Trick Or Treat?

Us on our wedding day, July 18, 1992

FabGrandpa moved in with me on Halloween in 1991. We were carrying a dresser up the front steps to the house when these little children came running up, holding out their bags and yelling "Trick or Treat?". FabGrandpa asked them if they wanted a pair of socks!

Life with him has not always been that fun, but it has been more fun than not. Today is our wedding anniversary. We have made it through 16 years of marriage, which for us is record breaking. Each of us has been married twice before, with none of those previous ones lasting more than 7 years. We had four children between us, and had three teenage girls living with us when our marriage began. It is a wonder he survived all that teen angst and PMS.

Us in January, 2008

So, tonight we have reservations for dinner at the North Rim Lodge. After dinner we are going to drive up to Point Imperial to watch the sun set and the moon rise. What more could a girl want?

Tripping Over to Page Arizona

Me at the Glen Canyon Dam

Over the weekend we drove the 150 miles to Page, Arizona. we had to get some work done on our truck, and we wanted to be there when the Ford dealership opened, so we went on Sunday afternoon and spent the night at Motel 6.


On Monday morning we walked across the street to the service department, and made an appointment for 1:00 p.m. That left us with the morning to do some sightseeing.

We drove over to Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. What an amazing sight! Even though the lake is 67 feet below full pool, it is still a beautiful oasis in the desert.

We took a 45 minuted guided tour of the dam. Construction on the dam began in 1956 when President Eisenhower pushed a button in the Oval Office that triggered the switch by telegraph to ignite the first dynamite blast of the cliffs above the Colorado River. The construction work continued 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, until the dam was completed in 1963.

The photo below was taken from the bottom of the dam , looking up at the visitors center at the top of the cliff.

On the way home, we took highway 89 north through southern Utah and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The visitors center there had great displays of dinosaur bones that have been discovered in Utah. I asked FabGrandpa to put his hand on this dinosaur foot to show you just how big it is! I 'm glad these guys aren't walking the earth these days.

We found a really good restaurant in Page, you can read about our dining experiences at Fiesta Mexicana by clicking here. Although we came to this area because the Grand Canyon is here, there is so much more to see and do here, it is unbelievable.

Yes, This Is Really In Arizona

This lake is on the road to Cape Royal, at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I always amazes me that people who are otherwise intelligent, think that Arizona is all desert and dry, barren land. So, this post is for them. This place is less than 2o miles from my trailer. Isn't it beautiful?

Rice Chex Treats

A post on the "I Can't Eat That" Group on Ravelry asked what you miss the most since you found out you can't eat whatever it is that you can't eat. Well, for me, one thing I really miss is Rice Crispy Treats. I can't eat Rice Crispies because that have that pesky barley malt in it, and as we all know, barley malt contains GLUTEN. Rice anything should not have that additive in it, so we who are gluten intolerant can eat it without fear.


Anyway, after I read that post, I got to thinking, "Hey! I have a box of the newly gluten free Rice Chex, AND I have a bag of marshmallows!" I can make Rice Chex Treats. And you know what? They taste pretty dang good.

Rice Chex Treats

8 cups Rice Chex
1 bag marshmallows
1/3 cup butter or margarine

Butter or spray with olive oil a 13" X 9" casserole dish. Crush up the Rice Chex a little bit so that you have 6 cups of crushed cereal from the 8 cups you started with. Melt the butter or margarine on low heat in a large non-stick pot. Add the marshmallows and stir constantly until they are completely melted. Add the cereal to the melted marshmallows and stir until all the cereal is coated. Using a buttered or oiled spatula or waxed paper, spread the mix into the casserole dish. Eat and enjoy! mmmmmmm

Telephone Troubles, Part Three

Ok, I promise, this is the last time I will bore you all to tears with my telephone company nightmare. But, I had to let you know that I received a reply to my email to the Arizona State President of Qwest:


"... I apologize for the issues you have encountered with your phone
services. One of my peers from the Denver Office has been working your
initial complaint and issued a credit today of $320.18. Please be
assured an investigation will be done on your account to locate Aaron,
as this is unacceptable behaviour from our employees. If you have any
additional information pertaining to him it would be greatly
appreciated.

