Happy Birthday to my Sister!!!

Gluten Free Products to Avoid

Gluten Free eating is a fad for some.  It is not simply Celiac's that are avoiding gluten in their diet anymore, but a whole range of folks, from those trying to be more healthy, to those who want to do what everyone else is doing, to those doing a dietary cleanse.  Whether it is trendy or physiologically necessary, my feeling is the more avoiding gluten the merrier. 
 
There are a few ramifications to this increase in consumer resistance to gluten.  One, there is a larger demand, therefore (presumably) a larger supply and (we hope) more amazing products to choose from at (we pray) cheaper prices.  I have yet to see cheaper prices, though I have seen quite an abundance of newer products in a short period of time.  New products are flying onto shelves, some stay and become gluten free staples in kitchens nationally, and some fly off of shelves as fast as they flew on, becoming nothing more than a blink in the evolving gluten free market's eye.
 
Another ramification, a less desirable one, is in the haste to join a growing economic trend some companies (restaurants, and food producers) do not follow good cross contamination practices; therefore, the menu or label might say gluten free, but it is always prudent for someone with Celiac Disease to dig deeper and behave defensively.  However, this is another post.
 
Thirdly, because many allergies go together companies often clump allergies - creating gluten free, nut free, soy free, dairy free, egg free etc. products.  Well, for the savvy Celiac this is not a good thing.  We need products that have protein and fibers we are missing in our already vastly restricted diet.   I want my children to have diary, nuts, eggs etc.  So, yes I want the convenience of buying muffins, instead of making them on occasion, but not at the cost of all that is nutritious in the world!  That being said, I respect that is it hard to cater to individual dietary restrictions - but suck it up and do it anyway.
 
Lastly, and unfortunately, another negative consequence of the growing gluten free consumer base is an abundance of products that are crap.  The old quantity does not necessarily mean quality conundrum.  And speaking of which... a product I am going to slam today, happens to be some "cookies" I picked up at Whole Foods for my kiddos.  There is a Whole Foods near us.  It is pricey to get anything there; however, this Friday we had a tight schedule between school getting out, group violin lessons and a play date, before of course getting home and having Friday gluten free pizza and movie night!  Thus, a new routine on tight schedule days is for us to grab a gluten free snack at Whole Foods Market.  Usually this works out great, we get fruit and a muffin/cracker/cookie snack.  Well, this Friday our snack fell drastically short of expectations.

 

 It is hard to "review" these "cookies" - in short they are probably best described as gloried, dry dirt with a little vanilla in the middle.  I blame the health gluten free market trend on this product.  I think certain gluten free products want to appear health conscious, so they make a product that tastes so bad it must be good for you!  What BS.  Dear Jovial Inherently Good please do not make anymore cookies, you are slowly disheartening gluten free children everywhere, and consider changing your name.
 
Thank you,
A Mom who spit your cookie out in a parking lot.  
 

 

Happy Sunday! 

Eat Cookies that Don't Taste like Dirt!

Back from summer.... vacation?

Well, every summer I hit the blog thinking, I am going to write soooo much.  I will write everyday of the summer.  I will log all the great activities we do, and all the awesome progress, the wonderful adventures we have, so one and so forth. Then summer hits and the realization of having three kids at home dawns on me.  Everyday is a marathon to bedtime.  When the kids finally zonk out I feel lucky to have just enough energy to peek at facebook (see what I am missing as my single friends/couple-without-kids-friends) travel the world and drink at bars in their free time - then I fall over asleep.

This summer was especially grueling,  I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to take two summer school classes towards my master's.  Phft.  Sigh. Stupid.  And to top it all off my man got a new job.  (Given this is a great opportunity for him).   Yay my man!

So... I want to say now.  I will take every summer off.  I will try to let you know what day I will stop and what day I will start back up.

... with that said... I am starting back up.

