A few more thoughts on the flu

the Little Miss' new running shoes- her first "real" pair- can you guess her favorite part?

A week and a half after getting sick, I'm feeling a lot better. My energy levels aren't quite as high as I'd like and I'm having to work to drink enough water to flush everything out and the nausea isn't quite gone. On the other hand, I did lose 5 pounds since getting sick. I think this is the first time I've ever lost weight while being sick.

The combination of the nausea and the unavailability of bland carbohydrates (crackers and such) were enough to make me eat very little for several days. Not a good long term solution of course, but it did give my weight loss efforts a boost. Now if I can just keep losing weight....

We've been able to keep up with LMS's schoolwork. We missed three days, but we were able to double up a few of the lessons once we started up again. Most of the subjects we're covering have fluid schedules, but a couple of them are a bit more rigid, so we made sure to catch up on those.

Thankfully our schedule hasn't been as busy as it will be starting next week. Next week we start Scoil (the Irish music sampler class) and soccer. We're on a brief hiatus from violin lessons while our teacher enjoys some time with her new baby, but those will start up again soon, as well.

This week I'm looking forward to finally making some progress on my projects: finishing up some painting, putting up crown moulding, mowing the lawn, etc. I'll still be taking it easy, though, since I also have a four mile race on Saturday. I'm a bit apprehensive about having enough energy to finish it, but I'm also not planning on running it hard. It goes against the grain, but I'll do an easy jog with walk breaks whenever I need them.

Have you ever walked an entire race when you wanted to run it?

Glass Mosaics

As I mentioned yesterday, Little Miss Sunshine had lots of fun at the Irish music day camp she attended.

One of the crafts they made was little glass mosaic tiles. Most of the kids did four leaf clovers or random designs or such, but not LMS.

She did Sleeping Beauty and Malificent.

I think the horns on Malificent's head are a great touch.

The silver things are windows.

I love the detail and how she planned out how it was going to look. The other kids used grout on theirs, but she wouldn't grout hers because it would ruin it. I couldn't figure out why she would insist on that, but once I finally saw it, I realized what she meant.

I love how she uses her imagination!

Irish Music School Day Camp

crappy lighting + not-so-great camera = less than clear photos. this was the best one I managed. I'm not sure why LMS's hand is in front of her face, but they're lined up to do a soft shoe dance.

LMS attended a day camp {her first!} two weeks ago. It was a week-long version of the Irish sampler class she'll be taking in the fall, and she loved it!

They did crafts (painted t-shirts, made mosaics, painted round cardboard boxes to use as bodhrans, and made fairy dolls), danced (soft shoe for the younger kids, soft shoe and hard shoe for the older kids), sang, played tin whistle or fiddle, played the bodhran, cooked (scones and Irish soda bread), and learned a little Irish. The last day the parents came in the afternoon and got to watch the kids show off what they'd learned.

The Little Miss chose to do tin whistle for the camp, but will probably do fiddle during the regular class. Below is a video (my first- hopefully it works!) of her group playing Hot Cross Buns on the tin whistle. It reminded me a lot of elementary school recorders, but the older kids had a lot better sound quality and didn't sound like recorders.

This was an interesting experience for me. I dropped LMS off at 9 and picked her up at 3. The hours in between were just for me- no schoolwork (we used one of our vacation weeks that week), no running off to this activity or that one, just time to do my things.

It gave me a taste of what my life would be like if she attended public school.

She'd be gone all day and I'd have the house to myself.

Initially that sounds like a nice thing, but reality sets in real quick.

It would be very quiet.

And lonely.

But I would probably have finished up all my projects a long time ago, because of all that time to myself.

Or maybe not. I actually wasted (?) a lot of time reading and not feeling guilty about it. I found out in high school that I am much better at managing my time and being efficient when I am busy (cross country season, for example) and have to budget my time.

However, I wouldn't change our decision to homeschool. It was a nice change of pace, but I like having LMS home with me- she's such a funny kid- and I still manage to get a lot of projects done (eventually).

We're Approved!

