I broke a CHICK cardinal rule.

Once upon a time there was a Young Maiden and a Gallant Suitor.

They suited for 5 1/2 years.

Then they wedded.

Many blissful TINK years went by. (two income no kids)

Then one day the Young Maiden gave birth to the first Crumb Snatcher.

She was awakened from her pleasant dream world abruptly.

She noted her youth fading.

She noted her girth increasing.

And alas, she noted her memory lapsing.

This last fact was the most disheartening. For she wanted more than anything to remember all she had experienced with her Suitor...and of course, his spawn.

When ever fate would grant her an opportunity to celebrate with him, she grabbed it with both hands.

Their favorite celebrated day was the anniversary of their union.

They loved the season.

They loved the spirit that surrounds it.

They loved ditchin' the Crumbs.

One day, several weeks after their last celebration. The Maiden was pondering their union.

If one was spying on her thru the window pane, one would have seen first a look of puzzlement. Then astonishment. Then a full throttle belly laugh from deep within.

For when her Gallant Suitor came to see what she found humorous she asked, "How long, O Love of my Life, have we been blessed in this union?"

She laughed even more heartily when he replied with a flourish and exuberant flair, "Why 17 glorious years My Pet."

You see dear one, as she had lay earlier pondering her union, she realized they had celebrated their 17th Blessed Year...and they had only been bound for 16.

As she began to explain the fact to Suitor Man, he guffawed and snorted for he remembered they had celebrated their 16th the year before when in actuality it was the big 15 milestone instead!

The Suitor shook his head and with a dead serious face whispered these loving words, "Wuh-ow! Sure glad it wasn't me that screwed that one up!! Forgetting your own anniversary is like a huge cardinal sin isn't it?? Or at least a death wish..."

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Wow, times flies when you're havin' fun!!

Real Food...it's what's for dinner!

I just knew asking y'all if you had any ideas or suggestions you'd come thru...and you did!!

I totally forgot about sushi! (Thanks Shawna!) I can have every thing cut up in advance and make a quick roll for him. And the pad Thai (mild, very mild), rice vermicelli. (...and you didn't think you were helping Tracy!) The salmon! Oh, the blessed salmon! (Flea, he thinks you are a Goddess!)

The websites. Thank you, thank you. I have read all weekend. Without Shawna and Sheila I wouldn't have known there was a dedicated Gastroperisis Cookbook coming out soon! Without Willow I would have continued to space the fact I have the cookbook for kids with special food needs right in my cookbook drawer! Thanks for jogging my memory Girl!

FIL wrote a personal email to tell us about a possible surgery to implant a stomach pacemaker if Big Shooter's condition remains a chronic one. That told BS two things: 1. His dad did a bunch of research to understand his condition more thoroughly. (You don't find the surgical info without a little digging.) And 2. He's with us. Thank you my sweet Father-in-Law. You, once again, made his mouth form that touched, teary-eyed, cared for smile.

I so appreciate all your suggestions. It may seem like a small thing for you to make a suggestion...but, it is HUGE to me! I get so overwhelmed and bogged down I forget simple things like cooking the rice with / in broth. (Thanks for the reminder Sheila!)

Pat, my dear friend, you of all people know what this is like. (Her DS was allergic to everything. Every.Thing.) Thank you for reminding me and I would love to talk to his nutritionist here in town!!
Fringe Girl, I know it sounds impossible (and honestly Big Shooter's diet is a pain in the arse), but actually feeding the Crumbs and myself isn't too hard. It's when we throw BS's woes in the mix that I have to cook two meals. Which is only dinner during the week. And with a whole cookbook coming our way soon, two meals won't seem too bad. Someone suggested doubling the meals I do make and serving left overs or freezing them for those rushed, hurry-up and go times. Brilliant! And oh so easy!
Thank you! Thank you all!
We put all the names in an OU hat and had Boy Child draw out a name for the nylon carry-all that comes all folded up in a little bitty pouch. It was my hometown girl, Flea! Congrats. Can you please send me your address Girly??
We put Shawna and Sheila in the hat for the canvas bag since they each came back at least once to give us some more tips. Girl Child drew Sheila's name out. Congrats my friend. I'll be sending it soon with our annual New Year's letter.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing the Cardinal Girl Rule I broke...

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Well now. I hope it wasn't too bad being outed again. Cause Love, I'm gonna be cookin' up a storm for youuuu! I love you Skinny Minny!

Sawdust... It's what's for dinner.

I need some help. More specifically, I need some recipe ideas. I know I just lost a bunch of you right there. But if you like challenges, this is your game. I promise. If you can come up with a meal I can serve the two males (Girl Child can just suffer through and I will be thrilled to cook one meal at a time.) I will put your name in a drawing for one of these re-usable bags.

