I have a nice crockpot of Gluten Free Gumbo brewing. Might even make some hurricane’s for when my husband gets home. I so can’t wait for dinner tonight. Nevertheless, I will be posting the recipe tomorrow if not sometime tonight.
Then tomorrow the ritual of fasting begins for Lent.
But for now “Laissez les bons temps rouler,” (Let the good times roll) until then….
I have been planning a birthday party for my two sons. Their birthdays are 5 days apart so every year since the youngest has been one, the boys have been having a combo-birthday together. This year they were celebrating 6 years old and 4 years old birthdays together. I know eventually they will want separate birthdays but for now I like combining the two together.
Unfortunately, we had a storm hit us on Friday – the night before the party. This storm was worse than the one that hit us in December. Weird thing is — our area has never experienced such destruction like this ever from windstorms or rain prior to the December Windstorm.
This time — our Trampoline that takes several adults to lift to move was flung by the 90 mph winds like it was a feather. Our neighbors tree was uprooted and toppled over nearly missing our fence. Our tent trailer’s roof popped open and my father and I were out in the gust for nearly 30 minutes trying to get the roof down and latched. And then another 15+ minutes trying to gather up the chickens and put them in the coop and praying the coop wouldn’t blow over. Then while I was gathering the chickens my father yells, “The Shed!!” I turn around and our shed that the ATV was in blew over and teetered upside down and almost over the fence into our other neighbors yard. And of course, now I have been suffering with massive sinus congestion and a stuffed up nose since being in the wind. And I was just starting to feel better after being sick for 6 weeks with bronchitis.
So a dear friend of mine who is in the Air Force living in Germany sent me a wonderful care package — and I can’t express how much I love the basket… and of course all the yummy chocolates and everything that was inside the basket!
THANK YOU MY DEAR FRIEND ERIKA!!
The Girl Scouts have added two new gluten-free cookies to its 2015 line up. These new cookies, Toffee-tastic and Trios, are the third time gluten-free cookies have been offered by the organization. Each cookie is being sold in different marketing areas. Here in our small town my daughter is selling the Trios gluten-free cookies for $5 per box (price varies depending on marketing area). They can be pre-ordered through door-to-door sales, purchased through our online ordering or next month at a local cookie booths near you.
Toffee-tastic (rich, buttery cookies with sweet, crunchy, golden toffee bits) and Trios (Chocolate chips nestled in a gluten free peanut butter oatmeal cookie) are made in dedicated gluten-free facilities. These cookies do not contain any artificial colors or flavors, high-fructose corn syrup, palm oil, or even hydrogenated oils. 
Toffee-tastic and Trios are made and certified by two different companies: Toffee-tastic cookies are made by Little Brownie Bakers and certified by the NSF, while Trios are made by ABC Bakers and certified by the Gluten Free Certification Organization.
If you are local here in Gardnerville, Trios and their long time standard cookies can be purchased locally or you can place an online order through an e-card invite. If you aren’t local I suggest you find a Girl Scout (like my daughter) and purchase a box or two since each Troop benefits from your purchase. And of course if you don’t want the cookies yourself, you can always donate boxes to be sent overseas to the military troops as well. Either way help a Troop out and purchase a box or two.
It isn’t very often you come across a great magazine, but even rarer a gluten-free magazine at that. I was really intrigued what this magazine would or could even offer. I contacted GFF’s Editor Erika Lenkert to see if I could get my hands on a copy and possibly see what their magazine was all about. And I can actually say I was really impressed by their content, pictures and that GFF stands for Gluten-Free Forever…
GFF is a quarterly magazine for anyone that is interested in a gluten-free lifestyle that includes recipes, gluten-free food reviews, gluten-free travel destinations, cooking tutorials to basically everything in between. The photography on their pages are gorgeous and eye catching, the ads are gluten-free which is refreshing to see, and their gluten-free articles are written so exquisitely that you can’t help to be drawn in. And while GFF is aimed at a widespread audience, their first issue is filled with Bay Area-ites such as chefs Lena Kwak, Niki Ford in addition to Craig and Annie Stoll.
