Where has January Gone?

Yes, I do realize that it now the last few days of January and I still have yet to post pictures dating as far back as the end of November. Is this where I can play the "I have seven children" card?!?!lol
*sigh* I will eventually get to it, if not for the sake of saving myself therapy bills from the children who did not get their birthday pictures posted on their Mama's blog! HA!

My brain is a complete pile of mush, now that may not be much of a surprise to some...har har....but in all reality it truly feels like it is. This is Brain Fog and is a symptom of Fibromyalgia and yes, Celiac. Brain Fog really bites, it is not fun being lost in a complete sentence or totally blanking out on someone's name or other information that you know.  Thank goodness this is temporary. Thank goodness that very soon I can make it all better!

The dinner theater we went to on Sunday night was positively awesome! We had so much fun. It was fully interactive and hilarious. We get to experience another dinner theater on Tuesday evening as well. Bill won tickets again to a different venue. It's a bit more formal and a little less interactive, but it is supposed to be just as wonderful. Exciting!


You may notice on the left hand side of my blog here that there is a button labeled 'A Year of Choice'. If you click on it and follow to the site it explains what it means. Yes, it is from last year, but I just came across it and I thought it was a fantastic idea for this year as well. (Well, every year for that matter) I think we as human beings have a choice for everything, even if it is just in how we react to a situation. I know life can toss us sticky, yucky messes but we can ALWAYS choose how we respond and react to them. I think if we all try to keep that in mind, we could all be better off emotionally. Keeping in mind that anger is a response to our needs not being met. This is one of my biggest goals for this year, to really focus on emotional well being. It's an interesting journey. There is sooooo much negativity filled in this world and I truly believe it creates a negative energy force that can engulf and encompass us if we allow it. So we can choose to focus on positivity and surround ourselves with positive energy which will in turn attract more positive energy. I firmly believe we manifest what we think, so as the saying goes 'Think Happy Thoughts'

My choice this week has been staying positive while Bill has had to work late almost all week. It really sucks when he isn't home for dinner (we eat dinner as a family EVERY night) and not until later on in the evening, so I decided to try out some new recipes for dinner (the kids are typically more adventurous with different tastes) and I also made some killer desserts (which we have saved for Daddy to enjoy when he gets home!!) So while it is crappy not having him here for dinner, I was able to focus that energy towards something else and make it positive! Yay!

Of course the biggest challenge has been staying focused on positivity while doing this Gluten Challenge...ugh.....but, it will answer some questions and be worth it in the end. The best part about it is I know what is causing all my discomfort and I know I will be better in a couple of weeks where as before, I had no clue what was wrong and if I would ever figure it out!

On that note, here's to sending you all positive energy!!
Blessed be!

Well Hello!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year thus far. We certainly did, although we got hit AGAIN with another bug the first week of the new year. It hipped through everybody again, except for me. I attribute that to the fact I was practically eating an entire garlic bulb each day!!lol I also was taking Oil of Oregano in water, I think it worked!

I had an appointment with my family doctor last Friday, my first one in almost three years. It was actually pretty weird, I thought it would be awesome to share all the wonderful things I have done and discovered about myself, but she didn't seem to excited about it and actually shrugged off my gluten issues until I finished telling her all my symptoms and how incredibly better I am not consuming gluten AND that my sister had tested positive. However, in order to get a somewhat reliable test for antibodies, I have to be consuming gluten. I have thought about that for quite sometime now, and I finally decided I want to know. If anything for it to be on my medical record (if I am in fact Celiac) and to keep an eye on the kids since it's hereditary. So, since the 13th, I have been eating Gluten. YUCK! My body is a mess, I am right back where I was before Breanna was born and my stomach is actually worse. The leg pain is insane, I truly do not know how I dealt with this on a daily basis for over 5 years. I know one thing for sure, whether the result is positive or negative, I will NEVER eat gluten again. No matter what, my body does not like it at all.

Funny enough though, I have spent the last 3 years sometimes thinking about all the foods I miss eating or no longer can eat. This has definitely been an eye opener because a lot of the stuff is just gross to me. It tastes so bland and quite frankly like paper. I thought it might be nice to eat some breaded fish (ohhhh, a rebel, I know!!!!) and it was terrible. Pasta (I buy brown rice for myself typically and whole wheat for everyone else) was not nice at all. Brown bread tasted like toilet paper (or what I imagine TP would taste like anyways...lol)

I am honestly looking forward to getting back to MY foods not only to heal, but to enjoy the taste of food again.
Tonight as a treat, Bill and I are getting some Chinese take-out, we NEVER get take out anymore so this is a double treat. I am hoping that it will taste as good as I remember!!

