The Continuing Adventures of Wonder Girl

2012-02-02T09:30:00.002-05:00

It was a crazy December followed by an equally crazy January. Starting with Christmas we had two weeks of everyone being home with no work or school. I can't think of the last time that happened. It was nice.

So, here is what we've been up to:

Tim built some set pieces for our churches Christmas play - A Charlie Brown Christmas. I sewed a dozen woodstock costumes for the woodstock choir (aka all the children 6 and under.) I didn't get to see the kids in costume - I zipped them off, dropped them off and ran to my next gig. Such is December. I will try to get a picture or two from people at church because they were cute costumes and also very easy. Alice chose not to participate in the play this year. Her exact words were, "I think I'd rather do tech." She helped Tim and I behind the scenes.

Alice was over the moon on Christmas. She spent hours looking through the microscope with her new friend Julie.

In her new sweater knit by Grandma! (She loves it, Mom!)

Tim fixed a bunch of things - more record players than I can count for a local shop, a few tape decks, and my sewing machine. My machine didn't actually need fixing, but it did need to be serviced. After my horrible experience with our local Viking dealer where they said they serviced my serger (and charged me $$$$) but didn't, I had put off taking my sewing machine in. So, Tim did it for me!

Scary looking, huh?! He did a great job. He also took apart and fixed the ancient embroidery machine that we picked up from Goodwill. I appreciate how lucky I am that he can do this.

And, finally, Alice went through a rite of passage yesterday. She got her ears pierced. She has been asking TONS of questions about it in the past few weeks. Finally, after answering the same question for the 100th time, I asked if she wanted to go to the mall to just *look* at the earrings they use to pierce ears. She was excited about that but said, "I just want to look today." So we looked and she asked the ear piercer lady tons of questions. We walked around the store a little bit and I asked if she was ready to get her ears pierced. She said okay, so we went ahead and did it. She was very proud of herself.

I can't get over how old she looks!

Exhibit night #2!

2011-12-16T08:20:00.002-05:00

Last night was the second exhibit night of the year for Alice's school. Less pictures this time - it was a crazy day. Alice and I went when it started, Tim met us there in time for Alice's vocal music performance and I left for my rehearsal. Typical for December. It was just as wonderful as the first exhibit night, though.

I apologize for the poor picture quality. These were taken with my phone.

1st grade made this enormous Venus Flytrap complete with bugs in the "mouths."

Alice's class built two kitchens - one that would have been used in the 1800's and one that is modern. They visited the Ramsey House on a learning expedition (aka field trip). The Ramsey house is an old plantation from 1797 that has been turned into a museum.

Ramsey house kitchen

Modern kitchen

There was also a display of watercolor houses that 2nd grade had painted in art class. Alice had come home from school complaining about this project a few weeks ago. She had said that she wasn't able to finish painting her picture because she had spent so much time drawing it. It had to be displayed half-way finished. When I saw her picture, my jaw dropped a little bit:

She's drawing in perspective! When did that happen?!

There was a Flat Stanley display inside Alice's classroom. Flat Alice was the most traveled of the whole class! Her teacher is happy to continue getting letters from Flat Alice's travels, so we'll see how far she can get by the end of the year!

2011-12-13T08:42:00.005-05:00

Last night we went over to Jen and Ildar's house for a photo session. They had attempted to go to Portrait Innovations yesterday morning but they left after waiting almost an hour past their appointment time. Jen asked if Tim would come take pictures instead. It was fun - Tim set up in their living room with his enormous (thrifted) light bar and 15 minutes later came out with some great pictures.

We were trying to get Sasha to show off her new bottom teeth.

Daddy's girl

Hot Cocoa

2011-11-02T11:53:00.003-04:00

Hot cocoa isn't something one should agonize over. Yet, every year around this time, hot cocoa becomes a thorn in my side. Is this brand gluten free? How about that brand? What about that flavor? The artwork on the package has changed - has the formula also changed? Do I have time to call the manufacturer to play a game of 20 questions? (The answer to that last one is NO!)

Hot cocoa should be easy.

So, now I make it myself. Every ingredient in this recipe is a staple in our house. As an added bonus, I can pronounce and identify all the ingredients! Like most scratch versions of convenience products, this tastes miles better than any mix. I will NEVER go back to those little packets.

Hot Cocoa
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup dry milk
splash of extract if desired
hot water

Mix the dry ingredients in your mug. Add a cup or so of hot water. Stir. Add extract. Drink.

You can, of course, leave out the dry milk and substitute hot milk for the water. Hot soy, almond, rice, or any other kind of milk would work here, too.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T13:35:00.007-04:00

There's something about sewing at the 11th hour..... We had "trunk or treat" at church on Sunday. I don't know if y'all do this up North or not. Essentially it is trick or treating in a parking lot. People decorate their trunks and hand out candy. There are usually other funfair type activities going on and it is an event that is usually sponsored by a church. We have a lot of "Fall Festivals" or "Hallelujah Celebrations" down here as an alternative to Halloween. Hell houses, too, which are the conservative Christian version of a haunted house. THAT warrants a whole separate post, though.

Anyhow, our church had a very small trunk or treat that the big kids hosted for the little kids. There were less than 50 people there and it was all very sweet. The problem was, I realized on Sat. night that I had to work all day on Sunday and wouldn't have any time for last-last minute costume shenanigans before trunk or treat. I hadn't done anything on Alice's costume.

Ooops.

Enter speed sewing. I made this costume start to finish in 2-1/2 hours. I have NO idea how I managed that. (The combination of the serger and ingesting too much caffeine is my guess...) My goal was to be done by midnight and I finished up at 10:30. I ditched the dress pattern that came in the envelope and made up my own. The dress is a front, back and two sleeves. All cut generously and then I used elastic for the neck and cuffs.

I didn't follow any of the instructions on the pattern. I actually threw them in the garbage after trying to read through them and getting confused. My way was better.

In any case, I got it done and it fit perfectly. Phew!

Alice as Laura Ingalls Wilder Halloween 2011

Kiri's Dress

2011-10-31T08:56:00.005-04:00

Made by me, photographed by Tim.
Kiri is the daughter of our associate conductor, Jim, and his wife Sarah (who is a trumpet player.). They asked if I would make a baptismal gown for Kiri.

The gown - 40 inches long!

The slip

(Alice wearing pants! Of her own volition!)

Here is a link to Jim and Sarah's blog with pictures of Kiri at her baptism.

Exhibit night!

2011-10-24T08:13:00.003-04:00

Earlier this month, Alice's school had its first "Exhibit Night." The school is the arts magnet elementary school for the county (as well as housing the honors program). They do all sorts of neat things. There is an actual dance studio, multiple rooms for music, and art has a main classroom and second classroom with a kiln. At exhibit night, the whole school was transformed into an art gallery. It was really neat to see all the student work.

A student-made mural of ceramic tiles

2nd grade ceramics - Alice's is the yellow and brown cup in the center.

This map is in the hall near Alice's homeroom. It is HUGE!

Art by the other 2nd grade classes:

Alice's class did an extensive unit on Japan. They went to a museum to see Japanese artifacts, learned how to play "rock, paper, scissors" in Japanese, and had a visitor come talk to them about Japanese culture. All this was in addition to the more typical types of learning that go on in a classroom!
They learned how to write their names in Japanese:

They also each learned to write another word and created a picture around it. Alice's word was "school":

Next we went to see the instrumental music teacher. He is AMAZING. He had all kinds of instruments laid out all over the classroom for kids to play. Everything was very hands-on. His room was loud and chaotic in a good way. Everyone who walked into his room that night left having learned something new - myself included.

A piano Mr. Reynolds took apart so the kids can see how it works.

Demonstrating sound waves and vibration with a ping pong ball dancing on a speaker.

We also got to meet some of Alice's new friends.

Finally done!

2011-10-14T14:17:00.003-04:00

It was a push, but I got this done for church on Sunday.

I started this dress a year ago, and, at some point got tired of the embroidery (or distracted by Christmas dresses). It sat in my sewing basket until a few weeks ago. I decided I'd better get to finishing it before it was outgrown.

I wasn't happy with the vertical buttonhole, so I changed the rest. I was going to rip out the first one and re-sew it to match, but Alice said it looked cool and I should leave it, so I did.

Now I'm madly constructing a baptismal gown for a friend. I'm all out of smocking, though. Time to pleat something new!

2011-09-21T16:47:00.002-04:00

M: (picking up Alice) "How was school?"

A: "Great! I lost my tooth today!"

M: "WOW! Where is it?"

A: "I swallowed it at lunch. Will the tooth fairy come anyway?"

M: "Of course! So, it came out while you were eating, huh?"

A: "Oh, no. It came out in gym."

M: ????

A: "I didn't want to interrupt the gym teacher while she was giving us instructions. Also, I don't think she has any baggies for teeth so I just put it back in my mouth."

M: "Huh. And then you had lunch?"

A: "No. Then we went to the zoo. Then we went back to school and then we had lunch."

M: ???? "So you had your tooth in your mouth that whole time???"

A: "Yup. I swallowed it when I ate my strawberries at lunch."

M: "Huh. You didn't take the tooth out of your mouth at lunch?"

A: "Nope."

M: ????? "Did you tell your teacher?"

A: "Nope. I just told Harry (a classmate) at lunch after I swallowed it."

Pretty Flowers

2011-09-19T20:25:00.003-04:00

Today Alice disappeared outside with a notebook and a pencil. She was writing an essay - just because she wanted to. Here it is -

Lots of Pretty Flowers
by Alice

There are many flowers. Some of them are here for a porpes (purpose). Some of them mite be eating bugs, like the pitcher plant. Others mite be for scareing aminals. But my favrets are sunflowers, dazys, poppies, indian paint brush and the iris. What are your favrets? I would like to know! The flowers I listed I call show off flowers because they don't do much esept (except) look cool and look pretty and smell good. But theres a job that every flower does. The job is to polnat (pollinate). Now I know bees help with that, but it's importint. If it weren't for flowers and bees we would have to eat dirt and we would have to drink out of a sewer. But we would only be alive for a day. Then there would be no people liveing. Luckily theres food for us to eat.

-------
Not bad for a 2nd grader, huh?

School is still going well. We are all still very, very happy with the move. Mid-term report cards came home today - all E's (excellent). Alice was the most proud of the + she got for reading level. The reading level scale is -, = or + indicating below, at or above grade level.

Initial Highlights

2011-08-17T19:33:00.003-04:00

School is going really well. Alice is happy. Home is peaceful. Here are Alice's highlights so far:

* The second teacher in Alice's class is a graduate student at UT. She is certified and is getting her master's in education. She is doing her internship in Alice's class this year.

* The other kids in Alice's class bring "strange" things for lunch and snack like homemade yogurt, pickles, and hummus just like she does. (She was excited about this.)

* In addition to their very own desk, the kids have lockers (that don't lock) inside the classroom for their coats.

* They are studying geography in social studies (YAY!) and there is a map of the US painted on the playground. The class is also doing a super cool project - more details coming soon... For now I'll just say that Alice might be paying some of you a visit via USPS.

* Transitioning from home to school to home again has never been an easy thing for Alice. Picture storm clouds over her head on the way to school and a full out tornado on the way home. This year has been different (knock on wood!). She is happy and calm when I pick her up.

Which leads me to the only negative thing Alice has had to say about her new school:
"There is more work in 2nd grade and it takes me longer to finish it. It's really cutting into my reading time at school."

This made me chuckle.

Last year Alice spent a good portion of the school day reading a book from home or playing math or reading games on the computer. This year she hasn't had a spare minute to read. She is doing work - work that makes her think.

THIS makes us all happy.

Meet the Teacher

2011-08-12T19:32:00.003-04:00

Last night Alice got to meet her teachers and walk around her new school.

It's nice. It's old, but it's nice.

Last year Alice's class was in a portable classroom (aka a trailer). The ceilings were low, it was small and dark, there were tables instead of desks with a common pot of supplies in the middle. When there were storms, which happened often last year, the kids had to go in the main building because it wasn't safe to be in the classroom. To get to the main building, which they did several times a day, the kids had to tromp outside without coats. I guess I didn't realize how crummy this was until I saw the classroom she will be in this year.

It's big and bright. Alice has a desk! Another parent asked about supplies and the teacher said that she thought the supply list was pretty good but, you know, if there were other things the child might want - markers, colored pencils, etc, then they should bring those too. There is a boys and girls bathroom INSIDE the classroom as well as a water fountain. One child even has a taller desk because, "he is REALLY tall."

There are two teachers in her class. One is quite young and looks to be a student teacher / intern / educational assistant. I don't care what her title is, I just think it's awesome that the student - teacher ratio will be 10-1 or so. She will be there for the entire year. Both teachers are super nice.

We also met the instrumental music teacher, the art teacher (who's name is Ms. Musik), and the dance teacher. All were very welcoming. The kids have a 6 day rotation at this school of art, gym, instrumental music, general music, dance, and library. There is a dance studio. The art studios (!) are huge and include a floor loom and a kiln. There are glass display cases all over the school showing off student work.

All of this is very encouraging and exciting, and I haven't even gotten to the best part of the night... I was talking to Alice's teacher about gluten and she told us that there are a lot of kids with food allergies in the class this year, including another little girl who cannot eat gluten. Alice was so excited. She was literally jumping up and down and clapping her hands. The teacher said the other little girl (who had come in earlier) was also very excited.

fingers crossed....

Summer in pictures

2011-07-29T08:27:00.003-04:00

Our only storm damage from June - this isn't even our tree. It is the (absent) neighbor's tree, but this branch is precariously hanging over our yard. Has the neighbor been to their house since the storm? Of course not!

The butterfly bush that we planted last summer. Only one didn't make it.

