December 2011 – xangelle.com

Birthday Crepes…..the Gluten-free Edition

It’s Jon’s Birthday today. He is 38 years old now. Seems like yesterday we were 19 & 21; and getting married….so weird to think that we are getting closer and closer to 40. He was saying, earlier today, that he still feels 20 something. Age really isn’t that important, is it? I think it’s more about how you feel than how big or small your actual number is…

We ran across the line today to pick up some groceries. I feel slightly bad that we are not buying local and yet…..right now, there is NO WAY that we would be able to feed our family for as cheaply as we can if we purchase a few things from the States. And right now….every penny counts. Literally, we are counting every penny and making each one count.

We have enough to cover the basics and that’s good. It’s tight, but we are doing okay!

After we came home, Jon had to renew his driver’s license and he picked up the girls from my sisters place. They had been over for my nieces birthday sleepover… The day was pretty much a “run around” day and I was trying to figure out what we could do to celebrate a little.

Jeremy suggested crepes and seeing as I have a smokin’ easy gluten free crepe recipe that EVERYONE loves….I agreed.

Most people should have these ingredients in their homes and this recipe is great for everyone.

Gluten-Free Crepes

6 Tblsp Cornstarch (or Arrowroot Powder, if you’d prefer to not use cornstarch)
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup of milk (I used coconut milk)
1 Tblsp of oil (I use coconut oil)
2 eggs (beaten well – seriously….beat them in a separate bowl before adding them into the mix)

Add everything together and mix well until all the lumps are broken up and the mix is smooth and runny.

Heat up a small cast iron pan over medium heat and rub a little bit of oil onto the pan.

When the pan is hot, pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and swirl the mixture around until the batter covers the bottom of the pan and looks like this…

Cook it for a few seconds (20-30???) and when it starts to lift away from the edges of the pan…then flip it over carefully and cook it on the other side for about half the time.

After it’s cooked, I flip it out onto a plate…..and it’s ready to be “fixed”…

I put some Strawberries and Cool Whip on mine. We had some left over Cool Whip from a Pavlova that Jon made for Boxing Day! Nothing like chemical whipping cream to really round a meal out.

Here it is….all wrapped up and ready to be eaten. The crepe is even strong enough that you can pick it up with your fingers at eat it…you know…if you are ill-mannered enough to do such a thing…..not that I know anyone who would do that…..

Doesn’t it look AMAZING! It tasted even better than it looked. I used cornstarch for one batch and used arrowroot for another and both batches turned out DELICIOUS, almost identical tasting crepes.

We couldn’t forget to include the only shot of the birthday boy getting his crepe ready to be eaten…..I think that he used Nutella and Cool Whip on this one…..I tasted and that is one heavenly combination.

Everyone ate until they were no longer hungry…….

And now its the best time of the day….BED TIME for the littlest ones….YAH!

See how happy he looks about it…..oh, maybe I hadn’t mentioned it when I took this picture….actually, this one is typically pretty excited for bedtime……naptime, not so much, but bedtime is okay!

ps. These are not “HEALTHY” crepes. There is nothing “whole foods” or even really nutritious to feed your body with these…but they sure do make a good treat for once in a while…and they are gluten-free and use really “normal” ingredients…..

Christmas Eve

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is over, but is it….

The weeks leading up to Christmas were a bit insane with trying to get all the presents made, but we did it. In fact, this year, I was actually ready for Christmas by the morning of the 24th. That’s the earliest that I’ve ever been ready. Now, to be honest, we did have to run out to the store to pick up one thing and trade out some pajamas that we bought for Judah. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I bought his original pajamas 2 sizes too small…..anyway….other than that, Christmas Eve was a nice relaxing day.

We started having a Christmas Eve Fondue with Jon’s parents a few years ago and it’s become a Tradition. As soon as we start to think about Christmas, decorate for Christmas, or start to think about making presents….the kids start to ask about Christmas Eve fondue.

I love that we have these fun traditions with our family. It just seems to make things more exciting and special.

Judah is especially excited because the entire fondue was Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free. So it was safe for all of us. YAH! What’s even better….it was FREAKING DELICIOUS!

After we finished our meal, we decided to open presents first and then to come back to eat dessert – Chocolate Fondue – after we were finished opening presents.

Siah was SO Excited! He could hardly wait to open his presents. Jeremy was also so VERY excited, but he just wanted to be able to give the presents that he had bought with his own money! It was very sweet.

This is the first time that Judah has really “gotten” into opening presents and he had so much fun. He absolutely LOVED this present that his Nana & Papa bought for him.

He has played with his car non-stop.

After we opened our presents, we headed back for some Chocolate Fondue!

Angelica was loving her some Chocolate Strawberries…

And then her and Nana started to goof around a little….

It was pretty funny!

After the Chocolate Fondue, we sent the kids off to change into their Christmas Pajamas. Isn’t he cute?

Nana and Geli….

Xani….all three, so pretty!

We started a game of Apples to Apples….

I played about 2 rounds and then Judah couldn’t handle it any longer…..

….and so I put him out out his misery.

