Udi's Gluten Free Bread - A Review

Late last month, I heard of a gluten free bread I had not heard of before. The claims were that it was as good as "normal" bread. What is this miracle bread? It is called Udi's and it is a bakery in Denver, CO.

I jumped on their website ready to put in an order to try it out. Sadly, they require 2 day Fed Ex which is quite expensive just to give it a try. (Thankfully, they do give a hefty discount on the shipping. or at least when I ordered. Check to make sure it is still available.) So I stalled for a minute.

I headed over to Facebook and did a little searching. Facebook is where I like to search for everything, it seems. It really is the new communication choice of business (or it should be). Sure enough, they had an active page. So I posted a message, asking if there were any local distributors. They replied quickly that one of our local health food stores carried it. YEAH!!! Thanks to my husband, I called ahead. They didn't carry it. After digging a little and talking to the store's "order guy" I found that they were still in talks with Udi. :(

Gluten free bread is generally not very good. The only bread we tolerated in my house was from Sami's Bakery and everything I have read is that it is quite contaminated. We stopped using it after I read that in numerous internet places. Even that bread had to be toasted. Otherwise it was quite dry and crumbly. When Westin was first diagnosed with celiac disease, we spent a lot of money trying different breads. I couldn't really afford to taste test so many, but what choice did I have? In reality, my warning for all new celiacs, "Bread is just bad! Don't waste your money!"

So I researched Udi's gluten free bread a little more. I found not one bad review. So I took the plunge. I ordered a case (8 loaves) since I was going to be paying a lot for shipping anyways and I had hope that this bread was going to be good enough to be worth it. Unfortunately, I ordered on the first Monday of December 7th but it was back ordered. I was pretty bummed but Westin was really bummed. An Udi rep thought it would go out the first of the next week. We finally received it on the 18th.

Westin was so excited to try it. He is 12 and was diagnosed with celiac almost 5 years ago. He had been dreaming of a real peanut butter sandwich (without toasted bread) for some time. When Fed Ex showed up that Friday morning, we were all excited. The bread came out of the box very cold but I made a sandwich for him right away.

We ordered the white bread. (They also have a whole grain if I remember correctly.) It was airy, soft, delicious. It wasn't Wonder Bread by any means, but it was like no other gluten free bread we have encountered over the last 4 1/2 years. I would compare it to sour dough. We didn't need to toast it. We didn't need to warm it in the microwave. We just took it out of the bag and made a sandwich, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Westin ate an entire loaf that day. :)

The loafs are the smallest I remember seeing, a bit smaller than our Sami's Flax and Millet loaves. But the bread is delicious and worth every penny. I will be reordering, probably very soon at the rate he has been eating it! :)

As a mother of a child with celiac disease, it brought me so much joy to see my son excited over bread. Not many moms can say that...

Oh, we also ordered the pizza crust. Westin liked it. It was thin crust and Westin ate the entire pizza himself. I would say it compared to a small pizza. We both liked Sami's pizza crust better, as it was thick and filling, but again, contamination issues. If you generally like a thin crust, then you will probably really like Udi's pizza crust. Either way, we will buy it again, probably with our next order.

Udi's also offers a variety of muffins and granola.

Only 4 days until Christmas!

The kids are excited, especially Wieland. He is four and he is so fascinated with numbers. He notices things about numbers that amaze me and encourage me. That is the joy of an open mind. He hasn't been turned off to learning. The goal is just to keep him that way! :)

Earlier this month we made a paper chain with paper links, one for each day until Christmas. Wieland ran up to me and said, "Tomorrow it will be three days, right?" Not only does it help him practice counting (by counting the rings) but it also is setting the stage for addition and subtraction. Life is just so full of learning. So many opportunities. Homeschooling isn't rocket science. It is just seeing the opportunity right in front of you.

Personalize your pump, phone, laptop, make big stickers for your walls...

Skinit skins for your iPhone, laptop and hundreds of other hot new devices. Skins for new devices added weekly! I have a new hobby! You can personalize just about anything. If you have a Medtronic Minimed pump, you can customize your skin here. (That is how I came about the link, shopping over at the Minimed online store) If I am correct, it looks like you can even personalize your cochlear implant. What will be next?

Another fun thing, wall skins! You can pick from their stock images or use your own. Great options for kids rooms or even a cool wall in your bathroom? Or bedroom? I know I have so many ideas. (I have this one area on the back side of the sink area in the motor home that would be really cool to do something on.)

Oh, and all you New Moon fans, they have that too! Happy Shopping!