3 Year old butterfly bush by the kitchen window. Also, Tim's jimmyrigged grill stand made from an old bed frame. :)

My basil - grown from seed this year!

The garden thinks it is a jungle...

We tried some different things this year - this is a red kuri squash.

Peaches!

Alice watching the washing machine...

2011-07-27T22:11:00.003-04:00

This morning Alice and I made the trek all the way across town to the fancy store that only sells gluten free things. I discovered that I was out of the flours I use to make up one of my mixes, which is a bad thing since someone's birthday is right around the corner... I also have this cupcake cookbook coming in the mail tomorrow. (Their other cookbook has my go-to pizza crust in it. Yum.) Alice and I shop at this particular store once a month or so because it is a good 25 minute drive from our house. She looks forward to these trips because they have a small in-house bakery where everything is gluten free.

Today as we were leaving, we ran into an organist from a church at which I often play. As he headed into the store and we headed out, Alice and I had the following exchange:

A: "He is SO lucky!"
K: "Why is that?"
A: "Because he gets to eat gluten free. Gluten free is the best, Mom. People who don't eat gluten free are missing out."
K: "So, does that mean you're lucky because you get to eat gluten free?"
A: "Yup. Gluten free is the best."

I'm sure the brownie we bought didn't hurt this sentiment, but it still made me a little bit choked up.

A Twister

2011-06-24T23:13:00.005-04:00

Just a quick note to let y'all know that we're okay. We've had massive storms come through the past week. Tuesday we had a microburst that was CRAZY. The weather went from fine to armageddon in a matter of minutes. 70 mph winds that ripped trees up by the roots. I've never seen anything like it - it looks like a tornado hit.

And, actually, one did - but it waited until Thursday night. Our weather radio woke us up with a tornado warning last night. The tornado actually touched down about 1/2 mile from our house. Again, the destruction is pretty impressive. I have never before seen a giant billboard twisted in half.

Like I said - we're fine. Our trees are all okay and no one else's tree fell on our house. Our MIA neighbors fence fell into our yard and a tree limb that hangs over our backyard is broken and will eventually come crashing down, but we are very, VERY lucky. We lost power last night and it has been flickering on and off since Tuesday. There are still about 30,000 people without power from TUESDAY'S storm, though, so a few hours is nothing.

2011-06-08T15:12:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. The end of the symphony season / school year has always felt like a water slide to me. You go go go go faster and faster until - splash - nothing. We are on week 3 of nothing now. We are slowly adjusting to the summer routine. I have stopped waking up in a panic sure that I am missing a rehearsal.

We are afterschooling this summer: reading and math as well as science and social studies. I also have plans for art and home ec.

Alice's social studies workbook came home at the end of the year basically untouched. This coupled with the public school students who told me that Germany is located in Africa has made it clear to me that social studies / world geography is not given a whole lot of emphasis in the early grades here. Same with science. Since a big reason we afterschool is to fill in the gaps, science and social studies / geography / history will be a big part of what we do this summer.

Here is our curriculum for the next week or so:

Reading: whatever she wants, she is required to read 30 minutes a day. She usually reads more than that, though, and I don't think I've had to make her do her reading yet. She's been reading the Goosebumps series, the diary of a wimpy kid books, and the American Girl books.

Math: Singapore math curriculum book 1B (2nd grade) - addition with regrouping
Singapore mental math curriculum book 1 (2nd grade) - strategies for mental addition of two of the same number (37+37, 44+44, 52+52, etc)

Social Studies: we're discussing commercials - why companies advertise, how they advertise, etc. She is keeping a tally of commercials aimed at kids vs commercials aimed at grownups during Sponge Bob Square Pants. I might have her keep a tally of commercials that are realistic vs unrealistic too.

Geography: US states, capitals and landmarks. We are playing games, doing puzzles, and reading books about different states.

Afterschooling only takes up an hour or so of our day. There is plenty of time for running in the park, swinging, swimming and all the other wonderful things about summer.

The Circle of Life

2011-05-10T15:32:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure if it is due to the personal nature of our work or the personalities music attracts, but playing in the symphony is like one never-ending family reunion. You know some people better than others, and there are the inevitable clashes. Ultimately, though, when something happens - good or bad - we are there for each other. I experienced this generosity first hand when Alice was born. Players I had barely spoken to brought us food, diapers, and lent sympathetic ears. It is truly a caring group of people that feels the ups and downs of life together.

This week has been a whiplash of emotions for my symphony family. (And it's only Tuesday...)

On Sunday one of our colleagues passed away quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Calvin was our principal horn player. He was really a great guy - I know people always say this when someone has died, but in Calvin's case it was absolutely true. He was a good man. Calvin was always smiling and ready with a story. If you sat next to Calvin at a gig you were sure to be in for a good time. He was also a tremendous musician. Saturday night he had a solo in our pops concert. His sound just soared over the orchestra. I made a mental note at the concert to compliment him the next time I saw him. Sadly, I did not have the chance.

In extreme contrast, our associate conductor's wife delivered their first baby yesterday. Everyone is doing well - the baby is gorgeous.

We had rehearsal this morning. The mood was somber - everyone was distracted. The arrangements for Calvin's funeral were announced and then someone said to Jim (our associate conductor), "So, Jim, do you have any good news you can give us?" He looked at them blankly. After a hint he announced the birth of his daughter, Kiri Jane. We hooted and hollered.

Sunrise, sunset.

Career Day

2011-05-06T08:40:00.003-04:00

Today is career day at school. Alice was all atwitter about this because, looking through her dress up clothes, she concluded that her options were to dress up as a princess, a dancer, a wizard, or a clown. She wants to be a scientist. Right now she has her interests narrowed down to being a geologist, astronaut, or blood doctor. (Have I mentioned that this child devours science books?!)

Luckily, there was no shortage of lab coats to be found at Goodwill. We also picked up some snazzy safety goggles. Alice is very excited to have her very own lab coat. She was disappointed when I told her that her teacher probably wouldn't allow her to wear the goggles all day. She was hoping that the first graders would be working with dangerous chemicals and breaking rocks today.

We're Ok

2011-04-28T08:16:00.003-04:00

We are all fine after the storms that came through yesterday / last night. No damage to the house, either. People in West Knoxville were not so lucky. My quartet attempted to rehearse last night at our 1st violinists house in W. Knoxville and about 20 bars in, the power went off. 10 minutes later the hail started. We toughed it out in his basement for a few hours and then zoomed home between storm cells. I risked taking the back roads, which turned out to be clear. Our cellist, who lives on the same side of town as we do, took one of the main drags, which was completely flooded. Everyone made it home safely, though.

Its crazy here - Knox co schools are operating, but everyone around us is closed.

Easter Sweater

2011-04-15T16:27:00.001-04:00

My mom sent Alice a sweater for Easter. It fits perfectly (and so does the one for her doll Kit!). Now to make the dress that goes with....

Thanks, Grandma!!!

Jesus Mummy

2011-04-11T08:28:00.003-04:00

Me: "How was Sunday School?"

Alice: "Great! We learned all about when Jesus died! He died on a cross and then, after, they prepared his body. They took out his organs and put them in jars and then they got a hook and took out his brain through his nose!"

Me: (long pause) "Did they tell you that in Sunday School?"

Alice: "Yeah! They really did that, Mom! Remember? We read it in that book."

Me: (the lightbulb coming on) "Alice, Jesus wasn't a mummy. They didn't take out his organs or his brain. You're thinking about the ancient Egyptians."

Alice: (greatly disappointed) "Oh."

Me: "Also, this is probably another one of those things you shouldn't talk about at school. I mean, you can talk about mummies and you can talk about Jesus, but you probably shouldn't talk about Jesus being a mummy...."

Alice: "Why?"

Me: (weighing the pros and cons of trying to explain the dark side of Southern religious culture -again- and deciding against it.) "Well, because it's just not true and you might confuse some people."

Alice: "Oh. Okay. But can I just pretend that Jesus was a mummy, you know, by myself?"

Me: "Absolutely."

This led to another very interesting conversation about what she plans to do with my body when I die. No cremation for me, apparently!

Note to self: next year we should not study ancient cultures during Lent.

Take Three...

2011-04-05T10:44:00.004-04:00

Tim emailed the principal of Alice's current school to request an appointment to discuss enrichment activities for next year since we did not win the honors lottery. She emailed him back and told him that she had spoken with the head of Gifted / Talented for the county. Alice HAD been selected for the honors class next year.

Apparently the school was supposed to call the parents of children who were selected for the honors classes before the district sent home the transfer papers. They wound up doing it in reverse this year. The transfer paper we received only listed the school - not the honors program. The honors program and the school itself are two different options in the transfer lottery. It was all very confusing.

Although Tim talked to the G/T coordinator yesterday, we got the official phone call from the school this morning.

She's in! (For real this time!)

Back to Square One...

2011-04-02T16:38:00.003-04:00

Here is a lesson in reading carefully.

Alice did NOT win a place in the honors class. She won a place in the school which houses the honors class. I mistook "magnet" to = honors. It doesn't. Thank GOD I didn't rush out and return the letter of intent! The honors program is great. The general school, not so much.

I am sick over this. I'm not sure what we'll be doing next year.

What do you do with a kid who is already working a few grades ahead of her peers with the gap widening every day?

Really. I'm asking. If anyone has advice I'd love to hear it.

We Won the Lottery!!!

2011-04-01T15:54:00.002-04:00

Alice was accepted into the 2nd grade accelerated honors class at the magnet elementary for next year!

Phew.

Afterschooling - March 31

2011-03-31T11:14:00.002-04:00

We have been agonizing over what to do next year for school. (I know - this is a dramatic way to put things, but its true.) 2nd grade is 2nd grade. I know that. My biggest concern is that sitting in a classroom day after day without sufficient challenge will start to erode the love of learning that Alice currently has.

We looked into private schools. There was one that was a good fit, but it was too expensive. Homeschooling is a possibility, but no one's first choice. Alice is in the running for the magnet school honor's program lottery - but there aren't many seats available.

A few days ago I discovered that Tennessee treats "intellectually gifted" as a subgroup under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). (Tennessee is the only state that does this. Suddenly I like living here a whole lot more...) This means that we can request an IEP (individualized education plan) solely because Alice is gifted! This could be a game-changer for us. An IEP is legally binding - the school would be required to make accommodations. Alice has already been identified as "intellectually gifted" by the district's own test.

Tim and I are planning to meet with the school sometime soon.

Anyhow, finding that out has been so exciting to me, I had to share.

Here is what we're working on with afterschooling this month:

Science: Plants - what do plants need to grow? Sprouting seeds. (Lima beans in wet paper towels, etc.) Different parts of the flower. Bees and pollination.

This is Alice's request. They are sprouting lima beans at school. She wanted to do the same thing at home, but made her request while I was in the middle of cooking dinner. I told her she needed to wait, but she could draw out the experiment if she wanted to. She stormed off to her room. A few minutes later I heard her reading a book about plants to her dolls. This is another great thing about afterschooling - you can take the curriculum that is being covered in school and explore it much further.

We will also probably start something with elements and the periodic table. She keeps asking me questions about it and is not satisfied with, "I don't know. We'll have to look that up later."

Math: Hammering addition and subtraction facts (always), telling time, counting money. (also supplementing school) I have a kid's clock kit with gears that I've been holding back since summer. That will probably come out this month as a daddy-daughter project.

Language Arts: Synonyms and Antonyms (school supplementation), letter writing.

History / read aloud: Little House in the Big Woods

Bachelor Buttons

2011-03-29T10:21:00.005-04:00

My grandmother was a master cookie baker.

Every time we visited, she would have a spread of 5 or 6 different cookies from which to choose. As I got older and moved out on my own, she would occasionally send me shoeboxes of cookies. I always shared with my roommates and, later, with Tim, but there was always one type of cookie in the box that I would immediately separate out and hide.

Eventually I got around to asking Grandma for the recipe. She sent it to me handwritten on an index card. In shaky handwriting she had written, "Here is my recipe for Bachelor Buttons. It's so putzy I usually double the recipe."

Bachelor Buttons have been at the top of my list for a gluten free conversion. I have waited, though, because the thought of those cookies failing and running all over the baking pan in a molten, smokey mess was too sad.

Last week I took a chance and tried them. Oh my. They did not run all over the oven. We did not have to call the fire department. They did not fail. In fact, I think its quite possible I achieved cookie nirvana:

Here is the recipe.

Note: I am not using a specific flour mix. I have mixed together gluten free flours (such as sorghum, rice, teff, millet, etc, etc, etc) with gluten free starches (corn, potato, tapioca) at a ratio of 70% flour / 30% starch BY WEIGHT. This is VERY IMPORTANT. When I mix up my flour mix, I use my digital scale. I measure out 700 grams of flour (very haphazardly, just based on what I've got around.) and then 300 grams of starch. Mix it all together until it is a uniform color and consistency, and, voila, you have flour!

Okay. NOW here is the recipe!

Grandma's Bachelor Buttons (gluten free!)

2 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-5/8 oz (approx 1/2 cup) almond flour
11-1/2 oz flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum (or use 1 tea xanthan and 1 tea guar gum)
Finely chopped nuts
Something to put in the center - frosting, jam, frosting and jam....

Preheat the oven to 325.

Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the egg YOLKS, vanilla, and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, flour, and xanthan gum. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing until it looks like cookie dough.

Chill for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, allow the reserved egg whites to come to room temperature.

Roll the dough into balls. I made mine walnut size, which made GIANT cookies. No one complained (haha), but if you want reasonable sized cookies, a heaping teaspoon full is probably the way to go.