Sunday we are going to a dinner theatre, Bill won tickets through our local radio station awhile back, so I am looking forward to that. We figured that while I am doing this challenge we might as well do all our eating out!lol Except fast food, ick, gluten or no gluten there is no way I could stomach any of that.

We had a huge stretch of warm weather for a bit and it totally got my garden bug itching. I was flipping through my seed catalogs and deciding what to grow this year and all that good stuff. Then we just got hit with bitter, cold temperatures...like -32 degrees Celsius...brrrrrrrrr!!!

Blessed be!

*~*~NINE~*~* more sleeps!!!!!

Until Christmas Eve that is! We count down until Christmas Eve, because that is when the magic starts! From first thing in the morning until the next evening...yay!!

Today is Arts 'n' Craefts day if you are following the Keltelven Traditions, as I said earlier we are very loosely following along. I like the concept of slowing down and taking time to concentrate on the time of year and taking time to re-connect with nature and loved ones.
The one craft that I would love to get into is felting. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how adorable and simple the creations look. This is something I really want to look at getting into this new year. If you already are into it and have the supplies, here's a wonderfully adorable craft to check out and do to tie in with the season and today's tradition!

Needled Gnome Nativity by Em

This evening is grocery shopping, need to get some more supplies to finish up my baking. Actually, to BEGIN my baking...lol. I have not done a single thing regarding Christmas baking. That will change come this weekend! Here's the list. Everything will be Gluten Free and Dairy Free.
*Cinnamon Rings* (these are a staple for Christmas Morning!)
*Sugar Cookies*
*Shortbread Cookies*
*Candy Cane Fudge Brownies*
*Cinnamon Buns*
*Chocolate Chip Cookies*
*Pumpkin Pie*(for Christmas Day dinner)
*Apple Pie*( for Christmas day dinner)
*Yule Log*(for Christmas Eve dinner)
*Bits 'n' Bites* (the one time we allow cereal..lol)
I will try very hard to post recipes and ingredients for the above. My goal this year was to make snacks that EVERYONE can enjoy. Of course there is an increase in sugar, but that is certainly allowed this time of year, I am just trying to use things like Maple Syrup and honey or cane as much as possible as well as Stevia. However, there will certainly be brown sugar and icing sugar in some things..lol

Also on Sunday it's Alyssa's 13th birthday!! She has chosen Candy Cane Brownies instead of a cake for her Birthday..I won't argue with THAT!!

Well, that's a quick update for now. I plan on adding some back posting to include Alex's birthday and we also had Bill's company Christmas party last weekend so I need to post a pic for that.

Merry Christmas!

How Many More Sleeps????

I cannot believe how quickly Christmas is coming!! Wahoo!! WE have been busy with our various advent calenders and each morning is the 'how many more sleeps' announcement.
Last night we celebrated St.Nicholas day for something new. We have been reading about Keltelven Tradtions and have been having some fun with that. Starting on the 14th we will begin counting down the days to Yule/Winter Solstice, there are a lot of fun activities to do for each day, so we are looking forward to that. If you would like to read some more into that check out here: Ross County, really neat and fun stuff.

We are all well on the mend now. Some of the kids have a nagging cough left that seems to bug them the most at night (of course!). Now is the time for me to get things into full swing with baking and crafts and all that good stuff. This weekend is Bill's company Christmas party, it will be nice to get out and mingle with adults for a few hours. I am crossing my fingers for no side effects from the meal!

It's been really neat around here lately, it seems as though people have been much more into the Christmas spirit than last year. There were lights up all around beginning mid November and some people (besides us..lol) even had their Christmas Trees up that early! Local radio stations even have regular Christmas music playing and have been since the last week of November (last year it was well into the first week of December) Yay!!! I love it when people play along and get into the spirit of things, however they see fit.

Here is something I came across on You tube and IT IS AWESOME, I had to share it!

How incredible is THAT?!?! This guy is going places and how awesome is that he is CANADIAN!!!

Love, love, love it!!

Blessed be!!

This, a Little of That, and Then Some.........

