Autism & GFCF Links Update

In January I updated the Autism & GFCF Links page (just below my header) to include a few of the great autism bloggers and now, half way through the year, it's time to update with a few more resources.

This time, I've added a few allergy free (GF, GFCF, Dairy Free) bloggers & Twitter tweeps where you can click your way to and learn more.  I do hope you'll click on over for some wonderful resources!

World Autism Awareness Day 2011

While the whole month of April is dedicated to Autism Awareness, today is World Autism Awareness Day.

As some of you might already know, we have been affected by autism in our family.  And we have found it to be everything from an adventure to a challenge, from which we continue to learn daily.

In the first year or two after diagnosis, I lived on Google, sought advice from other parents with a child living with autism, read and learned from 'the experts'.

Now, while I am still learning and seeking information from a variety of sources (at the top of that list are my kidlet's words, actions, and behaviors...they will tell a lot if we'll just try to understand), one resource that I'm learning quite a bit from is the growing community of adults living with autism, who are sharing from their perspectives.

So, I thought it quite appropriate today to share with you a piece I read yesterday (thanks again to the tweeps tweeting away on twitter for sharing!), written by an adult living with high functioning autism, asking people to move beyond simply being aware of autism and learning more about what autism actually is.

Awareness, understanding, acceptance at Normal is Overrated

Please take a few moments to click over and read.  And if you have a story to tell, something insightful to share, or a resource you want to spread the word about in regards to autism, please do!

From Lego Landslide to Organized!

Do you remember when I posted about my boy's Lego Landslide last month?  Thousands (not exaggerating in the slightest here, more like an understatement!) of Lego bricks took over our living room floor, upon a full white sheet for a week.

But, I had us on a mission (inspired by this post by Ali Edwards), a mission to organize those little colorful plastic, hurt your feet when you step on them, easily get sucked up by the vacuum cleaner, fantastically imagination fostering bits, bricks, pieces, and parts.

And we did it!!  They took up so much floorspace that there was only room for two of us to sit on the floor at any given time and work on separating them.  So, we all took turns working and separating and sorting all those thousands of lego bricks by color.

Note:  These drawer units are no longer available, but many of these alternatives would work in the same way.

We used two Sterilite 5 Drawer Storage Carts (wheels come with the units, but we left them off).  One drawer each for white, blue, black, red, yellow, grey, and a combo drawer with brown, tan, greens, and orange.  Mini figures, animals, and accessories got their own drawer....none of us, not even our son, had any idea that he had that many mini figures!!  The two double sized drawers at the bottom are filled with specialty parts.

When I shared the original lego post, an old high school friend on Facebook commented something to the effect that there's no way he'll keep them in this order & sorted (only because she's a mama and knows how often & easily kidlets can redisasterize, I'm sure!). 

Its been a month now and every single Lego is still in its proper home.  Don't get me wrong, his room can (& does) still explode with his other toys, but the Lego organization seems to be working for him.  Truthfully, I think he likes having his bedroom floor back and being able to find whatever Lego he wants, when he wants it!

Wee girl is getting some room organization of her own!  Look what Hubby came home from work with one day!!  One of his coworkers had it and offered it to him.  Of course, he knew his princess loving daughter, our Princess, would adore it and she does.

Its the beginning of a New Year, what organizing tips, tricks, adventures & tales do you have to tell?

Tweet

Enjoy a good hop?  I do.  So, I'm linking up with:

---------------------------------------------

Disclosure:  The link to the sanity saving, organizing friendly Sterilite Drawers is an affiliate link, as are the Lego links.

GFCF Daily {love}

Twitter has proved to be a huge gluten/casein (& other food allergy/sensitivities) free resource!  @GlutenFreeDee is an amazing resource, pulling together information from the #GF, #GFCF, #celiac, #autism, #glutenfree, #gfree hashtags (hashtags are groupings or categories within twitter & its tweets).

