Alyssa Goodnight's Blog, page 13
November 18, 2011
Gluten list for the glutinous
My son was diagnosed with celiac disease back in January, and tweaking his diet has been a little bit of a challenge. But he's rallied and is now pretty comfortable with things. During a follow-up visit with the doctor, he suggested that the rest of us get checked, just in case. Since then, my younger son has had a blood test that was positive for celiac markers. He currently has an appointment with a gastroenterologist. And I have had a blood test that was positive for celiac markers. On Wednesday this week, I also had an upper endoscopy to determine for certain whether or not I have celiac disease too. Indicators (i.e. pictures of my small intestine) indicate that I do, but until the biopsy comes back, I won't know for sure.
If I do, I'd need to go on the diet too. And I'm already thinking about all the things I'd miss. And planning one last hurrah: a bucket list of glutenous foods that I may shortly have to eliminate from my diet. Here's what I've got so far…
Betty Crocker brownies
Cracker Barrel biscuits
Sausage Balls (a holiday staple in my house, made with Bisquick, breakfast sausage and cheese)…these could be the same gluten-free.
Yeast rolls
One last wheat crust pizza
Campbell's Bean with Bacon Soup
A BLT
Fettucine Alfredo
What am I missing? What would be on your list?
November 14, 2011
From the Bleachers…
It has been a long time since I've had to spend any time sitting in the bleachers. Sure, I sat in the metal bleachers while my kids took water polo this summer–for a couple hours at a time. And I sat in some high school gym bleachers on and off six months ago during a robotics competition, but this weekend was too much! Friday night the junior high was hosting a Jail Ball Tournament, which is really a slightly jazzed up version of regular dodgeball (more on that later), and Saturday, I attended a robotics competition all day, with nowhere to sit but bleachers. (Outside I had the option of a metal bench and some brick steps.) I wish this hadn't been an issue for me…oh, but it was. I was only about halfway in, and my rear was totally useless–I may as well have been sitting on bare bones. It was excrutiating, and I'm still hurting today. I think I'm going to need to invest in one of those stadium seats before too long…
Anyway, back to the dodgeball… I have to admit, when my son told me about his Jailball Tournament, I was a little skeptical. He's been 'drafted' by a team he didn't really know because he had a 'quality.' There was a long explanation of the 'quality,' and then I didn't ever see it exhibited during the games. Curious. But anyway, he was drafted, and every team member had to pay $5 to participate. He couldn't tell me what the money was going towards, and it sort of sounded like a scam.
When we arrived Friday night, I asked the lady charging $1 for spectator tickets if it was a fundraiser, and she said, "I guess you could call it that." Huh? Nonetheless, I trudged in to sit in the stands and see what this was all about. Turns out it was awesome! Waaay more exciting than most sports I've watched. Basically there were twenty teams of ten kids each, and they played to fill in one of those bracket charts like they use for the Final Four. Can you tell I'm not a huge sports fan?? When the clock started, two teams, each strategically positioned on either side of the half court line of the school's basketball court, had three minutes to hit as many kids as possible on the opposite team and put them in 'jail,' which was behind the basket of the opposing team. In order to get out of jail, a locked-up team mate had to catch a dodgeball in the air that had been thrown by a free team mate from across the court. Another quirk…when the timer ran down to the last minute, a team could throw one of two yellow dodgeballs and hit the opposite basketball backboard. If that happened, everyone got out of jail in one fell swoop. Whoever had fewer players in jail at the end of the three minutes won.
I know, I'm not making it sound all that interesting or thrilling…or addictive. But it so was!! They cranked up the music for each round–they played Journey twice!!–and the intensity was crazy! Some of these kids could have been in The Matrix! Seriously–their dodging was that good! What made it so cool was that a team made up of mostly bulky football team 8th graders could be routed in the final seconds by a mostly 6th grade (slightly scrawny) team, with one really good throw. It was a wild way to spend a Friday night. I think I might have missed my calling though. I think I was meant to be a professional dodgeball referee, wielding a whistle. I can picture it now…
November 11, 2011
In Stitches
As always, I offer you a little peak at a few of this year's display quilts from the 2011 Houston International Quilt Show.
It was as crowded as ever this year, and the quilts were very…interesting. Interesting as in, 'what would ever possess someone to create a quilt from this subject matter?' and 'what could they possibly plan on doing with it?' As always though, the craftsmanship displayed was incredible. Enjoy!
November 8, 2011
Gone Visiting
I'm over at Austen Authors today, posting about Jane Austen's cousin, Eliza de Feuillide who just might have been the inspiration for Mary Crawford.
I'll choose a contest winner later today! Thanks to all those who entered!
art via Curly Girl Design
November 4, 2011
Galley up for grabs!!
I have another galley of AUSTENTATIOUS up for grabs today! To win, you can do either of the following (or both!):
1. Post my widget in the sidebar of your blog. Anyone who still has it posted from the last giveaway will get 2 entries. (Thank you!!)
or…
2. You can scan the QR code below, which will tweet the following message: "I'm psyched about AUSTENTATIOUS! ARC up for grabs…" and it will link back to this post.
Either way, leave a comment here to make sure you get credit. I'll draw a winner on Tuesday, Nov. 8. And if you tweet it more than once, let me know!
