Me Not Writing

This is me, not writing a real post.

This is me, cursing the fact that I didn’t get one written earlier today.

This is me, cursing the brain in my head; riddled with ideas and creativity and blog posts that I can hear with brilliant clarity but discombobulated enough to keep any of it from coming to fruition.

This is me cursing the situation brewing at Penn State for filling my heart with a sadness that rocks every piece of my soul. The decomposition of humanity to a state where a coach being fired for neglecting his moral responsibilities as a member of the human race being inspires rioting by college aged children who want their voices to be heard and their coach allowed to retire with dignity…. all while ignoring the fact that no one heard the voices of the actual children who were stripped of all dignity, sense of safety and security because said coach is not the upstanding, amazing person everyone thought he was.

 

 

Wordless. And It’s Wednesday.

“Inspiration”

 

 

 

Apple of My Eye

 

I love taking pictures.  Any kind of pictures, really.  I’m still such a novice and such a geek that I will take hundreds of pictures of the mundane, just to experiment with the different capabilities of my camera and light.  I’m often disappointed that I can’t make my pictures look like what I see … or more accurately I have difficulty making my pictures convey the same emotions I feel when I’m taking them.

So I practice.

Yesterday I was cutting up apples for applesauce, which I intend to turn into apple butter, and thought “Oh! I should take a picture of the apples because they are so pretty and red … and maybe someday I’ll write a post about the applesauce/butter.”

So I proceeded to spend over an hour taking photos of a basket of apples.

Not gold apples.

Not apples emblazoned with the face of Jesus Christ.

Just apples.  In a basket.

It was fairly dark outside due to the rainy weather and I’m still struggling to never use a flash (detest flash) so I broke out the tripod and my remote shutter release (which I’ve never used) and geeked away.

I had no one to share this adventure with.  I posted on Facebook so that a few folks would get a giggle; but that was it.

Then SuperBoy entered the room and asked why my camera was on that thing with legs.

I talked with him a little about shutter speed and focus, aperture and light.  He really enjoys taking pictures and the little bits I’ve explained to him over time he soaks up like a sponge. (He always checks to see where his light source is when he is taking pictures so he doesn’t get “back lighting”!)

He thought that was pretty cool and wanted to try out the remote.  I showed him how to work it.  He took a picture and thought it was cool.  He adjusted his view with the tripod and thought that was cool.  I showed him the light meter and we talked about how it worked; he figured out how to change his point of focus and experimented with that a few times.

 

It was SO MUCH FUN watching him play and discover…and he wanted me to tell him all about it (be still my heart).  He looked adorable standing there directing the tripod around.

Then he said to me: “Mom.  You know what I love about this picture?”

 

 

No sweetie, what?

“I love the way the apples are so red.  And smooth.  I like that they are smooth and the basket is not.  I like the way there is a shadow over here and how that makes this apple look.”

 

*Jaw Drops Open*

Maybe I do have someone to share my photo obsessions with after all.

 

SuperBoy, 5,  shot these pictures on my Nikon D3100 with a 50mm f/1.8

 

 

Baking Gluten Free: Basic Flour Substitutes

 

Throughout the month of October SuperDad and I have been conducting a little experiment:  eliminating gluten from his diet to see if it helped with some major pain and discomfort that he has been  increasingly suffering over the past year.

The result?  He lost more than 15lbs and, without going into way too many personal details, he feels 100x  better.

So now that he sees the proof in the gluten free pudding, the challenge is for me to provide him a healthy gluten free diet, rather than him simply excluding foods that he normally eats.

I’m not much of a “buy it pre-packaged” kinda gal…so I’ve been reading up on how to incorporate this style of eating into our life without buying lots of “substitutes”.  Among the myriad of new recipes I’ve found to incorporate into our meal planning, I’ve also been thinking about the many, many things I cook and bake that he loves that have flour in them…and wondering how I can tweak them.

I’m so lucky to be part of a great group of Kansas City area bloggers that gets together to enjoy each other’s company and benefit from each of our individual areas of expertise.  One such blogger is Johnna Perry from 52 Sweets  (Side note: You absolutely MUST go read her “About Me” page because I think it is one of the coolest becoming-a-blog stories…as well as an amazing ongoing project).  Johnna is a vegetarian baker who also eats, and bakes, gluten free.  So who do YOU think I went to for advice??

Tonight I put together Johnna’s “Go To” flour substitute:  a combination of White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Potato Starch and Tapioca Starch.  This is similar to several other suggestions I’ve read around the web but, well, I know Johnna so I’m going to trust her recipe above all else.  The idea is that this combination will substitute out cup for cup with all purpose flour in most recipes (the general rule of thumb being that it works best in recipes consisting of 2c or less of flour).