The GF/CF Pumpkin Bread I made & blogged last year, was featured in today's #GFCF Daily.  Yay! :>

I also want to take a minute to highly recommend checking out Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom, the creator of the GFCF caramel apple & caramels featured in today's GFCF Daily.  Her site is fantastic and she creates & accommodates for many food allergies.  Some of her dishes (especially older recipes) are just gluten free, but more recently, there are casein & egg free recipes as well.  I found her via Twitter (@adventuresgfmom) and am able to see what she's up to almost daily since I 'Liked' her fan page on Facebook as well.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!  We just finished eating a scratch (including the stock) GFCF chicken, veggie & brown rice soup that Hubby had cooking on the stove all day.  And on a non-GFCF note, I'm looking forward to watching Pioneer Woman's Thanksgiving Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network in an hour as I missed its first airing earlier in the week.  Have you seen it?

Autism Shout Out

Today, people around the globe are participating in Communication Shutdown.  They are trying to highlight the challenges in social communication for those on the autism spectrum by not using their Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets.  I'm going a different route.

I'm a Mama of a kidlet with autism.  My kidlet is smart, sweet, loving, and since I'm his Mom, I'm just going to say it, he's fantastic!  And on the other side of the coin, autism brings us many daily challenges to spur on our patience, creativity, and ability to think outside the box.  Here, I shared more about why I'm not participating.

I am joining others today on Twitter for an Autism Shout Out!  If you would like to join us, please use the tags #AutismShoutOut #TalkAboutAutism and/or #ASDay and of course, when you see these tags, please retweet! :>

There are others who are also blogging about this special day!  If you have written a post in support of the Autism Shoutout, please link up at Sunday's Adventures in Extreme Parenthood.  And please stop by her blog so that you can visit peeps who are writing, tweeting, and facebooking along! :>

Autism will not shut down on November 1st, so I'll still be here too!

On November 1st, there is to be a communication shutdown on social media to raise money & awareness for autism.  Thousands of people and organizations are participating globally. While I think its fantastic that this is a world wide effort and I support increasing awareness, support understanding, support raising funds for research and families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), I will not be participating.

I have found a great community of other families living with autism on message boards, Twitter, and Facebook.  Social media has not only become an outlet & avenue of support, but also a great source of information. 

I can understand the link between the communication shutdown of social media and the challenge of social communication for people with autism (and their families).

However, on November 1st, autism will still be here and so will I.

November 1st is a Monday, which means its a school day for us, where we have found numerous challenges to work through.  Verbal or nonverbal, communication is a far harder ballgame than I ever realized, before autism became a part of my family's daily lives.  Verbal language, social language, body language, tone, facial expressions, slang, sarcasm, reciprocal conversation, they all create challenges that require patience, ingenuity, resources, work, and more patience.

So, while I understand the link that is being drawn by shutting down social media communication & autism, I don't understand how that truly spreads the word, information, awareness & understanding.  Everyone else will go on updating their status on Facebook, tweeting, and posting away.  And instead of drawing attention to autism, there will be silence.  And yes, many people with autism live in silence, but to me, that only means we need to speak louder.....not join the silence.

Support your local autism resources.  Personally, I have received encouragement & a great deal of information from both my local chapter of TACA and Matrix Parent Network.  I urge you to seek yours out and learn what you can do to help this growing population of people & families living with autism.

10 Reasons why I am Ecstatic about {Fall} - Writer's Workshop

Time to play/write along with Mama Kat and this week, I'm choosing prompt #5, "10 reasons why you’re glad it’s Fall." 

Hmmm.....I don't think that's good enough.  How about 10 reasons I'm ecstatic its Fall?!

1)  We have a kidlet birthday to celebrate!  And just as soon as I cringe that one of my babies is getting another year older, I smile & celebrate how they've grown & see the happiness across their face.

And there is happiness whether I stock the party with store bought decorations...

...or hand crafted decorations for a custom themed party.

2)  And before I blink my eyes, mini pumpkins of many hues are scattered about the house (depending on wherever whichever kidlet moves them!) and we're off to the pumpkin patch, a favorite family outing, to get the big ones.