Beat the egg whites with a fork until they are frothy. Dip the dough balls in egg white, then roll in finely chopped nuts. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Stick your finger in the center of each cookie to make an indentation.

Bake for 10 - 15 minutes. This will vary based on how big you make the cookies. Mine took 15 minutes. They are done when they are a pale golden color.

Remove from oven, and, while hot, take a teaspoon and push down the center of each cookie.

Allow to cool, then fill with whatever your heart desires. Grandma used buttercream. I put peach butter that I canned last July on the bottom and covered it with cinnamon buttercream.

Cinnamon Buttercream
1/2 stick butter
2 ish cups powdered sugar
a splash of milk
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine everything, adding more milk as needed.

This recipe makes enough that there is no need to hide them. Go ahead and share.

Afterschooling Ideas for Preschoolers

2011-03-01T14:09:00.007-05:00

If I think about it, we have actually been afterschooling since Alice was a baby. While she wasn't attending school yet, she did receive early intervention (EI) services on and off for the first three years of her life. Of course she had toys that were just toys, but we also looked for things that had therapeutic value.

My favorites from that time were:

Bubbles. These are GREAT for developing oral motor control, and kids LOVE them.

Cheater chopsticks and cotton balls or colorful pompoms. You can either make your own cheater chopsticks at home or buy some. We have these:

It is a great tool for developing the pincer grasp. Alice would dump a cup full of pompoms out on the table and then pick them up one by one with the chopsticks and put them back into the cup. She would sort by color, etc. I also let her eat snacks with the chopsticks.

A jelly roll pan and some mixed dry beans. The jelly roll pan is key here - it contains the mess. You can do all sorts of things with dry beans - sort them, make pictures with them, stick them up your nose...

Playdough scissors and cardstock. Did you know that using scissors is a skill for 18 - 24 monthers??? Neither did I, but there it was on Alice's OT goals. This was a skill we did NOT work on at home because I really didn't want my 2 year old to be able to use scissors. However, once you are ready to start working on scissors skills, playdough scissors and cardstock are the way to go. The playdough scissors will cut the cardstock, so it is satisfying to the child, but they don't cut much of anything else. Except playdough.

Pony beads and pipe cleaners. I think Alice was 3 or 4 when we first gave her some beads. Pipe cleaners are good for kids who are first learning to string beads because they don't wobble and the beads stay put when you put them on. This is also great for working on the pincer grasp.

Puzzles! Puzzles are great for developing motor skills, attention span, and spatial relations.

Playdough, clay, and silly putty / theraputty for hand strength. You can hide small "treasures" in the playdough for the child to find and dig out. This is especially useful if your child is reluctant to touch the playdough. Somehow giving them a specific task makes them much more willing to dive in.

Dress up clothes for practicing self-help skills.

TONS of art supplies. Crayola twistables were our crayon of choice for awhile. They don't require much downward pressure to make a mark. Alice had a hard time learning to coordinate that motion (downward pressure while moving the crayon on the paper) with regular crayons and the twistables relieved a lot of frustration.

A lot of these are things we would have had around even if Alice hadn't needed an extra push developmentally - they are just good playthings. Even if you have a typically developing child, I highly recommend browsing pediatric OT / PT catalogs. They have the best toys! My favorite companies are achievement products and Pocket Full of Therapy. I also got a lot of good ideas for activities from the book The Out of Sync Child Has Fun. (Hint - you don't have to have sensory issues to have fun with the activities in the book!)

Afterschooling

2011-02-28T17:32:00.005-05:00

Alice with skull (who is wearing my tiara!): one of our afterschooling tools and one of Alice's favorite Christmas gifts. Do you know where your Maxilla is? She does....

This year we have been "afterschooling."

This is a post I've sat down to write a bunch of times and every time I've gotten hung up. I don't want to be that parent who thinks (or is perceived to think) that their kid is the next Nobel Prize winner.

BUT - Alice is bright, and it has become an issue at school. Strange, because you always think the other way - if a child has a hard time learning it creates a problem at school. This was not on my radar.

Quite simply, she was bored and her boredom at school was translating into behavior problems at home.

I think the school is doing their best. Things have dramatically improved, even in the past month (hooray for the advanced reading group!), but we still don't feel she's getting everything she needs. And, honestly, I don't blame the school for that. There is a HUGE range of levels in her class from kids who can read anything to kids who can't read at all. The teachers have a responsibility to get everyone up to snuff by the end of the year.

So, this year we have been supplementing at home. We've always done this, but this year I took the leap to be organized about it and discovered along the way that this is called "afterschooling." Alice enjoys her "smart work" and (for now) does it happily. She asks to do math. Every few weeks we shake up our curriculum. Here is what we are working on now:

Math: hammering basic addition and subtraction facts, starting to teach the concept of regrouping. She's been working on multiplication and division on her own using manipulatives and with no pushing from me. I'm not ready to teach multiplication!

Writing: a story for our local PBS's story contest

Art: Expressionism unit / the art of Edvard Munch (who painted The Scream) and creating art inspired by Munch.

Science: clouds and the water cycle - her choice

Reading: whatever she happens to be reading - right now she's into the Ivy and Bean series, but she may have finished them.

We don't do everything every day. She does go to school, after all! I try to hit at least one or two subjects per day. Math is a must and it doesn't take much time for her to whip through a worksheet or two. She also reads every day and averages about 3 chapter books a week (500 pages?). Once we figured out that she could take a book to school to read when she finished her work instead of just sitting at her table, everyone's attitude toward school greatly improved.

Superbowl

2011-02-08T23:25:00.002-05:00

We watched the entire Superbowl this past Sunday for the very first time. Alice insisted on it. Since Uncle Ron and Aunt Bonnie visited in early January, she has been all about the Packers. Of course, she was calling them the Blue Bay Packers because she had just read a book called The Mystery of Blue Bay...

I asked her why she was so excited about the Packers and she said, "Steelers steal things. Besides, I'm a cheesehead! Except my head isn't really made out of cheese. That would be weird."

We let her watch until half time. She was really into it - she especially liked the "female" players with long hair. She was elated Monday morning when I told her that "her" team had won. And then she was disappointed when I told her that was it for football until the fall.

Ah well, there's always hockey.

New KSO blogger!

2011-02-04T08:52:00.003-05:00

I'm happy to report that the long dormant blog at the KSO - which I used to author - has been taken up by my colleague Andy! Andy is the principal cellist and I've played in a string quartet with him for 10 years. I'm interested to see what he has to say about music and life in the KSO.

He put his first blog up yesterday: www.knoxvillesymphony.blogspot.com

Lovely Parting Gifts

2011-02-04T08:18:00.004-05:00

I had my post-op appointment yesterday. It was a super fast appointment that took forever. 90 minutes in the office for 5 minutes of face time.

I got to see the pathologist report. It was short - less than 10 words.

male fetus
cause of demise: trisomy 20

Trisomy 21 causes Down Syndrome. Trisomy 20 causes miscarriages.

It was random - truly bad luck - and, since I am young(ish), it is no more likely to happen again than it was to happen in the first place.

The whole thing reminded me of Wheel of Fortune where, after not solving the final puzzle, the contestant is shown what they would have won if only they had picked different letters.

A boy. A son. A brother.

We really wanted a boy.

My doctor showed me the report to give us some closure. And you know what?

It has.

What Doesn't Kill You - Part 1

2011-01-18T15:32:00.010-05:00

January was a spectacular month for us, and not in a good way. I've gone back and forth about whether I wanted to write about everything that has happened. Miscarriage, for whatever reason, is not something people talk about. If it makes you squeamish you might want to skip out on this.

Right after Thanksgiving I found out I was pregnant. (don't get excited.) As I've shared before, I don't "do" pregnancy well. Actually, that is a gross understatement. Without serious ongoing medical intervention, there is very little chance that I will ever carry a pregnancy past the first trimester. Alice was (is) a miracle.

In the month of December, I saw my doctor 10 times. I had so much lab work done that my one decent vein went on strike. Every day I injected myself with an anticoagulant. When I woke up in the morning I prayed for strength and grace to get through the day and when I went to bed at night I thanked God for another day spent pregnant.

In 30 days I had 3 ultrasounds. The first two left us hopeful; the last, devastated. On New Year's Eve, while people were making merry and counting down to midnight, I was sleeping off the good drugs the anaesthesiologist gave me and wondering what the hell went wrong.

We were shocked and grieving. This is my first miscarriage with my current doctor, but it is officially my 4th. He had started to give me the usual speech about grieving, then paused and said, "Unfortunately you are an expert at this." Indeed.

This is by far the worst loss we've been through. I always thought that having an ultrasound and not seeing anything was the worst thing in the world (at least in the baby-making world). I was wrong. Watching your babies heart flutter at one appointment only to see complete stillness at the next is a pain that is indescribable.

In the days that followed, Tim and I had very little patience for poor Alice. A few days after my surgery I was feeling pretty good physically, so we decided to visit friends in Nashville. They have three busy children and we felt the change of scenery would do all of us good.

A few days into our visit, Alice got sick. She started throwing up and couldn't stop. All day, and all the way home from Nashville my poor girl couldn't keep anything down.

We got back into town and Tim suggested that maybe we should bypass home and take her straight to the ER. From the back seat Alice yelled, "I'm STARVING!!!! Can we please go to the Mexican restaurant and THEN go to the hospital? I want an enchilada."

Surely a child who is requesting enchiladas can't be that sick, right?

Wrong.

First Skirt

2010-12-28T17:56:00.003-05:00

Guess what Alice and I did this afternoon?

This is her first sewing project. She did everything except for putting the elastic through the casing - I helped with that because it was a tight squeeze. She even used the serger to finish off the raw edges! She is very proud of herself!

I predict many more skirts in her immediate future....

The Treat Trade

2010-11-01T09:37:00.003-04:00

This was our fourth Halloween dealing with a gluten free diet. In the past, we've done the "treat trade" with Alice. After she gets done trick or treating, we sort through her candy and separate out the things she can't eat. Then we work some sort of trade with her. Usually we let her pick a few pieces from her "okay" pile to keep and add the rest to the gluten pile to trade in. She swaps us her big pile 'o loot for something - money, a book, etc.

Its a system that has worked really well for us. We fully intended to implement it this year.

Last night I sorted her candy when we got home from trick or treating. On the gluten free side was a HUGE pile of candy. On the gluten side there were 5 mini kit kats, 6 whoppers, and a candy bracelet that was made in China. (Don't know if it contains gluten or not. In any case, I have a strong suspicion that its not really food...) That was IT! I looked at Alice, who was broadly beaming at me. "Some people didn't let me pick, so I had to take the kitkats and whoppers," she explained.

It is hard to express how PROUD this makes me. It's not about the candy. This is bigger. Alice is taking responsibility for her diet. She *knows* what she can and cannot eat and makes choices accordingly whether its picking Halloween candy or politely declining to eat something she's not sure about. I think this is pretty remarkable for a six year old.

So, I don't know if we'll do the treat trade this year. A side benefit has been limiting the number of sugar highs in the house.... We'll have to think about it.

Stop the Pweachahs!

2010-10-14T08:02:00.003-04:00

Conversation in the car:

Alice: "Mom, pweachahs are really, really bad."

Me: "Preachers?"

A: "YES! You know, pweachahs? They go out and kill animals?"

M: "Really? Preachers do that?"

A: "YES! They kill animals and then just take their horn or something."

M: "OH! You mean POACHERS, not preachers."

A: "That's what I said. Pweachahs is just a different word for poachers."

M: "Um.... Not really. You're really talking about poachers. A preacher is something very, very different."

A: "Okay. Can I send part of my allowance to stop the poachers? Can you look up where to send it?"

M: "Um... Okay."

A: "Do poachers trap skunks?"

M: "I don't think so - usually they hunt animals that are rare like rhinos or eagles."

A: "Phew! Good, because I love skunks. We should still stop them, though."

A little while later, coming out of the grocery store:

Woman standing by the door soliciting donations: "Donate to help stop child abuse?"

Me: "Not today."

Alice, very innocently: "I'm saving my money to help stop the poachers. Those are the REALLY bad people."

Thank God she didn't say preachers.

So, Alice is indeed saving her money to help stop the poachers. She's putting part of her allowance aside every week and when she's got $10, we'll find someplace to send it. Tim and I introduced the concept of matching funds to her. We told her we'd match whatever she decided to send. This is quite exciting to her. She said that it makes her feel very grown up.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies, Converted

2010-10-05T17:01:00.003-04:00

I have a friend who is a true foodie. She enters recipe contests and wins them. She's got a new blog where she is taking on the challenge of feeding her family of 5 on $75 a week.

Today she posted a recipe for these:

Oh. My.

It was good timing because I "needed" to make cookies today. Her recipe was a good candidate for a gluten free makeover, so I tried them.

Oh. My.

There is a reason she does well in recipe contests. These are amazing. Its a good thing I have quartet rehearsal tonight with three guys who like cookies because these are dangerous.

When I look at converting a cookie recipe, there are a few clues as to how easy it is going to be. If I want to be virtually guaranteed of success the first time (i.e. I'm feeling lazy), I look for these characteristics:

1. A cup of flour or less in the recipe. Why? Because if it doesn't have much flour to begin with that means the cookie is not depending so much on gluten for its structure. It also means that its not depending on wheat for taste (think shortbread).

2. Bar cookies are a good bet, because they are contained in a pan with sides. My baking flops tend to be spectacular messes that run off the side of the pan and make the whole house fill with smoke. Most of the time they taste pretty good, they just have no structure. Bar cookies have four solid walls of built in structure.

3. Clues in the recipe that point to good structure. If a recipe instructs me to flatten a cookie with my hand or a fork it is a good sign that most likely it is not a dough that will flatten out on its own (and run all over my oven.).