Ode to the Farm

I grew up on a farm in Barry County, Michigan, specifically in Prairieville. I lived in the home my grandfather was raised in until I moved out in 1993. My mother was given the house. After my mother passed away, my sister bought the house. Over the hill was my grandparent's house that they built. My grandfather cut all the lumber, which I always find amazing.

I just received an email confirming that my grandpa will be signing a sales agreement on the farm in the coming week. I never thought I would have a problem with the idea of him selling. I was always just concerned that he would receive a fair price. I was on the phone with my husband as I read the email. Suddenly I was in tears. Where were they coming from? It dawned on me that I never took my kids out to see the big rocks in the field, boulders really. Probably remnants from the glaciers. They were huge. You could lay on the top and nap on their warm flat surface. There were 3 of them, I think. Margie will probably remember playing back there, making crosses to lay of what we thought were ancient indian burial grounds ;) We had a junk pile close by that my mom would dump our old toys and such. So we would go pull our old toys out of the dump and put them in our boulder play house. See the boulders were buried in some trees. It was kind of secluded from the field. There was old barbed wire around where we set up our play kitchen. We even had a small group of trees that were our bathroom where we would pop a squat. (I peed outside a lot as a kid). Great memories!

Then there is my grandparent's home. Growing up next door, we were there a lot, mainly in the winter. In the summer they were busy on the farm. But my grandma, even in her late 60's, early 70's (I could probably do the math to say for sure but I won't) would take us out sledding on the hills in the field. Or we would rake a huge pile of leaves and jump in. There was always so much to do.

They had barn cats that my grandma would feed. She was so funny. She loved those cats. I remember watching over their house when they were gone on a trip and her wanting to make sure we knew how to feed the cats "correctly". She would take a bowl of cat food and piece by piece, she would smear room temperature bacon grease on each piece. Sure, the cats probably had high cholesterol, but she loved those cats.

My baby sister, Stephanie, held her wedding there in 2002. I can imagine she is going through a lot of the same emotions.

A lot of emotions are hitting me that I just didn't expect to be triggered by the sale of the farm. It is like the farm was an extra family member. My kids never saw the rocks. They never saw the farm alive and working. They didn't get to explore the woods and see if they could find the "quick sand" that I heard about but never saw. They never got to sit in the peace of the hidden field, shielded by 4 sides of forest. What is really sad is that we had the chance to do a lot of those things and we never did. I am tempted to jump in the car and drive out there and take the kids on a tour but with it being deer hunting season, I would be afraid to, as that too was a rule we always followed this time of the year. It just wasn't a time of the year to be out wandering the approximately 400 acre farm.

To the Hermenitt farm, we will miss you!

Things I can't Think About

I can’t stand to think about health care reform. While I am all for reform, our government, both democrats and republicans, can’t get it right. I am scared we will be in worse shape then we are now. Pharmaceutical companies are already raising prices in advance of the coming changes. As an uninsured, this hits me harder than the insured. The insurance companies negotiate their prices. I don’t and I can’t. Same thing with hospitals.

Have you had a procedure done without insurance? Years ago, my husband had a colonoscopy without insurance coverage. When the bills piled in, it was so confusing. We had service codes that were identical on multiple bills. I did a little research online and found a site that would give you the Medicaid pricing for each code. Mine were no where in line. Plus a doctor would charge you one code, the hospital would charge you the same code. What? That, to me, seemed like double billing. We all know it happens. But when I questioned it, all I got was a denial. No feasible explanation. No negotiating happened. I got no where for a lot of work.

Fast forward a few years. Another procedure needed. This time it was a CT or something. Jason had the foresight to call ahead and get a price. He had the billing code and it was an easy task. They gave him the price with no problems. We get the bill. Does it match what was quoted? Not even close. What was the problem? They used the wrong billing code. Do you think that happens often? I am sure it does! Would you know if you were billed the wrong code? If you didn’t call ahead, you would have had zero idea. Thankfully, Jason saved the code so he had a leg to stand on when he questioned the billing department. If I remember correctly, the price doubled from $400ish to $800ish. Unacceptable!

