Whenever I start a new book, my daughters always ask me what it’s about. At the beginning of 2012, when I was reading this book (at left), I explained how the author started a list of 1,000 gifts from God, in hopes that it might help her live a more joyful life, and I read them some examples.

This moved my one daughter to start her own list of 1,000 blessings, so one morning she brought a new notebook to church and started writing. She already has over 500 blessings listed and is determined to get to 1,000 someday, which I know she will. (Click on each photo if you’d like to enlarge & read them.)

Here are some of my favorites from her list:  #483: hearing the sweet sound of rain falling on the roof; #490: Seeing a big, huge murmuration; #460: squishing your toes in the gushy sand by the waves; #469: going to Niagara Falls and feeling mist on your face; #454: when you have tape and scissors when you need them (very important for a crafty girl); #241: bad people who have changed; #465: getting a song in your head that you absolutely love. #472: Christmas lights in the summer that remind you of Christmas.

I like to keep this notebook in plain view around the house, as it reminds me to mentally list my own blessings (I started a notebook years ago but never had the discipline to keep it going) and to be extra thankful for the life I lead and the family I am part of. It’s fun to leaf through her notebook and read what she sees as blessings. It’s a wonderful feeling to know my own child is capable of seeing so many things in this world as blessings and it also has a way of making those things she finds amazing seem even more amazing to me.

You may be wondering why I’m posting this on a site about g-free kids… Well, it struck me as interesting that she didn’t even think of writing anything about gluten-free until she got to #402: gluten-free foods; #403: gluten-free people; #404: gluten-free books. Those are the only times she says anything about GF. Personally, I think it’s pretty cool that she thought of over 400 things before mentioning her diet.

That tells me that I’m doing a pretty good job of helping her realize she is just a normal kid, that her special diet does not need to be a main focus in her life, and that there is much, much more to life than food… Like #370: pretty irish dancing dresses, #319: laughing families, #255: sunshine shining through the windows, #430: not getting into trouble, #448: having a great imagination, #462: days when you get to relax, and #493: playing games by the fire.

Why not have your child start a list of blessings, and (if they are on a special diet) see how many things he or she can come up with before food is mentioned?  It will help them to be grateful, to keep things in perspective and let them realize that life is about so many more things than just food. What better time to start than the new year? Help your child to keep the focus on the real stuff of life… letting a kid be a kid — g-free or not.

Happy new year, everyone!  🙂
~Katie

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P.S.   If your g-free kid needs a positive attitude adjustment about his or her diet, Mommy, What is Celiac Disease? will help your child to keep it all in perspective.

It’s a week before Christmas and all through my house, unfinished projects are scattered about… Well, some of them anyways…

I was scrambling for ideas for a while, but I finally came up with a few homemade gift ideas I wanted to share with you. What do these gifts have to do with gluten-free kids?  Absolutely nothing — I just can’t afford another website to post random crafty ideas on, so I’m sharing them here.  🙂  Anyhow, these gifts all cost about $1 – $3 each, and are easy enough to let your kids help.  I hope that you enjoy them and have time to try a few…

• • •   1st idea — festive mini bouquets   • • •

I have to credit my creative Mom with this idea. A few weeks ago she popped in with a little something for me….similar to this but in a smaller, crystal bud vase. It’s been sitting cheerily in my window and has made me want to make some, myself, for other people…

I was at Michaels yesterday and saw the same type of “spray” that she used, at 50% off ($2.50 on sale) so I grabbed a few. I cut them apart and pulled beaded wires out of the main stem and put them into these little 3″ bottles, which are actually maple syrup bottles from Cracker Barrel. Both are shown here….and, no, I’m not a hand model.  😉

Last I just glued some ribbon around the bottle for some extra color. Any kind of spray, bud vase and ribbon will work.

• • •   2nd idea — votive candleholders filled with dried nature   • • •

Again, I was at Michaels and saw these red & green, dried, natural decorations on sale. I threw a few bags into my basket (on sale for $2.99 a bag) even though I wasn’t sure what to do with them yet. They looked like tiny seedpods, smooth pinecones and puffballs, but they were dyed Christmas colors. I ended up in the candleholder aisle and this idea just sort of came to me:  a clear vase to hold the dried stuff, and a votive holder that fit into the top, sealing away the dried stuff down below so it wouldn’t be flammable.

So I picked up 10 each of the round vase and votives (all $1 each), found some natural twine (on sale for $1.50) to go with it and went home and put them together. I strategically placed a few acorns & various pinecones (from my own collection) in the vases, and filled in around them with the red & green dried stuff. (Hint: fill up the center area as much as you can w/ some sort of filler — I used pinecones — that will make your red & green filler go further.) Supplies are shown here:

Then I just fit the votive holder on top of it (you could also glue it if you want it to be permanent, but maybe someone will want to change the filling someday) and tied the twine around the neck of the vase. Then I found these great, vintage-style, free gift tags that I printed in b&w from Call Me Victorian and CoreyMarie.com. This project was a piece of cake and I whipped off all 10 in an hour. I went back the next day to buy more supplies so I could make some for myself, as they are just my style.

Can’t find the red & green stuff or you’re not too into nature?  Think outside of the box: fill the large vase w/ buttons for someone into sewing, seashells for the beach lover, real holly leaves and berries, ribbons, sparkly decorations, or whatever you think the recipient would enjoy…then buy ribbon and tags that fit the styles you choose.

• • •   3rd idea — snowman decorations made from clay pots   • • •

Obviously this is not a new idea, although I have yet to see them done this way before with 3 pots stacked up, or stylized this way…

The pots were (again) from Michaels: $.49 — $.99 each. Not sure of the sizes, but just go there and see how three of them stack up. Just paint the pots with acrylic paint, glue them together and decorate as desired. The faces were just drawn with fine point Sharpies, but you could also just glue on buttons or paint on a simple face. I bought a spray of fake berries and holly leaves, and cut the red berries in half with an exacto for the noses. I bought a few spools of ribbon at Michaels ($.99 a roll) that fit the neck of the middle pot where I glued it on for the scarf. Otherwise it’s just buttons glued on and decorations added to the hats. Anything goes.

• • •   4th idea — soap set to scent and decorate a bathroom   • • •

I bought a 3-pack of Dial Basics Hypoallergenic soap (I like a mild clean scent) at Dollar Tree for $1. Then I just glued on (school glue) pieces of scrapbook paper that I had trimmed to size with an exacto, then hot-glued ribbon and wooden shapes (a few dollars a bag from Michaels) onto which I had painted the letters JOY. If you like scented soaps, go for it. If you want to add some kind of base for the soaps to set on, have at it!

These projects have been wrapped up in my house, but a few other stragglers remain to be finished by me or my daughters… If you happen to be one of their teachers or someone close to us, forget you ever saw this post!   🙂

Do you have any cheap and easy gift ideas to share? If so, feel free to add a link below. We can all use some go-to ideas — the more the merrier!  If you try any of the above ideas, feel free to post a picture of your final project on g-free kid’s Facebook page.
And feel free to pin away if you find any of these ideas worthy.

Merry Christmas!

~Katie

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