Looks Good in Polka Dots

In our household, Summer Time means friends, playing in the water, baseball and berry picking! This weekend we covered it all!

Friday night we had three families from church over for dinner. Our minister and family were included, like us they have a larger family with four children. Our evening also included two young couples, one recently married and the other getting married next month.

We started the evening off by letting all the kids play on the Banzai water slide while we visited and got dinner ready. We enjoyed garden rolls (tapioca wrappers, rice, sauteed veggies), chicken skewers on the BBQ fruit salad and garden salad. We decided that Asian food was the way to go as we had numerous allergies to contend with. The evening was concluded with young and old(er) alike playing Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii, It was a great time.

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to go Strawberry picking. We found the spray free fields recommended by the other Mom who was over the night before. A half hour later we had 22 lbs of beautiful, ripe strawberries.

What to do with that many berries? Oregon Dad and I decided to make jam. I’ve never made jam before, but part of my “plan” for this year is to can and jam everything! We used a low-sugar recipe and it turned out amazing! Oregon Dad and I both received several splatter burns, and the kitchen was a disaster once we were done! We are already plotting our next round, Raspberries followed by Blackberries.

Saturday night found us at a Triple A ball game, but that’s a post by itself. And Sunday took us to the skating rink. Tales of those fabulous events are to come! Sometime this week I will get pictures and recipes up for the dessert’s I made Friday. Chocolate rice pudding (YUM) and Faux Flan (my eggless version).

Cheers!

Take The Sleep In Challenge… Enter for a chance to win a Sleep Number Bed. (How about a Woot! Woot! for that.)

While you are at it, pop on over to Kirtsy ( I just love that name, don’t you?) and comment to win a FABULOUS set of sheets.

Who doesn’t need more sleep? Man do I ever! Just think about how lovely it would be to sleep one hour later every day this summer! (How’s that for a little slice of Heaven?) Can’t sleep later in the morning? How about going to bed an hour earlier. (That one’s for my good friend Meg, over at the earth friendly shoppe, who NEVER goes to bed before midnight.)

Why should we rearrange our crazy busy lives, and possibly go to bed with unfinished tasks? Great question. Getting more sleep makes one feel better (and far less cranky), reduces ones risk for adult onset diabetes, high blood pressure and the vitally important reduction in those unsightly under eye circles (even the coldest cucumber slices or frozen spoon bowls can’t completely rid a body of them!). Just think how much fresher you will look and feel!

How to convince the kiddos to let you sleep in? That’s not an easy task. On non-school days the kiddos know that they have to play quietly in their rooms (or, better yet, SLEEP) until 8am. This works well for the older kids who can read time on the digital clocks in their rooms. The youngest runs into my room several times each morning and yells, “Mommy, Is it eight o’clock yet?”. *Sigh* She’ll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, I am sticking to putting their cute, little, bottoms in bed by 8pm and crawling into bed earlier myself.

To allow yourself more time in the mornings, handle all possible tasks the night before. In my world this includes, packing lunches and laying out clothes. Some people go as far as getting breakfast ready. Figure out what works for you and actually makes life easier. Then run with it.

For some, falling asleep at night is difficult. I know it can be for me! To combat this, we try to turn off electronic stimulation (TV, Computer, Phones, etc…) 30-60 minutes before going to bed. Then I do something RELAXING, like read or take a bath or shower. It’s amazing how much better I sleep at night if I take a shower before bed.

If you are like Oregon Dad and just can’t fall asleep at night (or stay asleep for the night) try adding Fish Oil supplements to your diet. Sipping a calming tea or glass of wine before bed may also help.

Ahhhhh… lovely, precious, sleep. It’s a great thing. Go on, it’s okay to get more of it!

Gluten Free Donuts

Rating- Two Thumbs Up from Kids and Parents alike!

This is not a quick and easy recipe… but worth it!

