Wordless Wednesday--gluten-free "gingerbread" houses, except that two of them are actually space forts, complete with nuclear bombs and missiles.

Menu Plan Monday

As our many activities are winding down for the holiday season I am looking at a week when I can actually cook. Imagine! For instance, today I don't have to be anywhere until 5:00! Unheard of. Okay, then I have to be somewhere at 6:45, 7:00, 7:30, and 8:30, so it's several hours of schlepping children, but I could cook all day if I wanted. However, I don't want to cook all day, I want to finish crocheting the hat I started yesterday before it gets cold again. It should be in the upper 60s today but then back down into the 40s tomorrow, which will be perfect for black bean soup.

Sunday: Tom made veggieburgers and spud puppies for the kids while I went to hang out with a friend.

Monday: Singapore noodles, Indian carrots, baked tofu

Tuesday: Black bean soup, sweet potato fries, salad

Wednesday: Taco salad (using any leftover black bean soup as well)

Thursday: Pinto beans, Spanish rice, roasted veggies

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: We're having Christmas dinner with my family, so I will make Tofurky, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. to take. Not sure what A. will eat, since he can't have the Tofurky (it's not gluten-free) and has decided he doesn't like the baked tofu I usually make for holidays. Maybe leftover pizza.

As always, make sure to check out the hundreds of other menus at Organizing Junkie's blog. Heather, at Celiac Family, is hosting this week's Gluten-Free Menu Swap. I'm always interested to see what other people are cooking in their gluten-free kitchens!

Family + Creativity

What a perfectly boring, perfectly wonderful weekend. I think I've mentioned before, my mantra for life is, Better Busy Than Bored, fueled by my A.D.D. This weekend, though, I was ready to just chill. Don't get me wrong, many hours were spent procuring various household essentials, several more hours spent cleaning and cooking, but it was a Family sort of weekend. One of the most endearing qualities of our teenagers is that they actually enjoy spending time with us. It baffles both Tom and myself, but we keep that to ourselves. Best not to give them ideas, you know.

Take this morning, for instance. I was listening to Mountain Stage on our new local music-only NPR station, washing dishes, and I happened to glance into the living room while putting away cookie sheets under the oven. Tom was, of course (it is Sunday, after all), watching football on the teevee. The other kids, though, were also in the room, all hanging out together even while doing their separate things. K. and M. were reading, manga on a laptop and a library book, respectively. A. and J. were building Lego spaceships. It felt cheerful, to all be in a cozy space together.

OH! And! While listening to Mountain Stage I fell in love with a band I'd never heard of, Madison Violet. If you know me at all you know that I have never found a band I love more than Indigo Girls; Amy and Emily have been the soundtrack of my life for the last 20 years. There's competition now, though. These girls are talented, beautiful, intelligent, and amazing storytellers. I can't wait to listen to their cds. You guys go check them out, I promise you will not be disappointed.

On the creative front, crochet is foremost in my mind these days. It's funny, as soon as it starts getting cold I'm all about the yarn. Okay, so today cold was upper 60s, but still. Jackets! Scarves! That's cold weather, right? I am working on a super-cute hat for myself in an eggplant color, which will make my green eyes sparkly even when I haven't slept more than two hours in a row. Here is the pattern, but mine will be a bit tighter of a stitch. I'm kind of, how is it described? Tightly-wound. So I use a hook several sizes larger than is called for, check my gauge, go up another size, check it again, decide the pattern is screwed up, and go ahead. We'll see in the next day or two if it actually fits. If not, I know a three-month old that looks ravishing in eggplant.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

So lucky.

As recently as a few months ago I could not make myself relax on the weekend. It felt like I had to pack everything in to 48 hours, all of the house- and paperwork I put off all week because we are running out of the house to another activity, the shopping, the "me" time, etc. You know how that goes. We're in a good relaxing place now, though, and I'm not sure what happened. Did I give up? Did I get old? Oh, yeah, I did.