This particular recipe met two of my three criteria for an easy conversion so I went for it. Actually, I felt so confident about it that I doubled the recipe. As you can see, it worked really well. For the flour I measured by weight and substituted part Pamela's mix and part coconut flour.

Sweet Success

2010-10-02T09:36:00.003-04:00

My family LOVES pumpkin. They ask for pumpkin pie in July. Last year there was a pumpkin shortage which was a crisis in this house. Last weekend I did my "big shop" where I hit the warehouse store and spend about 1/2 of my monthly grocery / household budget. They had canned pumpkin. The excitement this produced in Alice and Tim was similar to the time when they walked around the store singing a made up song about ham, another passion they share.

We came home with enough canned pumpkin to last an average family 3 or 4 years. My family is not average. I predict that pumpkin will not make it to Thanksgiving.

I made this a few days later:

pumpkin bread with dried cranberries and walnuts

I got three loaves out of the recipe, which I doubled to use the entire 30 oz can of pumpkin. I took one loaf to a friend who thanked me the next day but said, "That was gluten bread, right?"

THAT is the ULTIMATE compliment.

I think my new found success in gluten free baking has to do with the purchase of a digital food scale. You see, a cup of rice flour, a cup of sorghum flour, a cup of Pamela's mix, and a cup of all-purpose wheat flour all have different weights. Substituting cup for cup does not always work out. If you measure by weight you have a much better chance of getting it right the first time.

For reference, a cup of all purpose flour weighs 125 grams, or about 4-3/8 oz.

Pumpkin Bread (single loaf recipe)

250 grams of flour (I used Pamela's Baking Mix and a little bit of almond flour.)
1 tea. baking soda (1/2 tea if using Pamela's)
1 tea. baking powder (1/2 tea if using Pamela's)
1 tea. cinnamon
1/2 tea. salt
1/2 tea. nutmeg
1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin
1 cup sugar (I always cut the sugar a bit, I probably used about 3/4 cup)
8 Tbs butter, melted (I used half butter, half oil and cut it down a bit)
2 eggs
2 tea. vanilla
1 cup toasted nuts, chopped (opt)
1 cup dried cranberries
If you are using gluten free flours that do NOT include xanthan gum, you will have to add some when you mix the dry ingredients, probably 1 teaspoon.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a different bowl. Combine the two. Add anything optional. Pour into a greased loaf pan, bake at 350 for 45 to 55 minutes until it is done when tested with a toothpick.

Love Letters to my Daughter

2010-09-24T11:43:00.003-04:00

This month has been tough on Alice. We always have a little bit of a rocky transition to the start of the symphony season. As a "lonely only" she is spoiled in terms of enjoying undivided parental attention. Summers are especially luxurious because I am off of work for three months. Usually we ease into the season - a few rehearsals here, a few concerts there... It's never easy for Tim and Alice when my work starts in the fall, but it's usually more of an annoyance to them.

This year has been very, very different. It's the symphony's 75th anniversary season. We kicked things off about a week earlier than usual with rehearsals for Amadeus, a collaboration we did with a local theater. The schedule for Amadeus was pretty intense. I was gone most evenings, some days I was gone all afternoon and evening. This week hasn't been much better. Last night and tonight are our gala concert. From Tuesday through Sat we were / are scheduled for six rehearsals and two concerts. Its a lot.

It is great to be busy. The symphony is doing very well, which is something to be extremely grateful for in this economy. The schedule has taken a toll on my family, though. Last night as we lay in bed talking, I mused that Tim and I had only seen each other a total of about 5 minutes in 48 hours. He leaves for work just as Alice and I are getting up and I leave for rehearsal as soon as he gets home. He's stayed up a few nights waiting for me, but at some point you just have to get some sleep!

Poor Alice is not doing well with the sudden shift of schedule. She is about as flexible as a rock anyway, and this has turned her little world upside down. I see her a lot more than I see Tim, but it is a far cry from the luxury of summer. On more than one occasion I have had to pry her off of me as I've left for the theater. "Tell them you quit" has become one of her favorite phrases.

I started leaving her notes in her lunch box. Just short, stupid, silly things like "Roses are red, blueberries are blue, cookies are sweet, now go eat your sandwich!" She LOVES it. She carries them with her the rest of the day. Then she started writing me notes that I would find on my nightstand when I came home from rehearsal:

This is just a sampling. She is prolific in all things artsy, this included. Tim says that she writes them every night after he tucks her in because she misses me the most then. I love them, but having so many little cards and post-its floating around was making me a little bit crazy. They are not something that can be thrown out or recycled easily because if she found out it would greatly offend her. (And I can understand that because if someone threw out a love note that I had just written to them I would be sad and offended too.)

So I came up with a solution:

It is not a Bible. It's a blank book for us to write back and forth in. She writes in it and puts it by my bed, I write back and put it by her bed.

So far she is loving it. I am too. I am hoping this is something we can do for many years.

Spencer's Angels

2010-09-23T10:33:00.002-04:00

Alice is very perceptive and very bright. She is also a worrier. Because of this we've told her, in an age-appropriate way, about why I've been seeing the doctor so much lately. Honestly, I don't think we could have kept it from her. A few pregnancies back, when things were so early we had not told anyone (and had been very careful not to talk about it in front of her) she kissed my tummy and said, "hello baby!" A few weeks later, the morning after I miscarried, she said, "Mommy, why did the baby come say goodbye?" It gave me chills.

We have never told her about a pregnancy but she has known about all the losses. In our thinking it was less stressful for her to understand on a basic level what was going on than to see Mom and Dad upset, Mom going to the doctor all the time and Alice having no idea what was happening. Each time we told her that we were sad because we thought that she was going to have a brother or sister but the baby went to heaven instead.

This actually gave her solace when we had to put our cat to sleep last fall. It was her first tangible brush with death and she was devastated. She drew a picture of Spencer with wings sitting on Jesus's lap with little tiny angels flying around his head. She said that she was sad but the angel babies could have a turn playing with the cat.

So, she understands at least a little bit what is going on. Yesterday, though, we had an interesting conversation:

"Mom, why is the doctor trying to MAKE you have a baby?"

"Um.... Well... Actually, the doctor isn't MAKING me have a baby, Daddy and I WANT to have another kid in our family because you're so great." (I could see where this was heading and I wanted to try to head things off with flattery.)

At this point Alice looked like I had slapped her. The looks that crossed that child's face were incredible: betrayal, horror, disbelief...

"You don't want a sibling?" (BAD question, Mom!)

"If I have a brother or sister then I won't get all the attention!"

Which is exactly why we want to have another child. Well, one of the reasons, anyway...

You Can't Kill the Rooster

2010-09-08T16:43:00.002-04:00

A month ago I consulted with a reproductive endocrinologist for recurrent miscarriage. I don't want to go into it now; let's just say we have had too many heartbreaks in the baby department.

Today I had a follow up appointment to discuss the masses of tests that Tim and I have had in the past 30 days.

Among other things, Tim and I both tested positive for two genetic mutations. If you are related to either of us by blood, you should consider being tested, or just follow the treatment.

MTHRFR genotype (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) impairs the body's ability to process folic acid. The treatment is folic acid supplement - check with your doctor for how much because the normal amount doesn't cut it. I've got a prescription, our doctor suggested 1000 mcg for Tim.

PAI-1 (Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1) causes clotting problems. As in, you have a difficult time getting rid of blood clots. Treatment for this is a baby asprin every day for life.

Alice has always been our wondergirl. Today was the first time I realized just how amazing it is that she is actually HERE. Because, medically, the odds were stacked high against her from conception. I suggested to Tim that we nickname her "rooster" as in, "you can't kill the rooster" (Alice in Chains). Alice didn't like that because, "roosters are boys and boys are stupid. Except for Daddy. And Brandon. And Ildar."

When Elephants Fight

2010-09-03T20:52:00.005-04:00

As part of a parenting course Tim and I participated in, we watched a few videos of lectures by Rick LaVoie, who is a special education expert. (I HIGHLY recommend watching his lectures, by the way, even if your child does not have learning disabilities. F.A.T. city was especially enlightening.) He ran a school for children with learning disabilities. On the wall of the room where they held the IEP meetings, he had painted, "When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled." Meaning, when adults fight the kids lose.

"When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled" has been my mantra since school began. Things have happened that have made my blood boil. We looked at pulling Alice out. Tim and I are both strong believers in public school; the things that went on in the first two weeks of school seriously shook that belief. To say that things were (are) tense is an understatement. Tensions have been so bad between the parents and administrators that there has been an armed police officer on duty since the middle of the first week of school because the teachers and staff felt threatened.

My tactic has been to kill them with kindness. There have been several times where I've really wanted to go in and yell and scream at *someone.* Then I stop and think, "When elephants fight the grass gets trampled. There has to be a better way." I have made friends with everyone I can possibly make friends with: the crossing guard, the secretary, her teacher, other teachers, the armed police officer... I have also been in there volunteering about 12 hours a week since school started, primarily because it was the only way I felt okay about sending her to school. I'm doing room mother type things, but not in the classroom. I really like the ladies in the work room and it is satisfying to be able to go in, work for awhile and actually SEE what I've accomplished. I plan to continue volunteering all year simply because I enjoy it.

Now, three weeks into the school year, I'm cautiously optimistic that things are going to be okay. Knock on wood.

Pigs are PINK, dammit!

2010-08-26T23:08:00.004-04:00

School is not going well. That is an understatement, really. Things have gotten so out of hand between the administrators and the parents that there is now an armed police officer at Alice's school. We have looked at our options for pulling her out. Still on the fence about it. We'll see how next week goes. A lot more on that whole mess later.

Things aren't going particularly well with Alice's teacher either. Alice is trying to like her. I'm trying to like her. Sigh. Per new safety regulations I am not really allowed in the classroom, so I have spent 7 hours this week doing room mother things in the work room. I have run xeroxes, sorted alphabet letter tiles and sight word cards. Not really what I had envisioned doing as room mother...

This came home with Alice today:

It is a story strip of the three little pigs. They had to color it, cut it out and paste it in the correct order.

Note the color of the pigs:

They are pink. Alice wanted to make them a different color - green or purple or something. Her teacher told her that they had to be pink because it had to be "realistic."

I can't tell you how hard that made me laugh. These are pigs who are wearing clothes and building houses, but they have to be pink to be realistic?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Here is the grade that Alice got on this assignment:

Ouch! The grading scale goes +, Check+, Check, Check-, - . Wow. She got the equivalent of a D. Seems a little harsh to me considering that she got all the pictures in the right places (which, I'm guessing, was the point). The cutting is a little sloppy, but not too shabby for a leftie who is re-learning how to hold scissors. Imagine what her grade would have been if she had colored the pigs purple! Yikes!

1/2 Full or 1/2 Empty?

2010-08-19T15:18:00.001-04:00

This morning the jar was full.

She had some for lunch and the first thing she said to me when I picked her up from school was, "Can I have some more of that applesauce for a snack?" We're going to need the recipe, Grandpa!

1st Grade

2010-08-12T20:46:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was Alice's birthday. Thanks to all for the cards and gifts. She had a wonderful day. Here is the cake I made. It is a "Super Duper Snicker Fluff Brownie Mom Special Surprise!" cake. I picked the cake out because Alice couldn't decide on a cake. I figured the title would sell her on it.

Tonight we went to her school to find out who her teacher will be this year and to see the new principal. Alice and I missed the principal's speech but Tim was there. His reaction was "Hmmmm." She is a newly branded PhD and is! very! excited! to! be! here!!! He said she spoke in that high simpering tone normally reserved for babies. Hmm. We'll (try to) reserve judgment.

Alice's teacher is pregnant. Just guessing, she's probably due around Christmas. Another hmm. I signed up to be the room mother. My first act as room mother was to strong arm one of the only moms I know from Kindergarten into being a room mother's assistant. We have no idea what we're doing.

The school has adopted a discipline system they are calling the "Panther Pride Behavior Plan." Alas, no more pleasant purple and beautiful blue. This is a scale from 0 (bad!) to 5 (good!) And, sadly, it has nothing to do with the Black Panthers. Along with a sheet introducing us to the plan we received the "Behavior Expectation Matrix."

There are 100 rules on this matrix!!! (I counted) They all fall under the four main categories of be respectful, be responsible, be prepared and be safe and orderly, but geez! 100 rules? Most of these are common sense. My favorites:
- Only one person per stall in the bathroom
- Use toilets and sinks as designed
- Use only 2 squirts of soap and 2 pulls of paper towels
- Walk in Travel Position

I have to sign a form that says that I've reviewed the matrix with my child. I'm tempted not to turn it in until the principal demonstrates Travel Position for me. Tim and I have our own ideas about what Travel Position ought to look like:

I understand the need for rules, really, I do. And I'm sure there are some kids (and parents) who need everything spelled out. Things like this frustrate me because Alice is on the other side of the spectrum. Alice falls apart when she DOESN'T follow the rules. We could read all the rules to her and I guarantee she would memorize them all. But she would be so focused on making sure that she followed all the rules that she wouldn't be able to focus on learning. Which is the whole point of school, isn't it?

One Down, Nineteen to Go.

2010-08-01T18:29:00.003-04:00

Look what Alice lost today!

She wiggled and wiggled but refused to yank it. She wanted it to come out on its own. And it did while we were walking into a store. Actually, she credits her top teeth for knocking it out. She told them "good job" for bumping it out, then she pumped her fists in the air in victory. While we walked through the store she mused, "This morning I had twenty teeth. Now I only have nineteen. And, probably those will fall out soon."

