Summer Scrapping

   My goal this summer is to be creative. That means scrapping, card making, trying a few new recipies, and making some resources for my TPT store. I decided to start with scrapping. It has been far too long. 

   I usually start with my oldest photos. Not  this year. I started with the most recent, that I have printed. In no particular order, here are my creations from yesterday and today. 

Random photos from the day of Prom. 

Her Halloween door and jack-o-lantern.  

Her 18th birthday, a subdued event. 

Our attempt to take senior pictures. The wind won and all we got were outtakes. 

Thanks for looking. :)

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Birthday Cards

I put away my new stuff from SU! today. Which meant I needed to shuffle some stuff around. I went through my scrap box and paired papers with card stock. Then I set about making cards. 

My work flow is simple. Use Pinterest to search for cards made with a particular stamp set. Save the image. C.A.S.E. the card. 

Today's theme: Happy Birthday. 

All the cards are a mixture of retires and current SU! and a variety of papers. 

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Lasagna: GF Style

One of my favorite foods is lasagna. An ooey-gooey, cheesy lasagna. I recently found gluten free lasagna noodles by DeBoles. 

I use a bread pan for lanagna since there are only two of us now. I only used the noodles for two layers. The box suggests making sure the noodles are completely covered. I had three layers of meat and cheese to make sure there was plenty of liquid for the noodles. Since I love lots a cheese, I didn't mind the missing third layer of noodles. 

Here is the pan all ready to go on the oven. I baked it for an hour. It was delicious, extra cheesy perfection. 

There was enough for lunch today. It was even better the second day.

Add this to the list of GF foods that taste just the same. Score!!

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Gluten Free

I am now part of the gluten free community. I have been tested for Celiac, early in the days of finding a 'cause' for my daily headache. It came back negative.

Fast forward 4 years and I am reading more about the other symptoms of gluten intolerance and decide to go gluten free for a month and see how I feel. It took three tries for me to get to the month mark. The second time I made it three weeks and had some pizza. Then I had a really bad week for head pain (I still have a headache of some degree or length 15+ days a month, but that is a long story for another day) I started to think about both times I ate something with gluten and realized both times were followed by noticeable head pain.

I gave it another try. I made it through the Christmas holiday season without a cookie or roll. I knew I needed to test my theory one more time. Last weekend we went to a favorite Italian restaurant. I had wonderful garlic knots and pasta. Followed by a day of noticeable head pain. That was enough to convince me... gluten is a trigger that can/will increase my head pain.

Of course this week I was ready to throw in the proverbial towel. The headache just wouldn't go away. I didn't eat any bread, pasta, etc... Then I read a blog that mentioned Pringles are made with wheat flour. WHAT???? I didn't read the label. I know potato chips aren't a health food, but who puts wheat flour on potato chips. Apparently Pringles do. Thus explaining why my headache stuck around.

Being gluten free isn't easy. It is easier than it was just a few years ago. Since I am not grain free, I still eat rice pasta and use rice flour blends for baking. I am learning about GF baking, it takes some fineness for sure. But I will keep plugging away at it. I have found some great bolts with recipes and tips to help with this transition.

Here I go into a new venture in the journey called life. Until next time.

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Welcome 2014

I am not late! I am doing things on my time. I often get bogged down by expectations, usually what I perceive as the expectations of others. When, in reality, I need to focus on my own expectations. Who cares when I blog? Who cares if I blog something that 100 others have blogged about? Who cares if the idea is not 120% original, few things are? Who cares..... I will not worry about those things this year.

I had a hard time picking a word for 2014. I wanted one that would encompass the things I hope to accomplish this year. First I had to figure out what that was. I set a few goals for myself:
    1. Blog more often
    2. Work on my photography
    3. Take piano lessons
    4. Move: walk, use the elliptical, go for a bike ride
    5. Create more

Fairly simple and straight forward goals. All things I have the tools to accomplish. My issue is and has always been follow through. I am great at coming up with ideas, setting goals, even starting projects. Finishing them, or continuing them, is my problem.

I got some suggestions from friends, went through some words on my own, and thought about it. I finally decided upon Persist. Here is one definition:
       
     per•sist (pərˈsɪst, -ˈzɪst) 

1. to continue steadily or firmly in some state, purpose, or course of action, in spite of opposition or criticism.

2. to last or endure tenaciously: The legend of King Arthur has persisted for nearly fifteen centuries.

3. to be insistent in a statement, request, or question.

These are perfect. They give definition to what I want/need to do. I need to 'continue steadily' in spite of my own opposition. :) Because I have always been my own worst enemy.

So there it is. My goal for 2014 is to PERSIST. Doing that will enable me to accomplish all my minor goals. I'll let you know how it goes.




   

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