a clean slate

2012...is it possible?  I am not sure where 2011 went.

I look at the year and I feel very blessed.  There have been some great opportunities given to us this last year and they are making 2012 look promising.  Mr. Miller and his promotion, Cameron doing well in school, Henry growing up and of course Green Acres Closet taking off for me.

I plan on continuing the focus on my faith and family first in this year.  I had a friend ask the question on New Year's Day "What will you do today that will make you proud in a year?".  This is such a great question for every day.  I plan on using this question daily. 

I will continue to build Green Acres Closet.  We are in the process of giving me a bigger work space downstairs.  It seems that I have outgrown my quaint little room.  It will be a great playroom for the boys.

We will regain our rhythm of being gluten free here.  I fell of that train hard and I am feeling the pain from it.  Please send me any suggestions and/or recipes that you have in your gluten free diet.  I am always looking for new ideas.

Lastly I hope all of you have an enjoyable start to the new year!

some of my favorite childhood books

As a child I always loved to read.  I give that credit to my parents.  Growing up in Seattle we spent a lot of time outside using our imagination. Mom and Dad used to take us not only to the Library on a regular basis but since my Dad was a student at the the U we spent a fair amount of time at the Bookstore.

My mom would spend hours reading to us girls. One of my favorite childhood authors was Stephen Cosgrove.  He wrote the Serendipity series of books.  Wonderful books with a moral always attached.

 Today I got to read one of those books with Henry and I am so looking forward to Cameron reading one to me today for his final book report for the quarter.  My absolute favorite is the Wheedle on the Needle.

Wheedle is a very grumpy orange sasquatch who is upset with all the people moving to Seattle.  All he wants is a quiet place to sleep, but he is finding that this is close to impossible. When he heads for the top of the Space Needle and unleashes a never-ending rainfall, everyone stays indoors, and the city is quiet once again. Now, it's the Seattleites who are grumpy — who wants to stay inside all the time? Is there a solution that makes everyone happy?

Being a Seattleite this is a classic.

Go to the library check these books out.  They are wonderful!

getting focused on gluten free again

Since it has been my issue mostly, that is the issue of gluten, as a Mama it becomes easy to put your health on the back burner.  I know "shame on me", after all it is just an intolerance right?  Yes, true but none the less I have felt horrible lately.  Now I am forced to face the fact that we quite possibly need to be gluten free for Cameron's sake also.

We tried the dairy free diet last year at this time thinking it might be a link for him with the Asperger's.  After 8 long and torturous weeks to a family that loves dairy we saw no difference.  Dr. Hoffman has suggested the gluten free route which I was relieved at.  Crazy as it sounds it is much easier for this family to be gluten free instead of dairy free.  I have a good friend, Mrs. C., who has recently gone gluten free for other health reasons.  She is doing great and is my inspiration that I can do this again. Thank you Mrs. C! 

I have also recently met a Mom through a local Holistic Mom's Network here.  Elizabeth has a wonderful blog celebrating their adventure in life which includes being gluten free due to a wee one with celiacs.  Please check her out, she is quite the inspiration.

I am spending my time not only preparing for the Celebration of our Savior's Birth, Green Acres Closet but also getting my house back on track to be gluten free again.  I need to do this cost effectively and tasty.

I have found some wonderful  recipes from Karina, The Gluten Free Goddess.  Karina also has a wonderful post on being gluten free on a budget.  I would love any tips or ideas on keeping this lifestyle budget friendly.