The Circus McGurkus

Doodlebug Update

2011-05-26T20:42:00.002-04:00

The last time I updated on Doodlebug's medical issues and delays was last summer. A lot has happened since then. But he still is as cute as ever.

Right before Cudabear was born we had an appointment with the geneticist. We did a bunch of metabolic testing. Most of it came back normal, but not all of it. The stuff that wasn't quite normal wasn't abnormal enough to tell us what is going on, but it wasn't where it should have been either. We had a bunch more lab work done. We still don't know what we are dealing with. It's possible he has mitochondrial disease (mito). Basically that means that the body has difficulty converting the energy from food into the energy your body can use. There's lots of places that can break down and it expresses itself in lots of different ways.

Our neurologist says he doesn't have it because one of his lab tests came back normal. The third time. The other two times it was not normal. No idea why. I have done enough research to know that the lab test that came back normal is not a reliable indicator of mito. Lots of people with mito come back in the normal range. I know several moms who have kids with mito. Three have told me that they think Doodlebug has it. So for now, we are kind of stuck in limbo. We do need to find out though because there will be additional medical issues if he does have mito.

We do know now that he has a sensory processing disorder (SPD). (You didn't know you were going to have to have a medical degree to read this post did you?) What is that? It means that when his body gets information through his senses the information gets scrambled on the way to his brain. Take, for example, hearing. Children with SPD do not have issues with their hearing. The ear works just fine. But when the child hears a sound and the ear transmits that information to the brain something happens to it. Do you remember the game 'telephone' we played as a kid? All the kids sit in a big circle and whisper a message from one child to the next all the way around the circle and by the time it gets to the end the message is totally different from the one that started. That is a lot like what is going on. A child may be hyper-sensitive to sound and being in a lound environment (like the mall) may physically hurt them. Or they could be hypo-sensitive and unable to respond to someone calling their name because they just don't register the sound over other background noise. This same thing can happen with any or all of the five senses. And most kids are a mix of hypo- and hyper-sensitive. This explains why Doodlebug generally prefers really spicy foods (the extra flavor is what he needs to really taste anything) but something about biting off a bite of food throws him into a tantrum. He is hypo-senstive to taste and hyper-sensitive to the sensation of biting.

This explains a lot of his quirkiness. He is just reacting to his world. And if we can figure out what he is reacting to and help him with it then we can end a lot of his behavior problems. One of our lasting and frustrating issues was his refusal to walk when we needed to. He can walk all over the house and backyard, but if I need him to walk from the car to the grocery store he freaks out. He falls in the parking lot and screams. Not fun. We often have people stop and stare or ask if he's okay. One day by accident we realized that he can do this if he is pushing Joshua in the stroller. How odd. Then we played around and realized he can also do this if he is wearing a backpack with a couple of pounds of weight in it. The weight on his back or the weight of pushing his brother settles him and keeps him from being overwhelmed and melting down. It took us 9 months to figure that one out.

We are making progress. He is talking a lot more. All of a sudden he is starting to know his colors, letters, numbers and shapes. We finally figured out that if he is sitting up straight in a chair his attention span is at least four times longer. He can walk into stores and church with minimal fuss. He now calls me "Mommy." Well, actually he calls me "Mom-meee!" but I love it. I have waited a very long time for that. We figured out that eating and drinking dairy causes him to have behavior problems. He no longer has dairy in his diet and his behavior is much better. He's not where he needs to be, but he's not where he was either. We have come a long way and have a long way to go yet. He is also a fantastic big brother. He plays with his baby brother, brings him bottles (usually empty, but he's working with what he's got!) and loves to hug him. Unfortunatly hugging often turns into steam rolling over the baby, but Cudabear is one tough baby so it works out.

$100 Christmas Challenge finale

2011-05-22T20:04:00.001-04:00

Well, since it's May now, I think it's time for me to wrap this series up! Yes, we did manage to stay in the $100 budget and no we did not give everyone $1 or some random junk.

This is how it all worked out...
-T. our 4 year old nephew got a Lego set. Chris and I decided long ago that we are going to build him a giant Lego collection so we work on that as his birthday and Christmas gifts. I think it was about $25 (yikes!) but we bought it before I heard about the challenge

-Z. our teen aged nephew got a rubber band gun ($.50 at a garage sale) and a Wii game ($7 at a garage sale

-C. our collage aged nephew got a gift certificate. This is where I learned the hard way that you cannot give a gift certificate from Amazon with credit applied to your accout. So that came out of the cash budget. Another $25.

- Doodlebug got a computer and desk that I picked up at Goodwill and a bunch of toys in his stocking that I got for free. I put a piece of chocolate in his stocking that I bought on sale and added in another couple of small garage sale finds. I think he came in under $7.

-Cudabear got a computer picked up at Goodwill too. I bought him some really cute socks for his stocking and stuck some bath toys in there too for good measure. He came in under $5 I think.

-My parents got the Shutterfly calendar, pictures of the kids on a CD (we had the CD laying around and these are just pictures we took), the infamous leg lamp (it was a gift we got them last year that they regifted back to us so they got it back again-tee hee hee!) and some bargain priced chocolates.

-The remainder of the funds went to small gifts my husband and I put in each other's stockings. I finished my shopping early and told him how much was left to spend on my gifts and he worked in that budget. One of the reasons I love him so!

And here is the really astonishing part, we did it!!! I don't think anyone felt deprived or left out. If they did, they didn't tell me about it. Our budget was in tact, and we gave gifts people really wanted or could use. We missed a lot of the hustle and bustle of having to run all over the place in December, which was a good thing since I was pretty sleep deprived that month!

We are so doing this again for Christmas 2011.

$100 Christmas Challenge-Groupon

2011-05-20T15:19:00.002-04:00

Have you tried Groupon yet? This can be a great way to save some money and get a deal on products and services. Mostly there are deals for local restaurants and services, but there are also occasionally other deals too. My favorite was a local health food store that sold a coupon for $15 and was worth $30 when redeemed in the store. Whoo-hoo!

(Time for another official disclaimer, if you sign up through Groupon using the link above and purchase a Groupon I will get $10 put into my Groupon account. You do not have to use the link above to go through Groupon, but I would greatly appreciate the extra $$$ if you do.)

I bought a groupon for $10 for a photo book on Shutterfly and used it to create an 8 x 8" photo book. It was a huge chunk of the $100 budget, but it was well worth it.

I'm baaaaaaaaaack!

2011-05-18T16:48:00.006-04:00

It's been over 4 months since I last blogged. I miss it. With having 2 boys now I doubt that I will be able to do posts as regularly as I used to, but I'm hoping to be a bit more consistent than every 4 months. I think that I can accomplish this, it doesn't sound like too lofty of a goal.

I guess I should give some updates huh? Doodlebug is growing up! And he is just the cutest thing ever!

Squinchy's nickname has been changed to Cudabear (pronounced coo-duh-bear. When we got his tummy issues cleared up some he stopped making the squinchy face. He's a cutie pie and is scooting all over the floor. We're gonna have a crawler soon. We are hoping his adoption will be finalized soon.

I'm going to finish the Christmas challenge posts I started almost 6 months ago (sheesh!) in the next couple of posts. After that I will probably do some more detailed catching up.

See you soon!

$100 Christmas Challenge-Pampers Points

2011-01-04T14:43:00.000-05:00

Wait! Don't write this one off if you don't have kids, or if you cloth diaper or if your kids are potty trained. Seriously, anyone can use this option. Here is what you do. Set up an account at Pampers.com. Easy enough. Now there are several ways to start finding reward codes and earning points.

The most obvious is to get the codes off of Pampers products you buy and use. These are single use codes. Once one person enters them they are no longer valid for anything else. It's also the most tedious way to earn the points as you have to type in the full 17 digit code for each entry.

My favorite way to get codes is to follow a blog that regularly posts codes that are multi use codes. This means that anyone can use the code. They do expire so you will want to check for the codes on a regular basis since it seems like the codes are good for a couple of weeks. This is the blog I follow http://www.heyitsfree.net/category/points/. They regularly post points codes all in one section and that makes it really easy to find.

I also just decided to "like" Pampers on Facebook. Recently they have put out 2 100 point codes that were only good for a couple of hours and I missed both of them. By the time I read about them they were over. I'm hoping that the next time it happens I will find them faster and be able to get in on this huge point bonanza.

So what did I get with all my points? A Shutterfly calendar. Yes, we still had to pay for shipping but saved $21.99 on what is the full price. Plus around Christmas I saw a lot of deals where you could buy one calendar and get another one half off which could also stretch the budget a bit more.

$100 Christmas Challenge-Swagbucks

2011-01-02T15:01:00.002-05:00

Have you heard about Swagbucks? This is so easy and it really works! Go to Swagbucks and sign up for your account. (Please note, if you follow this link you will be giving me a referral. This would allow me to earn matching Swagbucks on your online searches. I would really appreciate the help in accruing Swagbucks more quickly but you could also just go to the site and sign up without giving me the referral too. Okay, official disclaimer over.)

Now that you have your account just got to Swagbucks instead of Google or another search engine to do your everyday web searches. Every so often you will win some Swagbucks. You just leave these in your account until you accrue enough to redeem for something you want or can use.

700 Swagbucks gives you $5 for your Paypal account. Who couldn't use a little cash? I prefer to get Amazon gift cards. When you earn 450 Swag points you can get a code for a $5 Amazon gift card. Oddly enough, you have to pay $3150 for a $25 gift card but buying 5 $5 cards only costs a total of $2250 points.

Fair warning, Swagbucks does restrict that you can only redeem 2 prizes per day and 4 of the same prizes in one month. Since it takes 10-14 days to get the prizes you do need to plan ahead just a little to make sure you have all your reward codes for when you need them. Once you redeem them you can just leave them in your account until you need them.

And I learned the hard way that you cannot use your points to order a gift card for someone else. If you really want to give someone a gift card you would have to just give them the codes to enter into their own Amazon account instead of entering it into your own. Next year I will make up some type of certificate on the computer and put the codes on that to give away.

I did manage to use $10 of my gift cards to buy a book and I have $20 left in my account to buy something else from Amazon later. I earned $30 by doing internet searches I would have done anyway. Okay, I will take it!

$100 Christmas Challenge-Garage Sales

2010-12-31T15:05:00.000-05:00

Most people think I'm insane when I tell them I shop for Christmas gifts at garage sales. And some garage sales are full of overpriced garbage. But some have some really nice (even new) stuff for very little money. And if you need some gag gifts, this is a great place to get them!

This summer I found a garage sale. It was close to lunchtime when the sales close down and I bought a huge bag of clothes for Doodlebug. The man was trying to get rid of anything and everything so he would not have to haul it all to Goodwill in the next hour or so. I asked him to throw in a Christmas reindeer tie (almost new, because people rarely wear this stuff) and a small stuffed reindeer and he did. Two stocking stuffers for free.

At another garage sale I found a handmade wooden rubber band gun. We have a 14 year old nephew who really likes this kind of stuff. For $.50 I took it home. I added a couple of rubber bands and had something fun to give him.

When I asked for Christmas suggestions for our nephews this year they told us gift cards or Wii games. We were getting ready to give a super tiny gift card since we thought we couldn't afford a Wii game. And then I hit another garage sale at 11:40. Twenty minutes before they close down they are giving great deals. With one Wii game left I got it for $7. True it is used, and this may bother some people. We figured a 14 year old won't care and his mom even said she was going to buy him used games. It seems like a better present than a $7 gift card to a store where he won't even be able to afford a pair of socks.

$100 Christmas Challenge -Store Freebies

2010-12-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

Do you ever get those coupons from stores where you get $5 off if you spend $30 or so? And you need a total of $24.57 worth of stuff every time. Well, at least that's the way it happens for me! Or when you spend a total of $25 this week you will get $5 that is good to spend at the store next week. Sometimes department stores do that and drug stores do that a lot too. Now these deals only make sense if you were planning to spend money on something in the store already. But I got $20 credit at a store and a $5 off $30 at the same time. Jackpot! That's $30 worth of stuff for $5. Since I needed jeans I went and bought a pair. I used the extra money to buy dress socks for my hubby as stocking stuffers. I paid ($5 for the jeans that I would have bought anyway) and got the socks for free.

Walgreens gives out these "Register Rewards" frequently. A week or two before Christmas they were giving out $5 of these for spending $25 in the store. I bought some formula for Squinchy (that we needed anyway) and got the $5. The next week I went in and picked up cute socks for Squinchy that look like baby shoes. After using my $5 "Register Rewards" I paid $2.15.

A lot of times you can get items for free or just pennies at Rite Aid, CVS or Walgreens using a combination of coupons, sales, rebates etc. There are tons of websites that even outline the deals and tell you where to get the coupons from. This could be a great source of stocking stuffers like toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair bands etc. Even if you do not put this in your families stockings at Christmas there are plenty of places you can donate them to or you can include them in a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child.

$100 Christmas Challenge-Thrift Store Shopping

2010-12-28T14:36:00.000-05:00

Shopping at thrift stores (Goodwill and Salvation Army) can yeild huge bargains. Of course you may have to look through a lot of junk first, but to me that's half of the fun. I found a cute Elmo laptop for Doodlebug this summer along with a little desk. I scooped those up and his shopping was almost complete! When we found out Squinchy would be joining us for Christmas this year I found him a baby laptop like this one at Goodwill.

My kids could not care less that the toys are used. Total spent $7.54 and both of the boys have their major presents.

$100 Christmas Challenge-Christmas clearance

2010-12-27T14:45:00.001-05:00

Last year I didn't get a whole lot on clearance after Christmas. I found a few stickers for Doodlebug's stocking ($.67) but that was about it. The only really Christmasy stuff I buy is candy and that won't last a whole year. I have a couple of things that I'm planning to go out and look for after Christmas this year though so I'll look around again. Things like Christmas socks, pencils, stickers, coloring books can all make great stocking stuffers for next year.

This is a short post because I have to do my Christmas clearance shopping, bye!

Our $100 Christmas

2010-12-26T14:24:00.001-05:00

If you read my blog you know I love making ridiculously low budgets for things and seeing if I can meet them. Kind of a weird obsession, but it saves us money so I keep doing it. Several months ago I read about The Holiday Challenge on another blog. Basically it is setting aside $100 cash out of pocket for Christmas gifts and stretching it to cover everyone your list. Here are the basics of how it worked for us.

1. There is $100 total cash out of pocket to spend on everyone on our Christmas list.

2. This included gifts for me, my hubby, both the boys, 3 nephews and one set of grandparents, 3 preschool teachers and DS' speech therapist. A total of 13 people. We did not include gifts we bought for Angel Trees or another other type of charitable giving.

3. Any gift cards we could earn online or win got added over and above the $100. The $100 limit is total cash out of pocket.

4. Shipping, handling and taxes all got taken out of the $100.

What do you think? Did we make it? Did we give everyone junk from the Dollar Store?

I guess you'll just have to keep reading and find out. :)

Meet...Squinchy

2010-11-08T14:24:00.003-05:00

No, that's not his real name but I don't put my boys' real names on my blog or public internet sites. This face is why we call him Squinchy.

Here is the first picture of both of my boys together. Look at how delighted Doodlebug is in this picture! He is a little jealous of him now, although he's starting to come around. He likes to pet Squinchy's blankets and he's been picking up bottles and trying to feed him. Of course then he tried to sit on him.

Our Squinchy seems to be a pretty laid back and happy boy and we are so thrilled to have him.

Adoption Update

2010-10-17T15:56:00.006-04:00

I'm going to have to do the very brief update outline here because so much has happened.

On August 19th we started our paperwork for the adoption.

On September 27th we completed our homestudy and our profile book.

On September 28th we signed up with our adoption consultant.

On October 7th we were matched with an unborn baby boy due in October or November!

Doodlebug's haircut

2010-09-15T14:54:00.008-04:00

As we were putting together our family profile for the adoption we decided that we needed to get Doodlebug's hair cut. It was so cute with all the baby curls, but we really needed some pictures of him looking like a little boy instead of a baby.

Here is a before picture.

We took him to a place that caters especially to little kids getting their hair cut. I usually do it myself, but I was too afraid of making a mistake and our family pictures were going to be taken soon.

The lady that cut his hair was very quick and Doodlebug was very distracted by all the other kids, the little airplane they let him sit in, the cape he got to wear and looking at himself in the mirror. He sat there so well!

I just had to put this picture in, doesn't he look like the mayor of Munchkin Town?

And look at my big boy with his new hair cut! What a cutie!

Adoption Update

2010-08-29T21:16:00.002-04:00

Ten days ago we started our adoption paperwork. That was the day we got our fingerprints done and sent off to the FBI and the SBI. We also got criminal records checks. Since then, we have gotten back all the paperwork we needed to turn in to our social worker for our home study and we gave it to her at our first visit today. The only thing we still need are our three references and those should be to her by the end of next week. Once she gets those she will finalize our paperwork, drop by for one more visit and we will be done!

Just in case you are not properly impressed, let me explain a little about home studies. This is when you hire a social worker to come out to your home and look it over. They are looking to make sure it is a suitable environment for a child (ie. no rusty nails laying about, no piles of garbage all over the floor). They also need a huge amount of information and documentation. Criminal background checks, family's names and contact information, medical letters stating you do not have any health problems that would cause a shortened life expectancy, tax returns, paystubs, references, birth certificates, pages of questions about your marriage, children and attitudes on adoption, budget.... Normally the process takes about 3 months to complete. It looks like ours will be done in less than one. Yay!

This really is going to happen. We are going to adopt a child. I can't wait!!!

Putting an Octopus in Pantyhose

2010-08-22T14:57:00.005-04:00

I took Doodlebug to church by myself today. He goes to his class during the sermon, but we usually pick him up early and take him back in for the last couple of worship songs. As we came back to the sanctuary I noticed that people weren't singing yet, but since one of our friends was holding the door for us I decided that slipping in the back should be okay. Nope. It was totally silent for a moment and Doodlebug decided to annouce his arrival by yelling "Hi!" to everyone. Nice.

So the singing started and we went back to our seat. Doodlebug was, ahem, slightly restless. You know the kind where toddler's try to flip out of your arms headfirst onto the floor. That kind of restless. I finally held him upside down. That worked well for about 30 seconds. Now he is wanting down so badly he's pushing against me trying to get away. Unfortunately for me his hands happened to be on my throat so I got a bit strangled.

Now I'm getting dirty looks from the childless couple across from me so I decide it's time to move to the back of the room and put him down. Maybe he will wander around quietly back there. Ha! No, he thought it would be a better idea to head for the door and try to slip out, only to fuss when I prevented his escape.

So we headed to a different spot in the back of the room that is away from the childless glaring couple and the door. No dice. He did change from fussing to happy noises when he saw his friend. At least the singing was loud enough that most people could not hear him.

Finally I picked him up and just held on for dear life while he wiggled and squirmed. I am beat. It would have been easier to put an ocotpus in pantyhose.

My last post I said I would be back to blogging. And then I was gone for two weeks. Life does not always work out the way I plan it. I'm not sure when I will be back to blogging more regularly because I am really busy filling out adoption paperwork.

Wait, did you catch what I just said?

We are filling out adoption paperwork!

Like I said, life doesn't always work out the way I planned.

2010-08-09T08:20:00.003-04:00

I was in the kitchen one morning and noticed it was awfully quiet, so I went to check on the Doodlebug. I found him sitting in our great room on the floor studying something intently. I didn't see anything there so I just stood back and watched him for a minute. Can you guess what he was doing?

