Just Because Something's Gluten Free, Doesn't Mean It Must Suck

This is my new mission statement in life. I've been fighting the battle against not eating wheat for more than a year when I was officially diagnosed with a wheat allergy. That diagnosis was like a life long sentence of depression for me. I LOVE to cook, my friends refer to me as Mini Martha for goodness sake! I tried the wheat free way (although, my heart was not in it), and it was very trying. While I love to cook, it's nice to be able to whip up something in a jiff using something out of a box, or packet. It's also wonderful to be able to pop a bagel in the toaster in the morning, and enjoy it with cream cheese smeared all over it. This was the battle I have faced for the last 18 months.

While eating wheat would cause me much pain in my gut (literally), and swelling, it was not enough to get me to curb the eating. That is until we embarked on our recent move. I was forced into eating tons of wheat laden items out of necessity. It was like I was on a wheat fest. I got extremely ill. For the last few weeks, I have been so sick, and so swollen, I cannot describe it or compare it to anything else. In addition, I've been so lethargic (which is not a good thing during a move), and moody. It's definitely enough to make we wonder if I have something more than just an allergy. Maybe a gluten intolerance (Celiac Disease)? I never got tested due to the fact that just me being allergic to wheat requires following the same diet.

Alas, I decided to go back to the tried and true gluten free/wheat free diet. I am going to embrace this, and not fight it anymore. I'm three days into g-free, and I've lost almost 9 pounds of water (I'm thrilled to be able to see the bones in my feet again), and my stomach is no longer in pain, I sleep well, I feel well, and I'm not exhausted. So, to keep myself motivated with this because I know that I will become tired of the maintenance part (nothing store bought, etc.), I've decided to document some of the meals I make every week. Maybe this can inspire other stubborn people like myself.

Apricot Pineapple BBQ Chicken

16 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Fresh Lemon Pepper Season:
Zest of one lemon
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp chopped parsley (fresh)

Season both sides of raw chicken with lemon pepper season, and grill over med-low heat. Begin bastin with BBQ sauce after first turn, and continue to baste throughout cooking.

Sauce:
2 Tbs extra light olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 can of tomato paste
8oz of apricot pineapple preserves (I used a jar of homemade preserves, so adjust seasonings to taste, as store-bought is sweeter)
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbs molasses
1/2 cup sucanat or organic brown sugar
1/2 cup organic ketchup
2tsp-1Tbs of Chipotle chili powder (must be chipotle for the smoky taste)
sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

In a saucepan over medium heat, sweat the onion and garlic until transluscent. Add remaining ingredients, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 min. Sauce will become thick and darker. Puree sauce using hand held stick blender or carefully using a food processor. Baste meat with sauce during cooking.

*Many wheat intolerant people know that certain things contain wheat. I never imagined that something like BBQ sauce, or even some seasonings like lemon pepper would contain wheat, but the caramel color added to so many food items is made from wheat as well as many of the starches, and MSG added to many of the seasons we buy.

Second Snag in the Move

I'm writing these back to back today as there is simply too much to go into one post. Especially since I began my last post 3 days ago and was unable to finish it until this morning. So, events of this post began on Tuesday...

I have to say that I must have died and ended up on Wisteria Lane. I LOVE my new neighbors as they are such a breath of fresh air from Nancy. I doubt I will be having to clean up their dog crap from my front lawn for sure. My next door neighbor showed up to introduce himself, and offer usage of his painting supplies before he left for a camping trip. He and his wife have 5 kids and they are home schooled. I have yet to meet his wife, but he and their children seem very nice. A few hours later,  my neighbor who lives across the street came by, and due to her red hair and homemade cookies, I will refer to her as "Bree." Yes, she brought us homemade cookies topped with very delicious homemade buttercream icing. She introduced herself, and invited us to a neighborhood bbq this weekend for everyone to meet each other and let the kids play. I thought to myself, this is really cool. I already feel that I will be very sad when the time comes for us to part ways with Fort Lewis.

The following day brought another neighbor who lives on the other side of us. They were very nice, and from what he told us about his job status at the moment, I have a sneaking suspicion that he is the person we've been waiting for to come take David's spot in the G-3 shop so he can be released to go down to his new job. He and his wife were very nice, and they offered help with anything we should need during our move. All in all, I already see us being very happy and at home in this neighborhood that resembles the Walgreens commercial where everything is perfect...complete with tree lined streets.

