We have finally had anoter real success with our gluten free experiments. The cookies are a good start -- but now Rod has invented an exellent pie crust. It's not flakey and light like Grandma's, but it's tasty and resembles a graham crust, but it's savory enough to put under an egg pie, and can easily be sweetened fora pumpkin pie.
Watch this space -- I'll paste the recipe in once I manage to wrest it from my beloved's hands, er brain.
Here we go:
10 ounces of almond meal
5 ounces of coconut flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs
10 ounces of butter
Warm the butter until it's very, very soft.
Beat the eggs, and blend with the butter.
Toss everything else in and mix well.
Pat it into the pie tins and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
This is still at the "raw experiment" stage, but it work well enough.
Mamma's happy!
25 November 2009
What Would Jesus Buy?
What Would Jesus Buy?
This film comes with high praise. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but this way I can share it *and* find it again.
This film comes with high praise. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but this way I can share it *and* find it again.
Jack's I Love My Friends party
Every November, on his half-birthday, Jack hosts an "I Love my Friends" party.
Birthdays are small family affairs in our family, but that was no reason to keep Jack from the utter coolness of hosting his own party, so this was our solution. He has a lot of friends, and it;'s always hard for Jack to narrow it down to the number of friends we can accommodate.
This year, we settled on seven, because Jack will be seven on his next birthday. Siblings don't count, of course, because they're always welcome.
(For the record, I wasn't able to get a message to everyone asking permission to use their photos, so we are featuring friends whose permission we have to use their photos -- but there were lots of equally wonderful people there.)
Anyway, since we weren't sure of the weather, we set up a colouring table for everyone to play on while wqe waited for everyone to arrive -- but it turned out to be a gorgeous day, and everyone went outdoors to play as they arrived.
That meant that parents were able to get together and chat while the kids played outdoors, which was a novel treat!
We saw tree climbing, hide and seek, and various games of running and screaming from the windows. Carson's big sister, Heather, brought him to the party and the agreed to man the camera. These are her photographs. Thank you, Heather, for the wonderful photos! You're very talented!
Anyway, once the kids started drifting in, we served popcorn and juice and set them to work painting photo frames. I was amazed at the excellent work they all did! This is a definitely artistic group!
Then we handed out photos and various party favors, and photos to put in the frames, the we all chose from the wrapped ooks everyone had brought to share -- and it was suddenly over.
We all had a blast -- thank you, everyone for coming over and sharing our day. We love you all!
Birthdays are small family affairs in our family, but that was no reason to keep Jack from the utter coolness of hosting his own party, so this was our solution. He has a lot of friends, and it;'s always hard for Jack to narrow it down to the number of friends we can accommodate.
This year, we settled on seven, because Jack will be seven on his next birthday. Siblings don't count, of course, because they're always welcome.
(For the record, I wasn't able to get a message to everyone asking permission to use their photos, so we are featuring friends whose permission we have to use their photos -- but there were lots of equally wonderful people there.)
Anyway, since we weren't sure of the weather, we set up a colouring table for everyone to play on while wqe waited for everyone to arrive -- but it turned out to be a gorgeous day, and everyone went outdoors to play as they arrived.
That meant that parents were able to get together and chat while the kids played outdoors, which was a novel treat!
We saw tree climbing, hide and seek, and various games of running and screaming from the windows. Carson's big sister, Heather, brought him to the party and the agreed to man the camera. These are her photographs. Thank you, Heather, for the wonderful photos! You're very talented!
Anyway, once the kids started drifting in, we served popcorn and juice and set them to work painting photo frames. I was amazed at the excellent work they all did! This is a definitely artistic group!
Then we handed out photos and various party favors, and photos to put in the frames, the we all chose from the wrapped ooks everyone had brought to share -- and it was suddenly over.
We all had a blast -- thank you, everyone for coming over and sharing our day. We love you all!
