Surgery a success!

The twins had their surgery today, and the doctor said both were textbook surgeries - went extremely well and should yield the results we are looking for! It was so cute seeing them in the little hospital gowns!! I can't wait until the boys feel better. It was such a surreal experience today, lots and lots of waiting and lots of comforting the boys. The whites of their eyes in the corners are definitely very red, but overall they look ok! Thing Two won't open his eyes, has slept all afternoon and is already in bed - Thing One is still trying to convince us he's fine and to let him play Mario Kart Wii!! I know they are both exhausted and I am guessing since it's so quiet up there they are both asleep now. Phew, this day is finally over! I still don't know how to feel about it all, seeing your kids go through this is such an experience. Just seeing my little boy put under with the gas mask brought tears to my eyes, I couldn't help it.

Sunburned eyes?

I took Big Kid to an amusement park over the weekend, and since then both of us have been complaining about dry eyes, our eyes are a bit red, and he has mentioned feeling like something is in his eyes on and off. I just looked up "sunburnt eyes" and got that exact definition - bloodshot eyes and the feeling of "foreign objects" in eyes. Great. It's been three days, will it ever end? I'm tired of feeling like I look like a drug addict and my eyes are sore!!! I'm using visine but it doesn't help, I'm going to move to the blink lubricating drops. Maybe that'll soothe them. Problem is I hate wearing glasses all the time, I want my contacts :( Anyone have any remedies?

How to clean sterling silver at home

Yesterday I picked up some really nice silver serving platters from a freecycler, who funny enough turned out to be Big Kid's chess teacher from his public school days! Anyway - the silver was extremely tarnished, and I didn't have any silver polish. I read an article online that mentioned the chemical reaction between boiling water, aluminum foil, salt and baking soda. I took an aluminum roasting pan and poured boiling water in it with the salt and soda, and put the first small piece of silver in it. It didn't look like anything was happening for the first two minutes, then suddenly all of the tarnish disappeared right before my eyes!!! Seriously, it's awesome to watch. So I put all the pieces in one at a time, and they all came out almost completely free of any tarnish! A few spots I had to rub off with a clean cloth, but I was just floored with the results. I'll do my best to post the before and after photos properly, I have a hard time getting two photos on one post :)

Preschool is so fun!

We officially started preschool at home with the twins, and it has been really fun. As a parent I had already given them some playdoh, let them paint a few times, and we of course read every day - but having a theme for the month, and getting into the preschool attitude has really got me going on a lot! I was a pre-k teacher for a few years, and have all of my old lesson plans and a number of the books. I have been given/freecycled a ton more preschool items, we are ready to go! I decided to go with a theme for each month, and loosely follow one of my old pre-k curriculums. I make a one page lesson plan for the month, and list books I want to read with them, projects to do for art and for the letters and numbers of the month, and what skill we want to focus on for each month. Since they aren't school aged yet I don't have to report to the state so I'm not keeping track of times, etc. we'll have years and years of that ahead of us!

This month we have started cutting with scissors, and have painted with brushes and hands so far. They love playdoh (seriously, at least an hour a day of playdoh time!) and have loved almost every book we have read, their favorite being The Very Greedy Bee. Thing Two got up and walked away after a few pages of Where the Wild Things Are, he really didn't like the book. That's a first for me, maybe he didn't like the monsters! I am just so excited to see the boys learning and laughing so much, and am so happy we decided to start school now. We have a little bulletin board we use every morning, and pin up what month it is, day of the week, weather, and their names. They love it! We also have their behavior charts up there, which they are counting stickers on constantly. I haven't decided on a reward yet... have to soon!

Sick from gluten

I "glutened" myself twice over the past few weeks, and still am unsure exactly how. I get sick from the tiniest crumb of gluten, so it's hard to trace where it came from. I sit wondering, did I kiss one of the twins after they ate a cheese it? Did I not clean the table or counters well enough? Is it the potholders I used? In the end I never really figure out what made me sick, and it took a week the first time (this month) and at least a week and a half the second time to get over. I have glutened myself in the past, but certainly not often and not twice in one month!

I am one of those celiacs who get sick off any gluten at all - Amy's brand gluten free products make me sick sometimes so I have stopped eating them. And I know when I'm sick from gluten, it's a special sick that only comes from eating gluten. So all these new fad products that slap "Gluten Free!" on their box aren't really completely gluten free!!! Makes me sick... literally and figuratively. When I eat any gluten at all I am sick for about two hours after the crumb, all night if we use the wrong pancake mix by mistake. After that I sort of go numb in the abdomen area, to forget the pain. Every time I eat it will hurt for an hour or so, just a general feeling of malaise. And I always feel full for the first few days after eating gluten, I can't figure out if that's physical or mental! Oh and just for fun I usually break out with a few rockin pimples, I'm guessing from the stress.

