Catch Up Before the Party

Okay, so technically today is my eight year old's - scratch that - my NINE year old's birthday.  So I thought I better get an update done before I get into a birthday post later.

 I walked into the living room to find this the other day.  Then then still eight year old was laying on the floor with the baby laying over the top of him.  They were both almost asleep.  Of course when I got the camera out that all changed, but it was pretty funny at the time.

I'm slowly making progress on these hexagons.  My goodness.  I can't even consider how long this is going to take to get a king sized quilt.  It's going to be a lifetime project, I think, and by then, these beautiful turquoise and reds will no longer be in style and everyone will react as if I had done up our bedroom in avocado green and harvest gold.  Lol

 So remember that long skinny box the eight year old was so excited about?  It was a zoo for the stuffed animals.  Of course we (as in my husband and eight year old) had to put it together first.  And this is not it's permanent home.  I'm going to stain it and it will be moved once we get the house painted ... which is supposed to happen next Friday - yippee!!!!  I picked up the stain when I went to Rock Springs, so now all I need is time to do it - ha.  Last night we had another ski club meeting, which should be our last one for awhile ... lets hope.  Agreeing to be the secretary for that ended up being a lot more time consuming than I expected it to be.

I received another of my allergy free cookbooks, and man, I wish I had gotten this one first.  I think it would have been the only baking one I would have needed.  The book is called "Learning to Bake Allergen-Free" and is subtitled "A Crash Course For Busy Parents on Baking."  More than half of the book is like a textbook - in a good way - explaining all about different ingredients and also how they react and best work.  Most allergy free cookbooks have a section like this but this one is amazing.  I've learned more from it - just by leafing through it and reading a page here and there - than I have from all the others combined.  (Not that I've thoroughly read through all the others yet.)  Anyway, I'm thinking this will be my go-to source.  I still haven't gotten to bake anything.  Most of the recipes in all of the books call for non-dairy, non-soy shortening, which I haven't been able to find.  I think I'm going to have to order them online, along with millet flour, potato starch, and Better than Milk Rice Milk Powder.  I didn't find those here in town or in Rock Springs.  I'm fairly confident I could get them in Jackson Hole, but I don't have a trip planned up there anytime soon, so ordering them is probably the way to go.

Okay, so I better get busy - lots to do before the big party tonight.  It will be the first time he's opted to do something with friends (well, with more than one friend anyway).  He went bowling with a friend last year.  This time all the friends are coming here after school and will have dinner with us (pizza) and then go to Awana club with us for cake and ice cream there and lots of fun.  Wednesdays are crazy already, so why not pile on more, right?

For those of you who may be wondering about my diet, I'm taking today as a treat day.  I get those once a week, where I get to eat whatever I want, and I'm supposed to do it without guilt.  I'm taking that literally ;)  Anyway, I'm sooooo tired now - after having some sugar this morning.  I'm surprised what a difference it makes.  I just want to go take a nap (which is totally not going to happen).  Maybe I'll learn something from this....