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My daughter and I both discovered that we have some level of gluten intolerance in 2017, so my family is always looking for gluten-free alternatives to the wheat-y things we used to love. Bread is a big one! But it’s so expensive at the store. Even the cheapest loaves I could find run about $5 for a small loaf! It’s much more cost effective (and environmentally friendly) to bake your own. How it’s thrifty: According to my math, you’ll spend…
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These are delicious and so easy to make- my kiddo loves helping at every step in the process. Win win! Note: Pretzels are the base for all of these treats. We used regular and gluten-free varieties. We laid out the pretzels, put the chocolate candy of choice on top, popped them in the oven at 350 degrees for three minutes, then finally squished a nut or another candy on top. Once they completely cooled, they were ready for party snacking…
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Hyperthyroid medicine sucks! As far as I know, I have never had an allergic reaction to any kind of medicine- until now. Three weeks into taking methimazole and I broke out in huge, itchy, red hives all over my body. Here’s a leg photo: My endocrinologist prescribed the medicine to me when my thyroid uptake results came back inconclusive and I wasn’t a candidate for RAI/thyroid oblation. When my rash broke out, she had me stop taking the medicine immediately.…
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Who says wrapping paper and bows are just for presents? These cheap but festive items can really spice up any holiday decorating in your home. We put my husband’s nutcrackers on the mantel, but it needed something to snaz it up. So, I used my daughter’s free poster from the nutcracker, wrapping paper and bows to do the job. I added the bows about the nutcrackers and the wrapping paper pieces to the wall. Festive feel up 100% ?: This…
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Due to our health insurance coverage and budgeting, we had to get some very plain eyeglasses for my daughter’s first pair of frames. You can read about that frugal experience and how we saved over $300 on the frames here. But I wanted my kiddo to love her glasses, and they were boring compared to the frames she had really wanted. So I did some brainstorming. How can you add serious personality to plain eyeglasses? And how can you change the…
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Are you tired of losing your child’s iron-on scout badges? But do you also cringe at the thought of hand sewing badges instead? Never fear! I’ve got some tips for you that will help you hand sew them all on without getting murderous thoughts. My daughter’s troop is very active and she ends up with a LOT of badges. I kid you not- I had over 50 badges to sew on her brownie vest this year alone. And she still…
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Feed your backyard nature! ? When we made our three jack o lanterns, we tried to get as much out of it as possible. I made three kinds of baked pumpkin seeds. And we decorated our porch for Halloween. But why just leave them rotting after the sugar buzz has worn off? We moved ours to the backyard, sprinkled bird seed inside, and watched the nature enjoy. It turns out the deer liked it even more than the birds! think…
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This is another relaxing activity, imho. It feels extra cold today so I’m just cuddled up under a warm blanket on the couch, watching tv and doing a sticker-by-number. The tree frog is almost done. ?
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I had my first appointment with my endocrinologist today, and it turns out that I actually most likely have hyperthyroidism- not hypo. This seems strange to me because I already have most of the hypo symptoms… More blood tests and we’ll see where we go from here. I find it interesting that the best treatment for hyperthyroidism is to make you hypo and then take meds to regulate it for the rest of your life. Also, I found out that…
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This craft cost us nothing and was a fun way for us to decorate the stairs up to our front door for trick or treaters. We collected empty gallon milk cartons for weeks. Then we had a great time with our kiddo drawing spooky faces on each one. I cut an opening in the back, weighed it down with a rock, and stuffed in some white Christmas lights. Voila! It really looks great at night. Picture coming soon.
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