Ingredients-

3 1/2- 4 1/2 cups rice flour mixture (equal parts sweet white rice flour and brown rice flour)

1/4 cup Wholesome Sweetners Evaporated Cane Sugar

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) of ACTIVE DRY YEAST

1 tsp Kosher Salt

1 cup light coconut milk

1/4 cup Earth Balance Shortening

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Canola oil for frying and large pan or fryer

Step one-

Place 2 cups rice flour mixture in a bowl, add sugar, yeast and salt.

Step two-

Place coconut milk and shortening in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until dissolved and VERY hot. (I removed from heat just as first bubbles began to form). Stir frequently so it doesn’t scald.

Step three-

Add hot liquid mixture to flour mixture in bowl. Add Eggs. Beat well for about a minute on low speed. Scrape side constantly so everything is incorporated. Turn speed up to medium and beat for about three minutes, scraping sides as needed.

Step four-

Add enough of the remaining rice flour mixture to form a soft dough, it will still be sticky.

Step five-

Knead dough on a surface dusted with rice flour or tapioca starch. The kneading will take about 5 minutes, but may take up to 10. Add rice flour as needed. Continue kneading until you get a ball that is stretchy and well formed.

Step six-

Place dough in a medium size bowl that you have lightly oiled, turn dough over so it is coated with oil. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size (about 50 minutes) in a warm location. I turned the oven on and set the bowl on top so the heat would assist in this step.

Step seven-

Oil cookie sheets (I used 2 1/2 cookie sheets) and set aside. Punch down down and place on counter lightly dusted with rice flour or tapioca starch. Roll dough out until its 1/2-3/4 inch thick (depending on your preference as these do not puff up as much as regular flour donuts). Use a donut cutter if you have one to cut donuts and holes. I used a glass for donut and a small cookie cutter for holes. Place donuts and holes onto oiled cookie sheets and cover, allow to rise in a warm location for about 30 minutes.

Step eight-

Heat a couple inches of canola oil in a large pan or fryer until hot. I use the water test to check, wet your fingers and flick the water drops onto the oil (this can be done from a good distance so you don’t get splashed!). If it pops and hisses, your oil is hot enough! You can also use a thermometer to check (350 degrees). Some people prefer to use melted shortening (esp. Palm based) to fry donuts. Now place the donuts one or two at a time into the hot oil. You will need to watch close and turn over after only a few seconds in the oil. Each donut only fried for about 30-45 seconds total. I used a long wooden skewer to turn donuts and remove from pan. They do break easily prior to cooking and while only partially cooked in pan, so a spatula to assist in placing in pan and turning will be helpful.

Step nine-

Remove donuts from pan and place on a surface covered with paper towels. Place another towel on top to assist in removing extra oils.

Step ten-

Make glaze. 1 cup powder sugar, 3 Tbs. Coconut Milk, 1 Tbs. Honey, 1 tsp Orange Zest. Mix well.

Step eleven-

Drizzle donuts with glaze and place on serving tray.

These are best enjoyed while still warm. The kiddos did have leftovers for breakfast the next day but they weren’t as popular as they were when fresh!

Even Oregon Dad, who was skeptical and asked if gf donuts equaled hockey pucks LOVED them. He picked them up and began nibbling and said, “These ARE GOOD”. (The final result is similar to old fashioned cake donuts.)

Enjoy!

K3 has her own drawer in our house… its a place to find snacks that are safe for her to eat. Inside, you will find Glee Gum, Stretch Island Fruit Leathers, EnviroKidz Organic Krispy Bars, Enjoy Life Cocoa Loco Bars, Ener-G Wheat Free Pretzels, and at various times other snack bars and dark chocolate candy bars we are trying out.

On our recent trip to Costco, I discovered three varieties of gluten free snack/energy bars. The LARABAR, Bora Bora Organics and Trio. We decided to bring a box of the Trio bars home as they were the lowest price per bar (about .80).

