The Girls:

• LG resolves to play more games, and try to win more games.
• MG resolves to keep her room neat
• BG resolves to become organized
• Rachel resolves to make new friends and strengthen existing friendships (including replying to emails & comments rather than looking at them guiltily in her inbox). Rachel resolves to get better, and keep a positive attitude. Rachel resolves to continue work on keeping her temper and patience in check, even when under enough stress to get an eye twitch…
• Yuki resolves to continue as chief pest control officer and teach the dogs who’s the boss.
• Harley resolves to accept Jack’s presence with more grace. She also resolves to continue filching every little piece of food that can possibly be found - even the “crumbs much to tiny for the other Who’s mouses”.

From the Non-Girls:

• B resolves not to resolve. insert eye-roll
• Jack resolves to catch & chew up more balls, herd more kids & cats, and to convince everyone he’s a lap dog

Anyone else have resolutions?

Happy New Year from the Gaggle of Girls!

ps: the Harry Potter DVD I discussed yesterday was considered a Need. Along with new shoes (for $3.24!) and Clearanced Sock Monkey PJs.

pps:  If you’re resolving to win more prizes, check out the cool 8 days of prizes for the New Year from 5 Minutes for Mom!

BG is all excited to move into her own room. B is giving up his little “office” so she can have her own space. This means they need to clear out about 9 years worth of accumulated computer clutter, then move the bare minimum into the living room so B can have his computer set up there.

BG keeps running up to ask what goes in the toss or keep pile. I think she’s teasing me, though. C’mon - my college diploma? My journal of a trip to Washington DC? A framed collage of my college roommates? Duh. I hope I don’t have any secrets hidden there…

Once it’s all cleared out, we move a bed, her new pink ikea dresser, and some other cool accessories in. The last step is sorting through her clothes, and figuring out what she needs. Once it’s all set up we are going to impose on a friend to make cool curtains and a canopy for the bed.

I started reading The Crazy School, by Cornelia Read, last night. The storyline is fascinating - a teacher with her own issues starts at a school for teens with emotional and behavioral disorders. It’s set in the Berkshires, MA, an area I drove through a lot in the time period of the story on my way to and from college.

It’s a fascinating story, but the chaos in the house combined with the chaos in the book makes me feel a touch unsettled. So LG and I are off to spend gift certificates at Target. Lets determine wants vs. needs…. Is the DVD of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a want or a need?

Kitty and the Silver Bullet is the newly released fourth werewolf mystery by Carrie Vaughn. Have you read the first 3 books of the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn? If you somehow missed them, go pick them up, and then read the newest release! These books have a wonderful mix of humor (a werewolf named Kitty?), romance, suspense, paranormal creatures, and the realities of the mundane world. If you aren’t one of those people who must read all books in exact order (ahem), each Kitty Norville book is a great stand-alone novel and will fill you in on the prior happenings without boring readers who have been following the series.

The basic concept of the series is that Kitty Norville is the first publicly “outed” werewolf. She creates a supernatural call-in show in her first book Kitty and the Midnight Hour, and in doing so has to leave her Pack in Denver. Kitty moves from city to city with her weekly radio show, and is summoned to Washington DC to testify in front of Congress about werewolves and vampires in book two - Kitty Goes to Washington. In book three Kitty takes a vacation from her radio show to write a book and hang out with nature (a la Walden). Things don’t go exactly according to plan, and she ends up with a supernatural mystery, a romance, her own small Pack, and proof of the adage that “you need a vacation after your vacation” in Kitty Takes a Holiday.

In Kitty and the Silver Bullet (Kitty Norville, Book 4), Kitty’s mother is ill, and she needs to return to her home, Denver. When Kitty left Denver, it was not entirely her idea - if she wanted to leave the Pack, she to leave the area, just like someone leaving an abusive spouse. In fact, Kitty gets involved in Pack politics again when a new werewolf comes to her for help escaping the clutches of Carl and Meg (the dysfunctional and abusive Denver Pack alphas), and things don’t end well. Kitty is determined to right the wrongs that she feels she should have prevented, and gets sucked into the world of paranormal politics.
Read the rest of the review

I’ve had a string of bad days - or days with bad things in them (burning my hand on the fritatta pan on Christmas, etc), so I’ve come to worry “What will go wrong next?” in the morning.

The girls had not been behaving well (to put it mildly) yesterday, so I almost cancelled today’s outing.  I’m so glad I didn’t!  I wish that parenting was filled with more days like today, and fewer days like yesterday!