Once again, I apologize for the unpleasantness you experienced with
QWEST. Please feel free to contact me..."


IF they can find Aaron, they will probably smack his hand and say, "Oh, Aaron, we know you were having a bad day, and it WAS after all late on a Friday afternoon, and we know that you wanted to get out of here on time so you wouldn't miss the first Jager-bomb with your buds, so we just wanted you to know you shouldn't talk to the customers like that next time, Ok?"

Telephone Troubles Part Two

Well, they turned my telephone back on today, but not before they really pissed me off and made my blood pressure skyrocket. I could feel my blood boiling while I was on the phone with them today. Now, I could understand the reaction if I was on the line screaming and cussing at them, but I was nice, at least to start off with. I really don't know how these so called customer service people can keep their jobs.

Here is what I wrote to the Arizona President of Qwest today. If my letter gets to him at all, he probably won't care or do anything at all. But you know I had to write it.


"I am currently working at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with the National Park Service. I arrived here in April and ordered basic telephone service and DSL from Qwest. My service was installed when I was told it would be.

However, when I received my first bill, there was a charge of $300 for "materials". I was not told when I ordered the service that there would be a charge like that, so I called customer service to find out what it was for. On June 9, 2008, I talked to Austin in billing. I was on hold for almost two hours while he checked with every department he could think of to find out why there was such a charge on my bill. Austin finally told me that since no one could verify the charge, he would credit my account for the $300 plus taxes, and that I should pay the balance of my bill, which I did.

Yesterday, July 10, 2008, when I came home from work my telephone service was disconnected. I went to a neighbor's house, and called the billing department again. This time I spoke to Anita. Anita told me there was no notation of a credit to my account from June. She kept me on hold for well over an hour, making the same calls to all the different departments that Austin made back in June. She finally told me that she was not able to verify that there should be a charge of $300 on my bill, but she could not reconnect my service. She said she would refer my account to a "complex billing department" for them to investigate further. I gave her my boss's office telephone number and asked her to have someone call me after 3:00 p.m. the next day.

No one called me from Qwest, so I called the billing number again on July 11, 2008 around 3:35 p.m. I reached a young man who gave his name as Aaron. Aaron asked me what I was calling about, and when I started to explain what had happened, he said "I don't have time to listen to your long story, lady. Are you calling to take care of your bill so we can restore your service or what?" I then asked to speak to his supervisor, he said "I'll be glad to connect you to the someone else who can listen to your story". Then I was put back into the loop and after holding for ten minutes, I was connected to another service representative named Maria. I asked Maria if she was a supervisor and she said she was not. She told me that she did not see what the problem was because there was already an order to restore my service and she could see a credit on my account.

I am writing to you to today to let you know that Qwest was given many opportunities to provide good customer service to me and failed on each one. I do think this is the worst customer service I have ever received from any company, especially from Aaron. I have spent more than four hours of my time trying to get this situation straightened out, and as of 4:36 p.m on July 11, 2008, I still do not have telephone service.

I worked for BellSouth in Atlanta for 20 years, most of that time as a service representative, so I know a little bit about what good customer service should sound like. I know for certain that if there was an alternative to using Qwest, I would be the first in line to switch my service."


Thank you all for letting me vent. I really do feel better now.

Telephone Troubles

Before we came up to the North Rim, I had a cellphone with service through AT&T and an AT&T wireless aircard for my wi-fi internet. When we got here, I had zero bars on my phone and no service on my aircard. So, I called AT&T and asked them to cancel the contract on my aircard. They did and actually waived the cancellation fee because they know they do not have service up here.


So, for us to have a phone and internet, I ordered basic phone service and DSL from Qwest. They installed the service promptly. I bought a calling card to use for long distance service so I wouldn't have to wait for our every other week trip to St. George to call the folks back home. I thought I had things worked out.