The Trio bars get an A rating from Mommy. K3 liked the first few bites and then decided she didn’t love them after all. I think its the crunch factor for her as she seems to be avoiding crunchy/crispy foods lately.

We’ve tried a couple varieties of Nectar Bars ($1.59 at Fred Meyer Nutrition Center). The first one was a Dark Chocolate/Coconut/Nut one and K3 didn’t like it at all. LC, however gobbled it up. Mommy thought it was OK. Last night, I purchased a Pomegranate/Cherry one. Thumbs up from everyone.

Weil Banana Manna ($1.59 at Fred Meyer Nutrition Center) gets a double thumbs up from everyone, the texture is soft which is great for the kids. Warning on these varieties, while the snack bars do not contain wheat/gluten/dairy ingredients… the factory does process other products containing no-no ingredients. So, if you are new to the GF diet or have ZERO tolerance for any amounts of gluten, these are probably not the snack bars for you.

LARABAR’s are certified GF and come in several yummy-licious flavors. Costco carries an 18 pack of these bars. The individual bar price break down was about .97 vs. $1.29-$1.59 at the grocer. They have a softer texture, but do contain nuts. These bars get TWO THUMBS up in our house. (So far K3 and I have sampled the Cashew Cookie and Lemon, both have been declared SCRUMPTIOUS!) K3 has officially requested that Mummy “ALWAYS buy this kind”. (It seems that the LARABAR BLOG approves of my word, YUMMY-LICIOUS.)

K3’s favorite has always been Enjoy Life Cocoa Loco Bars ($3.59 for 5 at Fred Meyer Nutrition Center). She doesn’t care for the berry flavor. I would love to see different flavors (I was thinking peanut butter, then thought… duh! They avoid the 8 common allergens which includes peanuts). She LOVED the EnviroKidz Organic Krispy Bars (3.99 for 6 at Fred Meyer Nutrition Center) for quite some time, but lately has been avoiding those as well. Not sure if this new avoidance of crunchy foods is related to losing teeth… but it corresponded with her front two teeth coming out.

I wasn’t able to locate any of the Bora Bora Organic bars to try, so we may have to break down and purchase a whole box at some point. They look VERY nutty/crunchy, so probably won’t be a favorite for K3, however Mommy likes the crunch, so perhaps those will be for Mama.

The Ener-G Pretzels (not the circle shape, the actual pretzel shaped ones) are a stand-by and favorite in our house. Everyone agrees they are darn tasty. Too bad I can only get the small bag ($1.89 at Fred Meyer Nutrition Center). Another constant for us are the Stretch Island Fruit Leathers, which we purchase in a box of 48 at Costco for under $11.

Glee Gum can be found at local stores such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods and is also available online. It is about .99 per pack. The gum resembles Chiclets. K3 has tried the mint and tangerine flavors. She gives them both two thumbs up! I think we will start ordering them online by the case (12 packs of 18 pieces) for $10.

I’m off to make donuts. Stay tuned. Photos will be posted soon!

Washing laundry for a family of seven is a full-time job. Seriously, I wash at least 3 loads a day, every single day including weekends. That equals, on average, 90 loads of laundry each month. Bleh. If we have a bad day (as we have had LOTS of lately), then a load or two of Little Critters bedding is added. Now that summer is here, it seems the kids do not realize they can hang up and re-use their towels and that bathing suits do not, in fact, need washed every single day. For some reason, Little Critter is obsessed with mud and mess making, so it never fails that the kids’ towels end up muddy instead of waiting nicely on the picnic table for their wet bodies to appear.

Now, there is a cozy looking, little bed. Just right for LC. Except its not “just right” in her opinion. In fact, everything about it is ALL WRONG. That would be because her usual bedding is in the wash again, for the second time today and about the billionth time this week.

