The "Oh My Goodness" Look

Mr O had a birthday.  This year it just happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day.  So he got to choose what we ate, and where we went, as per birthday celebrations around here.  He chose a quiet day, just hanging at home with pancakes for breakfast and bratwurst for dinner.  Ever had bratwurst for Thanksgiving dinner?  Yum!  Which was probably inspiration because of the gifts that he was given.

This was a full kit of pulleys, some thin rope, and some building pieces.  I have some photos of what he's built, just not loaded onto my computer.  Needless to say Oma and Grandpa's gift was a total hit.  He has been lifting, conveying, and moving loads of Legos with his creations.

This was the other reason that it was a good thing that he chose to stay home.  This Lego set was one that he had been saving for since he saw it in the Lego magazine several months ago.  He had saved up about $35 and had come and talked to Handsome and I about the possibility of paying for part of it.  We thought that was a great idea.  So after a breakfast of pancakes, he got to walk upstairs where this was on the floor.  That was one surprised little boy! We had managed to keep it a secret (don't ask me how) for nearly 2 weeks.  He, of course, got immediately absorbed in the building of the set.  Thank goodness Lego organizes very well.  They had the instructions set up so that the mini-figures are built first, then for this set, the dragon.  Oh boy was that cool! 

He got the dragon finished just in time for lunch, which consisted of birthday cake and snacks.  Then it was back upstairs to finish the job!



So...

As many of you know, I've been struggling with my health for the past...while.  I don't want to know how long it's been, so I'm not going to check the calender.  As of a week and a half ago, I made the decision to go Gluten Free. 

Now this was a decision that I did not make lightly.  I read up on it, asked people about it, and looked to those I know with a GF diet already and what changes it has made in their lives.  Once I had done all the homework on it, it was time to go shopping.  Replacing the wheat flour with gluten free options.  Cleaning out my pantry (you wouldn't believe how much stuff I already had that was GF!), and putting all the food with gluten in it into boxes (did you know that cream of mushroom soup has gluten in it?).  The old "out of sight, out of mind" adage; we didn't want to be tempted.  And in with the new stuff.  All that I purchased was flour.  The only thing that I can't make well yet, is bread for the kids sandwiches.  They are good sports and eat what I did bake.  It tastes just fine, it just didn't rise. 

But anyways, in eating specifically gluten free, in just one and a half weeks my pain has all but dissapeared.  No kidding.  We, as a family, were going to stay GF for the month of November, but it may just turn out to be permanant.  If my pain continues to decrease, and I continue to feel good, this will be how we eat.  And really, to our family, nothing has really changed.  I already made so much of our food from scratch, that changing out the flour really didn't change things.  Dinner sometimes takes a little more prep time (like when we want pasta, I have to make it), but mostly our diet is just the same. 

Eating this way has been wonderful for me.  I'm happy, energetic, and excited for life again.  I don't have to convince myself to get out of bed in the morning.  There is no temptation of pain relief pills, because now I just don't need them. 

I feel good again. 

And I don't want to go back. 

Fun-ness

Just recently I did something that I didn't know I could do.  It was a really fun project.  That took about 4 hours.  It involved some cutting.  And some stitching.  At the beginning of the day I had two twin flat bed sheets.  That evening I had this:

For those of you who don't know, that is Altair (pronounced Alti-Air) from a popular video game.  There is a sword that goes on his back (that is not there in the photo).  But other than that, yup, that is it.

I must admit.  I am a little bit amazed that I was able to pull this one off.  I had had a very busy week between volunteering and home, and I had been asked to do this in plenty of time.  But ended up not even starting it until Friday afternoon.  This was when he came over Saturday morning with his family.  It was completed in right about 4 hours (it was between 3 and 4, but I'll round up).  Fully lined and sturdy enough that this very active boy can play and beat it up, and probably grow out of it instead of the costume shredding itself (like so many are prone to these days).  It was a ton of fun, and a bit challenging to get it right.  I only had enough fabric to do this once, no room for errors.  And those tails front and back were a challenge for me.  I had no pattern except a men's shirt pattern and this boy's sweatshirt (for an approximate size) and a picture of the character.  I must say that it turned out pretty well!  Woot! 

What I look forward to every morning.

The view out my front window. Purty.

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies

Ok y'all.  A bunch of you requested the recipe for Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies, so here goes.  Sorry I don't have photos to go with this post, you'll just have to imagine.

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies
Oven at 375*
Yield: approximately 25 sandwich cookies.

1 cup sugar
1 c cooked pureed pumpkin (or canned pumpkin)
1/2 cup shortening

Blend together.  Then stop mixer to add:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

You can add chocolate chips, raisins, and/or nuts if desired.

Mix together.  The batter will be a bit on the thick side.  That is a good thing.

Bake for 8-10 min on greased cookie sheet.

These cookies are kind of hard to tell when they are done.  They will get that "golden brown" look, but it is hard to see because they are already kinda dark cookies.  In my oven, they take a full 10 min.

For making the sandwich cookies, you won't want to "drop" them onto the sheet.  They turn out too fluffy, and you'll end up with pumpkin cookie balls (fun, but kinda dangerous in the wrong hands).  So, what I do to get around that problem is to fill a ziplock freezer bag (the freezer bags are a little sturdier and won't be so prone to bursting; I'm speaking from experience here) halfway full of the batter.  Yes, the batter is supposed to be a bit on the thick side.  Then seal the bag, cut a corner off the bag, and make pretty little circle patties on your cookie sheet.  They can be fairly close together, the cookies don't "grow" much at all.  I like my circles to be roughly 2" in diameter and about 1/2" thick, though the thinner you make them the faster they bake, and the more cookies you'll get.

On a side note.  I have tried using oil to replace the shortening and the cookies ended up really sticky once they were baked off.  They would stick to each other, our hands, the ziplock bags, everything.  So use shortening and you'll get lovely cookies each and every time.

Once you have all your cookies baked off, make the filling.  Which just happens to be cream cheese frosting. 

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
powdered sugar

Blend well until you have a thick frosting.

Put frosting in freezer ziplock bag (sound familiar?).  Cut corner off.  Frost the underside of one cookie and stick it to the underside of a second cookie.  Eat first one, then make more.

There you have it!  Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies.

Something very very cool happened at our little school.  We (our school) just happen to fall in the top 5% of grade schools in the state.  Yeah, you read correctly.  We're in the top 5%, out of the entire state.  WooHoo to our amazing teachers!  And high fives to all our parent volunteers who help, there are lots of them. 

The high school marching band came down to help the grade school celebrate the achievement.  It was a really fun end to our day.  The kids absolutely loved it!

On a side note, I love living in a small community.  I know most people at the school by sight, if not by name.  I know, me, really bad with names, knowing quite a few people by name.  Pretty cool.  I digress.  I love knowing most of the people who live around us.  It is just nice.

Did I Fail To Mention?

I'm afraid I just do not have guest accommodations for dragonflies.  So sorry to be such a bother.  But when you just fly in out of the blue like that, you really can't expect a person to have dinner ready and waiting.

This beautiful dragonfly flew in while I was doing dishes.  It then tried to fly out the closed window at full speed.  That did not go quite as well as it had hoped.  I finally managed to get it into a jar so that it could be safely transported back outside.  The kids loved seeing this giant of an insect up close. 

It did make a full recovery, and was last seen swooping in on a mosquito.