We moved!  Again!  This time to the centennial state.  The mile high state.  The Berkeley of the Rockies.  The state where people bike in flash flood conditions!  Also one of the states that legalized pot... Colorado.  As, I am a person that appreciates swag, I was extremely happy to see that Coloradoans pride transitions into their love to wear their state flag on their shirts, hats, pants, they also stick it to their cars, water bottles, bikes... I bet I could find Colorado underwear if I looked enough.  You will never forget where you live, because at least one person near by is wearing the state flag in some form.  In any case, I have yet to buy a Colorado shirt - but you can bet I will be doing that in the near future.  I have to admit, South Dakota needs to market better... they need to invest in more swag.  I feel like I am constantly at a "I love CO" state convention - except the swag is sadly not free.

I am sure there are going to be many new adventures, as well as, new gluten free eats/products and stores, but right now it is 1am and I have a head ache.  One other things about CO I have learned so far... it is hard to stay hydrated!

Happy Tuesday!

Plans to be great...

Whenever my man goes on a business trip I have great expectations for when he gets back.  I plan to have a clean house.  I plan to have fed, clean and rested children.  I plan to look nice and maybe even have a romantic night in store.  I love the wonderful images I have of myself getting all the usual done and even more to make his return, as Fancy Nancy would say, extraordinary.   During his recent business trip, the last few days, I convinced myself I would paint a couple walls, in a couple different rooms and even decorated our new, almost completed, family room.  My man is finishing up a built-in wall system project.   Oh, hell.  To be honest I also thought I would plan a surprise get away for Father’s Day to the Black Hills or go to the local sports store and look into bikes for him, the kids and I.  Obviously I think too much of myself.

The second he was gone I found myself at home with three kids and our usually summer schedule.  The summer schedule is a lot like the way I image my time during his business trip,  grandiosely planned, with plenty of room for, as Katy Perry would put it, epic failure.  We have swimming lessons, tutoring, piano lessons, library, play dates, Art Club and camps.  Sure, this might not sound like a lot if you do not have kids, but when it is just me driving from point A to point B with three kids and a screwed up nap schedule it is, as Dora the Explorer would say, muy dificil.

So, three tutoring sessions, a piano lesson, a violin lessons, three swimming lessons, two play dates, one Art Club meeting, five swim passes bought, one evening at the pool, one wall painted, most the laundry done, dishes done and undone again, I am wiped out.  My plans for my man went about as far as the usual, plus one or two shopping trips with cranky children to learn that rugs can cost a lot!  In fact one rug is $6,000 dollars!  Ha.  The sales lady assured me I could clean it easily - when I told her I did not need a $6,000 scraping post, or puppy pad in my living room.  She eventually said, “what about 1200?”  Yeah, right.  I brought the kids home, no rug, no coffee table.  My man will have to like my cleaning the house and painting a couple walls.

By the night my man is supposed to be home ( ie now) I am watching the clock, checking my phone and mumbling under my breath “why the hell hasn’t he called YET… I thought he was already supposed to be here… I bet he got LOTS of GREAT sleep while he was gone… “  I have laundry left to do (I did not get it all done), dishes in the sink from yesterday (I did do my best with the dishes – but the thing about dishes they JUST NEVER STOP), I am tired (two of these lovely nights at least one child was up till midnight and one of these night all three were), I look worse than when he left (I have not had shower and I am sure I have a couple more wrinkles), and I am debating what to throw at him first – the over tired kids, the dishes, the laundry… oh, or the mini ant invasion I just found –can I add him making dinner to that?  The only romance tonight will be me with a long island, headphones and a bathroom door that is locked and barred.

Happy Wednesday!  Yeah, Middle of the Week!

The Special Plate
(Get ready for the sappy post people!)

I do not remember where I read about the Special Plate.  Somewhere online or in a book a family used the Special Plate as a way to recognize the importance of a singular family-member at dinner time.  I do not remember how that family used the Special Plate.  Perhaps it was to celebrate achievements, good choices or general special-ness of the individual in the family. 

For our family The Special Plate is brought out every now and then during dinner for one family member and this family member knows they are the special someone for that dinner.  We do not have one Special Plate (as the other family described), rather one of our plates will be of a different design or pattern than the rest and this is how we know who is designated on a particular night.  For instance I have a plate from my mom's house and one from my mother-in-law's house (not sure how that happened), but neither plate matches the rest of our plates.  So on a night that a child or a parent eats off these plates they are deemed Special. 