Fountain Park Pictures

2010-07-26T16:57:00.003-04:00

This summer Alice and I have been doing a tour of the local fountain parks. Maybe this is a Southern thing or maybe its a Knoxville thing. I don't know, but they are awesome. Its basically a sprinkler on steroids. I love it because I don't have to pay the water bill (directly, anyhow...), it's FREE, and it's a good opportunity for my lonely only to socialize with her peers. There are several of these parks throughout Knoxville. This one is right on Gay Street, which is the main drag downtown. Its set back from the sidewalk so the kids don't splash the business people walking past. The theater I perform at is to the right (but not in the picture.)

This is in World's Fair Park. These are the biggest fountains in town and the ones we frequent most often.

These are also fun because the height of the water varies. Sometimes it will be really low and calm and then will suddenly shoot up higher than the flag poles.

There is also a really great playground in Worlds Fair Park.

2010-07-25T09:49:00.003-04:00

Here are some pics from our trip to Ann Arbor. I'm pretty bad about documenting things with the camera. I didn't get any pictures of Alice with Grandma or Grandpa G or Aunt Amy! I think Mom got some, so if she sends them to me I'll put them up.

These are from the children's museum

Alice in a bubble:

This was Alice's favorite part of the museum. You danced in front of a screen and it projected images of you onto a screen in front of you:

I thought this was a cool picture because it sort of shows how it works. The silver screen / black shadow only show up when you take a picture of the color screen. When you're actually dancing and watching the color screen you only see the colorful images.

Alice and Mme P:

Phew! I had forgotten the endless movement of the toddler years!

The Fluffy White Death (aka snow)

2010-01-29T10:18:00.003-05:00

Today is a snow day. Alice does not have school; they called it off at 7pm last night. Something is missing.... I can't put my finger on it....

The snow isn't supposed to start until early this evening. Granted, if we get what they say we're going to get (which is anywhere from 3 inches to a foot) it will shut the entire city down for several days. The funny thing is we have to go brave the grocery store today because we are out of milk. I'm considering making Alice wear her bike helmet because this has the potential to get ugly.

Tristan

2009-11-19T12:13:00.004-05:00

This is quite possibly the most romantic piece of all time. We're playing this, sans soprano tonight. It is Isolde's love death from Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde. Basically Isolde has come upon her lover right as he is dying. He dies in her arms and then she dies of grief after singing this aria. It is one time where I am not wishing an opera singer to die a little faster from down in the pit. Just gorgeous.

Pleasant Purple

2009-11-18T09:08:00.002-05:00

So, things are going well at Wondergirl's school. About a month ago she won the Good Citizen award for her class. It was a big deal and involved walking across the stage in front of the whole school to get a certificate, ribbon and pencil from the principal. Wondergirl's class operates on a color system for behavior. Every day the kids start out on "Pleasant Purple." Then, if they make bad choices, they move to Oops Orange, Yucky Yellow, and, finally, Ghastly Green. (It's not really ghastly green, it's some other "g" adjective that I can never remember. We call it ghastly green here.) When a child lands on Ghastly Green, their parents are called. Kids can also move up to Beautiful Blue if they do something exceptionally good.

Most of WG's class winds up in the orange to yellow range by the end of the day with several hitting the dreaded green. Her teacher has her hands full. The class is rowdy, and it is also her first.

WG is coming up on 50 consecutive days of being pleasantly purple. Tim and I think that's a pretty big deal, so I think she will be getting some sort of surprise reward when we visit Granny Julie and Friend John for Thanksgiving.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T16:47:00.002-04:00

Jumpy Balls

2009-10-22T15:04:00.003-04:00

We have been on pantry probation for a little over a week. I was trying my best to make meals from what we have around. I've done a pretty good job with it and have found some things along the way that I'd forgotten I had. The 5 pound bag of frozen cranberries, for instance.

Wondergirl loves cranberries. She always has. When she was in speech therapy, her therapist encouraged us to talk to her constantly. I did. Not being one to baby talk, I explained things to her. One of those things being how cranberry farmers separate the bad cranberries from the good. Cranberries bounce like little balls when they are fresh. The bad ones won't, so somewhere I read that the bounce test is how you easily separate the good cranberries from the bad. I thought bouncing fruit was fascinating, and apparently Wondergirl did too because a year later, at age 3, she confounded me one day by asking me to buy "jumpy balls" while we were in the fruit section. (which shows you that pre-verbal does NOT mean pre-comprehension!) I had no idea what she was talking about. After a lot of frustration I figured it out. And I bought a bag of jumpy balls. Which she ate, raw, in about two days. The thought of eating raw cranberries makes my face hurt a little bit, but WG is all over them. She just ate some this afternoon, in fact. I'm sticking to muffins.

Better

2009-10-21T23:16:00.003-04:00

This morning marked 24 hours without a fever, so I am officially un-contagious. I celebrated by going to the grocery store. You know things are desperate when you wonder if mixing jello and applesauce is a good idea and start looking at sweetened condensed milk as a viable alternative for the real thing. Still feeling under the weather and moving slower than usual. I have much more energy now than I did yesterday though. I even cut WG's Halloween Costume out tonight. It was a kind of now or never situation and the pink sequined dinosaur costume she's worn for two years has been promised to another little girl... WG is going to be a bird this year. A pink bird with lots and lots of feathers. Maybe a crown, too. I'll post pics when I get it sewn up.

Uncle!

2009-10-19T14:18:00.003-04:00

So, turns out I was a bit too optimistic in that last post. H1N1 threw me flat on my back yesterday. It was quite sudden. I went from being just a bit tired and achy to full out body shakes, extreme pain and a 104 degree fever in a few hours. Not fun. Tim took me to the ER where I got a nice shot of something that took away some of the pain and brought my temp down to a much more pleasant 100. I'm feeling much more human today. Not *well* by any stretch, but I'm also not huddled under a blanket shaking. I'm out of work for the week and was told to stay in bed (no problem!) and drink lots of fluids.

This happened WHILE I was taking tamiflu. (day 3 out of 5) I don't want to think about how bad it would have been without the tamiflu.

Seriously consider getting the vax. This is a nasty, nasty virus.

Oink

2009-10-16T18:02:00.002-04:00

Yup, we've got the dreaded H1N1. Actually, Wondergirl has the dreaded H1N1. Tim and I just aren't feeling great. All three of us are taking Tamiflu, which a wonderful wonderful drug. Really. The exhaustion with this, even with the Tamiflu, is incredible. WG described it as feeling wobbly. That's a pretty good description. We're all slow and taking lots of naps, but I imagine we'd all be in bed all day if it weren't for the Tamiflu.

So, lots of TV and quiet crafts for Wondergirl. Here she is making yarn pom poms. I used to make pom poms all the time at Grandma G's house and I'm tickled that Wondergirl is enjoying them too.

Tim's Revenge

2009-09-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

Wondergirl is constantly asking questions that I have no answer for like, "If God drove a car, what kind would it be? Would it be a rental car?" or, "You don't work when you get dead, so what do you do all day?" or, "We can't see God, so does that make him an imaginary friend?" More often than not I take the easy way out and tell her that would be an excellent question to ask her father. I justify it by telling myself that Tim is the family expert in all things philosophical since he has a degree in ministry, even though he has never really used it.

Last week, Tim got revenge. Wondergirl and I were in the car when she said, "Mom, how EXACTLY do babies get out of your body? I asked Dad and he told me to ask you." Touche, Tim, touche. I suppose I am the family expert on childbirth.

So I explained the basic mechanics of childbirth. When I was done I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see WG looking at me, horrified. She asked me if I was joking. I assured her I was as serious as could be and then, thinking maybe it would make her feel better, I told her about C-sections. Bad move. WG started shrieking that she didn't want to hear anymore. Then she started sobbing that she was NEVER EVER EVER going to have babies but she was really sad because she wanted to have a husband someday and when you have a husband, you HAVE to have babies. (from what I could gather, this was information she picked up on the playground. Oy.) I explained to her that simply was not true and then gave her some examples of couples we know who don't have children.

Then she said, "But how do you not have a baby when you have a husband?"

I told her I would tell her when she's 10.

Kindergarten Update

2009-09-18T08:19:00.003-04:00

I have been lax in my Wondergirl updates lately. School has started, the symphony season has started, and I've just been lazy. I apologise.

School is going well. WG adores her teacher. After a little bit of a rough start Tim and I like this teacher, too. The school as a whole we're luke-warm about. They just have some strange rules. If kids get there before the first bell in the morning they have to sit in lines in the gym. They aren't allowed to talk and they have to listen to classical music. Which isn't bad in itself, but they always have the slowest, saddest classical music playing. Maybe they are trying to depress them into docile behavior or bore them into submission. I like classical music (obviously) and even I wouldn't choose to listen to the stuff they play every morning.

They also have the 5th grade safety patrol directing traffic in the parking lot for Kindergarten pick-up. There is a reason why kids have to be 16 to get a drivers license. It's called judgement. It is my opinion that 5th graders do not have sufficient judgement to direct traffic in the parking lot, so I park across the street and walk to pick WG up. I did the car line once. It was enough.

But Wondergirl is getting along well. She has friends. She seems to like the work except for math. She doesn't like math because right now they are working on sorting things and they have to cross off pictures that don't match. She always likes the picture that is different the best and gets mad that she has to cross it out. Today she had to turn in homework that consisted of a big letter A filled with pictures of A words. The kids were supposed to cut pictures out of magazines. We only had seed catalogs. WG cut out all the pictures of flowers whose formal names started with A. Somehow I don't think this is what the teacher had in mind... The kids have to present their letters today, so the whole class will get a horticulture lesson.

Moby Chip

2009-08-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

I feel like Captain Ahab right now.

I'm not chasing whales, I'm in search of the perfect GF chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have never loved Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are too crisp for my taste. In our Days of Wheat I found cookie perfection in a recipe out of The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Thick and chewy, those cookies were simply the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever. It was the first recipe I tried to convert when I was familiar enough with gluten-free flours and gums to feel comfortable experimenting. It is also the recipe that I have had the least luck at converting. I have made many batches experimenting with different flour blends. As of yet I have had little success. They all taste great. After all, how can you go wrong with all that butter and sugar? My sticking point is the heft and chew of the cookie. The wheat version spread very little. They baked up stout with a slight crisp on the outside that gave way to soft chewiness toward the middle. My gluten free versions? They spread like mad and bake up thin and crispy.

I estimate that in the year or so that I have been trying to come up with the perfect GF chocolate chip cookie recipe I have made over 1000 inedible cookies.

I had a bit of a psychic connection going with this batch because I almost put them on a regular baking sheet but opted for a jelly roll pan just in case they spread so much they overflowed the pan. The only thing worse than disappointing mutant cookies are disappointing mutant cookies that set off the smoke detector.

This time I was foiled but I WILL develop the recipe for the perfect GF chocolate chip cookie, oh yes, I WILL.

I Blinked

2009-08-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

For Better or Worse

2009-08-23T23:04:00.002-04:00

The period of May to October (wedding season) is to musicians what salmon spawning time is to bears. We don't eat the bridal party but do come out a bit more flush and always with a lot of good stories. Weddings never quite go right, and even when they do there is usually still a good yarn to tell.

like the time when the minister showed up drunk, called the couple by the wrong names and skipped the vows.

or the time when the best man stood up to give my all-time favorite toast: "Well, we never thought this day would come and we're taking bets on how long it will last. If anyone wants to join the pool, be sure to see me."

or the wedding party that broke into a fist fight on the way up the aisle after the ceremony. Shoes were flying, bouquets were flying, fists were flying...

or the time when the bride and groom knocked over the unity candle while attempting to light it and set the tablecloth on fire.

Then there are all the program typos:

Canon by Pachel Bell
Canon by Taco Bell
Pachel's Bell Canon
Pachelbel by Canon
Storm Pipe from Water Music (should be hornpipe)
All Grow From Spring (allegro...)
Panis Angelicus, which was correct until they hit spell check and forgot to proof read their program....

Despite it all, everyone always winds up married in the end which is the whole point, right? The marriage, not the wedding?

Oma, Jamie and Ogie

2009-08-21T10:54:00.003-04:00

WG has surrounded herself with a community of imaginary friends. I'm thinking this might be hereditary since I had quite the menagerie when I was little: boy-girl twins named Nogie and Eggroll, a dog named Ginger, and a whole flock of sheep. WG's imaginary friends are all people, sort of.

Oma was the first to make an appearance. Oma is devious. Most of the time she is mean to WG. She is seven feet tall (since I've never seen her this is a guess, but she is "taller than Uncle Neil" so 7 ft is probably about right.), has yellow eyes and wild hair that changes color daily. She lives in China, which happens to be around the corner from our house. Oma rides a scooter and, on our recent trip to Ohio, followed us the whole way. Oma has been put in jail for "making bad choices," speared with a sword (by our neighbor), and thrown out the car window (by me).

Jamie is another regular around our house. Jamie is a girl, but she is always referred to as "he" because, as WG puts it, "sometimes girls are boys." Yes, WG has a transgendered imaginary friend. Who also happens to share a name with my mother. Jamie is nice. We don't mind when Jamie comes to visit.

Ogie stops by once in awhile. Ogie is from elbowland.

Today was WG's first day of Kindergarten. I completely forgot to warn the teacher about Oma, Jamie and Ogie. It will be interesting to see if anyone went with her.

What You've All Been Waiting For...

2009-08-12T14:44:00.003-04:00

I'll save the vacation recap for later. I know y'all are much more interested in seeing pics of Miss M and WG.

Wondergirl -vs- The Garden

2009-07-22T14:15:00.003-04:00

Remember this?

That was taken last summer when WG ventured into the "jungle" at the back of our yard, picked some poison ivy and smeared it all over her face.

