30 Days of Gratitude: Day 3

As I posted today on Facebook, I need to refocus my trust in God to provide what we truly need, so I think it is time to start up some thankful posting.

Today, I am thankful for knitting. It brings me so much joy, because nearly every item I knit is a gift for someone. Giving just makes me so happy. 

My wonderful mother-in-law taught me how to cast on, make a knit stitch, and make a purl stitch in February of 2006.  By the time I was put on bed rest with my third daughter in June 2006, I had surpassed Margaret's level of expertise.  That is how much I loved, and still love, knitting.  

Before I knew it, I was knitting hats, mittens, scarves, sweaters, and afghans.  Since then, I have branched out into my own patterns, learned to crochet, and started exploring alternative knitting methods (cabling without a needle, continental versus English hold, etc.).  My Ravelry queue is so packed that I will have knitting projects to keep me busy well beyond the zombie apocalypse.  

The most beautiful part: nearly every project I make is a gift for someone.  When the recipient opens his/her gift and lights up in delight, I cannot even begin to describe the overwhelming sense of joy I feel.  Joy in his/her delight, joy in my craftsmanship, joy in absolute appreciation, and joy in knowing that I have done something to bring him/her happiness.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 2

As I posted today on Facebook, I need to refocus my trust in God to provide what we truly need, so I think it is time to start up some thankful posting.

Today, I am thankful for wonderful friends. I cannot begin to express how blessed I feel to have such amazing people in my life.

I would not know how to live my life if it were not for my friends.  These incredibly supportive, caring, kind, patient, and understanding men and women have added more depth to my soul than I ever could have imagined.  They make me feel loved, understood, and supported in a way that many others in my life have never been capable.  God has blessed me over and over and over again through my friends, and they are just as close and cherished as any family member could be.  I love each of them to the bottom of my heart and back again.  

Note: I would love to include photos of each person, but these were the only ones I could find quickly.  I will try to add more as I locate more.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 1

As I posted today on Facebook, I need to refocus my trust in God to provide what we truly need, so I think it is time to start up some thankful posting. 

Today, I am thankful we still have one working vehicle and the ability to reschedule events for my husband to take my van to work.

My husband's little 1998 Honda needs a new wheel bearing, so he does not want to drive it until it is fixed.  If he does, he risks the wheel falling off the car completely.  We replaced the other front wheel bearing just a few months ago, and we knew it was only a matter of time before the other would be due.  

We do our best to follow the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover method, so this car has to last us until we can pay cash for another one.  Each of our vehicles has a long list of work to be done on them, but we can only get to them one at a time.  Does that mean the four girls and I suffered through a long, hot summer with no air conditioning and only the front windows that opened on my van?  Indeed.  It was a non-essential expenditure, so the a/c repair was shunted to the bottom of our priority list.  The silver lining: the van will be paid off in the spring.

So, for now, I am sacrificing my workouts at the gym so that my husband can continue to be the bread winner.  Not much of a sacrifice, really.  We do have to be extremely careful not to be late for the bus in the mornings, though.  That would not be a fun walk.

I Don't Know How

I don't know how to keep rolling with the punches life keeps dealing us. To recap the past three years:

• My husband got fired from his job, even though he was receiving awards and accolades for his work.

• My husband moved across the country, staying with friends for nine months, because he got a lower-paying job in a more expensive area of the country.

• I packed up our entire house, moved every box to the storage unit, fixed up the house, listed and showed the house, continued working part-time in the evenings, and still took care of my precious daughters.

• I watched my music studio dwindle to only a handful of students by the time I moved, because no one wanted to start up with a teacher that was leaving.

• We moved across the country to join my husband, only to find a tiny apartment in a not-so-good neighborhood waiting for us.

• The kids hated their new school.

• We hated their new school.

• I couldn't teach in the apartment, so I wasn't able to work.

• My husband was awarded an incredible raise that saved our bacon.

• The girls started a new year at their school, and we were happy with their teachers. They still didn't really have friends, though.

• Our eldest needed to get braces. Goodbye, $5000, which we're still paying off.

• When our front neighbors moved out, their cockroaches moved into our apartment.

• We found an incredible real estate agent through the Dave Ramsey ELP program, worked out a loan with our amazing credit union, and moved into a large rental townhouse.