For Little Critter to sleep, things must occur in a specific order. First the pink blanket, soft and fuzzy side UP, not down as I would put it so the fuzzy snuggles my skin. Oh NO, that can’t happen. Next comes the blue blanket. Unless she wants the yellow blanket today, then that one must go IN THE MIDDLE of the pink and blue blankets. Usually, the decision isn’t made to sleep with the yellow blanket until the blue one is already on her, so she lifts it up and instructs Mum to “put the yel-wo one right here… in the mid-will”. Then she will snuggle down, require her Panda (which looks like it has been through a Tornado, as it’s also the cat’s favorite toy), then Panda must be covered JUST SO. Next comes the hugs and kisses. In order, on the lips. If I kiss her cheek… it’s freak out time, “no, ON THE Wips, MOM! Kiss my Wips!”. Once I hit the door you can bet she is calling me back in because I forgot one of her hugs and kisses, or mine weren’t just right.

You can imagine that putting a child such as this to bed without her proper blankets causes issues. When I tell her that they are in the washing machine because she (fill in choice of phrases here: pee’d, rubbed bloody nose all over, vomited) on her bedding AGAIN. She responds with, “get ‘hem outta wash”. I try to explain that they are wet and she cannot sleep with them until they are dry again. This gets us no where. Lesson to Mom, wash FASTER. If I am lucky, at least one of the usual blankets has survived the most recent mess and I can attempt to soothe her with that.

Mom is a Laundress. Got it. Did I mention that my washing machine, now 8 years old (it was my crazy pregnant woman MUST HAVE prior to the birth of my first child) is on the fritz? Maybe fritz is putting it lightly. I walked into the laundry room and stood in water the other day. ‘Nuff said. Also the AC needs repaired and the dishwasher no longer cleans. Huh, talk about pouring when it rains. I’m drooling over the Red LG Steam Washer and Dryer, although not sure that’s going to happen with everything else crapping out at the same time. Oregon Dad ALMOST gave in to CHARGING the appliances. Hopefully we can avoid that.

Evidently, Mom is also a Short-Order Cook. For breakfast today, I decided the kiddos would have eggs since I was already making them for Oregon Dad’s Bagel/egg/sausage breakfast sandwich. So I made them, omelet style. Very pretty and folded just right. K3 loves hers smothered with Organic Ketchup, K1 only likes a little ketchup. After enjoying their eggs, K1 wants a bagel, toasted with cream cheese and K3 wants applesauce with cinnamon. Then Little Critter wants no eggs, just a bagel and yes, it can have cream cheese on it as well. K2 finally crawls out of bed. No eggs for her either, but she’ll have a bagel with BUTTER, no cream cheese, meanwhile, K3 has decided that she wants something “like a bagel” since we are out of GF bagels around here. I said the only thing I have is GF pancakes or toast. So, she has a pancake with REAL Maple syrup. Now K1, K2 and LC would also like applesauce with cinnamon. Just as I’m ready to sit down, LC decides she also requires some cereal. By this point, I was sure they were all full… she was very insistent so finally I gave her a small bowl and faced the fits when she asked for a refill.

I thought we were all having EGGS for breakfast. But then, what do I know, I’m just the cook. I do love to remind the kids, when they are whining about breakfast… how lucky they are. I ask them, “how many of your friends get fresh blueberry muffins (or pancakes, eggs, waffles, etc…) on school mornings?” That usually quiets them down for oh, about five minutes. Why do they appreciate the nasty, chemical laden cinnamon rolls the school offers over Moms good food?

Stay tuned, I’m attempting REAL Donuts, Gluten Free style this weekend. Should be interesting! Oregon Dad’s response was “great, so we are getting hockey pucks for breakfast?”.

Like most parents raising a gluten free child, I am in constant search of hidden and unknown sources of gluten. The web is full of valuable information, however, I have also stumbled along many pieces of inaccurate or misleading information. Perhaps this is because we cannot possibly keep up with all the changes and labeling out there. There are a few things I have found on gluten free menu plans that I feel need addressed.