After several hours of shopping this morning, for holiday presents and food, I was finished with the running around. Yes, I need to wrap, clean, pay bills, schedule the next week, but for the past six hours it has been Family Time. We watched "Wordplay," (yes, we're nerds and listen to Will Shortz's NPR puzzle every Sunday morning), which prompted several hours of working crossword puzzles with M. while the others sat around in the same room playing games or reading, played two rounds of Trivial Pursuit, and now the kids are playing a Wii game while Tom whips up potato soup.

In a little while, when the soup is finished, we're going to watch "Roxanne," which the kids have never seen. We're not sure of the appropriateness for the boys, but figure we can distract them for the two or three instances we remember that would be over their heads. On the other hand, they would be over their heads, so whatever. A bottle of merlot is open, pajama pants are going on. I am feeling extra lucky this evening.

Wordless Wednesday--extreme go-karts, A. driving

Catching up

So far I'm rocking 36, though I might need to start rocking it less and sleeping more. This last week tested the parameters of my parenting, and by tested I mean brought me within shouting distance of hysteria. In my attempts to provide my children with well-rounded educational and social lives I've become an unpaid chauffeur. No longer. At the moment, with the activities they participate in regularly, I drive over 460 miles a week schlepping them. The longest distance to an activity is about 16 miles, so I'll wait while you do the math. Too much.

So I told them today that the boys will no longer be taking gymnastics and the girls will no longer be taking art. It kind of broke my heart a little, but they took it surprisingly well. I thought the girls would be devastated over giving up art class, they've been taking lessons from the same person for 9+ years. The boys really do love their gymnastics class, but A. already goes to tae kwon do 3-4 times a week. J. doesn't, gymnastics was his first "real" class. I'm trying to convince him to start tae kwon do; we won't be paying any more than we are now, except at belt-testing time. It would suck to be there even more than we are now, which is me driving kids back and forth 8-10 times a week and Tom being there five classes a week, but if he wanted to do it I could make it work.

Tomorrow M. and K. register for next semester at the community college. M. has an appointment with a dean to appeal to be allowed to take two classes instead of the prescribed one that dual-credit students are supposed to take. She could take a full load of college classes and be perfectly fine, but she needs to demonstrate that to the proper officials. Hopefully her average of 100 in college Calculus will help. She wants to take Calculus 2 and Physics 1 next semester. K. doesn't know what her exact average in Psychology is but it should be an A based on her tests, research reports, and group presentation. She is going to take Algebra next semester, not that she wants to, but I told her I am not being responsible for her + math ever again. Too many tears, too many tantrums. And she was almost as dramatic as I was.

Last week I skipped the Menu Plan Monday and regretted it every evening as I scrambled for dinner. I didn't post anything this week but I have a loose plan in my head. Which really doesn't mean anything, because unless it's written on a list or put on the calendar on my phone, it won't happen.

Take this morning for instance:

The doorbell rang at 8:30, dingdingdingdingdingding; Tom and I jumped up, running into each other, bouncing off of furniture, like a pair of Keystone Kops, hissing at each other about who should be the one to answer the door. Normally we would have ignored it, but as soon as I heard that dinging I suddenly remembered that our contractor said he would be here at 8:30 Monday morning to start work on the leaking bathroom. I lost the hissing match, so I threw on a robe and ran to open the door, catching a glimpse of myself in a mirror on the way out, but I wasn't terrified because I wasn't wearing glasses or contacts. I squinted at the two men on the porch, unable to make out their faces, but then Dennis said hello and I recognized his voice.

It wasn't until I had to use the key, the tiny, finicky, near-useless key that opens locked bathroom doors that I caught a glimpse of myself in the brass door handle. Well. That's why it's a blessing I'm so blind without vision correction, nobody should have to realize she looks like that in the morning.

And now, to play Trivial Pursuit with Tom and the girls. We're on quite a kick, have played four games in the last two days. I can't even compete with them, which makes me just a little proud. Turns out the years of intensive history/geography/science/literature studies I've been requiring actually stuck in their brains. If nothing else, maybe they can go on Jeopardy and win me enough to pay for that damn bathroom.

Finale

I was going to write about my 36th birthday, which is tomorrow, about the strangeness of being at the tail end of my mid-thirties, staring into the void of late-thirties but instead I am going to put on pajamas, tuck myself into bed with a book, and maybe wonder what to be when I grow up.

