Yum! I Am Saved!

Cookies! I have cookies! Glorious, wonderful cookies!

I followed the recipe over at Flour Arrangements with only a couple minor substitutions (1- I don't have millet flour... yet; and 2- I can't have dairy, so used almond milk) and these cookies are heavenly.

Still need to tackle the bread issue.

My Dual Life

Maybe I just have multiple personalities? Somehow I've been blogging here as the Mominator... posting around as momtimesfour... and also as Shoes. They all fit (the names... not just the shoes).

Maybe I need an overhaul? A quick rinse and spin on delicate? A good shining? (Oh... now there's a scary movie: SHOES: The Shining!)

Adventures in Gluten Free Living Begin

Oh My Goodness! I had no idea baking could be... difficult.

I'm a pretty good cook. Recipes are a guide, not a precise rulebook to follow. I'm also a pretty good baker. My kolach impresses my mother-in-law (and she tells me so, too). I was working on "the perfect loaf of bread" awhile ago and looking forward to baking more again. (I find it hard to bake when I have babies/early toddlers.) I have never found cooking or baking to be the least bit intimidating or hard. Rarely have I turned out something inedible or totally "off" from what I intended to create. When people have exclaimed how hard baking is or waxed on about how precise one must be, I've scratched my head in wonder.

Until now.

This past weekend I decided to go gluten free in an effort to deal with health issues. I'd been putting it off because it's so drastic, so all-encompassing. But I'd had enough and was desperate to try.

Who knew baking was so... chemical... complex... and precise? Never, I mean NEVER, have I had to carefully pack, level or weigh anything when baking with wheat flour. But gf flours are... how did my friend put it... weird. That's it. They're WEIRD. Gritty, scratchy, powdery, stiff... unnatural. The resulting concoctions I've turned out this week are even weirder - tortillas that look like tortillas but taste like I don't even know what; pizza that tasted like an eggy savory German pancake (don't even ask... I don't understand... it was edible as long as I didn't pretend it was pizza); and now chocolate chip cookies that taste more like pecan sandies (which I like, thank goodness, but Toll House they ain't).

This is going to be interesting.

Sprouts!

I've been busy, busy, busy. Mostly with taxes and schooling. However I decided to branch out a little and start gardening. I stress the word "little."

I built several self-contained watering gardens and planted peppers, tomatoes, carrots and onions. The peppers were from starter plants, but everything we started as seeds. We've got sprouts!!! The kids are really excited and we keep checking everyday to see how much new green we see. Had I been an ambitious nerd, I would have remembered to take pictures. Instead, I was a procrastinating and overwhelmed nerd and just wish I had taken pictures. Oh, well.

Chicken Little Knew a Thing or Two

The news these days is fairly dismal. It's hard to know what to expect. Will we have a job? Will we be able to find work enough to pay the bills? Will we lose our home? What will we eat? What's going on? When will this get better? Can it get better? What does it mean? Can you imagine what the families on the borders of the crumbling Roman Empire felt when barbarians first started to infiltrate that which had previously been so solid? What about Medieval times? Or how about the countless families, towns and countries caught up in wars over the centuries? The Great Depression? Are we really any different?

I sure don't have the answers, but I know the One who does. And I know that countless generations before us have asked the same questions. Over and over in my mind I have found myself clinging to the Lord's Prayer in a new light. "Give us this day our daily bread..." has new meaning. It isn't just about the bread. It's about clinging to the Lord's grace today - and acknowledging that we need Him. It's about focusing on today's responsibilities and joys, and leaving the uncertainty of tomorrow well enough alone. After all if we are blessed with another dawn, God will be there. Our daily bread is about the here and now - the people, the chores, the smiles, the heartaches, every breath.

I suspect the coming months will hold a great deal of change for many of us. How will we greet and accept the changes? Will we pull together as a nation? As a people of God? As families? My prayer for my family and yours is that God will give you the daily bread appropriate to the day.

Dusting Off the Keyboard

::cough:: ::sputter::

I found it! I found the keyboard! It was buried here. Right here ---> no, over here, under the pile of Christmas cards, the iPod charger, various Lego pieces and preschool art. Cool! I can blog again.

Feast of the Holy Family

Yesterday there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the way to Mass. It occurred to me that the devil absolutely hates it when families go to worship Our Lord together. He tries every underhanded trick in the book to trip families up - arguing over socks, where lost shoes are, who owes who money, why didn't so and so grab whathisbucket a jacket, and so on - anything to get each person's mind focused on anything other than the majesty, grace and mercy of the Lord. Our family sure isn't immune.

How interesting it was to discover that yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Family. Every reading spoke to each family member about our duty to one another, the promise that honoring our parents holds, the kind of love we ought to have for one another, and the fact that all of our neighbors are indeed included in that family. How very interesting and enlightening.