Happy Homemaker Monday - July 18, 2011

I'm linking up today with Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and Happy Homemaker Monday.

The weather in my neck of the woods:

It's is the 60s right now. Forecast is for high 60s and rain AGAIN. (This was taken verbatum from my last post three weeks ago. Not too much progress towards summer here. Though to be honest I think we're supposed to get into the low 70s.)




Things that make me happy:

Our relaxed pace of life for the next few weeks is definitely welcome. Things start to pick up again once County Fair gets closer.

Book I'm reading:

So many since my last post...Overcoming Dyslexia, Disconnected Kids, Brain Allergies, The LCP Connection, The Kid Friendly ADHD Cookbook. Pretty heavy stuff.

What's on my TV today:

Not much as usual.

On the menu for dinner:

Hubby and our nine-year-old spent the last few days camping and brought home pink meat trout. It's a little like poor man's salmon. There's no fishy trout taste at all, so time to get creative with it tonight.

On my To Do List:

I really need to get a handle on the weeds in the garden. This rain and temperatures that encourage weeds has made a mess of things. We also ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO finish cleaning out the goat shed. That becomes my mulch material for the paths between the raised beds in the garden and a great weed suppressant.

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:

Since we're starting a sugar-gluten-casein free diet for H-Bob to see if that has an impact on her dyslexia and attention, cooking will be real interesting. I've armed myself with several gluten-free flours from Bob's Red Mill and a handful of cookbooks. I am probably dealing with this harder than she will since I feel like I can either cook two batches of things or be creative enough to keep everyone happy with only slight modifications to what her menu needs to be.

In the craft basket:

There are only wishes...

Looking forward to this week:

Our Marion berries are beginning to ripen. With the rain this year, they are fantastically plump. Now if we could only get a little sun to ripen them. I'm itching for a pie...guess it will have a gluten-free crust and ice cream? GF crust, yes; ice cream, no since that is a weakness of H-Bob's, but I did come across a recipe for slightly sweetened whipped coconut milk to replace whipped cream.

Source: cleangreensimple.com via Connie on Pinterest

Tips and Tricks:

I had started to use gallon ziplock bags to bundle up individual craft supplies with instructions taken from Family Fun magazine in a type of kit for H-Bob to grab and work on when I'm involved in something else. They're rather picked through at this point. Time to refresh them. It does a great job of keeping her productively occupied when I can't be there.

My favorite blog post this week:

In my search to learn how to prepare gluten-free foods, I stumbled across this post outlining what is gluten-free, how to use substitutions, what does and doesn't work. Thank you Gluten Free Mommy for sharing your experiences.

Blog Hopping:

Gluten Free Girl

On my mind:

Now that we've diagnosed H-Bob's dyslexia, we will obviously be continuing with her vision therapy, have started following the home sensory-motor correction program in Dr. Melillo's book Disconnected Kids to fire up her connections to the left hemisphere of her brain, are getting going full swing on an elimination diet to figure out her food sensitivities, as well as tackling a phonics intervention program to bring up her reading level. Lots and lots to keep my mind busy for sure.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

From my devotional that I have sent to my feed reader daily:

We can trust that God knows what is best for us and He will work to make it happen. When we seek the His will and do things His way, not our own, God will bring about the best outcome possible.

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." - Psalm 37:5

Enjoy your week!