(Written by Susan)
Day 3
While we have not converted 100% over to a gluten free diet…my husband still snacks on foods containing gluten (Darn you Girl Scout cookies!!)…all of our family meals have been gluten free. This is the third day of our gluten free week and I believe I have been feeling better. I have to research a little more into what others have said about the gluten free diet. Here is my day…

For breakfast I had my usual bowl of Chex with Craisins. Since finding out Rice Chex is gluten free we have been eating them like they are going out of style. It is a great cereal for breakfast or snack. For my mid-morning snack I had a piece of oatmeal bake with milk on top. I don’t mind eating the same things each day and my son Ryan seems to be just like me. When we find things we like to eat, we eat them day in and day out. Lunch was a repeat of dinner from yesterday, grilled ham and cheese with veggie sticks. For something sweet, I had some applesauce with cinnamon. There is no doubt I have been eating healthier over these past three days. My meals are more balanced with lots of fruits and vegetables. And you know what? I am not at all surprised. I am always telling people how healthy Ryan eats. He is sensitive to tomatoes, but other than that, he is able to have all fruits and vegetables. The best part is that Ryan actually likes to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Our afternoon snack time came and I opted for trail mix again. I think this will be a regular habit, because there are not a lot of snacks, besides fruits and vegetables that are safe for Ryan. For dinner I tried a new gluten free dinner roll recipe that turned out great! You can find the recipe here: Gluten Free Dinner Rolls. I wanted to coat the chicken with breading and decided to try something different. I crushed Chex cereal and added rosemary, thyme, salt and locatelli cheese. Next I coated the boneless, skinless chicken with egg and dipped it into my “breading” mixture. It went into the oven and baked for about 35 minutes at 380 degrees. Since I was baking my dinner rolls at the same time it made the meal come together very quickly. Per Ryan’s request, we had white rice and corn to top off the chicken entree. Dinner was delicious and now I am beginning to consider having all gluten free meals all the time. It is going to take a little more effort and a little more money, but it is great to have a table full of food, all of which can safely be eaten by Ryan. After dinner I again had a craving for something sweet. Tonight I decided to have oatmeal bake along with my hot tea. Delicious.

(Written by Susan)
Day 2
This morning I decided to have my usual breakfast, which happens to be gluten free. General Mills now make gluten free Rice Chex and they are great when accompanied by Craisins. When Ryan was ready for breakfast he wanted to have a piece of toast so I decided to try a slice of toasted freshly baked bread. As I expected, it was very good. Next I searched for an oatmeal bake recipe so I could attempt a gluten free version. I substituted applesauce for oil and raisins for the cranberries. You can check out the recipe here: Oatmeal Bake.

For lunch I had leftover meatloaf, potatoes, veggies and a slice of the homemade gluten free bread. Yum! I am a huge fan of leftovers. Next, Ryan and I tried the oatmeal bake which turned out okay. I bet it would be delicious warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. While Ryan enjoyed his ice cream and oatmeal snack, I chose to not do dessert. For an afternoon snack I went back to trail mix, because it is filling and very satisfying.

Time for dinner. I opted for a simple meal since we had been playing outside right up until dinner time. I fixed grilled ham and cheese sandwiches using the same loaf of bread I baked yesterday. Greg, Ryan, Dominic and I all had sandwiches with the gluten free bread and everyone was pleased. The ham came from Heavenly Ham and I found that my local store has a gluten free ham. Hooray! If you check out the website or call your local store you will find that some locations are still be using the old spice recipe which is not gluten free. As a side to our sandwiches we had carrot and celery sticks and sliced broccoli. We used Marzetti’s Sweet Italian dressing for dipping our vegetables. If you have not tried it shame on you. It is my family’s favorite salad dressing and it is also gluten free! You can check out all the gluten free salad dressings Marzetti’s makes at their website. Shortly after dinner, I always find myself craving something sweet. Lately, I have been having a hot cup of tea with sugar and a touch of milk. Tonight, it really hit the spot.