We went to the PEM, a fabulous local museum that’s been drastically improved since I was a kid. We met some friends, and we had a blast - first in the children’s section, and then going through the galleries.  It was great.  Sure, they got too excited a few times and we had to quiet them down, but they were excited about art - how can that be anything but good?!  As a bonus, the boys were pushing my girls to read the tags for the paintings.   They were all searching through the Native American exhibit for Cherokee and Comanche art, because that is part of their ancestry, but they didn’t find any.  It did make the Native American art seem more real, though.
We had a nice lunch together in the sunny atrium, though I made a tactical error letting the girls buy drinks there - it cost me $9 to get 3 drinks and 3 small bags of chips!  gah.   Then we went to see more art before the kids decided they were tired.  We left without any tantrums (even though we saw grandparents coming in as we were leaving!), and drove over to our friend’s house.

My friend offered to watch the kids while I went grocery shopping alone at the store near her house (!!!), so I took her up on it.  When I came back, the kids were happy, tired, and BG had received a hand-me-down GameBoy Color, which calmed down her over-enthusaism for the Nintendo DS.  We were even able to stop at a local game store and get 4 games for under $30. Very cool.

We had a couple little tantrums because MG is on a sleepover painting her dollhouse, and LG really wanted to go along.  Plus, I just missed hitting a deer (eep!).  But right now dinner is almost done, the 2 kids who are here are happy, and I don’t have to set an alarm for tomorrow!

These are the days that leave me tired and achy in a happy way.  May you all have many more days like these.  And may you remember to bring your cameras for them, too! 

You walk into a house that isn’t yours. You have arrived at a holiday party, and there is a lot of food. Food is the way many people show love (think of all those cookies you receive!). You hang up your coat, and then greet your hosts, friends, and family. You are offered a variety of drinks, and choose something you like to keep your mouth moist as you talk. After some chatting, you become hungry, so you walk over to the spread of food.

On the table(s), there are glazed sugar cookies, decorated gingerbread, fudge, salmon and crackers, ham, roast beef and cheese with sandwich buns, shrimp and cocktail sauce, chili, cheese and crackers, a bowl of dried fruits, some roasted nuts in a bowl, and some raw veggies with a dip. It’s a lot of food!

What do you do? What food allergies/intolerances do you cope with? If you are allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, the very fact that there are nuts in the room might preclude you from staying - there’s a high chance of cross-contamination. Plus, you need to check ingredients - some people even add peanut butter to chili! If you have celiac disease, you might have cross-contamination problems from the crackers and bread, and there would be questions about almost every other food - wheat can be a binder in dip mix, an ingredient in roasted nuts, and used to keep dried fruit from sticking together, just to name a few. If you are avoiding dairy or any of the other top 8 allergens, you would likewise have to ask questions about almost everything, as well. Are the hosts prepared to deal with those questions?

Walking into this party would be difficult for an adult. Now imagine if you are a child, having to ask which foods are safe for you to eat. You have to trust the words of the adults, because you might not be old enough to read labels yourself. If you are lucky, some of the treats are designed to be acceptable to your allergies, because the party’s hosts know about them. If you’re even luckier, your parents brought extra snacks to make up for the food you can’t eat. Add in the fact that this is happening at just about every home your child visits over the holiday season, and by the end of December, they could be completely overwhelmed.

I try to make candies and cookies during this time of year. Not only because it’s festive, but also to make sure that the kids have plenty of treats during a time that is filled with treats for everyone else, but when they often have to forgo the offerings of food.

My girls are great about checking to find out if a food is acceptable for our dietary restrictions. However, when a great-grandmother with some mild memory problems keeps offering cookies, it makes me want to just eat them and damn the consequences. If you are ambivalent about your restrictions, holidays make it worse. Even if you are completely accepting of your restrictions, it’s still a tough road to follow - I really wanted some brie and crackers the other day…

If you ended up with some mild cross-contamination problems, this week is a good one for laying low and dealing with the aftermath. Simple, whole foods are a good answer for this problem, with plenty of treats planned after their systems are back to normal.

Treat yourself this week! If you didn’t have time or energy to make treats before the holidays, make some treats for the New Year! Find some yummy recipes and decide what will make you feel pampered and special. Or, go out and have someone else cook for you! We were lucky enough to be given gift certificates to GlutenFree Mall and Outback Steakhouse, and I plan to use them for every penny! If you’re going out to a New Year’s Eve party, bring some treats. If you’re staying in, make something extra special. Around here, special means Buffalo Wings, but everyone has their own special treat that they love - find yours, and make sure you’ve got it. You deserve it after being “good” throughout the different parties!

