I was thinking

So as I was blog stalking several strangers today I started thinking that maybe I should actually blog myself! Crazy concept I know... just stick with me here.

So when I started this blog a while back I was going to blog about the family and all of the fun/cool things we do. Then I started thinking that we are not that "FUN" so why blog. It wasn't until recently that I realized that my life is just ordinary to ME! Yes...the MR & I are still over worked and exhausted all the time but in a world like this, who isn't. I love to blog, I love to write...and I used to wish I had more time to do both. But instead of wishing, I'm now "doing" so take this blog or leave it. The one down side, is that our computer at home is BUSTED beyond repair (I'm blogging from a secret location today), so I can't really upload any pictures until we get a new one. Soo...until then it's just going to be like a long story with no cool pictures.

** But hey--it's online so you don't have to feel the awful texture of the paper (seriously why is there such horrible feeling paper for books?).

As most people know, I'm super busy all of the time...but everyone is these days! I always put my own wants/needs on the back burner as most parents/spouses do, but I have learned (the hard way) doing this is taking a toll on my happiness. I am really trying to pull out of my "funk." I've made a promise to myself that I need to start paying attention to ME (geez I feel selfish), otherwise I'll lose what little is left of my mind!

With that said...I'm getting back into my HOBBY of dog obedience with my NEW PUPPY! Then, once our computer is fixed...I am going to bite the bullet and invest in some Photo Shop software so that I can do photography that I'm so desperately wanting to learn more about. Eek, I'm excited!!!

Dog shows + Photos = Happy Me


Happy me = Happy Family!!!

Comments

Why can I not comment on my own blog? It says I do not have permission, then it says to log in...when I am ALREADY LOGGED IN. Can any of you savvy bloggers help me?

**I HEART WHIPPYCAKE**

Oh Em Gee!!! Whippycake (my favorite tempting accessories company) is having the best giveaway EVER! $100 in free WC goodness... for ME! Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm frugal so winning this would make my year! It would also make me one HOT mama, since I feel so beautiful when I rock my Whippycake Glamour Bands! Eek, okay seriously I can hardly type I'm so excited. Keep your fingers crossed that I WIN! Check out their amazing site-- I'm not all computer savvy so my link looks lame, but it will get you to the site all the same!

http://whippycake.com/blog/2011/08/whippy-cake-reaches-10k-followers-giveaway/

Better late than never right? Well, that is my blogging motto these days. I have so much to fill you in on though!! So I will add a few new posts today to try to catch up.
First, in response to my previous post I decided to go for the Celiac blood panel and that was NEGATIVE!! Super woot!! Well, you can still get false negatives, but I chose not to get the "scope" to look at my guts, because I had already been violated enough, and either way I'm severely allergic to gluten (among other things) so I have to be gluten free anyway (the only way to treat Celiac). So, I'm content with my blood results and I didn't feel the need for additional testing. Yay me! On a side note, I'm losing weight and am down 18 pounds since Thanksgiving and I feel amazing.
With that, I have also decided to share some of my new recipes. I have tried many GF,SF,vegan type recipes and they are pretty good, but I always have to add my own twist to make them "better". I have my favorite chocolate cake recipe (before GF life), so I decided I had to make it safe for me now. Let me tell you, It is freaking AMAZING! I can't believe it is GF,SF,Vegan chocolaty goodness. So I had to share, since most of my recipes come from other bloggers. Maybe someone will eventually see my great cake and make it!! :) I will have to post pictures later. You will not believe this is GF. Remember, you have to triple check ingredients on your products to ensure they are the GF,SF version.