After the game, we sat down for our traditional Christmas Story. This year we choose to read, Humphrey the Christmas Camel.

After all the kids were put to bed, and the stocking’s were stuffed and the house was closed down for the night……we headed off to bed….this is probably the earliest that we’ve been to bed on a Christmas Eve…only 1:45am. Not bad, eh?

To see all of the pics from Christmas Eve click here….

“I just don’t know” with a side order of “panic”!

I don’t even know if it’s possible for me to get my thoughts and feelings out here in a calm, collected manner.

I’m pretty sure there is some sort of PTSD going on with me.

I went into a complete tailspin last night around 11:30pm when Judah woke up with a fever.

I’m not saying that it’s a good thing. In fact, I’m pretty sure that this whole situation is pretty much anything other than a good thing. Unfortunately, it is what it is and I can’t make it go away.

Oh how I wish!

Jon’s working a 9-5 job right now and it out of the house for 10 hours a day….with commute time. This past year we have been so SO blessed by so many people and still….the expenses of the last year have been such that we are behind….by a lot! and we cannot afford to have him not work. So where does that leave me…

How do I manage the kids at home if Geli needs to go to the hospital? If Judah was sick, how to I stay with him and take Angelica to the hospital. Her care is complex. There are decisions to be made and we want to be involved in her care because there are been too many times where things may have gone so differently were we not there to be watching. She is one child out of many that need care in the hospital and we believe that we have been given the job to care for and manage our daughter and her health. We need to counsel of the medical experts and together we come to the best decision for our child regardless of whether its the “popular” one or not. This plan has worked well for us in the care of all of our children and I’m not at a place where I feel that we can jus drop her off at the hospital and leave her there. She is only 14 years old….hospitals can be disconcerting for even adults, let alone a child who has been through as much as she has over the past year and a half. On the other hand, Judah is still a nursing baby. I can’t just leave him for a couple of days. And…I can’t be two places at once….

My biggest problem comes in not knowing how I would handle everything, if she had to go into the hospital.

Even if she just has a cold with a fever, and it’s just a virus that will run its course and they can’t give her any medication for it….she still has to go in for a 3-4 day stay.

I don’t know how I would handle it if that happened or what I would do.

There is a part of me that believed that because Jon got this job which has been such a blessing fro our family that somehow that meant that we wouldn’t end up in the hospital any more for the rest of her treatment. I can’t count on that. I don’t know that for sure. It’s foolish of me to just bury my head in the sand and hope for something. I need to at least think through what I would need to do and right now….I can’t figure it out.

And so when Judah woke up with a fever and the weight of this all hit me……I panicked.

I still don’t know how I might handle that situation, if it does present itself.

In some ways, I just wish that we could live in a bubble and just wait this out. And yet, I know how entirely foolish that is….and so we must carry on.

We have about 10 more months of this treatment.

I’ve got to figure something out…..

Geli here

Hey everybody! I was thinking about selling some paintings for Christmas, and wondered if you had any ideas of what I could paint. I have one idea: a Cancer Ribbon Butterfly, (look up pictures on Google, I can’t do the hyperlink thing) and was wondering if anyone was interested in that??? They’ll be biggerish paintings, I have two 60x80cm canvases. So if you could give some examples of something you might like, I’ll see what I can do and put them up somewhere (still not sure where yet) and sell ’em.

I’m Dreaming of…..

So I’m sitting in front of my happy light crying…..how ironic is that?

I do believe that I’m about due for that whole monthly thing within the next week (I apologize if that’s TMI for ya) but even knowing that doesn’t really make me feel that much better.

I don’t feel Christmas-y AT ALL! I’ve been going through the motions, trying to convince myself that “I’m SO EXCITED that its Christmas time” because….well….because I typically LOVE Christmas and maybe, just maybe I can convince myself into being happy and excited about Christmas instead of just wishing it were over already!

This is a tough year. We are still in the trenches of our fight against cancer, but the intensity of the situation has lifted just enough that we can look around a little and breathe. In some ways, that feels just as bad as when we were in the thick of it all and all we could really concentrate on was just getting through the day. At least then, we didn’t really have the time or energy to see what we “were” or “were not” doing. We were just trying to do our best and to “exist” through a very tough time. Not that I have a lot of time or energy right now, but I do have a little bit more than I did back then…..YAH for small victories….sorta!

I was listening to the radio as I drove the kids to school this morning and a story came on about a little boy who was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was 4. He’s now five and the the radio station was raising money to help make this an amazing Christmas for him and his family. They mentioned the part where he’s been in treatment for the past year and that he has another 2 years of treatment to go…..My first throught was…..That’s horrible! That’s such a long time. My second thought was…..Oh Yah! That’s where we are at!

We don’t have to go through two more years of treatment, but we do have to go through another year of treatment and it’s tough. I cried for that little boy’s family. I know what they are feeling. I know how tough it’s been for them. I cried for our family. It’s been a tough year and a half.

And so I cry. I try to pull myself together. I turn my Happy Light on and dream of sunshine and warm beaches…..

And then I’ve got to go and work on this……

Mount Laundry

Because it won’t fold itself, eh?