• I decided to apply for admission to graduate school in music at a smaller school in the area, assuming that they would have an appropriate assistantship for me. I was heartily granted admission.

• I was not offered any sort of assistantship. I turned down the school.

• The air conditioning in the van broke, so we were going to fix it. It turned out to be a lot more involved and expensive than we expected. On the way to the mechanic to find out what to do next, my husband's car lost the clutch. So, the clutch got replaced, at the expense of the air conditioning in my van, all our savings, and the money we'd scrimped and saved in order to attend the wedding of one of my best friends.

• I finally started teaching again.

• I was hired to play for a musical and teach a band camp in my hometown area, which allowed me to purchase a piece of musical equipment I desperately needed.

• The possibility of several more students was dangled in front of me, but those opportunities fell through.

• Now, our second daughter needs braces, and there is no way we can pay for them anytime soon.

• We haven't taken the girls on a vacation in eight years.

• We don't eat out.

• We only go to free movies.

• I have managed to lose forty pounds and gain all sorts of muscle in the past year through loads of hard work and eliminating meat and dairy from my diet.

• The girls cannot take music lessons or dance classes, because we cannot afford to pay for them. We have residual debt from our youth and crises of the past that takes up most of our income.

• I have been trying to gain momentum with my photography, which seemed to finally be happening, and my camera broke.

• I haven't found anywhere to play here yet. I haven't been hired for any gigs in my area at all. I have only met two other clarinetists, and one doesn't even play any longer.

• The real kicker: my dad has cancer.

Yeah, that's been my three years. There are some great things in there, but the bad things that I've listed have only scratched the surface of the mile-long list I could make.

At this point, I could lose my faith, or I could place it more firmly in God's hands. I'm choosing the latter, because I know God has a plan for me. I just hope that plan has some really good things coming soon.

No, Dominos, That's Not Technically Gluten-Free

So, today I get an email from Dominos that proudly claims that they now have gluten-free crusts.  Then, they tell you to read a disclaimer which states:

"Domino’s pizza made with a Gluten Free Crust is prepared in a common kitchen with the risk of gluten exposure. The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness supports the availability of Domino’s Gluten Free Crust, but CANNOT recommend the pizza for customers with celiac disease. Customers with gluten sensitivities should exercise judgment in consuming this pizza."

So, no, that's not technically gluten-free.  While they have the best of intentions, Dominos is showing a lack of research and basic knowledge concerning cooking for Celiac sufferers.  My husband would practically give his left leg to be able to order pizza for delivery again, but he is not willing to take this sort of risk.

If a Celiac were to try this "GF" pizza, which has a fair likelihood of becoming contaminated by wheat flour, the repercussions could be extreme.  Luckily for him, my husband's reaction is GI-related.  My poor eight-year-old daughter would have extreme mood swings for the subsequent six weeks in addition to the GI-related issues.  In short, the consequences outweigh the risk.  By a mile.

While I applaud your effort to help those with gluten allergies and intolerances feel a bit more normal, you missed the mark a bit on this one.

Ouch! Anyone For Leftovers?

Last night, I learned my lesson the hard way.  Again.  This time, I learned that I should always, always taste new ingredients before putting them in my recipes.

Dinner last night was intended to be a soy chorizo and black bean stew, cooked in the slow cooking for eight hours.  Either my soy chorizo from Trader Joe's was a heap spicier than the soy chorizo I picked up at the organic market last time, or I added too much chipotle chili powder.  Either way, the kids and I had to switch over to leftovers or cereal for dinner last night, because the stew made our mouths, throats, nose, and eyes burn.  It was that hot.  Oops.

A good friend suggested adding agave nectar to cut the heat, so I will try that when I re-heat (pardon the pun) these leftovers for my husband this weekend.  Here is hoping that it works.

My Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Lasagna Recipe Is Coming

As soon as I can catch a moment to myself, I will get my recipe up for a gluten-free, dairy-free lasagna.  It is a huge hit in our house, even with the kids, so I want to share it with anyone else that thought lasagna was a thing of the past with food allergies.  I would love to say that it is casein-free, too, but my non-dairy cheeses put the casein back into their products for some reason.  I am working on a meat-free version, too, because I have discovered that beef, no matter the quality, gives me migraines.