24 November 2009
Art practicum
Ever since we went to see the Van Goghs at the DIA, Jack has been asking to take a painting class. The problem is, I know very little about painting,so I taught him a few "techniques" (like colour mixing and layering rather than smooshing everything together at once) and then I was tapped out.
Then, on Sunday, as I was walking past the new books table at the library, I saw it! Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner by Claire Watson Garcia. I checedk it ouot, of course, but so far I have only had a chance to really read the first few exercises, but she really does start with the assumption that her student has no experience with paint. I think this might be where jack and I start our painting classes. I'm pretty excited!
(Jack was pretty thrilled about the Van Gogh paintings, but has reached an age where he feels pretty self-conscious about us making a spectacle of ourselves in public. Thus the dour look.)
Then, on Sunday, as I was walking past the new books table at the library, I saw it! Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner by Claire Watson Garcia. I checedk it ouot, of course, but so far I have only had a chance to really read the first few exercises, but she really does start with the assumption that her student has no experience with paint. I think this might be where jack and I start our painting classes. I'm pretty excited!
(Jack was pretty thrilled about the Van Gogh paintings, but has reached an age where he feels pretty self-conscious about us making a spectacle of ourselves in public. Thus the dour look.)
23 November 2009
Observations we could live without
"Hey, Mamma, you look just like Jaba the Hutt, but with glasses."
"Gee, thanks, Jack. Is he a good guy?"
"Nope, he's a gangster."
Great. Made my day.
"Gee, thanks, Jack. Is he a good guy?"
"Nope, he's a gangster."
Great. Made my day.
22 November 2009
minor update
Ahh, well. I was sure I had taken and uploaded a bunch of pictures to blog, but I don't find them on my drive. Nor can I think what they were. Oh well, maybe it was the last batch.
Things are going well for us -- news of two new summer babies has brightened our Sunday (Congrats to K&A and Tash!) . Sad news, too. My poor aunt and uncle have lost another of their children -- that makes three for the same family in just a very few years. Aneurysm ... the same thing that seems to get so much of our family. I have many cousins, and I barely knew this one at all, so it's not a personal loss but I am sad for my aunt and uncle.
Rod is getting better, with forays into the gloom of detox. (Many years of wheat toxins have to be gotten rid of somehow. It's bad enough that I'd be worried, except that between bouts of dreadful, he is getting healthier and more energetic on each cycle.) The bread and crackers problem remains, because nothing we're finding quite does what we miss most -- crackers on which to eat cheese and dips, and sandwiches. Oh well, it's not hard to find other things to eat, we just miss quick standbys.
It's amazing how when Internet isn't available, other things expand to fill the time. We've been happy and busy, but it's hard top think what it is we've been doing.
Card making, definitely. We have over 50 cards made, so lots of choices and Jack has even made extras for himself. Of course that just means we forgot someone. ;)
School, yes. That's going, but slowly. Jack has slowed right down on academics for the moment and is instead focused on Star Wars. That's OK, because he seems to be a tidal schooler. he hits the books with great enthusiasm for a while and then turn his mind elsewhere for a while, only to return with great enthusiasm -- and a much better grasp of things he studied before his break.
He has also gone "seven" right on schedule. His emotional and developmental milestones seem to happen at his half-birthday. (That's what the photos were -- his I love my friends party. I bet they're still on my thumb drive, which I left home. pooh.) At seven, he is somber and serious and not as happy go lucky as he was a few months ago. He is also making a different kind of jokes and has grown into a very substantial young man. Tall, heavy, and very strong, with new long hair on his arms and legs.
I have started to see the new doctor Rod started seeing last summer and have high hopes for my own health. He is pretty confident that we can figure out what is causing me to be so achy and sore all the time - -and as a bonus we may even manage to get my rosacea under control. He is the first doctor to have any idea what other than drugs to treat he symptoms, might help.
I wish I had something scintillating to say. It's not that nothing is happening, it's that when I sit down with a time budget, I draw a blank and work has been very, very, very busy, so no free time over lunch there these days.
