Oh, Look at the Time

I'm not exactly sure how nearly a month managed to slip by since I last posted. I'll just skip over most of the month and give a brief update on the state of things around here.

Duke is maybe recovering? Maybe not? We don't really know yet. He has been back and forth to the vet trying to figure out where things have gone wrong. We'll be back tomorrow for another visit. We have added ear infection and eye infection to his list of ongoing maladies. Why was he abandoned, you ask? Hmmm...let me think about that one...

We have passed the 20 session milestone with J-Man's neurofeedback. We haven't seen much progress yet, but hopefully we'll get there soon. We did have some good news about supplemental funding for his sessions, which is a huge blessing.

We are down to under three weeks to go until school starts. Can I hear a hallelujah? Summer break. It's not for wimps. The kids have been to summer camp, been camping with Dad, gone to swimming lessons, had rooms painted, attended a variety of VBS's, gone to the cabin, visited cousins, etc. We have been purposefully busy this year. Unstructured free time is evil. Now we are on to school preparations. Clothing needs to be tried on, school supplies need to be purchased, and I need to figure out if J-Man will really ride the school bus for an hour in the morning. I'm torn on that one.

Back soon with some venting I need to do.

Humiliation, Thy Name is Duke

My boy had surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn ligament in his knee. Here he is wearing the Cone of Shame. (Anyone know the movie reference?)


Here you can see his baldness better. He is considering joining the Fur Club for Dogs.

It's been a rough week for the Duke and his Mommy. His girls will be home tomorrow to shower him with love and sympathy, which should make life better for all of us.

And They're Off!

Both K's boarded the camp van this morning and headed off to the northern regions of the state for a week of summer camp. I'm used to Big K doing this kind of thing, but I'm feeling kind of sad that Little K is old enough now. It will certainly be quiet around here for the next few days.

J-Man is signed up for a week of Vacation Bible School, so that leaves me to my own devices for a couple of hours every day. What shall I do, what shall I do? How about grocery shopping and errands! Oh yes, the freedom almost makes me giddy.

Home Sweet Home

We've just returned from our annual Cabin Trip. This year we opted to rent a cabin on the lake instead of hauling our camper to the far ends of civilization. While the rented cabin was an improvement over the camper, the plan still needs a little fine tuning before next year rolls around. I could share several pictures of our deluxe accommodations, but I think these two will adequately tell the story.

The upstairs had a separate entry from the downstairs, and was obviously added on much later with little oversight from anyone with architectural experience. Or common sense. Here is the "bathroom".


Yes, that is a toilet tucked into a nook in the wall and partially shielded by a folding screen. I don't see anything weird about that, do you? The "kitchen" is just a few feet away on the other side of the room. Let's not dwell on that point, but rather move on to the view from below.


Now we're in the original part of the cabin, decorated in a charming country motif circa 1987. You can see there the refrigerator. That pipe coming out of the ceiling looks odd, you say? Hmmm...what could it be? F-f-f-lush! Oh, dear.

It's good to be home. Where all the bathrooms have doors and the plumbing is where it should be.

A Message to my MIL...

...uninteresting to all others.

Hi!

Don't know how much of this got passed on to you...so...

We are planning to stay longer than usual. How long depends on the weather. But we don't expect you to provide food for our pack of vultures for the duration of our stay. We'll take stock of our facilities and probably make a grocery run on Tuesday. I could handle the dinners from that point forward, if you would like me to.

If you're agreeable to a girls' outing, I'd like to hit the glass place. We could also visit the used book store?

Fat City Books Coupon Code

This online used bookstore is about as close to perfect as they come. In the course of three years and hundreds of books ordered, I've only received a couple that were in slightly rough condition. Plus, most of the books on their site (or at least the ones I'm interested in) run $1.99. To make it even better, they offer free shipping for orders over $25.00. To make it even better than that, when you place an order they send you a coupon for 20% off any additional orders until the end of the next calendar month. And they encourage you to share the code. So here you go...just punch this code in during checkout: 6ACJ11 It doesn't expire until July 31st, so you have plenty of time to shop. And it's good for as many orders as you care to place until then. Happy shopping!

Fat City Books

And Then There Were Two

A couple of months ago, The Husband paid a visit to the same doctor I started seeing last fall to discuss his hypothyroidism. (Is that a word?) So after a bunch of blood work, it turns out that he has Hashimoto's Disease, which is essentially an autoimmune disorder wherein the body attacks its own thyroid gland. Apparently it's a fairly common affliction. As part of the treatment, he has to avoid gluten. The labwork also showed that he's allergic to dairy.

So here's the important part (because this is my blog and not his): What does this mean for me? It means that my life just got easier. Here's why:

Instead of cooking one dinner for him and another for me, I'm free to experiment with new gluten and dairy free recipes for the entire family to eat. I have to say, things are going fairly well. It's been nearly two weeks since I've served a dinner containing gluten or dairy and everyone (including the kids) is doing just fine.

I can start eliminating those tempting gluten and dairy containing snack items from the house. No more cookies, cupcakes, crackers, muffins, etc.

I have extra motivation to do something about a workable gluten free flour mix. I can't eat commercially produced gluten free baked goods because of my tapioca allergy, so I really have to come up with a flour mix. I've just been dragging my feet because it didn't affect anyone but me.

No one looks at me funny anymore when I bring home strange sounding grocery items, like lentil curls. In fact, sometimes I get thanked.

I have someone to commiserate with at church potlucks. Have you ever gone to a potluck and tried to find an item that didn't have gluten and dairy in it. Or just one or the other? Good stinkin' luck.

See, things have really improved here. The Husband might not agree. But I'm feeling much more comfortable with my dietary restrictions these days.