Carnation Instant Breakfast is recommended as part of the menu plan on Ventura County Celiacs page. The recommendation is to make it in either soy or regular milk. Carnation does of course, contain dairy so this is NOT suitable for a casein free diet so don’t be misled that mixing it with soy milk will be okay. In addition, the companies website states the following in regard to gluten:

“The flavorings used in CARNATION® INSTANT BREAKFAST® Ready-To-Drink contain barley extracts, which contribute less than 1 part per million of barley gluten in the final product. We have recently added a statement to the label indicating the existence of barley in these products. The products have not changed, but, as a service to our consumers, we chose to disclose all sources of gluten. The degree of sensitivity to gluten varies among individuals, please discuss with your physician if you have concerns.”

So, if you are not on a casein free diet and find that tiny sources of gluten do not affect you, then go ahead with the Carnation shakes.

Some other ingredients/condiments that should be brought to light:

Soy Sauce- traditional soy sauces are NOT gluten free. Soy sauce contains 40-60% wheat. Wheat free varieties are available such as Wheat Free Tamari. Read the labels carefully. Traditional Tamari still contains a small amount of wheat, so be sure to purchase “Wheat Free”.

Bouillon- many bouillon cubes contain wheat ingredients. This may not be clearly labeled. Any unknown “modified” ingredient or the words “natural color” may indicate gluten. Be sure to get GLUTEN FREE bouillon. Contact the manufacturer if you are unsure about the labeling. Herb-Ox® Bouillons are gluten free. You can see Hormel’s full GF list here.

TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)- There are Gluten Free TVPs available, such as Bob’s Red Mill. Many TVP’s contain caramel coloring and “natural flavors”. Both of these ingredients MAY contain hidden gluten. In the United States, caramel coloring should be derived from non-gluten sources. However, many varieties of caramel coloring contain sulfite compounds and other nasty ingredients (such as the caramel color used in soft drinks). In our house, we avoid caramel coloring. Remember, the term “Natural Flavors” doesn’t tell us what the flavor is made of and can contain gluten. Read labels carefully.

Oats and Oat Flour- Oats on their own do not contain gluten. However, they are not gluten free because of the potential for contamination during growing and processing. Now there are several options available for gluten free Oats. This makes us thrilled. If you cannot find GF Oat Flour… you can make your own using GF Oats.

I’ve covered the concern with Rice Dream in another post. Like many consumers, I assumed the company had changed their manufacturing process and therefore began to label the products “gluten free”. In reality, nothing about the products changed, the company learned they could use the label of “gluten free”. Even though a barley enzyme is used during the manufacturing process, it is removed and the remaining amount of gluten is minuscule. For those who are hyper sensitive to gluten, this trivial amount may be too much. The choice is yours, but ask questions and be informed. I don’t want to give my child any food that may be poison in her body.

This is just an example of how easy it is to get gluten in your diet.  The only way to avoid Gluten is to read labels EVERY time, even on products you use frequently.  Contact the manufacturers if you need clarification.  Educate yourself.

Be Well.

This evening I had to drop TeenGirl off in town for Youth Group. Our cozy, little Church is located right next door to our town market. (Hey, when you live in a town of 600 everything is close!)

On my way out the door, Oregon Dad says “Why don’t you pick up some ice cream?”. He LOVES all things ice cream.

My selections were limited, our market carries Tillamook (which is a local brand) and some off brand (ie CRAPOLA). I called Oregon Dad and read off our options, “Huckleberry, Oregon Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla, Blackberry Pie, Coffee Almond Fudge or Udderly Chocolate”. The decision was made and I headed for the register with a half gallon of Udderly Chocolate ice cream.

I was SHOCKED that the price was $5.99. At Winco I could have purchased two cartons of ice cream (if it is on special) for $6.00, and at Safeway, the same carton would be $4.49.

