanilla Wafers GF SF DF NF

Accidental Vanilla Wafers.   I was craving cookies & wanted them fast.  I took  a box of Gluten Free pantry yellow cake mix.  Our foods after to be gluten, soy, dairy, & nut free.  I put the contents into Kitchen aid bowl; then added pureed zucchini, 2 T butter flavor palm shortening; 2 T olive oil, 2 T apple sauce, 2 eggs blend.  Drop onto cookie sheets bake for 15 min they are like cookie cakes bake an extra min or 2 & they are vanilla wafers.

make a book of blog entries

Idea from http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-blurb-book-obsession-giveaway.html

I started my blog to keep up with the journaling for my sons scrapbook.  Life happens so much faster than I can sb it.

I do find that digital sb is faster for me.  As long as I don't keep tweaking the digital pages.

My version of Hash brown cups

The recipe I started with came from this blog.
http://littlebirdiebaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/tutorial-tuesday-linky-party-trio-of.html
Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups:

If you know me at all you know Colin & I; have life threatening allergies.
I tweak almost all recipes for many reasons but our allergies is the biggest reason.

Notes for others. I'm making 2 versions at the same time. 3 will be for us and 3 Colin our son.  I made Colin's 3 with more potato, turkey bacon or polish sausage & rice cheese; he doesn't like to eat eggs. 
My Version is below   

Hash Brown Cups  (GF, SF, DF, & Pork Free)

Potato mix
10  c shredded organic hash brown potatoes  thawed   (no soybean oil=SF)
4   t salt   (sea salt ground fine)
1 t white pepper ground   fine  (organic)
1 T onion powder    (organic)
1 t garlic powder (organic)
1 T carrot powder  (organic)
1 T diced onion   (organic) In my potato mix not Colin's
2 T EVOO  extra virgin olive oil  (organic)
1/3 c shredded rice cheddar cheese (SF, DF) I use Rice Vegan Cheddar flavor
1/3 c shredded cheddar cheese (SF, GF) for us

Egg mix
4 eggs  organic free range & grain fed
1 T diced carrots (organic)
1 T diced red bell pepper (organic)
1 T diced celery (organic)
1 t dill weed  (organic)

Meat
Bacon bits or 8-10 pieces of cooked Soy Free, Pork Free bacon, crumbled
or Polish Sausage- Gluten Free, Soy Free, & Pork Free
muffin tin (I use a jumbo muffin pan; makes 6 for us)
shortcake baking tin for Colin 6 for him no egg mix

In 2 large bowls. Take hash browns and mix in the salt, pepper, oil and 1/3 cup shredded cheese.
Divide amongst the cups in your muffin tin, making sure to grease tin beforehand.
Bake hash browns at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until toasty.
Once they're finished, take them out and lower the temp of the oven to 350 degrees.
Add egg mix into each of the cups. Top with bacon and a sprinkle of extra cheese
Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes (or until the eggs are as firm as you like them).
Flip onto cooling rack to remove from shortcake pan.

Photo of Colin's Hash Brown Cup

Pinterest

Journaling below for my book of me.  If you are one of my few follower please ignore the bad use of grammar.  I'm just trying to get it down quickly. 

I'm a huge pinterest fan.  A place for a mind racing with ideas person to have so many of the ideas in one place but categorized as I see fit.   The first time someone that knew me well & told me about it;  I thought ummm I better not even take a look. I could see me overdoing it.  The 2nd time she mentioned it; I took a look.  It took less than a minute for me to beg her for an invite.  Then I had to link it to my Facebook page. Umm no. Total strangers seeing my full name & photo of my family (my facebook photo) made me nervous.  So I emailed pinterest & didn't ever receive a response.   The next day I signed up then promptly unchecked it posting to my facebook page.

It's been a growing love affair every since the first day I signed up. Now I see total strangers boards & think we get along famously.  LOL
There are days that I have to be disciplined &set the time or not log on.

So now I will write about the reason I logged on to Pinterest this morning was to pull up a recipe I want to try for breakfast.  It's on my Easy/Fast on the Go Food ideas board.

Not Where I'd Like To Be...But Not Where I Used To Be


This sums up my weight loss journey.  I've had some health issues & the medicine has caused me
to gain weight.  My health is much better but the pounds not falling off.  It's so much harder to lose
weight than it used to be.  I'm trying to get healthier & stay that way.  LOL  It's like shoveling snow & its still snowing. 
 
So my motto today is
 
Not Where I'd Like To Be...But Not Where I Used To Be

Gluten Free Soy Free Sesame Chicken
I've missed eating Sesame Chicken.  I made a darn good GF/SF version.
I used Coconut Secrets Coconut Amino.