While I am anxious to have insurance, I am not so sure how affordable it will be. Will it be better than the insurance we purchased for our family a few years back? We paid a fairly high monthly amount (I believe it went up to $700+ a month before we canceled.) and it seemed like nothing came off our deductible. That left for even higher monthly out of pocket expense. Isn’t the key to health, preventative care, or at least early care? If my doctor’s appointments don’t at least come off my deductible, is there any incentive to use your family doctor and not just go to the hospital? Or wait until it is so bad that you are more expensive to care for? When I purchased the insurance, I understood it had a $1,000 deductible, $2500 family (if I remember correctly). What I didn’t understand was that none of the basics in care would go towards that deductible. Fortunately, with one child with type 1 diabetes, he qualified for Children’s Special Health Care so all of his supplies would be paid by Children’s (as a secondary) so our deductible would end up being met around October by just his supplies. Now if we could only stay healthy until October ;)

Another thing I can’t think about, the economy and what is being done to turn it around. We are self employed. We will always be self employed. We are just self employed kind of people. Our current business is in the automotive industry. At Bumper 911 we repair plastic parts on cars for dealerships and retail customers. Years ago, we only worked with dealerships. Thankfully we had the foresight to broaden our base and search out retail customers. With car dealerships not selling cars, we aren’t doing work. The “cash for clunkers” program hurt the used car industry, at least in this area. The financing industry, pulling floor plans, (floor plans are the financing programs that dealerships use to finance their inventory) has killed the rest of the remaining used car lots and some new car lots. We haven’t done a drop of dealership work since July….JULY! We have been living off retail work and selling a lot of the contents of our home.

My sister wrote about the economy and said it best when she said it all starts with manufacturing. If we can’t get manufacturing going again in this country, we have no hope. My dad has always said, “We don’t make anything in this country!” We don’t. Our economy is largely service and healthcare. We have all watched a lot of service positions head overseas, and if you haven’t noticed, a lot of healthcare is heading there too. We don’t even require our FDA approved drugs be manufactured here! We have all watched the happenings in China. Do you want your insulin manufactured in China? I don’t!

I almost can stand to think about the cure. It brings such mixed feelings. I know the cure is out there. Diabetes came into our lives January 31, 2000. At that time I was confident that there would be a cure in 10 years. As you can see, we are coming up on 10 years. I promised my son that there would be a cure before he starts driving. (Ok, maybe that was more of a promise to myself as I don’t even want to think how nervous I will be then.) But just think of the parents of 40 years ago, or 80 years ago. They probably told their children the same thing. I can’t bare to see my son living with this for the rest of his life. Technology has come so far and there are so many possible cures out there. How can I even worry that the cure won’t come for my son? I just do. I find myself fixing a meal for the family and thinking, oh my god, my son is going to have to eat gluten free for the rest of his life. Again, probably not, but it is possible. Sure he has been gluten free since June of 2005, but at times it hits me like it is a new diagnosis. The only activity I have found to relieve that feeling of helplessness is to participate in fundraising for a cure. Because of my own paranoia, I have chosen to help by raising money directly for my favorite researcher, leaving out all the middle men. Help Cure Childhood Diabetes was set up to do just that. Being part of a ground floor operation to fund a cure is exciting. It is a way to think positive about our children’s future. To feel some sense of control. Still, there are those mornings, like this morning, when I am reading over the forum at Children with Diabetes, that I just get down. That I feel those doubts. But, compared to the other things I can’t bare to think about, this is one I feel that I can spin to a positive energy.

What can I do about the other two heavy hitters? Well, I can do my best to purchase locally, to build my local economy. I can do my best to buy made in the USA products, but that is harder than the first one. How much is really made here anymore? Let your voice be heard through your purchasing power. Quit using credit and debit cards when possible. The use of these cards drives up prices (as the retailer has to cover the fees from the card companies) and puts money in the pockets of the snakes (credit card companies). Quit being a victim of the banking industry. Show your power by choosing cash. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone spent cash again?

Thanks for listening to my rant. I just get so overwhelmed thinking about this stuff. Writing about it at least gives me a small sense of power in what seems like a powerless world.

Makin' Money

So, I am always trying to find ways to make some extra money. While playing with my blog set-up the other day, I checked on my AdSense account and found that I actually had a balance of $14+ dollars. Wow! I had forgotten about it. Pleasant surprise.

So I got to thinking, could I get more revenue from my blog? Of course, it will require generating traffic, I will work on that next! :)

So I went to work. I have added some to this blog. While there are many more available, I will try to limit the product pages to ones I do use or would use. Earn revenue from your website's traffic.

So, when you visit my page, make sure you check out the advertisers... You can do this too, with your blog.

Other money making ideas...

I am weighing different ideas for making some extra money. Besides building my blog, I am considering learning how to crochet or knit. I have lots of time, why not.

I also like to make this wonderful ice cream topping called 'wet nuts'.

I would consider one of the work at home jobs, like customer service, but living in the country, I don't have DSL or cable internet, so I don't qualify.

I don't want in home daycare. First off, that brings a lot of illness and with a child with numerous health issues, that sounds like a nightmare. Second, we won't be here for long. Third, my heart wouldn't be in it. I know I wouldn't pay me to do daycare ;)

Either way, I would like to find some passive and active income that can be performed while living in an RV, on the road.