OMG I DID IT-- Chocolate Cake

1 Cup Brown Rice Flour
1/2 Cup Quinoa Flour
1/4 Cup Tapioca Flour
2 Cups Xylitol
3/4 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 Cup oil (I use canola to make it soy free)
1 tsp salt
1 Cup Almond milk
Egg replacer (equivalent to 2 eggs) ** I used Energy brand** follow directions on box
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup boiling water

Mix flours well with whisk to blend all together, then add remaining dry ingredients until well incorporated. *This is super important when baking gluten free*

Then mix milk,egg replacer,oil and vanilla, at this point batter will be thick. Lastly add boiling water and stir well. (I do not use electric mixer, because everyone cautions against over mixing, better to be safe than sorry)

Pour immediately into greased & floured (coconut oil & rice flour) 13x9 or two 9 inch round baking pans. Bake at 350 F degrees for 30-35 minutes.

I don't have frosting for this cake, I prefer warm chocolate cake w/ buttery spread melted on top. So Stinkin' good. You have to try it!!

I'm BACK!!

Oh my goodness!! I blogged two days in a row!! Well, a year apart anyway. I know I’m a horrible person for not having blogged the last year of my life, but for the most part they were things that I would like to forget anyway. With Brent being in Iraq I was constantly busy, sleep deprived, and sick. The girls managed better than I did in most areas, and I’m so very thankful for that. Brent made it home safely from Iraq, and with that our lives are on the journey back to our normal (yes “our” normal).

Our normal though, is still beyond crazy. But we do what is needed in an effort to keep the girls’ lives as smooth as possible. I still work nights Sunday-Wednesday and Brent works the normal people days and hours. We do this so that they don’t have to go to daycare or after school programs etc. With this however, Brent and I don’t see each other much. Once I leave for work on Sunday, I may see him a total of ten minutes until our standing lunch date on Thursday. We have only two Saturdays a month that neither of us have to work (that is on a good month), otherwise we are constantly like two ships passing in the night….Err, well early morning in our case. HOWEVER—There is an end in sight to our madness! I’m so happy that we have decided that I will go to a day shift in July 2011!! I know it seems like that is a long time away, but really… it is only 7 months! At which time Lyndsey will be almost 12, Reilly will almost be seven and they can stay home alone together for a couple of hours after school until I would get home. I can’t wait to be a normal person again.

Speaking of being normal, ha ha… for those of you who have been so supportive with my health issues here is a little update. After YEARS of feeling constantly ill, a nine day hospitalization in August and more painful poking and prodding than I care to admit… I decided enough was enough. I took my sister’s advice and went to a naturopathic doctor! I know some people don’t see them as “doctors” but I absolutely do. In fact…they are better than Western Medicine doctors by a FAR! With ONE (1) visit and blood test they found that I’m allergic to EVERYTHING!! Well, not exactly everything, but things that we eat every day. After years and years of being disregarded by other doctors it obviously took a MAJOR toll on my body. Not to mention vitamin levels and my thyroid (hello weight gain) were out of whack too! Granted, the other doctors also tested my thyroid but it is on the low end of normal for western medicine…but it is NOT normal for Naturopathic practices, because of higher standards. I have MAJORLY changed the way I eat (to exclude all allergens) and I’m already feeling a lot better and have lost 11 pounds in 12 days!! Wooot! I’m allergic to many things but the biggest ones are Gluten, Sugar Cane, Soy, Corn, Eggs, and Milk. If you aren’t sure what Gluten is…Google it. It is in EVERYTHING! I’m waiting on my Celiac Disease results (has to do w/ gluten allergy), and I will keep ya posted. The doctors are pretty sure that it will be positive though, as ALL of my symptoms that landed me in the hospital in August are related to long term untreated Celiac Disease. I don’t understand how the TEAMS of doctors missed it for so long. In one visit to the Naturopath, I learned more than in the years of doctor appointments with western medicine doctors.

Well, I think this is enough for now… I will really be better about blogging now. I am excited to share my fun family life and my journey to being healthy (gluten & other allergen free)…I have already experimented with baking and I have some pictures to share too.  But, that is for next time.

Much love…Jill

November Nonsense

Okay, where to begin…FIRST, I never intended to be the once a month type of blogger. I’m just super busy lately for obvious reasons.