November 1, 2011
Book Review Club ~ November 2011
Welcome back to Barrie Summy's Book Review Club. I'm happy to report that this month there wasn't any scrambling–I had the book finished with plenty of time, and honestly, this is the first time in a long time that I avidly made time to squeeze in reading minutes. I've really missed that! Also, in keeping with this creepy time of year, I picked the perfect atmospheric book…The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. The cover is wonderful: foggy and shimmery at the same time, a perfect combination of both new and old, and quite perfect.
Aurora Deveaux (Rory) is a normal seventeen-year-old from Louisiana. Her parents have just taken jobs as professors in Bristol, England, and Rory has been given the choice of schools. She's chosen Wexford, right smack in the middle of Jack the Ripper territory. No biggie, right? Except that she arrives at school on the anniversary of the first Ripper murder back in August 1888…and on the day of the first copycat murder this year. Someone is following the pattern Ripper set with his five brutal murders over a century ago…
So while Rory is busy settling in with her new roommate, thrilling over sausages every morning for breakfast, trying to survive mandatory hockey, and casually flirting with a curly-haired prefect who's a bit of an amateur 'Ripperologist,' London is abuzz with nervy excitement and fear. But it isn't until Rory decides to sneak out with her roommate during campus lockdown on the anniversary of one of the murders, to hang out on the roof of the boys' dorm with her curly-haired crush, that things start getting prickly.
Because suddenly Rory is a witness. While climbing back through the bathroom window into the dorm, a man materializes at her side. Her roommate doesn't see him. And after she confesses this to the police, everything changes. Suddenly she's swept up in a pseudo police investigation and frantically trying to make sense of everything that's happening to her…
I don't want to say anymore. No spoilers. I will tell you, though, that this book is witty, thought-provoking, clever, tense, and creepy-scary. Rory is brave, down-to-earth, and smart…she slipped a little when she decided to go out on a Ripper murder night, but sometimes boys make you do stupid things. I forgive her.
Need another recommendation? Visit Barrie's website by clicking the typewriter below.
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@Barrie Summy
October 30, 2011
Weekend Update
Highlights from this weekend…
1. I finished a book! Reading one, that is, not writing. And almost 300 pages of it was read this weekend! My review for Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star is coming on Wednesday for the Book Review Club
2. I made another round of gluten-free doughnuts in my mini doughnut maker. Pumpkin doughnuts with maple glaze. These were soooo much better than the first round apple cider doughnuts.
3. We took my mother-in-law out for lunch and to the zoo for her birthday. And it was Zoo Boo, so besides the animals, we got to see lots of costumed kids. There was a tiny baby dressed in a cow costume, with its mother holding a little galvanized milk bucket. So cute.
I'm including a few favorite shots, including a giraffe catfish (love him!), a picture of me posing by a giant candy corn (I should have pretended to be gnawing on it), a rather grim-looking extinct animal graveyard photo, and a sorta symmetrical photo of the giraffes.
October 28, 2011
Little Miss Austen
It's very wintery here today. The temp dropped thirty degrees since yesterday, the mosquitos have skedaddled, and the sky has that ombre shading that warns of bad weather to come. I got the kids off to school, walked the dog, and then came home to sit in the lovely quiet with my Ikea cinnamon roll (a splurge from yesterday), my cup of hot chocolate, and The Name of the Star, a YA by Maureen Johnson about a Louisiana girl in a London prep school, while a Jack the Ripper copycat killer is on the loose in London.
When the hot chocolate disappeared, I was forced to concede that I should probably get some actual work done. So here I am, blogging. 
Today I'm here to tell you about some adorable board books. Not my usual fare, I know, but these are just too cute not to mention. The one that caught my eye, first on the blog of Laurel Ann Nattress, editor of the recently released Jane Austen Made Me Do It, isPride and Prejudice: A BabyLit Board Book by Jennifer Adams. You may be thinking that Pride and Prejudice is a little too advanced for the board book set, but it is so cleverly written, that you really do get a sense of the main themes of the classic. Plus, it's just downright adorable.
From Publisher's Weekly (I'm including this so you can get a feel for the storyline):
"Launching the BabyLit series, this counting book delivers a (very) simplified version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Adams opens with "1 english village" and "2 rich gentlemen," the pale, dapperly dressed Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Later follows "4 marriage proposals" and "5 sisters," and the book closes with 10, as in "10,000 pounds a year." While many entries feel like filler ("6 horses, 7 soldiers in uniform"), Oliver's Edward Gorey–meets–Etsy sensibility should make this a hit with English lit students. Available simultaneously: Romeo & Juliet. Up to age 3. (Aug.)"
Just look at that representation of Longbourn, Netherfield, and Pemberley!
Charmed? I give you some other BabyLit choices…
(R&J is out now, the others are coming…) I'm overwhelmed at the cuteness!
Images via here and here.
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British Lit for the Toddler Set
It's very wintery here today. The temp dropped thirty degrees since yesterday, the mosquitos have skedaddled, and the sky has that ombre shading that warns of bad weather to come. I got the kids off to school, walked the dog, and then came home to sit in the lovely quiet with my Ikea cinnamon roll (a splurge from yesterday), my cup of hot chocolate, and The Name of the Star, a YA by Maureen Johnson about a Louisiana girl in a London prep school, while a Jack the Ripper copycat killer is on the loose in London.
When the hot chocolate disappeared, I was forced to concede that I should probably get some actual work done. So here I am, blogging.
Today I'm here to tell you about some adorable board books. Not my usual fare, I know, but these are just too cute not to mention. The one that caught my eye, first on the blog of Laurel Ann Nattress, editor of the recently released
