Ramble Om

Yes, I know it seems unlikely, but I think I finally figured out the perfect gluten-free vegan pancake recipe. I have adapted and created this recipe from other non-gluten-free and/or non-vegan recipes and added my own flair. Feel free to substitute whatever ingredients you have with something you like more, but the basic formula works. Two important things to remember: 1) The lemon in the "milk" creates kind of a buttermilk effect, which is what makes the pancakes fluffy. The longer you let it sit, the fluffier your pancakes 2) Let the batter sit after you mix it together. I was shocked to see the batter fizz and rise. I started making pancakes right away, and though they tasted good, they were a bit runny and difficult to flip. The texture wasn't the best either. After a few minutes, however, the batter settled, and I had amazingly fluffy and easy-to-flip pancakes! This is a large batch. Feel free to half it (for those of you who don't know, half of a 1/4 cup ...

This is Sneaky, my son's kangaroo alien from Mars: This evening, on our way home from dinner at Grammy's, my son spotted Sneaky's UFO in the sky. Sneaky sneaks out a lot while we are out of the house to fly home to Mars to get more candy bars. At first, it seemed like his UFO was going rather slowly and that we might beat him home. Then, Sneaky sped up his UFO, disappeared behind a cloud, and--despite our fast driving--beat us home. He even got back into the house without a key and was waiting for us on the couch. He sure is sneaky, that Sneaky.

Driving to the osteopath around 7:45 Saturday morning, I had a revelation—not a revelation that I wanted to have, but one that made me burst into tears and fill with dread knowing what I must do. I have, of course, known all along, but there are so many ways to ignore the signals until I just cannot ignore them any longer. I was on my way to the osteopath because I am suffering from hip bursitis. I have always seemed to have hip issues—from having a pinched nerve in my hip when I was about eight to a clicking hip all the way from my teens well into my twenties and perhaps my thirties to extreme tightness along my psoas and IT band to hip bursitis. I understand (and have known for quite some time) that we store a lot of emotion in our hips—particularly emotion related to sexual trauma. I learned this years ago in my twenties when I had some rolfing done. The rolfer pointed out to me that I was equally tense in my shoulders but showed no emotion when he worked on them. Meanwhile...

I have noticed a change happening over the last several months. It has been subtle, and oh-so-slow, but it is rather pleasing. Gradually, I find myself not minding having my picture taken so much--even sharing some of the photos. For once not seeing myself as hideous, I actually admire some of them. There is one in particular I was shocked to find appealing. I am in a yoga class, and the picture is from behind. I am sitting on the floor wearing bright blue yoga pants (something else I would never have done just a few short months ago), and I can see my ample behind growing below my waistline and gushing out over the blanket on which I sit. I see the picture, and I actually kind of like the way my ass looks....it look juicy. There have been a couple of times when I caught a glimpse of my belly in a mirror, and I felt pride in its roundness. My babies had grown in there. The shape reflected their once-home--a cozy place where they could safely receive my nurturance and love. What w...