So to anyone else who suffers through the severe sensitivity I have developed, you are not alone. I can't decide which is worse - to get sick from even a microscopic crumb of bread or to not know you aren't completely gluten free and continue to hurt your insides...

Bliss, in a 13x9 pan

I bought the box of gluten free Rice Krispies, came home and after doing my usual six million chores I made a batch of rice krispies treats and ate three before I could stop myself. What a great treat - I have been yearning for this moment for years!!

Now I'm crossing my fingers that Kellogg's will come out with gluten free Corn Flakes - then not only could I have GOOD corn flakes with sugar sprinkled on them again (gosh I miss those, never thought I would say that!) I could also make holly cookies that I CAN EAT again at Christmastime!!! Hint hint Kellogg's!

Gluten Free Rice Krispies??!!!

How did I miss this?? Are they new? I was shopping at the store today and walked right past a box of Gluten Free Rice Krispies... and almost had a heart attack. I had quite a love affair with rice krispies treats before going gluten free, and the thought of eating one again just made me warm all over.

Gluten Free PF Chang's - for FREE!!

A few days ago PF Chang offered a coupon for one order of complimentary lettuce wraps with any purchase on facebook. I happened to be online as they released the coupon, and I got one!!! We didn't feel like cooking tonight so we ran over to PF Chang's and picked up our free lettuce wraps (gluten free of course) and paid $6 for a huge container of egg drop soup (always gluten free there). It was SOOOO tasty, I love their food!! We used to go eat there, throw down $80 and eat until we almost burst... now not only can we not afford that but I don't think the twins would last through us eating that much ;) It was still amazing food, omg yum. THANK YOU PF CHANG'S!

Very moving...

click this link

I follow this site for coupons and deal finds, but what she is doing for the tornado victims just leaves me speechless.

ever wonder...

I remember listening to women around me talk when I was a child - while I was sitting in the hair salon while my mom's dye sat, or in line at the grocery store, places like that. I would listen to the "talk" around me, and sometimes I would hear these women gossip about how certain hairsprays could make your hair fall out, or that cell phones were going to kill everyone, or that video games would bring the end of civilization. I really did hear all of those at one point or another, sometimes over and over again!! I would sit there wondering where the heck these women heard these tall tales and why they believed them enough to warn others about them!!!

Well, today I got my answer. My mom brings over magazines from time to time for me to read through when she's done with them - I like Martha Stewart's Living especially around holidays. Lots of great ideas. Today I read the Health she brought, and it actually had an entire article on 11 things you should only buy organic, and listed the "scary" reasons why. Before I go any further let me state that I have tested buying organic options and it tripled my grocery bill. Tripled. The article stated that milk is bad for you because it can account for 60 to 70 percent of the estrogens we consume. Do these people not understand we are drinking "breastmilk" from a lactating cow - c'mon, how could it NOT contain hormones?!!! The article went on to say BPA is hiding everywhere and soaking into our food - in the lining of cans, in tupperware, water bottles. So we're not supposed to buy canned tomatoes now because the BPA in the lining can kill us. Thanks. One part of the article actually quotes part of a book stating that we can give our children leukemia using yard pesticides then walking it inside! It states we could be losing our memories because of chemicals in our mattresses, our all purpose cleaners are going to make our boys sterile, and eating beef is going to give us breast cancer because of the hormones used to treat the cow. The best one was that our pots and pans emit toxic gasses that are giving us "allergy like symptoms".

So to sum the article up, I'm going to get breast cancer from eating burgers, get allergy symptoms from the pan I cooked the burgers with, and zero my husband's sperm count with the reheated corn I stored in tupperware and the bottle of water I gave him with dinner. I will further raise my chances of getting breast cancer by using canned tomatoes in our rice and drinking a glass of milk with dinner. I'll make my boys sterile cleaning up the kitchen after we eat. This after my husband treats the ants out back, giving our children leukemia. But it won't bother me because my mattress will erase it all from my memory while I sleep.

I started laughing out loud when I read that our mattresses could be causing memory loss. Where the h*ll do these women get those idiotic ideas? FROM THE MAGAZINES THEY READ!! No wonder women have to constantly fight the stereotype of men being the smarter sex!!