Red wagons, chickens, a pig, sheep, half dozen old tractors to sit in, a hale bale pyramid that lets them climb to the skies, random farm kitties, and of course, oodles and oodles of pumpkins to ooo and ahhh over, pick and choose, and come home with four to six perfect for us pumpkins.

3)  And the night before Halloween, we gut, seed, and carve those plump pumpkins.  Most end up with jagged smiles or sinister faces, but at least one gets a detailed carve every year.  C-3PO and R2-D2 was mine!

4) Kidlets in costume!!  We've had The Great Carrot, a monkey, Cat in the Hat, race car driver, Mr. Incredible, Snow White, Buzz Lightyear, Aurora, Batman, and Cinderella parade these halls.  And rumor has it, we will see Harry Potter and either a scary witch or another Aurora trick or treating this year!

5)  November brings on cravings for edible pumpkin treats.  Scrumptious and savory roasted pumpkin seeds from all those carved pumpkins are enjoyed by all and since a kidlet went GF/CF (gluten & casein free, among other things that have been removed), close to three years ago, we try new holiday recipes every year.  Last year, it was delicious GF/CF Pumpkin Bread, which will make an appearance again soon enough.  And this year, I will finally make that GF/CF pumpkin pie!

6)  Cool, crisp air combined with rustic deep reds, golden yellows, and screamin' oranges make me giddy!  Then when those beautiful leaves fall, its a race to see who gets to crunch it.  In my past, I've even hobbled on crutches to get the best crunchy leaves and now, must admit, I've even cut off one of my own kidlets to get to that crunchy leaf first....but, where there is one crunchy leaf, there are many to go around. :>

7)  Thanksgiving!  We first arrived at our own perfect turkey recipe pre-kidlets for a Four Musketeer gathering here back in 2001.  And in the years since, it has been refined & made absolutely moist & scrumptious.  I'll let you in on just one of our turkey secrets......instead of butter on top of the bird, Hubby (who is ever so kind for cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year!) puts a couple of slices of bacon on top for the duration of the roast.  There are a few other perfect & moist turkey secrets, but we'll save that for another day! :> 

8)  And after turkey day, we love our family outing to pick the perfectly tall Christmas tree!  I request (demand?) a tall one every year.  And the kidlets ooo and ahhh and giggle and cannot contain their excitement, which always make us smile just as brightly.

9)  And then there's the magical twelve days in stampy, inky, creative, crafty land that make so many of us giggle with childlike giddiness that is brought to us by Tim Holtz himself...his annual 12 Tags of Christmas!  Here are a few Tim inspired & guided tags that I made to pair up with dozens of smaller ones for teachers' Christmas gifts last year.

And as if the inspiration alone that Tim provides wasn't enough, he does giveaways all twelve days....and last year, I won one of them!!  Look at all those beautiful fabby Tim products!! :>

10)  And there's another kidlet Fall favorite that is mine as well because of the great thoughtfulness behind it.  An Auntie & Uncle always kindly got my kidlets a chocolate advent calendar every year.  But, once the GF/CF diet change was made, the regular chocolate advent calendars were no longer edible for one kidlet.  After a little research, she found a GF/CF one from Peanut Free Planet!  Wooohooo!

I could probably list another fifty things I love about the Fall season.  But, I'll spare ya & stick to the ten! :>

What are your Fall favorites?

A New Day

When you start traveling down memory lane, its hard to stop.  Its easy enough to find many paths to meander down and great sights to take in, thoughts to ponder, questions to wonder, and then more memories to wander.

When I saw Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop prompt #2, "Tell us about a day you were sure you wouldn’t get through." and I knew exactly which trail I wanted to follow next.

Mom says she finds random bits & pieces of her Mom's, my Grandma (you know, Grandma & her boyfriend, Jerry Rice! :>), at meaningful times in Mom's life since Grandma passed.