I took these today:

No, it's not poison ivy. She learned that lesson. (And, can I say that I cannot believe how much more grown up WG looks compared to last summer?!?!)

WG and the neighbor girls often play together through the fence. I thought things had been peaceful for too long and when I glanced out the window I saw elder neighbor girl slamming a cucumber over and over into the fence. WG and the elder neighbor child decided it would be a good idea to make slop stew in WG's wagon. WG picked 1/2 our garden, including every single one of our peppers, and both girls smashed it all up in her wagon.

Needless to say that was the end of playing outside for WG that day. She came in, sobbing. She was in her room and all of a sudden started screaming that her face hurt. All of our peppers were hot peppers. Even the bell peppers cross bred with something and became mutant gigantic hot peppers. She must have had pepper juice on her hands because she BURNED her face. It is actually a lot better now. Right after it happened on Monday her entire eye was purplish red and puffy.

Next summer we will laugh about this. Maybe.

Veggie Land

2009-07-04T15:20:00.003-04:00

I took these pictures a few weeks ago, which is eons in garden time. Now we even have wee baby corn cobs coming! Not to mention the new beds that Tim cut for the raspberries and blackberries. He also extended the back flower garden all the way to the back deck. Some day I will get around to taking new garden pics but for now here is our garden.

Herbs!

The vegetable garden. This year Tim and WG planted tomatoes, cucumbers, snap peas, green beans, corn, kale, green peppers, hot peppers, radishes and watermelon.

Our $3 Fig Tree that was left for dead at Lowes and now has FIGS on it!!!

WG and the first radishes of summer

The Legend of Hooplemona

2009-06-08T12:54:00.003-04:00

A few years back I played a church gig at a church in town. I don't think there was any particular occasion, they just wanted some special music. The string quartet sat in front of the congregation for both services. The service was going smoothly and then the minister prepared to give the sermon. He took a large box of playground balls out, held one up and said, "What do think will happen if I drop this ball?" The congregation thought it would bounce. Amazingly, it did! He dropped several balls: big balls, small balls, small balls on top of big balls.... He must have had a point but I missed it completely.

Then he put the balls away and said, "The Greek word for patience and perseverance is HOOOOOOPLEMONA."

My friends were playing this gig with me and we kind of glanced at each other, like, "did he just say hooplemona?"

Oh yes he did. And he kept saying it. It's a funny word anyway and the way he was saying it, with a Southern accent and getting a little caught on the "hoop", was positively hysterical. Especially because it was absolutely inappropriate to laugh.

We started to get the giggles.

Then he said, "I know someone with great hooop....ulmona and I'd like to introduce him to you."

The lights went down, a screen descended from the ceiling, and a movie started to play. It was about a man who was born with no arms or legs who wanted to be a professional bass fisherman. There was footage of him at a fishing tournament. A shot showed him casting off while the narrator said, "He holds his pole between his chin and shoulder like a fine violin." Every time he reeled his line in (don't ask me how he reeled his line in with no arms or legs, I didn't see because by this point I was staring at the floor concentrating with all my might on not howling with laughter) without catching a fish he swore.

The craziest thing is, I looked out at the congregation while the arm-less, leg-less would-be bass fisherman with great hoooooop....ulmona was swearing and not a single person had a look on their face like this sermon was anything out of the ordinary. In fact, they all looked sleepy and bored.

It was the most awesome sermon I had ever heard. Certainly it is the one that has vividly stuck with me the longest.

Hooplemona has become a regular part of our family's vocabulary. We tell WG that she needs to have hooplemona, or simply "hoople" and she tells us that her hooplemona is all used up for the day, unless the outing in question is a trip to the park or zoo, in which case she has endless amounts of hooplemona.

Lost in Translation

2009-06-08T12:34:00.005-04:00

A few weeks back I mixed up some sprite and orange juice and gave it to WG. She was suspicious. I told her it was a kiddy cocktail. She tried it and loved it. Today we went to McDonald's for lunch. I mixed up some sprite with orange drink for her. WG's face lit up and she said, "Thanks for making me a cocktail, Mom!" I parked her at the table and went back for some ketchup. There were a few older women sitting at the next table and when I got back, WG was telling them all about how I make her cocktails and how they are her most favorite things to drink. I explained what she was talking about but I don't think they bought it.

------

WG loves flowers. Gardening is definitely her thing. When she sees a flower that she doesn't recognize she asks what it is. Her violin teacher has peonies lining her driveway. WG was impressed by them and asked me what they were. I told her they were peonies. She told me she thought pennies were money. I repeated, "No, not pennies, PEE-oh-knees." "Yeah, that's what I said! Pennies!" Then it hit me. She was translating from the Southern accent. When people say "pennies" here it comes out "peonies." Now we call those flowers pennies.

------

The lyrics: "The house is a-rockin! Go, go rock it!"

WG's interpretation: "The house is a rocket! Go, go rocket!"

How Did We Get Here, Anyway?

2009-06-05T23:39:00.004-04:00

It occurs to me that our reason for having WG on a gluten free diet is no where on this site. A lot of you know the story, but for those who don't, here it is.

The summer before WG turned three she got sick. The symptom we noticed most was her thirst. She was guzzling water. Knowing that doctors like hard data we started tracking her intake to see if it really was a problem worthy of a phone call. She was drinking up to 80 oz of water a day. We would put her to bed with a full sippy cup and she would drain it and cry for a refill in the middle of the night. We called the pediatrician's office and were advised to cut her off or offer her alternatives like fruit or popsicles. We were also told that since it *was* summer and we *do* live in the South drinking a lot of water was not necessarily an abnormal thing. It was not unreasonable advice.

We tried to limit WG's intake. That lasted exactly one day. First she screamed when I wouldn't refill her sippy cup and then she got creative. I caught her drinking from the cat's dish. Later I saw her headed for the toilet with her cup. What goes in must come out. WG was also urinating A LOT. She wasn't potty trained yet and I would put a fresh diaper on her only to have to change her clothes five minutes later because she had peed through the diaper.

The pediatrician did a diabetes test. It was negative. The pediatrician ran some other tests which showed some abnormalities in her kidney function. At that time we were refered to a pediatric nephrologist as well as a pediatric endocrinologist.

The pediatric nephrologist was a jerk. His nurse was a jerk. I wasn't wild about his office staff either. He ordered the tests that showed her wonky kidney functioning to be repeated because, in addition to the excessive peeing, WG had a pattern of diarrhea followed by constipation. He told us that would skew the test results and that we needed to bring her in for labwork after she had had normal bowel movements for at least 3 days.

Nearly a month later this is the conversation I had with his jerky nurse:

Nurse: "We are waiting on WG's lab results. Why haven't you had her labs done? This is really important."

Me: "Well, the doc said the first results were skewed because she had diarrhea. He said to wait until she had normal bowel movements for three days before having the labs drawn. She has not had normal bowel movements for three days in a row yet."

Nurse: "You really need to have her blood drawn."

Me: "Well, I can bring her in, but she hasn't had normal bowel movements for three days and I'd really hate to have to repeat this test for a third time. What would you like me to do?"

Nurse: "She needs to have normal bowel movements for three days."

Me: "Okay, but then you're going to have to wait awhile because I don't think she has had three days in a row of normal bowel movements her entire life."

Eventually we got the labs drawn. I think we were "blessed" with three days in a row of constipation and I decided to define that as normal to get the nurse off my back. These labs still came back somewhat abnormal but the pedi nephro dismissed them and us. I was not sad. Of all the docs that WG has seen he is the only one that I knew I could not work with on a regular basis. He has gotten rave reviews from other patients, by the way. We just had a complete personality clash.

The pediatric endocrinologist was not a jerk. I actually liked her a lot. She tested WG for a bunch of things. WG tested negative for all of them.

Finally she said, "I notice that there is a family history of mental illness. Excessive water drinking can be a sign of schizophrenia. You did mention she has terrible temper tantrums. Do you think there is a possibility that WG could be schizophrenic, bipolar or OCD?"

We were a bit stunned that someone (and someone who was NOT a mental health professional) would postulate that our 2 year old was schizophrenic. I think our answer to her was something along the lines of, "No, we don't think that's a possiblity. Perhaps in 10 years or so we might consider that, but not right now."

Our pediatrician (whom we completely adore) was a bit stumped at that point. She sent us back to the GI doc that WG had been seeing on and off since birth. She had been talking to him about WG and he suggested that the excessive water intake was actually due dehydration from her chronic pattern of constipation / diarrhea. He tested her for Celiac Disease and made a follow up appointment to find out the results.

Around that time a friend and I had decided to give the South Beach diet a whirl. I don't short order cook for my family, so WG and Tim were basically eating what I was eating: lean meats, fruit and veggies. Grains were minimized.

WG started to get better. I mentioned to my mom that the GI doc was testing her for Celiac Disease and my mom told me that quite a few people in our family have been diagnosed with Celiac. With that knowledge, we took WG off gluten completely. Quite simply, she got better. She stopped seeking out water. The dark circles under her eyes disapeared. Her tantrums significantly diminished. She gained some weight (which was a good thing!), and she had normal bowel movements for the first time in her life.

Thinking that maybe we were seeing results because we were desperate for answers, we added gluten back into her diet to see what would happen. Her symptoms returned full-force.

At WG's follow-up GI appointment, we were told that her tests for Celiac were negative. She does not have the Celiac gene. Can she eat gluten? Absolutely not. Her pediatrician and her GI docs have said that she needs to stay on the gluten free diet as long as it is beneficial to her.

The gluten free diet has also been beneficial for Tim and I, but that is a whole other post!

Hummus

2009-06-02T21:53:00.001-04:00

Ever since our unfortunate incident with Pace picante sauce I have been buying even less convenience foods in favor of making things myself. (Can you tell I'm still steamed about Pace's formula change? The purpose of gluten in salsa eludes me. Grrr!) Along with salsa, hummus is something I have been making a lot of lately.

My goal is to post more pictures of things on this blog. I'm not going to post a picture of this. Like all hummus it is brown and pasty. Of all the strange things I sent for WG's breakfast and lunch this year, this is the only thing that her classmates made fun of. Poor WG. She loves this hummus so much she asked me to send it for breakfast and lunch one day. When I picked her up she told me one of the boys said it looked like baby poop. Ever since it has been an "at home" food.

I know. I'm really enticing you to make it aren't I? Oh well. It is really good.

The Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
juice from 1/2 a lemon
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Throw it all in the food processor and whirl it until it is hummus-y. Chill before eating.

Missing Buns

2009-06-02T16:18:00.000-04:00

Recently I have been making the bread recipe from Gluten Free Girl's website. I've been wanting to try it for awhile and since the season is now over I have some time to experiment in the kitchen.

The first time I made the recipe I decided to turn it into buns instead of making a loaf at the last minute. Amy sent me a bun pan a while back. I have never really gotten GF buns to turn out. We usually eat things bunless.

These buns are different. These buns are AMAZING. I am not a big fan of GF bread. Usually I don't like the taste / texture enough to bother eating it. This bread is different. It smelled sooo good in the oven that WG and I split a bun fresh from the oven.

I have also made this recipe into hotdog buns by shaping some aluminum foil into pans. They are ugly as sin but they work.

The buns are the best when eaten the same day they are made. They are okay the second day but they start to get crumbly.

My hamburger buns were done between 20-25 minutes and the hot dog buns took slightly longer.

Thank you for the recipe, Shauna!

The Gluten Free Guest

2009-05-29T21:57:00.003-04:00

WG is entering the age of the Birthday Party. Parties are magical and intriguing things to her right now. She has been planning her own party since February. She wants a strawberry cake with green, yellow, and chocolate frosting. Hmmmm...

Parties present a challenge when you must eat gluten free. WG understands that she eats differently than other people and she is okay with that for now (knock on wood!). It is important to us that she be able to take part in social events and we don't want her to feel out of place because of her food. We are used to packing our own food by now. When there is a party I try to find out the menu ahead of time so that I can try to come up with something similar for WG to take. She loves rice cakes with peanut butter but that would not be an acceptable alternative when the other guests are eating pepperoni pizza.

We never expect the host to accommodate her dietary restrictions. It's touching when they do, but we never assume that there will be something safe for her to eat. We always pack our own.

The rule of offering something better definately applies here, too. Party food should be appealing to the child who has to eat it.

It should also be appealing to their friends who don't have to eat it.

Think about it. If you send food that looks and smells weird to the other kids they will tell your child and your child will be more likely to reject what you've sent and try to cheat. If you send something with real appeal, like a cupcake with a ton of swirly frosting and M&M's, suddenly your child has a hot commodity and eating gluten free just got a little bit more desirable.

This rule applies to your own child's birthday party, too. An ice-cream sundae bar with all sorts of toppings or an ice cream "cake" (without the cake) are safer choices than a gluten free cake. Even if everyone you know LOVES your GF cake, it only takes one young guest to declare it weird for things to go downhill fast. Save the cake for the family celebration.

DIY Gluten Free Trial

2009-05-29T21:12:00.004-04:00

Whoa... This is post #101! And I'm warning you, it's a long one. I've had a few people ask me about doing a gluten free trial. This is an email I have sent to a few friends and I decided to post it here for easy reference.

First off, If you suspect that you or your child have Celiac Disease, it is important to be tested while you are still eating gluten. The blood test used in the first phase of diagnosing Celiac Disease is not effective once you stop eating gluten.

Always remember to check ingredients for yourself because brands change their formulations quite often.

Gluten is in wheat, rye, barley, malt, and some oats. I think the easiest way to do a GF trial without experiencing grocery bloat is to try to eat mostly "normal" food that also happens to be GF. The more you can stick with single ingredient foods, the better.