A Sunday miracle!

People, this is a momentous occasion: I am completely and totally up-to-date on blog reading! That's right, my Bloglines account has no unread feeds! That has NEVER happened before. I woke up at 6:00 this morning, unable to sleep longer, so read blogs for almost two hours on my phone, using Berry Bloglines, then finished up on my computer while drinking coffee.

Seriously, I had to document the occasion.

Much to do today and even more to do tonight when I get to go out with my best friends. One of them is taking a shower upstairs right this very minute! We cannot stop laughing when we're together; I swear, my family thinks I'm a completely different person when Leslie is in the room or on the phone with me. Normally they see me as a boring, un-fun, obsessive-compulsive, shouty person, but with Leslie I become my true self: hilarious, obnoxious, rowdy, spontaneous. Maybe she just brings out the best in me. She's the one who dared me to get a tattoo, who takes ridiculous photos with me at children's museums, who texts me jokes when I'm bored, texts me before even getting out of bed. I'm so lucky.

I am the least-photogenic person I know, but isn't Leslie beautiful?

Saturday....

A typical weekend day here....

Indoor Nerf target practice:




While K. goes on with her online manga reading.



Everyone here is used to various shots and explosions going off at any time, we really don't pay any attention to it any more. Check out that target action.



M. is similarly apathetic about the whole situation. See all that crocheting behind her? It's all hers.


Okay, pizza is ready and almost demolished within a few minutes. All of the pizzas are gluten-free; 1.5 of the round ones have mozzarella cheese, 1/2 of one has no cheese for M., the rectangular one has Follow Your Heart vegan cheese for Tom. I usually end up eating some of his just because I really shouldn't eat any of it but he has more than the others.


Dinner's over, time to break out my early birthday present, Wii Fit Plus. I am so excited about this!!!


J. says, "I'm not ready for exercising, I want some more pizza."



Mama says, "I'm ready to exercise but I'll have a glass of wine while I wait for everyone else to finish."



Whew, all that strenuous stuff is over. Time for a movie and snacks.





As well as some crocheting for Mama and, you know, maybe another glass of wine.




It's a good life.

Meaty thoughts

I know I've mentioned before that I am an omnivore, though the rest of my family are vegetarian or vegan. Due to blood sugar issues, I can no longer eat potatoes, rice, or beans, which are all staples in our house. While I spend hours cooking for my family, I'm not actually able to eat what I cook. For months I've been living on meat and cheese from the deli, salads, and the occasional plain baked chicken breast. I have no idea how to turn chicken into a delicious meal! The most I've stretched to is dumping some marinara on top of it before baking.

My birthday is Tuesday; I have decided that the gift I'm giving myself this year is permission to meet my needs. I'm going to learn how to cook meat. That may mean that one day each week I make enough to get me through several meals; as long as it's something that tastes good I don't mind eating the same thing over and over. Breakfasts for me are always eggs, poached or fried, and lunches are almost always salads, so it's really just dinner that needs to change. And if my cooking time is consumed with cooking a meal that will only be eaten by myself, my family can eat leftovers or forage in the freezer. It won't kill them, but if I keep eating like I have been, it might kill me.

I have no clue how to begin this learning process. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Ah, Thanksgiving, the most difficult of holidays for cooking vegetarian and gluten-free. We will be spending the day with Tom's parents and extended family, so I have to make sure that we take plenty for our family to eat, especially A., who is the only one who MUST eat gluten-free. Here's what I'm taking:

Tofurky roast (for the vegan but non-gf)
Marinated baked tofu (for the veg*n AND gf)
Jellied cranberry sauce (MIL makes the BEST whole-berry sauce, with peach brandy, but a few of my kids prefer the jellied)
Gluten-free dinner rolls
Pumpkin pie (gluten-free crust, of course)
Mashed potatoes
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Chopped salad
Gluten-free stuffing (recipe to follow)

A. hasn't tried stuffing in several years so I thought I'd kill some time making a gluten-free version for him. You know, in my spare time. No, really, I had some today; Tom took the kids out for the day so I spent the time blitzing the playroom and cooking. Neither of the older children liked stuffing until they were 7 or 8 and J. doesn't like it at age 4, so I thought maybe A. was ripe for it at 8. Oh, man, I was right. He ate two servings of his own as well as J.'s. Now I have to hurry up and write down what I did so I don't forget it! (See recipe below.)