“Me” time….

It’s is short order around here.

But, the baby is asleep and the house is a COMPLETE DISASTER. I need to pick up toilet paper and I must ship out some orders. (thanks for your support – you guys are amazing!)

I’m trying to figure out how to have or take some “ME” time. I think that it’s so important to be able to have time to recharge and relax and de-compress and yet….it’s tough.

I remember these years when you have littles around far to well. When it was just Josiah, it seemed SO MUCH EASIER, but somehow the two little ones keep me hopping ALL DAY!

I’m squashing back the “mommy guilt” as I’ve let Josiah play video games this morning. He’s not been allowed to play on the WII for 2 weeks and he only gets about 1/2 an hour of a show or movie at lunch time and so I know that it’s not bad if he has one “off” day. I think that the hardest part for me is that he asks so often for the games or movies and I just wish that he’d play more….

There really is not good point to this post…..that’s brutal!

Well, the point is that I’ve got to figure out a way to have some “me” time. Not sure how, but I know that I must…..

Do you have any suggestions? Ideas?

I used to go and do yoga for an hour and half 3 times a week and right now that’s not in the budget, but I’ve got to figure something out.

What I really want and I’m totally dreaming here….I want 2 weeks on a beach in a hot place. I want to be able to sleep for the first week and then really enjoy the second week. That sounds like an amazing way to recharge, but then again it doesn’t help me with a regular “down time” and I’ve got to figure that out too.

One day…it’ll happen one day, right Jon?

ps. Have you entered to win in my giveaway? Right now your odds are really good!

Are You a Winner?

I’m not really loving the fast pace of our lives right now. I mean, everything is fine and okay and good. We are trucking along just doing life, but it seems to be moving along at quite a fast pace, and I so much prefer a bit of a slower pace with more “breaks”….maybe I’m just tired and so everything feels more difficult.

I’m not complaining about my life and I hope that’s not what it sounds like. We just have a million things to do and probably enough time to do them all in….I should just be thankful that we are healthy and that things seem to be holding steady at this pace for right now.

I’ve got a few things to post about here…to record our lives and what’s going on, but for right now…I just wanted to send you over to the Simple Choices Website.

I’m talking about Body Butter and having a giveaway. I hope you’ll enter to win.

I’m planning on sitting down tonight and pounding out a post. It’s on my list of “things to do”. Let’s see how far down that list I get today.

Barking Seals

Not sure what the deal is, but the baby hasn’t slept well in the past three nights and this means that mommy and daddy haven’t slept well in the past three nights. I’m feeling SO INCREDIBLY DRAGGY this morning.

It doesn’t help that both Jeremy and Josiah sound like they’ve swallowed a family of seals and are hacking and coughing up both lungs.

I just want to crawl back in to bed, but I’ve got to run to the store and pick up some Mullein – it s a herb that is FABULOUS for soothing the respiratory tract and works WONDERS on coughs.

And I’ve also got to mail out a few packages of product for Simple Choices.

My Mom agreed to come and watch my barking seals while I ran around and so as soon as she gets here, I’m off.

I hope you have a good day.

Have you checked out the Simple Choices Products? And check out the $10 off coupon code……MERRY10……when you buy $20 or more of product.

You Rock!

Thank you for your comments and e-mails and Facebook messages.

We have appreciated each and everyone. It’s great to have so many different perspectives and to hear different ones experiences.

We haven’t made a decision either way. I’m so conflicted but in the mean time…

The school has gone to bat for Jeremy and is showing through their actions just how much they care for him. The Vice Principal called me yesterday and asked if I was okay with her talking with his class about respect and if I was okay with her using Jeremy as an example. I said that it would be okay. I figured that if it got worse….then we’d pull him. If it gets amazing better, then YAH!

She called me this morning and talked about what steps the school is taking. They did talk with the class about respect and about harm….about not harming other people with words or actions. They also spoke with a few other classes (some of the children bothering Jeremy are in other classes) about the Quebec Teen who was bullied. I really hope that the outcome is compassion as opposed to derision.

The school really seems to be taking this whole situation seriously. I have to admit to a whole bunch of guilt in not dealing with this before now…this is the third year that Jeremy has been complaining about the same group of kids. Obviously Geli was the highest priority last year, but still…..

The Vice Principal mentioned that Jeremy seems less stressed today than he did yesterday (we ran into her when we went past the school to pick up some of his work) or the day before and this is a good thing.

He slept so good last night and actually slept in this morning. I really do think that the day off really helped to calm him down. He hadn’t been able to get to sleep and was waking up earlier and earlier stressing about school.

On top of him calling home stressed about being bullied, he’s also been calling home saying that his meds aren’t working or wondering if he forgot to take him meds….Yesterday he had no problems focusing when it was necessary. I actually think that the stress of everything was causing him to be so distracted and was hindering him from being able to focus. So far, I’ve had no calls home and I’m expecting him home in about an hour. The no calls home is a very good thing.

I don’t think that this situation has magically resolved itself, but I do hope that we are headed in the right direction.

And my baby just woke up and so I’m off…. have a great rest of the day!

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