SAWP is Over

A week ago today, was my last day of SAWP, but also my last day of class for my degree. Yesterday I turned in my comprehensive exams. And now I just have to wait to hear if I passed, then I'll get my M.A. in Literacy. 

My last day of class was special because we had a visitor's day and I was blessed to have my parents and mother-in-law in town. They all accompanied me and experienced what a day in SAWP was like. They wrote their own 6 word memoir, listened to pieces, and participated in other demonstrations.

Me & Denise

Dad, me, & Mom

Here is my poem, turned into a digital literacy story with pictures. I shared this on visitor's day. It's about my sister, Kristen and me! I decided to write this poem to describe some of the silly things we did as kids. I figured a poem would be the best genre, because people wouldn't have to totally understand everything I was talking about. But of course it turned sentimental at the end.

I'm also including a video I was playing around with that I made with various clips of Iivana. It was somewhat inspired from 1st writing piece.

After SAWP, me and all my parents went to Fogo de Chao for some good eats! I didn't take any pictures, but if you're interested in a previous experience click here.

Gluten Replacement

So I'm sitting here half watching TV and half playing on my computer (I was supposed to be cleaning.) When all the sudden during a commercial I hear "gluten free." I'm used to the Chex commercial, which I love.

But this was definitely a different commercial. There was a man riding a bike with bread on his head. Luckily I have a DVR so I was able to rewind and watch it over!

Intrigued, I began to look for more information and came across this on Dow's website.

Being Celiac Awareness Month, it's good to see more awareness on TV. While I like the idea, I do have lots of questions about this plant based replacement. I know Dow is a chemical company, so I wonder how natural a gluten replacement would be. But some delicious tasting bread would be nice too. Are there any companies using this ingredient? I really just saw this commercial 15 minutes ago, so I really haven't had much time to research it...but I was excited about the idea. Anyone know anything else about it?

Also...Happy Birthday to my GF sister! Love you and hope you were able to enjoy a gluten free cake.

Just the Facts

May 1st brings Celiac Awareness Month. You know how much I love Pinterest and Udi's! I couldn't help but pin several of their facts about celiac disease. Check out more of them here.

No pills, no crumbs, and no cross contamination.

So many undiagnosed out there.

My sister! And quite possibly more family members who have not yet been tested.

Eek, for me it was 18 years! I'm glad there is more awareness now.

Here's more information about celiac disease.

Easter Basket, Cakes & More

My husband is so thoughtful and kind. We have a tradition of making and hiding Easter baskets for each other. He hid one for me before he was deployed! I was talking to him on Skype a few nights ago and he told me to look for it upstairs. I'm the worst and finding baskets, but I found it hidden in the linen closet. He's that good at hiding that it was hidden there for a whole month. 

I also had a fabulous weekend in Wisconsin with my family. I surprised my mom and dad with the help of my sisters. Both my parents and my uncle all turned 60 in March or April, so we celebrated that on Good Friday. 

Here they are with their cake. Also note Jett photo bombed the picture.

The sheet birthday cake was from Costco, which of course was not GF so Kristen bought a gluten free one for us. She bought it from a bakery in Chicago that specializes in GF products.

It was moist and delicious. There was no after taste and it was very filling. Every time I had a piece I could barely finish it; it must have been from all the big meals I ate.

Speaking of big meals, on Friday my grandma and grandpa had my cousins, aunts, and uncles over for fish. Kristen again was awesome and brought some fish for us that was gluten free. We picked up some waffle fries and prepared our own GF meal. I really enjoyed the fish and didn't remember to take a picture until I only had one piece left. (We did almost have to share mine, but I won't go there. Let's just say there was a spilling disaster.)

Saturday I was able to spend time at the park with my adorable niece and nephew. I had two coats (and looked super stylish) because I wasn't sure how cold I would be. My Texas blood has thinned out and even 55 can feel cold to me. (You can sort of see my Peeps shirt underneath.)

I snapped a few pictures of my family balancing across a zig-zag shape of planks, my mom is seen below. Even my grandpa tried to cross. It was comical but fun to watch everyone try.

Easter with my three sisters...loved seeing each one of them!

After several attempts we got a picture with Jett and Maren somewhat looking at the camera. This one includes the whole fam (of course minus my hubby) + grandma & grandpa.

The only bad part of my trip was that my flight was canceled yesterday! I couldn't get one rescheduled until today. Luckily I didn't have to work today otherwise I would have been way more upset. My sister, Kristen, was a life saver again and let me stay with her in Chicago last night so I could fly out from there instead of Milwaukee. There were more flight options from Chicago, so I'd be able to get home sooner to pick up my Vana!

My baby is always so sleepy when I pick her up after a weekend of boarding.

Why CC?

Cross country? Where did the name come from...you may have wondered (or not really at all.) Well, I'm not a cross country runner, although for two of my sisters, Julie and Jill, this title would make sense. The cross country is for a couple reasons:

1. My fellow celiac sister Kristen lives in Chicago (which is far across the United States from me in Texas).

Andy, Me, & Kristen at our first GF Thanksgiving tailgate in Detroit.

2. Justin's in the military, so I never know where we'll be.

This was at a recent award's ceremony!

3. We often travel back to Michigan (or other places on the way), which means my posts are not consistently about one city only.

Please excuse my randomness back and forth about current daily posts and recapping vacations. I want to try to be better about updating the day things happen, but that requires more time, which is often hard to find.

For our trip to see Maren, we were able to visit friends as well. Having not been to East Lansing, since probably our wedding, it was a different experience eating gluten free.  We couldn't visit all of our old favorite places anymore.

Justin found a pizza place, Guido's, in Okemos that was GF that we decided to try with Dave and Amanda. Apparently this is the only Guido's that has GF foods. We talked with the man who makes the pizzas and he was very knowledgable about cross contamination. In fact, he said he was opening an entire GF deli in a few weeks. I will definitely try it next time I'm in the EL area! I was excited when we entered to see some GF desserts: brownies and cookies! I decided to buy a cookie because Jill had the brownies at her house! The cookies weren't made at the pizzeria, but it had been a while since I had a sugar cookie.

It was a good thing I bought the sugar cookie, because it took forever to get our pizza. I know this was because of my BBQ chicken GF pizza. As I mentioned, the chef was very knowledgeable about cross contamination. It was the best crust I've had yet as GF! The toppings were okay, but usually GF crust is paper thin, crunchy, and tasteless. This crust was a little thicker, soft, and chewy.

The pizza was a little pricey at $23.00 but I took the leftovers to my sisters. I was adamant about eating the leftovers too, in order to not waste money! I didn't notice how much bacon was in the pizza until I ate the leftovers. They weren't too bad microwaved, but I bet would taste even better reheated in the oven.