He's trying to pick up the sunlight off the floor.

He stares at the patches of sunlight on the floors, puts out a hand to grab them and comes up empty handed. So he leans over to see them up close and they promptly disappear (since he's now between the window and the sun on the floor). He sits back quickly in surprise and presto! They're back. He's pretty perplexed about the whole series of events.

I love watching him explore the world and see things for the first time.

Update on the Doodlebug

2010-08-04T06:52:00.001-04:00

So we had our 18 month well visit to the pediatrician. I had a page long list of questions for him, almost all of them about Doodlebug's development and if he feels like we can still postpone all the genetic/metabolic testing and MRI.

Right now we really want to wait and see if Doodlebug's able to catch up with therapy and some time. We are also trying to get into another pediatric neurologist for a second opinion. The doc we see now won't give us a clear answer on why she is ordering all of these tests other than he is delayed. Both my husband and I have spoken with her and feel like there is something she is not telling us. Bottom line, we don't really trust her. She knows way more about neurology than I ever will, but I know way more about this little boy than she ever will. We have to work together on this, and if she won't work with us, then we will find someone who will.

We have picked a new neurologist after talking with several moms who have children with special needs. Our referral information was sent over a month ago. Just last week we got several forms to fill out and mail back in, which we did. But still, no appointment date. And from what we understand, it will be early 2011 before we can see this doc. But this also gives us the time we want to see how much progress Doodlebug can make with therapy over the next six months.

One thing I love about our pediatrician is that he tells us like it is. This is a double-edged sword though because when I have hard questions to ask I get really nervous about going to see him because I know he will tell me the truth. So here it is...

as long as he's making progress it's okay to put off the genetic and metabolic testing
keep the appointment in October with the geneticist, since we made it in February and October was the first available appointment
go see the other neuro for the second opinion and then decide how to proceed
it's still possible that Doodlebug is still just a "late bloomer"
all bets are off if he starts stops progressing or starts regressing

Our physical therapist says he is catching up. His skills are not age appropriate yet, but he is not as far behind as he was when we started. Go Doodlebug!

As for his speech, it's a little harder to tell if he's catching up. He is making progress but at this point we are not sure if he's getting closer to catching up with other kids his age or if he's still just as far behind. The good news is that shortly after kids learn to walk they typically have a language explosion where they progress very quickly in a short amount of time. We are almost at that point with Doodlebug. I have to say, I can't wait to be able to have a conversation with my boy.

So we are still waiting and still hoping. I was really hoping to be done with all the waiting and worrying by the time he turned 18 months, but that's just not how it turned out. It's been bittersweet watching him hit the milestone of being one and a half and knowing he is much more like a one year old than a child his age.

Looking ahead is still hard. Doodlebug is a very unusual child. In a lot of ways this makes him very easy. But then I wonder if that's just a quirk of who he is, or are we missing important signs of a bigger problem? And I just don't know.

So for now I'm just trying to enjoy my silly boy

I'm Back With Some Updates

2010-08-02T08:05:00.006-04:00

I have managed to sell some stuff on Craig's List as well as on a mommy's website that I am a part of. I also participated in a community yard sale, but that was a whole lotta work for very little money. At this point I am really just selling to clear out the house. Making some money while I'm at it has been a wonderful, and motivating, bonus. I guess it's more of a drawn out yard sale than it is a business.

My impossibly cute, sweet boy turned 18 months old. When the heck did that happen???

I have realized two things about my blogging. One, I really do like it and miss it when I don't blog. Two, it takes up a lot of time. So, I am going to continue to blog, but cut back a bit. I won't be updating as regularly, but my goal is to post two or three times a week.

Blogging Break

2010-07-15T08:09:00.000-04:00

I think that I'm going to have to take a break from blogging. Now that I'm trying to get this business up and going it's taking up a lot of the time I used to devote to my blog.

My hope is that I will be able to settle into a routine with all the business stuff and then come back in about a week or so, although I probably won't be able to post five days a week.

Have a great week and when I come back I will update you on the Financial Challenge. We've made lots of progress in the last week.

I Think I Just Started a Business

2010-07-13T08:03:00.000-04:00

I've been reading a blog lately called My Dear Trash. It is run by two women who love finding great deals at thrift shops and yard sales. Some of the items they keep for their homes, others are trasformed by a coat of paint and others are put up on E-bay to sell.

What really hooked me on this blog was that one of the bloggers took on the challenge of raising $4400.00 to take her family to Disney. Oh, and did I mention she only had four months.

She did it! Amazing.

I love hunting for great deals at yard sales and thrift stores too, but I have been sitting on the sidelines a little fearful of jumping in. What if I buy something and can't sell it? What if I buy something and I spend more on it than what it's worth? How the heck will I mail this stuff if I sell it on E-bay? And on and on it goes. But then my mom and I were at Goodwill and saw this stroller.

It's a Peg Perego. I know they retail for some serious cash. This one has been well used, but it was calling my name so loudly that I had to take it home. So I paid the $9.99 plus tax and loaded it in the car. I washed it up, put it on Craig's List and sold it for $55.00. Wow! That's $45 in profit. Not to shabby.

Last week I also sold this little car.

I originally bought it at a consignment sale for Doodlebug for $5, but we weren't getting much use out of it and the ride on toys are multiplying at an alarming rate. So I sold it. And I made $6 profit. Not bad.

Just like that, I was bitten by the bug. I want to do it again. I think it's fun. And I'm already at the garage sales and thrift stores anyway. Right now I am busily photographing and listing everything I can get my hands on. But hey, I've been meaning to declutter the house anyway, right? So I get to declutter and make money at the same time? Sign me up!

And a business is born....

Things That Have Made Me Laugh.

2010-07-12T08:05:00.004-04:00

Oh my gosh, I just came across this blogpost and laughed until I cried. I tried to call my husband upstairs to read it, but was laughing so hard I just ended up just laying on the top banister. Luckily he came up to see what the commotion was about and I was able to point to the computer.

Some things are too funny not to share.

Happy Monday everyone!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

2010-07-09T08:02:00.001-04:00

My mom used to serve a chocolate cherry cake back when we could both eat gluten. The good old days.

But now that Betty Crocker has the devil's food cake mixes, we are making this again. It is so yummy.

1 box gluten free chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup water
1/2 can cherry pie filling

Mix cake mix, butter, egg and water according to the directions on the box.

When you open the cherry pie filling there will be cherries and some gel-like stuff. First divide your can of cherries into 2 portions. Scoop out as much of the gel stuff as you can out of one portion and mix it with the cake mix. You can freeze the other half of the cherries and filling to save for the next time you make these cupcakes.

Pour a small amount of batter into each cupcake cup. Place about three cherries on top of the batter and then fill the cup almost until the top. I did this with most of my cupcakes and I think it tastes the best, but I did have trouble getting the cupcakes out of the cupcake holder without breaking. I also experimented with placing the cherries on top of the batter. These cupcakes did not break, but they didn't taste quite the same. Experiment with it and see which works best for you.

Bake per the directions on the cake box. Enjoy!

Storing Gluten Free Flours

2010-07-08T13:13:00.003-04:00

Any of you who have ever baked gluten free know what a pain it is to store all the flours needed. There are a million different possibilities and it seems that every recipe calls for a different blend of different flours. I realized one day that I was rarely baking simply because I did not have the needed flours on hand or because it was too much of a pain (and too messy) to get out all those flours. So I made some changes.

My first change is that I try to only make recipes that call for the flours I have on hand. I am not willing to buy Aramanth flour for one recipe and find out that I don't like it anyway. It's too expensive and having all the different flours clutters up my cupboard anyway. I keep on hand

white rice flour

brown rice flour

potato starch flour

tapioca starch

corn starch

corn flour

xanthan gum

sorghum flour

Jules' gluten free flour mix*

*I make Jules' flour mix myself, but I like to make it in bulk and keep it in the cupboard. That way it's always ready since it is my go-to flour mix. It's also the reason I have most of the flours I do stock. It takes six of the ones listed to make the mix.

For some reason most gluten free flours either come in a narrow box or a cellophane bag. I can't get a measuring cup in and out of them and they make a huge mess all over the counter. I bought the store brand equivalent of Gladware in a large flat size. One that could hold an entire box or bag of flour, still fit on my shelves and that I could get a measuring cup in and out of. I got a couple of larger ones for things like my flour mix. I usually make a double batch at a time and I wanted it to all fit in one bin.

They stack up great in my cupboard and I can tell at a glance which flours I need to buy more of if I'm headed to the health food store.

Hiding Furniture Scratches

2010-07-07T08:03:00.002-04:00

When I go to places like the Salvation Army thrift store I almost never bother to look at the art because most of it is terrible. There is a reason that the person that donated it no longer wanted it in their home and it's usually pretty obvious. But my mom was with me that day and when I went over to that section of the store to get her I noticed this mirror. It was gorgeous. I picked it up and it was very heavy, almost like picking up the Doodlebug.

The wood frame was real, but it had some nicks and scratches on it. And it was half off. That made it $7.50. For a gorgeous wooden frame with mirror.

The next thing I know, I'm in line with it tucked under my arm. Hmm, how did that happen?

I think a lot of pieces look better with a distressed look. But when my hubby suggested trying to touch up the scratches and dings with shoe polish my ears perked up. How could shoe polish fix a wooden mirror frame?

Well, it turns out that shoe polish is basically dye mixed into some wax. That sounds like it could work, so we got out the shoe polish and tried it.

Less than five minutes later the scratches were almost invisible. Amazing!

I loved this quick and easy fix to spruce up my thrift store mirror. Doesn't it look great in it's new home?

For more great tips check out Works for Me Wednesdays on Kristen's blog.

My Yesh Man

2010-07-06T08:15:00.001-04:00

We're already seeing signs of the terrible two's.

Screaming fits on the floor that last twenty minutes at a time. Daily. Multiple times a day.

The cause of said tantrum? I asked Doodlebug to crawl or walk over to his highchair because he said he was hungry. It was ten feet away.

I guess that makes me the meanest mommy on the planet. I know that leads to some really rough days.

But a week ago Doodlebug also learned a new word. Yes. Or as he says it, "Yesh".

It is his stock answer for everything.

Do you want to eat?

Yesh.

Do you want to play ball?

Yesh.

How are you this morning?

Yesh.

Will you financially support Mommy in her old age?

Yesh.

Can I quote you on that?

Yesh.

In a few more weeks the stock answer will change to "No". But until then I'm just going to enjoy my little yesh man.

Isn't he the cutest little boy in the world? Yesh.

Naming Suggestions for my Blog

2010-07-05T08:02:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking about monetizing my blog. In order to do that, I will have to change the name. And I just cannot decide on one. Any of my readers want to help?

Here are some of my choices.

MyCircusMcGurkus
It's very similar to my current name and it describes my life pretty well. The downside is that people don't know what my blog is about just from the title.

GlutenHatesMyGuts
I think this one is funny and memorable. But I blog about more than being gluten free.

GlutenFreeFrugal
This covers most of my blog topics in the title alone. But it's very similar to another blog, although that one is rarely updated these days. And it's not a very fun title.

Anyone have any other suggestions? I'm open.

Anyone have any suggestions of what you would like me to blog about? I could use some ideas.

Silicone Bakeware

2010-07-02T08:03:00.001-04:00

One thing that's different about gluten free baking is that the doughs are a lot stickier. One time I made my pizza crust without parchement paper. Can anyone say mistake? My husband and I were trying to chip it off of the baking sheet. Not exactly the result I was going for.

But for some odd reason the way to tear parchment paper eludes me. I cannot get it to tear in a straight line. Or anything that may resemble a straight line. So I always ended up having to fold some of the paper under and often tear off another small piece to patch up the side that doesn't have enough paper. Not fun.

So when I found out how easily food slides off silicone I was hooked. Until I priced it, that is. Yowza! They want how much for one baking sheet liner? Eventually I found a baking set on clearance. It was a bit more than I had planned to spend, but I got 2 huge baking sheet liners, 2 8"round cake pans, 1 9" square cake pan, 12 cup muffin pan, 2 bread loaf pans, and a meatloaf pan. I'm not quite sure about the meatloaf pan thingy, but the rest are awesome!

Most of gluten free baking requires 8" round pans or 9" square pans. When I used to bake with wheat flours a pan of brownies or a cake went into a 9" x 13" pan, but not anymore. This set is just the right size.

Now, I have been a bit surprised at how much better my bread turns out in the bread pans. Although they hold the same amount of bread dough as my old pan, they are longer and narrower. I think this helps compensate for the structure that is missing from the gluten in the flours.

When I took these pans out of the oven, one of the loaves of bread caught on the heating element at the top of the oven because it was so tall.

I just love my new baking set. It really does make gluten free baking much easier for me.

Organizing Kids' Clothes

2010-07-01T08:02:00.003-04:00

As I've started garage saling more and more for Doodlebug's clothes, it became obvious that I needed some sort of system to store clothes he had not grown into as well as his out of season clothing. I don't want to put all of his long pants and sweatshirts too far out of reach in case we have a few cold days or we take him somewhere where the A/C is blasting.

I finally decided to line them all up in his closet. I wrote the sizes on 1/2 an idex card and put it over the hanger when the sizes changed. They go from smallest to largest, left to right. He has sizes in this closet ranging from 12 mo to 4T. I used flourescent yellow index cards and using a bright color really has made it easier to find the size I'm looking for. Here's a picture. I know, fancy isn't it?

I also decided to arrange the clothes in the same order for each size section. It goes:

t-shirts
long-sleeved shirts
pants
pj's
jackets

I love this system for his clothes. When I come home from a garage sale with new stuff, I just hang in in the right section of his closet. Then when I notice all of his t-shirts are getting too tight or his pants are too short I move up to the next size and start putting them in his drawers.

Garage Sale Finds

2010-06-30T08:02:00.001-04:00

During the summer almost every Saturday morning you can find me at yard sales. You never know what you are going to find or what kinds of conversations you stumble into.

This is my haul from Saturday. I forgot a pair of pants, a set of pj's and the baby gate when I took the photo. I spent $10.

It took me quite a while to figure out how to cram all that on the loveseat only to realize you really couldn't see what I bought.

So here's a breakdown of some of my purchases. These are all of the pj's I got Doodlebug. He was bursting out of the ones he has now. I swear he looked like a little sausage after we managed to get him all zipped up. Since he hasn't mastered the blanket yet, he always wears winter jammies, which are a bit hard to find in June. Jackpot!

I love this little Elmo hoodie. And look at all the shoes! One pair of the boots has never even been worn. The Christmas tie is a stocking stuffer for my hubby and the little reindeer is going to be one for Doodlebug. I'm pretty sure that my hubby won't wear the tie, but since it was everything I could stuff in a garbage bag for $10 I threw it in. I started my Christmas gift buying earlier this month and so far I've managed to get a good bit done. Less than 5 months left!

Speaking of Christmas, I found this adorable Christmas vest and shirt

and even this winter jacket. Used winter coats (in good condition) sell for $18-$35 around here. I don't think I will really need this one, but I'm hoping to sell it in the fall and recoup at least what I spent on the rest of my stuff at the yard sale.

I also found halloween costumes.

When they didn't photograph well I tried to get Doodlebug to model. He wasn't into it.

So I had my husband model. He didn't throw up his arms and scream but the effect is not quite the same as if the little guy had worn it.

And just so you know, I did purchase all of this (except the stamp set) at one garage sale. But before I made it to this garage sale I went to about ten others that were total busts. And when I made it to this one, there was a huge tarp laid out on the driveway with clothes thrown everywhere at least a foot deep. Boys and girls stuff, infant up to a boy's medium. All mixed in. I grabbed the shoes, coat and costumes first. All of those are more expensive items. My mom was with me and she found the box of pj's and went through that. I literally waded through the stacks of clothes looking for cute stuff in that Doodlebug could use. I made a HUGE pile and then after I had gone through about everything on the tarp I sorted the pile I made. I checked for rips, stains, missing buttons, to see if zippers worked etc. Since the clothes were being sold by the bag I could afford to take a few more chances on clothes with spots than I normally would. Elmo had a purple spot on him, but was too cute to pass up. Lucky for me it came out in the wash. And we did take a couple of pairs of jammies even with small staining. He's only wearing them to bed.

It was a lot of work, but I am tickled to have all the pj's we desperately needed, another coat, halloween costumes (or dress up clothes) and all the cute shoes. Where else could I have gotten all that stuff for $10?

Pumpkins are a Mean Vegtable

2010-06-29T08:07:00.001-04:00

A while back my blog friend Heather mentioned that her family grows a couple of pumpkins every year so they don't have to buy them for Halloween. I thought this was a most excellent idea so I stole it.

When we carved our pumpkin last year we saved out about 8 seeds. I dried them on the windowsill a while and then put them away until spring.

When I planted our garden this spring I dropped in a few of the seeds. I think I planted six in total and to my amazement, four actually grew! For the next week or so I had the cutest little pumpkin plants. Then I had some bigger pumpkin plants. By the time we came back from vacation the pumpkins had run amuck. They completely grew over the marigolds totally hiding them from sight, started to choke out the squash and were running vines out into the yard.

Then God intervened.

It's been in the high 90's all week and not a rain drop in sight. When I went out to pull some weeds tonight it was obvious that one of the pumpkin vines had perished from heat exhaustion and lack of water.

Oops.

So I pulled it out.

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation I highly recommend that you wear gloves. Did you know that pumpkins have thorns? And prickers? And they are not widely spaced apart like rose. Oh no, they are packed in tight. And since I was not wearing gloves I felt the fury of the pumpkins wrath.

Thirsty pumpkins are mean pumpkins. After all, this is the pumpkin that the seeds came from.

And just so you know that I am not a total pumpkin hater I am adding on a picture of a very cute and sweet pumpkin. This one has no thorns and is very cute indeed.

Update on Doodlebug and Financial Challenge

2010-06-28T08:06:00.001-04:00

Last week we went to visit the neurologist again. She no longer thinks that Doodlebug is a late bloomer. He's just too far behind and not catching up like he should be. He's 17 months old and still not able to feed himself. He does not call me "Mama" or his daddy "Dada" yet. He still is barely able to chew food. He is walking, but hasn't gotten really good at it yet. These are milestones he should have passed long ago. It breaks my heart to see him falling behind.

Anyway, since he's not catching up like we had hoped the neuro wants to start doing more testing to see if we can find a cause for his delays. Previously she ordered some bloodwork to test for metabolic and genetic disorders. We chose not to have them done at this time. We are still holding onto him being a late bloomer, and if there is a diagnosis it won't change what we are doing to get him therapy and try to catch up. He doesn't have unusual health problems that would lead us to think there is more going on and we just don't see the point of spending thousands of dollars to rule out disorders no one really thinks he has.

So now we are setting up and MRI. We go to get some basic bloodwork done tomorrow and hopefully the MRI will be done in the next month. I really don't want to have this done either. He will have to be put under and I hate for him to go through all of this. And anything the MRI could tell us is stuff I don't want to know. She is looking for brain damage, brain malformation and evidence of a stroke, just to name a few horrifying scenarios. And if all is well there, we are going to be sent off to the geneticist. Who knows what all that will entail.

This is taking it's toll on the potential adoption as well. The neuro wants us to find out what is going on with Doodlebug before proceeding with the adoption. What exactly is she expecting to diagnose him with? And really, what does it matter? We want to have another child. That won't change even if Doodlebug has lasting issues.

