Moving day is in sight!

I can’t believe it.  The day I have been impatiently awaiting for over a year, and in some ways, much, much longer, is almost here!  I am so excited!

And sad.

But mostly excited!

But definitely sad.

I’m going to miss my friends and family.  And while I’ll miss my family, I think I’ll miss my friends more.  You’re born into your family and they can’t forget you. They are obligated by blood to stay in touch with you.  Friends are under no such obligation, and though I would wish for my best girlfriends to deeply mourn my leaving, to become despondent even,  I know it would be unfair to them to expect that.   Besides, they are the type of ladies that people like and who can never be without friends, even if they wanted to.

Oh, and I would like to share a pet peeve.  I try not to gripe about things on here because griping just kinda stinks up the place, but I do want to share this one thing because I think ladies need to be aware of how our words and behavior impact others.

I can’t stand it when women gush all over Facebook or in real life about who their best friend(s) is(are), how great it is to spend time with them, and how many fun and wonderful things they do together.  I think that is incredibly rude.  It’s like telling every other woman in the world, and more importantly, in your circle of acquaintance, that she is not your best friend.  Women don’t have to be told that we’re not your best friend, but every woman should be treated as though it’s a blessing to be in her presence.   There’s so much isolation and loneliness in the world of women.  Why add to that?

I don’t have one best friend, I have a few.  They are each precious jewels and there’s no comparing them.  They are fantastic human beings in their own right.

40 Bags in 40 Days – day 20

This is pathetic.  I have lost track of how much stuff I’ve gotten rid of!  I have dealt with what seems like 20 tons of stuff, but I don’t remember my bag total.  I’m just going to try to get rid of 20 bags in the remaining 20 days. 

I don’t remember how much stuff I’ve gotten rid of, but I’d like to mention that I’ve used 3 or 4 bags of shredded paper for packing material.  I’m not sure if that counts or not, but I’m thinking yes because we’ve gotten rid of all of those excess papers. A trailer load of stuff also left here for the storage place.  That seems like it counts because it’s out of the house, but in a few weeks, it’ll all be in the next house!

Some of the hardest things for me to get rid of were my craft things.  I bagged up some of my supplies for some kids I know who are into crafts.  I also pitched some things I made that probably no one else would want and which probably would not survive the move.  That was a real bummer, but I think it will be worth it when we finally get to the point where we’re unpacking.

January is almost over and winter has finally arrived at our house.  This picture pretty much sums it up:  http://media.mlive.com/grpress/news_impact/photo/lake-effect-mapjpg-faf4bbe3b4556ad2.jpg

40 Bags in 40 Days – Day 9

Well, I’m quite sure we’ve rounded up 9 bags of stuff to give away or throw away, though I have had a hard time keeping track in the thick of it.  Moving Day is in 47 days and we’re kicking clutter’s behind! 

For more info on the 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge, go here.

Decluttering – I am so doing this!

40 bags in 40 days

I am so glad for this challenge!  We are moving and I am so overwhelmed.  I have had no idea where to begin, so I’m just going to begin with a garbage bag in hand.  We have been taking some things to the dump, but most of it is outdoors or in the garage, which doesn’t count since I think the challenge is about decluttering the house. If you want to count garage and outdoor stuff, go for it, but my biggest clutter issues are in the house.

Day 1 – 1 bag of clutter and debris from basement.

The Quest for a Successful GF/DF/SF Pumpkin Roll – Part 2

This is what I ended up doing.  It was okay.  Not great.  It needs work, but it did meet a need in a pinch.  I’m not sure if it was blah due to being frozen ahead of time or what.

Pumpkin Roll
Free of gluten, dairy, soy, and eggs when made as written

Preheat oven to 325.  (I meant to preheat it to 300 but was standing at an odd angle to the dial while setting the temp. It ended up being 325.  It worked anyway!)

Ingredients:

1 Cherrybrook Kitchen GF yellow cake mix
1/3 C melted Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread
3/4 C Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin
EnerG Egg Replacer for the equivalent of 1 egg

Creamy Pumpkin Filling

*Baking time ended up being about 36-38 minutes in the manner in which I did it.  If you use a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet, it will probably take less time since the batter will be thinner, so keep an eye on it.  I used a 9 x 13 glass baking dish because I didn’t have any foil to cover my gluten infested cookie sheet.

When the roll was finished baking, I let it cool for about 15 minutes and then I flipped it out onto wax paper and let it cool until it was just barely warm.  I

 

Creamy pumpkin roll filling (vegan) – 2^nd attempt
If made as written, this filling is free of gluten, dairy, and soy. 

Ingredients:

¼ C shortening – I used Spectrum organic palm shortening
2 Tbsp butter substitute – I used Earth Balance Soy Free buttery spread
2 Tbsp lemon concentrate into ¼ C measure.
Fill the ¼ C measure the rest of the way with milk of your choice.  I used almond milk – original flavor, not vanilla.
¼ C tapioca flour (this helps it to thicken with less powdered sugar, which can make it sickeningly sweet)
4 C powdered sugar, it may take more

Instructions:

Cream the fats.

Stir in the tapioca flour into the creamed fats until the mixture is smooth.

Stir in powdered sugar and milk mixture alternately until milk is gone.

Filling is ready when it is just thick enough that it doesn’t fall off the beaters but not so thick that it shreds the roll while spreading.  Use your own judgment.