Thankfulness

I want to dedicate this post, on this day to my most favorite gluten free blog. She really is a dear and well, a goddess! No, I have never met her other than on the lovely pages of her smart, sassy, witty & delicious blog. As I have previously said I have discovered that I have some food 'issues'. I hesitate to say allergies yet as I am in the process of waiting for the results of my blood tests. I began searching the internet for gluten free recipes when I stumbled upon the reality that I may be gluten intolerant (praying hard that I'm not celiac) and low and behold, what do I find? A Gluten Free Goddess!! She has allowed my culinary world to be opened again. And because she has more allergies to food than what you would ever dream, her recipes are perfect for me! What brought me to post about this today you ask? I was wanting to use up some pumpkin pie stuff in my fridge when I decided to look up a few recipes. I went to her blog and as I was perusing I started reading some of the charm that is Karina and then started further perusing the chocolate chip cookie recipes and my heart swelled with gratitude. As I sit here with a stomach who is trying to decide whether it likes the breakfast I ate, I am contemplating making some, OH SO GOOD, chocolate chip cookie/vanilla brownies! Of course, it doesn't hurt that the temps here have been between -20 & -30 degrees F (and lower!) for the last two weeks. It is not hard to imagine why yummy warm brownies would warm me a bit. Soooo, I just wanted to give a shout out to the culinary & literary goddess, Karina, who inspires me even when I get down because of all my food 'issues'!

Just in case you want to check out her blog, allergy laden or not, go to http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/ (I am still trying to figure out how to put the actual link in!) Thanks Karina!

Potpourri

Wow, a lot has happened in the last week! This post is going to be a bag of potpourri with all the things I want to say.

First of all, it has been freezing!! Brrrrr :) It is bearable but it makes me REALLY appreciate summer.


My wintermester class is almost at an end and I am a little sad. I have enjoyed every minute of it!

I have a new job! Yeah, like I need another thing in my schedule. This job was too good to pass up. Plus, they basically called me and said, "This job is available and we think it would be perfect for you, are you interested?" I worked my first day today and it was great! I am going to be the student lead in the New Student Orientation office at the U. In the posts to follow I'll explain more about my duties as I learn them :)

I had made a doctor appointment to establish care and get help with some of the things bothering mainly what appears to be a gluten and dairy intolerance. I laid it out for the doctor and he ordered a blood test to test me for allergies that included a celiac panel, soy, eggs, peanuts, dairy, and some of the local seasonal allergies. Thankfully there aren't many of those but once we go back to Indiana I will be miserable again. We only have 6 species of trees in Alaska. Indiana, yeah, lots more! I will find out about my results in 10 days and I'll post about that too. I just want to have a base and go from there. I am having my son get a celiac panel also. He was tested for the main allergies but I want him specifically tested for gluten. He has been on a mostly GF diet for several months now. I say mostly because he is a cheater and eats some things that he shouldn't. He complained of his stomach hurting for months and when I suspected that I had a gluten intolerance and it hurt my stomach I decided to try it on him too. He hasn't complained of a sick stomach since then.

Until later.....TTFN!

Today is my baby's birthday

Well, technically she is my baby, just not my youngest baby! My oldest daughter Madyson turned 10 today. How on Earth am I old enough to have a 10 year old? Oh yeeeaah, I am 30, hehehehe. I've also been married for 11 years. She has always had a somewhat mature, bossy, commanding personality. I always said she was a high maintenance baby and people thought I was crazy. If you have a high maintenance child you understand! Maybe it comes from being the oldest but I figure with our families that she had it coming, LOL! We have many commanding personalities among us! **whistles innocently**

We celebrated her birthday with 7 of her friends plus her younger brother & sister. Dad had to work this afternoon so he helped set up and high tailed it out of there. I can't say that I blame him as we did have a plethora of preteen girls in one small space :P Actually my husband can handle them better than I can most of the time! We did manage to have a pretty good time snacking, making bracelets, playing twister & freeze dance, eating cake and ice cream and opening presents. There was even a cake and ice cream chasing ruckus that I had to calm down quickly!

All-in-all it was a great day and a memorable birthday for Madyson & Mommy!

Quotes for fun & inspiration

There are so many wonderful quotes out there that are silly & sentimental that make you think and feel. I am going to include of my newest favorites. One thing I love about the internet is all the great friends I have found and all of my quotes today I got from them. Let us not forget some of the wonderful signs we see. I have included one of those too. Happy Friday!



"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road." ~Henry Beecher

Josh Groban

So today was the big day that Josh was going to be singing the National Anthem live at the Citi BCS football game in Pasadena, CA. I was bummed because I had to be in class and wouldn't be able to watch it. After class I got on twitter and there were rave reviews and people congratulating him. I about had a stroke I was getting so excited and anxious to see it. Never fear, Grobies stick together and I was presented with a link to the video very quickly!! He performed with Flea on the guitar! Fantastic!!

Tomorrow is the halfway point in my class and I am excited because we get to watch the movie Amadeus about Mozart! Our professor even told us to bring popcorn :D What a guy!!

Music Appreciation

I received a scholarship this year that was for *cough* older students who had been out of school for 5 or more years, were seeking a bachelor degree and had financial need. Since I can check each of those boxes I wrote my essay and was one of the students chosen to receive the scholarship. It paid my tuition (not fees or supplies) for the year up to $5000. In-state tuition in Alaska is practically dirt cheap...it's everything else that costs an arm and a leg :) So I am trying to get as much out of the scholarship as possible so I signed up for a Wintermester class over holiday break. It is similar to Maymester where you take a 3 credit class in 2 wks. I took Communications during Maymester several years ago at Purdue in Indiana and vowed NEVER to do it again! I have just proven the point that one should never, say never ;) I am taking Music Appreciation- The interrelation of music, art & drama. It has been a wonderful experience. My professor is great AND interesting! He doesn't expect miracles and really enjoys what he is teaching.

I have an extra semester open because my husband won't graduate until a semester after I have completed my requirements so I am going to take some classes I want that last semester and graduate with my husband. I am going to take more music classes. I absolutely, stupidly adore music! Since I 'discovered' Josh Groban my music world has blown wide open! I want to learn how to play the piano and that will be one of the classes I take. They offer class piano for amateurs like me, lol!

Off to bible study for us! Smile at strangers...it confuses them :P

Here I go again!!

I started a blog without much searching and wasn't happy with it so here I am again with a better, more researched blogger.

I will use this blog to chat, rant, pout, and mostly talk about the nonsense that rolls around in my head. That shall include things about my 3 kids, my husband, my food issues, my grand adventure to obtain my bachelors degree, life in Alaska, Josh Groban...lots & lots of Josh ;) and a myriad of other things that I love!

I named my blog Keep Me Awake for a couple of reasons. There is a line in my favorite song, Awake, by Josh Groban that says, "Keep me awake to memorize you..." Time passes so quickly and with that events of our life passes too. I want to savor life and time in the present and not always be looking and hoping for the future.

Welcome to the crazy but always interesting life of Shannon!