I am sure the MRI will cost a significant amount, even with insurance. Insurance only covers a portion and when Doodlebug had ear tubes put in and his endoscopy done we paid quite a bit of money out of pocket. That money will end up coming out of the adoption fund. And if the MRI is normal I'm sure we will have to pursue the bloodwork for the genetic and metabolic disorders. I know the tests are very expensive and we will again have to pay a portion.

Please don't misunderstand. I am grateful that we have the funds to pay for this. I am grateful we have insurance. I do not begrudge my son this money if he needs it to have medical tests done. It's just frustrating to know how far away we are from our goal of raising money for the adoption and realizing that this will only push us further away from that goal. It seems so unattainable right now.

So far in June I have raised a whopping $35. We have a looooonnnng way to go to reach our goal, and it will be even further if we need to dip into the funds we do have to pay medical bills.

I really don't want to leave this post on such a low note, so let me tell you a little bit more about my wonderful boy. He is my favorite baby in the whole world. If I could clone him I would do it in a New York minute.

He is so laid back and good natured it is unbelievable. When we were in Downtown Disney we decided to go into some of the gift shops. I could hand him a toy to look at and play with for a minute and then take it back from him and he never made a fuss. Not once. What kid does that?

He's started giving kissed on request. Of course I request them at least twenty time a day. He's almost always happy to oblige.

He has the best laugh. And he uses it often.

When we pick him up in the nursery at church and all the other kids are screaming he is the only one with a smile on his face. And his smile gets even bigger when he sees us.

He makes really funny faces.

He loves to read books. Dr. Suess and Sandra Boynton are his favorites. He will sit and look at books for almost an hour by himself.

And last, but not least, he is the personification of cuteness.

Gluten-Free Oreo Recipe

2010-06-25T08:04:00.002-04:00

There are few foods that I truely miss after going gluten-free. Oreos is on the list though.

Come on, it's a classic. That chocolatey wafter with the yummy cream filling. Who doesn't love oreos?

So I was really excited when I found a recipe for homemade Oreo cookies one day on Smitten Kitchen's blog. Even though it wasn't gluten-free I copied it down thinking I could maybe alter it.

Yesterday I sat down at the computer and did a search for "gluten-free Oreo recipe". Zilch. Zip. Nada.

So I pulled the one on my computer and studied it a minute. The gluten free flour mix I use says that it can be substituted cup for cup for regular flour. What have I got to lose? I really want some Oreos and it's not like I can just waltz down to the store and get some.

So I started baking. This is what I ended up with.

Yep, that is a plate of homemade, gluten free, Oreo cookies. Yum!

They were easy and oh so yummy!

I will give you the recipe, but there are a couple of things I'd do differently next time so I'm going to make some notes on it too. Now don't freak out on me when you read the recipe. They really are not hard at all to make. And the only kind of cooking I like is easy and good. Okay, ready? Here it is!

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (if you are making this gluten free, I used this flour mix)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

As always, if you are baking these gluten-free please verify each of your ingredients is gluten-free before starting.

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar, then beat in the butter, and the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass. This is where I made my first mistake. Maybe you all know this, but if you put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the butter and egg when you start to beat it the cookie mix will explode out of the bowl and all over the counters. Very messy. (Don't ask me how I know this, I just know.) Next time I will cream the butter and egg and then slowly add the dry ingredients.

3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set on a rack to cool. If you read my other recipes you know I don't follow directions very well. So I had to experiment. For about 2/3 of my cookies I rolled out the dough and used a round cookie cutter. I put the dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper and rolled it out thick 1/4-1/2 inch). The cutter is about the size of a regular Oreo. If you do this, be aware that your cookies will still spread and leave room on the pan for this. Otherwise you will end up with one giant cookie. These took about 7 minutes to cook. The rest of the cookies I used a cookie scoop and then flattened them slightly.

4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy. I used butter flavored Crisco as my shortening and it turned my cream yellow although it came out white in the pictures. Just a note in case that kind of thing would bother you.

5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Remember when I said not to freak out? Okay good, keep reading. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. I don't have a pastry bag and I don't know how to pipe. That would be in direct opposition of my love for easy cooking. I tried just spooning the icing on the cookies, but it was kind of messy and didn't work well. So I loaded the icing in a ziplock bag and smooshed out all the air I could. Then I sealed the bag and cut off one of the lower corners. I squeezed the icing out of the hole into blobs on top of half of the wafters. Much easier than the spooning method. I got all the icing on in less time than it took me to load up the baggie.

The Verdict

Oh-my-goodness-these-cookies-are-awesome! Someone pass the milk.

I love them. The ones that I made with the cookie cutters were much thinner and more Oreo-like. The ones that I scooped and flattened ended up about an inch thick in the end (with filling and all). Now initially that sounds like a good thing, but ends up being a little much. If I try that method again I will have to flatten them out more. And maybe try a smaller scoop.

They do not taste like they are gluten free. I gave one to a friend who stopped by this morning (who is not gluten-free) and she declared them to be "better than Oreos!"

Oh, and because this is how my life works.... As the cookies were cooling I found a gluten-free adaptation on the web. It's very similar to the one I used and if the gluten free flour blend you are using does not already contain xantham gum, I would follow her suggestion to add 1/2 t of Xantham gum.

Jules Gluten Free Flour Blend

2010-06-24T18:58:00.004-04:00

I refer to this gluten-free flour blend a lot when I am baking. It is my go-to flour for most of my baking recipes. It's easy to make and I keep a container of it stocked in my pantry and ready to go. I make double batches because I tend to go through it pretty quickly.

Just a quick reminder to always read the labels on every ingredient you use if you are cooking gluten free. I try to point out potential hazards but manufacturers make changes quickly and often so you always need to double check.

Jules Nearly Normal Flour Mix*

• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour or tapioca starch
• 4 teaspoons xanthan gum

*recipe reprinted with permisssion

If you don't want to make your own flour mix it is available by mail-order. You can visit Jules' website at JulesGlutenFree.com for more information. She also has a lot of free gluten-free recipes.

Home Sweet Home

2010-06-24T14:20:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered what your house would look like if you had strep twice, and then mono and then gone out of town for a week all while staying at home with your 16 month old? You haven't? Me either. But I now know. And if you keep reading, you shall too.

Can you say clutter?

On every. available. surface.

Before you feel the need to call social services to come and take my child to a less chaotic environment, be assured it does not look the same now. It took me all of Monday to clean up the kitchen, but it looks a lot better now.

Most of the time I am a reformed slob. I do actually have a routine I do every day to keep the house presentable. It's not long and complicated, just the basic stuff that needs to get done so we can keep on living here without falling all over stuff. Or sticking to the kitchen floor. Not that that's ever happened to me. Nope.

With all the sickness and then the vacation I have let things go for a little too long. There are unfinished projects in every room of our house. I don't remember the last time I dusted. There's a lot of cat hair on the stairs. It is a bit overwhelming.

But the difference now it that I know I can do it. I can dig back out. I can keep up a house while raising a small child without cleaning for hours every day. I have done it before and I will do it again.

Because I like the house cleaner. I like it when I can find what I'm looking for. I like it when the counters in the kitchen are free of clutter. I like it when the unfinished projects are projects in process and not junk left lying around the house forever. I like it when my son can crawl around on the kitchen floor and not get really dirty. It makes me happier. Calmer. I feel a bit more in control. So, I'm taking back my house. I will set my timer and work my behind off for 15 minutes at a time until I'm back on track. "The house didn't get dirty overnight, and it won't get clean overnight either." (Quote from FlyLady.)

Getting out Cherry Stains

2010-06-23T08:11:00.001-04:00

Usually when I wear a white shirt I eat spaghetti and get sauce all over it. This time I wore a white shirt and got cherry juice on it.

Of course we were traveling and the only clean shirts I had were buried in the trunk. And there's nothing quite like showing up at your in-laws with huge stains all over your shirt.

So I grabbed a baby wipe and cleaned it up as best I could. The stains weren't gone, but they were much lighter. When I washed the shirt I fully expected to see cherry stains on it. They had set for three days and I had no pre-treater for the laundry either.

But they were gone!

I had no idea that a baby wipe would prevent the stain from setting and it would come out in the wash. But hey, I like simple. And I really like that my shirt was not ruined.

Now where are the rest of those cherries...?

Check out other blogs linked up to Works for me Wednesdays.

Vacation Pictures

2010-06-22T08:07:00.002-04:00

This was one of the highlights of the trip. Doodlebug sat on the edge of the pool and would jabber to his cousin, Z. Then Z would get out and yell, "Hey Doodlebug, watch this!" And then he would dive in the pool. Sometimes Doodlebug would laugh, but usually he would put on his surprised face and yell "Oooooooooh!" And then jabber some more loudly. It really looked like he was trying to coach Z in the fine art of diving. We started referring to him as the German judge.

Spending a little time with Aunt K.

This is how Doodlebug spent most of the trip, clinging to Daddy. At least it gave Mommy a break.

Oh wait, is that a smile I see??? Quick, snap the picture!

We took Doodlebug to Downtown Disney. He was not impressed.

And when we stuck a hat on him, he became even less impressed.

But we did get one pretty good family shot.

Big boy walking!

The Stuff of Legends...

2010-06-21T13:13:00.002-04:00

You know the family stories that everyone loves to tell and that makes the entire family roar with laughter? We refer to those as family legends. Have you ever noticed that they are hysterical now, but at the time they were pretty awful? They usually start out remember the time...
...the dog ate Grandma's birthday cake and then threw it up in the car?
...we hit a deer on vacation? And when we stopped for help the man had locked himself out of his house so we had to help him climb in the window before we could call a tow truck.
...Dad got lost boating on the lake and we ended up trying to signal him with the headlight from our campsite?

Those are all true family legends by the way.

Anyways, to get to the point of this blog post. Last week we thought we were going to go on vacation. This week we now know it was a lengend making excursion.

The day before we were supposed to leave Doodlebug had a fever, so off to the doctor's we went. It was pronounced a virus and we were told to go ahead with our vacation.

By 8:30 that evening the fever was 105.7 and we ended up in the emergency room. Still a virus. Nothing to do except give Motrin and Tylenol. Have a nice day.

We delayed the trip a day. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a car all day with a fever, and I didn't want to do that to Doodlebug.

One day late and fever free we left for Florida.

By the time we got there, the fever was back, but at least it was only 101. Motrin and bed.

Unfortunately the fever and teething pushed Doodlebug over the edge. Our sweet boy who loves people and going places only wanted Daddy to hold him. No one else. He refused to take baths, eat green veggies, or drink anything. We thought it would end when he started feeling better.

He got over the fever and promptly got a cold. And a molar. Poor kid.

Our first family excursion in Florida was to the grocery store for dinner. It was almost time for Doodlebug to eat, but we figured we could make it there and back no problem. So we left the diaper bag (with snacks and juice) at home. Our car's battery died in the parking lot. No warning. We came out with our cranky baby and sack of groceries to a car that was not the least bit interested in starting. And it was almost 100 degrees. Fun times.

On our last full day of the legend making excursion we left Doodlebug napping with his grandparents, aunt and cousins and went out on a date. It was a great date, until the drive home. We got rear ended. Car has minor bumper damage, but it hurt my back and neck so off to Urgent Care we went. I got medicine. It made me sick to my stomach. Just another bonus along the way.

Someday our family will find this hysterical. I tried to tell myself that while standing in the grocery store parking lot. And again at Urgent Care. I guess legends get better with age and this one needs a bit more time.

Anyone want to share a family lengend and make me laugh?

Things that are Impossible

2010-06-21T07:43:00.002-04:00

Okay so we need to raise $7000 by the end of the year. I've been wracking my brains, trying to sell stuff on line, applying for jobs and researching work at home jobs.

I have raised $30.

This is impossible.

So I started thinking about other things that are impossible and decided to make a list.

walking on water

parting the Red Sea

speaking the world into existence

a man being swallowed by a whale for three days and living

the whale delivers the man to his original destination

surviving being thrown in a fiery furnace

feeding thousands of people with a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish

having leftovers after that meal

raising people from the dead

healing people who are paralyzed

giving sight to the blind

bumblebees flying

I seem to have a better perspective when I remember all the things on that list that are impossible too.

Making Hostess Cupcakes

2010-06-18T08:23:00.001-04:00

I've been debating whether this little tip is even blog-worthy. It's such a simple little thing.

My mom, who also has Celiac, used to love Hostess cupcakes. Now that she has to eat gluten free, they are off-limits. She came up with this little trick to make these gluten free cupcakes at home. I think you could also do this with regular cupcakes.

1 box Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix
1 stick of butter
1 cup water
3 eggs
Marshmellow fluff.

Make your cake mix according to the directions on the box, or you could use my slightly healthier version of making this mix.

Put a small amount of cake batter into each cupcake tin. Add a generous dollop of marshmellow fluff and top with remaining batter. Bake as directed.

The marshmellow fluff will rise to the top, but the taste is remarkably close to Hostess Cupcakes.

And just a side note, I tried to duplicate her results by using marshmellows instead of fluff. It was not nearly the same. I just thought it would be easier. Next time I'll just use the fluff

Quick Fix for Well Loved Clothes

2010-06-17T08:41:00.002-04:00

Doodlebug wears mostly secondhand clothes. Some I buy at the local consignment shop, others at church consignment sales and a few at garage sales. Garage sales are hit and miss but they are usually the best bargains. When I find clothing for less than a dollar I'm willing to take some chances on being able to clean it up when I get home.

A couple weeks ago I found a yard stuff with boy clothes in the next size up for Doodlebug. They were priced at $.50 each so I dug around and found a couple of cute things. There was a cute little Winnie the Pooh fleece pullover. At first I put it back because Pooh looked dirty, but when I looked closer I realized he was just covered in fuzz balls. I decided it was cute enough to take a chance on and put it in my pile. This is what it looked like.

When I got home I got out my old sweater shaver. Actually, if you look closely it's really called the Magik Fuzz Buster. I forgot where I got mine from but I've seen them for sale in fabric stores.

I spent about five minutes going over Pooh and shaving off the fuzz balls. My guess was that once he was cleaned up the whole jacket would look a lot better.

It's amazing what a few minutes of restoration work can do to a piece of clothing. I don't hesitate to buy sweaters, shirts or other clothing that looks a little pilly because I know that I can clean it up quickly at home.

Some Reasons I Love Being a Stay at Home Mom

2010-06-15T08:56:00.002-04:00

Baby giggles are the best things ever. Seriously, if I could bottle them sales of Prozac would drop dramatically.
On beautiful spring days I get to play outside.
Doodlebug is my favorite baby in the whole world and I get to hang out with him all day.
When I’m really tired, I can take a nap (as long as Doodlebug is on board with this plan!)
I get to play with bubbles.
The commute is awesome.
My boss is so stinkin’ cute!
Doodlebug makes sure I don't take myself too seriously.
Part of my job description is snuggling.
Every day is a new adventure.
I love seeing my little guy discover the world.
I get to be creative and stretch my capacity to be resourceful.

Christmas in June

2010-06-14T07:38:00.008-04:00

Christmas in June? Isn't it a little early for Christmas? And a little hot? Yes, yes and yes.

But when you are doing Christmas on a budget, starting early is the only way to go.

I was at a thrift shop when I saw this cute little baby laptop.

Ah, the perfect gift for the little Elmo addict in my life. Of course we had to play with it to make sure it worked which Doodlebug thought was fabulous. It teaches about shapes and colors and the letters of the alphabet. A little advanced for him now, but should be just about right in December. Sold for $1.99!

Then I saw this little bitty toddler desk. The tray swings up out of the way and it even has a little pocket on the side for books or papers. Too cute. I got this for $3.99.

And then I was reading a local message board for moms. There was a post saying a mom had a bag of boys toys free for anyone who wanted to pick them up. I took her up on it no questions asked. I figured there would be a lot of junk, broken toys and stuff from McDonalds and there was. But after sorting through the bag we pulled out some usable stuff. A remote controlled car, 2 GI Joe action figures and at least 20 toy cars.

I pulled out some really cute stuff and bagged it up to save for Doodlebug's Christmas stocking. I'll just put in in the gift drawer until December.

I think the hardest gifts for me to come up with are stocking stuffers. The sheer number of small items adds up quickly and it seems like I spend a small fortune or have a stocking full of useless junk. This year it looks like a lot of it is already done and we can just add a few little treats.

And just look at how cute these cars are! I love the little faces.

Summer Spaghetti

2010-06-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

This is one of those a-little-of-this and a little-of-that recipes. The kind that's hard to translate into something on paper for another person to be able to follow. But summer's coming, and so are the fresh tomatoes. The tomatoes in my garden are starting to flower and I am looking forward to being able to make summer spaghetti again. Since fresh tomatoes are the base you really need home grown ones, not the kind you buy at the supermarket.

Summer Spaghetti

One large tomato peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
2t oil
2T vinegar (I've used red, white, balsamic and a mixture of the three)
2 cups cooked pasta (you can use gluten-free pasta for this)

--------------
Okay, those are all the essentials for this dish. But there are lots and lots of things that you can add to make it taste better depending on what you have in the fridge, how much time you have and what you like to eat. Here are some of my favorites...

Sliced black olives
1/2 inch chunks of sweet pepper
1/2 inch chunks of cucumber
minced garlic
Thinly sliced onion
--------------

Mix tomatoes, oil and vinegar together in a bowl. For a dish with more bite to it, let the tomatoes marinade in the vinegar and oil for up to a day before serving. Add olives, sweet pepper, cucumber, garlic and onion. Serve over cold cooked pasta. Mmmmm...

Happy Anniversary!

2010-06-10T15:15:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was our three year anniversary.

I was smart enough to marry the nicest man I've ever met.

And I am lucky enough that he puts up with all of my shenanigans.

Love you Hon!

Moving tips

2010-06-09T07:00:00.004-04:00

I have moved a lot. And I have had a lot of disorganized moves. You know the kind, the night before the U-Haul arrives you are up into the wee hours randomly throwing all of your belongings into boxes. One box might have the tv remote, a pair of shorts, brown flats, 3 books, a couple of picture frames and a frying pan. It sure does make life interesting when you are trying to unpack. Or find clothes for work. Or find the frying pan to make dinner. After a couple of disaster moves I got a little smarter and did about 5 minutes worth of planning before throwing stuff into boxes. Much, much easier.

I always pack a laundry basket with the essentials we will need as soon as we walk in the house. Toilet paper, soap, paper towels, trash bags, basic cleaning supplies, cell phone chargers and stuff like that. Just take the basket in with you when you first go in and you will have your essentials all on hand. You know you are going to want to clean the shower before you use and it and you will be exhausted. At least having all the stuff you need in one place saves you from having to dig through 9 boxes just to find the Lysol.

When you are boxing stuff up pack like things together. You put all of your pots in one box, baking stuff in another, desk supplies in another etc. If you do end up with a random box of stuff (this inevitably happens with the last couple of boxes) make sure you label it really, really well. Write down every single thing that you put in there.

Label each box. I know, it sounds so tedious, who the heck wants to do it? Seriously, it is worth the 10 seconds that it takes. Your lists can be really detailed or a label that really only means something to you. I use index cards and along the top I write in big letters the name of the room the box will belong in in the new home. Underneath I will make notes to remind me what's in there. Sometimes I will write "books off bookshelf in the living room" or I might list out "cake pans, spatulas, cook books and oven mitts". It just needs to make sense to you and anyone who will be helping you unpack.