My-oh-my!! Today is my oldest child's birthday! The boy who made me a Mama, 15 years ago! FIFTEEN YEARS AGO!! How on earth did time go by that fast? I mean, I was certain that those sleepless nights would never end. That he would be in our bed FOREVER, or in diapers forever for that matter! On this day, at this time, I was in my hospital bed snuggling this wonderful bundle (that each and every nurse tried to convince me to send to the nursery so I could 'sleep'..ugh) inhaling the intoxicating newborn smell and marvelling at how perfect all his little features were. Imagining what kind of child he would be, or what kind of young man he would grow into. Worrying if I would do everything right! Well, when I look up to my almost 6 foot tall son (I am only 5'1") and laugh or joke with him or have the many conversations about life that we have, I am very proud of the man he is becoming. Of course he will make mistakes and will have to learn things for himself, I am confident that we have planted deep running, firm roots.

In the mean time, we have also had yet another birthday! Matthew turned FIVE on the 15th!! My youngest man who was born almost exactly a decade after my oldest!lol Matthew is such a funny little guy, he constantly keeps me on my toes with all his quirks and witty humour. He is also extremely loving and is quite positive that I will be his wife when he is older...lol....although last night in a conversation he decided that he will find a wife that cooks good healthy foods and that she will have green eyes and blonde hair, that is very long! Haha!!!

I only ended up video taping Matthew's birthday and there are no really good pictures, so I have nothing for that. Bummer! But, I do have a picture of his cake!!

 Tomorrow we are having Alex's birthday dinner and cake. He chose a carrot cake with cinnamon spice frosting!

Okay, so we also have decorated for Christmas!!!! Whoohoo!! Here's some pics of that:

here's the before picture of the tree:

and after:

Right now we are dealing with the Flu at our house. Ugh, it started knocking out kids on Thursday morning starting with Matthew, then Breanna, then Kayla and Mariah on Friday morning. Friday night and today has been Robbie and Alyssa and I am beginning to feel some of the symptoms. Nasty body aches and fevers, stomach pain and a bit of nausea. A whopper headache and a sore throat with stomach pain thrown in for good measure. It sucks, but it is good for the immune system to get a workout every once in awhile. The good news is that everyone seems to be handling everything really well and the fevers have been doing their important job!

well, time to go clean up the rest of the draft folder! Halloween pics to be posted!

Blessed be!

November has arrived!!

Wowsa, in a blink of an eye a month vanishes from me! We are all doing quite well and adjusting to life in winter! Our temperatures have still been quite normal and we only have a light dusting of snow on the ground, but the season has definitely changed!!

Our house is completely decorated for Christmas (minus the Christmas tree, which is a possibility for this weekend) and everything is all a go outside...we even had the lights on last night....yipppeee!!!
I will try and get some pics up soon of Christmas at our House. I still want to get some pics up of Halloween!! GAH!!!

Chelsea, our new doggie, has been adjusting nicely as well. We all love her so much, she is such a gentle creature...but she sure loves to play!! She is very routine orientated, which is nice.

Blessings!

Happy Halloween/Samhain!!!

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves! We had a fairly quiet one here, at least there was no snow and the temperature wasn't all that bad either. All the kids went trick-or-treating except for Alex. Here's some pics of the evening including pumpkin carving from the night before. Enjoy!!

The gang!

Mariah, Robbie and Alyssa

Robbie's Zombie make up

Breanna grossed out by pumpkin guts

One of the pumpkins

the other pumpkin

Our newest member of the family! Chelsea our Chesapeake Retriever!

Autumn Has Arrived!

Brrrrrr, today certainly has had a chill to it. No snow (it's definitely not uncommon for us to have a bit of snow this time year), but it sure is brisk out there. The perfect day to whip up a batch of Pumpkin Spice muffins for dessert tonight. Oh how I love Pumpkin, and it's so super good for you!

Pumpkin has loads of vitamin A and is a great source of your B vitamins. Pumpkin is low in fat and low in calories. It is super easy to throw a scoop of raw pumpkin into almost any kind of muffin mix. We toss scoops of raw pumpkin into our oatmeal and add clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger with some maple syrup, for a awesome tasting breakfast. Pumpkins are also an antioxidant,  anti-carcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory!! You can also toss a scoop into your smoothie! I would use 1 cup of almond/soy/rice/hemp milk, a scoop of raw pumpkin, a good sprinkle of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and some crushed clove to make a warming Autumn evening snack

You can even use it in cookies! I have used it as a substitute for oil/butter in some recipes.
Hurray for the Pumpkin, a member of the Gourd family who's name means Large Melon in Greek.