Then I started crunching numbers. It is 20 miles each way to Winco. In our Prius (calculating for country driving vs. city driving) we get between 40 and 45mph. So, that round trip run for ice cream would have consumed a gallon of gas. At $4.25 a gallon, my carton of ice cream would have been $7.24 (assuming best price scenario at the grocery). Safeway is a bit closer, about 12 miles each way so that ice cream would have been about $6.99.

When I look at these numbers, our little market doesn’t appear so expensive after all. The better option of course, is to only buy ice cream when we are doing our regular grocery runs, then our gallon of gas is a fraction of the 30-40% total price savings found at the larger grocers.

Tonight we had to suck it up, there was no way Oregon Dad was surviving until Saturday grocery shopping without ice cream.

Today’s Green Tip- Plan your shopping trips to best conserve gas. It makes good financial sense and its better for the environment.

Tags: icecream, price of gas, gas and food prices, cost of groceries, calculating gas into food cost, rising prices, Tillamook Ice Cream, Winco, Safeway,

A couple of weeks ago, I sent an email to the makers of Rice Dream asking for clarification on Rice Dream non-dairy beverages and gluten. In my email I copied and pasted two pieces of information from their website, one showing the list of “gluten free products” which included shelf stable and refrigerated Rice Dream Non-Dairy Beverages. The second item was a Q&A from the Product FAQs page, “Is Rice Dream Non Dairy Beverage Gluten Free?”. The answer here was NO. I expressed in my message that the conflicting information was not acceptable.

I never received a response from Rice Dream, however, today I visited the site again and this is what I found in the Product FAQ’s page, replacing the previous answer -

“Is Rice Dream Beverage a gluten free product?

Yes. Although Rice Dream Beverage is processed using a barley enzyme, the barley enzyme is discarded after use. The final beverage might contain a minute residual amount (less than .002%) of barley protein.”

At least they cleared up the misleading information. FYI, WestSoy Rice Beverage is manufactured by the same company as Rice Dream (The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. ), so chances are good that the same process is used. I was unable to locate any information or gluten free claims on the website.

By the FDA standards, Rice Dream can be labeled Gluten Free. However, it does still contain a minuscule amount of gluten. Some hyper sensitive individuals may not be able to tolerate even this tiny amount of gluten. If you are new to the gluten free diet or have discovered very little tolerance for gluten, using alternatives to Rice Dream might be a wise decision.

Here is the FDA terminology for Gluten Free labeling, you can find all the information here.

“How is the FDA proposing to define the term “gluten-free”?

1. FDA proposes to define the term “gluten-free” to mean that a food bearing this claim in its labeling does not contain any one of the following:
   • An ingredient that is a prohibited grain
   • An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has not been processed to remove gluten
   • An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has been processed to remove gluten, if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in the food or
   • 20 ppm or more gluten”

A Safe Bet-

Pacific Rice Milk does not use a barley enzyme in their processing, their brand of non-dairy beverage is gluten free and should therefore, be safe for everyone on a gluten free diet. I highly recommend that anyone on a gluten free and or casein free diet check out the full list of gluten free products by Pacific Foods. (click on the words gluten free under any of the products for the full list.) Personally, I really appreciate and respect Pacific Foods direct answers in the FAQs. (Pacific Natural Foods is an Oregon company, so double yay!)

We are going to run our own little “test” at home to see if K3 can tolerate Rice Dream. So far the rest of us can still have dairy so she is the only one this affects. When I initially read the conflicting information on Rice Dream’s website, I stopped giving K3 Rice Dream and switched to Pacific Foods Rice Milk… I can’t say that I noticed anything significant. However, on our last run to Costco, we stocked up on Rice Dream again because we can get a case of 12 quarts for $13.99. The last several days, K3 has been much more irritable and had a belly ache. This could be related to the Augmentin she is currently taking three times a day. So, once that’s done we will re-evaluate.

I received an email forward today, my normal response is to delete them. For some reason, I opened this one and read it. Not only did I read it, but I clicked the link that was included.