Start packing today. Pack up anything you know you won't need this week. Start by taking the pictures off the walls. Pack up knicknacks and decorations next. Then pack up stuff you won't need this week like baking stuff, gift wrap, extra towels, craft supplies, books and other stuff you can live without temporarily. As you get closer to the move you will pack up the stuff you use more frequently.

I hope that we don't have to move again any time soon. Okay, ever. Moving is long and boring and exhausting. And when we made our last move I was newly pregnant. The kind of pregnant where you spend 80% of your day trying not to lose your lunch. It took us the whole pregnancy to get our whole house unpacked but at least we were able to find what we needed without opening every. single. stinking. box.

If you are interested in more Works for me Wednesday tips, head on over to We Are That Family and check out the weekly blog carnival.

Financial Challenge-Week 1

2010-06-08T08:02:00.003-04:00

Last week we embarked on a huge financial challenge in order to raise money for our adoption.

We did briefly discuss me going back to work full-time. But the thought of putting Doodlebug in daycare kills me. And by the time we take into account the extra expenses of daycare, gas and work clothes the amount I would actually generate gets smaller and smaller. It just is not worth it to me. That was crossed off the list.

Then we discussed a part-time job. I decided to apply for a part-time job in child care that would let me bring Doodlebug with me. He probably won't be directly in my care, but I would know the people caring for him and I would be in the next room over. It won't generate tons of income but it will help.

But one thing we can do today is to clean house and sell stuff. We have lots of stuff. I keep trying to keep it pared down, but I'm pretty sure that it multiplies at night. So we are going to try selling some of it. I've listed and sold some cloth diapers Doodlebug has outgrown and now we are working our way through extra furniture, home accessories, toys and anything else we can think of. So far I've been listing them on a local mom's board that I'm a part of but we're also going to hit Craig's List, eBay and probably have a garage sale too. I was telling one of my friends about this last night and she's now setting more stuff aside for us that we can have to try and sell. She rocks!

I've been very inspired and encouraged by this blog. These stay-at-home moms buy things at garage sales and thrift shops to resell. Some of it, such as clothing, goes straight up for sale. Other things, such as furniture, often need a little TLC. One of the moms just completed a 16 week challenge to raise $4000 and did it. Astonishing. But if she can do it, maybe I can too.

I guess the idea is to try a little bit of everything and see what works.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a refrigerator to clean up and post for sale.

Barnes and Nobles Summer Reading Program

2010-06-07T07:51:00.001-04:00

Did you know that Barnes and Nobles has a summer reading program?

Basically your child reads 8 books and then is able to pick a free one off of a short list. I don't think this is marketed for kids Doodlebug's age, but heck we can read 8 books in a single morning around here.

We're teaching Doodlebug a little sign language and the first word he learned was book. I think he asks me to read to him 200 times in a day. I usually do. I have never met a baby who was a bookworm before, but I think my Doodlebug qualifies.

Found a Freebie

2010-06-05T13:25:00.003-04:00

I just found a coupon code for Medco Health Store that is offering $10 off of your first order and shipping for $.99. I just bought 2 tubes of Aquaphor and my subtotal was $9.98 before shipping. Those little buggers are expensive! I entered my coupon code and paid $.99 to have them both shipped to me. If you are a first time shopper the coupon code is FIRST10.

There are lots of items on sale and $10 off your total is pretty great too.

Happy shopping!

Chocolate Cake Mix Experiment

2010-06-04T09:05:00.004-04:00

I had a couple of the Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake mixes in my cupboard and I wanted chocolate last night like crazy. But as any of my reader's know by now, I really have trouble following a recipe. It's not that I can't, but I don't want to be limited by the directions on the box.

But since it was a success I thought I'd share.

In the freezer I had a couple of cups of cherry puree. This is a mix of fresh spinach leaves and frozen cherries pureed together. I don't remember the ratio, but maybe I'm guessing roughly half and half. (This would be no fun if I remembered everything, now would it?) So I made up a new recipe.

1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1 cup cherry puree
1/2 stick of butter (softened)

Combine all ingredients. Once combined mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Bake according to directions on the box. Check your cake a little sooner than the directions say to. Mine was done in 30 minutes in a 9 x 9 pan.

I was hoping the cake would taste like a cherry chocolate cake, but it really didn't. It was moist and chocolately and yummy though! And the best part was that I cut out 1/2 of the butter and 1 egg that the recipe called for. And I replaced it with fruits and veggies! Much healthier and I thought it tasted better than the way it is supposed to be prepared.

The Financial Challenge

2010-06-03T10:11:00.004-04:00

It's been a pretty busy week at our house. On Tuesday evening we met with the second adoption consultant and she confirmed our fears about money. It's going to cost a lot more than we had planned for.

There are several tax credits we would qualify for after the adoption is final, and Chris' work currently has an adoption benefit that they pay after the adoption is final. But the problem is that the costs are incurred well before that. So for a period of time the only place for the expenses to come from is out of our pocket.

I did pages and pages and pages of calculations. At the end of the day we need about $7000 more before we can start. We had planned to start the process by the end of July. I don't see that happening.

We've given ourselves until the end of the year to come up with the money. Now, I'm a big fan of setting unrealistic money goals and trying to make them happen creatively. I hit my goals about 80% of the time and I'd say another 10% or so are really close. But I have never had a challenge like this one.

I have no idea how we will make this happen. Well, I have lots of ideas but none that can realistically generate this kind of cash in such a short period of time. So we are just jumping in and seeing what happens. Maybe we can't do it, but if it comes to that I need to know that we went down fighting.

My Sweet Boys

2010-06-02T09:02:00.002-04:00

Update to Filing System

2010-06-01T09:31:00.000-04:00

Remember my original filing system? It was U.G.L.Y. It was bad.

Then in February I declared it filing month and developed a whole new system. And then posted about it. Even writing basically the same post twice. I was a bit excited and got a little carried away.

I was very enthusiastic, but a little worried too. After all, I had never been able to keep a system going before. How long would it last?

Well, I am pleased to report that I have pretty much kept up with it so far! True, it's only been 3 months, but I have never kept up with the paperwork that long before. In the spirit of being totally honest, I do have to say that the filing does need a bit of maintenance work. There are a few tweaks I need to make to the system. I need to combine a few things, purge out a few appliance manuals but that's about it. I'd say about 90-95% of my paperwork is currently filed right where it is supposed to be. Success!

Oh no!

2010-05-31T18:07:00.002-04:00

We lost the coupon notebook.

We had it last night at the grocery store and now we do not. I am heartbroken thinking of all of the coupons and rainchecks I had in there. I had tons and tons of diaper rainchecks that were half off (close to 100) and other staples too. I spent hours getting all the coupons, organizing the notebook and collecting rainchecks. All that work gone.

Can I equip my coupon with GPS technology?

Costs to Adopt

2010-05-27T07:00:00.002-04:00

It costs a staggering amount of money to adopt. It can be as little as a couple thousand dollars to adopt a child in the foster care system or up to sixty thousand dollars. Yep, $60,000. That's a lotta money.

So what are all the fees for? (I'm mostly talking about the fees for a domestic adoption that is not through the foster care system. Some of the fees overlap to other types of adoption, but not all.)

The first thing you need is a homestudy. As near as I can figure this is a social worker meeting with the potential adoptive family and touring their home to make sure that they have "a suitable environment to raise a child". Actually, it's several meetings and a bunch of paperwork. Fingerprints, criminal record checks, medical clearances and that sort of thing. This cost $1000-$1500 or so.

If you decide to use an adoption consultant their fees are generally $2000-$3000.
The adoption consultant is the person who looks out for the interests of the adoptive parents and helps to guide them through the process.

Then there are the fees to the adoption agency. This is a huge chunk of the cost to adopt. My understanding is about $13,000-$15,000. Gulp! Did you know that agencies work in the best interest of the birth parents? Now, don't get me wrong, I am glad that there is someone protecting their interests I just have a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I am paying that much money to someone who isn't even looking out for my best interest. I was really surprised to find out what these fees cover. Can you guess? Advertising. All that money for advertising. Whew.

Birth mother expenses. This varies a lot. It totally depends on the situation and what the birth mother needs. Anything from maternity clothes, to medical bills to rent so she has somewhere to live. These fees could be minor or thousands and thousands of dollars.

And then there are the expenses involved in actually going to pick up the child from whereever he or she is born. When you adopt a newborn in the US the adoptive parents go to the hospital where the baby is going to be born or is already born. After the birth mother signs away her parental rights and the child is discharged from the hospital the adoptive parents can take the child with them. But until the state the child was born in and the state the adoptive parents live in get on the same page, the adoptive parents cannot leave the state with their child. So this is usually about two weeks in a hotel, plus airfare and any other travel expenses.

The cost is overwhelming. There are no guarantees. We could spend thousands of dollars and still not have another child. I cannot think of a single way to raise the kind of cash needed to make this happen. Well, I could think of a couple of ways but other than winning the lottery none of them are legal.

So we are at a crossroad. Do we go for it? Do we wait until we can save more money? Do I get a job to help with the expenses? There don't seem to be any good answers. There sure as heck aren't any easy answers.

Cutting Hair at Home

2010-05-26T13:05:00.005-04:00

I started cutting Doodlebug’s hair when he was about 6 months old. He had this little patch on the top of his head that was about 3 inches long. It was very cute until he got fitted for his helmet. It stuck out and he looked like a rooster, and not in a flattering way. So we went to Target, bought a mustache trimmer and started trimming.

I bought a mustache trimmer instead of a hair clipper because it was smaller and I wanted to have more control over it. It turned out to be the perfect size.

Since Doodlebug was not yet sitting up on his own I stripped him to his diaper, put him in his Bumbo and started clipping away. He did great, never even flinched. Not that he was still, he squirmed away but never even noticed what I was doing with his hair.

I started with the longest setting on the trimmer and for this haircut that was all I needed. Now that he has more hair to work with, I leave it a little longer on top and trim the sides a little bit shorter. And just a helpful tip, if you put the trimmer down during the haircut always make sure that the guard is still on the setting you thought it was. I don’t know this from experience. And especially not the experience of moving the guard from the longest setting to the shortest one without noticing the day before his first birthday. Because I would never do that. Oh no, I would never do anything like that.

Now when I get ready to cut his hair I put an Elmo DVD in and sit him on a large towel in the family room. It works great. He is mesmerized by Elmo and I just buzz around him trimming him up.

I am linking up to We are THAT Family and the Works for me Wednesday posts.

Frugal Gift Giving-Stop Giving Gifts

2010-05-25T16:08:00.000-04:00

The easiest and most economical way to deal with gift giving is to stop giving gifts. I know, sounds so simple, but it is so hard.

I hate that Christmas is so focused on gift giving. I never know what to ask for. I often don’t have any good ideas for other people and I spend lots of time running around town trying to find presents, wrap them and get them where they need to go. Instead of celebrating the peace and joy of Christmas, I end up boycotting Walmart (have you seen their lines in December???), trying to find parking spots at other stores and griping about having to go out in the cold. I wanted something different, something better.

The economy was hard on several members of our family this past year so we broached the subject of cutting back on Christmas gifts. We suggested only giving gifts to the kids, each adult picking another one’s name out of a hat or having a ‘dirty Christmas’. This is the game where every person brings a wrapped gift under a set price limit (usually about $20). Everyone draws a number out of a hat. The person with the lowest number gets to pick and unwrap the first gift. The next person can either take the first person’s gift or get one from under the tree. It can be a lot of fun with some gifts being passed from person to person throughout the entire game.

Our family chose to just give gifts to the adults this year. Suddenly our Christmas list was cut in half. It was much easier financially as well as logistically. I found that since I didn’t have to go out and buy and wrap so many gifts I had more time to do the things I enjoy at Christmastime. I baked cookies, sat by the fire and decorated our tree with my guys. I really hope this is a tradition our family carries out year after year.

Frugal Gift Baskets

2010-05-24T19:26:00.003-04:00

I’ve talked about making gift baskets. This is one of my favorite ways to give gifts. It’s a great way to stretch a gift budget without being obvious about it or having a skimpy looking gift.

A movie themed gift basket is pretty easy, usually a winner and easily customizable for just about anyone. Here’s how to do it.

Decide on the main part of the gift. Are you giving a gift certificate to Blockbuster, gift passes to a movie theatre or a favorite DVD? This is where the bulk of money on the gift will be spent.

Next you need to find a container to put your gift in. For a movie gift I really like to put them in popcorn containers that you can typically find at the Dollar Store.

Now, what kinds of other movie type things can you find to fill out your basket? Some of my favorites are candy, popcorns or sodas. In the past couple of weeks I have been able to get both candy bars and popcorn for free at some local stores. If you don’t have any freebies handy, you could buy both of these at the Dollar Store or a bag of unpopped popcorn is an inexpensive option.

Other gift theme ideas:

A an easy kid’s gift this time of year would be to buy a beach bucket and fill it with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, bouncy balls, small books, sand shovel, blow up beach toys and towels that expand in water. (I see these towels routinely at the Dollar Store. They are a little smaller than a deck of cards and expand to a full sized towel in water. Kids think they’re cool.) The buckets can be dressed up with stickers to personalize it with things the child likes. And a balloon tied to the bucket handle is almost sure to be a hit as well.

You could adapt the beach bucket idea for a baby shower as well. Instead of toys add baby wash, wash cloths or towels, lotions, wipes, baby Q-tips, diaper rash cream, and finger nail clippers.

Have you ever gone to look at someone’s wedding registry and there is almost nothing there that’s under $100?

If there are any cooking gadgets left you could try a food themed basket. Spaghetti noodles, spaghetti sauce placed in a colander could be a good gift as well. Depending on how much you would like to do you could include a stirring spoon, dish towels, oven mitts or an apron.

Another option could be a bath basket. Buy a towel or washcloth (or as many as your budget will allow). Other accessories that you could add to the basket could be soaps, lotions, nail brushes, bath pillows or body sponges. I’ve seen all of these items at the Dollar Store or you might even have some sample sized soaps tucked away that would be appropriate. You have some options to wrap this gift. You could buy an inexpensive bath trash can, a basket at Goodwill or simply roll the towels, tie with a ribbon and tuck in the accessories.

A coffee lover might appreciate a mug with a selection of sample coffees and hot chocolates. Tuck the samples inside the mug and it is its’ own gift basket.

Once you have your gift picked out, arranged in its basket (or mug, or bucket, or colander…) you will probably want to wrap it. Sometimes it’s simple to just to pop the array in a gift bag, but often that just makes the gift look like a bundle of ‘stuff’. Not what we’re going for here. Typically what I do is buy large rolls of transparent gift wrap. It looks a lot like a roll of Saran Wrap the size of a roll of wrapping paper. It’s often on sale right after Christmas. Clear is always in season and often plain colors can be used year round. Unroll a section of the wrap, place the gift in the center and cut the wrap long enough so you can pull both sides up above your package and secure them with curly ribbon and voila, it's a gift basket.

Storing Your Frugal Gifts Purchases

2010-05-23T19:33:00.002-04:00

If you are giving frugal gifts you will be on the lookout for gifts all year round. When you get them home you need a system to store them so you can find all your good buys when you need a gift. In our home we designated a dresser drawer for all of our gift finds. The most frugal gift will do you no good if it gets broken or if you can’t find it when you need it. If you don’t have an extra drawer you could put a box in a closet or a shelf in the laundry room.

One other thing we do is keep a list of gifts we have that are intended for specific people. I bought some stickers for Doodlebug’s stocking for Christmas this year at last year’s Christmas clearance sales. I made a note in my notebook that looks like this

Doodlebug * Stickers * Stored with Christmas decorations * $.64

I know who it’s for, what it is, where it’s stored and how much I spent. That way I will remember to give everyone everything I bought and not break the budget by buying more stuff than I thought. When you do Christmas shopping over the course of a year it’s really easy to forget what you have and you can go over budget by buying duplicate items or more than you really need.

Frugal Gift Giving From Unusual Sources

2010-05-21T13:23:00.006-04:00

Look for gifts in unusual places. Some of my favorite odd places to gift shop are Goodwill, garage sales, grocery stores and the Dollar Store.

Now I know that some of you are thinking, Come on, what the heck can you buy at Good will and give as a gift? Who really wants a used t-shirt for Christmas?

But Goodwill is my favorite source of gift baskets. They almost always have one that’s the size I need at a price that can’t be beat. A lot of baskets aren’t ever used, so they appear to be new. And I love to make gift baskets, but if I have to pay $15 just for the basket there might not be a gift to go in it. Goodwill often has an interesting selection of glass containers too. They can be used as gift giving containers, vases for flowers, candle holders etc.

Garage sales are so variable I never know what I might find. I keep my eyes out for kid toys (for Doodlebug’s Christmas or birthday gifts), scrapbooking stuff and picture frames. Last year I was able to buy a huge box of mega blocks for $2.00 at a garage sale. This was Doodlebug’s Christmas gift; he mostly was interested in the wrapping paper anyway. I just found a cool looking bowl at a garage sale last week. I know just the person that would love to get it and so her birthday shopping is done. Here's a picture of the bowl.

I already mentioned using things you can get for free from the grocery store to make gift baskets. After a holiday grocery stores are often a great source of inexpensive items. Bags of candy are marked 50% off all the time just because the colors of the wrappers are considered seasonal. For example, after Christmas bags of Hershey’s kisses and Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups are sold at a discount because the candies are wrapped in red, green, silver and gold. But the outer plastic bag is the only part that has a truly seasonal theme. Buy the candy, give all the gold ones to your dad for his birthday, give the red and silver ones at Valentine’s day and eat the green ones yourself. Win, win, win! I have also bought things like stuffed animals at grocery stores after Easter clearance. I was surprised to see stuffed dogs, turtles, frogs in addition to bunnies this year. They were all cute stuffed animals and were marked down 75%. I bought them to use for gifts for kids birthday parties since there was no indication that they were Easter.

I love The Dollar Store for finding little things for presents. One of my recent favorites is the Mylar balloons they sell there. They have a ton, they look so festive and Doodlebug just loves them. They last a month or so and then Doodlebug loves to play with the deflated balloon after that. This is what we gave out as favors for his birthday party and the kids loved it. They were also decorations during the party. It’s usually a bit hit and miss there, but I can usually find picture frames in a variety of sizes and I often popcorn containers like this one there. The popcorn containers may be in cardboard or in plastic, but both are the perfect containers for movie themed gift baskets.

Other dollar store purchases are mugs, scrapbooking stickers and paper, and bath accessories like sponges, good smelling soaps, and bath pillows.

Frugal Gift Giving with Freebies

2010-05-20T12:28:00.002-04:00

I use freebies as gifts. Some people think that’s tacky. Maybe it is. But it allows me to give bigger and better gifts that My rule is that I don’t give someone a gift just to use what’s in my stash of free stuff to give away. Usually the freebies I get become part of a larger present and are not the sole present itself.

Where do I find freebies and what sorts of things am I looking for? I am so glad you asked.

Local drugstores and shutterfly.com routinely have offers of free photo prints. All the grandparents are thrilled to receive pictures of Doodlebug and all we pay is a couple of dollars for shipping. If we can pick up the photos and skip the shipping costs, so much the better.