Eye Surgery for the twins

Our twins have esotropia, which means their eyes cross even with the correct prescription glasses on. The specialist we see has spoken with us about surgery to correct the crossing, and we have agreed it's time to go ahead with it. We meet the surgeon next week. I am of course a bit nervous at the thought of my little boys getting surgery, especially on their eyes, but I have great confidence in our doctors and trust their ability. It has been hard to watch our three year olds switch from the left eye to the right eye back to the left eye, trying to focus on something continuously. I can't watch them while they watch movies, it makes my eyes hurt for them! I can't wait until they see like everyone else does :)

Comic Book Fans

Yes, Big Kid is a comic book fan. Nahnah has a friend who a few Christmases ago sent Big Kid a shoe box full of comics, and he has been hooked ever since. Every year on free comic book day we go to a few area comic book stores, and every year they give away free posters - we always grab them! It's fun to put them in a frame and decorate Big Kid's playroom with them, I think he has around ten to fifteen posters now. Some are huge, some are 8x10 - they are just really fun and make his playroom look so "boyish". The green was not my idea by the way, that was our compromise on him wanting camo walls and me saying not a chance. Looking at it now I may have been better off going with camo, the green is really wearing on me!! We have two rooms this color, I'm thinking of replacing it with a nice light aqua color... someday ;)

Stormy Sky

I love summer storms down south... when they aren't killing our trees! Our 'hood lost at least fifteen trees last storm, and it lasted three minutes tops. Amazing how mother nature has been reminding us southerners ALL SUMMER how strong she is! I couldn't believe this sky, it was rolling like a bunch of rolling pins all lined up. Just stunning. This was the view standing on my front step!

What to call this recipe...

A few nights ago we made the most amazing meal, partly using a Publix Aprons recipe and partly going with what we thought would taste good. The result was so awesome it still wowed us as leftover lunch! I don't really know what to call it yet though, any suggestions?

*as always, if you are making this as a gluten free recipe check your ingredients to ensure gluten free status! I have brands I am very loyal to, but I still check every time I buy a new container to ensure nothing has changed on the ingredient list.

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
1 Tbs italian seasoning
1 Tbs parsley
1/2 C water
dash salt and pepper
1/2 pkg cream cheese
1 can diced tomatoes (I always use the italian diced to add more flavor)
squash, or any other veggie you think would be good! (our squash had already been grilled but still worked nicely)

We sprinkled kosher salt and a bit of pepper onto the meat and cooked it in a little olive oil in a skillet. We cooked it completely, and kept it in there until it got a little brown. We added the water, seasoning and parsley and simmered it covered for five minutes. We removed the chicken and threw in the remaining ingredients and simmered it just until the cheese had completely melted and it was a nice creamy pink sauce. We poured the tomato sauce over white steamed rice, then put the cut up chicken on top. It was DIVINE!!!

Freecycle is just amazing!!

I posted a wanted message on freecycle for pre-k items, to see if anyone had something that might work in a preschool room I am setting up for the boys. A very nice woman gave us boxes and boxes of books, wooden train tracks, movies and a few games. I was floored, it was around 6 or 7 boxes!! I cleaned it all and filed away the books and movies we wanted, and cleaned all the wooden train tracks and the few Thomas trains. I decided I only wanted to keep the trains and tracks if I could find a train table for free, since we already have geotrax and we love them. So I posted a wanted message on freecycle for a train table, and got a response within minutes! I was shocked! This morning I picked up an imaginarium multicolored train table that after cleaning and a quick $5 fix is in new condition. We have given tons and tons of toys, furniture, all sorts of items on freecycle, and I'm of the opinion that what goes around comes around!!! YAY!

Our preschool room is coming along very nicely, the boys are only three but are asking for "school papers" like Big Kid does. They colored in the letter C Thursday and Friday drew C's on paper by themselves! I guess they really are ready!! I used to teach pre-k with a good friend, and have all our lesson plans, projects, clifford readers, all sorts of awesome stuff. Now I have the room to go with it!! WOOHOO!

Gluten Free Restaurants - Reality or Myth?

