Heard Recently

JT, you quit teasing me or I'm going to lose my temperature!

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Did you know that Tyler thought you came out of my tummy, that you were not adopted?

Why would he think that?  My hair is black!  Your hair is not black!  I don't look like you at all!

Sure, he didn't know.  Isn't that funny?  It's sort of like seeing Jack and not knowing he's adopted.  

Jack's adopted?!  I didn't know that!

photo of Jack with his Daddy:

Gluten Free Donuts

First, the hamburger buns!  I made them in a muffin top pan, because the dough is so fluid--they won't keep their shape if you just form them on a pan.  I think this is the one I ordered. 

I used one recipe of bread dough that was on the back of the Pamela's baking mix package to make 6 hamburger buns.  I baked them for about 25 minutes at 350*.

Now for the donuts (doughnuts?)

I followed this recipe from Hip Girls.  I didn't change it enough to call it my own, but here are my tweaks:

How to make Yummy Donuts!

Combine: 

2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup warm water

In a mixer (do NOT use a dough hook), blend:

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar

Then add:

2 TBS melted butter
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
a pinch of salt
the yeast/water/sugar mixture

Then add, 1 cup at a time:

3 cups of your favorite Gluten Free baking mix (I used Pamela's)


Beat for 5 minutes on medium.  It will be a wet, sticky dough--it will not come together like a regular, gluten bread dough.

GLAZE  (you can make this as the dough rises)
This is a Krispy Kreme clone recipe, which comes from this site:

1/3 cup butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla (the recipe called for 1 1/2 tsp, but I wanted a very-vanilla flavor)
4-6 TBS hot water


Now for the fun part.

Grease a sheet cake pan.  I poured oil on mine and swirled it around until it was well-covered.  The SIDES ON THE PAN are a MUST.

Take a tablespoon measuring spoon AND another spoon (I used a big soup spoon) and oil them well, too.  (I had some extra oil in a measuring cup that I used for re-oiling my spoons and my hands.)  Scoop up a heaping tablespoon of dough and then use the other spoon to flop that ball down on the sheet pan.  Keep doing that until you run out of dough--I had just enough to fill up my whole sheet cake pan.  The oiled spoons are a must-otherwise you will have that dough all over your hands--it's very difficult to pick up the dough and shape into balls with your hands. 

Cover and let the balls of dough rise for 1-2 hours.  I waited about an hour and a half.

After some failed donuts, I realized that the balls were just too thick to get cooked all the way through without burning on the outside.  So, use that oil you have in the measuring cup and grease your hand really well and then smoosh the balls flat.    They are not lovely but will taste good!

Heat oil in a deep pot to 350*.  Mine got hotter than this and fluctuated between 325* and 365*.  The donuts cooked just fine, but you must keep a close eye on them.  Using an oiled spatula (seeing the theme here?  Oil, oil, oil everything!), slide 3 or 4 donuts into the oil.  When they are browned on the bottom, gently flip them over.  The whole cooking time is about 3 or 4 minutes.

Drain the donuts briefly (I used that basket thing and held them above the oil for a few seconds until they stopped dripping oil) and then put into the glaze, turning to coat entirely.  Pick up and let them drip the extra glaze into the pan, and then let cool on a wire rack.

 Try to let them cool enough to handle before eating! 

Thanksgiving, Gluten Free

Just made some cornbread dressing and green bean casserole, all gluten free! 

Officially Gluten Free

We are going Gluten Free at our house--all except John's favorite cereal (Raisin Bran Crunch) is gone.  I don't dare touch his cereal.

Luci and I both have reactions to gluten.  She gets eczema, and I, well, I won't bore you with icky details.  JT has presented some symptoms that I finally connected to gluten and so we are now gluten free.

I've been busy this past week--baking up a storm! 

These are rolls made from Pamela's Amazing Wheat Free and Gluten Free Bread Mix.   JT proclaimed them just as good as the rolls at Logan's Roadhouse.  Made me happy to hear that. 

 I also used the Pamela's mix to make some cornbread for making into dressing.  Since we're Southerners, and my Mom grew up down here, cornbread dressing is the way to go! 

JT realized that gluten free living meant that the Girl Scout cookies that Luci sells will be off-limits to him.  Oh, that was a sad day when he figured that out!  So, being the good mama I am (or am aiming to be, anyways), I found a gluten free version of Thin Mints, which are JT's favorites. 

I wish you had a scratch and sniff computer, because, wow, these are good!  Taste like the real thing.  Not only gluten free, but these Thin Mint lookalikes are also all natural!

I can't wait for JT to get home and try these cookies.  He's on a church trip with John and will be back tomorrow evening.  I'll let you know how the taste-test goes.