Some brands say "Gluten Free" right on the label. More and more grocery stores are labeling items on the shelf as gluten free. A few (Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are two) list all their gluten free products on their website. Also, I am not a huge fan of Walmart, but they label their store brand items when they are gluten free.

Random "Okay" foods:
All fruits in their natural state
All veggies in their natural state (be wary of seasoned veggies)
Milk
Most cheese and yogurt (Yoplait is labeled gluten free)
Hormel Pepperoni (also labeled gluten free)
"real" meat like chicken breasts, ground chuck, etc. (Be wary of lunchmeat and hotdogs. Unless you can verify with the manufacturer that they are GF, assume they have gluten.)
Corn tortillas
Rice cakes, including most of the flavored ones (check for "contains wheat")
Rice Chex cereal
Corn Chex cereal (newly gluten free. Check the box because some stores are still selling off their old stock.)
All varieties of plain, unseasoned rice

The main things to look out for on labels are: wheat, rye, oats, barley, malt, modified food starch where the starch isn't clearly identified, "spice", and "flavorings." Manufacturers are required to clearly ID the "big 8" food allergens, so wheat is pretty easy to ID.

Here are some meal ideas that use regular food:

Breakfast: Rice chex, yogurt, cheese, fruit, eggs, plain oatmeal with various additions (WG can tolerate the plain oats in a canister but not the flavored packets. Bob's Red Mill makes certified GF oats.), fruit with peanut butter, cottage cheese, dinner leftovers, crustless pumpkin pie, grits, smoothies.

Lunch: quesadillas on corn tortillas (Pace salsa is NOT GF), baked beans (check the label carefully), nachos (corn chips, refried beans, whatever veggies I have to throw on, and cheese), peanut butter on rice cakes, peanut butter on fruit, any of the breakfast options, dinner leftovers, lettuce wraps, stir-fried whatever (watch the soy sauce. Use La Choi or wheat free tamari).

Snacks: rice cakes, fruit, cottage cheese, cut up veggies with ranch dressing (check the label), trail mix with rice chex, raisins, nuts and a few chocolate chips, yogurt, deviled eggs, jello, pudding, hummus and veggies or rice crackers.

Junk food: cool ranch doritos (NOT the cheese ones!), cheetos, fritos, plain potato chips, some varieties of flavored potato chips, some varieties of microwave popcorn, McDonald's french fries (they generally have a dedicated FF fryer. Other places fry their chicken nuggets with the fries.), McDonalds cheeseburger without the bun, some ice cream, snickers bars, hershey kisses, skittles, 3 musketeers, M&M's.... There's a lot more. It's scary how much junk you can still eat!

Dinner: This is the easiest meal for me because it doesn't traditionally center around wheat. Watch out for "cream of" soups and soy sauce (La Choy is GF). Also, full fat dairy is a safer bet than reduced fat or fat free dairy. Potatoes are a good stand-in for a lot of things. You can make pizza potatoes with baked potatoes, pepperoni, sauce, and cheese. Things that normally go on noodles can usually go on rice, too. Cornbread made from scratch with only cornmeal is also good, and makes a good breakfast / lunch food, too. I use Pamela's Baking Mix for most of my flour needs. It's $$$ but worth it.

Here are a few GF blogs. The first is that crockpot lady I've posted about on the board. Her daughter has celiac, so even though it's not specifically a GF blog all the recipes are GF. The second I just found, but it seems like she is also cooking for someone who cannot eat gluten.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
http://www.5dollardinners.com/

We saw results with WG in about a week. Her behavior started to improve almost immediately. She still tantrumed, but it was more reasonable. On gluten she would melt down several times within the course of an hour and off gluten she was able to hold herself together much easier. Our first clue now that she's been glutened is that she starts going nuts. The physical symptoms come a day or so later.

If you decide to do a GF trial, I'd make a special place in the cabinet / fridge for all the GF food, "regular" or not. Mark it somehow, a big red GF or something, so that you know no one will make a mistake. It's up to you if the whole family goes GF or not. If Tim and I could eat gluten, I think I'd probably make sure our dinners were GF and not worry too much about breakfast and lunch.

If you decide to just take one child off gluten, make sure you have some junk / treats around that are GF. Think of how sad you would be to see all your siblings having a cookie while you ate an apple. Having something better is key to compliance. I think we were so successful transitioning WG to the GF diet because I made sure to buy junk food every time I went to the store for the first few months. Giving up goldfish crackers and cookies is not so bad when you get to have cheetos and snickers mini's! My strategy was to substitute something better and then gradually cut the junk out altogether.

Don't waste your time with the GF bread you can buy at the store. It is nasty and will be rejected. Homemade GF bread is much better, but I still waited to make GF bread until WG had been off regular bread long enough to forget what it really tasted like. If you have to have sandwiches, use rice cakes.

I hope this is helpful. Going GF is tough, but you get the hang of it. It's not a cure-all for everyone or every ailment, but you don't have anything to lose by trying.

Frozen Banana Bread

2009-05-20T08:37:00.004-04:00

Katy + too much dairy = migraine. It's not pretty. If I have much more than a serving of dairy a day I suffer. I rarely drink milk anymore because I would rather eat cheese, yogurt or ice cream. I'm not a fan of soy milk. I recently discovered almond milk and was thrilled to find a brand that is gluten free and that has calcium. Still, I don't particularly like to drink it straight. I do use it in smoothies, though.

Here is my favorite drink of the moment. To me it tastes like banana bread in a glass.

Frozen Banana Bread
1/2 frozen banana
8 - 10 oz unsweetened almond milk
a swig of vanilla syrup (like Da Vinci)(be conservative with your swig. The syrup can overpower everything else.)

Blend together. Enjoy!

Huh?

2009-05-20T08:29:00.002-04:00

(WG trying to walk across the studio without tripping over her craft supplies which were strewn all over the floor): "Boy, this is some rocky terrain!"

*************************************************************************************

What I said: "WG, you can't check any videos out until we get back into a library routine. The fines are killing me."

What WG heard: "blah blah blah blah library martini blah blah blah..."

What WG said: "Mom, can I have a library martini?"

4 going on 14

2009-05-04T21:06:00.004-04:00

(In the car on the way home from the hardware store.)

WG: I need a ride to Aiden's house tomorrow morning at 6:45.

Parents: ?

WG: We have rehearsal.

Parents: ?

WG: He has a band and he asked me to be in it with him.

Parents: ?!.... 6:45 is awfully early, WG.

WG: But we have a gig. Aiden said so.

Parents: !.... What do you play in the band?

WG: Music. That's what bands play. (I could feel her eyes rolling at my stupid question.)

Parents: No, what instrument? Or do you sing?

WG: I sing AND play the violin.

Parents: And what does Aiden do?

WG: He's the drummer.

WG did not get to go to Aiden's house. I don't know where he lives or what his last name is. WG was NOT happy with me. She told me I was breaking up the band.

Accidental Christian

2009-05-02T23:25:00.003-04:00

Tim and WG were in a car accident today. They are both okay, the car is even drivable although a bit crumpled. It's got more character now, for sure. WG wasn't terribly upset about the crash. Tim says that as soon as the car came to a stop she said she was hungry.

Here is what happened after the accident.

(Tim narrating)
Traffic slowed down to the left of me on the interstate and suddenly a buick popped out without looking and stopped in my lane. And the rest is physics. The lady who I hit (her fault to be sure) offered to pray for me as I rested my head on the steering wheel... thinking, "please don't tell me about accepting Jesus Christ as my savior right after you F'ed up my car." Her adult son kept offering his left hand through the window and I looked at him funny (my head was spinning from the jolt) and she said that he is mute and it was his way of saying he is sorry. The lady mistook my disorientation with my being angry with her. She said something to the effect of "are you angry with me? you shouldn't be angry with me. It's just a car."

Almost makes me wish I had been there.

Today's mail

2009-04-07T15:08:00.003-04:00

* A pamphlet soliciting membership to The American Quarterhorse Society. I don't own a horse. Actually, the only time I ever rode a horse was over 20 years ago.

* Another letter from AARP urging me to activate my membership NOW.

And this:

It's a bank. I have no clue why CVS and the Mars corporation decided to send me a green M&M wearing gogo boots.

It's a good thing I'm not paranoid.

April Third!

2009-04-03T16:13:00.000-04:00

Apparently they talked about April Fool's at WG's school. On Wednesday she would say something silly and then say, "April First!" She didn't quite get the Fool part. Today we were on our way to school and she said, "MOM! There's a spider on your head!" I started brushing my hair with my hand when I heard giggling from the back seat followed by, "April third!" It's going to be a loooong month.

Kite day

2009-04-03T16:01:00.003-04:00

They made "kites" at WG's school today. She was so excited about her kite that she had to take it out of her backpack to show me before we even got in the car to go home. It's a paper plate she drew a picture on with some yarn and a popsicle stick for a handle. She took it out to the backyard when we got home to fly it. It actually catches the wind pretty well. (Yes, that is WG NOT wearing a dress. I was tired of trying to get Tennessee dirt stains out of all her dresses so we've designated these as her "worm digging" clothes. You *know* she loves worms when she is willing to wear pants to get to them!)

Hair cut

2009-04-01T00:00:00.001-04:00

WG detests having her hair cut. She's got some sensory processing issues going on and a trip to the hair salon completely wigs (ha!) her out. She's had her hair cut professionally once. There was a kid's salon in town that I took her to a few summers back. She did okay there (and I figured it was a kids salon, so they would be used to the screaming) but it went down with the economy and no longer exists. I can't subject a regular hair salon to WG. The poor stylists at supercuts don't make enough money to have to deal with her. I also feel bad subjecting WG to a regular hair place when I know it makes her extremely upset and uncomfortable. So, I cut her hair myself. I cut her hair around Thanksgiving and decided it was time to do it again last weekend.

Here she is, post-haircut. It went better this time, probably because I read up on how to cut hair. I'm going to buy a pair of hair scissors for the next cut, though. (I've been using fiskars.) Note the "chewy P." Sometimes the only thing that helps WG to hold herself together is to chew. She had two chewy P's going during her haircut.

Don't worry, Grandma, you can always find another husband.

2009-03-31T14:46:00.004-04:00

This is what I said to my grandmother at my grandfather's funeral. In my defense, I was only four at the time and truly meant to comfort her. Four year old logic is a wonderful thing. I am thoroughly enjoying watching WG figure things out and come to her own (incorrect, but completely logical) conclusions about life.

WG has realized that, eventually, living things die. Our conversations about death and dying started when my Grandmother (the one I told to remarry) died earlier this year. She's not morbid or anything, but now she notices that things die. Flowers, bugs, roadkill... Her violin teacher has several (living) turtles and had a frog that died. WG, always observant, asked Miss Maryanne what she did with the frog after it died. Maryanne said she threw it in the woods. WG then concluded that the raccoons probably ate it.

A few weeks later I had forgotten about this exchange and WG and I were reading a book about a little girl whose grandmother had died. WG interrupted the story and our conversation went like this:

WG:"When your grandma got dead, where did she go? Did she go in the garbage?"
Me: "Nooooo...."
WG: "Well, did they throw her in the woods?"
Me: (disturbed) "Um. No... Why do you think that?"
WG: "Remember Miss Maryanne's frog that got dead?"

I couldn't answer her because I was laughing too hard, especially when she asked if the raccoons ate my grandma.

Oh Boy...

2009-03-21T09:12:00.003-04:00

I don't know what the discussion was about, but it went something like this:

Tim: "You don't have a choice."

WG: "I think I do have a choice."

We're in for it....

In Defense of the Grit

2009-03-20T08:55:00.005-04:00

Many of you know I had an -ahem- difficult time transitioning to life in the South. Once Mom actually sent me a care package complete with a few cans of Frank's sauerkraut. Sauerkraut, you see, is NOT something the indiginous Southern cook deals with a whole lot. You can get it here but you've got to really search for it. Forget about being picky about brand. I don't think I'll ever appreciate boiled peanuts or sweet tea, but I have come to embrace the grit.

The name "grit" doesn't really make you want to eat it, does it? Make yourself feel better about it. Say it like we do: greee-it. There. All better. If you want to be highbrow about it, hide the box and pretend it's polenta. Although, if you live down here and you serve your guests polenta they will look at you suspiciously. Unless they're Northern transplants.

Here is how I cook my gree-its:
1 can chicken broth (about 2 cups)
1 cup water
1 cup quick gree-its (the kind that cook in 5-7 minutes on the stove. NOT instant!)

Boil the liquids together. Add the grits. Stir it until it's the consistency of soft mashed potatoes, or whatever consistency you like. They will continue to thicken when you take them off the heat.

At this point you can add things to them like a handful of shredded cheese, some frozen corn, a drained rinsed can of black beans, salt and pepper, a pinch of cayenne... The possibilities are endless.

I serve grits as a quick side for dinner. Start to finish they can be on the table in about 10 minutes which makes them MUCH faster than any other starch, except maybe for couscous which we can't eat (gluten). We also eat them for breakfast. And sometimes for a quick lunch.

The worm doctor is in!

2009-03-18T15:35:00.004-04:00

WG's favorite thing to do outside is to search for worms in the garden. She has wanted to be a worm doctor for quite awhile, and is very happy that spring is here along with the worms. Unfortunately she loves her patients a little too much and a little too hard and most end up in a better place than our garden. Here she is with her latest patient:

Parent teacher conference

2009-03-17T14:45:00.003-04:00

It's been a long time.

WG is doing well. I went for my first parent-teacher conference a few weeks back. WG is at the top of her class academically and the bottom socially. That's about what we expected. WG is much more comfortable around adults than she is around her peers. It's the catch-22 of RSV lockdown: it keeps them well while they are small, but they lose out on social development. She'll catch up. She's not an outcast, she just doesn't exactly know how to play with her peers and is happy playing by herself.