Customized Christmas Gifts

While searching around for a site to make promotional materials for HelpCureChildhoodDiabetes.org, I was reminded of this great site. You can even make personalized shoes! Check it out!

Cutting Cost

With our current economic state (and I mean our family, but could be said as a country) I find myself, racking my brain, everyday, wondering how I can cut household costs. Being a stay at home mom, I figure my contribution to the family is to save money. With my oldest son having celiac disease, I do have to be somewhat careful as to what I bring into the home. Mind you, we live a extraordinary life style so not every tip will apply to everyone, maybe it won't apply to anyone, but this is what we do. Here are some money saving tips that I will pass on to you:

1. Groceries - I did a year of The Grocery Game...maybe it was 2 years. It saves a lot of money but is a lot of work and a lot of shopping. Living a little farther out of town, I would have to do all my shopping in one trip and running store to store was just too much. Plus, I don't like to shop! Instead, this year, I have moved more towards buying in bulk. That doesn't mean Sam's Club per say. I do buy some items at Sam's. But I also do a lot of shopping at Gordon Food Service. I also try to just buy basic ingredients that can be used many different ways. For instance, if I buy rice, chicken, vegetables. I can turn those three into quite a few combinations. I can stir fry. I can do a casserole. I can do each as a separate side. I could make a soup. I could probably continue. I also like to buy dry beans. They are cheap and just take a little planning to use. I also try to make my own bread. It really isn't hard to do and again, just takes a little planning. We don't buy bottled water and rarely buy pop. I have been getting by on about $400 a month. We are here, eating in the home 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. We also try not to buy too many specialty gluten free products. We do buy a pancake/baking mix and noodles. Those are really the only two items we buy right now. We may have found a new gluten free bread to love, so that might raise so of the numbers. Oh, oh, another great buy...popcorn! Buy it is a large bag in bulk and pop it on the stove, the way we used to! Not only is it cheap, it taste so much better!!!
2. Vehicles-we only have one. Yes, one! My husband's schedule is really flexible right now so it isn't a problem. This cuts down on insurance, gas and needless driving. Unless my husband becomes a workaholic, I don't see any reason we will go back to having more than one again.
3. Clothing- As homeschoolers, we really catch a break here. We don't have back to school shopping. We only buy when it is actually needed. That means, for instance, in the winter, I don't bother buying anything but a pair of snow boots for everyone. No one is running around in shoes so why buy them? We buy pants when they need pants because they have grown out of them, etc.
4. Home heating- while we are home all day, we can't really do the "turn the heat down when we aren't home". So this year we are trying something new. During the day, I keep all the doors to rooms not in use closed. We are trying an Eden Pure heater in the main living area. So during the day I leave the furnace down to 60 degrees and just run the Eden Pure. We produce heat through our bodies, appliances, passive solar (if we are lucky to see the sun), cooking, etc. Then at night we pull the Eden Pure into our family bedroom and only heat that room at night. Again, the thermostat is still set at 60 or less overnight. Then about an hour before we get up, I will turn the thermostat back up to 70 as I can't stand to get out of bed to a cold house. The one down side to this, the toilet seat is really cold in the middle of the night. We also use thermal drapes on our windows. This helps hold the heat in at night. On a sunny day we will open the drapes on the large window in our living room as it is facing south and grab as much heat as we can. Again, we close them when the sun is gone.
5. Phones- we have a house phone. We were using it for faxes. We haven't sent a fax on it in months. We do have it at a bare minimum, only paying for basic service, no caller id, no call waiting. We don't even pay for an long distance. I spoke with someone at the phone company and she was able to put me on a little higher price per minute but there is no monthly fee. We really don't use the long distance, but we still have the option if we need to. BUT, we might be dropping the house phone...not sure yet. Our cell phones are a much bigger expense. Jason still has an old plan that allows for free incoming. I renegotiated a plan with Sprint that for $29.99 I get 200 minutes, free mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends. This allows me to communicate with my husband as much as I need to with no worries. In order to get decent internet access, we pay for a Sprint broadband card, but that is unlimited (not sure if they still offer them that way). There isn't really anyway to cut those down any farther other than to eliminate a cell or the house phone.
6. Television- while I would love to go to just digital local channels, through an antenna, Jason isn't game. His hobby is mixed martial arts (think Ultimate Fighting, aka cage fighting) and he watches a lot of programming on direct tv, so we keep it. He has cut back on the Pay Per Views. With a lot of options on the internet for tv viewing (like your favorite shows), it could be an option to drop it all together.
7. Life insurance- we are still paying our life insurance. Sure, we (the adults) don't have health insurance. But if one of us dies, (maybe from lack of health insurance, just kidding!) the rest of the family won't be destitute. We only carry term life. I have noticed a push from our agent to switch us to whole life...NO WAY!!! But, when times are tight, the life insurance still gets paid. I don't know how I slept at night without it!
8. Taxes- our last main monthly expense is this lovely little tax bill we have with the IRS. Year ago, when we had a decent income, we were left with a good sized tax bill. We have been paying monthly on it ever since. With our decrease in monthly income, that payment became a real burden. And I don't know about you, but I know what happens when you own the IRS money...they take whatever of yours they can find. So it was a simple call and they lowered my payment for the next 6 months. The good news is, by the time that 6 months is over, our bill may have been wiped out by our anticipated large federal refund this coming year. :)