Free candy is another one that I have been seeing a lot of lately. When combining coupons with small candy sizes or sales I can often get candy for free or close to free. While 9¢ for a candy bar is not exactly free, it’s pretty close.

With coupons, sale prices and triple coupon days sometimes groceries can be free. While I wouldn’t normally give someone a gift of groceries some free pasta could become part of a spaghetti themed basket, for example. Other free groceries that could become part of a gift would be popcorn (movie gift basket), pasta sauce, candy, baby products, baking products and gum. Use your imagination and be creative with this. Some products like toothbrushes and toothpaste can make a great addition to gift packages for Operation Christmas Child or other charities.

Samples can be another source of freebies. These can be great to round out gift baskets. I have used baby product samples for baby shower gift baskets, hotel soaps (nice ones!) to dress up a simple wedding gift of towels and seeds to go in a gardening gift basket.

There are all sorts of ways to find out about these deals. Last week I found out about one because it printed on a Catalina coupon at my grocery store. Odd, but effective. Another good way is by signing up for emails from companies that provide the deals. The upside is you will always know about the deals, but the downside is that you will get a lot of extra and junk email. I have a separate email address for all of my coupon, email alerts and sales alerts. I usually check it weekly.

Another way to find out about freebies is by checking on local chat or message boards that feature frugal information. There is a mommy board locally that I frequent and often find out about deals that I would have never known existed. Some are freebies, others are just good local deals. Either way it helps out my bottom line.

Some of the drugstore chains such as Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid have websites that show how to pair coupons and sales to get deals that make some products free every week. This information is also available on other coupon sites such as couponmom.com. Other people have done the hard work of figuring out where the deals are, how to match up the coupons and some will even let you print personalized lists straight from the site to take to the stores with you. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Frugal Gift Giving

2010-05-19T10:31:00.009-04:00

Lately we’ve been doing a lot of frugal gift shopping. We haven’t had a lot of gift giving occasions, but we have had a lot of good deals. I don’t wait until the last minute to find gifts, because the more time I have the more opportunities I have to find good deals.

Here are some of the best ways to cut gift giving costs.

1. Take advantage of freebies. This is one of the most economical ways to give gifts, but only if you are giving something that the other person really wants or needs.
2. Look for gifts in unusual places such as Goodwill, garage sales and grocery stores.
3. Maintain a gift shelf/closet/drawer. This is a place that I store all the gifts that have no specific recipient as well as gifts I have bought months in advance of needing them.
4. Make gift baskets. This is a great way to make an inexpensive gift look bigger or to unify several smaller gifts.
5. Stop giving gifts. This is hands down the most frugal option.

Giving gifts the frugal way certainly allows for more creativity than just your average gift. It also allows me to stockpile gifts, which comes in handy when we realize we need to have wrapped gift ready to go by 10:30 the next morning. At least that’s what I would think since that’s never happened to me. (You do believe me right?)

Collecting gifts ahead of time allows me to give nice gifts without violating my budget of $5 per kid for birthdays. Whenever I find a coupon for 20% off of any item for Gymboree I save it and use it to buy bubbles at the Gymboree store. After the coupon it is $4.80 and kids love it.

This little bubble wand blows hundreds of tiny bubbles which kids really love. It’s really sturdy and doesn’t take up much room which moms tend to like. And let’s face it, you can never have too many bubbles.

Come back and join me as I go through each of my five gift cutting cost strategies in greater detail and feel free to leave comments on how you save money on gift giving too.

Thanks to Kristen at wearethatfamily.com for hosting Works for me Wednesday on her blog. If you have never been to her site check it out, she has lots of great tips.

Teaching Babies Sign Language

2010-05-17T17:13:00.002-04:00

I have always planned to teach my son a few sign language signs. Babies can sign much more easily than they can verbalize words. In fact, children being raised in a home where sign language is used can start to sign around 6 months of age.

My goal is to teach my son simple words so he can communicate a desire to eat, sleep, drink, use the bathroom…. If he is able to communicate his needs more clearly to me it will reduce the amount of frustration on everyone’s part.

One of the great things about using sign language is that you are able to take the child’s hands and move them to make the sign. It’s not possible to make a child repeat a sound after you. Sometimes the parent physically guiding the child to make the sign helps the child to understand what is expected of him or her.

We worked on this concept with Doodlebug for months on end. He just wasn’t getting it. He understood when I signed to him, but did not know what I wanted him to do. Finally one day he took my hands and guided me through signing the word “book”. Progress! Within a few more days he could sign “book” when I showed him the sign and verbally encouraged him to sign it. And a few days after that he started signing the word spontaneously.

He was reading books by himself shortly after that. He looked down at his book, signed “book” (to himself) and then picked it up and started to read. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

How To Teach Your Baby To Drink Through A Straw

2010-05-16T19:31:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting to teach Doodlebug to drink through a straw for a while now. But when I asked friends how they taught their kids to do this, they all said they didn’t know. Hmm…that’s not so helpful.

So in case anyone else is wondering, this is how I taught Doodlebug to drink through a straw.

Remember when you were a kid and you would dip your straw in your drink and put your index finger over the top? When you pulled your straw up out of the drink the liquid would stay in the straw until you took your finger off the top. This is exactly what you do. I drew up only a small amount of liquid and offered it to Doodlebug. When he closed his lips around the straw I took my finger off the top of the straw and let the liquid go.

Then I repeated this about 100 times. We did this after every bite of food 3 meals a day and one snack a day for about 4 days. As he got used to this I let him suck on the straw a bit to help draw out the liquid before releasing it.

After he had that down, we graduated to a juice box. I placed the straw in Doodlebug’s mouth and squirted a small amount in. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Once he could seemed comfortable with that I just let him suck on the straw and he figured the rest out on his own. We just moved him up to a slightly wider straw and keep on practicing.

Ta da! The whole process took less than a week.

Big Week for Doodlebug

2010-05-15T21:32:00.006-04:00

Doodlebug had a big week this week. If you will allow me to brag on my little boy for a moment....

First he learned how to drink out of a straw. Yay! He's been a bit behind in hitting his developmental milestones and one area we've really been struggling in is to get him to drink out of a sippy cup. He either could not or would not do it. I finally asked his speech and feeding therapist to tell me how to teach him to drink out of a straw. She gave me a couple of pointers and in less than a week he was doing it on his own.

We have been working to teach him sign language since September. That's eight months people. We want to teach him a few signs like "more", "finished", "eat" and "potty". Since he has no spoken words yet this would really help us out a lot if he could tell us some of these things. This week he finally got it! He only has one sign "book" but he uses it consistently and without prompting from us. He loves to read and we've been reading to him even more than usual this week.

And he took his first step. He's been pretty good about waiting to hit new milestones until both Chris and I are with him and he that for us again. One minute he was cruising along the ottoman and the next he let go and took a step towards me. What a sweet baby boy.

Dear Doodlebug,

I am so proud of you and all you have accomplished in one short week. It's so much fun to see you conquer new things. Remember, you are my favorite baby in the whole wide world.

Love you,
Mommy

Pizza in the Crock Pot Results

2010-05-14T20:03:00.003-04:00

Doodlebug and I went out for a playdate today and when we came home the heavenly aroma of pizza filled the air. It was wonderful. I love to stick stuff in the crock pot and then come home to a great smelling house and dinner all made. Can't beat it!

And it tasted pretty good. Not exactly like pizza, but I have a feeling that had a lot to do with the fact I used spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce. Maybe next week I can get my act together and buy the correct ingredients to give this crock pot pizza a real trial run.

I think with a little more tweaking this recipe is gonna be a great one. It was super easy and I actually got to have pizza on pizza night.

And now I gotta run, a second helping is calling my name.

Adoption-Here We Go

2010-05-14T14:57:00.005-04:00

Remember those Fisher Price little people? I had those and I loved to play with them. I think I had about 20 or so and they all lived in a four room house. With no bathroom. I'm not sure how that worked, but I don't remember it being a problem.

I spent a lot of time playing with them and making up stories about their world and what they did. This is where I created my first adoptive family. Granted back then I was a little confused about the subject because I had triplet girls, two of whom I declared were adopted and one who was not.

I always knew I wanted to adopt and always thought I would adopt my kids. I never expected to give birth to a child, but life's full of twists, turns and surprises, and of course, my Doodlebug.

Going through pregnancy with Doodlebug was not a fun thing. At all. About 5 minutes after I got the positive pregnancy test I got queasy and it didn't stop until he was born. From May to January I fought to get down and keep down every single bite of food I ate. I was miserable and I am never doing that again.

So we are starting to get serious about adopting. We want to wait until Doodlebug is around 18 months old or so. That way if we get a child really quickly the kids will be at least 18 months apart. Any closer and I think I might lose my sanity. Well, I might lose it anyway, or it could be gone by now for all I know. My sanity I mean.

This past fall we went to an adoption expo and learned about Adoption Consultants. They are people who work for the potential adoptive parents. From what I understand their main purpose is twofold.

One they provide education. There is a lot to learn and navigate in the adoptive process. Domestic or international? What race(s) are you willing to accept? What age(s)? Will you accept a child whose mother used drugs? Which drugs? Recreationally or a hard core user? How do you market your family to a potential birth mother?

The second main purpose is to help you match up with a mother who is giving her baby up for adoption. Did you know that adoption agencies work for the birth parents only? I didn't. It is their interests that are being protected, not the potential adoptive parents. I had no clue.

So, we called two adoptive consultants today to make appointments. We need to know if it is realistic to think that we can adopt based on the budget we have. And where do we go from here?

I am excited. And terrified. After all, with a second child I'm going to be outnumbered during the day. Yikes! And I'm wondering about this little baby. Will we have a boy or a girl? When? What will his or her personality be like? By this time next year will our family be complete?

Pizza in the Crock Pot

2010-05-14T14:06:00.007-04:00

I am so excited I am practically shaking! Guess what's in my crock pot right now. You'll never guess. Okay, if you read my title you might guess.

Pizza! Yep, pizza.

Friday night is pizza night here. About half of the time what that means is that I skip dinner and my husband eats frozen pizza. It makes you want to come over for dinner doesn't it?

Sorry, I am a little punchy today.

The rest of the time I make my own gluten free pizza, but that gets time consuming and by Friday I just dont' ususally have the energy.

But this week when Stephanie posted a recipe for Puffy Pizza Casserole I knew what would be for dinner Friday.

For some reason I cannot leave a recipe alone. I have to modify it in some way, shape or form. And then when I went to make the recipe while Doodlebug was asleep I realized we were missing tomato sauce. And the rest was history. This is what I used.

1/2 jar Prego spaghetti sauce (1 lb 7.5 oz jar)

For the puffy topping

1 cup Jules Nearly Normal Flour Mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1 T Good Season Italian Dressing dry mix

I used my 5 1/2 quart crock pot and layered the spaghetti sauce on the bottom of it. I mixed all the other ingredients and poured on top of the sauce. I took a spoon and spread the doughy mixture as evenly across the top as I could.

Want a peek? Here it is.

I cannot wait to try it for dinner tonight! I'll be back to let you know how it turned out.

How To Start Eating Gluten Free-Traveling

2010-05-11T21:10:00.001-04:00

Eating out is the area I struggle most in with eating gluten free. Well, and not being able to eat Krispy Kreme donuts. Or Oreos. But I digress….

I am very sensitive to gluten and I just don’t trust other people not to accidentally contaminate my food. I am always afraid that they will put my hamburger on a bun and then remember I ordered it without a bun and just take it off and serve it to me. I always wonder if chicken nuggets or onion rings have been cooked in the same fryer as the french fries.

When I was in the hospital to have Doodlebug I was offered fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, neither of which was gluten free, even though we specified all food had to be gluten free. My salad arrived with croutons on it too.

All said, I am very suspicious and always concerned when I have to eat out. I have found a couple of tricks that make traveling a little easier though.

Before going on any type of a road trip I make sure I know a few things I can eat at several fast food restaurants. I know I can walk into any Wendy’s order chili and a Frosty and my food should be gluten free. If I know things I can eat at several places it give me, and those traveling with me, a lot more choices. Most fast food places have menus that list food allergens online and I check these to make sure I am up to date. I have also printed out a few and stuck them in the car so I have the information when I need it. Although it’s available online I have not had much luck in getting this information while actually in a fast food restaurant.

I also make note of chain restaurants that have gluten free menus. Bonefish Grill, Carrabas, Outback Steakhouse and P.F. Changs all have gluten free menus if you ask for them. I personally feel more comfortable eating in places that have gluten free menus as the staff seems to be more knowledgeable of gluten and how to avoid it.

My other traveling trick is to carry my own food. I don’t always need it, but if I get caught somewhere I feel a lot better knowing that I have something that is safe for me to eat. In a restaurant a plain baked potato or a salad without croutons and dressed with vinegar and oil is usually available and is enough to get me through the meal, but I will probably want a little something later.

In my view, eating out is generally not worth the risk and I almost always choose to eat at home instead, but there are a lot of people who do eat out on a regular basis and are much more adept at explaining how to handle their food to the restaurant in such a way as to not contaminate it with gluten. If any of my readers fall into this category and have tips to add I would love to hear them.

Cleaning Small Vases

2010-05-04T22:19:00.007-04:00

I love having fresh flowers in the house. I hate the clean up.

So I tend to leave them in the vases a little too long. Unfortunately this make clean up even worse.

Have you ever tried to clean the inside of one of those small vases? No bottle brush will fit down there. Shoving a paper towel inside with a chopstick seems like a good idea until it disintegrates inside the bottle and you have to figure out how to get all the little pieces of paper towel back out. And the paper towels don’t scrub too well anyway.

So here is the solution. It’s super easy, it’s quick and I had the stuff I needed on hand. Perfect!

Take a little bit of uncooked rice and pour it in the vase. Add a little water. Put your hand over the top of the vase and shake it. I found it worked best to hold the vase horizontally over the kitchen sink and swirl the water around in it. Pour the water and rice out and rinse. Voila! A clean vase.

The rice acts as a scrubby and does the hard cleaning work for you.

Come and check out all the other Works for me Wednesday tips on Kristen's blog. This post is also linked up to I Dream Of Clean.

Book Review-The $64 Tomato

2010-05-03T12:51:00.003-04:00

I love good books. Going to the library is free and supplies me with endless amounts of entertainment. Of course, it’s tough to know which books are going to be the good ones, and which are not. I find myself trying to tell by the jacket covers. Sometimes it works, but not very often. I usually read a couple of sentences before I toss it in my bag to take home. If it start out “Blanch DeFrufru yearned for a new life. Little did she know that crossing paths with Lance Malcom, the handsome gardener would provide such a change for her.” I put it back. Every once in a while I find one I really enjoy. Some are quirky. Some are deep. And some are just fun reads.

I just read a great little book called The $64 Tomato. Actually the whole title to this book is The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden. I knew from the title I would have to read it.

I love people who kind of bumble around a bit in life, laugh and themselves and live to tell the tale. It comforts me to know that I’m not the only one. I love that at the end of this book I feel like I have seen Bill’s garden, sat with him in it and had a chat. And any guy who names his archenemy in the garden Superchuck feels like a friend to me. Because, why wouldn't you name the woodchuck who is systematically destroying your garden?

Oh, and just so you know, I linked to the book in Amazon. Not because I care if you buy it, or because I will make any money if you do (I won’t) but merely to make sure that I give you all the proper information so you can find the book. The full title, the author and all that jazz.

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Medical Providers

2010-05-02T15:02:00.006-04:00

***Disclaimer: I am not a medical profession. These are my opinions and experiences only unless indicated otherwise in this article. Do not use this information in place of doing your own research on these issues.***

Until recently, med students were taught that Celiac disease was very, very rare. General practitioners expected to see approximately one patient with it in their lifetimes. The education they received about Celiac and eating gluten free was minimal at best. Now, Dr . Alession Fasano with the Center for Celiac Research says As many as 1 out of 133 people in the US have Celiac Disease. Of these 3 Million people in the US who have Celiac Disease it is estimated that 97% are undiagnosed. It is way more than the medical profession realized. And then you add in people who are gluten-intolerant or following a gluten free diet as part of a treatment for Autism or eating gluten free for any other health reasons and the numbers multiply exponentially.

That said I have to say I have been seriously underwhelmed at the knowledge within the medical community at large about Celiac disease and eating gluten free. Why you ask? Oh, let me share some of my experiences. Where to start….

When I started having GI symptoms over a prolonged period of time, I knew I had developed Celiac. I had several of the more classic symptoms and my mom has it, and Celiac does have a genetic component. I went to my primary care doctor, told her about my symptoms and family history and requested a blood test to begin the process of formal diagnosis. At first she told me I couldn’t have the test, I did not have Celiac. When I pressed her she told me my symptoms did not match with Celiac and that family history did not really play a role. What???????? I finally insisted she give me the blood test. She was surprised it was positive. I was not.

Just before I gave birth to my son my nurse called down to get me a dinner plate for after the delivery. When she told them I had to have gluten free food they told her I could pick from fried chicken or macaroni and cheese. Neither of those were gluten free. I was also served toast, croutons and oatmeal before I finally told them to just stop bringing me food. Thankfully we had thought ahead and brought some food from home with us so I knew it was gluten free.

A physician assistant working in at my gastroenterologist’s office told me medication never has gluten in it. Actually she laughed at me when I questioned whether she had verified a medication she was trying to give me had gluten in it and then told me that no drugs contain gluten. She was wrong.

My son’s pediatrician and my pharmacist were shocked to learn some medications do contain gluten.

If you are diagnosed with Celiac or decide to go on gluten free diet for any other reason know that you are going to have to be your own advocate. Know that you will have to do lots of research. Know that you will have to ask lots of questions and educate many people, some of whom will be in the medical field. It is frustrating, and can be exhausting. Right after being in labor for 12 hours, up for over 48 hours in a row, having just had a c-section and trying to learn to nurse was not when I wanted to educate the head of the department that prepares all the patients’ food. But that’s when the opportunity came, so I did.

I have actually found that in questioning medical professionals about being gluten free I can learn quite a lot about them and how they practice medicine.

My son’s pediatrician, who is wonderful, was very receptive to me bringing him information on research studies on Celiac. He also did some research on his own after I told him that some meds contain gluten. When he prescribed meds to my friend’s little boy (who is gluten free) a couple months later he mentioned to her that some meds do contain gluten and to have the pharmacist double check before filling the prescription.

I gave my son’s former gastroenterologist a summary of a research report on introducing gluten to kids who may have the gene for Celiac and he glanced at it, shoved it back at me and told me he would get all the information he needed at a conference that fall. I was pretty surprised because the study was the same information I had asked him about on our last visit, and he had no answers.

The pediatrician listens to patients, learns from patients and does research on things he does not know about. The gastroenterologist does not think patients can bring him any knowledge and that he already knows it all. I know which doc I want to work with and which one needs to go.

The Big Scare

2010-04-30T21:29:00.003-04:00

A couple of months ago I blogged about Doodlebug lagging behind in hitting his developmental milestones. Since then we have been making the rounds of the specialists to try and find out what is going on.

A month ago we saw the opthamologist. Apparently looking at the optic nerve can sometimes give indications of causes of developmental delays. When the doc examined Doodlebug I was told that his optic nerve looked good and his vision was fine too.

We also started working with Child Developmental Services (CDS) to have his speech, language, cognitive functioning, fine motor and gross motor development assessed. He was evaluated when he was 14 months old but was generally functioning at the level of a 9-12 month old child at that point. As a part of the assessment I received a written report. It contains their findings as well as notes on the findings of relevant medical professionals. One of the medical professionals that was referenced was our opthamologist.