I'm sure I gave Mom the "Yea, yea. Okay. Sure." response when it happened to her.  But, then Mom found a piece of paper with my name written in Grandma's script & a typed passage on the front and more writing from Grandma on the back about my confirmation.  She didn't tell me about it, but simply put it in an envelope & mailed it to me.

Fast forward to an extremely challenging morning with the most extreme kidlet meltdown in public ever.  No need to say anything else.

When the kidlets & I returned home and everyone was settled.  I walked out to the mailbox, still completely effected by the events of the 'extremely challenging morning' and what do I find, but an envelope hand addressed to me, from Mom.

Upon opening the envelope, I found the little piece of paper with the printed passage & Grandma's script on it.  I read it.

(Picture is clickable to enlarge & read!)

As I read, I was reminded to move forward in my day from that moment.  The challenging morning was over and I could choose to move forward and try to have a more successful day.  It reminded me that as challenging as that morning had been, it was gone and I could choose what I wanted to trade the rest of my day in for.

I put 'A New Day' up on our refrigerator four years ago and there it has stayed.  It serves as a daily reminder to me and somewhat recently, even Hubby said that he also often reads it.  Hopefully, you can find something positive to take from this as well!

What keeps you moving on your challenging days?  Share your keep moving forward mojo!

(I don't know what this is from or who wrote it.  If anyone recognizes it, please share with me, so that I may give proper credit!)

And because I have enjoyed meandering down memory lane so much this week, making it fabulous & I enjoy Minky {moo} (definitely take a stroll through both of these women's blogs...they are a riot!....but after you say 'hi', okay?! :>:>), I'm linking up with her too:

Thank You Temple Grandin & HBO

HBO's Temple Grandin movie won big at the 2010 Emmy's tonight and can I just say, I couldn't be happier. 

I'm not a movie reviewer or a celebrity blogger, so I won't attempt to do either.  But, may I just say, if you have not had the great fortune to see HBO's movie Temple Grandin, sharing some of the life of the autism advocate (living with autism) herself, please do. 

Don't wait.  It is worth the dollars to purchase or rent it (if money is tight, see it with a group of friends & split the cost).  It is worth the time as you will come away with a richer understanding of not only people with autism and their families, but of humanity as a whole.

As I have mentioned before, autism is part of our family, part of our daily lives.  And so, yes, this has personal meaning to me.  But, I do believe it is something everyone should see and I hope you do.  If you haven't already, please do meet a hero, Temple Grandin.

Blog Update

I've created a page on Time Crafted that will be a home for both autism and gluten & casein free resources.  It is titled Autism & GF/CF Links and is just under the blog's header.  If you are in need of information for your own family or to learn more, please check it out!  Autism affects so many in this world, I'd like to offer just a wee bit of what we have come across in our family's journey.

Thanks for stopping by, I always love your visits!  Off to get dinner ready for my kidlets.  We just got home from wee girl's dance classes' dress rehearsal.  I cannot tell you how cute it was to see all those sweet little pink fisheys up on stage performing! :>

World Autism Awareness Day

Today, April 2nd, is World Autism Awareness Day! And here, in the United States, all of April is Autism Awareness month. We have been affected by autism in our own family. And after the diagnosis came in, I began climbing that learning hill, er, um, curve! Thankfully, there are sites like Autism Speaks, TACA, Autism Society, and many others to visit and learn more!

Just two years ago, the incidence rate being reported was 1 child in 150 is affected with Autism. Now, the CDC (Center for Disease Control in the U.S.) reports that the rate has increased to 1 in 110 for all children and 1 in 70 for boys and TACA reports a rate of 1 in 91!

The numbers are growing. And whether you are aware of it or not, you most likely know someone who is affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Support, research dollars, and understanding are needed by the community at large. In support of World Autism Awareness Day, will you take a few minutes of your time to do a little reading? Or wear blue? Or share your own experiences with someone? Do you know someone who is affected by autism?