So obviously, we still have some cutting that could be done. But for now, this is what is comfortable. No one wants a miserable husband so I won't pull the cable. ;)

When I get done using up all the laundry detergent I have stocked up from my grocery game days, I will give making my own a try. :)

Do you have great tips? Leave them in the comment section!

Help Cure Childhood Diabetes

Ten years ago this January 31st, my son, Westin, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes. He was two years old and we have zero type 1 diabetes in our families. I remember, after being admitted into the hospital that Monday night, all the doctors and interns coming in to ask us the same questions over and over again. (Eventually, that is what they do in a teaching hospital.) Do you have any family history? Did you see any symptoms? What led up to this? And the part I will always remember, and laugh at, is the statement I heard so many times. "Wow! He is two years old? We never see type 1 in patients so young!" At the time, I didn't know any better. Great, we were "exceptional"! Just what I wanted to hear.

The truth is, type 1 diabetes in the 4 and under is the fastest growing group to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. We weren't alone! I have many friends whose children were diagnosed as infants. In addition, some 90% of all cases have zero family history. In another study I read about in The Autoimmune Epidemic, 1 in 648 children and young adult under the age of 19 have type 1 diabetes.

Autoimmune diseases are on the rise at an amazing rate. One researcher that is really making progress in understanding the autoimmune disease of diabetes is Dr Denise Faustman. Her research may hold a cure for not only type 1 diabetes but also other autoimmune diseases like MS and rheumatoid arthritis. To learn more about her research, check out this new website, Help Cure Childhood Diabetes. It has a great video that explains Dr Faustman's research.

It makes sense, her research. Unfortunately, what is good for the people isn't always good for business. Funding for this kind of research would usually come from pharmaceutical companies. But this potential cure would not be a profit center. Companies, whether pharmaceutical or not, have one duty, to make the largest profit possible. They aren't people with an interest in curing diseases with a method affordable to even third world countries. They are businesses and they have certain obligations to the share holders.

The Help Cure Childhood Diabetes website was built by parents of children with type 1 diabetes. We have a great interest in seeing this disease cured. This website will help get money directly to Dr Faustman's research while cutting out the middle man, aka fundraising non profit organizations. While organizations like the ADA and the JDRF have raised remarkable amounts of money, they have expenses like salaries and advertising budgets. I want to know where my money is going and I want it all (100%) to go to the research for a cure.

Please, take a few moments and watch the video on the site mentioned above. If nothing else, it is quite educational. (Ok, you can see the homeschooler in me looking for any opportunity to learn something new!) If you usually give to charities at the end of the year, please consider this cause. We have to do this in a grass roots effort to see that it gets funded. How else will we know if it will work? Also, speard the word. :)

Nothing is more comforting than...

FOOD IN THE CUPBOARDS!!!! Our family sits in this crummy Michigan economy with a business that is auto related. With the down turn in the auto industry on top of the recession, our business isn't even recognizable from a few years ago. We have spent the year in some what of a sabbatical. Jason has done some work but mainly we have been living off of selling things around the house.

I have been really stressed out lately by the money issues. I can handle not making much money, but when I can't see the next time it is going to come in, I get un-nerved. So, after a big deposit from ebay, I went grocery shopping today. Mind you, I didn't get anything special, but we have the staples. I dropped a whopping $270 on bulk items from Sam's Club and Gordon Food Service. I know that I can make that last many weeks. That feels very good and will let me relax for a few weeks at least.

Jason found a cheap shop space in Mattawan and we are giving it another go. This time it will be more like a place to work than a full fledge business. He spent the summer working out of our garage but it wasn't very practical. We will be leaving this residence in March, so it was going to have to come at some point. If this doesn't work, we are going to be moving into our motor home. So, you would think that moving into the motor home means failure...but it doesn't. I kind of want to move into the motor home. It sounds so liberating. BUT, it would be much easier to have a successful enough business to where we could just travel more and always have a home base.

