Thanksgiving by the pictures

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

We certainly did.

I made this recipe for our stuffing and it was very good. The first batch got a little away from me and was slightly overdone, but I made a second batch to use for leftovers and that one was much better.

My mom and dad came over to have dinner with us. I decided to bust out the fancy china that my grandma gave me when we got married. Grandma gave me two sets of her china, a service of 8 that she was given when she got married over 60 years ago and another set that she and Grandpa bought that is a service for 12. I also broke out the silver she gave me to go with the 80 billion pieces of china.


You guys probably don't care much, but I thought my table looked very pretty. Oh, and notice the drink there by the chair at the bottom of the picture. That was my 3rd. That will come into play later.

Yesterday I took some of the leftovers and made them into a gluten-free version of my favorite after-Thanksgiving-leftover sandwich. I saw it on a cooking show a couple of years ago. It's made at a restaurant somewhere on the East Coast and it is seriously yummy. Take leftover stuffing and make it into patties. Heat them in a frying pan. Heat leftover turkey in a frying pan, too. Put the heated turkey and stuffing on a toasted Kaiser roll and top with cranberry sauce. I know it sounds gross, but it is GOOD.

As you know, I can't have Kaiser rolls and I am WAY to chicken to try a gluten-free roll, so I decided to make a leftover casserole. (I'm sure this isn't a unique idea, but I'm excited about it anyways.) I layered leftover mashed potatoes, chunks of turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing in a dish and cooked it at 350 for an hour-ish.

It was VERY yummy. And, better yet, gluten-free! Because my stuffing was gluten-free. Mike poured some of the leftover gravy on top of his serving. I didn't hear any complaints, so I'm betting he thought it was pretty good, too.

Lucy ate a bunch of hers. She is slowly mastering the nuances of utensil use, so I helped her get a bite on her fork and then she'd shovel it in. Emily didn't want to eat it. I have no idea why. She didn't know there were mashed potatoes in there (potatoes that are in any form other than tot or fry are EVIL in the eyes of my daughter). We finally got her to eat 3 bites (because she's 3) by telling her if she didn't she wouldn't be watching Wall*E and having popcorn later.

Alcohol really does impair your judgement, they aren't just saying that.

This is the remains of my meat thermometer. It turns out that you can't leave a meat thermometer in the grill with the lid closed and not come back to a molten mess. Oops.

Oh, and since Sober Erin knows this, it also turns out that alcohol impairs your judgment* to the point where you think that an inexpensive plastic meat thermometer can withstand the intense heat of a barbeque grill with two burners on high.

*Blogger (and Outlook) say that this is supposed to be spelled with only one e. That looks very odd to me. I've always spelled it judgement. Hrm. I just looked it up on dictionary.com and I guess I have been spelling it wrong for a long time.

Date Night!

I've been in a bit of a funk recently. There are a million things getting me down, the greatest of them being the gluten-free diet.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, if only for the free pass you get to make an absolute pig of yourself. My mother-in-law makes the best yeast rolls in the world. And I don't get to have any this year. Add to that the 75% certainty I have that when we go there on Saturday that she won't have done anything to accommodate my diet and I've been throwing myself a little pity party.

Mike is off work this week and in the spirit of striking while the iron is hot, we arranged for my parents to take the kids for the night so we could go have a date night.

We started the evening at a local pizzeria that serves GLUTEN FREE PIZZA. And not just gluten-free pizza but GOOD gluten-free pizza.

We had pizza and chicken wings and then went to see Madagascar 2. We also sneaked in a quick trip to Mecca Target to get my sister's Christmas present. The movie was good, if a little cheesy. The company was great and that's really all I cared about.

Mike and I have been so busy lately we haven't had a chance to talk much. It was nice to have several hours of grown-up time to reconnect and remember why it is that I decided this was the guy I wanted to warm my feet on sleep next to for the rest of my life.

When we got home we played several hands of Uno, wherein I promptly kicked his ass six ways to Sunday. We play cutthroat Uno. Usually we have a rule in place requiring players to exchange cards when a 7 or a zero are played. We nixed that rule tonight but I still beat him soundly.