And if you come up with TWO (oh.my.word. I would be giddy with excitement!) recipes for the males to eat at once I'll put you in the drawing for this as well!

Here's why:

Big Shooter's eating woes: He has gastroparisis (stomach is paralyzed) so he can have no fiber. No fiber. Did you know there is fiber in coffee? He can eat very few veggies, IF they are cooked to mush. No salads. NO berries. No fruits... well, I can put a few fresh ones in front of him, IF I peel them first. And I'm not talking the ones you think of when you say peel here either, like grapes. NO legumes or nuts of any kind. NO seeds or grains of any kinds. No oats or brown rice. Basically, for the gastroparisis he can eat white enriched flour and white rice with a side of air. Now, here's where I always screw it up, since he had his gallbladder removed he cannot tolerate (that's my nice way of saying how his body reacts) ANY fats, oils or spice either. Whenever I hear of some scrumptious meal made of white enriched flour or nutritious white rice I jump right on it in hopes he will like it. What I always seem to forget about are the fats, oils and spices in it to jazz it up... Bad, bad wife.

Anyone see my dilemma?

Let's move on to Boy Child's allergies: He is allergic to soy, corn, wheat, and peanuts. Only four things. They just happen to be the four ingredients in every thing...

Now Girl Child is not allergic or ill. Her affliction is pickiness: NO meat. Okay, maybe a small nibble of a pork chop. Eggs? Occasionally, but mostly eeeh. Milk? In cereal, but for the most part, eeeh. Veggies? EEEEh, except a few raw carrots. Fruits? eeeh, except grapes and an occasional orange. Our rule is: You have to at least try a bite of what ever we serve. She does so without complaint. Then calmly gags. She doesn't make a big deal of it. She doesn't whine or complain that she is starving b/c she chose not to eat...and she is. This has completely caught me off guard. This is the child who orders tomato florentine soup and calamari for lunch, but won't finish a couple pieces of grilled chicken breast to save her life. What does she like? Any bread or pasta related food out there. She would eat her way out of an Olympic size pool if it was filled with simple sugar carbs like white bread or spaghetti. (She can't do wheat because it doesn't feel or look right.) I wonder at times if she has acquired this newish pickiness because of how much time, effort and thought I have to put into meals for the other two...

Anyway, there it is. Back when Big Shooter still had his gallbladder and before cancer, when he still had his kidney, and before his stomach just decided to stop working one day, it really was rather simple to feed Boy Child. Meat, veggies, oat breads, fruits, legumes, berries, nuts...healthy whole foods. Now? Not so easy for the momma. We three have gained tremendous amounts of weight eating what Daddy can tolerate and Boy Howdy, that has been BAD! So basically I cook two meals each night. I would so love to NOT HAVE TO DO THAT!

Okay, done whining! Thanks for your ideas. I know you all will come up with things I would never have thought of. That's why I am finally sharing.

Love Note to Big Shooter: Sorry I outed your health issues to the bloggy world again. But these are super smart and creative thinkers who visit here! They will be able to offer you something besides white rice and air. I just know it! I love you.

A Historical Moment, and all I could focus on was...

* 3 blue ties, 1 purplish & 1 red striped.

* Purplish? Hope that's not a Lewinski doo-dad.

* Only the two youngest have the little flag lapel. Wonder why?

* Senior looks like a very relaxed farmer/rancher shootin' the breeze with his hands in his pockets. Wonder if you can see the tell tale round shape of a can in his back pocket?

* Elect looks simply giddy. Or is that discomfort between the two Texans? I can't distinguish. Does W have Tex-Mex breath b/c Elect is leanin' towards Sr.?

* Jr., after 8 years, still cannot find it within to look comfortable in pictures. Why has someone not taken pity on the man and given him some pointers???? Reminds me of my grade school pictures, "Let your hands hang naturally at your sides." Yeah, right. They never look natural.

* Bill, what a weeny. (Sorry, that's always my first thought.) Then - Hmmm, why does he always have his hands on people? Jr., surprisingly, seems oblivious to his touch. (I know. It was said with tongue in cheek people. Don't bombard my inbox.)

* Why is Juh-immy seem so distant? Is it because Bill's trying to pull him closer? Are all the scary voices coming back? Or is he just that unbelievably uncomfortable without a hammer in his hand?

* I wonder if Elect will ever smoke in that room cause those draperies will be a !#$%@ to get the smell out of.

* And last, "Hey Crumbs, come take a look at a very cool picture..."