When I got my first bill from Qwest, there was an outrageous charge of $300 plus taxes for something called "materials". I called their customer no service line and spent almost two hours on the phone with them back on June 9. The rep I spoke with finally told me that he had called every department he could think of and no one could identify exactly what the charge was for or if it was even a valid charge, so he was going to credit my account. During that phone call, I didn't lose my temper at all, I was very nice and thanked the guy at the end of our conversation.


Everything was going fine until today. When I got home from work, my phone had no dialtone. I went across the road to my neighbors house and called my phone number, and got a recording saying "I'm sorry but the number you have dialed is out of service."


When I called Qwest, I was on the phone with them for another hour. At the end of the conversation, I was ready to explode, I was so mad I was spittting fire. The girl I talked to told me there was no record of me calling on June 9th. She had called all the departments she could think of and no one could verify that the $300 charge was supposed to be on my bill. She was referring my account to a "Complex Billing Supervisor" and that person would call me tomorrow."


On what phone number?" I asked, because, you see, MY phone is DISCONNECTED!!!. She asked if I had another phone number she could use. Well, I DO have a cellphone but I don't have a signal up here. I told her that if AT&T had a signal up here I wouldn't be talking to her because I would not have had to order service from Qwest. And I think I said it very loudly and in not so nice of a voice. I finally gave her my boss's phone number at the office and told her I wouldn't be there until 3:00 p.m. And, they are not going to turn my phone back on until this is resolved.


Oh, how I hate customer service!

Gluten Free Apple Berry Pie

Today I wanted to try again to make a pie. It’s not hard to make a pie when you can eat wheat—all you have to do is go to the store, buy a frozen pie crust, put in the filling, and bake. Viola! It’s a pie. Yum.

Not so when you can’t eat gluten. You have to try recipe after recipe, have them turn out crappy, and eat them anyway because the ingredients are so expensive you can’t afford to waste them.

So, after many pieless months, I tried again today. This pie turned out pretty good. The crust was flaky and brown, but it was a little too flaky. It fell apart. It tasted good, though. Next time I will use less Crisco, maybe ¼ cup, and roll it out thicker. Also, even though the filling was very tasty, I think it needed more tapioca starch, maybe another tablespoon or so.

Here is the recipe, feel free to tweak it, maybe it will work better for you if you do:

½ cup buckwheat flour

½ cup white rice flour

½ cup corn starch

½ cup tapioca starch

3 Tbls potato flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum

½ cup Crisco

¼ cup butter

Mix all the dry ingredients well in a bowl. Cut the Crisco and butter into little diced pieces. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, mix in the Crisco and butter until it resembles small peas. Add cold water, a little at a time, until the dough sticks together to form a ball. Divided the dough into tow pieces, one of them abut two thirds of the dough and the other one third of the dough. Shape into balls, and put in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Take the dough out of the freezer. Work the large ball into a flattened circle. Place the circle of dough onto some plastic wrap. Roll out to about ¼ inch thick, enough to fit into an 8 inch pie pan and overlap the sides. Carefully place the pie crust into the pie pan, and remove the plastic wrap. Push the dough to fit the pan, then trim off the excess from the sides. Pour in the filling.

Prepare the top crust the same way as the bottom. Place on top of the pie, trim off the excess. Use your fingers or a fork to press the two crusts edges together. Cut two or three slits in the top crust. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for one hour.

And, here is the filling recipe I used:

Apple Berry Pie:

5 apples, peeled and sliced

1 pear, peeled and sliced

½ cup fresh raspberries, washed

1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled, washed and cut in half

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

juice of ½ lime

¼ cup butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

2 Tbls tapioca starch

Place all ingredients in a large saucepan with a lid. Cook on medium heat for 25 minutes. Stir often to keep from burning or sticking to the pan.