Visit 52 Sweets to get the actual layout for this gluten free flour substitute and give it a shot.  Let me know what works for you!

It is a very busy week here…but I’m hoping to give this a roll with some amazing pumpkin pancakes I made for the kids and some jalapeno cheddar corn bread that he has been craving when we eat chili later this week… I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Weekly Menu: November 6 – 12

This week has a lot in store: Volunteering at both Kindergarten and Preschool, a half day blogger event in Kansas City, Parent-Teacher conferences, Photography Class, SuperGirl’s gymnastics, a retirement party for one of the partners at SuperDad’s firm and all while preparing for a working weekend getaway with 3 of my blogging buddies.

I figured if there was ever a time to get back on the wagon with menu planning … this would be the week to do it. Today I planned out my menus (breakfast, lunch and dinner), grocery shopped and prepared the majority of the week’s meals along with a few extras for a friend in need of some freezer love.

It has also occurred to me that I need to get on the stick and post a bunch of these recipes….there are a lot of good ol’ standbys here this week … ridiculous that I don’t have them posted somewhere …

Weekly Menu

Sunday

• Breakfast:  Cereal
• Lunch: Chicken Nuggets, carrots, grapes
• Dinner: Homemade pizza (pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives)

Monday

• Breakfast:  Pumpkin Pancakes/ Cinnamon Syrup
• Lunch:  Left over Pizza, applesauce, raw green beans (my kids are weird)
• Dinner: Out!  Bowling/Burgers

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Sausage/Egg Casserole, Raspberry muffins
• Lunch: Taquitos (Refried beans, taco meat, goat cheese, corn tortillas), grapes, corn
• Dinner: Vegetarian Chili, Cornbread Muffins

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Oatmeal
• Lunch: Quesadillas (Turkey, ham, cheese), apple slices,
• Dinner: Chicken and Rice Casserole (New recipe Dairy/GF)

Thursday

• Breakast: Sausage/Egg casserole, toast
• Lunch: Mini Muffin Corndogs, leftover veggies, pineapple chunks
• Dinner: Pasta Yum, Broccoli

Friday

• Breakfast: Baked peanut butter oatmeal
• Lunch: Dirty Beans and Rice, Carrots/Ranch, pear slices
• Dinner: Shepherd’s Pie, green beans, homemade biscuits (reg and GF)

Saturday

• Breakfast: Cereal/leftover baked oatmeal
• Lunch: Grilled Turkey/Cheese, celery/peanut butter, grapes
• Dinner: Leftovers or grilled venison (Dad’s in charge)

 

 

A Kansas Earthquake (Or….Mother Nature Supports my NaBloPoMo Efforts)

 

Mother Nature loves me.  Just when I was struggling to keep my eyes open and wasn’t sure what to post … she provides my very first earthquake ever.  Right here in little ol’ Lawrence!

Turns out the epicenter was near Sparks, OK and is currently rated at 5.6 … the strongest ever for this part of Oklahoma and people on Twitter (my valuable little resource) are reporting feeling it all the way from Dallas, TX up to Kansas City, MO.

It wasn’t very strong here, obviously…lots of folks didn’t feel it.  My bed was trembling…I thought our lab (110lb beastie) was laying up against the bed and scratching (which is a common earth-moving event around here)… but she was nowhere to be found.  Then I noticed my blinds swaying…fixtures in the bathroom were vibrating and the deck chairs on the porch attached to my bedroom were “dancing” … vibrating around.

This all lasted about 30 seconds and while not scary….was very interesting.

Even more interesting?  I turned straight to Twitter when it occurred to me that it was indeed an earthquake….and I got confirmation faster than my husband could find anything on the news. This is the same experience I’ve had time and again in bad weather: tornadoes, snow storms and hail storms… reinforcing my belief that social media is not just a pleasant pass time or a useful tool for marketing … but actually an important tool.

That is all.

Follow this link to read a little more information about the earthquake and see the updated map above.  If you felt it…click on the “Tell Us If You Felt It” link and fill out the questionnaire, it helps them gather data on occurrences like this.

 

Three Little Things

I had grande plans to blog today.  Perhaps about the amazing and wonderful new store I got to visit last night in downtown Lawrence… Sweet Baking and Candy Making Supply.  My own private utopia:  the colors, the decorations….

 

And then I thought I might blog some photography experiments I’ve been doing.  I’m taking the “Intermediate” photography class at the Lawrence Art Center and we are experimenting with different settings on the cameras as well as light and white balance.  I’ve got some interesting photos I thought it would be cool to lay them out and list the settings (cool as in: if you are a photogeek).

