Time crunch

I would like to thank my children for all of their help around here this morning.  We had a two hour delay in starting our day, but they jumped in and did what I needed them to do.  We should’ve left for a family function five minutes ago, but there was a slight wardrobe malfunction – wrong pants on hanger, right pants on floor, mad dash to find something that will work in this unseasonably warm weather. Other than that, together we managed to accomplish:

3 haircuts, 4 showers, 1 cake baked, 1 batch of brownies baked, 1 cake’s worth of frosting made, 1 van emptied, van windows smudge-attacked (no window cleaner so I had them do what they could do with dry cloths), and van washed.  If we don’t get anything else done today (though we have several must-dos), we’ve done quite a bit.

Thanks, Men!

Chihuahua dog haha

by Guest bloGGer Gabe

Locally known resident, Konrad Smitty Werbenjaegermanjenson laying asleep. Hears a weird sound.

"Could you be quiet? I'm trying to sleep."

So he decides to turn into Chihuahua Dog

As the result of the sound, this is what he does about it.

Tune in soon for more adventures of Chuhuahua Dog!

appleSauce, Soy, and School

It’s a beautiful, sunny day in SW Michigan.  For the moment anyway.

Yesterday, Guinevere* and I met in the church library while the boys had their homeschool group meeting.  I always enjoy that time with her.  It seems like we’re both so busy that we hardly get a chance to talk.  Last time, we discussed vaccines and books as we perused the library’s shelves. This time, she asked me about my Heidi dog.  I thought I would make it through the day without crying.  Oh well.  Maybe tomorrow (already had the cry for today).

Once I stopped blubbering and could focus on being the attentive listener for once, Guin* told me about an applesauce making adventure.   She said that one of her relatives brought her a bunch of apples that she had picked up from under the trees in an orchard near her (the relative’s)  home and got them for much less than she would’ve paid for “good”, on-the-tree or pre-picked apples.  Guin* wondered if maybe an orchard we both like has something like that. They do, but not exactly, though it is quite a deal.

Don’t you just love the smell of apples cooking?  Don’t you love the smell of apples, period??  I sure do!  I grew up having a seemingly endless supply of apples, and I never got sick of them.   As a kid, some of the aunts, uncles, and cousins would go to the family farm and pic up apples from under the trees.  I can remember kneeling in the wetness under the trees, smelling the apple fragrance while picking up fallen apples with my gloved hands.  I was never as fast as everyone else, but it was work that needed to be done and didn’t matter how fast a person did it.  The owner of the farm paid a fair per-crate wage, and a person didn’t get fired for working slower than everyone else; they just wanted someone to do the job.  There were lots of jobs to do in the summer, but I hated those jobs because they always involved working in the hot sun, and that always seemed to give me a terrible headache.  Picking up apples was a more hospitable working environment for me.  It was fun, too, because my Mom’s family got the humor gene.    Between talking about times past and just being a bunch of wiseacres, the time often passed quickly and more memories were made. 

*contented sigh*

“Meanwhile, back in the library,” I asked Guin* how she makes her applesauce.  She told me about that, which led to a discussion on canning, apple butter, and pesticides on apple skins.  (Guin*, if you read this, it’s a concept called biochemical neutrality, in which the nutrients in the apple skins cancel out the fertilizers, pesticides and poop during the chewing process, at least whatever chemicals and waste don’t get washed off the skins by rain or people, rendering the skins of no nutritional value, but in return, rendering the inorganic chemicals (and bird poop) harmless.  )  Oh yeah, I definitely want to make apple butter, and I would like to try my hand at pumpkin butter, too.  I’ll definitely scour the apple skins thoroughly, or peel the apples and skip the pesticide business.

Guin* asked me if I was going to the homeschool program last night.  I didn’t know there was one except that a program made some of my young FB friends’ stati and comments make sense.  I told her that I would like to go, but I wasn’t sure about the transportation situation.  The homeschoolers around here put on some pretty great productions, so I was interested, just not real sure if the Mister would be home from hunting in time.

Later in the afternoon, after having next to no lunch and little to no energy to make something, I decided to go with Gabe’s suggestion to have taco-shells-broken-into-pieces and salsa.  I was hungry and so were the boys, but I had forgotten to pull something out of the freezer the night before, and there was really nothing good on hand that was quick.  My stomach has been rebelling against spicy food lately so I thought  a taco shell would be more soothing than salsa.  A few minutes after I started eating, I realized something was different about the taco shells we bought last time.   I asked that one of the boys please read the label on the box.  Homer* checked the ingredients for me and said that there was soy in them.  UGH.

