7 Quick Takes, Vol. 2

--- 1 ---

I felt almost surprised to be celebrating Pentecost last Sunday...  where did the Easter Season go?  We left for a week immediately after Easter, and then all the fatigue and pregnancy sickness kicked in a day or two after we got home.  I just started feeling a little more like myself about a week ago, which makes me feel like I sleepwalked through the entire Easter season.  Quite a change from last year, when we had special teas each week and lots of little Easter celebrations.  Oh well, growing a baby is certainly very important too.

--- 2 ---

Just after putting the kids to bed tonight, I was startled to feel the bed shake and the window rattle.  Earthquake!  I called out to the kids to make sure they were feeling it, because none of them have ever felt an earthquake.  The few we've had up here have been too late at night for them to notice.  It ended up being a 5.7 magnitude earthquake located up near Lake Almanor.  I'm guessing it is around 100 miles away, as the crow flies.  The kids were pretty excited to finally get to feel an earthquake.

--- 3 ---

During Holy Week I decided to take the plunge and eliminate white flour from my diet.  I've had persistent aches and pains in my left hip for quite awhile now, and I kept seeing articles online suggesting that white flour (and refined sugar) could be acting as inflammatory agents in my body and causing these sorts of problems.  Frankly, I was rather skeptical, but I finally figured it was worth a try.  Well, it has been almost two months now, and I have been almost completely pain free.  Completely!  The only times I have had hip pain are the couple occasions when I did eat a quantity of white flour (like several pieces of pizza for dinner) and when I was at a party, drinking copious amounts of lemonade.  Interesting, don't you think?

--- 4 ---

Something else I've recently discovered is white whole wheat flour.  It makes an almost completely acceptable substitute for white flour, at least in muffins, pancakes, waffles, scones and the like.  I think I'd get complaints if I tried to make a cake or brownies with it, but for everyday baking, it is working quite well for us and everyone is happy eating it.  And I can eat it without any inflammatory issues, so it works well for the whole family.  Which is a good thing, because I just bought fifty pounds of white wheat berries!

--- 5 ---

Something else I've been experimenting with is making Thai food at home.  I can't say it is restaurant quality, but we've all been enjoying my creations.  And I've found that making spring rolls at home is really pretty easy!  I did some shopping at Amazon to get some basic ingredients (spring roll wrappers, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, rice noodles, curry paste, and red chile paste), and I was amazed at how much cheaper it was to do that then to buy the items locally.  For example, I can buy 7 oz. of hoisin sauce at my local store for $4.80, or I could buy 20 oz. at Amazon for about $5.80.  Ah, Amazon, what would I do without you?

--- 6 ---

I was reading a potty training discussion on the 4Real Forums recently and in it a woman was talking about potty training her 21 month old son.  It went really well for her, and she posted a two years later follow-up just recently saying that it continued to go well, and of all her sons he's the one with the fewest "potty issues".  I have a 20 month old son, and ever since I read that discussion I've looking at him in a new light.  I know a lot of it is likely going to involve training me to put him on the potty at regular intervals...  but still, with the diaper rash this kid keeps getting and with a new baby coming at the end of the year, the thought is tempting.  But I should probably wait until he can at least say "potty" don't you think?

--- 7 ---

Today I'm off to Costco, which is probably more than I can do at this point in time, but I'm going to do it anyway.  I really wish Costco wasn't 1 1/4 hours away!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!