The verdict: This is the best tasting pie I have made since I started eating gluten free. I happened to have some whipped cream in a can, so we had some of that on top. MMMMMMM, MMMMMM.

TA DA--FabGrandpa's Uniforms Arrived

Today is my father-in-love's birthday. I'm not telling how old he is, let's just say old enough... Poppa had emailed me last week asking when I would have a picture of FabGrandpa in his uniform. Thing is, we ordered them the first week of May. When they arrived the first time, they didn't fit, so we had to send them all back. The second order arrived on Tuesday. So, here he is, FabGrandpa in his park service uniform:
Happy Birthday, Pop! We love you. (click on the picture to make it bigger)

Kanab, Utah

We decided to go to Kanab, Utah on Monday to buy new batteries for our truck. FabGrandpa wanted to have someone check the batteries and the altenator first before w spent the money. When we got to Little’s Diesel and Livestock, we found out we didn’t need a battery at all. The problem we had been having with cranking our truck turned out to be that the glow plugs and the glow plug controller were burnt out.

Since the mechanic couldn’t get to our truck until Tuesday morning, they arranged for us to spend the night in Kanab, rather than have to drive all the way back up to the North Rim and come back in the morning.

We stayed at Aiken’s Lodge, a little motel on the north side of town. The room was small but very clean, and the bed was sooooo comfortable. We checked in before going to Honey’s Jubilee Grocery store, because I wanted to see if they had a bathtub, which they did. I got some Calgon and had a nice soaking bubble bath. Ahhhhhh!

For dinner, we walked over to Houston’s Trails End Restaurant. The ad in the motel information book for Trail’s End said “Where our girls have a gun on their hips and a smile on their lips”. Sure enough, all the waitresses had a holster with a pistol hanging off their belt.

Houston’s is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For dinner on Monday night, FabGrandpa had a country fried streak, mashed potatoes and gravy. I had stir-fried garlic shrimp with vegetables over rice. The stir-fry had broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, snow peas, and zucchini. All very good and so much I couldn’t eat it all. We went back there for breakfast on Tuesday. The biscuits Jim had looked so good, but I didn’t even ask to smell them (ok, I sniff wheat bread. At least I don’t eat it.)

After breakfast, we took the truck over to Little’s. We expected to sit there while they worked on our truck, but they gave us a little Chevy truck to drive and told us to come back around lunch time, so we decided to ‘do Kanab” like tourists.

What, you ask, is there to do in Kanab, Utah? A lot. We went to Denny’s Wigwam, and bought some souvineers. We stopped in at Linda Lea’s Coffee Shop for an expresso and a cappacino. I went into a hair salon and got a hair cut. We went into another store where I bought a new backpack and FabGrandpa got some new boots.

There is a museum here where they have buildings from movie sets of movies that have been filmed here. There was one from “The Outlaw Josey Wales” . One from “Sergeants 3” which starred Frank Sinatra. One from a Kenny Loggins music video that was actually filmed at Lee’s Ferry. It was interesting to look at all the stuff they had there.

Moqui Cave is a natural cave in the side of a mountain north of Kanab. The tour guide there told us that his father bought the property in 1950 and in 1951 he opened a bar and a dance hall in the cave. The temperature inside the cave stays cool, so he had a cool place for a cold drink and socializing, and did a brisk business for such a sparsely populated area. There were exhibits of dinosaur tracks that were found in other places in Utah. And some really neat fluorescent minerals that glowed colorfully in black lights in the display cases.

Another interesting thing we learned is that the T-Shirt shop in Kanab printed the “Kanab Cowboys” T-shirt that was worn in the movie “Napolean Dynamite.” Sweet. They had some in the shop and also had some that said “Vote For Pedro”.

The folks at Little’s had our truck ready when we got back over there. The bill for the repair was $583.93, which was not too bad. All the people who work there are so nice, too. The customer service they provided was just as valuable as their repair work. They made us feel like we were at least one of their best friends, if not a part of their family. If you are ever in this area and need work on your diesel truck, this is the place to go. Before we left, they had given us each a T-shirt, a pen and a coupon good for 10 cents per gallon off diesel fuel at their gas station in town.