I'll try to blog over the holiday -- there should be lots of time since we're not doing anything. ;) (And we start the GAPS elimination diet shortly thereafter.)
BTW, the pictures are Mesopotamian floor plans made with two kinds of blocks.
Things are going well for us -- news of two new summer babies has brightened our Sunday (Congrats to K&A and Tash!) . Sad news, too. My poor aunt and uncle have lost another of their children -- that makes three for the same family in just a very few years. Aneurysm ... the same thing that seems to get so much of our family. I have many cousins, and I barely knew this one at all, so it's not a personal loss but I am sad for my aunt and uncle.
Rod is getting better, with forays into the gloom of detox. (Many years of wheat toxins have to be gotten rid of somehow. It's bad enough that I'd be worried, except that between bouts of dreadful, he is getting healthier and more energetic on each cycle.) The bread and crackers problem remains, because nothing we're finding quite does what we miss most -- crackers on which to eat cheese and dips, and sandwiches. Oh well, it's not hard to find other things to eat, we just miss quick standbys.
It's amazing how when Internet isn't available, other things expand to fill the time. We've been happy and busy, but it's hard top think what it is we've been doing.
Card making, definitely. We have over 50 cards made, so lots of choices and Jack has even made extras for himself. Of course that just means we forgot someone. ;)
School, yes. That's going, but slowly. Jack has slowed right down on academics for the moment and is instead focused on Star Wars. That's OK, because he seems to be a tidal schooler. he hits the books with great enthusiasm for a while and then turn his mind elsewhere for a while, only to return with great enthusiasm -- and a much better grasp of things he studied before his break.
He has also gone "seven" right on schedule. His emotional and developmental milestones seem to happen at his half-birthday. (That's what the photos were -- his I love my friends party. I bet they're still on my thumb drive, which I left home. pooh.) At seven, he is somber and serious and not as happy go lucky as he was a few months ago. He is also making a different kind of jokes and has grown into a very substantial young man. Tall, heavy, and very strong, with new long hair on his arms and legs.
I have started to see the new doctor Rod started seeing last summer and have high hopes for my own health. He is pretty confident that we can figure out what is causing me to be so achy and sore all the time - -and as a bonus we may even manage to get my rosacea under control. He is the first doctor to have any idea what other than drugs to treat he symptoms, might help.
I wish I had something scintillating to say. It's not that nothing is happening, it's that when I sit down with a time budget, I draw a blank and work has been very, very, very busy, so no free time over lunch there these days.
I'll try to blog over the holiday -- there should be lots of time since we're not doing anything. ;) (And we start the GAPS elimination diet shortly thereafter.)
BTW, the pictures are Mesopotamian floor plans made with two kinds of blocks.
chillin at Luwak
ahh, well. I was sure I had taken and uploaded a bunch of pictures to blog, but I don't find them on my drive. Nor can I think what they were. Oh well, maybe it was the last batch.
Things are going well for us -- news of two new summer babies has brightened our Sunday (Congrats to K&A and Tash!) . Sad news, too. My poor aunt and uncle have lost another of their children -- that makes three for the same family in just a very few years. Aneurysm ... the same thing that seems to get so much of our family. I have many cousins, and I barely knew this one at all, so it's not a personal loss but I am sad for my aunt and uncle.
Rod is getting better, with forrays into the gloom of detox. (Many years of wheat toxins have to be gotten rid of somehow. It's bad enough that I'd be worried, except that between bouts of dreadful, he is getting healthier and more energetic on each cycle.) The bread and crackers problem remains, because nothing we're finding quite does what we miss most -- crackers on which to eat cheese and dips, and sandwiches. Oh well, it's not hard to find other things to eat, we just miss quick standbys.
It's amazing how when Internet isn't available, other things expand to fill the time. We've been happy and busy, but it's hard top think what it is we've been doing.