One of Tom's cousins is also gluten-free, so there will probably be at least one other dessert he can have today, though really, he's all about the pumpkin pie. There's usually also some sort of jell-o/cool whip situation and "candy salad," which is a term he came up with to explain jell-o jigglers mixed with marshmallows. I'm pretty sure he won't starve. If nothing else, I can throw together a sandwich for him with cheese slices and a gluten-free roll.

There is always a table of snacks and appetizers for the hours leading up to the meal, so I will take some homemade hummus, gluten-free crackers, a snack tray of several sorts of olives, pickles, and cubed cheeses.

I put myself in charge of wine a few years ago, so we will be taking six bottles of various reds. Usually I prefer white, but Thanksgiving seems like a red sort of meal. When we went to New Braunfels this summer Tom and I visited the Dry Comal Creek Winery for a tour and wine tasting. Little did we know we would be tasting 15 wines, a sangria, and a port. Good thing we planned on spending a few hours, because I'm not sure we could have driven home if we hadn't finished the tasting before the tour. While we enjoyed most of the wines, there were two we adored, so we came home with four bottles of our favorites. Tom was shocked when I showed him that they were all still in the pantry, waiting for Thanksgiving dinner. We will be taking two bottles each of the White-Black Spanish wine and Comal Red IX as well as two of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau. For the children I picked up bottles of sparkling juices: pear, cranberry, and cherry.




Easy Gluten-Free Stuffing

2 bunches green onions, sliced, mostly white parts
1 stalk celery, diced
olive oil
1 loaf Ener-G tapioca bread (or whatever you have that would equal a loaf)
1 tart apple, peeled & diced (I used Honeycrisp but would have preferred Granny Smith if it were on hand)
2 c. stock (I like to use Not-Chik'n bouillon, but whatever is on hand will work)
2 c. soymilk (or milk, whatever you have that is creamy)
2 T. cornstarch
2 eggs
sage
thyme
salt
black pepper
white pepper

Saute the onions and celery in the olive oil until soft. Meanwhile, cube the loaf of bread. Mix onions, celery, bread cubes, and enough stock to saok everything without becoming drenched. Heat the soymilk until almost boiling, then take out a 1/4 c. and thoroughly mix with the cornstarch. Once the mixture is smooth, incorporate with the rest of the soymilk. Add enough of the soymilk mixture to the stuffing so that it becomes just wet. Throw in whatever amount smells and tastes good of the sage and thyme. I crushed the herbs in my palms before adding, maybe 1.5 t. of each. Season with salt & pepper until it tastes good. Whisk up those eggs, mix in thoroughly, and bake at 350 for a good long time. I think mine baked for about 1.5 hours. You want it to be nice and golden brown on top but still almost moist in the middle.

(Usually I don't bake with eggs, but Tom is the only one who won't eat eggs on a regular basis. He does eat his mom's stuffing, which has eggs, so I went ahead and used them in my stuffing.)

Try not to inhale the whole dish at once and remember, it's nice to share.

Wordless Wednesday--shower bubbles

Anti-Flylady

I am just about DONE with the mess in this house. You'd think these people lack the use of limbs unless reminded to use them, but it's a good thing they don't because a wheelchair would not make it past the front door . Actually, it's mostly the playroom, but when that becomes overwhelming the toys encroach the public areas and then it's all overwhelming.

When Tom takes the kids to his parents' house tomorrow to help cook I am going to blitz the playroom between sessions in the kitchen. If it turns out well I'll post before and after photos, otherwise you can assume I tripped on the mancala board and concussed myself on a Nerf Longshot CS-6. K. is in the midst of vacuum repairs; that girl can't complete two loads of laundry in 24 hours but can fix almost anything. I think she's trying to redeem herself, since her bedroom floor broke the vacuum in the first place. Tom had to bust out the shop vac to tackle it. I might take that to the Legos tomorrow.