So, just in case, we are selling as much of our "stuff" as possible that we don't really need or want. Either way, it will be a lighter load when we move. Part of me just wishes I could sell it all, but that isn't feasible. I have a lot of family antiques that I just can't see parting with. But a lot of the other "stuff", it can go!

Where do I like to sell stuff? Craigslist! Ebay works for those specialty items that need a wider audience. It is just that they take such a large chunk of change. Craigslist is where the easy sales are really at. Like tonight, I sold Westin's old twin bedroom set. I listed it Sunday night and later that evening I got my first call. Craigslist is popular enough that there is plenty of traffic for some items to sell fast. Does everything sell that fast? NO! But it is free to list and it is fairly easy to relist it every month. (The listings last for 30 days unless you delete it-which I highly recommend when an item sells.)

In anticipation for the possibility of living in the 1984 motorhome that we picked up last month, I have started making some changes with the interior. When it is done, I will have to post pictures. First, the carpet is coming out. It was in good shape but it doesn't seem practical to keep clean. We ripped it out this weekend. Of course, when I say "we" I mean "Jason" ;) We will lay some laminate flooring in it's place.

I also have plans for some paint, new curtains, some extra storage, etc. The interior has great cabinets and a lot of brown. I plan to just throw in some ice blue or baby blue accents and it will modern it a bit. Kind of fun to have a "home" project...just happens to be a motor home project :)

Putting myself out there

Today I took a huge step! I started a profile on "my diet" on facebook and I posted my stats to my facebook profile! Crazy? Maybe! Here is my figuring...I had to be held accountable. This was the best way to do it. Do I wish I could have not included my exact weight and only just the weight loss pounds, sure! But that wasn't an option and this is the best way to be honest with myself, being honest with everyone. So we will see what comes of it. I sure hope I only receive support and not snickers.

Things that make me cry

Today I got a message on Facebook from an old friend. We really haven't spoke in years, only because we just don't cross paths. But with Facebook being so popular, it is easy to cross cyber paths, which really makes happy. So I wanted to share her message. She will remain anonymous as I didn't tell her I was going to blog about her message.

Hi Michelle,

I just wanted you to know something...I read your messages that you post everyday about the daily struggles you have with Westin's health. I don't usually comment on them, but I read them ALL. For what it's worth, I just really wanted to tell you how amazing I think you are! You are a daily inspiration to me as a mother and a woman! I feel very thankful and lucky to have a healthy child, I won't even pretend to know what you go through. I just think that Westin couldn't have been more lucky than to have you for a mother. You are a warrior for your children and an inspiration to a newer mother like me! ...

Sorry for the randomness of this note, but I just had to let you know!

This made me cry. I wish I could send this to every mom I know. (That is why I am posting it here) As a mom, we don't get much credit, at least not so directly. I post my daily struggles with homeschooling, parenting, marriage, and especially diabetes and other random health issues, on facebook in hopes of educating those that don't choose to ignore my status updates. (I am sure there are some out there that just wish I would shut up already!) It is working. People are paying attention. I hope that will mean that one less child will die from a delayed diagnosis. I hope this means that a teacher in a school will show more compassion to the struggles of the student with diabetes. I hope that it will mean that my son's future employer (ok, I really hope that he follows in our footsteps and creates his own income) will see that he is perfectly capable of performing the desired tasks but will also allow for him to take care of his health. I hope it educates a police officer about diabetes so that he can help a struggling driver rather than assume he is drunk and disorderly. I think you can see where I am going with this.

I cried tears of gratitude for the very nice words. But I also cried tears of sadness, for the life that my son knows. He was diagnoses at 2 years old. He doesn't know life without diabetes. He doesn't know what it is like to just be care-free.

So thank you to the writer of this very thoughtful note. I REALLY appreciated it. It was the mother's day card I always hoped to get one day from my son when he is a parent and realizes all I have done for him. Thank you.

It's been a LONG time...oops!

I was reminded on facebook that I have a blog...oops! I think I kind of mini blog on facebook and forget about this one.

So we are finally feeling some heat here in Michigan. The first time since probably June. Mind you, today is great but I think it will get hotter this week. I could be wrong...it happens ;) I got in the pool today and gave it a little TLC in anticipation. We just have a little pool, about 30" deep, 10' round. It is the smallest they make with a pump. With a 3 year old, it is perfect. He is confident in it. It is easy to maintain. I can still float in my floaty and get my vitamin D. All is well.