Card making, definitely. We have over 50 cards made, so lots of choices and Jack has even made extras for himself. Of course that just means we forgot someone. ;)
School, yes. That's going, but slowly. Jack has slowed right down on academics for the moment and is instead focused on Star Wars. That's OK, because he seems to be a tidal schooler. he hits the books with great enthusiasm for a while and then turn shis moind elsewhere for a while, only to return with great enthusiasm -- and a much better grasp of things he studied before his break.
He has also gone "seven" right on schedule. His emotional and developmental milestones seem to happen at his half-birthday. (That's what the photos were -- his I love my friends party. I bet they're still on my thumb drive, which I left home. pooh.) At seven, he is somber and serious and not as happy go lucky as he was a few months ago. He is also making a different kind of jokes and has grown into a very substantial young man. Tall, heavy, and very strong, with new long hair on his arms and legs.
I wish i had something scintillating to say, but I'll try to blog over the holiday -- there should be lots of time. ;)
Things are going well for us -- news of two new summer babies has brightened our Sunday (Congrats to K&A and Tash!) . Sad news, too. My poor aunt and uncle have lost another of their children -- that makes three for the same family in just a very few years. Aneurysm ... the same thing that seems to get so much of our family. I have many cousins, and I barely knew this one at all, so it's not a personal loss but I am sad for my aunt and uncle.
Rod is getting better, with forrays into the gloom of detox. (Many years of wheat toxins have to be gotten rid of somehow. It's bad enough that I'd be worried, except that between bouts of dreadful, he is getting healthier and more energetic on each cycle.) The bread and crackers problem remains, because nothing we're finding quite does what we miss most -- crackers on which to eat cheese and dips, and sandwiches. Oh well, it's not hard to find other things to eat, we just miss quick standbys.
It's amazing how when Internet isn't available, other things expand to fill the time. We've been happy and busy, but it's hard top think what it is we've been doing.
Card making, definitely. We have over 50 cards made, so lots of choices and Jack has even made extras for himself. Of course that just means we forgot someone. ;)
School, yes. That's going, but slowly. Jack has slowed right down on academics for the moment and is instead focused on Star Wars. That's OK, because he seems to be a tidal schooler. he hits the books with great enthusiasm for a while and then turn shis moind elsewhere for a while, only to return with great enthusiasm -- and a much better grasp of things he studied before his break.
He has also gone "seven" right on schedule. His emotional and developmental milestones seem to happen at his half-birthday. (That's what the photos were -- his I love my friends party. I bet they're still on my thumb drive, which I left home. pooh.) At seven, he is somber and serious and not as happy go lucky as he was a few months ago. He is also making a different kind of jokes and has grown into a very substantial young man. Tall, heavy, and very strong, with new long hair on his arms and legs.
I wish i had something scintillating to say, but I'll try to blog over the holiday -- there should be lots of time. ;)
11 November 2009
Oh no!
I just realized that Part 2 of the how to write your own curriculum is missing. Not sure how that happened...I'll see if I have a copy anywhere...
Checking in ...
Hey, all!
Now that I have a laptop, I hope to be able to blog more. (If I can download my mail, rather than checking on the web interface, I should be able to spend my cafe time on blogging and facebook, right?)
We're going on 'a quarter of a year' since we went to no Internet at home, and it's going reasonably well, though I have started to feel a little cut off, since I can only check my mail once a week or so if I have to sit somewhere to do it.
I would have expected lack of Internet to result in a far tidier home and a far more organized life -- but it hasn't so much.
The up side hasn't been what I expected, but it has been wonderful in its effect on the family dynamic. These days we do e-mail deliberately and we spend far more time interacting as a team. I am loving that!
The attached photos are of Jack's Mesopotamian robes, as described in Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors.
He seemed pretty excited at the idea when I read it to him. He seemed pretty excited when he was choosing the cloth. He seemed pretty excited when we started...but as you can see, he doesn't find robes all that comfortable. *laugh*
OOps.
I can certainly understand that -- in my old age I haven't found much patience in my heart for dresses, either, though I still like the way they look.