Have a Happy Pampered New Year!

This is part of the Food Allergy Blog Carnival! Check out more entries, too.

I feel very lucky to have such wonderful readers. Especially readers who ordered from my Amazon links during this holiday season. You have completely made my day. As a bonus, the big gift certificate will arrive just after my birthday! So you’ve all given me a wonderful birthday present.

Thank you. Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does buy all kinds of yummy things like books and granola and …

I hope you all had a wonderful December!

Body Surfing: A Novel, by Anita Shreve, is being released in paperback January 15, 2008, and I had the opportunity to receive the hardcover from the publisher for review.

Anita Shreve writes bestselling novels with intricate storylines that don’t come with a pat ending. If you are looking for a romance novel or chick-lit ending, this may not be the right book for you. However, if you are looking for a beautifully written story that keeps you on your toes for each of the 291 pages, this is a great one to pick up! There are surprises around every corner, and the characters come alive as the story continues.

The story arc in Body Surfing takes place on the shore of New Hampshire - near Portsmouth, and less than an hour from where we live. We live near a beach, and I can easily visualize the sand, waves, and beach houses farther north. Anita Shreve does a beautiful job writing descriptive passages of the characters and their surroundings, and keeps you interested in the passages. The feel of the sand and the pull of the waves pulls you into the story just like the undertow. Read the rest of the review

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

To all who celebrate Christmas, religious or secular, the Gaggle of Girls hopes you have a wonderful Christmas Eve, and a Merry Christmas!

We are a secular family, so our “reason for the season” may well be different from others’. For us, we want to celebrate the love for family and good friends. Making our family members happy is what pushes us to celebrate. I feel very lucky that while my girls are really excited to receive presents, they are also very excited to give presents as well.

Yesterday we drove to central Connecticut for a day trip so that we could celebrate a mini-Christmas with my Nana M and Grandpa Bob as well as my Nana R. Nana R is 90, and recently moved into an assisted living home. She has a great little apartment - and she still served us tea, just like always! She was happy with the photos and other presents, but thrilled when I gave her sparkly Christmas socks.

Nana M is 85, and Grandpa Bob is 93, but they’re still managing at their own home. We had a wonderful lunch together (I need to get her recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole…), and had melt-in-your-mouth macaroons and meringues.

Both Nanas were very generous, and also very happy to see the girls. I have a feeling I could have wrapped them up some cardboard, as long as I brought the girls! My brother (now with a beard!) came too, and he brings laughter from the girls wherever he goes.

I hadn’t made the trip to Connecticut recently, because it’s 3 hours each way, and sitting in cars for that long tends to bring me pain. I’m hurting now, and was hurting yesterday, but it is better than it was before, at least. It was well worth it.

Tonight is my mother and step-father’s annual Christmas Eve party, and then tomorrow we go back and forth between our house and my parents’ houses in my hometown. (Rachel’s tip for holiday success - keep your divorced-and-remarried parents in the same town! Cut down on driving time!)

I’m only waiting for 1 box, and that’s out for delivery, so it looks like everything will be fine. Just a few more things to wrap, and I’ll be all set.

I hope the next couple days are filled with peace and joy for everyone, and that you call get some wonderful time with your families. Bring Joy wherever you go.

Braids before:
Front:
and back:

After the haircuts:

LG suddenly looks about 3 years older, BG’s eyes are even more attention-grabbing, and MG manages to look carefree rather than scraggly. Such a difference a haircut makes!
(B also got a haircut, while I braved Target, but he didn’t pose for pictures)

I just received the “January 08″ release from Carrie Vaughn - Kitty and the Silver Bullet (Kitty Norville, Book 4). Why are some of the “1/08″ releases already out in December? I’m confused.

Anyhow, I had already read book 1 - Kitty and the Midnight Hour and book 2 - Kitty Goes to Washington, and loved them. They are fun, lots of action, some good romance, and great characters. Plus, who wouldn’t love a werewolf named Kitty? It completely appeals to my sense of humor.

So, it was a business expense to order book 3 - Kitty Takes a Holiday when I was ordering presents for other people. You can’t skip books in a series, it could compromise the review!

So, I’m currently reading the first two books in the new Jaz Parks series for review: #1 - Once Bitten, Twice Shy and #2 - Another One Bites the Dust. #3 will be out in March, I think - Biting the Bullet.

I love it when I can review books I would want to read anyhow! Yay! No one expects me to do anything but read in January, right? Well, after whacking out my shoulders wrapping presents, reading is a nice, quiet activity!