So, fast forward to Thursday morning, and Dave received a phone call from the transportation office. He had left a message on Tuesday afternoon for a transportation agent to call him to see if there was any way to expedite our move. This is one of those things that I wish they would have told him Tuesday morning instead of telling him to wait until next Monday. You see, the Army no longer contracts movers to do local moves. Local moves are all "do it yourself" with reimbursement from the Army. Wow, you think that they could have told him that Tuesday so that we could already be moved in. The one silver lining to this is that they will pay us very well for our blood,sweat and tears we shall shed in this fiasco. So now, moving the essentials which would allow us to functionally live in this house which would require the work of Dave, Jay and I, has now turned into a full scale moving operation requiring the work of many with much more lifting ability than Jay and myself.

I cancelled the trailer, and reserved the largest truck Uhaul has (26ft), and then called my parents to ask them to drive down to help. Of course, asking friends to help is not something you do at last minute, so the move has now been put off until Wednesday, and so begins the process of procuring boxes, and packing up my house. I feel the need to just sit and cry, and wallow in self pity, but I know that doing that will not change the situation. I shall make the best of it, and be happy to be out of this house, and into a wonderful neighborhood in a house that I wont have to pray that we will not have an earthquake in for fear that it will collapse. Trust that this will not be the end of this story, I'm sure there will be much more to add as we go along. Wish me luck.

And So It Begins...The Big Move

Here we go again. Two years down here in Washington State, and we move again. At least this time we are staying within the state and not PCS'ing anywhere. I've mentioned before that our new home is falling apart. If I could get Mike Holmes to come down and fix this I would, but the better answer in this case is to put it back in the developer's lap. I also might add that the contractors that have screwed over the many on the show "Holmes on Homes" have nothing on this builder. In fact the actual builder that built our home is no longer in business under the same name that it had when they build our house. They've since closed up shop under their old name and got a new license and a new name, and I'm sure they are still building crappy homes for many more unsuspecting people.

I should have known to run when we got here in September of 2008 when we showed up only to find the home that we had designed and picked out all of the items for would not be finished on schedule. The builder rep urged us into this house which was only a week out from completion versus the home we had picked that was still a month and a half away from completion. We needed a house yesterday, so instead of cutting ties with the builder for breech of contract (and I had proof of the promised date for move in), we took this house. My father likes to say that they saw us coming, and they probably did. I will now admit that we made a huge mistake, and have been paying for it dearly every month for the last almost 2 years, and will be out close to $20,000 when all is said and done when we hand the keys back over to the developer (I can't wait for that day, while my pocket book will be poorer, I will be doing the happy dance whilst saying "Yes, I won, and you get to take back this piece of crap house with bad wiring, faulty foundation (some cracking of the walls is normal with settling, but the ceiling upstairs is literally sinking into the walls), and cracked subfloor, and try to sell it to someone else!).

This past Monday, Dave and I signed our contract, paid our money, and got our keys for our home on Fort Lewis. Yes, we've decided to move onto the base. Although, I must say that this is the nicest home in base housing that I've ever seen. I'd even venture to say that it's actually nicer than the home we are leaving. They've totally renovated the entire house; refinishing the oak plank floors, renovating the bathrooms, and the kitchen. The kitchen, oh my goodness, it's gorgeous. Nice high end cabinets with granite counters, and nice, heavy, brushed nickel fixtures; it's my own little slice of heaven. The entire house is a blank slate for a photo shoot to be featured in a Pottery Barn or a Restoration Hardware ad. The best part is that we have a huge fenced in backyard for the kids. Everyone from Washington, and most of the west coast knows that backyards are a rare commodity, so I'm thrilled to have it.

So, as I said, we signed our lives away on Monday.  Monday was the best day (or so we thought) because we needed to schedule for the movers to come pack our stuff, and according to the housing office, the transportation office held the briefing for this on Tuesday mornings (the Army has a briefing for everything). So, we painted the house Monday afternoon, and were all ready to have a date scheduled for our furniture to be packed up and moved into the house by the end of this week. What was I thinking? Of course  this would not be as easy as it looked in theory.

David went to the transportation office Tuesday morning all ready to get this move going, and their answer to him was, "We're sorry sir, but this briefing is for incoming moves. You will need to go to the local move briefing on Monday at 1300." Monday...an entire week away, and the clock is already ticking loudly as Dave took two weeks of leave to make this move happen, and we will have already lost a week by the time he Monday rolls around. So, we decided to rent a U-haul trailer and move the necessities ourselves so that we could at least begin to live in the new house, leaving the rest of the items to be moved by the movers. So, trailer is reserved for Friday, and Dave is going to the "do-it-yourself move" briefing to see if we can at least get some compensation for moving part of our stuff. This move is already not going according to plan. Stay tuned as I'm sure I will have more to add to this fiasco before it is complete...