What does that mean?  Well, for us means we go around the table and everyone says one thing they like about our Special family member.  This can be an attribute, memory, action or talent of the individual.  For Ramona's night, which happened to be tonight, I said that I love her exuberance, her father loves how well she did in school this year and her sister loves playing dolls with her.  Recently we added a new catch, now the individual has to say one thing they like about themselves. 

I am not sure how often we do this, maybe a couple times a month.  Sometimes this happens by accident when I do not pay close attention to what dishes I am using.  There are times I feel someone needs special acknowledgement.  And of course, when we just need a change of pace. 

Regardless of how the night comes about it is always great to recognize how appreciated we are in our families and to have the self esteem to know what we like in ourselves.  Just like saying what we are grateful for, I have found that we hesitate when we have to say what we like about ourselves.  It feels unnatural and awkward.  But why should it??? 

For my daughters I truly hopes this habit carries them through the years coming up - I hope this gives them confidence, as well as aids them in knowing how truly important and wonderful they are to the family.

What I like about myself:  My intense desire to constantly work towards being better at
what is important to me.  I work at being a mom, I work at writing, I work at photography,
 I work at being a friend, I work at being my man's support and love,
and I never stop when I fail.  I just dust myself off, whine a bit and get back on the saddle.

I fixed the error on my blog that did not allow commentary.  Please feel free to leave something you like about yourself.  If you feel up to it.  :-)  Or just write it down some where, in a journal or on a post it.   

Happy Early Wednesday to my Family and Friends!
 

Maffeoberries Adventures in Seattle

We went to Seattle in late May.  While in Seattle we visited the Aquarium, Space Needle, Chihuly Glass and Garden exhibit, the Pacific Science Center and Pikes Place Fish Market.  The girls were missing some school to go, so I made sure to pack the adventure full of whatever educational and enriching experiences were in walking distance (or accessible via the monorail).  The kids loved the monorail.  I guess that is how you can tell we no longer live in a dense population anymore.  Public transportation is an 'experience'.  I had the girls write the days events in journals - and later at night we researched some of the animals from the Aquarium.  We were all fascinated by the Giant Pacific Octopus that they had there.  I learned the Giant Pacific Octopus grows to at least 100 pounds, but the baby they had there was only a couple months and less than ten pounds!

The first night there we saw the May Day Anarchist riot from our hotel room.  We all stood at our hotel room window captivated by the many police officers moving a riotous crowd by making a line of bikes across the street and chanting move.  The crowd continually set off fireworks.  It was very entertaining for the kids and my man.  I found the experience a bit unnerving.  

Once we finished with the city itself we visited family - our German Aunt and Uncle were also in town, plus our many US based relatives.  It was a blast.

Udi's Café & Bar

Of course, we are traveling gluten-free, which brings complications where ever we go.  On this note, we are thrilled to mention the Denver Airport has an Udi's Café!  This Café has many hot and cold gluten-free sandwiches, there were also gluten-free salads, and various other goodies.  Unfortunately not everything was gluten-free; however, everything was clearly marked and the gluten-free food was available with a variety of options.  Progress my friends!  It is fair to mention, like all airport food and gluten-free food, progress comes at a cost.  It might save money to bring your own home goodies, but in a pinch there are sandwiches.

 

Coffee & A Specialty Bakery

Once we were in Seattle we looked up several gluten-free places through yelp.com.  We tried out the highly recommended Coffee & A Specialty Bakery of Pike's Place, 1500 Western Ave, Seattle WA.  It is on the lower level of Pike's Place, sort of tucked away, but located conveniently close to the elevator.  We tried their freshly made pizza (I highly recommend), their cinnamon rolls (the girls highly recommend) and their fresh made bread.  It has been a long time since we have had fresh made bread!  That novelty alone is worth going for.