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Oh, and that sleeping in the big bed thing with Luci??  I did jinx myself.  The very next night she woke up at 4:30 and slept the rest of the night under her bed.  Because her room is too tiny for us to sleep next to each other next to the bed, she had to be under the bed.  Good thing it's got a good clearance for her sweet head when she sits up!

Prius Update

We've driven 3,345 miles since taking delivery of the Prius on September 26.  Three-thousand miles plus in less than two months! 

During September, we spent $239.56 on gas for the Odyssey minivan.  Just trips back and forth to town during that month, and one trip to Huntsville (75 miles away). 

During October, we spent $139.52 on gas for the Prius--with the normal trips to town, and three trips to Huntsville, plus one trip to Memphis (3 1/2 hours away)! 

I can live with that. 

One thing we missed from the minivan is the DVD player.  One of Luci's presents for her birthday was a DVD player for the car.  So now she gets to watch her movies and I can listen to the radio!  Any station I want!  Plus, we have Sirius XM satellite radio, so I can listen to just about anything I want and not lose the signal.  We traveled to Birmingham (2 1/2 hours away) twice this month for field trips and I did not have to hunt for another station as we traveled.  Oh, the luxury!

I told Luci we'd be able to go on more field trips once we had a car with better mileage.  And we have--at least SIX in two months!  Lotsa fun!

Another thing I am really liking is the built-in GPS mapping.  We've found every field trip destination with no problems whatsoever.  So nice to have it built in and not falling off the window like our other little machine does.  Mine does not chide me when I go 4 miles over the speed limit, either.  That's another thing in its favor.  (Uh, no, Dad, I don't speed!  Don't know why I'd know about that nasty tattle-tale thing on the other GPS unit.)

Now you know what I am thankful for today, as we get closer to Thanksgiving. Our little car with the great gas mileage. 

I'm totally jinxing myself, but...

Luci slept TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW in her big bed!

ALL NIGHT!!

Sure, I was still on the floor next to her bed.  And sure, when she woke up after 7 a.m. (another victory!) she was not happy that I was gone.  "Where were you?  You were not there!"

So sue me.  When 7 a.m. came around, I went to the kitchen to get some coffee.

Now, just because I mentioned this here, what you want to bet it doesn't happen again (all night in her own bed) for a week?


History of Luci's Beds

Today's hair-do is brought to you by...

...the Little Dutch Boy

which is better than it looked two months ago when I got it cut. Then, I looked more like Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

Heard Today:

Luci, Daddy's going on a trip to Washington, D.C.  That's where the White House is.  Do you know who lives in the White House?  The President!

I want him to go tell Michelle Obama that I want my fries back!

UnHappy Meals

A month or so ago, McDonald's changed its Happy Meals.  The fries got smaller!  Well, not the fries, exactly.  More like the packet the fries come in.  That packet is TINY.  It looks like it belongs in a child's play kitchen set.  It's not much bigger than a ketchup packet.

Photo of it here.  (It's not my photo, so I'm linking one I found on flickr.com) Notice that it's sitting next to a ketchup packet and a sauce packet--it's a TINY fry box. It's made to hold less than half the previous amount of fries put into Happy Meals.

Luci was not happy with the change.  Even though McDonald's added apples to the meal (I guess to add another food group, but it seems like it's making up for the lack of fries), Luci was not happy.

Here's how the conversation went:

Look, Luci, a cute little box of fries!  Isn't that adorable?  (Even though I have no problem with my thin girl eating fries, she could stand to eat more apples, so I was trying to sell this!)

No.  

You don't like it?

No.  Why did they do that to my fries?

President Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, wants kids to eat healthier so she and McDonald's decided to give smaller fries and add apples.

Michelle Obama's nice, but I want my fries back.

Article:  McDonald's Wins First Lady's Approval with Happy Meal Makeover

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Now, on to today:

After a long day at McWane Science Center, we hit the drive-through on the way home.  It's a two-and-a-half hour trip home so I didn't want to add to our day by going in to eat.  We get Luci's Happy Meal, and as we are still sitting at the drive-through window, Luci exclaims,

Hey!  Michelle Obama didn't get to this Happy Meal!  I got my big fries!


I hope the McDonald's lady at the window heard that!

Saturday Beauties

Luci got into the Halloween facepaint (another half-off day-after-holiday purchase!) and did this cat face...

She's my tough little toothless tiger!

We didn't know when we planted our azaleas a few years ago, that we had a variety that blooms both in the spring and the fall.  I love our blossoms!  Our two bushes have flourished, and are taller than Luci now.  They are close to the front (north) side of the house and are protected from the early frost by their proximity to the house.    What a nice surprise, getting the double-blooming azaleas!