(Written by Susan)
When my son Ryan was 6 weeks old, he was given a lollipop to taste. No harm in that, right? Within minutes he started developing hives on his cute, little face. Not sure what to do, since I was three and half hours from home, I went to the nearest pharmacy. The pharmacist recommended giving Ryan Benadryl and helped me figure out the correct dose to give him for his weight. Thankfully, this cleared up Ryan’s face and my husband and I could breathe calmly again. After speaking with the pharmacist and later Ryan’s Pediatrician, we learned that Ryan most likely reacted to the red food dye in the lollipop. Several months later I began to feed Ryan bread and noticed that he sometimes developed hives after digesting the bread. When Ryan was 9 months old I was out with a friend and I fed him a baby snack puff. Shortly after, Ryan started to get hives on his face. Within an hour they started to spread to his arms. I called Ryan’s pediatrician and brought Ryan directly to his office. The pediatrician had me pick up some medicine to give Ryan to stop the hives and recommended that we see an allergist. It has been three and a half years now since my son Ryan was diagnosed with a wheat allergy, peanut allergy and red food dye allergy.

I received a bunch of literature from the allergist and began to adjust Ryan’s diet to try to eliminate wheat, peanuts, and food dyes. In the beginning it was a challenge making sure that each food item was free from Ryan’s allergens. I had a list of ingredients commonly found in foods that the allergist said were not to be trusted as safe for Ryan. These ingredients could possibly contain wheat even though wheat was no where to be found on the food label. From time to time Ryan would have a reaction to something that he would eat and I would feel frustrated that I fed something to him that he was allergic to. Then Ryan began having skin problems and his eczema got worse. After speaking with the allergist we thought that Ryan might be sensitive to dairy. So Ryan went on a dairy free diet as well. For about two years Ryan avoided dairy until I decided to gradually start introducing it again. Thankfully Ryan seemed to do fine with dairy products which allows him to eat more foods and have a more balanced diet.

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Dominic had the bug this weekend. We traveled to my in-laws not knowing this and got the surprise all day Saturday. The bug is not being nice this time around. It’s a twenty four hour thing that will leave you worn out with uncontrollable diarrhea and random vomiting. If you get it, plan on staying in for a day and a half.

The key thing to do when you get the bug is to rehydrate yourself. [Disclaimer]I’m not a doctor so this information is just the result of experience with my kids and being sick myself. Consult your physician.[/Disclaimer] More often than not when people are sick they tend to shut down and think if they don’t eat or drink anything they’ll get better because they do not have anything in their stomach. But when you have fluid flying out of both ends you need to drink. Water, ginger ale, Gatorade, Pedialyte and sometimes Jello are good sources to rehydrate yourself.

Fortunately for us Dominic was very cooperative and drank water after each bout of sickness. When Ryan was little and got sick he would refuse to drink anything. This resulted in a trip to the ER where his diagnosis would be dehydration and they would need to stick him with an IV so he can rehydrate. Not a pleasant thing.

Something we learned is to be prepared. In cold and flu season you really never know when sickness is going to strike. If you have a sick toddler chances are you will go through diapers much faster than you anticipated. Always bring a bundle of diapers on any trip. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have the phrase “Be Prepared“. This is when you need to be prepared. Dominic went through diapers about 3 times faster than normal and we weren’t prepared. Thankfully, Sue’s mom was available to run to the store and pick up a package of diapers.

You certainly “ain’t gonna” keep the kids from getting sick but you can make it easier on yourself during sick season if and when they do. We are on day three of this bug and hopefully it’ll be moving out of his system today. Now I hope the rest of us don’t come down with it.

There needs to be a world wide gathering of people who hate traveling. They probably would not RSVP though. I am one of those people that hate traveling. For me it is not so much of a hate as it is a fear. The fear is a psychological condition called “Hodophobia“. I do not have a problem once I am at my new destination but the act of getting there whether it be plane, car, boat or other gives me anxiety and sometimes physical issues like stomach aches and nausea. And it does not always happen, sometimes I can go a distance without any symptoms. I do however get motion sickness if I do not sit in the front seat but that is another matter.