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Thank you for never wearing a purplish tie. I can't begin to convey my gratitude...

New Category called ~ Big Shooter Speak

Big Shooter telling me a story: "...and then I said, in my most self defecating voice, blah, blah, blah..."

Me: "...um Love, do you mean self deprecating??"



Love Note to Big Shooter: Hmmm...and to think you'd just been making fun of me not knowing what causes goose bumps... Silly, silly boy.

Pucker Up Straight Shooter

It seems my friend Jenni over at One Thing and Grueling Homeschooling thinks I may be deserving of a Lemon Award...

She thinks it originated with the ole "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" motto.

I cracked up because my initial reaction to a serving of lemons usually does not involve me whipping up a quenching batch of lemonade. No my friends. It is more like a whiny-hiney, extremely sour squirt down the throat that makes me look like I'm having a convulsion.

On the other hand, since Girl Child and I do love us some lemon pie and some lemon pudding and Lemonheads and even lemonade...I figured I'd better look a little deeper for Jen's sake and see if I could come up with some proverbial lemonade from 2008.

And wouldn't you know it? As soon as I started reminiscing about Big Shooter's trials and tribulations this past year the whole "Pooor me, Woebegone, Whiny-Hiney" line of crap soon gave way to overwhelming gratitude and extreme humbleness for my Maker.

With Him, through Him, because of Him we were able to turn cart loads of a certain yellow citrus into life lessons for ourselves and the Crumb Snatchers.

Here are a few things we found out about our family :

We possess ...

Incredible strength

Unshakable faith

Steadfast determination

We experienced...

Deepest humility

Undeniable power of prayer

True friendship

We came away with...

Unabashed devotion to each other.

So thank you Jenni! Thank you for making me stop and and re-evaluate our year, look at it through fresh eyes, different prospective, with a clean slate.

Now y'all know the drill. I pass it on to others so they can look for the positive in a yucky situation, write a post and then pass on the bloggy love. The problem is - I have to hold it to 10. Maybe it's me, but it seems everyone I read seems to always make bloggy-fodder lemonade out of icky circumstances. And usually, stinkin' hilarious lemonade at that! So I have enlisted Big Shooter's help in picking just 10. He's going to look at my extensive bookmarked list and do a kind of eeny-meeny-miney-moe thing for me. If you are not one of them and you are just dying to write your recipe for lemonade...by all means, consider yourself AWARDED!

Big Shooter is awarded this prestigious award, even though he doesn't have a blog...that we know of.

Soliloquy of She Just Had to Say It

Fringe Girl at The Domestic Fringe

Jessica at Farm Fresh

Marie at Losha's Hope

My friend at Happy Chaos

Bloggy Buddy at 6 Happy Hearts

Mama Belle at The Bayou Belles and Their Beau

Marcy at The Glamorous Life Association

My friend Queenie at The Queen B

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Drawin' a blank here...sorry. I guess it's just a plain ole, big mushy, gushy I love ya, Baby Cakes.

We are giving up TV.

Normally we are not a family of New Year's Resolutions. In fact, we've made a point of giving resolutions a wide berth. So I am not so sure what to call our family's choice of action this coming month. An early Lent maybe?
We're ditching the screens. No TV. No computer. No video games.
Okay, not totally ditchin'. But, it feels like it to the fam.
Big Shooter and I will be limited to 1 free hour a day. (So I can blog and check my e-mail.) And Crumb Snatchers will be allowed 1/2 hour daily.
I'm blaming it on Andrea of Sgt. and Mrs. Hub.
I love, love, love to visit her site and read about her fam. She's one of those people you instantly think of as a friend. She is an awesome momma. She is a thoughtful and loving wife. She is funny and honest. She is the kind of girl I wished lived next door. I am very impressed and encouraged by her. Therefore, I am always influenced by her. So one day when she casually mentioned they didn't have a TV, I became very intrigued. A few days later she explained and I was hooked. Line and sinker.
Go visit her. You'll be hooked. You'll wish she lived next door. Promise.
Anyway, I loved what she described. Dinner every night together at the table. Uninterrupted family time. Quiet one on one time with hubby in the evenings just for chit chat...or whatever.
She said if they need to watch something, they record it and watch it when the kids are asleep or they look it up online. I don't want to become a family of brainless scarecrows...
So we're trying it out for a month. We'll be starting it in a couple weeks.
I'll be letting you know how it's going.
First, I have to wrestle the remotes away from someone...

Note to my Big Shooter: Thanks for agreeing to this little experiment. Even if I did have to do a little arm twisting.

Post One Year Ago: If you give a kid a camera...