November 1

Ahhh....Breakfast the morning after Halloween....

  

Gorgeous color!

 

Harding Swing in the Autumn

Doing a Sudoku! 

only, instead of numbers, we used animals in jack o'lanterns

Began our tradition of Thankfulness...

Luci's first Thankful Leaf...it says, "I ♥ God."

And, for the first time in EVER I have gotten a BORING calendar.  No more pretty Mary Engelbreit drawings or Charles Wysocki artwork...Just too many things to do with our kids!  Had to get one with bigger date squares on it.

But...the day after the day after Halloween, we made it to the store and got candy and  costume items half-off!  We got 3,400 dum-dum lollipops for next year's Fall Festival at our church,

and....

Luci says, I'm a Cow Girl!  But that does not mean I ride a COW!

Ballerina Fairy Princess

That's the costume Luci has put together for herself.  I'm tickled that she came up with one that is original.    Look closely for her "earrings."  Luci has a set of teeny-tiny stickers that she uses for earrings.

Is it night time yet?  I want to go to Trunk or Treat!!

Gorgeous! Sunset Tonight

I love these faces!

Mummies and Leaves and Chores

So cute--Mummy Dogs!  I got this recipe from here.  I was pleased how they turned out.  Even Luci liked them!

The leaves are gorgeous this year.  I say that every autumn!  And it's always true.

JT figured out how he could enjoy his chores...get Luci to do them! (Yes, we let the kids spray paint the driveway.)

It's more fun if you are in costume.

Birthday Suits and Other Stuff

Luci and her friend Hannah had a joint birthday party at a local party spot.  The kids all had a great time! 

 

This was the cake (really cupcakes put together to resemble a cake).  This came with the party deal.  The woman had to tell me what it was.  Can you guess?  It's a monkey.  So she said.

Opening gifts--there is a splendid "birthday chair" to sit in.  Since the girls both wanted to be first (of course), we put them both in the chair at once and the melee began!

Really, though, it was not confusing at all.  Each girl was honored, and so pleased with their gifts, and their friends did not look like it was an odd thing at all to have both girls going at once.

 

Kalyn and Luci!  Best friends.

John is ready to go home.  He's near the end of his recovery from knee surgery (notice the crutches).  He's keeping guard over the presents.

One of the fun things about this place:  The race car!  This is the most exciting thing Luci has ever done.  Seriously.    Even JT liked it!

 

This party spot had inflatable things for the kids to play on.  Even the big kids, shown here, had fun.

Today, though, was the real day that Luci turns SEVEN.  But not really.  Explanation to follow.

First we decorated her cake together.  We used an all-natural cake mix and naturally colored frosting.

Practice makes perfect!

   

Mom helps.  Look at that tongue action!

The finished cake.  Luci chose what to put on her cake--a little bit of everything.  It was just what she wanted, so that made it perfect.

One thing that is so nice is that Luci shows her excitement over what others do for her.  She's very happy about the Wii game Bryan gave her.

A check from Nana and Papa!  I'm sure we will be visiting the Barbie aisle soon.

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  Reading the birthday card.

As you can see, the calendar is a bit off.  It shows October 26 as Tuesday here in our "school room" (also known as our dining room).

There's a good explanation for that.

Last year, Luci's birthday party was planned, John was going to come home from work (he was not retired yet) and then tornado weather moved in.  So her party was rescheduled for the next day, and everyone came but Daddy--he had a meeting he could not miss.

All year long Luci has moaned and groaned about Daddy missing her birthday.  Never mind that he was actually home on her actual birthday.  He missed the party, and that's what counted in her mind.  So, ever since last year, she has told him over and over that he is not going to miss this birthday.  

Then why celebrate a day early?  Because John has a camping trip planned with three others (one of whom is Bryan) and it can't be moved again.  The trip had already been post-poned for John's surgery.  So, why celebrate a day early?  Because the camping trip begins tomorrow!  On her birthday.

Since Luci has no concept of time, I decided to be really sneaky and all month we've been putting up dates on our school calendar one day off.  Problem solved.

Today, as each of us told Luci, "Happy Birthday, 7 year old!"   Her response: "I won't be seven until I blow out my candles." 

She may not understand time, but she does know Proper Birthday Protocol.

She also knows you should dress for the occasion.  As we got her cake ready to decorate, Luci announced that she was going to, "Go get on my Birthday Suit!"

No matter how many times we tell her that a "birthday suit" is just the skin you're born in, she refuses to accept that.  It turns out that her Birthday Suit was a cute pink outfit that included a Hello Kitty skirt.   :)