Almost a year to the day from when we first met with our case worker at LDS Family Services, we have been officially approved to adopt!

YAY!

Our profile is now live on itsaboutlove.org, and we can start searching for a birthmother.

Want to help?

LDS Family Services works with birth mothers regardless of religious beliefs or financial situation, so if you know of anyone who is pregnant and thinking about adoption, please let us know.

I won't link directly to our profile from here for privacy reasons, but email me and I can send you the link. We'll also be sending out emails, so if you're in our address book, you'll be getting the link in an email in the next few days.

We're so excited to finally be moving forward in our adoption journey!

Ranch Burgers {Gluten Free, Dairy Free}

I know, two recipes in a row? It won't happen again, I promise :)

Yesterday I posted the onion rings I made, and mentioned the ranch burgers I served them with. I'm sure the picture wasn't super helpful in explaining what our version of a ranch burger is, so I'll explain.

Mr M used to season our hamburgers with a mixture of spices and such, which usually included tamari sauce (gluten free soy sauce) and worcestershire sauce. Both contain soy, though, and are no longer on the approved foods list.

So what to add to our burgers?

We came up with the idea of adding powdered ranch mix to the meat. Ok, maybe we saw the idea somewhere, but I'm not sure where. In any case, it sounded like a good idea, but then we needed a dairy free ranch mix that would still taste similar to "real" (i.e., Hidden Valley) ranch.

Then I remembered seeing a recipe on a blog I follow for dairy free mock ranch dressing.

Since we use the recipe as she wrote it, I'll refer you back to her blog for the recipe. I like to mix up a double or triple batch so it's ready whenever I want to use it.

Ranch Burgers

1lb burger (beef, elk, etc)
1-2 tbl dairy free ranch mix

Sprinkle the dry mix over the burger (I just eyeball how much I think will be good- more will give a stronger, yummier flavor), then mix well to incorporate the mix into the meat. Form into patties and toss 'em on the grill.

When done, serve with grilled veggies and some gluten free onion rings.

LMS isn't fond of lettuce, so we don't usually wrap our burgers in lettuce, but that is always an option. We also don't add any other toppings (not that there are many that we could actually eat) because the ranch mix gives such a good flavor to the meat that we don't need additional condiments, though Mr M likes to melt some cheese on his. And we just use a fork to eat it- less messy that way :)

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free, and {of course} free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

Gluten Free Onion Rings

It's been years since I've had onion rings, and lately I've been thinking I'd like to make some. After doing some searching, I found a recipe here that looked pretty straightforward and simple. I did have to change some of the spices, but I think the result tasted great. Though I did remember part of the reason why I haven't had onion rings in so long (aside from the whole gluten free thing). All the oil in fried foods doesn't agree with my stomach :(

This recipe makes onion rings that are coated in a nice, light tempura-like batter. Yum!

Gluten Free Onion Rings

adapted from anaseidel.com

1 cup rice flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1- 1 1/2 cups water

1 large vidalia (sweet) onion, peeled and cut in thick rings, then separated

Mix the dry ingredients, then add 1 cup of water. Mix and add more water if needed. (I used 1 1/4 cups of water) Batter should be on the thin side. 

Let the batter sit for 5 minutes.

Heat some oil in a pot over medium heat.

After the batter has rested for 5 minutes, place some onion rings in the batter and turn them over to coat them.

Let the excess batter drip off (I used a fork), then carefully place in hot oil.

Turn once to allow even browning, then remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

Repeat with remaining onion pieces and batter.

Enjoy!

I served the onion rings with ranch burgers (recipe tomorrow!) and grilled veggies. Yum!

Gluten Free Onion Rings

adapted from anaseidel.com

1 cup rice flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1- 1 1/2 cups water

1 large vidalia (sweet) onion, peeled and cut in thick rings, then separated

1. Mix the dry ingredients, then add 1 cup of water. Mix and add more water if needed. (I used 1 1/4 cups of water) Batter should be on the thin side. 

2. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes.