Easter Shoes Miracle

Colin can be really rough on his shoes. He normally likes to wear black soled sneakers to church. He go new brown soled sneakers less than a month ago. I was sure he'd be able to wear them for Easter. Well, he breakdance & does so toe dragging move. Yep he's ruined the toe of the shoes.

I was not happy about the need to go buy Easter shoes the Saturday before Christmas. The malls look like it's Christmas. I want to avoid all of the traffic & people; the very reason I tried to plan ahead.

This morning I was packing up the winter coats, gloves, hats, scarves & earmuffs in the front guest closet. I look on the shelf & see some dress shoes his current size. Our extra Easter Miracle.

A+ for us

We travel 8 hours to a special children's dermatologist for Colin. We visited her this week while he was on Spring Break. He was doing so well we didn't have to see her in Dec. 2011.

G drove most of the way; although he was feeling bad. He napped in the car while we visited the Dr & did a couple of fun activities. I did not get to visit one of my favorite scrapbook stores. It was raining & G didn't feel well. I told him I had some great coupons & he would have to pay the difference on the next visit. He just smiled. :)

The Dr said he is doing really well. She said we get an A+. He has 1 small eczema spot (about the size of a quarter) on the bend of right leg. I told her the eczema, asthma & allergies all flair when he is sick. She said that makes sense because the bodies immune system ... is related.

I know that allergies, eczema & asthma are all related. I have too many years of personal experience. That is the reason I'm willing to travel as far and as often as needed to help him get better. I spare no expense when it comes to helping our allergies get better. We have huge air purifiers in each bedroom & family room. I cook organic almost every item we eat. I make his mac n cheese with rice cheese. I make him ice cream out of coconut milk. So many people look at me like I'm crazy, if I stay up to midnight baking cupcakes so he can have a dessert at the school party. They have no idea what it's like to live with life threatening allergies. I've worn long pants when it was 100 degrees because of horrible eczema on my legs.

I'm really getting off track but it really burns me when people say. I can't put little Sue on a gluten free diet; it's too hard. Seriously!! What I hear is it's too much of an inconvenience for me. I hear I don't care that my child's health would improve; I can't be bothered. Get over yourself people. Sometimes life is challenging & hard.

As a child, I remember my allergy doctor telling my mom to remove the carpet from my bedroom. She refused. I suffered issues from my allergies all of my life. Currently, mom will call me if they are going to cook fish, so I don't come visit.

When Colin's' eczema started the worsen, I (all by myself) took the carpet out of his bedroom, bedroom hallway & put down wood floors. Next, I did the family room. It's a very large room & I got help. G & my parents helped with that room. I did our master bedroom & my craft room alone.

I will remove the carpet in the dining room this year. I haven't decided what to do with the library; it's rarely used. I will remove the carpet in it too, just as soon as I decide what I want to there instead. I'm really leaning toward stained concrete.

Gluten-free No-Soy Dairy-free Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Gluten-free No-Soy Dairy-free Dairy Free, Sugar Free Chocolate Mousse Recipe
from the bookofyum.com.
I just made this. It's awesome. I used Spectrum Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (unrefined), Ghiradelli Unsweetened Cocoa, Wholesome Organic Blue Agave Nectar, my own home made Gluten Free Vanilla extract (made from Madagascar Vanilla Beans) & Haas Avocado.

I'm trying 1-2 new allergy free recipes a week. It's fun & I'm discovering new awesome allergy free treats. I've have this recipe printed out for a year. I also am converting many of my printed recipes back to digital. It part of my journey to have less printed papers in my world. I do usually print out a recipe to tweak it or make notes of what I used. Tweak it means what I would do differently if I made it again.

This recipe is a keeper. Colin is the true test. He's still sleeping. It's ok if he doesn't love it; it will not go to waste. :)

Colin is sick again

He seems to get a cold so frequently this year. I wished when his little friends are sick that he's not so in their face. It's funny to watch children; they don't require the same amount of personal space as adults. They interact so closely. A double edge sword; good & not so good.
I was up at least 5 times last night checking on him or giving him medicine. Once I touched him & he was burning up with fever. I gave him medicine. 1 hour later he was wrapped in his comforter. I touched his face & he was cool & clammy. I put a little more cover on him.
I informed hubby to keep a close eye on him today while I'm at work. Hubby likes to stay up
late at night & sleep during the day.

layouts from Halloween 2010 done Aug 2011

Halloween in Hilton Head 2010

G update

G's cancer is still in remission. Hallelujah! His peripheral neuropathy is worst; he can barely walk. He was fitted for a wheelchair & should be getting it soon.
It took a while for him to call the wheelchair people. I thought he should have done it. There are so many zoo trip, field trips, Disney & other items that he has missed because he couldn't do all of the walking.
I'm happy he made the decision; it will improve our quality of life.