The dog was all worried that the girls were gone. He wandered around the house looking for them. And then Mike brought one of Domino's blankets out of the bedroom and the bliss of the blanket in the middle of the living room overruled any concern he had about the whereabouts of the girls and he curled up on it and sacked out.

This great evening got even better when I realized that Mike is going hunting tomorrow and my parents aren't bringing the girls back until about 12. That means that I get to sleep in! WOOO!!

Of course, we're having dinner here, so I have about a million things to do to prepare, but first on that list is SLEEP IN. Until I wake up or the Benadryl wears off, whichever comes first.

And to solve the mother-in-law problem, I am going to bring a gluten-free version of my favorite Thanksgiving leftover sandwich. Made into a casserole. I'm going to layer stuffing, turkey and cranberry sauce in a casserole dish and warm it up somehow. Maybe topped with more stuffing (gluten-free, of course. This recipe, to be exact). Mmmm. I can't wait.

Excuse me, my geek is showing

Mike and I were in the car tonight, and Mike was telling me about a problem he encountered at work today.

Mike is the resident database designer guy at his company. Someone came to him for help designing a database today. They wanted to copy data from a Word file into an Excel file or an Access database.

We were talking about the challenges of cleaning up the data in the Word file before putting it into the Excel file and I suggested a couple of ways the coworker could clean the data.

And then I realized that my geek was hanging out all over the place.

And I also realized that not only had I followed all of the fairly technical stuff he was talking about, but I had suggestions for process improvements.

I am not the computer idiot I typically portray myself to be. There are a bunch of things about computers I do not understand (networking I'm looking at YOU), but I can hold my own on a fair number of subjects.

Yeah, I'm a geek. And I'm OK with that.

Why Don't Southerners Like...

To wear underwear when they eat watermelon?

That was a ChaCha question I got on Sunday.

My response? That I had no luck finding information on people in the South's habit of going commando while eating watermelon. (I have to say stuff like that when I get questions I can't answer or I could get in trouble.)

I felt like I was the recipient of a mad-lib.

I seem to be having a hard time meeting even my relaxed standards of posting for November. I am a bloggy slacker.

The GF diet seems to be going pretty well. I am definitely noticing a change in my symptoms. Whether that is due to the gluten-free diet or the steroid I'm taking, I'm not sure.

And, as of today, I am on track to be at a doctor's office every single day this week. AGAIN. (Monday, Lucy had a flu shot; Tuesday, I went back to the urologist; Today Emily is going to the doctor for possible ear infections. Good times!)

Daddy's Girl

Lucy is a Daddy's Girl, through and through.

I am OK, but Daddy?

He walks on water.
When Daddy is around, Lucy doesn't want hugs from Mommy.

She doesn't even call me Mommy. She calls me Daddy.

I can count on one hand the number of times she has actually said the word "Mama". The most recent time was at about 2 in the morning. She woke up and was crying, for an unknown reason. Eventually we heard this very pitiful "Mooommmyy" coming from her room.

Yeah.

If I ask her who I am, she'll say "Daddy."

I tell her no, I'm Mommy.

And she look me in the eye and says "Dad. Dy." Like, duh, woman. Get it right.

This afternoon, Mike came home from work. He brought his stuff inside, but had to go back out to get some more.

Lucy cried as though she was being dismembered. She was broken-hearted that Daddy was home and he hadn't picked her up yet.

And woe unto him who puts her down.

The shrieks are deafening.

Mike is a fabulous Daddy. He works so hard for us and puts up with a somewhat cranky (OK, really cranky) wife.

I guess I can deal with the uneven distribution of Lucy's affections.

Besides, I am TOTALLY Emily's favorite. Hands down.

Apple Crisp: FAIL

I made Apple Crisp this morning.

I used corn flour and tapioca flour.

The result?

FAIL.

It looks gorgeous.

It tastes ... well, it doesn't taste good.

The crumb topping is grainy and strangely sweet. The apples are fine, but the crumb topping is every-darn-where and is messing it all up.

I had my tastes all set for the creamy, sweet, rich deliciousness of my usual apple crisp and this surely ain't it.

I'm really glad that we didn't take this to the event for which I made it.

I'll give it another shot sometime, but I think I am going to go drown my sorrows in something else that is sweet and gluten-free and not weirdly grainy. Like ice cream.