3. Heat some oil in a pot over medium heat.

4. After the batter has rested for 5 minutes, place some onion rings in the batter and turn them over to coat them.

5. Let the excess batter drip off (I used a fork), then carefully place in hot oil.

6. Turn once to allow even browning, then remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

7. Repeat with remaining onion pieces and batter.

8. Enjoy!

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free (depending on the type of oil you use to fry the onion rings- be sure to check the label), and {of course} free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

It's been awhile

some of my projects waiting to be painted

All I can say is I've been busy:

We started first grade.
I've done some building.
I've been doing lots of painting- rooms and projects.
I've been chauffeuring the Little Miss to various activities.
I finally got a new laptop after putting up with my broken piece-o-crap for more than a year, but there's a learning curve- I got a MacBook Pro. I like it, but I don't have everything figured out and transferred over yet.

And, most recently, I got knocked flat by the flu.

I know, the flu in August? If it wasn't the flu, I'm not sure what it was, but according to the internet (not the most reliable of sources, but I checked several sites to see if they gave the same info), the flu consists of about 3 days of high temperature, some light-headedness, headaches, achy muscles, chills, and nausea. Sounds like what I had. The discouraging part is that it can take 1-2 weeks to recover. I have a four mile race in just under two weeks. I may be walking an entire race for the first time.

In any case, if what I had was the flu, I don't think I've ever actually had the flu before. I would remember being unable to stand up for 3 days. Thank goodness LMS kept herself occupied (audiobooks helped a lot), since Mr M was, of course, out of town for all this. {very inconvenient} Though I didn't enjoy cleaning up the mess she made while she kept herself occupied. Let's just say she had a bit too much fun with her scissors.

As I lay on the couch and tried to think coherent thoughts, I realized we do need to be a bit better prepared for things like this. Mr M is gone often enough that I can't rely on him being present the next time I'm incapacitated (which will hopefully happen never).

Some thoughts:

• Meals in the freezer. Most of what we eat doesn't translate well into a freezer meal, but I've come up with a few meals that should freeze and reheat without sacrificing taste and texture.
• Childcare. This is a tough one for me, given our food issues. Thankfully LMS has shown that she can handle me not being fully functional. This works as long as we're at home, but if I were to have to go the hospital (I came close- I kept taking my temperature and if it had gotten just a smidge higher I was going to go to the ER), I would need to drop her off at a friend's house. Though honestly, if I needed to go to the hospital I probably wouldn't be able to do it myself, so I would need to find someone to drive me there. The take-away on this one: make sure I have food on hand that the Little Miss can take with her should she need to be dropped off at someone's house.
• Written notes/instructions. This would include safe food lists for the Little Miss, food prep instructions for freezer meals, emergency contact info, etc

Truthfully though, I will probably do anything and everything I can not to go to the hospital. I don't react well to most medicines, and if I had to be hospitalized overnight food would become an issue. Though actually I can partially resolve that now by calling the local hospitals and finding out how allergy friendly their kitchens are. You would hope they would be, but I'm not holding my breath on it. Even if they're allergy friendly I doubt they'd be able to handle our limited diet.

Have you had the flu?

Have you prepared for a similar situation? What did you include in your preparations?

21 Jump Street

image source

The tv show, not the movie.

Have you ever watched the original 21 Jump Street tv show? I never watched when I was a kid, though possibly my parents did- I don't remember.

I recently found it on Amazon streaming, and it's a great show!

Slightly preachy in that 80's way, no bad language (even the bad guys don't say anything worse than heck, gosh, and dang). The topics are a bit mature for our 6 year old (drugs, gangs, etc), but the fights aren't too graphic- no blood, and you can tell they're not actually hitting each other.

But wow, the clothes! the hair! Makes me glad I was a little too young to be too concerned about clothes for most of the 80's and glad my parents didn't follow fads either.

The high schools portrayed are so far removed from my high school. Even accounting for the naive little bubble I lived in, I'm pretty sure things weren't nearly as bad as a lot of the situations shown in the show. There's definitely a difference between inner city high schools and midwestern small town high schools.