I have also been making progress on my Yule cards for this year. Our minimum total (for family) was 50 and I am well more than halfway done. I may be able to manage a few extras for very close friends this year! I'm ambivalent about whether to post them here, though...
Jack had his annual "I love my friends" party last weekend. I haven't managed to get the photos from that onto this computer yet, so I hope to blog that in a day or two. The short version was that I was amazed at how well that came off...in spite of my silliness in giving out various start times depending on when I was asked. *embarrassed blush*
On the health front (we're gotten old enough that there always seems to be a health front these days...) Rod is doing amazingly well since he got off wheat. He is healing just fast enough top be frustrated at what he feels like he ought to be able to do. He got "poisoned" once and it was very, very clear that he is going to have to be very careful -- his gasping for breath all night was really scary and it took over a week before he was starting to get stronger again.
I finally entirely stopped being dizzy a few weeks ago...only to be hit by pleurisy on the same side on which my ear had been giving me trouble. Now that has cleared up, too, and I am finally starting to feel human again, just in time for my doctor appointment to finally come.
They say "Old age ain't for sissies" but I'd say middle age is no picnic, either. (Oh hush! I am too middle-aged. I won't be old until I'm over 90.) ;)
I think I have started to pull together that last installment of the writing your own curriculum essay, too. Anyone have anything they want to make sure I include?
What else? After all this time there should be more. I'll work on another blog to be uploaded on Saturday or Sunday. Have fun!
Now that I have a laptop, I hope to be able to blog more. (If I can download my mail, rather than checking on the web interface, I should be able to spend my cafe time on blogging and facebook, right?)
We're going on 'a quarter of a year' since we went to no Internet at home, and it's going reasonably well, though I have started to feel a little cut off, since I can only check my mail once a week or so if I have to sit somewhere to do it.
I would have expected lack of Internet to result in a far tidier home and a far more organized life -- but it hasn't so much.
The up side hasn't been what I expected, but it has been wonderful in its effect on the family dynamic. These days we do e-mail deliberately and we spend far more time interacting as a team. I am loving that!
The attached photos are of Jack's Mesopotamian robes, as described in Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors.
He seemed pretty excited at the idea when I read it to him. He seemed pretty excited when he was choosing the cloth. He seemed pretty excited when we started...but as you can see, he doesn't find robes all that comfortable. *laugh*
OOps.
I can certainly understand that -- in my old age I haven't found much patience in my heart for dresses, either, though I still like the way they look.
I have also been making progress on my Yule cards for this year. Our minimum total (for family) was 50 and I am well more than halfway done. I may be able to manage a few extras for very close friends this year! I'm ambivalent about whether to post them here, though...
Jack had his annual "I love my friends" party last weekend. I haven't managed to get the photos from that onto this computer yet, so I hope to blog that in a day or two. The short version was that I was amazed at how well that came off...in spite of my silliness in giving out various start times depending on when I was asked. *embarrassed blush*
On the health front (we're gotten old enough that there always seems to be a health front these days...) Rod is doing amazingly well since he got off wheat. He is healing just fast enough top be frustrated at what he feels like he ought to be able to do. He got "poisoned" once and it was very, very clear that he is going to have to be very careful -- his gasping for breath all night was really scary and it took over a week before he was starting to get stronger again.
I finally entirely stopped being dizzy a few weeks ago...only to be hit by pleurisy on the same side on which my ear had been giving me trouble. Now that has cleared up, too, and I am finally starting to feel human again, just in time for my doctor appointment to finally come.
They say "Old age ain't for sissies" but I'd say middle age is no picnic, either. (Oh hush! I am too middle-aged. I won't be old until I'm over 90.) ;)
I think I have started to pull together that last installment of the writing your own curriculum essay, too. Anyone have anything they want to make sure I include?
What else? After all this time there should be more. I'll work on another blog to be uploaded on Saturday or Sunday. Have fun!
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