A Farewell to Arms.....errr Guinness

I feel like I should write but I'm having a hard time fighting the brain fog and actually put my thoughts into words.  There has been much to process the last couple of weeks and I still don't feel like I have fully gotten a grasp on things.  This week I made an effort to do what I could, no matter how small, and to see those things as accomplishments not that I was failing at everything else.  Yesterday was my first day of putting forth a concerted effort to eat gluten free.  I'm also giving coffee the boot for the time being *GASP!* and in general keeping better track of what I eat and how I feel when I eat it.  After scarfing lots of pizza and beer the night before I woke up feeling totally lousy and decided it was time for change.  In addition no gluten I've been using some nutritional products from Arbonne.  The last couple of days with no coffee have been aided by the Fizzy Tabs and for breakfast I blended up a banana with the Chocolate Protein Mix. Yummy, and no headaches while I'm coming down off my daily 24 oz of coffee!  This afternoon I wanted to venture out and raid the bulk bins at a health food store and I found Native Sun Natural Foods.  It was made more exciting by getting caught in a major downpour that put going to farmer's market on hold.

With everything going on and with the ridiculous heat and humidity I haven't had the will to muster the energy to give my poor garden any attention recently.  Our lawn mower also died recently so the kids and I went on an adventure to Pep Boys.  There we traded in our old gas mower for a battery powered one and with the trade in it was only $150!  We then went to Lowe's to see what plants they had left and even this late in the season I was able to get some nice eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers, and some jalapenos.  The tomatoes I put in at the beginning of the summer were taking over so I got a cage to try and corral them.

This past week was the first of the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge and I logged 11 miles!  Off to a great start!

I know I'm just getting started down the gluten free path but I already felt a little better today.  A little less tummy trouble at least.  There are certain things I will miss quite a bit, I can't imagine there is a gluten free alternative that comes close to the beauty that is Guinness.  That being said:

There once was a girl who loved Guinness,
She drank it like it was going out of business.
But then she got ill and though she wanted it still,
Guinness her glass would no longer fill.


Cheers!

My Crazy Weekend

I'm finally enjoying a moment with all the kids sleeping and the poor dog quiet in her crate.  I had her out for awhile and the neurotic pacing was getting to me.  I'm thinking she's just uncomfortable and wants to be confined so she can rest.  Here are some pictures of her leg wound, don't look if you get all weird at stitches and stuff.  I'm telling people this happened while she was frolicking with another dog, she'd be embarrassed if I told everyone it was really the skink/Godzilla getting the best of her...

Here is pathetic Daisy with spooky green eyes.

Nasty cut.

Closer view of nasty cut.

Now moving on from gross out wound pictures I had a couple of parenting successes today.  I'll go ahead and brag about them so that when everything goes to crap tomorrow I'll know why. (insert cutsie winking face)  My sweet almost three year old LOVES her pacifiers.  She also loves to drink, "milk in a glass" (baby bottle) and she drags around Grandma Bear something so loved that the cleaning lady asked if it was a dog toy today.  (Emma was incensed and put that lady in her place by the way.)  The time to give up these things has long passed and I just really haven't felt like going through the process of her going through pacifier and bottle withdrawals.  Today was the day to begin the process and after having milk in her bottle this morning we packed them up in a box and she said goodbye.  The new rule is milk at meals, up to this point she has refused milk in anything but a bottle and that didn't change this evening but there wasn't a fit at bedtime when I told her no more bottles.  Score one for Mommy!  The pacifier is going to be trickier.  We gathered them up and put them in a bowl this morning with the promise that she could have them back tonight at bedtime.  Other than a meltdown around 4 she did really well.  After a few minutes of the freak out I told her we would set the timer for 5 minutes and she could haver her passi until it beeped.  She wasn't thrilled to give it up but she did and the rest of the evening went really well.  Score two for Mommy!  Tomorrow I'm going to have her cut the one off her car seat buckle.

In my adventures making baby food I made absolutely nasty summer squash which Madaline quite literally spat out at me.  (I can't blame her, it tasted like bitter grits.)  She LOVED the mashed mango and bananas that she got instead and tonight the butternut squash was a huge hit.

As busy as this weekend was it had been a couple of days since I'd checked on my garden and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw!  I'm looking forward to enjoying these veggies soon!

Cute little banana pepper!

Cherry tomatoes.

Not cherry tomatoes.

Itty bitty green beans.

Wax beans, they're almost ready!

Aww, it's just a baby squash!

And last but not least, after this crazy weekend and a pretty good but long day I just didn't want to fight with kids eating their supper.  I did the only reasonable thing, I made pancakes.  And boy, were they ever good.

Misc Pictures

Radishes from our garden! Lots of things have buds but this is our first harvest.

They're super peppery but GOOD!

Hunting Easter Eggs!

Breakfast!

Best. Honey. EVER.