The Love Hate Relationship

As I sit here and type this, I must admit to you that after the better part of a decade of being married to David, I'm really not feeling the love for the Army at the moment. I have had these feelings for oh, I don't know, the last two years since he told me that we were coming to Fort Lewis, Washington. Really, my first thought was how the weather was going to suck...seriously, doesn't Seattle have the highest suicide rate in the country? They are at the moment retrofitting a bridge so that people will no longer be able to jump to their death! Admittedly, in all fairness to the situation, no matter where we were going to go, I would have been unhappy, due to the fact that we were living in paradise at the time, and it would have taken an act of God himself to get me to happily leave Newport, Rhode Island. However, in all seriousness, nothing has been right since the inception of this move. I have been in a constant state of limbo..actually, I can't even qualify this chaos as limbo. It's more like a constant state of Pergatory, heading towards the outer ring Dante's Inferno. A constant state of flux if you will, where everytime you see an end in sight, something moves and pushes me away from the light of happiness. There is no concept of time and schedule in this pergatory of mine, and it's driving me insane.

It began when we discovered an entire walk in storage closet full of boxes that the movers had left behind in RI, and it continues into the present where the 2 years that I thought we had left here at Fort Lewis is now sitting in pergatory with me as we now do not know when the hubby will go down to his new job that would allow us to get the Hell out of Dodge by August 2012. At the moment, I have no idea when we will leave this awful, awful place. In all fairness, I do know that some people really love Fort Lewis. From what I gather, you will either love it here, or you will hate it here. I fall into the latter category. Might I mention that as I type this, I really should be packing boxes for our move onto post 3 weeks from now, as we made that decision due to the fact that our new home is literally falling apart at the beams, and our 13 year old son is somewhere between becoming a thug, and being bullied by his peers. We have made the decision to move onto the what I now refer to as "the movie set," (thanks Heather) on the 19th of July. And here in lies my love part of the relationship. I feel as if by trying to live off of the base, and in the civilian sector, I have made a huge mistake. Almost as if denying my wifely servitude in the Army, and I almost feel that for doing so, I'm being punished in some perverse way. You see, that in almost 10 years, we have only lived off post for one duty station, until now. Although, I'm not sure that the first station really counted as off post as we were literally right outside the gate! It was almost like living on post--every family on our block was an Army family; we all were friends, we took part in everyone's kid's birthday parties, and 4th of July was a big BBQ.

Have you ever seen the Walgreens commercial where everything is perfect? When I think of our time living in housing, that is the vision I see (with the exception of the actual house we lived in for 6 weeks when we first got to Fort Knox, LOL, the neighborhood itself was spot on though.) I miss living in that kind of neighborhood. I miss having friends surrounding me and my family. And even though, I'd never admit it otherwise, I miss the idea of my neighbor knowing everything that is going on in my life, and vice versa, and knowing the families that my children play with, and hang out with. I love how you can walk down any given street in the village, and see an American flag stationed on the front of almost every house, and how most houses have some sort of "Home is Where the Army Sends You" sign or plaque hanging somewhere on or in their home. I love how everyone in the neighborhoods know one another, and have get togethers on a regular basis. You see and hear happy children playing outside, and riding their bikes around the neighborhood because they can, and not have to worry about getting run over by some schmuck racing his car down your street just because there's a hill and he wants to see how fast he can get the car to go down said hill.

There's another thing that I miss about being on post that I didn't realize that I missed until yesterday while waiting for my son's football game to begin at 5:00. This thing momentarily erased all bad feelings that I harbored against my husband's employer. It was witnessing and taking part in retreat. The time of the day, that ends the day in the military. The moment they play the bugel, and retreat the flag down it's pole, to fold it up, and put away until the dawn of the next duty day. At  this moment, you instantly feel like you are part of something bigger than you can imagine, hearing the cannons fire brings a chill down your spine as the hairs stand up on your arm. Every person at that moment stops what they are doing, (to include the morbidly obese lady holding the burrito in her right hand that I just had to include because she cracked me up when she held said burrito behind her back instead of placing her right hand over her heart!)faces at attention toward the direction of the flag during the entire ceremony. For those few moments, life stops still, and it is an awesome sight to witness, to be a part of, and to behold, because you know that nobody outside of the military would understand what that moment means.