Before we went home, we stopped at the Food Town to get a few groceries. This was the first time I had shopped in that store. I was glad I went in there, because even though it is a tiny grocery store in a town with a population of under 5,000 people, they had a very good gluten free section. I got some Glutino bread stick, some Mrs. Leepers hamburger helper, and a gluten free pizza crust mix.

I told FabGrandpa that I could live in that town for sure.

I Spent The Day Baking

I haven't written much about cooking in the past couple of months, mostly because I haven't been cooking that much. Whenever I start a new job, I come home exhausted mostly just from learning it. This new job I have has taken a lot out of me because there has been so much to learn and it is very fast paced out there on the entrance station. A lot of people want to see the Grand Canyon. And, this week, I had one day that I had to be at work at 5:30 a.m. and one when I had to be there at 6:30 a.m. Although I love my job, I am not so good with early morning wake up times.


We have been grabbing this or that when we can, eating a lot of quick to fix dishes, salads, and the old standby of scrambled eggs or pancakes for dinner. So, since I was off today, I decided to do some baking so that this week we will have a little more variety in our meals.


I mixed up a batch of those good cheese-garlic biscuits using my Pamela's Baking Mix. All I will have to do now every night this week is pop a few in the oven and bake for 22 minutes. These are really good and go with just about everything.



I had several bananas that were already turned black, so I peeled them and mashed them up and made some banana muffins. These were also made with Pamela's Baking Mix. I put in some almond extract and some Chinese Five Spice Powder, too. MMMMM. These will be good for breakfast with some peanut butter.



I decided to make some bread while I was at it. This loaf of bread turned out not so good, so I am not telling the recipe I used. It will do for breadsticks or garlic bread, though, so I'm not chunking it in the trash can. It's not THAT bad, but it ain't that good, either.



And since I had some strawberries and cherries in the fridge that needed to be used up, I wanted to make something I could use as the base for Strawberry Shortcake. I found a very good, easy recipe online at RecipeZaar. The write up about this shortcake on their website said it tastes like the wheat based spongecakes you can buy at the store, and they do! This is the first time since I started cooking gluten free that I made a cake and the batter actually looked like cake batter. See:

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 tsp baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and baking powder a little at a time, mix until well blended. Fill greased muffin tins half full and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. I baked mine for 22 minutes because they were still too sticky on top after 15 minutes. (But that could be my little RV oven).

The recipe says to grease muffin tins and fill them half full. I did, and they grew up over the edge of the muffin tins and dripped down into the guts of the oven, so we had that burny smell in the trailer. Also, they stuck somewhat in the muffin tins, so next time I will use those little cupcake papers, but let me tell you, they are really GOOD! I will definitely be making these again.

The Road To Zion

Back on May 10, FabGrandpa and I and one of our co-workers, went to St. George, Utah to buy some boots, which we are all required to wear on the job. The drive over there is amazing, if only because it looks so different from Georgia, my home state. You go through views of Vermillion Cliffs, huge geological formations such as I had never seen before. I took a gazillion pictures, and it was really hard to choose just a few to show you here.

After driving for about 80 miles or so through views like that, you come to Hurricane, Utah. A little green valley in the midst of the desert. Here is a view of Hurricane from the mountain road:
This little shop is on the side of the road in "downtown" Hurricane. I know I will be stopping there someday soon:

After we did our shopping in St. George, we decided to take the road through Zion National Park on the way home. Or, Sally, our co-worker, badgered Jim into going that way. I stayed out of the discussion, because 1. I wanted to go, and 2. I knew from Jim's remarks that he did not want to go that way, but Sally doesn't know him well enough to have recognized it. Anyway, we went that way, and in the end, Jim told Sally, "Thanks for making me take this road."