So, I was in the kitchen reading my way through the assessment and making Doodlebug's breakfast. Perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning. And without warning it changed into one of the moments in my life I will never forget. When I got to the part from the opthamologist's and read "Dr. Blinkity-Bloop suspects anoxic brain damage."

The world pretty much fell out from under me. No one has ever suggested to us that Doodlebug's problems could be from brain damage. No one has even mentioned those words to us. In fact, most people are thinking he's just a late bloomer. Maybe need a little help to get caught back up.

After I managed to get myself back together and feed my boy, I called the opthamologist's office. I explained that I had received this report and wanted to verify the doctor did believe that he had brain damage and find out why no one had mentioned this to me. That was at 9:00 AM.

While I sat at home listening for the phone to ring I cried. Hugged my baby. Wondered what this meant for his life. Can he still go to college? Have a family? Will he struggle through school? Be teased? How will this affect our family? And then the mommy guilt set in. Is this my fault? When I was in labor and pushing his heart rate kept dropping into the 40's. Should I have done something different? I didn't want a c-section and the doctors thought I was refusing the surgery when I said that. Were my baby's brain cells dying while that was going on? Could I have prevented this?

The doctor's office didn't call back that day. I had a lot of time to think about it.

The next morning at 9:15 a nurse called me back. First she told me she didn't call me yesterday because the doctor had Doodlebug's file and just gave it back to her. Then she told me they didn't know what report I got the information from and that she couldn't give me any information anyway because the doctor's notes had not been transcribed.

As patiently as I could, I explained about the evaluation. I told her I had signed a release for the doctor to send the information to CDS because they wanted to verify his vision was okay. I had gotten the summary from CDS and it stated the opthamologist suspected anoxic brain damage and I wanted to know if that was correct.

Again she repeated that she couldn't tell me anything since the notes weren't transcribed yet but they would be done soon and sent to Doodlebug's neurologist. The notes were not done yet (a month after the appointment) because first the doctor was on vacation and then the transcriptionist. How nice for them, but you see, I really don't care. I am a little more concerned with the words brain damage right now.

When I asked how I could get a copy of these notes she seemed very surprised but said she could mail them to me. They should be in the mail by the end of next week.

And then she tried to get off the phone. Umm, no. We're not done yet.

I asked how CDS got that information if the notes were not done yet. She had no answer for me.

I thought, perhaps she doesn't understand why I am so upset about this. Maybe she thinks someone has already mentioned that he might have brain damage. So I explained that Doodlebug is developmentally delayed. We are trying to figure out why, but this is the first time we have heard the words brain damaged and we are freaking out. Could she please do anything to expedite these notes or get me any additional information under the circumstances?

She told me that "those words are in the report" (anoxic brain damage) and the the notes would be done by Monday and mailed to me. I don't know how that's expediting anything since Monday was her original day. I decided just to get off the phone with her (since I believe her name was The Unhelpful Nurse Who Blames Everyone Else).

I called my husband and asked him to call the doctor's office. If they get enough calls maybe they'll get our report done sooner just to make us stop calling.

He got a nice nurse on the phone who apologized to him (imagine that!) and told him that those words were part of a billing code, not a diagnosis.

Now I'm even more confused. Technically the first nurse didn't say that anoxic brain damage was an actual diagnosis or suspicion, but she sure didn't mention this. And if she knew that and didn't mention it I think I will change her name to Cold-hearted Mean Nurse. (Okay, okay, maybe the name I called her was a bit more colorful, but I was having a really bad day.)

This post is getting really long. Anybody need an intermission? Seriously, feel free. I'll still be here when you get back.... Ready? Okay, here we go.

I called our case manager's supervisor at CDS and explained the situation. (I wasn't going over our case manager's head, she is off getting married and not in the office right now.) She looked at the notes from the doctor's office and confirmed she had them and that matched what was on the report. She suggested I try to contact our pediatrician or our neurologist to get some more information. Maybe a doctor can get the process moving along.

Now I love our pediatrician. Love him! He is great with Doodlebug, tells me like it is and answers my mile long list of questions when we go in without making impatient noises or faces. I love him. So I called and left a message for his nurse to call me back.

Within two and a half hours he was on the phone with me. He told me that he had no idea how an opthamologist could make that diagnosis. Anoxic means that no oxygen got to the brain which resulted in cell death and brain damage. And since there is no known event where Doodlebug got no oxygen for a period of time no one could make this diagnosis on him in his opinion. Then he told me he called a neonatologist and reviewed Doodlebug's birth history with him. (See, I told you. This is why I love this man!) The neonatologist said that a heart rate dropping into the 40's a couple of times could not have caused this. If it had gone on for several hours or days, maybe. But not 2-3 pushes over 20 minutes. And Doodlebug came out breathing just fine with Apgar's of 8 and 9. He said that when the opthamologist's report comes in next week we will review it together and until then I should try not to worry about it, because there's really nothing he can see to worry about.

Whew! I feel so much better. Dr. E shoots straight with me and if I needed to worry he would tell me flat out.

And then the opthamologist office got it together and got the notes transcribed. They called my husband and read him the report. Here's the gist.

Optic nerve is fine.
Vision is within normal limits.
Follow up at age 3.

So where did the anoxic brain damage come in? A billing code. Yep, all that over a freaking billing code. Apparently that is how they will code it for insurance (as a visit to rule out anoxic brain damage).

I am so relieved I don't know what to do with myself. Doodlebug's still delayed, we have lots of work ahead of us We still don't know why he's behind, but at least no one is saying the scary phrase anoxic brain damage any more.

My One Dollar Garage Sale Bargain

2010-04-27T15:12:00.001-04:00

I love garage sales. There is an amazing variety of stuff, some great deals to be had and some very funny stories. This is one of those stories.... I stopped at a garage sale because I caught a glimpse of a large stuffed Elmo. Doodlebug is a huge fan of Elmo and so I always stop to look at the Elmo stuff for him. I walked up and picked up Elmo to look at the price. Suddenly I hear a little voice.

"Are you lookin' at my Elmo?" I looked up to see a four-year-old little girl, obviously the current owner of Elmo. I laughed a little and told her I was. I moved on to look at some DVD's and noticed there was one about potty training featuring Elmo. As I pick up the DVD I hear her again, "Do you know how to potty train someone?"

Okay, this is just too good to pass up. I love these types of conversations with kids. So I tell her "No, but I'm hoping that if I buy this video I'll learn how. What do you think?"

Crossed her little arms, narrowed her little eyes and skeptically said, "I don't know...."

So I asked her, "Are you potty trained?" Indignenetly she replied "Yes!"

"Do you know how to potty train someone?" She nodded enthusiastically. With really big eyes I asked her "Do you think you could potty train my little boy for me?" Nodding her head she told me "Oh, yes!"

"How much do you charge?" I asked her. After a few seconds she cocks her little head and says, "Ummmmm, a hundred?" Ever the bargain shopper I clarify "Pennies?" That got a quick response of "No! Dollars!"

I told her I could not afford $100 and asked if she could come down on the price a little for me. She said, "Okay, how about one dollar?" "You're hired!" I told her.

And that, my friends, is how you hire a potty trainer for the grand sum of one dollar at a garage sale.

Unschooling

2010-04-25T11:09:00.003-04:00

When I did a post on unschooling last week my blog friend Michelle wrote in the comments that her experiences with unschooling were much different than those that were shown on the GMA segment that sparked my post. I invited her to write a guest post on unschooling and explain how it had worked for her family. It's very interesting and a totally different perspective than was presented on GMA. Thanks for all your work in getting this article ready Michelle! You can read more about Michelle's life on her blog frugalredneck.blogspot.com
.

First of all let me start off with some background. I had no intentions of home schooling my children, I had never heard of it before.
My oldest son had some problems in kindergarten, They called me to the school everyday. I lived at the school. They went ahead and moved him
to first grade although he had learned nothing. Three months into 2nd grade They "Did not have the ability to teach him and he
was unteachable". They said there were special schools for him.
He did not want to leave me. He wanted to stay home with me. He begged to stay home with me. A friend mentioned home schooling
I said what schooling?? We had just got our first computer and I went on and spent hours upon hours at night ( Dial up hahaha) looking up home schooling.
I read alot about learning styles. I started out like most do I think I bought curriculum, NOT CHEAP, That first year I spent about $300, Which he would
have nothing to do with. I spent that year studying him learning what his style was like. I found that he definetly he was not a bookworm
he was hands on. He actually learned and retained very quickly hands on and when stuff was tailored to what interested him.
I learned that he was very technical. So I bought from used stores lots of magazines and books with pictures that had a technical
base. Everytime he showed interest in something we would go to a museum or some type of outing that would reinforce
that lesson. He is just about 18 now and is the town go to for computer fixing, He can fix any computer for minimal cost.
He has learned where to go on the internet to get the best prices on computer parts. He has been given about 10 computers so far
to junk, fixed them up and sold them. This is how he has made his money for the last 2 years. He also in the last year has become
a solar panel and wind turbine actually anything turbine junkie. His entire room runs off of solar energy he built. I have to admit I am not always
crazy about all the moving parts he has in his room, But this is how he learns. I was not happy or secure about the fact
that other than basic addition and subtraction multiplication and division he never looked at a math book. That alone scared the heck out of me.
The one thing I learned with him is that if he wanted to do something I made him find out how to do it and where to go to learn how to do it.
This is how he learned math and reading. If he can learn about all the math involved in solar panels and wind turbines and
wattage and volt meter reading, I am not worried that if he needs to learn something he will find how.

My oldest daughter who is 19, decided to come home in the 5th grade. Within 2 months of of starting 5th grade she finished the math book for that grade.
Her teacher could not move her ahead because of No child left behind and was just going to have her help out in the classroom during math time.
This drove her crazy. I let her come home. She already at that age was reading High School level and reading like mad. Her passion was reading and writing.
I let her go with this. In what would have been her 8th grade I told her she could go on her own completely with me helping as she needed and checking to see what
she was doing. She did choose a more traditional home schooling with a curriculum program. She chose the Alpha Omega Lifepac for her highschool years. Finished them
all by what would have been the middle of her 10th grade and then spent the rest of the High School years pursuing things that interested her. She went to work for the Public
Library this January beating out 91 other more mature applicants. She loves her job, Her career as she calls it. They have been so impressed with her learning ability that
they have given her the job of the payroll while the lady is on vacation, They have given her job of doing the radio show to promote the Library and she is in the running
for the Assistant to the Director postition coming up in Decemeber. She never cared about money just being happy in what she does, But I can brag at the fact that she is
19 years old and makes more then the median income here in southeast Kansas.

I plan to home school all 6 and #7 on the way this same general way. Tailored to their learning abilities and styles.
I would like to add a few things , Our home school consists of Chores, Every child boy or girl must learn how to do everything for themselves.
My girls and boys even the 5 year olds can make a batch of homemade laundry soap, My older ones do their own laundry and can cook complete meals for the family.
The twins have just started cooking and love it, Their favorite is made from scratch waffles and homemade syurp. All children will or know how to clean the bathroom
to my standards. There are rules probably more then they would like!!! I am more lax on some things, I don't believe in censorship, They are free to listen to music they like and watch T.V.
that they like. The rule is that if I catch you listening to say rap music that is explicit you must listen to my dissertation on what the song means, This usually ends up being more work
then they want to be able to listen to the song. I am open to all discussions on sex. And if I see you watching South Park or Family Guy which I loathe you have to be open and willing to me sitting
next to watching it and discussing what they are saying and teaching. This has worked for us. I have kids that bring news stories to me just to see if I have heard about them. I can have a spirited and educated
political debate with my older children that I can't get from most adults. My kids are not perfect far from it and either am I. But we are very close and If my husband and I were gone tomorrow I have
no doubt that my children have the skills to take care of each other and prosper and be happy.
I am Michelle mom to Kriztina 19 my go getter grab life by the horns girl, Chriztopher 17 don't even say I can't do it cause I will, Lyndzie 14 my wild child and test all limits, Jacob 5 my question everything child,
Joshua 5 my quiet but absorb every detail, and Matthew 2 my little bit of everything child. I am the mom who had to quit school in 11th grade get my GED to work to take care of myself and stayed up
all night to learn what I needed to teach my kids all the things I was never taught. I crave knowledge and passed that down to my children.

Michelle frugalredneck.blogspot.com

You Know You are Tired When...

2010-04-21T19:36:00.003-04:00

In honor of my son choosing to get up at 5:00 AM (two hours early!!!) when he knows Mommy has mono and is exhausted at best anyway....

1. You have to tell the nurses in the hospital that you are not sure if you actually went to the bathroom or just dreamed it.

2. You cannot remember the word shower so instead you refer to it as "the box you stand in and the water comes down on your head and you get clean."

3. While pumping you realize that your left knee is starting to feel wet and discover you did not attach any bottles to the breast pump.

4. When your in-laws are lamenting a news story in which a mother has killed her 2 month old baby you actually understand how she could snap like that, and then forget to keep that thought to yourself.

5. You yell at the trash can when the lid refuses to latch and it is full of stinky diapers. And then you try to put it in time out.

6. Someone asks you your name and you really have to stop and think about it for a moment. Or maybe two.

7. Someone asks you your phone number and the only answer you can come up with is "I have no idea."

8. When you have a crying fit at 2:00 AM because you are up and down nursing a cranky baby and your c-section incision hurts and no man that had an appendectomy would be doing all this and you just had a big old BABY!

9. You can't think of a coherent way to end this post so you add one more bullet point and then hit publish post so you can go eat dinner.

Not that I have done any of these mind you. Oh no, not me.

Unschooling

2010-04-19T12:30:00.002-04:00

Okay, first the disclaimer.

***********I don't know a lot about unschooling. I have watched a sum total of 2 TV shows that have included this as a topic. Obviously, my knowledge is pretty limited.***********

But, this morning on GMA, they did a segment on unschooling. I have to say that it bothered me.

Now, the idea of unschooling appeals to me quite a bit in theory. In theory. Letting children pursue their own interests, learning through life experiences rather than from a textbook, the world is a classroom.... I love all that.

The unschooling parents made several statements that bothered me. "If they need formal algebra understanding, then they will find that information." Really? This makes it sound like knowlege of algebra is something that you might find under a rock. If you pick it up and put it in your pocket, presto! You will know algebra.

Parenting with few or no rules is another part of the philosophy of unschooling.

One mom said, "There is no heirarchy in our house. So there is no punishment, no judgement, no discipline." What?!?!?! I have a really hard time with that statement. I don't understand how this attitude in parenting prepares a child for life outside of their home. When your child gets old enough to have a job an employer will judge their work and punish tardiness on the job. Will this child be prepared to deal with this? I want my child to learn to fail while he is at home. I don't want to send him out into the world when he has not experienced or dealt with failure and have to try to navigate this as an adult on his own. I want him to learn about this while I am here to help him and in a place where it is okay to fail and try again. And I want him to learn when the stakes are low. If he fails to handle money wisely when he is 5, he will still have a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear. At 25 or 35 he might not be so lucky.

This philosophy of parenting and schooling places an awful lot of responsibility on the shoulders of the child. They make all their own decisions, when to sleep, how to spend their time, what clothing to wear, what to learn about.... Why is the child being burdened with all of this? Why are the parents so unwilling to step up and say that the children are not in charge and they don't need to be?

One final quote from the dad on this segment. "They will do what they need to do, whether or not they enjoy it, because they see the purpose in it." Seriously? I'm quite a long way past childhood and I still struggle with this.

Grocery Store Score

2010-04-18T18:32:00.007-04:00

One of my goals is to make the grocery store lose money on me, legally of course! So I'm always on the look out for great deals, coupons and rainchecks. We stockpile during sales and triple coupon weeks. This week there were some awesome deals to be had at the grocery store along with some great coupons.

Here are a couple of the highlights of our trip.

Diapers-both Huggies and Pampers Jumbo packs are on sale for $5.99
I had 3 coupons for $2 off Pampers
I had 2 coupons for $3 off Huggies
So I bought 5 packs of diapers for $18.

Chicken was buy 1, get 2 free!

Apple juice was $.97/each-limit 2

I also had an electronic coupon for $20 off any purchase.

And a coupon for $10 off any purchase of $50 (from a local competitor, which my grocery store honored).

And (surprise!) a $10 diaper rewards credit. My husband saw this come off the total and sent me running back down the aisle to get some more fruit so we could keep our total high enough to use the $10 off a $50 purchase. (The total after all discounts must be at least $50 in order to be able to use the coupon.)

At the end of our trip we spent $42.12 and saved $136.23. That's a 76% savings. A total grocery store score today.

A Simple Way to Make Baby Food

2010-04-16T17:20:00.006-04:00

I never even considered making my own baby food until I saw it on my blog-friend Heather’s website. But after reading her post, I decided to give it a try. We started very slowly. At first I pureed up bananas. Then I gave him applesauce. Then I bought peaches and pears in cans and pureed them. He loved it all. He still does.

At first making baby food seemed to be really complicated. Going to the store, buying the best organic produce, coming home to wash, chop, cook and puree and then (6 hours later) having food that your baby will no doubt hate. Not for me.

So instead I bought a baby food grinder at a garage sale for $1. It works best for foods that are already soft, such as bananas. I’d run them through it and feed them to Doodlebug.

As he tried more foods I branched out into new ways of preparing them. I bought cans of peaches and pears and threw them in my mini blender. When you are buying canned foods just be sure to check the labels. I use foods with no added salt and try to avoid those with added sugar or corn syrups. For apricots the only way I can find them is in heavy syrup so I drain and rinse them and then throw them in the blender.

Sometimes I will steam other veggies from fresh or frozen before pureeing them. We like crookneck squash, zucchini, and carrots. I also buy frozen fruits or veggies (strawberries, blueberries, crookneck squash, carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli) and puree those. I do have to cook the veggies first. I also bake sweet potato, acorn squash and butternut squash. Once they are baked I take them out of their skins, mash and feed them to the Doodlebug.

When I first started making baby food I found this website to be really valuable. I found listings of when to feed what foods, how to make rice cereal, baby menus and other recipe ideas. They also have a lot of information on allergens in case there is a food (or foods) that you would like your child to avoid.

Storing baby food is no longer a big issue for us. Doodlebug can easily eat a can of pureed fruit and ½ a banana at a sitting. Yesterday I pureed up 7 cans of food. I expect that it will all be gone by tomorrow. Plus some applesauce. Plus some rice cereal. Plus a couple of bananas. You get the idea.
When we first started I would portion the pureed fruits and veggies into ice cube trays and freeze them. You don’t need anything fancy; I started with trays I bought for a dollar at Walmart. As soon as they were frozen I moved them into zip top bags and then just defrosted them as needed.

Making baby food does not need to be complicated or time consuming. You don’t even have to make all of your child’s food. We do occasionally buy actual baby food and Doodlebug happily eats whatever we serve him. But it is a big cost cutter from our budget to make as much of it as we can.

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Part Three-Medications

2010-04-15T15:28:00.003-04:00

Make sure you check for gluten in medications. I have been told numerous times (from health care professionals who should know better) that there is no gluten in medications. This is not true. Gluten containing products are sometimes used as a filler. You can check this site http://www.glutenfreedrugs.com for some name brand medicines but your pharmacist will need to call for most generics. They may have to leave a message and these calls are only answered M-F during business hours. You can ask your pharmacy to flag your account that they need to verify all meds are gluten free.