 

But it is 11:49pm and I’m still trying to follow this NaBloPoMo onec a day thing and I’m also really tired.  So I’m just sharing three pictures I took today of three things that I’ve been trying to focus all of my positive energy on.  It’s been hard… but I want to be a better mom…raise good people…so I’m looking into these beautiful faces with intensity … to help focus me on what is important.

 

Found Time

 

SuperBoy and I have been struggling.  A lot.

He has been on a string of nasty with me for daaaays.  I am fed up.  Today we had to drive to Kansas City for an allergy appointment and we would have a little time alone.  I usually love one on one time with my kids, but I am not joking when I say that for the last week the kid has had nothing but venomous words for me regardless of what I do.

I was not looking forward to this trip.

I steeled myself with resolve and headed out the door.  It was raining and cold.  We were running minutes behind on a very tight schedule.

There was a lot of standing water on the highway and we encountered the inevitable accident.  Traffic was at a standstill and it became apparent that we would not be on time to his appointment.  I called the office and asked how much wiggle room we had?  None.

I asked if we could get the testing done and then phone consult in regards to the results?  No.

I was paying a sitter.  We were already all the way to Kansas City. Was there anything we could do?

No.

We would have to reschedule.  She is booking for January.

We got put on the top of the wait list and promised a call soon…. but we would have to come at a moment’s notice which most likely means we will be dragging Thing1 and Thing2 along for the ride.

SuperBoy was not happy.  He’s been pretty miserable and was looking forward to getting some answers.  He started in with “Great.  Now we’ll have to drive and drive until you can find a place to turn around and then drive allll the way back….”

I could have yelled.  I could have pulled over and throttled him.

We drove to Legends and parked the car.  When he asked what we were doing I said: “I don’t know.  Our plans changed and I’m not going to let that ruin my day.  We’ve just found time.”

We talked about random things we could do.  We had three hours.

 

In that three hours we watched Puss in Boots in 3D (a new experience for both of us)

 

Danced and laughed in the freezing rain

Checked out cool dinosaurs and other Jurassic phenomena

And cracked open a super cool geode.

 

Then we battled the wind and laughed as we got soaked to the bone…. dried off, ate in the car and drove home.

I am grateful for the plans that went awry today.

I had some invaluable time with my son who is struggling….I strengthened my resolve to love and cherish him and banish the demons that make me want to pull over and throttle him (see above).

More importantly, I taught my very tightly wound son an excellent lesson on how to take a step back, breathe and make new plans when things don’t go the way we intended them to rather than let it destroy our day.

He didn’t know I was taking notes for myself today, too.

Morning Rage

This morning I left the house with SuperBaby and SuperGirl at 7am to get to an appointment in Kansas City by 8:30.  After a night of frolicking in piles of candy, I thought this might prove a little more difficult than the already seemingly monumental task, so I made preparations last night:

• I baked up some eggs and sausage and stuck it in the fridge: ready for reheating.
• I laid out their travel dishes with homemade granola bars and grapes already packed.
• I set out clean travel cups, our morning medicines and packed up snacks into our bag.
• The kids picked out their outfits and they were laid out at the foot of their beds.
•  I packed the backpack with some books, headphones, an iPod, diapers and a new package of wipes.

When I woke up this morning I showered and got dressed.  The kids woke up and I slid them into their clothes…and no one argued.  I heated up the eggs and put them in the travel dishes while SuperDad carried the kids out to the car.  We were like a well oiled machine.

Driving off, I was rather pleased with myself….SuperMom, indeed.  Sipping my nice, hot, green tea I drove off down the highway.  SuperGirl dropped her cup as we turned a corner so at the next stoplight I performed magnificent feats of Mommy Gymnastics (an applicable sport for the Mommy Olympics) and retrieved the cup JUST as the light turned to green and the cars in my turning lane began to move.  I paused for a second to buckle my seatbelt as the car in front of me inched forward only to hear a ruckus behind me.

I was being maliciously honked at!  I wasn’t even holding up traffic!

The “kid” behind me (who was obviously a novice driver…couldn’t have been more than 26 or 27 years old!!) zipped around me as we turned the corner and his little birdie sang me a song to start off my day.  GEEZ!!!

Although feeling a little sheepish for being cursed at, I decided to let it slide.  This driver was  overtly reckless and  so very obviously single and clueless to true and urgent reasons to honk one’s horn at moderately slow traffic: kids who can’t “hold IT” , Moms who can’t “hold IT”, inconsolable crying children who want to go home and the ticking time bomb children who will explode and become inconsolable, much like in the movie “Speed”, if you drop below the magical mph requirement..

I continued on my way; singing along to Five for Fighting with my tone deaf 3year old as back up.

On the highway I relish the sunrise and am thankful for a fresh start to a new month, the change in the weather and the beautiful colors of fall.