Of course, let's not forget the pumpkin's other important job: serving as a Jack-o-Lantern at Halloween!!
That will be for a later post though.........

Onwards! I thought I would share the recipe I will be using for our DF/GF pumpkin pie. I just buy pre-made GF pie crusts from our local GF bakery. It is one time saver I don't hesitate to use, although I have successfully made GF pies from scratch.
Here ya go:
GF/DF/SF Pumpkin Pie

Speaking of GF, I learned the hard way that Kraft Marshmallows are NOT GF. I checked the ingredients and nothing looks Gluten so there must be cross contamination. However, Walmart (cough, choke) does in fact have GF marshmallows (which is why I wrongfully assumed that Kraft's would be fine too, even though nowhere on the package does it say that) which set me up for a week of agony. Ugh, I cannot believe I spent so much time like that and thought it was normal. YUCK! Thankfully, I am on the healing road now and I won't be making that mistake again! I also have every intention on mastering the art of marshmallow making, the bonfires just don't seem the same without!

Tonight for dinner is Cream of Tomato soup (thank goodness for my Vitamix!!) with grilled cheese sandwiches (we use raw, lactose free cheese, so far it has not negatively affected anyone) and fresh cut veggie sticks, the perfect meal for this cool Fall day! Yum!

I most likely won't be on until after the weekend since Bill has the next few days off, but I will be back mid-week next week and hopefully might even have some pics of our new dog!!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!

Preserving the Harvest and Other Chatter

So the last couple of weeks we have been busy as bees preserving our Harvest. I have canned peaches, pears, pickles, tomatoes, jams and jellies, and applesauce. We have frozen all types of beans and corn and some more peaches and berries. We have dried tomatoes, bananas, apples, and herbs. WHEW!
Still on the list is some more tomato sauce, applesauce and strawberry jam. I would also like to do some more pears and peaches. I have to say that preserving has a lot of hard work involved, but it is worth it tenfold. Everything tastes amazing and it is so awesome to just send the one of the kids down to the storage area and grab a jar of yummy strawberry jam. I also have stored over 100lbs of potatoes in there as well, which I plan on dehydrating some as well for instant mashed potatoes. As finances allow and we can perhaps find a second freezer, I want to start stocking up on meat and *hopefully* be able to buy half a cow (or through hunting some Elk or Moose) and store that. Go and check this out for more great tips! http://simpleorganic.net/preparing-for-seasonal-fall-and-winter-eating/

In other news, this coming weekend is Thanksgiving in my neck of the woods. We have a wonderful feast planned of Turkey, mashed potatoes, brussles sprouts, corn/peas, and of course PIES!!! Yum, the best part (okay, well almost....the turkey with mashed potatoes is pretty good too!) we are having apple pie, pumpkin pie, and lemon meringue pie. All dairy free and gluten free!! I remember my first big meal after being gluten/dairy free and how daunting it was. I was so filled with all the things I *couldn't* have since I was just learning the ropes, so to speak. Now, I feel so confident and happy that I can cook almost everything and have it be GF/DF AND taste so delicious. No more missing out on yummy food!!

In even more other news, we are expanding our family by one!! No, not another baby *sniff* but by a beautiful 7yo girl named Chelsea. She is of the four legged and fur variety, lol, but is coming to join our family this weekend. Her original family is moving to Australia and cannot take her with them and we are tremendouslyy blessed to have been chosen by them to adopt Chelsea. She is absolutely gorgeous and extremely well behaved and trained. She is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
Of course the family is super excited!

Blessed be!!!

My Dream House.....

Whew, it has been very busy around here lately. Getting things set up with homeschooling, canning, getting things ready for Fall and the cooler temperatures, cleaning...gah, the list goes on!

I did however, find a video I wanted to share with you all. In a sense, this is my dream. There are a few changes I would make to fit our family size better, but other than that, the concept is bang on!

Enjoy!

COFFER from thismustbetheplace on Vimeo.

I love it, love it, LOVE IT!! I can imagine my own cows and goats. More chickens, of course! Beautiful garden space....oh my goodness! I love how he has combined the good things of our present with the wisdom from the past. I always have said that I wish there would be more of this concept. Blessings!