Huh, who knew?

I was just trolling through my e-mail (I get a lot of spam, blech) and it usually takes me a few minutes to get through it. Honestly, I end up deleting the majority of it, but I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from a gentleman from Nursingschools.net wanting me to check out an article they published: 
“100 Delectable Recipes for Your Gluten-Free Kid”

I'm not going to lie to you, I don't normally use, "gluten-free" recipes. All of the recipes I share here are either recipes I've specifically created to be gluten-free or they are regular recipes I've tweaked to be gluten-free! The idea that someone has put together an entire list of 100 recipes for gf kids is really cool! I actually don't have a gluten-free kid, it's my man who suffers from Celiacs (and a dairy allergy and a nut allergy too, sigh), but I can easily use these to make him happy too!

Thanks Ken for sharing great gluten-free, kid friendly recipes. I have several people who I know that are gf and have gf kids and this is really very cool and I couldn't wait to share! Awesome! ;0)

TiP fOr TuEsDaY (post 179)

                       *TIP FOR TUESDAY* 

                                                  And the battle of the phone bill begins...

(a quick note, I did start this yesterday but got caught up in the day and didn't finish...no, I am not a slacker...really!)
I noticed that my phone bill from this last month was a little more expensive than usual, by about $15. This is unusual in fact seeing as though- I have had the exact same carrier for the last 7 years, haven't tweaked my plan, never come close to using up all my minutes, have done nothing different in fact. Upon closer inspection I noticed that I had about 18 "roaming" minutes at .69 cents a minute. Roaming? I'd been nowhere, but the confines of my city, for the length of the entire month. How on earth could I have been roaming? It didn't make sense at all, even if I had in fact been roaming, why would I be inside my calling area? Especially when I have never received any roaming minutes in the city before, something was up. 
I recalled the same complaint from my man (who has the same carrier) last month and when he called to question the charges, they were immediately reversed without a fuss. He has had a long battle with our carrier and their refusal to repair/replace his "crackberry", even though they are well aware of it's problems at the corporate level. Every time he goes to get it done at our local carrier store, they refuse to help him or insist that he leave his phone with them for the day to get worked on. He uses the phone for his business and there is no way he can go without it for the day, it is really ridiculous. My man suggested I call and do the same or he would for me and he also suggested I blog about it and research to see if anyone else had the same complaint. What I found was that there were many, many complaints about my carrier (and even a class action lawsuit against them) and their questionable billing practices. See here and here and here. I did not find a specific complaint about my issue, no matter though. I reset my phone and made sure that the no roaming feature was enabled in the interim and I intend to contact my carrier about the charges soon.
I'll let you all know when and if I get to the bottom of it all and my "tip" is to not be afraid to question when you know you're being overcharged. As for my man, he has vowed to switch carriers as soon as his contract is up...not that I blame him!

tHiS iS wHaT i LiKe (post 178)

allrecipes.com

I know I'm a little late for my usual Monday post, I have a good excuse though! It has to do with laundry...and being very backed up on it...poo. As always, Mondays for me seen to be spent more on catching back up after the weekend than anything else. I didn't forget though, so here goes!

I happen to use this very site frequently, when I want a recipe or an idea and allrecipes.com is a phenomenal resource! Not only can you get just about whatever recipe you could possible want, you also get detailed instructions on how to prepare it and even tips to make it great! I used it to find a good recipe for Thai Peanut Chicken and I made it last night. Yummy awesome stuff! It was already gluten-free (su-weet!) and honestly all I did was substitute soy-nut butter (my gf eater has a nut allergy too) and it was delish! Let me note that I used authentic soy sauce that isn't made with wheat as well. All the kids ate it and my man and I scarfed it down, so you know it had to be good.

Speaking of gluten-free, allrecipes.com also has some gluten-free recipes, click the link and check them out. Need some ideas for dinner? Want a few cooking tips as well? Check out allrecipes.com, I know I like it! ;0)

ThOuGhT fOr ThE dAy (post 177)

 J. Lamb 2010

"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."~ John F. Kennedy

As the start of a new year is upon us, I feel the need to reevaluate the direction I'm headed in life. Maybe the fact that I feel I lack direction and purpose in a lot of areas is to blame. I wish to be an example to my children, to let them know that you can do anything when you set your mind to it. Just a thought...

Cheer me up

Painting makes me happy :)

 I have been down in the dumps as of late and it was particularly bad yesterday. I couldn't even bring myself to blog, so you know that's bad...cuz I'm a bloggin' fool! I thought I'd take the day today to try to cheer myself up a little with listing the things that make me happy and put a smile on my face. I challenge the rest of you to list the things that make you happy and to strive to make them a part of today.  I think I'll try to incorporate most of these into today too. :) (The kids for sure!) ;0)

These three little imps and the silly things they say make me happy too :)

Wearing knee socks makes me happy :)

Reading warms my soul and makes me happy :)

I have no idea what the world would be like without the good Dr., it makes me happy :)

Converse sneakers and hearts (my birthday is on Valentine's Day) make me happy :)

Beautiful blue skies make me happy :)

Cheery sunflowers make me happy too :)

TiP fOr TuEsDaY (post 175)

 

These are my kids (obviously) from a couple of years ago and I'm not sure how I did it, but I have three very unique little spirits. None of them are afraid to be themselves and to stand up for what they believe. I hope that I've done all that I can to encourage them to not be afraid to follow their own paths in life. Now for Mom. Do you follow your own path? Do you live your life according to you or do you follow the lead of others? If you don't, then why not? Hey , I can speak from experience (yes, the experience of doing things the hardest way possible) that living your life according to you can be very rewarding, but isn't always the easiest. I also have been known  to take the easy way out at times instead of standing up for what I believe in and this is one thing I intend to work on for 2011. I love my kids enough to encourage them to follow their own paths and for me to provide a better example. That's my TiP fOr TuEsDaY!;0)

tHiS iS wHaT i LiKe (post 174)

                      2011 and points forward

Happy to the Monday folks and for those Moms who were fortunate to send their kids back to school today, hooray for you! For those like me who do not have that luxury 'till tomorrow, eh...Okay, so I know that the post says "this is what i like" and all, for those of you who frequent the blog know that usually means a product featured that I love. Not today, nope. I'm sure if I thought about it hard enough, I could think of something...but, seeing as though I did not have the luxury of sending three kids back to school today...yep, that means no ability to think. I have growled at the Wii players twice while writing that last sentence alone. Seeing as though I cannot think long enough to get anything else written, you'll just have to click the link and visit my new photo journal blog instead. Yes, that makes 5 blogs I write now...hey, it could be worse, it could be tattoos! Hmm...;0) This is what I like for sure though, so check it out!