So with summer usually comes with our best chance of making money for the year. I can say that it might be the case this year but only because the rest of the year has sucked too. So it isn't worth mentioning. We are here. We are fed. We are clothed. We might be becoming a bit delusional though. We actually considered trading our only vehicle for a big motor home that was in rough shape. Thank goodness we regained our bearings.

Yesterday we started back to dabbling in a little school work. Today we did nothing...great start! One thing I forgot about when I decided to start back yesterday is that we have a nephew in town for a while and he tends to be at our house...not too conducive to school. Ah, I am easy going so we will just delay. It was a nice thought though.

Speaking of homeschool, we have our theme for the year. We do good with a yearly theme. Last year we were doing ancient history. Not my cup of tea but we were trying to follow The Well Trained Mind. This year we are going back on our own, kind of. I love The Well Trained Mind, but I have to grab on to whatever Westin is interested if I have any chance of him really participating. So this year will be the second world war! I am kind of excited. Something I can actually get interested in. So I think my only real purchase will be our next level of Math U See. I will probably find some fun workbook for Wieland at Sam's and call it good. He turns 4 this month so I guess we will see if he has much interest yet. I really want to let him lead me. Very unconventional for most, I know. I am an unconventional girl.

I should probably elaborate on my laid back style. I always secretly wanted to be an unschooler. I just never thought Westin showed enough interest in anything. So I have kind of come up to meet him. He will be mildly structure. Close enough. I was recently searching for this great website I read a few years ago and I want to share it here, so I always know where to find it. This website changed my life. I never looked at homeschooling the same again!

I will try not to wait so long to post again.

Ning for Dummies by Manny Hernandez, a review by a current user and group owner

Recently I was privilege to receive a copy of Ning for Dummies to preview and review on my blog. I joined my first Ning group a few years ago. The group was Tudiabetes.com and it was created by Manny Hernandez, the author of Ning for Dummies. He had an amazing fire and was very successful in growing his Ning group to what is now 9,000 members! Manny has always been very helpful in answering questions I have had for other support groups I am involved with, later leading to the creation of my own Ning group. It was Manny himself that made Ning so appealing to me. He has always been so generous with his knowledge so I was obviously excited to see him author this book.

Ning provides users to create their own social networks like facebook and myspace. It is a great place to form a support group.


As a current user and Ning group owner, I immediately skipped right to page 209, Promoting Your Network, as that is where we (the other creators of http://www.homeschoolkalamazoo.ning.com/) are at in our Ning journey. Our small homeschool group as hit some lulls in the membership department. Even as an experienced Ning user and group creator I was able to pick up some great tips. Manny provides great ideas for customizing your group to fit your needs and great management tools. I think he has covered all the basis. Ning for Dummies makes a great book for those looking to start an online group and can even be useful for those who have already created a group.

My 13th Anniversary

Today marks 13 years! I almost can't believe that we made it this long. There were some very turbulent years. Years I didn't want to be in this marriage. Probably the first 7 or so ;) Seriously, I wasn't committed to my marriage in any shape or form. I had a bad attitude and that poisons everything. My husband, either crazy or really in love with me, stuck with me. I could probably thank diabetes for helping to keep us together. What other choice did we have? I always questioned whether I could do it alone. Homeschooling sealed the deal. I found something that I loved doing and felt like I was really doing what was right for my child, now children. It also kept me out of trouble. For once in my adult life I was content. I wasn't thinking about my future plans. I now live for today and am satisfied and happy. What a relief!

Here's to the rest of our slow paced life! Cheers! (The pic includes my grandparents, Otis and Mary Hermenitt.)

Good Friday Wrap-Up

Well, Westin's swallowing problems have held steady this week. When I ask how his swallowing is on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being perfect, he gives it an 8. That works for me. I imagine we will continue on the dairy free diet for another week and maybe stop the proventil to see if that changes. I will give the gastro a call on Tuesday.

The vacation is still in the works but Jason seems to think that my idea is a bit too much. He thinks we should get our feet wet a little closer to home. So if I had to pick a place a little closer to home than say Arizona, I think it would be South Dakota. I have so many fond memories of South Dakota from my trip as a kid. Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, etc. It is a great place. The only reason we wouldn't do that trip is if we are granted a scholarship to the childrenwithdiabetes.com Friends for Life Conference in Walt Disney World, Florida. That would be a dream come true and it would be "the vacation" this summer. It is in July and is a huge diabetes conference. I have always wanted to go but the timing has always been hard as it is a busy time of year for business.