See you on the flip side. I'll be the one wearing the apron, listening to The Splendid Table podcasts, decluttering, and drinking wine. I'm all about the multitasking.

Menu Plan Monday

Oh, man, I am so burnt out. Not just on cooking but...life. Too many kids, too many activities, not enough time. I haven't even thought about what I'm cooking for Thanksgiving yet. We alternate spending the day with my parents and Tom's; this year it's his parents' turn. One good thing when we go there is that one of his cousins and her daughter are gluten-free as well, so we can count on an alternate gluten-free dessert for A. I'm grateful for the modifications both families have made to accomodate A.'s need to be gluten-free. For many holiday dishes it's a moot point, since there's meat in the dish, but it's great to be able to fill up a plate for him that looks the same as his siblings and cousin's plates.

Here's what's cooking in our house this week:

Sunday: K. was a sweetheart and volunteered to make dinner. She made a lentil & brown rice casserole, sweet potato fries, and cranberry sauce. I went out with friends to our favorite bar. I ate a hamburger, fries, and drank wine until Tom texted me that the boys were in bed and it was safe to come home. I love that guy. I love that girl, for cheerfully volunteering to cook!

Monday: Coconut curry red lentil soup, brown rice, Indian cabbage, sliced clementines

Tuesday: Taco salad Tuesday, man. I keep trying to mix it up each week, but when we don't have taco salad on Tuesday they complain. I make refried beans from scratch (should I post that recipe??), seasoned black beans, brown rice, and then have all the regular toppings. Cheese, sour cream, salsa, olives, chopped romaine and onions for those who want and vegan sour cream for those who don't eat dairy. We make up our bowls and then crush tortilla chips on top and dig in.

Wednesday: Singapore noodles, roasted broccoli

Thursday: Thanksgiving at Tom's parents. Will have to think about what I'm taking.

Friday: Black bean soup, sweet potato fries, salad

Saturday: Sloppy lentil sandwiches, tater tots or fries, sliced fruit

As always, check out Org Junkie for tons more menus and also Gluten Free Goodness for gluten-free menus.

Sundays

An afternoon nap and a night out with friends. Could Sundays be any better?

Cheers!


Man, I looked so much cuter in my bathroom mirror.

Before I forget....

A conversation with J. as I'm tucking the boys into bed.

J: Mama, I love you.
Me: I love you, too.
J: You're my best mama ever.
Me: You're my best J. ever.
J: I'm going to keep you forever. Unless you die. Then you would start to smell bad and I would have to put you in the ground. Good night, Mama.
Me: Goodnight, sweetie. I'll try not to die.
J: Thanks.

I can't even come up with a title for such randomness.

Day 2 of The Shred leaves me feeling alternately feeling stronger and shakier. Is it possible that my ass is tighter after only two workouts? No? Hmm.

Tonight's dinner was meant to be black bean soup, but I forgot to get the beans cooking this morning so there was somewhat of a scramble around 4:30, only to come up empty-handed. Friday nights I have to have M. and K. at art class at 6:00, A. at tae kwon do at 6:45, then back home for an hour before I pick up the girls at 9:00. Not much time in there for cooking so I try to have it ready to go at 5:00 but today that's not happening. Wal-Mart is having a sale on Chex cereal this week, $2 a box, so I bought 15 boxes--there's plenty to eat.

Tom is sick again (still?) so I've been on bedtime duty all week on my own. That wears a person down, especially with the evening pickups of the girls from tae kwon do, calculus, or art. All afternoon I look forward to being able to take out my contacts, put on pajamas, and cuddle with Netflix, but that time keeps inching later and later.

I completely lost my train of thought. Here's a picture of A. eight years ago; it's pretty much what I wish I could look like right now. But with better hair.

Three things I learned today.

