Seven Quick Takes

~~1~~

We made our first gluten free muffins this morning.

And there was actually a little sunshine to take a picture! 

(lol, it looked better on my computer, but you get the idea)

I realized after we started that I didn't have one of the main ingredients: sorghum flour.  I did have millet and a coffee grinder, so I made millet flour (after a convoluted google search that said that might work).  I also made the quinoa flour in the coffee grinder. I'm not sure I ground it enough - there was a very slight crunch to the muffins but it was not unpleasant in my opinion.   They got 5 thumbs up, one thumb sideways, and one child left theirs half eaten without voting so I'm guessing it's a thumbs down.  I thought they were pretty good.  There was a slight quinoa taste, again, not unpleasant but odd to my wheat flour sensibilities, that actually diminished the more of the muffin I ate. 

~~2~~

I think I'm the only (slightly overweight adult) person who can give up a whole class of foods and still GAIN weight. Seriously?? I feel like I'm eating less, I'm not eating any wheat and very low gluten (i.e. the only gluten we are getting is in 'may contains' and things like oatmeal.) and yet my scale is creeping up.  Humph.  I have not weighed the children again yet - hopefully they have ALSO gained weight.  

~~3~~

I'm about two clicks away from buying a vitamix.  My 40 year old Osterizer blender smells smoky every time I use it, so I think I have finally burned it out making my thick, ice cream quality frozen fruit shakes in the morning. The hope is I'll be able to use this to replace not only the blender, but the grain mill (rarely used) and the juicer (ditto).  Plus the blender. The more I can streamline in this house the better.  I know the vitamix is not a perfect substitute for those things, but I think it will be good enough for my tastes. Plus, I always hated throwing out most of the fruit/vegetable when I juiced in the form of all that pulp/fiber. 

~~4~~

My children are doing an experiment with freezing water outside in a metal bowl vs. a glass (correlle? what is that stuff?) bowl.  They are trying to do a good job eliminating variables, etc, but I don't think it will be very accurate anyway. Professional scientists rarely have to deal with 4yo boys who want to get their fingers into everything.  He'll make a good scientist himself someday.

~~5~~

There were some fireworks outside our house the other night. We are guessing they were left over from New Year's Eve, which were probably left over from the 4th of July! We ran outside to look at them, but by the time we got out there, they were done.  So I had fun with the "fireworks" setting on my camera:

~~6~~

I'm enjoying the rare times dh gets to work from home. We are definitely moving up from the times when Jeffrey used to scream "I need to be wiped!" from the bathroom directly across from dh's office (Jeffrey's bedroom, lol).  Now, he runs up and down the hallway yelling "OOOOGAA OOOOGAAA OOOOGAAA  AAAHHHHHH!".    **Sigh**   Deliver me!     Yes I stopped him, but by the time I got to him it was too late.  The situation would not have been helped by me yelling across the house, "Jeffrey, will you STOP IT!!!!" LOL 

~~7~~

Does anyone else have a hard time getting back into school work after the Christmas break?  It's been like pulling teeth to get even the minimums done.  Luckily they have made some memories and generally are getting along -- at least the two who normally don't!  I always jump back and forth over that fine line between doing "schooly" work and letting them do what they want.  Behaviorally, they are much better off when I keep to a stricter school schedule of book type work, but I don't know, they seem to be better *people*, more true growth maybe?,  when they allowed to do what they want and they go off and write plays, do experiements, etc.  I guess a little of each every month will eventually turn them into well rounded people.   I hope.

For more Seven Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!