For those reasons, I cannot say that I do not love our life in the Army. I guess the saying "I'm married to the Army" is true...It's kind of like a marriage. My husband makes me mad, but I still love him. I guess I can view his job in the same context. Because his job is so much more than employment, it's part of our lives and who we are. I'm proud of the fact that my 4 year old knows to stand still with his hand over his heart to watch the flag retreat. I'm glad that he and his siblings will know that our flag stands for so much more to this country than just something to pledge allegience to at school every morning. I'm glad that we will be moving back to a place where respect for others is something taught to the majority as opposed to where we live at the moment.

I'm so looking forward to the 19th of July when we get the keys to that red brick colonial house built in 1940. It will be a much smaller place, it's definitely not new, but I am determined to make it our home. I honestly think that in moving, things will feel less like purgatory, and maybe, just maybe a little closer to dare I say perfect for the next however long we are chained to this God forsaken post, LOL! I say this because I really thought that I hated Fort Knox when we moved there, and by the time it came for us to leave, I was very sad..not for David to leave his job there, but to leave our home..our community, and our friends. Let's hope that our move brings about as many blessings as our time at every other post where we were happy...

Military Spouse Appreciation Day...

At the risk of being verbally acosted by people that I know and love dearly, I am going to go out on a limb and say REALLY? SERIOUSLY, a day of appreciation for military spouses? Don't get me wrong, I love every one of my "sisters." I agree whole heartedly with my husband when he says that it takes a special brand of woman to be an Army spouse. The question that weighs heavily on my mind with a day like this is, since when did military spouses become a special brand of woman worthy of public appreciation?

Here's my take on the matter. When a couple gets married, they take vows to love, honor, cherish...stick it out for better for worse, and in sickness and health, good times and bad, richer and poorer--you get the idea. In my eyes, I happen to be lucky enough to have married a Soldier. A man who has a heart of gold, and an unwavering love and respect for his country. These values that my husband, and everyone one of his brothers in arms possess in and of themselves should not be considered special. The fact is that we all as Americans should hold these same values. Unfortunately, not everyone does, but in this country, everyone is free to feel the way they want. At any rate, before I get too far up on my soap box, I married a Soldier. What I do as his wife is not a job. What I do is not worthy of pitty from others (as I have received on occasion from various people), and in my eyes, is not worthy of public appreciation.

What I do as an Army spouse is the same thing that every other spouse SHOULD be doing; be a loving and supportive wife. I took my vows, as did everyone of my "sisters" and I took them with the same verosity, and moral respect that my husband and their husbands did.Why should that be something to be celebrated by a happy few? Shouldn't being a loving and supportive spouse be something to be celebrated by ALL, regardless of if you are part of a military family or not? Granted, in the Army,  our lives are more chaotic than others, and we deal with much more sadness and grief than most on the outside of our "family" will ever deal with in a lifetime. This is the life we have chosen. It is part of who we married. With all of the sadness and grief we bear witness to also comes much joy, loyalty, and respect for others, and more love and devotion than others will see in their lifetime as well.

While my husband may work terrible hours, and is gone more often than not, he supports me in our joint family venture 100%. He provides for us, and he does his part to ensure that our children for many future generations will have a safe home to grow up in. He is my biggest cheerleader with any endeavor I may embark upon. Not to mention that in addition to his support, I have a huge family of "sisters" who support me as well, and cheer me on when I need it most. We all appreciate each other on a daily basis whether it be thru a phone call to a far away friend, or asking your neighbor if she needs you to pick something up at the store while you're out, or pimping out your husband to hang Christmas lights on the house of your neighbor who's husband is deployed. I am in awe and humbled to be in the ranks of such wonderful, devoted, strong women. I personally do not feel that I need a holiday to celebrate the fact that I'm an Army spouse, or a day to appreciate me. For being a loving and supportive spouse is what I signed up for when I said "I do." I have chosen to not cut and run when things get rough. Maybe instead of having a day of appreciation, everyone should look upon the military spouse and her/his soldier/sailor/airman/marine, and see them as an example of what marriage and truely unconditional love should look like and follow suit. That would be the highest level of appreciation anyone could give. And it's appreciation well worth receiving.

As I said before, I'm sure I will be verbally acosted by those who don't agree. However, to my Army family, I LOVE YOU ALL, and I cannot imagine life without you guys in it!

Who knew...the stuff you did as a teenager will come back to haunt you?