Blue Moon Burgers

Lastly we ate a Blue Moon Burgers.  A hipster joint with a local and natural mentality.  They use only locally sourced meat, make their own fries and sauces, plus get their gluten-free bread products from a local bakery.  Their employees are friendly, informed, know what Celiac Disease is and are able to answer with confidence cross-contamination based questions.

Blue Moon Burgers employees told us that they prepare their food in dedicated gluten-free areas, and are careful about contamination.  We were told they use dedicated grills and fryers. 

On their menu are gluten-free grilled cheese sandwiches and gluten-free burgers!  This is the first time my daughter has been able to order a grilled cheese sandwich off the kids menu, with fries, and from a restaurant since her diagnosis in 2009.  She felt content and relaxed, as if the restaurant was made for her.  This feeling can only be equated to the feeling of coming home after traveling for a long time. 

Also, the burgers are worth writing home about!  Not just the standard American/Cheddar Cheese Burger - I got a the Blue Shroom gluten-free.  The Blue Shroom has portabella mushrooms, crumbled blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, sweet red onions, pickles, and the Blue Moon sauce.  AH-MAZING.  All on a gluten-free bun.
 Plus, for the people 21 and over they offer gluten-free beers.  Worth stopping by.  Make sure to ask your own questions and do your own research.  I have only visited once and sometimes things change, but if they stay the same - great, great gluten-free stop in Seattle!

Happy Week Everybody!

Smiley Face for Mom

We are wrapping up the last week of school before the summer.  However, we are trying to jam in as much as possible into this week.  Today Ramona got her chipped tooth fixed, Beezus had a play date, the little man had his first haircut (which I gave him and might have botched a bit) and I organized an art club for the summer and a dinner party for tomorrow night.

Needless to say the kids and I were a little tired tonight.

I was tired, not just from the activities of the day, but also the night before I stayed up till between 1am and 2am cleaning my daughters' room, because Beezus called a friend for a play date. 

This might not seem like a big deal, but sometimes calling another child for a play date can be very intimidating for her.  She struggles with social anxiety, especially in a situation that she is unsure what to say, what is expected, and what the end result will be.  She tends to build these moments into an insurmountable challenge in her head - and it is hard to talk her out of it. 

I have been working with her this year on making this one phone call.  I talked to the other mom in front of her about having the phone call, so Beezus would know the mom expected her to call.  Beezus would not have called if she thought she was surprising the other mom.  And Beezus talked to her friend at school about the call too.  Heck, her and I went over exactly what to say several times before the phone call.  This seems like a lot of extra preparation just to make a phone call, that everybody already knows will be to schedule a play date, but for my daughter that takes the unknown variables out, and almost relieves her anxieties enough to actually make the call.  I did have to bribe her with a reward to get her on the phone - it went great!

The look of pride on her face when she hung up the phone - knowing that she had a play date and, at least for the moment, got over the fear of the phone was awesome for us! 

When we got home she began to panic that her room was too messy.  I told her to clean it.  However, as the night wore on, and as she ran out of time to finish cleaning it (not that she had really started), I told her I would finish cleaning her room.  I would not normally do this, but I knew I needed to relieve her anxiety over the room so she could enjoy her play date the next day.  We worked too hard just to get her to make the play date, to have it fail over a messy room.  So, this one time I cleaned the girls' room into the night.  I had to wait till everyone was asleep to get the time.

So there I was, 1 am, sorting bins, tossing trash, dusting, organizing books, sighing and listening to everyone in my family snore in their respective beds, including our dog (who is the loudest snorer in the house).  To keep a positive frame of mind I reminded myself how ecstatic Beezus is to have this play date - how excited I am for her to have it!  Just had to keep remembering what big steps we were taking.

Anyway, so tonight, as I was holding my little 9 month old man, who is cranky from missing his morning nap during Ramona's dentist appointment, his afternoon nap during Beezus's play date, and is letting me know it with kicking and fussing, I am staring at the stove, willing it to cook dinner for me, Ramona walks into the kitchen and says,

"Mom, since my room is clean can I have a smiley face sticker?"

Happy Mid-Week Everyone!