*resigned sigh*

In time, I eventually made it to my bed, book** in hand.  It looked like it was going to be a long night.  I was losing the battle to stay awake, my eyes rolling back into my head and my left thumb and pinky finger fighting against the book’s tendency to close, when the phone rang.  I sat up and crawled to the end of my bed where the phone was conveniently located for once.   I picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hi.” It was Guin*.  “Did [the Mister] get back yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Do you still want to go to [The Program]?  We have room.  We’re headed back from [our activity] and can pick you up if you’d like to ride with us.”

There are times in every food sensitive person’s life in which a choice needs to be made.  Do I want to be a party pooper again? (Heh heh.  Get it?)  Or do I want to try biting the bullet and risk being sick in public? In an instant, … No, in an instant and a half,  maybe two due to the cramping, I made my decision.

“Sure.  That sounds like fun.”  Yeah.  Especially if I can’t find a restroom.  Oh, man!  Please, God.  Let this be the end of it.

When I got off the phone, I told the boys that we were going away in an hour  and to get ready, and then I went back to bed for a little while, hoping to relax and let my body have a chance to bounce back.

When Guin* and her kids got here, I was some better, but the clouds looked threatening, if you know what I mean.  We went and had a good time.  Thank You, God!  The way I feel today, there’s no reason I should’ve gotten any enjoyment out of the show at all, but I did!  And I learned a new word.

A New Word:  Cromit.  Verb. To cry and vomit simultaneously.    That was from a  play performed by the high schoolers called “The Homework at my Dog,” in which a student’s science experiment eats her dog.   I can’t do the play justice by trying to describe it here, but I have to say that the director and the students did an excellent job! 

** I checked The Mill House by Paul McCusker out of the church library yesterday. Mr. McCusker’s name was familiar to me from his work with Adventures in Odyssey and Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. I have read Darien’s Rise, one of the books in a series of novels related to Adventures in Odyssey called Passages. Having recently finished a novel by another author, I have to say that that popular author’s work does not hold a candle to Paul McCusker’s.   Besides the fact that his plot is good, his writing is technically good.

Canada Geese

It has been a while since I’ve posted any bird pics.  It has been a while since I’ve taken any!  I just love watching birds.  They’re so interesting! Here are a couple of pics I took this morning.

Miraculously, I was prepared for all of the landings today.  Maybe it had something to do with the 10,000,000 geese already at this particular pond.

This guy was posing for us.

We call it the German Shepherd Pose.

Dogs, Diet and Driving

On Dogs:

Conrad and Jaeger are progressing in their transformation from stupid, worthless puppies to intelligent, irreplaceable dogs.  They will never be like Noah, but they’re enjoyable more often than not these days.

This morning, Buttercup* and I were sitting on the couch.  She had pulled up the game table and was working in a workbook, and I was reading The White Dove to her. All three dogs were snoozing on various pieces of furniture throughout the room.  For some reason, I got up and walked away from my spot for not more than a minute.  Apparently, Jaeg thinks that when I move, it’s for his benefit, because, once again, he had stretched himself across the space between her and the back of the couch.  He loves to be close to her, and every time I move, I lose my place to him.  If someone isn’t sitting next to her, he and Heidi both try to sneak up onto the couch by her.  This was the first time he has stretched out all confident like that.  His head was on the armrest, just in case she wanted to pet him, I am sure!  He’s such a goof!

Conrad is like the dumb jock, and Jaeger is like the geek. We can tell that Conrad is going to be a really good hunter, but he lacks sense.  He’s in his element when he’s outdoors being all athletic and stuff, but he’s kind of a clod in the house.   Honestly, if I hadn’t seen how sharp he is outside, I’d think he was dumber than a box of rocks!  Jaeg, otoh, seems more philosophical and, well, brainy.  He likes to run around the backyard with Conrad, but he learns commands better than Conrad.

Conrad is sort of homely.  I’ve never had a dog that I had to get used to looking at.  Jaeg has Puss in Boots eyes.  Conrad’s white is bright white when he’s clean, though, while Jaeger’s fur leaves a lot to be desired for someone who’s used to dogs that are actually attractive in a domestic setting, like, say, German Shepherds.

Jaeg is no longer the housebroken one.  As Conrad has improved, Jaeg has regressed.  *sigh*  And so has Heidi.   We have become much more regimented in how we handle them.  We now have a feeding schedule, and we try to take them out every two hours whether they act like they need to go or not.  We had a schedule before, but it wasn’t written down.  It helps to have written reminders.