On the way to Zion, we passed this river. There was no sign or anything telling us the name of it, but it was nice to look at:

This the town that is right outside of Zion National Park, to th west of it. I think it was called Springdale. I like that the shops are all lined up, and unless you look really hard, you can't tell where the roofs end and the rocks begin.

It i so hard to imagine these rocks being eroded by water and wind. They look so chisled, so clean cut in places, that it looks like sculptors did this. These pictures don't really convey the true beauty of the area.


I just can't come up with the right words to describe this area. This cliff, with its huge boulder like rocks, made our truck look tiny.


Look closely near the center of this picture, near the bottom, right above the trees. You will see an opening in the rock. We thought at first it was a cave, but it is actually a window in the tunnel that goes through this mountain.

On the other side of the tunnel, we saw some mountain sheep. We got out and walked down a short trail to get pictures of them. The pictures did not come out that good, so I can't share them with you, so you'll just have to believe me that I saw them.

After driving through this fabulous national park, we stopped in Kanab, Utah to buy groceries. I felt like it was rather odd to see all this wonderful scenery, then just hop into the grocery store to buy milk, eggs, and butter. But, I guess that is how it is for people who have lived here all their lives, who drive to work down that road.

In Case You Haven't Noticed

I have new pictures of all of the Fab Children and Fab Grandchildren . Sarah's mom finally sent me her birthday pic from this year. So, here she is, with all her cute-ness:

She is growing up way too fast, and getting prettier by the day.

Meanwhile, my daughter-in-love, Sarah, sent me the cutest pics of Michael and Owen. They were at the park , where Owen had his first "taste" of grass. Those two boys are too cute, don't you think?

I absolutely love this pic of Owen and Michael.

And Spencer is learning to swim. Here he is in his goggles, floating in the pool:

This one was taken on the first day of school, back in August. He is with his Mommy, my daughter, Emily. She was on her way to her first day of school as a teacher. She made it through the entire year, and can't wait to go back this fall.

And here is my son, Seth, still in the Air Force after 13 years. Doesn't he look handsome in his uniform? He is in the Communications Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. He is the Dad to Sarah, Owen and Michael.

My step-daughter, Becky, went to Italy for 10 days . I couldn't find a pic of just her, so here she is with the tour group. She is the one in orange in the middle of the back row:

And here she is on the deck of her condo in Atlanta. Isn't she just beautiful? She may be my step-daughter, but I love her like she is my own.

And last of all, here is my Fab Daughter, Becca. She just got back from Kansas where she and her boyfriend went to attend a wedding. The first day they were there, there was a tornado and the back window of their rental car was shattered by hail!!! She has naturally curly hair. She went to the beauty shop a couple of weeks ago and got her hair colored and straightened. She looks like a different person:Thanks for letting me brag about my Fab Family!

Mary's Gone Crackers

A few weeks ago, the gals over at the Celiac Chicks blog made a post saying that the first 100 readers who emailed Mary's Gone Crackers would receive some free products from them. I sent off my email requesting my free crackers, and forgot about it. To my surprise, this week I received a little box of goodness in the mail.

There were three little sample bags of Mary's Gone Crackers Stick & Twigs, and a coupon good for a free regular size package of any of their products. The flavors I received were the Chipotle Tomato, the Curry, and the Sea Salt. I shared the bag of Chipotle Tomato with one of my co-workers who is not gluten intolerant, and she loved them, too.


While I was reading the back of the bag of the Sea Salt flavor, I noticed that there was a $1.00 off coupon on the back of that bag. When I got home, I looked to see if there was a $1.00 coupon on the Curry flavor, and there was. I can not believe that I threw the Chipotle Tomato bag away!!!


Coupon or no coupon, as soon as I find a store where I can buy these, I'm going to get some. They are really good, and taste a lot like pretzels, but without the gluten. I have really missed pretzels since I eliminated gluten from my diet. Now if someone would just make a cracker that tastes like Cheez-Its, I'd be in cracker heaven.