A word of caution on the medications, unless you know your pharmacist well, always ask if they have verified the medication is gluten free from the manufacturer. Even though my account is flagged at my pharmacy a substitute pharmacist did not bother to do this for me. When I asked he did call the manufacturer and left a message for them to call him back. They didn’t. I had to call my regular pharmacist the next day to have him do it. It took me over 24 hours to get antibiotics for strep throat. Not fun.

Parenting

2010-04-14T13:12:00.005-04:00

Last week I was part of a message board discussion about teenagers having sex. One of the hot issues became how a 17 year old boy should take responsiblity for having unprotected sex or sex in which the birth control was obviously faulty (ie the condom broke). This was a pretty controversial issue and garnered a lot of discussion.

I was thinking about how we will prepare Doodlebug to take on these decisions at the age of 17. After all, the decisions involve more than just the morality of pre-marital sex. If our son chooses to have sex and that age and accidentally fathers a child he could be raising a child when he is 17. And then the thought hit me, most boys are already dealing with issues of sex by 14. I remember standing in front of our refrigerator and realizing that some kids are having sex at the age of 12. Not only do we have to share our values with him before then, we have to make sure he knows his own. What does he think of pre-marital sex? If he chooses abstinance how will he make sure he can follow through on that decision? What will he do when he's tempted? Where does he draw the line? And if he chooses to have sex, what will he do about birth control? Where will he get it? What will he do if he accidentally fathers a child? How will he support this child?

Typing all of this out, makes me queasy. How in the world can a hormonal teenager be expected to be able to do all of this? How are we going to teach him how to do all of this in the next 11 years? It takes a lot of strength to abstain from sex until after marriage, where will he get that strength from?

The reality of life today is that we are still working on the word "no". Mostly, I say it and Doodlebug laughs. It's not working so well yet.

But I am also a very practical mom. When Doodlebug decides to climb the stairs (which occurs roughly every 2 1/2 minutes) I let him. I stand behind him and let him fall down the stairs. My job is to let him go while protecting him from serious injury. Bumps and bruises are okay, but a concussion is not. Seriously, I am working with someone who has almost no life experience. He does not know falling down the stairs hurts. If I catch him every time, he never will. And if I wait he will be better at climbing the stairs and fall from a higher height.

Wait, what does falling down the stairs have to do with having sex as a teenager?

It's about learning your actions have consequences. If you aren't careful on the stairs you will get hurt. Just because you can do something does not mean that you should. Mommy won't always be there to catch you.

It hate watching him fall, but I am determined to teach him these life lessons. It will hurt less to learn them now. The stakes are only going to go up as he gets older.

So Doodlebug's dad and I are trying to figure out how we want to parent our child. How do you consequence a one-year-old who is deliberately throwing food on the floor (and the walls, and the table, and the cat...)? How do we help him to understand that when we say no, the appropriate response is not hysterical giggling? How far do we let him fall before we step in to soften the blow for him? I honestly don't know.

This is what we know in our parenting strategies.

1. We set him up for success. That means we don't take a hungry, exhausted child to the grocery store and expect perfect behavior. We work within his limits and keep our expectations of him achievable. Well, that's the goal anyways.

2. We believe in having him deal with the consequences of his actions. Throwing your paci means you don't get it back. Well, not for all of eternity. After all, he is only a year old. We are still working it out.

3. This parenting stuff is much, much harder than it looks.

Blog Party!

2010-04-13T10:40:00.007-04:00

I love a good party, who doesn't? But the logisitics of trying to party with a one year old can be rather difficult. But a blog party? Oooh, I can do that if the little guy naps, or in my pj's or when I just have a couple of minutes where I am trying to find excuses not to clean my house right now.

I blog about the things I'm passionate about. My son (Doodlebug) is mentioned quite often. He's just so stinkin' cute!

I also blog about gluten free recipes, living frugally, and the running of my household. I'm a relative newbie at this mom thing and as I accomplish small victories I share them here. This is by far the hardest job I've ever had and I just hope that a few of the things I've learned I can pass along to other families.

I don't blog because I'm perfect, in fact I can't even see perfect from where I am most days. I blog to share what I've learned, to show off my successes and even a couple of my failures.

And I'm really curious, if you are coming for the blog party why did you pick my blog to visit? I think I entered somewhere in the 1000's so I doubt you are visiting every blog listed. I am just wondering what caught your attention?

Thanks!
*******************************************
Editing to add the list of prizes I would like, if I get so lucky as to win.

My top 3 are:
The Toshiba laptop grand prize! Who wouldn't want that???

Or, the stay at the Hilton for 2 nights (US 39)

Or, a baby carrier (US 51)

And since I'm not all that fussy, here's a long list of other gifts I would love to have...INTL2, INTL3, INTL5, INTL8, INTL10, INTL11, INTL13, INTL14, INTL15, INTL16US7, US15, US18, US 31, US32, US37, US39, US31,US32,US37, US 39, US51, US53, US73, US83, US84, US87, US88, US100, US107, US112, US113, US 114, USC3, USC4, USC8, USC15, USC32, USC35, USC37, USC39.

Somebody's gotta win 'em!

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Part Two-Baking

2010-04-12T10:07:00.007-04:00

Let me just say that baking gluten free is much, much different than baking with gluten. The biggest shocker for me was the vast difference in the consistency of the dough for bread and pizza crust. With gluten you can roll the dough up into a ball. Gluten free dough is more like a thick brownie batter. My first rounds of gluten free baking involved many skeptical looks, deep breaths and cooking the stuff anyway. Usually it came out fine. Gluten free baking is also a lot more finicky than what you are probably used to. It’s really tempting to make substitutions in recipes and make things your own way, but I would recommend that you find a recipe that looks good and follow it. Once it comes out the way you want it to, then start to tweak it. By tweaking one thing at a time you will most likely avoid the scenario below. I pulled this from the comments section of a recipe I found posted on line.

After 60 minutes, the centre of the cake in a Bundt pan is mushy and I don't think it will improve. Nope: an hour later - bound for the garbage can Time and money spent, all for nothing. I made a couple of substitutes - 2C almond flour + 1C Red Mill 'all-purpose' gluten free flour vs. the suggested flour mixture; 2 Tsp vanilla, 2 Tsp almond flavoring, neither of which was gluten free; added 3/4 Tsp guar gum and 1/2 Tsp baking soda and 2 Tsp baking powder.

Here are the most likely culprits in her cake disaster. The substitution of flours. There are a lot of gluten free flours out there but many are not able to be swapped out cup for cup. If one of the flours is denser or holds more moisture it can drastically change the finished product. If you need to substitute flours do an internet search and see what flours will substitute well for the one you want to eliminate. Usually all purpose gluten free flours can be exchanged out cup for cup, with very little difference.

I’m not really sure why she added the guar gum, baking soda and extra baking powder. I am guessing that the guar gum was used as a substitution for the Xanthan gum in the all purpose flour recipe. Guar gum and xanthan gum are often used in gluten free baking. Gluten is what holds together traditional baked good and when it is removed from a recipe Guar or Xanthan gum are used to help bind the finished product. In this case, I would expect that it is already a part of the all purpose gluten free flour mix.

One other critical mistake was using vanilla and almond flavoring that were not gluten free. Even if the cake had turned out fine, the small amounts of gluten in the flavorings would have contaminated the rest of the cake.

The recipe being discussed above is the one I base my pound cake on.

And yes, I did make a couple of substitutions. I know, I know, I just told you not to do it. A classic case of do as I say, not as I do. I was fortunate and the recipe came out okay. Had it not come out okay I would not know what was to blame. Was it just a bad day? Did the flours change things? Was it the substitution of corn starch for an egg? Then I have to decide if I want to try that recipe again and see if I can figure out the problem, or just move on.

One final note about baking gluten free, it's really easy to get caught up in buying tons of different flours and baking mixes and that gets expensive quickly. I have tapioca flour, potato starch flour, corn starch, corn flour, white rice flour and brown rice flour. Those are some of the most affordable flours and I have founds I can make almost anything I need to with them. When I want to try a new gluten free recipe I hunt for one that uses only the flours I have in my cupboard. If I can't find a recipe using those, then I will buy a new type of flour. It helps.

Gluten Free French Toast

2010-04-09T20:06:00.005-04:00

Ingredients

4-6 slices of gluten free bread
1 butter
1 T sugar
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t vanilla
1 husband who is willing to make the gluten free french toast for you. (Although this is not essential, I sure like having him around.)

Directions

Whisk all ingredients except butter and bread in a shallow dish.

Place the bread in the egg mixture and let it soak about a minute.

Heat pan or griddle over medium or medium high heat.

Melt butter in the pan.

Add soaked bread to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on or until golden brown.

Flip the bread and continue to cook until golden brown on the other side.

We typically serve this with powdered sugar sprinkled on top and maple syrup. When we have it for dinner it is usually accompanied by ham, although we like bacon with it too.

Cleaning Stainless Steel Appliances

2010-04-01T20:53:00.004-04:00

We just got a new fridge, and it is stainless steel. I know that stainless steel gets fingerprints all over it. I have a one-year-old. I know that's not a good combination for someone who hates to clean, and yet one is sitting quietly in my kitchen now keeping our food cool.

I knew that hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, plain water, Lysol and Windex did not work. These are my go-to cleaners so I was a little sad. I found a couple posts that said I could use mineral oil, baby oil or flour. Well, since wheat flour would make me ill I decided to try the other ideas and a few of my own.

Here are the contestants in today's experiment.

The results:
1. Streaky
2. Beaded oil on the fridge
3. Looked great, until touched
4. Success!!!!

Can you guess which was which?

1. Streaky--The Pledge Multi Surface
2. Beaded oil on the fridge--Orange Glo
3. Looked great, until touched--baby oil
4. Success!!!! Pledge Furniture Polish

I was totally shocked. But my kitchen smells lemony fresh.

It's Been One of THOSE Weeks

2010-03-28T09:32:00.004-04:00

I just looked back and realized I haven't posted much at all in the past week or so. It's just been a little crazy around here.

We had the twice annual consignment sale that I participate in yesterday. That means a week and a half of gathering up spring/summer clothes, hanging them on hangers, creating labels, pricing them, taking them to the church, putting them out and hoping they sell. It also means it's time to go through Doodlebug's closet and figure out what he has and needs for summer so I can shop for him.

And I went to the sale with my mom on Friday. I spent $46 and got tons of stuff. I bought him t-shirt, onesies, shorts, pants, sandals, shoes, Elmo video, ride-on car with a handle for me to push, a swim vest and 1/2 pack swim diapers. It is much easier to go with someone. We both went and found stuff, then came back to sort through it and took turns guarding what we did have while going to put things back and look for more. Thanks Mom!

And then there has been the appliance fiasco. A few weeks ago our microwave stopped working. It lights up, the little glass dish in the bottom turns, but it no longer heats food. Since it is an over-the-stove microwave we started wondering if we should switch to stainless appliances or keep on with the white we currently have. I really have no desire to replace fully functioning appliances, but they are all showing signs that they are on the way out. So after much debate we decided to buy new ones. This is not as easy or straightforward as it sounds. After many bru-ha-ha's we now have our old fridge in the garage, a new one in the middle of the kitchen (we have to shave the counters to get it in) and a microwave in the garage. The dishwasher and stove will be here Saturday.

And I would post pictures but the camera is full, and we just haven't done anything about that yet.

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Where to Start

2010-03-23T20:23:00.009-04:00

It's really overwhelming when you are told you have to start eating gluten free. What is gluten? What is it in? What ingredients do I need to look for? My doctors office gave me almost no information and sent me on my way.

Gluten in a protien found in wheat, barley and rye. There is a lot of debate about oatmeal and whether it is safe. To me, oatmeal's just not worth the risk so I avoid it too.

Gluten is in a lot of foods. Pretty much everything in the bakery, cookie and cracker aisles. It's also in places you wouldn't expect like turkey, broth and soy sauce. It means you need to read the labels. And since formulations are changing constantly you need to read labels every single time you go shopping.

Here is the unsafe food list for gluten-free eating. I suggest printing it out and taking it to the grocery store with you, at least the first time shopping.

Plan some extra time your first few shopping trips. Reading all the labels and having to try 5 different chicken broths before you find one you can eat will take some time. Here's a couple of tips to get you in and out of the grocery store a little faster. The produce section is great. There's some debate over mushrooms (they are grown in a substance that contains wheat and could get caught in the gills) but pretty much everything else is good. Plain meat is pretty easy. Turkey is the most problematic since they often add broth to make it juicier and that is not always gluten-free. Occasionally you will see this with chicken too. Dairy is also pretty good. Yogurt and ice cream seem to be the hardest. Some yogurts, like yoplait, are labeling individual flavors gluten-free. If you don't go that route look for ones that are all natural. If there are only three or four ingredients it's much easier to make sure you can eat it. Especially if you can pronounce all the ingredient names.

Another great source of gluten-free foods is in the Asian food section. Just watch out for the soy suace. Most (not all) of it has wheat in it. Many dishes like pad tai and peanut noodles are made with rice pasta and they often have rice crackers too. I have been pleasantly surprised that these are often labeled "gluten-free" on the package.

I will continue this in another post. Still to come, gluten-free and medications, finding a support group, where to find recipes etc.

******************Disclaimer******************

Although I would not deliberately give out incorrect information about eating gluten free and everything on this page is correct, to my knowledge, at the time I am writing this post, I can't guarantee its validity. Food formulations change constantly and please verify that any food you eat is gluten-free before consuming it if you are on a gluten-free diet.

My Filing System-Part Two

2010-03-20T22:19:00.002-04:00

I am such a dork. I just realized that when I was doing my posts on filing I wrote 2 posts explaining the 2 year catch all folders and never even commented on my permanent and remove/replace filing system. So I’m just going to go back and write the other post I meant to write now.

I keep my taxes for 10 years now. I really liked the rotating system proposed by the Freedom Filer. Basically you set up 10 file folders and label them Tax Year 1, Tax Year 2…Tax Year 0. The number represents the last digit of the year the tax return was filed in. For example, my 2009 tax returns are filed in Tax Year 9. When 2019 taxes are completed I will shred my 2009 tax returns and put the 2019 tax returns in Tax Year 9.

I also used the Freedom Filer suggestion of a remove/replace section of files. These are documents that are frequently updated, renewed or replaced. Things like insurance policies, service provider contracts and retirement statements. When a new document comes in the mail, I take out the old one, tuck the new one in its place and shred the old one. It’s very simple and that way I never have to go through and purge out years of files.

My last section is for my permanent files. These were a challenge to me. Have you ever read a book that tells you how to file? Almost all of them start with “Decide on the categories you will need for your filing system”. Seriously? That is why I am reading this book. I don’t know where to start. Tell me what I need to keep and what I can throw away. What are the basic categories I will need to organize my paperwork? And how do I file it? Is car insurance filed under “car” or “insurance” or “the name of my insurance company”?

This was the list I found that seemed to make sense to me.

1. Tax Returns-Include 8 folders for the last seven years plus the current year. Place all W2’s, 1099’s, interest statements and returns in this file.
2. Retirement Accounts-Create a folder for each retirement account you have, 401(k)’s, IRA’s, etc and include the statements.
3. Social Security-Include your social security benefits statement.
4. Investment Accounts-Create folders for each brokerage account, mutual funds, or individual stocks and keep the statements here.
5. Savings and Checking Accounts-Add files for each separate account you have.
6. Household Accounts-Here you will keep track of your House title, home improvement receipts, mortgage and utility statements.
7. Credit Card Debt-Add a folder for each card you hold.
8. Other Liabilities-This folder would include student loans, personal loans, car loans, etc.
9. Insurance-This folder contains all insurance policies, home, life, car, health, disability, long-term care.
10. Will or Trust-Keep a copy of your will and living trust here.
11. Children’s Accounts-Include any college savings plans or trusts set up in your child’s name.

I tweaked it a little bit, but this is what I used as a jumping off point. My car insurance is now filed in a folder marked “insurance-car”. I keep my taxes for 10 years instead of 8. I made medical files for each of us and a folder for our pets. But this is working pretty well so far. I know where to find things. It makes sense to me. It’s not so complicated that I can’t use it.

Sneaky Brownies-Gluten Free, Of Course

2010-03-19T19:45:00.006-04:00

Over the past couple of weeks I have been cooking out of the Sneaky Chef cookbooks. Have you heard about these? It's a cookbook featuring recipes that hide healthy foods in dishes you would normally eat. She teaches you how to incorporate carrots and sweet potatoes into tomato sauces for pizza or spaghetti, blueberries and spinach into brownies and winter squash into macaroni and cheese. I've tried all three of these and the only thing I could taste was the blueberries in the brownies. It wasn't bad but I think I will try it with cherries next time. Doodlebug didn't seem to mind the blueberries or spinach one bit!

Not all of the recipies in the cookbook are gluten free, but several can be easily converted. I also found a version called The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue. This cookbook has many of the recipes in her other cookbooks that have been converted to be allergen free. There's even a whole section on gluten free! This is where I found the gluten free brownie recipe and there's a cookie recipe I hope to try next.

I love the idea of sneaking veggies into foods that I eat and love. Who couldn't use a few more fruits and veggies in their day? And even though it doesn't magically transform brownies into health food, it makes it easier for me to rationalize eating it. If it has spinach in it, I think I can count it as a salad, right?

Greener Cleaning

2010-03-18T09:08:00.001-04:00

I have to admit, many of the green things I do are more out of a desire to keep more “green” in my pocket than to be good to the earth. But many of the least expensive things to do at home also are good for the environment.

One of the ways we save a lot of money in our kitchen is by having little cloth wipes. Yep, wipes. I use them instead of paper towels. They stand up to getting the job done, get used over and over and save lots of money on paper towels. We still use paper towels, but since we have started using these wipes we have cut our paper towel usage in half.

I clean a lot with very inexpensive and environmentally friendly stuff. Here are my favorites.

Vinegar
Baking soda
Hydrogen Peroxide

We use a mix of about 50/50 vinegar/water as an all purpose cleaner. I use it on counter tops, to clean hardwood floors, to wipe down bathroom sinks and toilets, tile floors, and any other general cleaning we have. I also put it in a Downy ball as use it in place of fabric softener. I thought I would be able to smell it in my clothes, but I can’t. It’s ultra cheap, won’t harm Doodlebug if he gets into it and good for the environment. If you are worried about the smell, it will dissipate as soon as the vinegar dries.

Tougher jobs that need a little scrubbing get some baking soda. I use it to scour the sink and bathtubs. I like to sprinkle some in, spray with vinegar water, let it bubble and then come back and scrub it. Works like a charm. I also use it to get stubborn spots off my car’s exterior. Baking soda is a great odor absorber and routinely gets dumped down the dish disposal to prevent odors.

Hydrogen peroxide is great at cleaning glass and mirrors streak free. It is also a disinfecting agent and can be used as a general purpose cleaner on hard surfaces. I use it for counters, toilets, mirrors and the potty chair. To disinfect I spray the surface, leave it for a few minutes and then wipe it up.

Why Bother Couponing?

2010-03-17T09:38:00.004-04:00

I have to admit, until I got couponing about a year ago I thought this a lot. I mean, what is so great about saving $.25 on your dishwashing detergent? And seriously, it's cheaper to buy the store brand anyway.