Academically she's a knockout. On color identification they had her look at colored paper cutouts of bears. The gray bear was a bit faded and was kind of a bluish purplish gray. Miss Kim said she looked at it and said, "That bear is lavender." The faded red was magenta and pink was light pink. No lack of vocabulary here! She's tracking letters from left to right which is, apparently, pretty unusual for her age. She can count to 29 and turn over to 30, 40, 50, etc with prompts. Otherwise it's, "twenty-nine, twenty-ten, twenty-eleven, etc." Her scissor use is improving with the adaptive scissors. I actually kind of miss the worksheets that look like they've been attacked by someone with garden shears. They will work with her on transitioning to regular scissors by the end of the year. She's still writing backwards, but her teacher is chalking that up to her left handedness. WG does very well with the routines at school. Her teacher has no reservations about sending her on to Kindergarten next year. Her only recommendation is to keep up her socialization over the summer.

No pictures today, but if you pop over to my sewing blog you can see pics of my latest projects as well as a pic of WG in the coat that Tim made for her.

Snow day!

2009-02-02T13:35:00.005-05:00

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday it was GORGEOUS. Very much spring weather: sunny and in the 60's. Today, well, it's snowing. This is a rare thing here in East TN. In fact, this is WG's first experience with "home grown" snow that is more than a dusting. We have an inch on the ground right now and it is still snowing heavily. The predictions call for 2 to 4 inches, which, in the South is the equivalent of 2 to 4 feet of Northern snow as far as the interruption of daily life goes. The mere mention of snow down here makes people do all sorts of crazy things. We are out of milk but I didn't even bother stopping at the store on my way to pick WG up from school today (early, because they closed the schools). I knew it would be a futile mission.

To be fair, we really aren't equiped to deal with real winter weather down here. Why invest in snow removal / salt trucks when it only snows once or twice a winter? The scariest thing is driving in it because people aren't experienced and put too much faith in their large 4-wheel drive vehicles. Today, at least, people seem to be using common sense and caution on the road. Still, we're home and planning to stay here because, as WG says, "when it snows, you stay home and watch movies."

Good review!

2009-01-27T10:05:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday I performed a concerto with the chamber orchestra. I had a blast and got a good review!

Review: KSCO concert of Bach's music wonderfully satisfying in Bijou from Knoxville News Sentinel

When lunch lasts too long...

2009-01-18T13:21:00.003-05:00

WG (waving a small plastic toy sheep around, finally landing it on the kitchen table where it hops around): "This is Francoise. He's a sheep. He can be a little bit demanding sometimes. He eats our food like this: yomp yomp yomp yomp."

More bad GF news

2009-01-12T23:06:00.004-05:00

This is not exactly new news. I think it is important enough to share, though. Wellshire Farm is a company that, among other things, markets to the GF and food allergy community. After a few wheat-allergic children had severe reactions after eating their products, the Chicago Tribune bought a few of their products that were advertised as GF and sent them off to be analyzed. The result? Not GF. Not by a long shot. The products tested anywhere from 119 ppm to 2200 (!) ppm. The US does not currently have a standard for a safe level of gluten, nor is there an official definition of what gluten-free actually means. (So, technically, WF did nothing wrong.) It looks like the wheels are in motion to set a standard, though, and it's looking like it will be set at around 20 ppm.

WG was not "glutened" by these products. They are sold through the Wellshire Farms website as well as at Whole Foods stores. What really makes me mad is that being allergy friendly is one of the main selling points of the WF website.

This bit of news coupled with my recent discovery about the reformulation of several products by Campbell's has me wanting to purge my kitchen of everything except visually identifiable single ingredient foods. I'm frustrated.

If you need to eat gluten free, always read the label. Call manufacturers often. If a product is labeled "gluten free" check to see if it is certified by the Gluten Free Certification Organization. The GFCO standard for gluten free is less than 10 ppm. Only a small amount of GF products on the market are currently certified as GF. If we vote with our pocketbooks and buy the products that are, more manufacturers will follow suite and get certified. This is crucial for the health and safety of people with celiac disease because, as we can see, a product claiming to be gluten free is not necessarily gluten free enough.

2009-01-09T10:14:00.004-05:00

Okay, I lied. Here is my overdue WG update.

WG had a very nice Christmas. She gave us the supreme gift of sleeping in. She finally came in our bedroom at 8:30 (funny how the definition of sleeping in changes once you have children...) and asked if Santa had come. We've never gone overboard with gifts and we scaled back even more this year. Funny, because I think it wound up being one of our nicest Christmas' ever. WG got art supplies, some "girlie" things (lip gloss and stick on earrings from Santa and a very cute apron and barrettes from Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Ron. The apron says "diva" which made me laugh because it's so true.) She also got a kids digital camera which she LOVES. Hard telling how many pictures she's taken so far but I wouldn't be surprised if it's up around 1000. Once she figured out she didn't have to actually touch the camera to what she wanted to take a pic of she got some pretty decent ones. The early pics are mainly of the floor, ceiling and the cat's fur.

WG went back to school this week. She has cried every day and has been counting the days down to the weekend. In another week I expect she'll be back to loving school and hating the weekends.

I'm playing a concerto with the orchestra on the 25th. Ack! It's something I'm both excited about and dreading. It's been nice to prepare an actual solo piece again. Pretty much all of my practice time is devoted to learning the orchestral repertoire du jour. I had forgotten how engaging it is to really study a piece. On Sunday I'm doing an interview with the music critic of the local paper as a preview of the concert. The symphony PR rep told me that besides talking about the upcoming concert he is planning on asking me about my symphony blog, specifically about my post about stage etiquette. I'll post a link to that article when it is published.

And now, here are the pictures I promised.

This was taken at Thanksgiving when Granny Julie and Friend John were here. We are all wearing white tops because of a request by Tim's aunt for a family picture. She wanted everyone to wear white tops and blue jeans. Tim doesn't own a pair of blue jeans and it was a miracle that we were able to get WG to wear a pair of pants at all.

I made this top for WG New Year's Eve / Day. It was my first time fully lining something and doing a collar, and I'm pretty tickled at how it turned out. It is enough like a dress that WG likes to wear it. Phew.

This is how WG really feels about practicing:

BUT, she has a beautiful bow hold.

And, finally, here is the most recent pic of the kitchen renovation.

GF news

2009-01-06T08:49:00.004-05:00

I'll post a WG update and some pics later today. I promise!

I wanted to pop on quickly to let you all know of some GF news.

The Good:
If you don't know already, Chex has reformulated Rice Chex to be GF! (YIPPEE!!!) Some stores are stocking the old formula until they run out, so check the label for malt.

The Bad:
Campbells has changed some formulas so that things that were GF are no longer GF. (Boo hiss!!!) NO Pace or Prego products are GF. (This would explain the sore in WG's mouth. I have a bottle of Pace sitting in my fridge right now. Grrr.) Also now on the forbidden list are Swanson's Lower sodium Beef broth, Ready to serve beef broth, and all organic broths.

It's a reminder that being vigilent and reading labels is still important even when the GF diet has become easy.

Reading

2008-11-30T08:43:00.003-05:00

WG was looking at the bag of GF pretzels with a very concerned look on her face.
WG: "Why you gave me gluten pretzels?"
Me: "I didn't."
WG: "but it says gluten there" (pointing to the bag)
Me: "the next word is free, so it really says gluten-free."

I must say I think it's pretty funny that the first word WG read was gluten.

Giving thanks

2008-11-27T10:25:00.003-05:00

I am thankful for all the "normal" things this Thanksgiving: family, enough food to eat, a roof over my head, my (and Tim's) job, etc.

I am thankful that the GF diet continues to help our entire family and that following it has become second nature.

I am thankful that WG qualified for at-risk preschool because it has made a tremendous difference. I am confident that she will do well in Kindergarten next year.

I am thankful for my wonderful husband who somehow has the skills to completely remodel our kitchen, plumbing, electric and all.

I am thankful for good friends who I can talk to about anything. When I was teaching in DeKalb, two of "my" moms were so close they were like sisters. I had always hoped for a friendship like that and it's nice to have one.

I am thankful for WG. My friend who is the mother of two preemies summed it up, she said she was thankful for her children and could never take them for granted because with the tiniest tip of the scale they might not have been here at all.

I am thankful for the things that make me laugh so hard it feels like I've done an hour's worth of sit ups.

I am thankful that my grandmother had such a nice ending to her life. That doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean.

I am thankful for caffiene. And the occasional glass of wine.

Porridge

2008-11-24T09:40:00.002-05:00

Last night one of the bedtime stories WG picked was a Berenstain Bears' book. At one point, Papa was eating his breakfast which consisted of porridge.
WG: "I don't eat porridge."
Me: "Oh. Why not?" (I was expecting an answer like, "I don't like it" or "because it has gluten".)
WG (looking at me like I'm stupid): "Because it's for bears."

Snow

2008-11-21T18:10:00.001-05:00

It "snowed" this morning. Southern snow is not like Northern snow. Flurries make people completely lose their minds. My first winter here I went to the grocery store on my usual day and was mystified when I found that there was no milk or bread in any of the stores. Turns out we were gearing up for a "big storm," which wound up to be a dusting of snow on the grass. School was canceled that day.

WG has not experienced much in the way of snow. Last year one of the very few times it snowed she looked out the car window and asked me what was wrong with the rain. This morning we had some flurries. On the way to school I asked WG if she saw anything unusual out her window. She said she didn't. I asked if she saw the white stuff in the air and she said, "Oh. Yes, I see the white bugs."

Baking day

2008-11-21T10:13:00.003-05:00

I'm baking today because WG is sick of corn tortillas and turkey wrapped around cheese. She wants bread, cookies and muffins. I have recently learned a couple handy things regarding GF baking, so I thought I'd pass my secrets on.

* When you are developing your own GF recipes or converting "regular" recipes, ALWAYS bake a single test cookie / muffin / cupcake / whatever before you bake a whole panful. This is important even if you are using a pre-made mix that claims to replace wheat flour cup for cup. This allows you to do some tweaking of the batter if things go wrong without having to throw away a whole panful.

* Sometimes allowing your batter to rest is a good idea because it lets the xanthan gum start to tighten things up. The flip side of this is that if you are using flour to make gravy or a white sauce, it is best to use a plain mix without xanthan gum. The xanthan gum makes gummy gravy that just gets thicker and thicker. Ick.

* It's well-known that you can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls. This works for GF, too. You can also freeze unbaked muffin and cupcake batter. Put the batter in the muffin papers and freeze. When you are ready to bake, use the same oven temperature but they might need an extra 3-7 minutes. I know you could just bake them all and then freeze them. I like fresh-from-the-oven much better than defrosted / reheated.

* Nut flour / meal is the key to really really good GF baked goods that are very close in taste and texture to their wheaty counterparts. I haven't tried extra finely ground rice flour yet but I've heard that helps, too.

The November '08 issue of Cooking Light has a recipe for pecan pie that uses oats to make the crust instead of flour. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising. Oat pie crust

I'm deciding on our Thanksgiving menu. I'll post it when I have it all figured out. It *is* possible to have a mostly traditional, absolutely delicious GF Thanksgiving!

We have cabinets!

2008-11-20T08:19:00.005-05:00

Tim put the upper cabinets in this past weekend. He even put the doors on them (haven't gotten a picture of that yet.) I haven't had doors on my kitchen cabinets since we bought the house. To say that I am excited is an understatement. Even without the bottom cabinets done, I think I already have more storage room than I did. Tim plans to put the lower cabinets in this weekend.

A few weeks ago when he re-worked the wiring Tim was a bit perturbed because there was one bit of wiring that he had no idea where it went or what it was for. When he put the pantry in, our portable dishwasher lost it's home so he took out one of the lower cabinets next to the sink to make a space for it. The mystery wire was right there, sticking out of the wall. It was stripped and ready to go, not capped off or anything. (ACK!) Turns out the electric is already run to put in a dishwasher which is great because that was the biggest obstacle to our installing a regular dishwasher.

Anyhow, on to the pics!

Before:

After:

A good review!

2008-11-10T20:02:00.003-05:00

My quartet performed for the first time this season yesterday. It went well, we were happy. We were happier when we saw the review..... My heartfelt thanks to "the boys" for making this ambitious program a heck of a lot of fun to prepare.

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Quartet plays togetherness beautifully from Knoxville News Sentinel

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

2008-11-04T08:26:00.004-05:00

Our family loves just about anything that has to do with pumpkin. WG has been after me for a good week or two to make pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is not hard to make, especially with a gluten free crust (you mix it in the mixer and pat it into the pan. No worries about overmixing, either, since there is no gluten to overwork!) but work has been hectic and my kitchen is under construction so I haven't felt like baking.

Today WG is off of school because of the election. (When I was a kid we didn't get election day off!) She got up this morning and asked me if I made pumpkin pie for breakfast. So I decided to improvise and I made pumpkin pie oatmeal instead. It was a hit.

Pumpkin Pie oatmeal (per generous serving)

1/2 cup plain oatmeal
1 cup milk
about 1/4 cup pumpkin
Sugar to taste (brown sugar would be good) I used about 1 T
Cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste

Cook the oatmeal in the milk according to the directions on the oatmeal box. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. This would also be good with a few tablespoons of chopped pecans or walnuts stirred in.

New gig!

2008-11-03T10:21:00.003-05:00

I am now the official musician blogger for the symphony! I will be blogging twice weekly through the season about what is going on at the KSO as well as just music in general. My first blog posted today!!! (can you tell I'm excited?) To check it out, go to the symphony's website: http://www.knoxvillesymphony.com and click on "blog."