The eye candy is nice, too- Johnny Depp was quite a cute kid before he got all weird :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago, but never finished it off and posted it, so I thought I'd add a bit more. I'm now into the third season, and it's not nearly as good. Halfway through the second season, I noticed real bad words being used (no more censoring or editing or whatever happened before that) and the themes and topics have gotten grittier.

Have you watched 21 Jump Street? What did you think? Is it worth watching to the end of the 5th season? (I'm losing interest...)

Our cute new shed

the view from the back deck- isn't it so cute? just like a miniature house!

A couple months ago we finally placed an order for a shed. We don't have a garage, we have limited indoor storage, and our only outdoor storage space has been this:

Not very big (6'x8'), and not a permanent solution.

We priced sheds at several locations, including kits and prebuilt sheds. After comparing costs, time, and convenience, we decided the best route for us at this point was to buy a prebuilt shed. It wasn't that much more than the kit, and we wouldn't have to build it in triple digit heat in between all the other things we have going on. Win-win-win.

After making that decision we decided on size, style, and colors, then placed our order. Five weeks later, one corner of our yard went from looking like this: 

To this:

I don't remember the size right off, but I think it's 10'x16'?

Small enough to be brought in on a trailer, but big enough to hold our stuff.

The delivery and set-up process was quite interesting to watch- part of the trailer tipped up, 

and up,

and up, 

then slid off as the truck moved forward. 

Here it's laying flat on the ground, which wasn't level, but after jacking up the shed and using quite a few blocks, 

The shed is now level. 

Amazing!

Now we need to build a small ramp below the double doors on the end, build a small step for the front door, and put some kind of trellis-y thing around the base to keep critters and such out from under the shed.

So much space- now we have to decide just how we're going to organize it as we fill it up so we can still access everything.

When we landscape the back yard, we'll dig a trench so we can run a power line out to the shed, but in the meantime we'll have to use our really long, heavy-duty extension cord.

The view from the front porch, with our stunted garden in front of the shed. Once it cools down a bit, we'll build raised beds for square foot gardening and get everything ready for spring so that we'll hopefully have better luck next year.

Sunday Funny

This is what happens when you toss your lambie into the air a little too exuberantly.

Little Miss Sunshine was NOT happy.

I laughed and grabbed the camera.

I'm such a great mom :)

July Goals Re-cap

LMS is getting so brave- here she's diving off the diving rock!

Since I wrote down some new goals, I thought I should track my progress at the end of each month. So here's how I did in the month of July:

(June's progress report can be found here)

A few goals under Health:
1. keep strengthening my knee and start running for longer periods of time/distance
I'm still struggling to exercise on a regular basis because we've been so busy, but now that school's started and we're on a schedule, I'm doing better.
2. train for and run at least 4 races by the end of 2012 (at least one half marathon)
No races this month, but I'm working towards a 4 mile race Labor Day weekend.
3. be more careful with my eating and lose some weight
I've lost 3 pounds so far, and am continuing to try to be careful about what I eat.

A few goals under House:
1. finish painting all the rooms
I finished the dining area, hall, upstairs hall, bath and master bedroom, except for the trimwork. More rooms to go still...
2. do the family room ceiling
We've purchased the paneling, now we just have to get going on it.
3. finish building built-in shelves in the library
Still painting the shelves.

A few goals under Homeschool:
1. stick to the schedule I've worked out, as much as possible
So far we're doing pretty good, but we're only a week and a half into it :)
2. be more consistent with violin practicing
Since we started school we're doing better because it's in our school schedule.

A few goals under Habits:
1. practice the piano more frequently
No time yet, hopefully in August...
2. index several batches every week for FamilySearch
Didn't get any done this month- my Sundays have been busy working on our adoption blog, trying to get posts written for potential birth mothers to read.
3. have more meaningful daily scripture study (start journaling as I read)
Still studying the Church Handbook for Leaders, but not everyday like I should- need to improve on that.

How did you do with your goals this month?