Lyndsey had her TENTH birthday on Nov 5th I seriously can’t believe my little angel is ten years old. I look at her beautiful face and I wonder how I got so lucky as to have a child so beautiful, not to mention absolutely sweet and caring.

So November has been pretty eventful really, the week after Lyndsey’s Bday I went to visit Brent in NJ. We went to New York and Pennsylvania too for some touristy stuff. It is beautiful in the northeast, but I’m not a fan of that much rain or paying to drive on the highways (stupid tolls). My favorite part was Tiffany & CO and Serendipity in NYC on the same day! Jewelry and chocolate in the company of my loving husband…what more could a girl ask for?

I’m super happy to have my mom back in Arizona, with everything going on and a new “on call” schedule at work, I haven’t been able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked but it is still nice knowing she is close by.

Brent is in Kuwait now, and will be going on to “another place” within a few days. With the holidays here now, depression has officially set in for me. I cry at the drop of a hat, and I want nothing more than to have him home. The girls are really emotional too right now. It’s just sad. I literally sleep with my cell phone since I work nights and he is 10 hours a head he is usually calling when I’m a couple hours into my sleep for the day. When the girls are home and I’m sleeping I put them on “phone watch” so that we don’t miss his calls…since we never know when the next one will be.

Thanksgiving came & went….my sister Jodi came in town and it was nice to catch up with her. We did the black Friday crazy women shopping deal, and went at midnight when the malls opened. We finished up at Walmart and where headed home Friday morning by 0525. It was a long night, but we got some great deals.

I guess that is all I can think of right now…well except for Jessica our nanny is leaving us. Things just didn’t work out the way we had hoped, the girls and I will miss having her around…and wish her the best of luck.

Happy Holidays

Okay, so things have been so busy—yeah yeah, typical Jill phrase I know.
Seriously though, I’m just going bananas. I’m still in the phase where it’s easier to be grumpy than sad; and I’m sure it is getting really old to the people around me. I’d apologize, but I’m not ready to change it quite yet…so stay tuned.

Daddy Fisk has been super busy this week with training, and although I got a warning it would be like this from here on out, it’s not easy. The only time I get to talk to him is a few minutes at night—and well, H-E-L-L-O I work nights. So I rush outside to take a break and talk for a few minutes but being that we have to keep it so short there is no REAL talk. It’s wearing me down.

Enough whining though right…I promise I’m not ALWAYS a downer. So the good news is that the Army issued them a four day pass which means, I’ll get to go see him for four days next month!! I’m super excited, we plan on going to NYC and Philadelphia to see some touristy stuff, it should be fun. AND I’m excited that I get a “do over” since I spent the last pass in GRUMP mode!!! I’m sure you wanted to know…but I’m mostly looking forward to spooning—it is by far the most secure feeling ever. I can’t even explain it… so cherish your spooning time. The funny thing is he always says I pose him like a Ken doll!!! So hilarious (so Brent)…deep down I’m sure he likes it too.

Another good thing is that my mom is moving back to AZ from Colorado!! YEAH, we are excited to have her back in town; I think Lyndsey almost cried from excitement.

Oh…we did the ward trunk or treat last night it was fun, Brent’s parents had the girls so they weren’t there (they went to another Halloween function), but I did borrow a few other kids for a little bit so I didn’t look like a freak being there childless. For Halloween this year Lyndsey is a clown and Reilly is an angel with a crown and a wand, odd really—I know, but she was set on all three and I have learned to choose my battles. On the way to the church, Reilly was telling me that she didn’t have a dad now, so I spent about five minutes explaining to her that YES, she does have a daddy—he is just away for a while. Man was that hard.

Okay okay I really do have some family pictures to put on here and I will get them off the camera as soon as I figure out how but for now I figure Maxine and I think enough alike that I wouldn’t be totally off by adding a picture of her.