GF/CF Chocolate Treat Advent Calendar

Would you believe that three, count them, three packages for Christmas arrived on my doorstep today?! And I did not order any of them! While I usually have all of my Christmas shopping done by now, I am behind this year. (Really, really behind......listen closely, you might even hear a whimper or two!!)

One of my closest friends, who is an Auntie to my kidlets (and her husband, a wonderful Uncle), grew up with a chocolate treat Advent calendar to open every day of December, leading up to Christmas. And she has continued her family tradition with my kidlets.

Since we changed our son's diet two years ago, they have been unable to enjoy the chocolate treats under each door. Well, being a good Auntie, she did some research and emailed me a link for a GF/CF Chocolate Advent Calendar, wanting to know if she had found a solution. And while several of the ingredients (soy lecithin & refined sugar), we avoid (but are not 100% removed from his diet), we told her that it should be okay for the little bit (he splits it with his sister) that he would be eating for a short time. We will see after he has it the first time if that is really the case.....fingers crossed!

Our kidlets' calendar, from a mighty nice Auntie & Uncle came from Peanut Free Planet. And while I cannot give you a review of how it tastes yet, I can tell you that it arrived very safely packed, in a zipped bag, wrapped in bubble wrap, packed in packing peanuts. I know my kidlets will be excited for the treat........as this kind of treat is a very rare one in our house!

{Oh yes, and if you are wondering, "Where's the picture?!".....I did not take one as I do not want to spoil the surprise for its intended recipients!! }

GF/CF Pumpkin Bread

Yes! You are in the right place! Today, I crafted some time in the kitchen with my daughter to bake some delicious pumpkin bread!

Our son has a restricted diet and eats gluten and casein (the protein in dairy) free, mostly soy free, msg/nitrite/nitrate free, low sugar (almost no refined sugars), as preservative & chemical free and organic as we can get. With that being said, I read every ingredient label, am constantly making substitutions, spend a good deal of time grocery shopping, and have learned a lot in the last almost two years that he has been eating this way.

While the entire house is not always gf/cf (plus everything else), our family meals are, and when it comes to baking......well, we do not keep any gluten flours in the house at all. Flour gets in the air and will contaminate everything. So, when my Princess wanted to use the canned organic pumpkin we bought at Trader Joe's yesterday, I set about looking for a recipe online that we could all eat and love.

I found a GF/CF (gluten free/casein free) blog through a google search and found this recipe as a great place to start. We rarely use any refined sugar, even in baking (though I do have an emergency stash of organic cane sugar for recipes that just do not work with sugar substitutes), so I headed here for sugar substitutes and their equivalents. I chose to use a combination of honey and agave syrup. Here's my version of Kathi's recipe for our gf/cf pumpkin bread:

Yummy GF/CF Pumpkin Bread

1 c. Quinoa flour *

1/2 c. Sorghum flour

1/2 tsp. Sea salt

1 1/2 tsp. Baking soda (aluminum free)

1 tsp. Xantham gum

1/4 tsp. Freshly grated nutmeg

1 heaping tsp. Cinnamon (we use Ceylon cinnamon) *

1/4 tsp. Ground Allspice

1/8 tsp. Ground Ginger

1 1/4 c. Pumpkin puree *

1/4 c. Vegetable oil (usually we use Canola for this to avoid the soy, but I was out)

1/4c. Ghee, melted, but not hot (essentially it is clarified butter, with all the solids removed, taking out the casein/proteins) *

1/4 c. Honey *

1/4 c. Agave Syrup *

2 Eggs, beaten *

* denotes items we used that are organic

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl. Mix wet ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients into dry ones until combined. Do not over mix. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes. Remove from loaf pan and cool on wire rack.

Guess what?! I do not miss the gluten, the sugar, or anything else in this pumpkin bread! It is scrumptious.........so much so, that I imagine it will be gone mighty quickly. My daughter and I had it with lunch and it is on the menu to accompany our dinner as well.

Next, I want to find or come up with a good pie crust recipe that fits our requirements so that I can make some pumpkin pie for the holidays that everyone in the house can eat!