Speaking of business, the shop is officially closed and cleaned out. We have a mess at home to sort out but I think it will free us up to do more of what we would like to do...live life! Jason will be returning to working out of a trailer and just part time. The goal is to make enough to live off of but to have time to explore other interest and eventually get out of the business all together or at least manage it from afar. We will see where it takes us. I guess I should start a master calendar with all of our dr appointments and such so we can plan ahead a little farther. Maybe we could squeeze in both the trip to South Dakota and FFL if we were chosen? I really just strive for great learning and teaching opportunities with my boys and myself. :)

Friday Wrap Up

This has been one hell of a week! Last Saturday at about 1pm Westin came out of his room thinking he was having a low blood sugar. He checked and he was 73. Not low per say but treatable. I was doing dishes so I gave him a juice box and went back to the sink. A few moments later he walked out to me, sat the juice box down on the counter and tapped me on the arm. I turned to look at him to find he was in the midst of a partial seizure affecting his left side of his face. I was amazed that he could walk out to me and stand there while he was having it. It makes sense though as it was just a part of his brain seizing.

So then on Sunday his difficulty swallowing returned in a big way. It had kind of started days earlier but Sunday it was bad enough that he was upset by it. I called the gastro on call and got a script for flovent called in. So my kid with asthma has to use another inhaler, but this time he has to swallow it.

After playing back the last few months, since we stopped the prevacid, trying to figure out what caused the change in swallowing, we have decided either allergies or milk. So we stopped all dairy. Well, Westin stopped all dairy. I have also added a antihistamine to help with the extra post nasal drip due to the time of the year. Believe me, he is on plenty of allergy meds already. But he did complain about thick mucus and drainage. I read somewhere online that the post nasal drip could contribute to increased stomach acid, which could be causing the esophilic esophagitis (sp?). So I am going after both options at once. If we see some relief we will stop the flovent and see if we continue to see relief. If we do then we will re-add dairy and see what happens. Ugh, playing guinea pig with your kid is not fun!

Then on top of all of this he has had this tremor in his lip when he eats. I have to wonder if it is a residual effect from the seizure? It seems to be slowly going away.

So, this week can be written off as for the dogs. We did ZERO school work as I couldn't concentrate and neither could Westin. I am so glad he isn't in school. That would be a nightmare.

The art of reinventing and other random stuff

My husband is in a position to reinvent himself, or at least that is the positive spin I have put on it. Our business has gone through so many changes over the years. This, though, seems like the last change. We have decided to close shop and slowly work our way out of the business once dh figures out what he wants for the next chapter in his and our lives. He jokes that this year will kind of be a sabatical. So after we get the garage cleaned out and all of the business moved home, what's next?

First, a garage sale! Maybe more like a basement sale. We have a ton of stuff to get rid of. We are planning it to coinside with the Eagle Lake/Crooked Lake sales. I called the township and found out they are April 17th and 18th so that is set.

Second, we need a vacation, or better described as an adventure! We haven't really gone anywhere for 6 years. I worry about an adventure with a three and a half year old but maybe I can find the grace to survive. :)

So where will we go? WEST! When I was 11 years old my parents took us on an adventure. There wasn't much of a plan. We had two weeks and $800. We had a full size conversion van and a tent for a family of 5. My parents took the $800 and split it into two envelopes. One for each way. So when the first envelope ran out we started headed back towards home. We ended up starting towards Branson where we had relatives and ventured across the panhandle of Texas to New Mexico where we got to see the land my dad bought when he was in the Army. Then to the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Momument Valley, into the Rockies, over to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, Wall Drug, Corn Palace and back home to Michigan. Sure, we didn't make it to California or the northwest but we had a great time! If we just had had a little more money maybe we would have made it to the Pacific!

So, while we reinvent we will give our entire family an adventure and hopefully learn something new about ourselves. Life is all about learning!

We hope to be able to pull this off by May but might have to delay until July if we can't come up with the funds. I will keep this blog updated on our progress and our adventure. I think this can be a learning experience for everyone. I will chronicle our route, expenses and experiences.

We have a Ford Excursion so will have plenty of room to pack. It doesn't get great gas mileage but I guess it does better on the highway. Dad has most of the camping gear we need. I will take inventory when I actually see it. We will tent it and live out of a cooler as much as possible. I don't know how much money we can scrape up but I would shoot for at least $1500.

Keep watching and see what happens!

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Ok, THIS is the house I want to build!

From: http://www.macdonaldarchitects.com/design/residential/survival_consultants/sun_cottage_3br/

This is the house I really, really want to build! Even at a time when I don't know where in the country I want to live, this design will work anywhere. You can see the series of articles on the Sun Cottage from "Mother Earth News" at this link: http://www.macdonaldarchitects.com/profile/works/