And lastly I love that this magazine is based out of San Francisco – just a hop, skip and a jump from where I grew up in the Bay Area — so it feels a little bit like home.
If you are interested in getting yourself a copy, GFF offeres delivery to your door or desktop with a one-year print or downloadable PDF subscription at: http://gffmag.com/subscriptions
*** Disclaimer: I received a PDF copy for free from GFF. I am not required to write a positive review. And all opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
OMG — my youngest son dropped my iPad face down onto the tile while we all were at the Dentist office this morning and Shattered the screen!!! I even cut my finger on the glass when I touched it!!! I am devastated I use it for everything including for selling my daughter’s girl Scout cookies on their cookie app. And I don’t have the extra cash to fix it. But will have to suck it up and get it fixed nevertheless, AGH!!!
Even though I was busy yesterday doing a lot of stuff, today I have to catch up on finishing laundry doing the dishes and taking the ornaments off the Christmas tree. Then I have a PTO meeting and a Girl Scout meeting today is going to be so busy. At Thanksgiving I was in the bay area visiting family. My aunt had a persimmon tree that she let me pick a bunch of persimmons to take home. They’ve been sitting in a bag in my garage since Thanksgiving ripening. This morning I puréed the persimmons so I can make cookies. But I’m going to stick the purée in the fridge and do that tomorrow. And probably in a few hours I’ll have to figure out what it crockpot for dinner tonight. We shall see!
Here’s wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2015!
My kids have been sick all month for one reason or another. My daughter came up positive for Strep Throat and the next day my youngest was in the doctors with an ear infection. Well my daughters medication had ended on Wednesday of last week and by Friday she was running a high fever and sounded like a barking seal. My husband and I were leaving for Las Vegas on Saturday morning but had to postpone a few hours so I could take my daughter to Urgent Care.
The Doctor told me she still had strep throat which would require her to be on a stronger dose of antibiotics this time around. AND that she also had croup and would have to have an oral steroid.
So my husband and I finally take off to Las Vegas while the kids are being taken care of by my parents. Las Vegas is a 7+ hour drive from where we live — 400+ mile trek. But we have a Prius so the gas alone is way cheaper than any flight we could had gotten.
We were there basically for 1 day literally and that was to see Jeff Dunham perform at Planet Hollywood on Sunday afternoon. However, by Sunday night I wasn’t feeling too well… I was having stomach issues. For our car ride home Monday — I was in full blown chills.
Tuesday my Father took me to Urgent Care since my doctor’s office was booked. I was told I had Strep Throat and a mild case of Bronchitis. Mild Case my ass… my ribs hurt so bad from coughing it is painful. So they put me on a z-pack I guess is what they call it.
By Wednesday the 17th my son’s are presenting symptoms now. So I had my parents take them to the doctors … and yep strep throat. My youngest still has a bad fever today.
And my daughter had ran a fever for at least 5 days after being on the new medication. So she missed this entire week from school.
And then there is me. I have been so sick that I was in bed for 5 days straight. This is literally the first time I was able to sit up and turn on my computer and type something out for my Blog.
I can’t remember the last time I was so sick that I was stuck in bed for 5 days if ever. My throat still hurts. My cough is awful and I am all congested — not fun at all.
I hope that we are all well enough for christmas next week. And knock on wood that my husband doesn’t fall ill to this nasty germ bug that is hitting my home hard.
OMG the wind blew our swing set over (mind you it was staked into the ground!!!!!)
The whole thing landed on my garden fence! I can’t believe this, my kids are going to be devastated! Damn Pineapple Express Storm — I hate you and your 80 mph winds!!! MY Garden fence is TOAST!!! My kids swings and fort is shambles. AGHHHHH I want to cry!!
Small Town Living in Maryland 