Restlessness

Today is one of those days where I just feel like closing my eyes and throwing a dart at a map of the US to pick my new city. I am so restless. THIS would be the perfect time to hit the road. I feel like I need an escape.

I don't know if it is just restlessness either. I feel like I don't have a plan and that alone will drive a girl like me nuts.

I need to know what direction I am heading and what my goal is. I have neither.

Lessons from Grandma

I had an amazing grandmother. We lived next door to my grandparents and they were farmers. We were able to spend a lot of time with them growing up. After reading an article about what our grandparents taught us about being "green", I got to thinking about all the "quirks" of my grandma. Things that came to mind:

• She would take small left over pieces of soap and combine them into a new, bigger bar. It looked like vomit...but it was soap.
• When doing laundry, she would empty the wash water into the laundry sink, then use it again on the next load. Really dirty laundry was washed in the old wringer washer. Everything was line dried except in the winter. Then if a small load, she would hang it in the basement.
• Until my grandfather was probably in his 80s, they mainly used wood to heat. He would chop it himself. They had a furnace for back up, like when they were gone.
• Grandma used everything. Nothing was wasted, especially when cooking. When making pies, she would use the left over crust to make little cookies. When cooking bacon, she would save the grease to use for fried potatoes or what not. She made pickles out of watermelon rinds.
  
• She would make up large batches of food at a time and save in smaller portions. Now, I know a lot of people that do this. The scary part of Grandma's practice, she would date the package. I remember having the same swiss steak for probably 3 years or more. Scary!
• Grandma's idea of Tupperware was left over plastic containers.
  
• She had a dishwasher but it was never used unless it was a big holiday family meal. It died from lack of use. Everything in it dried out.
• She composted before I had ever heard of it. All food scraps went out to the field. They didn't have garbage service so everything had to be composted or burned...or saved. Oh, boy, did they save stuff!
• If it was glass and somewhat shaped like a drinking glass, it's second life WAS a drinking glass.
• Always reused her aluminum foil and washed out her zip lock bags to reuse.
• Her clothes! If she lost weight, she would just pin in the waste band on her pants, or worse, use twine to keep them up. She never threw any away. She would patch and mend until...well..I think she always had the same everyday clothing my entire childhood.
  
• Of course, I played with all my mom's old toys. Even bath toys (mainly boats). She later gave them to my son, Westin, for a birthday one year. I thought it was the best gift ever. They didn't make it to my son, Wieland, as they were gross and falling apart by the time Westin was done with them.

I think you get the idea. If I think of any more, I will be sure to add them. :) So, if you are like my husband, you are asking yourself, "Why is she listing all of these things?"

I laid in bed last night and I got to thinking about some funny things my grandma did. Specifically, she was a freak for condiments. She loved her ketchup and mustard! She would pile it on food and it would be dripping off it, there was so much. It made me sick just seeing it. (You know, a little goes a long ways) We always joked about how Grandma grew up in the Great Depression and she didn't get to have condiments growing up, hence she really loved them now.

Here, my family is going through it's own Great Depression. We have seen numerous recessions during our years in business and they never really affected us. This recession, being so heavily auto industry related, has devastated our business. We don't know when the next dollar will come in or where it will come from. Still, I am sure it is nothing like the original my grandparents lived through. Yet, I still wonder, what parts of this time will change the rest of my life and my children's lives. Maybe I will pick up some great money saving habits that my children or grandchildren will laugh at when they get older? Maybe I will have this great fear of the stock market like my grandfather always had, that I never understood, but now can start to understand?

So far, this time has taught me that as long as I have my family, we will find a way to get by. We will get creative and we will do our best to not loose our entrepreneurial spirit. We will see it as a learning experience like no other, and hopefully protect ourselves from experiencing the same kind of uncertainty we are experiencing now. It will all be ok.

I have the best son

Westin is the best. He is 12, he has type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. He also has a form of epilepsy, a swallowing problem related to seasonal allergies, chronic acid indigestion, asthma. I list those last, as they don't affect him on such a major "effects my daily life" level. Type 1 diabetes is a disease that is dealt with 24 hours a day. He is thinking about it all day. I am thinking about it all day and night. Celiac disease affects every meal decision.

In my earlier post, I talked about this wonderful gluten free bread that landed on our door step last month. Well, the 8 initial loaves are gone. We have 2 slices left. I really had intended on ordering another 8 on Monday but when looking at the limited funds in my checkbook, I just couldn't swing it. I had to break the news to Westin this morning that I wasn't going to be able to order any more any time soon. He just said, "Ok." and went on with his day.

He loves this bread! Obviously, he has gone through 8 loaves since the 18th of December. I know he is going to be bummed when the reality of it being gone really hits. It upsets me more than cutting our budget way down for Christmas. I mean, shouldn't bread be a given right? Nope, if you are celiac and on a limited income, it is a privilege.

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!