But then I tried it. And I have been surprised at how much money I can save. It's not about saving $.25 on dishwashing detergent. It's about holding onto every cent I can for my family. We have some pretty lofty financial goals, and less than lofty paychecks coming in. I want to save money and I work hard at it because I keep the end goals in view. Here are a few of them.

First and most important, we are saving to adopt a child.

I want to payoff my house and have no mortgage.

We want Doodlebug (and his future brother/sister) to have college funds.

We want to go to Disney for Christmas in 2013.

And don't forget, I do not actually bring any money into the house. So I consider it my job to figure out ways to spend less on the stuff we need. We realized a couple of months after Doodlebug was born that we were spending the same amount on groceries and household items now as we were when it was just the two of us. My couponing, stockpiling, cooking from scratch, menu planning, and hunting for sales has saved us enough money to cover diapers, wipes, formula and other baby necessities.

Here's a quick example from my grocery store run yesterday. And I went to the grocery store early in the morning to get the best selection of clearance produce and clearance meats. It doesn't always work, but sometimes I get lucky.

2 boxes Chex cereal $3.35 + $3.39 = $6.74
3 pounds of butternut squash $1.69/lb x 3 lbs = $5.07
Asparagus .88 lbs at $3.99/lb = $3.51
Frozen pepper stir fry mix 2 @ $2.55 each = $5.10
2 packs of butter @ $3.85 = $7.70

Before tax total = $28.12

With tax I paid $12.78

Here's how:
I had a $1 off 2 coupon for the Chex. Not great, but we were out of cereal.
The squash was on clearance for $1.75
The asparagus was on sale for $.99/lb for $.87
The stir fry was on sale for $2.55 and 2 coupons for $.35 that doubled.
The butter was on sale $1.86 each and I had a coupon for $.50 that doubled.

And this is how we will use it:
The Chex is being eaten for breakfasts for the next couple of weeks.
I will bake the squash and freeze it. Doodlebug loves it.
The asparagus will be cooked with dinner one night this week.
Stir fry veggies are in the freezer for the next time we have fajitas or stir fry.
Butter is in the freezer for later.

My best deals make it into my stockpile (squash, stir fry and butter) and I just try to save as much as I can on the stuff my family needs right now (cereal and asparagus).

On this particular trip I spent less than an hour prep time (looking for coupons, clipping and organizing them, making a shopping list, and going to the store). I don't know of any job I could get that I could work at for an hour, at a time of my choosing, take along Doodlebug and I would walk away with more than $15 in my pocket. That's why I coupon.

Chex Treats

2010-03-12T14:22:00.004-05:00

Since going on the gluten free diet I've had to give up Rice Krispy treats. Rice krispies seem like a cereal that would not have gluten, but they add a small amount of malt to it which makes it off limits to me.

But seriously, I want to make these with my son. I want to eat them too. I have childhood memories of the ooey gooeyness of the marshmellows melting and I want to pass it on.

My friend hit up on a brilliant solution. Substitue Rice Chex for the Rice Krispies. Why didn't I think of that?

Here's the recipe.

6 cups of Rice Chex
4 cups mini marshmellows
3 T butter

Melt butter over low heat. Add marshmellows and stir frequently until marshmellows melt. Pour into a greased (or sprayed) 9 x 13 baking dish and press down into an even layer. Let cool before eating.

We had a good time making the treats. I had 2 helpers. My official taste tester and my offical cutie pie.

Oh my, these were so good! My little helper (Doodlebug's friend who was staying with us that day) declared loudly, "I love this treat!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

Coupon Binder

2010-03-11T09:36:00.005-05:00

Once you have made a menu, found all your coupons, and put them in a binder (or other organizational system) you want to make sure you are making the best possible use of your binder. Why go to all this trouble if you aren't able to find the coupons you need?

Some people advocate cutting out every single coupon you find and storing it in your binder. They argue (and rightly so) that you never know what product you will find on sale or on clearance and you could end up getting the product for free or even making money on it. This is true, but I do not personally ascribe to this system. It would require a bigger binder, more baseball card holders, more time to cut and organize all the coupons and I don't feel like the savings would justify all the extra time it would take me.

Some people say you should only cut out coupons for items and brands your family uses regularly. This way you know that you will use most, if not all, of the coupons you clip. This is true too, but I don't do this either.

I cut out all the coupons of products my family does use regularly. I also cut out coupons of brands we don't use regularly but I would be fine with using if I could get the items for a very low price. For example, I rarely use instant rice, but if I find a great deal on it I have no problems using it. The reason we don't use it is cost. So I cut that coupon out. If my store offers triple coupons (which does happen) and the item is on sale I could get it free or close to free. That is worth it to me. One the other hand, my family does not eat wheat pasta. I cannot eat it due to my Celiac. Frankly I do not care if they are giving away the pasta, I won't buy it. I don't bother with those coupons ever. I do save my inserts for about 2 months though. Why? Because many sites that help people match coupons to sales to get deals will direct you to the coupon as well. There will be a note after the coupon where to get it. Here is one from the website iheartcvs.com

-$.75 Oral-B Pulsar, CrossAction, Advantage Toothbrush or two Indicators P&G 2/7/10 or 2/21/10

What it means is there is a coupon for $.75 off of an Oral-B Pulsar, CrossAction, Advantage Toothbrush or two Indicators. This coupon can be found in te Proctor and Gamble coupon inserts from either February 7, 2010 or February 21, 2010. Since I save my inserts, if I decide I want to do this deal I would find my Proctor and Gamble insert from 2/7 or 2/21 (or both!) and flip through it to find the coupon.

Another thing I do to help keep me on track is to place my menu with shopping list in the front of my binder. I have a clear plastic sleeve over the front of my binder so I keep it there to go to the grocery store.

In some sections of my binder I have pink index cards with little notes that say things like:

4-Pillsbury Biscuits-BOGO
3-lg eggs $.69

I started doing this to remind me what rainchecks I have. My little list indicates I have rainchecks for 4 packagages of pillsbury biscuits that are buy one, get one free and 3 cartons of large eggs for $.69. I found I would forget what rainchecks I had so I just started sticking notes my baseball card slots.

And last, but not least, put your contact information in your binder. I wrote mine in permanent red marker along the back page of my binder. I have my first and last names, my phone number and my email address. If I ever lose my binder I will be very upset. It represents a lot of time and effort on my part and a large amount of savings to my family. It feels kind of like money in the bank to me and would take months to be able to replace all of the things in there, if I could even manage to do it. It doesn't guarantee that I would get my binder back, or that all my stuff would be in it if I did, but at least it would give me a chance.

Organizing Coupons

2010-03-08T08:49:00.008-05:00

Okay, now that you have found all of these coupons, what in the world do you do with them? After all, it's no use to find that coupon for toilet paper the week after the sale on the toilet paper is over.

When I first started couponing I had a very small stash of coupons and I didn't want to carry around a huge binder. My solution was to glue together a bunch of envelopes, label them in categories and carry that around with me. It was a quick and easy project, cost almost nothing to make and worked with only a few coupons. But I outgrew it rather quickly and decided to make a coupon binder.

I found a 3 ring notebook, some dividers, bought some baseball card holders, a couple of plastic sleeves and went to work. (The baseball card holders can be purchased at Walmart. They are near the book section that is usually located at the front of the store.)

I used my dividers to make categories that make sense to me. Our are Baby Supplies, Cleaning, Diapers, Food, Misc, Paper Products, Paper Towels, Pets, Toilet Paper, Toiletries. In the back of my notebook I have a section that is divided up by stores. I have Big Box Stores, Drug Stores, Grocery Stores, Other, and Restaurants. I use these for store coupons, store reward cards, rainchecks, free shipping codes to Land's End, pizza coupons etc.

One you have your sections you can sort your coupons and start tucking them into the baseball card holders. If I have multiples of the same coupon I put them all in the same slot with the one that expires first on top. It can take some creative folding to get the coupons into one slot and still show the product, discount amount and expiration date. Some of my coupons (especially the internet ones) I put in one of the bottom two slots and let it take up more than one place. To me, it's just easier and makes more sense.

Where to Find Some Coupons?

2010-03-07T20:10:00.004-05:00

How do you start couponing? Where do you get all your coupons? Some people buy stacks and stacks of newspapers on Sunday to get the coupons. Other people buy coupons off of Ebay or other internet sources. Some people buy one Sunday paper and call it done. I generally don't do any of those things and although it's taken a little time I have a notebook full of coupons on things I regularly use. How? I seek out free and low priced sources.

My favorite source is my mom's coupon insert leftovers. Mom coupons too, but we don't buy all of the same things so I get her inserts after she is done clipping what she wants. I do miss out on some coupons I'd like, but it still gives me plenty to work with. Occasionally I will buy my own Sunday paper too. Usually the first Sunday of the month is loaded with coupons (unless it is a holiday weekend)so if I'm going to buy a paper I try to do it then.

My next favorite source is internet coupons. Now before you go and print out a ton of internet coupons make sure you know if the stores you shop at will accept them. Most do, but a few do not. Lots of bigger stores have their coupon policies listed on line, but if they do not you can call the store and request a copy. Here are a few of the internet sites I visit regularly for coupons. coupons.com, smartsource.com,redplum.com, coolsavings.com. These sites have a limit of 2coupons being printed per computer, but they do reset at the beginning of each month. Also, they do 'run out' of coupons throughout the month and take them off the site until the next replenishment.

Another great source of coupons is a coupon swap. I am part of one and this is how it works. You clip all the coupons from your Sunday paper and keep the ones you need. The first person in the group puts all of her leftover coupons into an envelope and mails it out. The second person takes whatever she needs from the envelope, adds her unneeded coupons and mails it along to the third person and so on down the line. Some coupons rarely get passed along (like paper towels) since everyone seems to need those, but I have gotten several pet food coupons, diaper coupons and children's medicine. Not every household needs these and I have received them in fairly large quantities on occasion. I found this coupon swap through an internet message board for local moms.

An unexpected source of coupons have been direct contact with the company whose product I want to buy. I noticed that when I would call a company to ask a question about a product (usually "Is it gluten free?") they would then offer to send me coupons in the mail. Hmm.... Since then I have discovered that emailing or calling to either compliment or complain about products also typically will result in coupons being mailed out as a thank you. I don't do this all the time, but when I have a problem with a product or I really like something I do make it a point to let the company know.

If I'm trying to match coupons to a deal at the store my favorite site is hotcouponworld.com. I go into their coupon database and search for the coupon I need. Sometimes I find one, sometimes I don't, but it never hurts to look around.

Cutting Grocery Bill-Stockpiling

2010-03-06T13:02:00.005-05:00

I love a good sale. And when I find stuff on sale that my family uses, we stock up. If it's a really good sale, we really stock up. Last week I found the big packs of Huggies wipe refills on sale. The best sale price I can normally get is $5.00. I found them for $2.50. I promptly went to the store, bought 7 packages (all they had) and came home the proud owner of 1232 wipes. That'll last us a while.

Last week our grocery store had a great deal on frozen veggies. It was a combination of a store sale, bonus dollars from General Mills for buying 12 items and a whole lotta coupons.

Why the heck do I buy vegtables in such large quantities? And wipes? Here's exactly why.

Normally the veggies are $2/box. The store was selling them for $1/box. I had 4 coupons for $.50 off 2 boxes and 1 coupon for $.60 off 3 boxes. My store doubled the coupons. If I bought 12 boxes at one time General Mills gave me $4.00 off my total order. I made 2 trips, bought 16 boxes and spent $7.80, just over $.48/box saving myself $24.20. These veggies are our favorites and generally we consider them a treat because of the price tag, but if I can get them for $.48/box it's worth it.

Wipes are normally $5.99 regular price. With coupons and sales I can usually get it down to about $5.00. When I bought 7 of them at $2.50 the other week I was able to save $17.50 over my usual best price. That's a lot of money.

Where do we store all this stuff? It depends. The wipes and diapers I just stocked up on went in Doodlebug's closet and under his crib. The veggies are crammed in the freezer. Canned goods, dry goods and baby formula all go in the "stockpile" cabinet in the kitchen. I keep whatever we're likely to use in the next week or two in our pantry, and anything else goes in this cabinet. It's pretty lightly packed now. When it's really full the can's are 2 or 3 deep and boxes are stacked on top of each other.

Meat is another item we stockpile a lot of. When it is on sale or reduced for a quick sale we will buy it and put it in the freezer. I just repackage it into smaller sizes (what we would typically need for a meal) and store them wrapped in plastic wrap and then put in zip top bags.

My absolute favorite form of stockpiling is with rainchecks. When items are on sale for a really deep discount the store often runs out of them quickly. If this happens I always ask for rainchecks. Rainchecks are much easier to store than bunches of paper towels or boxes of frozen veggies. I can save them until I really need them or until I can combine them with coupons to make an even better deal. And since the rainchecks at my grocery store never expire, I know that I can save them until I need them and cash in on the great deals whenever it works best for us.

Spinach Salad

2010-03-05T10:13:00.004-05:00

Unless I’m baking, I don’t really follow recipes all that well. It’s not that I can’t, I just don’t. I can’t be bothered to measure out teaspoons of ketchup or cups of chicken broth. I sometimes discover I’m out of an ingredient ¾’s of the way through a recipe. I am lazy. Why drag out the food processor to grate an apple when I have perfectly good applesause sitting in the fridge. Those are about the same.

For sheer entertainment I’m going to write out this recipe along with the thoughts that go through my head as I am typing it out. This is not for the faint of heart.

Spinach Salad (I know it sounds really gross, but if it makes me want to eat spinach, it’s got to be pretty great. Trust me. I know what I’m talking about. I am a very picky eater.)

2 cups raw baby spinach (The ‘experts’ always tell people to wash their spinach. Should I mention that? I mean, this is a recipe not a cooking lesson. And that would be kind of hypocritical since I never wash mine.)

2 T vegetable oil (Seriously, I have no idea how much oil to use. I just pour a little in the pan. 2T sounds like a good amount though. And who’s really going to measure it anyway?)

½ minced onion (Or maybe a little less. Heck, just use whatever’s hanging around in the fridge. It’s just about adding some flavor anyway.)

2T brown sugar. (I think it’s supposed to be the same as the oil. Maybe not. I can’t remember. Just throw some it.)

½ cup Mandarin oranges (That sounds about right. Assuming you have Mandarin oranges. Last week I didn’t so I used dried cranberries. It was pretty tasty. Maybe I should change it to cranberries. Or both. I bet it would be good with both. I’d better remember to add both to the grocery list for next week. And spinach. I won’t get far without the spinach. Is there anything else we need from the grocery…? Wait, what was I doing? Oh yeah, typing up a recipe. Where was I?)

¼ almonds. (Use whatever nuts you have that seem to go with the other ingredients. Throw in what you want. Seriously. It’s not that hard.)

Heat oil in a small pan. Add minced onion and cook until translucent. (I hate using that term. When are the onions translucent? No idea. But it’s better than trying to figure out how long I actually cooked them last time. As long as they aren't burnt you will be okay.)

Take pan off the heat and add in brown sugar. (I know, it sounds insane. But think of it like dressing. It really does taste good. Promise. Cross my picky-eater’s heart.) Stir until well combined. Pour mixture over the spinach. Toss well to coat. (You’re gonna be standing there tossing for a few minutes. It doesn’t look like it’ll be enough, but it is. Promise.)

Top with Mandarin oranges and almonds. (Oh so healthy, and thanks to the sugar, oh so yummy too. I wonder what other fruits and nuts would work here.)

Advanced Menu Planning

2010-03-04T08:42:00.004-05:00

Okay, now that you have the basics of menu planning down there are a couple more things you can do to make mealtimes even easier. One of the most essential for me is to plan with my calendar in front of me. On days when we are going to be home all day I plan to make dishes that are more complicated or that need more monitoring and on busy days we stick to the basics. If we are planning to eat out or have guests for dinner I jot a note on the menu plan for those things too.

When I do this I often find myself thinking that I need a crock pot recipe for Tuesday or a quick and easy meal for Thursday so I made separate lists of those meals. Nothing fancy, I just scribbled it on a piece of paper and stuck it in with the recipes we use regularly so I can glance over it and pick a meal when I need something from one of those categories.

About once a week I will pick a new recipe to try out. When I do I make a note on the menu of where to find the recipe. I have found great looking recipes, bought all the ingredients and then not been able to find it when it comes time to make dinner. What is the point of that?

When I first started menu planning I did not take my menu to the grocery store. Big mistake. I would get to the store only to discover that an item from my list was out of stock. Then I would have to try and remember what I needed that ingredient for and if there was anything I could substitute for it. Seriously, if I could do all that in my head I would not need to write down the menu to begin with. I just take a pen with me now and make adjustments to the menu as we go.

How long does this take me? About 10 minutes a week to make the menu and the grocery list. To me that is time well spent so we don't have to have the "What do you want to have for dinner?" "I don't know, what do you want to have for dinner?" conversation anymore.

Menu Planning-Where to Start?

2010-03-03T11:55:00.005-05:00

This was a typical coversation in our house around dinnertime each night.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't care, what do you want for dinner?"

"I don't know. Whatever you want is fine."

"Do we have anything we can make?"

"No, we didn't thaw anything out."

"Do you want me to go the store?"

And on, and on, and on.... I finally decided I couldn't handle it any more and so we started making menus. Then we only had to do this once a week.

The easiest place to start is to make a list of your family's favorite meals. Ask everyone what they would like to see on the menu. Think about what meals you have eaten recently and add those. And it is perfectly okay to put something as simple as grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Grab a piece of paper. Along the lefthand side make a list of each day of the week leaving some space under each. Go back and fill in a meal (or meals) under each day. If you get stuck refer to the list of family favorites. Don't go crazy here and decide to try a new dish every night, just use what you already know and like.

At our house we only fill in dinner each night. Lunch is leftovers and breakfast is cereal so I don't see a need to plan it out.

On the righthand side of your paper make a list of what ingredients you will need to buy to make the dishes you are planning to make. This is your grocery list. Here is what our menu and grocery list looks like. I have 3 columns in mine because I like to have lots of room for my grocery list.

My list is not real pretty. I crossed stuff out and changed the days a couple of times. Here's a closer look at the menu part.

I don't put tons of detail on my menus. I do decide on a main dish and sometimes side dishes. Sometimes I just write "veggies" as my side dish and figure that out later. As long as I have frozen veggies I figure it doesn't take me any longer to cook the broccoli than the corn so I don't bother to work out all the details.

After I have made my menu and grocery shopped I fold my paper in thirds and post it on my fridge.

Super Saucy Pork Chops

2010-02-26T11:13:00.003-05:00

I can't remember where this recipe came from originally, so if anyone recognizes let me know so I can credit the creator of this yummy dish. We haven't had it in a while, we've been out of pork chops and they haven't been on sale. Finally this week they are on sale so I'm planning to have these soon.

2 pork chops (fat trimmed and bone removed)
14 oz can of peeled, crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T vinegar
1 t garlic powder
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
1 T molasses
1-2 cups cooked pasta (if you are going gluten-free use a gluten-free pasta here)

1. Pour tomatoes in blender and pulse to break up tomatoes. We like ours just a little chunky.

2. Combine all ingredients in a crock pot, except pork chops and pasta, and stir.

3. Place pork chops on top.

4. Cook for 6-8 hours on low.

5. Serve over pasta.

This makes enough for my husband and I to eat for dinner with enough leftover for the next days lunch.