GF Day 4.5

Today is my fourth day gluten-free.

My mom asked me last night if I was noticing any difference in my symptoms and after thinking about it I was definitely able to say:

Maybe.

I think.

Sort of.

I have a LOT of gas, but I think that is because I am eating WAY more beans than any one person ever should. The cramps and pain and diarrhea all seem to be getting better.

But, seriously, my bean consumption? At an all-time high.

I made up a refries & salsa mixture that I put on corn tortillas with a little sour cream (and today, for variety, some tomatoes). That's breakfast. And lunch.

It's actually quite good and I am not feeling deprived at all.

Yeah, I wish I could tuck into a nice, soft piece of bread or eat a bowl of macaroni and cheese, but if this makes me feel better? I'll give those things up. They aren't worth the pain I was going through.

The hardest part is the little things. Like testing noodles when I made macaroni and chreese* for Lucy today. I had to bite the noodle to see if it was done and then spit the pieces out. *Yes, Macaroni and Chreese. Not a typo. I was under the misguided impression that Lucy should get dairy-free macaroni and cheese. So I bought some. She, smart girl that she is, refused to eat it. That stuff is DISGUSTING! She can live without.

Or washing off the Oreo cookie goo that got on my hand after helping Lucy move her cookies closer. I have NEVER voluntarily washed Oreo goo off my hands.

And Mike keeps pointing out that this is only for a month, not forever. I keep forgetting and thinking that I am in this for the long haul. I guess we'll see.

Fare thee well, gluten

I had my follow-up appointment this afternoon with the GI doctor.

It's a really good thing that I gorged myself on 3 cupcakes at a birthday party before going, because George, the PA, wants me to be gluten-free for a month.

I just spent the last 15 minutes verifying that the medicines I take every day don't have gluten in them somewhere. And before that, I was at a natural foods store, throwing myself on the mercy of a very sweet girl who conveniently was celiac. She hooked me up with all the good stuff.

I pointed out to George that this month of gluten-free-ness happens to include Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving for me is all about the stuffing. Well, that and the turkey. And the sweet potatoes. And the pies.

Mmmm, pie.

Yeah, that was great.

I guess I'll figure something out. The good news is that I am hosting Thanksgiving so I don't have to worry that someone else needs to be responsible for my dietary restrictions.

Lucy Ketchup Face

Mike suggested we go out for dinner last night.

Being the reasonable woman that I am, I had the kids in jackets and shoes and out the door before he could change his mind.

We took the kids to the food court in the mall and loaded them up with chicken nuggets from BK.

Which is where the below video comes in.

Lucy has recently discovered the many joys of ketchup. She loves to dip her nugget (or her fingers, though we discourage that) into the ketchup and then suck the ketchup off the nugget.

She did eventually eat 3 nuggets, but she went through at least 3 packets of ketchup in the process.

March 1

Mike and I, when we moved here, began going to the church that Mike's parents attended. It was small, but nice. The people were (mostly) friendly and while I felt like I didn't get to actually choose my church, it was OK.

Once Emily was born and began to be less paperweight and more kid, the fact that the church had no real young children's ministry began to be an issue. Mike and I finally asked the pastor if it would be OK for us to set up a nursery in the basement so that we could trade off watching my nephew and Emily with my sister-in-law so that we might actually get to pay attention during church, instead of trying to wrestle with a determined 18-month-old and then, when that fight was clearly lost, going to sit with her in his office.

We finally moved out of that building and into temporary housing at a local hotel. And that's when I lost my patience. I told Mike that I hated our church, I hated the lack of children's ministry and I wanted to go somewhere else. NOW.

Problem is, Mike was on the board of trustees by then and he didn't feel the same way. Plus, we had just bought a new building and were about to move in and then everything would be sunshine and roses.

Fast forward nearly a year till .... now.

> I am not going to church on Sundays because there is STILL no children's ministry. Why would I go and have to leave in the middle (if I get that far) and sit in the (incredibly small) nursery when I could stay home, be warm and let Lucy play with her own toys?

> Mike takes Emily and then has to fight quietly with her to get her to sit still.

> The Sunday School that previously existed for the older kids (of which there are 11) doesn't exist. Those kids sit in service with their parents.