Suddenly the sun catches my eye in the rear view mirror and nearly blinds me.

Wait:  I’m driving east.  The sunrise is in front of me.

What the fluffy kittens?!

A woman in a silver sedan has flashed her lights at me.  As she speeds around me (okay, okay, I was driving in the fast lane) she glares at me with such ferocity I have flashes of gratitude that I am not THAT person’s child, having forgotten to take out the trash or other such criminal offense that would warrant these daggers of death.

That person’s child?  Yup.  She had a car seat in her car, and she looked about my age.

Always quick to think on my feet I rationalized that this woman was so unhappy to be commuting to work every day, leaving behind her young family, that she had no control over the anger that seeped from her eye sockets.

It could not have possible been that I was enjoying life so much that I had forgotten to mind the flow of traffic and slowed to *gasp* merely 5 mph above the speed limit.

Could it?

The stretch of highway that I was driving is notorious for people driving like maniacs on their commute too and from Kansas City…. it had just been so long since I drove it at that time of day…I had forgotten what that morning rush could be like.  While my mornings often consist of stress: kids who won’t move fast enough, kids who move too fast, shoes that can’t be found, husbands that can’t find keys and grumpy attitudes that won’t be adjusted; I love that stress….and it loves me most days.

I cannot fathom beginning each and every day filled with that much stress, and facing that much animosity day in and day out as I headed to work.

I’m thankful today for my kids who drive me bonkers in the morning.  I’m thankful for my husband who works hard (and commutes every morning) so that I don’t have to.  I’ll take our morning rage over road rage any day.

Oh…and I’m going to try NaBloPoMo again.

You can stop laughing now….

 

Sugar and the Ultimate Demise of My Parenting Worth

Ok, that is a little dramatic I’ll admit…. but I’ve had it brewing in my head for a few days and it took on a life of its own.

When I was pregnant with SuperBoy I did all of the appropriate reading…and then I read like a million more things on top of that.  I carefully dissected each thing I read and then very carefully molded a parenting plan to be rivaled by no other.

Anyone reading this who has children knows at this point how laughable that is.  Downright hysterical, actually.  Parenting plans and the entire list of “I Will Never”s went out the window rather quickly….by the time I was pregnant with SuperGirl and introduced SuperBoy to television in a desperate attempt to buy time to recover from morning sickness…. I was well on my way down the slippery slope to parental ruin.

The one thing I was adamant about with SuperBoy was sugar.  Or rather, the lack of it processed and in his diet.  He had no cookies, he had no candy.  No frosting or cupcakes.  No Oreos, no popsicles and yes, no Birthday Cake.  I baked him a cake so healthy Jamie Oliver would be proud.

I managed to keep the sugar out of his diet until he turned 3 years old.  The philosophy behind my madness was this:  If you do not introduce processed sugar to children until they are old enough to recognize and label how they feel when they eat it…. they will be able to more easily identify when they have had enough and they will be more able to self regulate.

Sounds fantastic, right?  Turns out…at least in our case….it’s true.

When SuperBoy started noshing on cookies and ice cream at age 3 … it was increasingly difficult to keep it away from 1 year old SuperGirl.  She had an Honest to God, sugar infused Birthday Cake for her 1st Birthday…. and although they were introduced slowly…she was full sugars by the time she was 2years old.

Enter SuperBaby.  I have had little or no control over the sugar in this child’s life.

Okay, okay….again with the drama…

I have control over the sugar in his life.  I’m just saying that with two older siblings who drool out sugar in front of him… it has been more difficult for me to stay strong and true to the cause.  He had his first processed sugar by way of cookie before he even hit 1 year old.

Now…back to my theory:

SuperBoy is very aware of the effects of sugar on his body.  He does not like the way he feels when he has had enough and I can only remember one time when he didn’t walk away when he was “full” or started to feel the ill effects of sugar on his body.  He has no problem stepping back from an unfinished ice cream cone or cupcake and will often sometimes turn down cookies all together.

SuperGirl loooooves the sugar.  She will eat until you take it away…but gives it up willingly.  There is no arguing and she understands that it is time to stop, she just lacks the will power to do it on her own.  She requests “treats” on a more than average basis…but handles the rejection well.

SuperBaby is a disaster.  If this child sees candy, Rice Krispies Treats, ice cream, etc, etc, etc …. he goes into full out obsessive freak mode.  He points, he yells, he pulls out all of the stops and cries crocodile tears from those big, beautiful eyes.

All for a Tootsie Roll.

So as I let the sugar into our lives…it slowly worked its rot and decay on my worth as a parent…at least on the front line of defense against childhood obesity, low test scores and general apathy towards the world.

Add it to the list of “Best Laid Plans” and “Good Intentions”.

 

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