I got all excited after seeing an ad for Yeah! Burger in Atlanta, because the ad said "gluten free restaurant". And then I went to their website, which isn't a website at all... it's an electronic business card, with their address and phone number on it. I downloaded one of the location's menus and it's not a gluten free restaurant. They have gluten free options, which means to me that it's not an option at all. As I have learned even PF Chang's can have an errant crumb find it's way into my food, making me sick for hours. Let me just say it's a special sort of sick, that only gluten causes. I know when it happens what it is. I guess I should stop getting excited, thinking someday there will be a dedicated gluten free anything... there just aren't enough of us to make it a lucrative business I guess :(

"Redneck Thai"

Yep, that is what we have lovingly named my lunch today! Redneck Thai! I can't remember who said it first or why we went there... but a few years ago I found the boxes of Thai Kitchen Thai Peanut were gluten free, and they come with seasoning and rice noodles. I hate spicy foods, and this one happened to have no spice so I started eating them for lunch once in awhile. Well one day we decided to add meat to it, and for some strange reason we threw in sauteed hot dogs. The result was so darn good we made it again the next day, and from then on had "redneck thai" on a regular basis!! It's really good, and while I'm sure it's not the healthiest thing I eat it isn't killing me. It satiates that need to have "fast food at home" everyone has once in awhile!!! And of course the peanutty sweet flavor with the salty dogs is just heaven to me some days. Yes, I'm weird ;)

Drawing on the Walls

A few months ago I saw a really neat vinyl wall decal of a tree, and someone had put it in an entryway and put jacket hangers on the branches, so it looked like their jackets and such were hanging off the tree! I was really drawn to it, so I started poking around online to see what they were about. Well, for starters the decals are at least $100 and with everything else pulling on our purse strings that is not in the budget. Way not in the budget. I decided I am going to paint some trees up front, next to our door, and put up some hooks myself!

I drew all over the corner where two walls meet last night, and drew three or four trees. I made them look sort of like a birch tree, with lots of little branches. Just drawn with pencil they look like halloween trees to me, but I'm hoping that once I get the chocolate brown paint out and get them finished they'll look a little warmer to me! I also have decided I'm going to ask for some vinyl leaves for Christmas, to make the tree a little more fun! I can put the leaves up in the spring, have them falling off in the fall, and stick nasty little sets of eyes on it for halloween ;) I love halloween so I know I'll do something spooky to the tree!

After I had finished drawing out the trees I sat back and just stared at them, wondering if I am going to regret painting trees inside my house or if I am going to love my new "art". I do that a lot, I have painted every room in our house new colors over the last three years and I especially was nervous about painting our dining room "apple polish red". Once it was finished it became my favorite room in the house, so I'm hoping I'll fall in love with the trees as well!! HA! I know, women are crazy aren't we?

Speaking of, I'm going to end today's post with a quote someone sent me in an email, which I just love!

Women are Angels. When someone breaks our wings, we simply continue to fly... on a broomstick. We're flexible like that.

Gluten Free Teriyaki Sauce from scratch!!

Ok guys, this is my "go to" recipe when I want to feed a lot of people, or impress someone with my cooking!!! This is from scratch, and is completely gluten free as long as you use the proper ingredients :) *hint* I use La Choy soy sauce, it's gluten free and isn't horribly salty! Please let me know how you like the recipe!

Teriyaki Sauce

*as always, if you are making this as a gluten free recipe check your ingredients to ensure gluten free status! I have brands I am very loyal to, but I still check every time I buy a new container to ensure nothing has changed on the ingredient list.

1 Tbs cornstarch
1/4 C water
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C vinegar
2 Tbs soy sauce (I use La Choy)
*double for larger dishes

Mix cornstarch and water until cornstarch is dissolved.

Combine cornstarch and water mixture with remaining ingredients in bowl. Pour into a small saucepan or with cooked meat and/or veggies in a skillet or wok. Simmer just until sauce thickens. 


*If using as a sauce to pour over meat or on kabobs use the sauce after it has thickened. 

*Very tasty on beef, shrimp, chicken, stir fry veggies, and stir fry pineapple chunks!

Syma S107 Remote Control Helicopter

Big Kid has been given a few of the $50+ R/C helicopters from Target, Toys R Us and such, and all have broken within fifteen minutes of coming out of the box. The bodies are styrofoam, the blades fall off or pop in half the first time it touches a wall... they are awful and really disappointing to a boy who is trying to have fun with it!

Well, I am posting about this specific one because I am just floored. I spent $20 on this during an amazon sale, and wow is it awesome!!! Big Kid has been playing with it every chance he gets for days now, and has mastered flying it and is in love. The replacement parts are cheap and easy to install according to the website and instructions, not that we need any! THIS THING ROCKS! Plastic and metal body construction, the blades have even been attacked midflight by our cat and are in new condition... the kitty did chew the rear prop but I straightened it out and it's perfect again. I am so impressed I just had to tell someone!

If you are looking for a fun toy for your son/husband, you should check this out! The amazon reviews are excellent, and now I know why!!! WOOHOO!