Usually when people tell me of their adventures to far away places the first thing I think is “You ain’t going to see me taking that plane ride.” For me, “far away places” start at trips exceeding three hours. But I was not always that way. In my early years I would travel all around with my parents. We drove to Florida for one of our vacations and it did not phase me. When I got my license I would drive from Pittsburgh to Scranton every so many months and I would enjoy the trip. Even in my early twenties I would drive hours to see a concert. At some point this enjoyment of traveling stopped. The thought of traveling to a concert would make me sick. Visiting friends across state no longer appealed to me.
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There was a trampoline, cut-throat, knock-out and cheese cake. That is just some of the happenings at the Shreve’s house this Supper Club evening. Tom deep fried a turkey but due to premature removal which was due to misreading of the clock which was due to too many Yuengling Light’s…I don’t know where I was going with this…but anyway the turkey was great. Elisa made some very yummy twice baked potatoes, Bobby Jo made delicious green bean casserole and Sue finished it of with her signature cheese cake. Tom also spun out a very tasty first attempt at normal stuffing.

Before we dined the kids worked off some energy on the trampoline. Normally there is a two or three person rule on the trampoline at a time but on such a fine day most rules were overlooked. Nathaniel, Tom and I took on a few games of cut-throat at the pool table while the women folk discussed things.

After dinner Nathaniel, Tom, Shian and I went outside for some knock-out on the basketball court. We got a few games in before we broke into two on two play. Nathaniel and I got smoked but it was fun…and just for the record the little kiddie basketball hoop is OUT OF BOUNDS! There.

We all went back inside to dig into the cheese cake. With a few pieces each in our bellies the kids got super-charged and were running around the living room like a mob of Tasmanian Devils. I wish I got a picture of this because it was amazing that someone didn’t walk away with contusions or worse. Kids were running full tilt from one end of the living room to the other as whoever felt brave sat in the middle with their eyes closed trying to catch the runners.

Everyone is in bed now and my eyes are slowing falling. It was another successful Supper Club.

Elisa encouraging the chaos on the trampoline

Everyone enjoying the cheese cake…Tom, get your spoon out of the dish!

This has been a busy week. I have been working on getting the Beads and Quilts site out there for about half of my free time. The marketing aspect is not something I really ever did so I am realizing the work involved with it. Right now my social marketing includes going to forums, getting into discussions and injecting the link when I can plus putting the link in Facebook and Twitter whenever I can. I’m being patient though and constantly looking for opportunities.

I’m thinking about having some t-shirt made up with some beading and/or craft sayings on them. It’ll provide another avenue for marketing and give another product to the site. Vista Print had an amazing deal last weekend where their prices where half off or more for printing t-shirts and business cards. I think it came to $4.95 per printed t-shirt and $5.95 for 250 business cards. If they have the deal again this weekend I might jump on it. Have to do some more work on the shirt designs.

Matt and I went to see the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Wednesday night. They played the Binghamton Senators which appeared to be the better team for the first period and much of the second. In the third period the Penguins turned it up a notch and won 3-1.

Tom and the girls came over last night to play with Dominic and Ryan. While the kids were doing what they do Tom and I developed a ping pong hybrid utilizing the wall with an elaborate set of rules. Essentially, you could use the wall for a serve or a shot but the recipient could not use the wall on the next shot. If you won off of a wall shot you got two points, if you failed on a wall shot your opponent got two points. I think there were more rules for it but I can not remember them at the moment.

For the past few months when Sue and I do not want Ryan to know what we are talking about we will spell the key words in the sentence. Words that he should not be repeating or ones that we fear he will fire away with those “what’s [fill in the blank]” questions were masked behind the letters that make them. Occasionally, we would spell the word and he would make an educated guess of what word we spelled after which Sue and I would look at each other with a hint of fear. Well, tonight we started digging in and teaching Ryan to read. He has a hand full of Diego books that are great starters for learning to read. The sentences are usually no more than four or five words and the words themselves are rarely more than a syllable.