The rule is no dating until the age of 16. My older sister had the rule, I had the rule, and now my daughter has the rule. I admitt, I tried bending the rule more than a few times; unsuccessfully at that, but I tried. I remember pleading my case with my mother as to why I should be allowed to "date" when I was in jr. high. I remember telling my mom that a certain boy wanted to "go out" with me. Her reply being, "Where are you going to go to?" It wasn't so much the idea of going out on an actual date, but more the idea of being boyfriend and girlfriend. I could never convince her of that. Then, when I was in high school, there would be boyfriends at school, and I did at least convince my parents to let me receive phone calls from boys at that point, but still no actual dating. For that, the iron clad rule was 16. Thus, if it was good for me, it must be good for my own daughter. Consider it a right of passage if you will.

So we begin, the saga of Alyssa trying to convince us that she should be allowed to "go out" with one of her older brother's friends. There are so many issues I have with this idea. First, my daughter, my baby girl has now officially been noticed by one of her older brother's friends. This boy has spent the night at my house many times forcing me to think, WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? Second, as much as I try to ignore the fact, she IS getting older, and more beautiful by the minute, and while I would love for this to be the last time, I realize much to my dismay that it's only the beginning. There will most indeed be more of Jayson's friends that take notice of my beautiful daughter. Third, what makes this particular case special, and thus causes me the most grief, is that Alyssa harbors mutual affections for said friend. Finally, my daughter resorted to using my own lines on me that I used on my mother so long ago, thus making me feel like some sort of ancient artifact.

It began yesterday morning with a conversation on the way to school. Alyssa: "Mom, you know T****? Well, you know that I said he was cute a few months ago, and I think he's really nice, and I just found out that he likes me!" Me: "OH...well, that's nice. How do you feel about him?" Alyssa: "Well, Jay told me that he said to him that he likes me, so Jay asked me if I liked him, and I said yes. So then, he asked me how much I like him, and I said, well, maybe 50%..but then I decided that I like him like 100% instead." Me: "Is your brother trying to play match maker? Because we've talked to him about that." Alyssa: "NO, it isn't like that. T**** came to him and told him that he liked me. Jayson already knew that I liked him, so he came to ask me what I thought." Our conversation ended at that, and I dropped her off at school nonetheless amazed at the fact that banter from a pubescent tween hasn't changed much since I was sitting in the passenger seat.

Fast forward to yesterday after school. Alyssa askes me if she could talk to me. For some odd reason, the thought of T**** had left my concious mind, and honestly, he was the last thing I thought she would approach me about. Yeah, no--I was wrong about that. Alyssa:" Hey Mom, you know what we were talking about this morning about T****? Well, I was wondering if since I like him, and he likes me, that since you said that I could have boyfriends at school, that maybe you would let us go out?" (What in the Hell was she thinking?) Me:"Go out? (and here it comes, the words my mom used on me which is extrememly disturbing to admitt that I'm using them on my own child)Where are you planning on going out to?" Alyssa: "NO, NO, we're not planning on going out anywhere, just being boyfriend and girlfriend." Me: "Alyssa, you do realize that T**** goes to a different school than you. So, if you are allowed to have a boyfriend at school, and T**** doesn't go to your school, how are you going to get past that?" Alyssa: "I was thinking that since he already comes over to hang out with Jay, that we could hang out together too, and maybe talk on the phone." (My God, this child has really lost her mind!) Me: "Alyssa, the rule is no dating until you are 16. First of all, Jayson is grounded for the next millenium (for something other than this), so T**** will not be coming over. Two, he is in jr. high, and goes to a different school, so you don't see him. Third, when have you ever been allowed to talk to boys on the phone?" I'm not ready for that. I'm not ready to have countless boys calling my daughter, and vice versa.

The conversation ended after a phone call to her Dad to get his input on the matter, which, SURPRISE, was the same as mine. No dating until 16, and most certainly no phone calls with the opposite sex. Jayson also got a talking to about what it means to watch out for his little sister, which doesn't include setting her up with his friends. In the end, I won this battle, but only after Alyssa questioned as to why she must wait until she turns 16 to date, and why it can't 15? Ironically, I asked my mother the same thing. (I wonder if I don't wish a child on her that acts just like her, if she would still end up with one?) As I said, I won this battle. Given that she is going to be 12 in July, I'd say that this war over dating shall rage for the next 4 years and 2 months. I can say with some degree of certainty that since my mother did wish a child on me that acts just like I did, I will not be going to work once she gets into high school. For, I will not be finding out that my daughter had a boyfriend that she hung out with while I was at work, hehehehe!