This morning I left the house with J. and A. in tow, compelled into waking an hour early by the promise that if they did not this minute put clothes on their backs and food into their bellies they would not be attending the play for which I had already paid. The thought of refunding my money meant more to A. than missing the play, but, you know, whatever works. We made it there in time but were then appalled at the ridiculousness of half the audience. I mean! Children calling out to the puppeteers, one small child narrating every movement on stage. At one point the majority of the grownups in the audience were glaring at the group, SSSHHHHing angrily, but still nobody took the offenders out of the audience. We have seen many plays there but this is the first time to witness such behavior. At one point J. turned to me and whispered, MOM. Why are those kids behaving inpopiate? Don't they know the RULES??

After shoehorning schoolwork, chores, laundry, and cooking into the three non-consecutive hours we had at home today, I thought to myself, Hmmm, you know what I need? Something that will make me MORE tired and cranky than I already am. You see, I had an open forty minutes while dinner was cooking. Forty minutes! Desperately running through my options in my head I discarded Read, Crochet, Clean, and Play Game With Children; the first two felt frivolous for such an early hour, the latter two I had already crossed off my list. The only reasonable option remaining was Exercise. Not because I enjoy it, no, I abhor it--not because of the work, I am a fan of work. The sweating. The necessity of showering after. The feeling that I'm wasting time. From the depths of my Counter of Shame (Am I the only one with one of those? A flat surface whose gravitational pull rivals that of the moon?) I unearthed a DVD I'd forgotten I'd bought months ago, 30 Day Shred.

Oh em gee. That Jillian was not using a euphemism when she put the word shred in the title. I am proud of myself, though, that I made it through the entire first level of the workout without giving up. I did take a handful of breaks, only for 5-10 seconds, but each time J. would shout, No breaks, Mom! That mean lady said that's the rules! I was embarrassed to be so huffy and puffy in front of A., who can flop down into complete splits and conducts daily personal fitness classes for J. as well as attending tae kwon do and gymnastics five hours a week, but, hey, it's a start, right?

Meanwhile, you know what today is, right? The release of 2009's Beaujolais Nouveau! Every year we hope the current bottling will compare to the gloriousness of 2002, but so far it hasn't happened. Fingers crossed! Metaphorically, of course, I'm actually now pushing the letters on my keyboard with a chopstick held in my mouth. I didn't need J. to tell me, but I now know the third rule of the day is: Do Not Sit After Shredding. My entire body is suffering, including my fingers. Perhaps I can instruct a child in the art of opening a bottle of wine and they can bring it to me with a straw.

BTW, don't forget to check out the other bloggers who are involved with the Mothering.com blog carnival.

Code Name: Mama

Moderate Means

1 + 2=Love

A Hippie With a Minivan

Moo Said the Mama

Simplyjess

Tripletly Blessed

Wordless Wednesday--hot chocolate edition

They call me Scrooge even before Thanksgiving.

Fall, it has finally arrived to Texas. We went to bed on Sunday, used to 80-degree days, and woke up Monday to a chill in the air. And, oh, the wind! I forgot how windy it can be here. My babies, they are not made of fortitude; they feel the chill and promptly begin searching for winter garments.

What you cannot see up there is that they are wearing long johns under their pants, two shirts, hats under their hoods, and gloves. Oh, and please do notice that A. is wearing sandals. Because nothing says I'm freezing like multiple layers of clothing and open-toed shoes. And by freezing, I mean it was 51 degrees. Fifty-one, people.

What fall also brings around these parts is a race to put up holiday lights. If it were up to me, we would not have any sort of decorations because, hello? Money? To put up lights we rarely even see because we park in the garage, which is in the rear of the house? Foolishness. But I am not in charge of merrymaking, at least not the family-friendly sort, so lights there are. I imagine one of these Saturdays I will be out for the day accomplishing the shopping, coffeeing, librarying I do not have time for during the week and will return to a house fully-decorated inside. That is what happened last year, I fervently hope it will again this year; I have no patience for the fiddly bits of weaving lighted garland through the banister, ornament-hanging, positioning the tree just so. You know what? Hang up a mistletoe and stockings, stock up on Silk Nog, light some candles, that's about all the holiday cheer I can take.



There is a nightly discussion over whether it is too early to actually flip the lights on. So far I have won, but I know that next week it will be a lost cause.