Every night since I can remember…and my memory is terrible…we would read a book or two to Ryan before he went to bed for the night. Our ritual usually starts with first rounding up whatever stuffed animals and blankets he brought downstairs that morning. Then we brush his teeth and get him into his PJ’s. As punishment for any temper tantrums he may have thrown during the first few steps we might skip the book reading step which is next. He quickly cleaned his act up because the book reading step was his favorite. Now at four years old the ritual is second nature and usually goes off without a problem. It almost saddens me that soon he will be reading his own books and probably not need dad to read to him.

Tonight Ryan did an amazing job of looking at words, sounding them out and eventually saying the word. With each page he seemed to be picking up on words faster and remember words he already learned. Using the technique we are using now makes me realize how tricky our language can be. Words like “to”, “me” and “by” can be a little hard to grasp if you are just sounding them out. Heck, I sometimes have a hard time talking in our language and I’m sure there are a number of people I work with that wish I couldn’t talk. But I am ultra proud of Ryan’s reading progress so far.

I got the the Shadowbrook Resort around 2:45pm, one and a quarter hours after the Tunkhannock Beer Fest 09 began. Pulling into the resort I was amazed at how many people appeared to be there. There were cars all the way up the driveway, crammed into the parking lot and all the way down the golf course. While making my long walk to the hotel part I passed a gentleman peeing on the wheel of what I hope was his truck. I knew I was in for an interesting time.

I payed my twenty dollars at the door, got my wristband, received my glass and was met by a wall of people inside the banquet room. I did not believe the place was going to be this packed. There were tables outlining the whole banquet area. Each beer had it’s own table or tables and people were manning the beer tables pouring their beer into glasses. People have various reason for coming to such an event. Some come to just get trashed…twenty bucks all you can drink for 5 hours. Some, like me, come to try out various beers and hope to find one or two that they really like.

Undecided which way I should go I ended up pushing through and shuffled where the crowd let me. First familiars I ran into were Brian and Joe old Cactus alumni. They started pointing me around to what beers they liked and which ones they didn’t like. The first one I tried was a Victory Storm King Stout. The beer seemed like a watered down incomplete version of a stout. It had a fairly bitter bite and was not really pleasing at any point. I nursed this one as I walked around looking for Matt and Mike. After two small laps around the hall I found them coming back from the roasted candied nuts area. “You want some of my nuts?” was a commonly uttered phrase. As an added bonus Michal was with them. I got the skinny on what they liked and we began walking around again. I sampled a pale ale from a brand I don’t remember and a Granny Apple Draft from Woodchuck. All in all I didn’t find what I was looking for as many of the other beers were semi common including Grolsch, Sam Adams which is one of my favorites, Yuengling a great ol’ standby and Franziskaner of which Matt suggested.

This adventure was more about the company than the beer for me. I got to hang out with some off the wall funny people and meet a few others along the way. I ran into my brother Jeremy who pointed me toward the Granny Apple and Sierra Nevada. He and his friends were up to their normal mischief. Standing outside for breather a few of the patrons came up to us and just started talking about random things. One guy went off about doing an “upper decker” which was completely in left field and Mike threw a little “Back to School” spin on it with adding a Triple Lindy. I think my heart gave out for a few seconds from laughing so hard.

Dairy Queen is launching their DQ® Sweet Deals. You get to pick and choose your meal combination at an amazing price. Check it out: DQ Sweet Deals

I would blog about DQ daily to be able to get free DQ Sweet Deals.

Sue and I became addicted to the Mocha Moo Latte at Dairy Queen. A few sips from this coffee and ice cream beverage and you are running on all cylinders for a couple hours. What’s even better is they are allergy conscious and have menu items that are gluten-free which makes DQ a great stop for my son Ryan.