What I found was a link to Red Skeleton talking about The Pledge of Allegiance. I have listened to this several times today, and took the time to play, pause, write, play, etc… so that I had all the words written down.

My intention was to post the words here, because they are powerful. However, at the end of the recording, the credits pop up and it says you can’t reproduce or publish without permission from Red Skeleton’s estate.

Now, I don’t know if this constitutes “publishing” or not… but I’m not going to risk it.

So, have a listen for yourself. I recommend writing the words down and having your children listen as well.

Red Skeleton on The Pledge of Allegiance - 1969.

The thought has been lurking in my brain since I began to learn more about Celiac.  If at least one of my children has Celiac… the likelihood is there that I could be the parent carrying the gene.  Especially with the myriad of health issues I have had throughout my lifetime. (I’m not going to go into those here, if you’d like the whole nine yards, shoot me an email!)

Finally, I get in to the Docs… I have been so busy with the kids, that I haven’t found the time for me.  It was time for my annual.  (ICK). So, I asked to have the screening for Celiac done while I was there last week.  My Doctor called today to tell me the results: tTG-IgA elevated, EMA IgA normal.  She didn’t know what to make of the results and is sending me to a GI specialist. (I wasn’t screened for AGA-IgG or AGA-IgA, we don’t know if I have an IgA deficiency which would be a reason for the EMA IgA to be normal.)

From the research I have been doing online, the tTG-IgA is the most sensitive and accurate blood test.  A positive result here indicates a high likelihood of Celiac.

Do I want to proceed with a biopsy to confirm what I have already believed to be the case?  Not sure on that one yet.   Part of me wants the definitive answer… especially since Hubby says “you’ve lived this long on a normal diet why not continue.”  I tried to explain how severe my GI symptoms have been, but really, I don’t talk about that stuff with him.  It’s too embarrassing! I also attempted to inform him of the lifetime implications of untreated Celiac… not just the GI and fatigue, but also the link to diabetes and other auto-immune diseases, osteoporosis, etc…

I am so tired of being tired and rundown all the time.  I go like a crazy woman.  Afterall, I have five kids to take care of, a Mother who has ALS, a Husband who travels often for work, my commitments to the school PTC and Church Hospitality… and then of course, I have taken on another duty by choosing to homeschool TeenGirl this coming year.  I need, need, need to feel like I have slept when I wake up in the mornings… lately it takes several cups of coffee just to keep me awake! (Fatigue is only one of my “symptoms”.)

If the answer is a GF diet… so be it.   It’s going to be hard to give up my favorites… toast, bagels, pasta… but I will survive.  I told K3 that I might have to go on her diet as well, instead of being happy to share her diet she proclaimed, “I don’t want to be on this diet anymore!”.  I told her, that if Mommy and Little Critter are on the same diet, then it won’t be such a big deal for her.

I advised Oregon Dad that if my diagnosis is Celiac… our entire family will be mostly GF, afterall we have one kid GFCF with another that is going to be soon by all indications and possibly myself.  That’s 3 out of 7 and its much easier to cook meals everyone can eat.  We do a lot of pasta around here, it’s a relatively inexpensive way to feed this crew, normally I just boil separate noodles for K3 and make a sauce that everyone can enjoy. We are either going to have to give up pasta or I need to figure out how to make a really tasty one that is GF.  The commercially available GF pastas are too pricey to feed the entire crew!

It will be a great day when we have figured out all the health issues in this house and get everyone on track.  I really think we are getting closer.

By the way—- this month marks the SIX month anniversary of TeenGirls remission.  It is also the point where we begin to wonder if her immune system will turn on her again or if she will stay healthy.  All signs are pointing to continued health.  She will continue to have monthly blood draws to monitor her and regular check ups with the Hematology/Oncology Docs at Doernbecher, but we are confident she is going to be seeing a decent amount of time as a healthy teenager!