> My sister-in-law fights the same fight, with MUCH less success, with my nephew, nearly every week. And then she gives up and takes him to sit in the nursery. Her daughter is nearly a year old and soon she'll be trying to fight with both kids to get them to sit still.

So yesterday was the monthly Trustees meeting. Mike came home and was very subdued. I asked how the meeting went and he said that two members, who had 10 children between them - 9 of the above 11) left the church this week. Part of the reason for one member's departure was the children's ministry issue. Sort of.

He said that their departure brought up the topic of the children's ministry and how important it is and how our Pastor doesn't want to lose any young families (the median age at our church? Easily is 60) and so on.

So I told Mike about my frustrations and how disappointed I am that there isn't a children's ministry.

We've been going to that church for nearly 4 years. When we began attending, I was 4 months pregnant. I don't think that it was too much to expect that, as she got older and her presence in the sanctuary began to be distracting, someone approached us and asked us if we would be interested in having her go to a nursery and then set one up. To me, it is like learning that someone in my MOMS Club is having surgery or a baby and asking if they need meals or other help. It's a ministry thing. It's a way to share the love of the Lord with others through my actions.

Anyways, I was able to articulate, in a way that I hadn't been able to last year, the problems I have with the church.

And Mike understood.

He finally understood that of the 3 of us (he doesn't count Lucy right now, because she's too little to really learn anything at a Sunday School), only one of us is getting ANYTHING out of church each week. And that person (Mike) is the one who is responsible for Emily, so what they are getting is minimal.

I think I even convinced him that, though the pastor says he is concerned about the children's ministry and says he doesn't want to lose the young families, the actions of the church say something VERY different.

Because if those two families hadn't left and, as they were leaving, said that the children's ministry was part of the reason why they left, the trustees would never have devoted as much time to discussing what to do as they did. They would have continued on their merry way.

So Mike's and my agreement is that we are going to give the church a full year to get a children's ministry started. That year is up on March 1. (Hence the title)

If by March 1, 2009, a children's ministry has not been established with age-appropriate facilities for both our kids, we are going to begin searching for a new church. Until then, we will trade Sundays at home with Lucy, so that I start going to church more.

I am so relieved. I've been worrying about this for quite a while now.

I am so excited that I was able to set my emotions aside and talk to Mike about what I was feeling and thinking. And he HEARD me.

Better yet, he said I had good points that he hadn't thought about! Woo!

34 hours to go!

Only 34 more hours until I don't have to hear about negative campaigns, or this person's voting record, or that person's Liberal Politics, or how this person had the nerve to DEFEND someone when she was working as a Defense Lawyer. (Seriously, WTF? She was a corporate defense lawyer. Someone HAS to be on the "wrong" side. That's 99% of what our country is about. Yes, the company for which she worked did something really bad, but they still get to defend themselves against their accusers.)

Only 34 more hours until the annoying lawn signs that litter the streets are, in theory, taken down.

YAY!

How long do you think we have without the political ads until they start up again? 6 months? Maybe 8? Ugh.

I am, apparently, not taking part in NaBloPoMo. Mostly because I didn't get my lazy buns in gear in time to sign up. Whoops. Instead, because I think the premise is really good, I am going to make a concerted effort (again) to post every weekday. No promises that the posts are going to be worth anything, but I'll be putting something up.

This morning, I took the girls on a walk with my mom and our friend Bridget (or Miss Bridget to Emily and Lucy). My mom did a stellar job of tiring Emily out by encouraging her to run. A lot. It seems to be working, both girls are sleeping.

And last night, I did something I haven't done in a while. I sat and watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and enjoyed it. Mostly because the house? Is located in a town about 15 miles from me. I must have been living under a MAJOR rock this summer. I had no idea they had been in town. None.

Oh, and here's a quick anecdote from the funny kid sayings file. This morning, Emily was getting dressed in her room. I came in to help her with her socks and she told me she had changed her underwear because, "Those other ones were driving (dwivin') me nuts." And then I sat down on the floor and died. It was just too cute. I asked her what was bothering her about the underwear and she said it was makin' her butt hang out. Apparently they were a little too small and she was getting wedgies. Hee!