The boys have been keeping the pups in their room at night.  I’m not in love with that.  I’m sure Homer has allergies, and that’s not helping, but all three boys are very good about attending to the dogs.  They’re twice as responsible as I was at any given age in my childhood.  Homer lets Conrad and Jaeg sleep on his bed.  They’re as flexible as wet noodles and don’t mind sleeping in a pile, so it basically works out at the moment.

The puppies make me appreciate Heidi.  It’s nice to have one dog who won’t destroy the house while we’re not paying attention for more than 15 seconds.

On Diet:

Homer and I have continued to eat gluten free.  I believe it has been about three weeks for him, and almost two months for me.  He has noticed a difference, and I have seen a big difference in him.  He doesn’t act depressed and lethargic all the time.    He still craves bread, but we both got glutened by Qdoba over the weekend, and he has stopped asking me how much longer he has to go without gluten.

I feel really, really, really bad that he does seem to have a problem with gluten.  It is so hard to watch people eat yummy things in front of you, especially if you’re a kid.   The other day, Dub made biscuits.  I keep forgetting to buy bread, so he took matters into his own hands.  (I’m used to avoiding it like the plague, so it doesn’t phase me, while I’m shopping, that other people might still want it.)  When the biscuits were done, Homer asked if those were the bisquits that he could eat.  Those things smelled so good!  I told him no, and he wilted.  I’m not sure how else to describe it.  I felt so bad for  him!  I whipped up some cornbread for him, and that helped, but there’s nothing in the world that bakes quite like wheat flour.

Tonight, I finally remembered to do some recipe-reading and research before I was too tired to care.  (I haven’t gotten my laptop fixed, so looking things up is a chore.  I’m anchored to the desktop.) Based on what I read tonight and what I have on hand,  I made what turned out to be like a generic quick bread.  It’s a little too dense to be like sandwich bread – and no yeast, but it is good enough to slather on some Soy Garden and honey.  I am not crazy about gluten free garbanzo and fava flour, but I could hardly taste it in this concoction. Woo  hoo!!!

For my own future reference – GFCF/Egg Free bread experiment 1:

1/2 C GF garbanzo/fava flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

1/2 C GF sweet sorghum flour (BRM)

1/2 C GF whole grain organic brown rice flour (Arrowhead Mills)

1/2 C refined white sugar (just plain old, health hazardous white sugar )

1 tsp Xanthan gum

1 Tbsp Ener-G egg replacer

1 tsp (??? oh dear … maybe it was a Tbsp) baking powder

1/2 C water

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 tsp molasses

1 tsp vanilla

1Tbsp vinegar

Notes:  Oven temp: 350 F

I mixed all of the dry ingredients before adding the wet ones, but I noticed my baking powder was chunky.  >:-|  Nothing like a mouth full of baking powder!  That didn’t seem to effect the final product, but consider sifting the b.p. next time.

After adding wet ingredients, mixed until combined well but not mixed to death.

Baking: Used one loaf pan and sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  It about doubled in size and did not stick to the pan.  Baked about 30 – 40 min, but don’t keep poking a toothpick in it to check for doneness.  Since there is no yeast, every poke causes it to lose some height.  Patience, my young padawan.

Overall impression:  I went into this expecting to fail.  I was sure I’d end up with one more gloppy, gooby, half baked mess.  I haven’t had a lot of success with egg free breads, unless they are yeast breads.  I just wanted to try some things that might make Homer’s life more pleasant.  I’m definitely going to do this again in the near future. It was of the consistency of quick bread made with real eggs.    It was not more dense in the center as most of my breads are when eggs are called for but something else is used.  I am encouraged to have a gf/cf/egg free bread recipe that Homer likes.

Karen Joy, if you read this,  I have lost the emails we exchanged at the beginning of July, but I seem to remember you describing your flour mixture for everyday baking being a third of three different flours.  That was the main thing going through my head when I started out.  Thank God it worked!

On Driving:

I’m having a lot of fun riding around the countryside with Homer.  I’ve been having him drive me to Buttercup’s house in the morning and then home from her house in the afternoon.  He says he doesn’t like it, but I don’t believe that for a second!  It is so nice to be able to not drive for a change!    On the days that I work, he averages a little over a half hour of driving.  By the time he’s 23, he should have all of the required hours in to be able to take the road test.  That’ll work out well, because I think his insurance rate will be more affordable by that time!

Off I go to check on the German Shorthairs and to kick the German Shepherd Princess of the couch.  Auf wiedersehen!