I love you, Man!
A little simethicone at suppertime, an hour of Hyland's Colic tablets administered at regular intervals thereafter, and Miss Emily sleeps like that imaginary baby in the proverbs.
Of course, she's been out for an hour and a half, and I'm still up. Perhaps I should pop a few of those magic little tablets, myself? I don't know what's up with that. I don't care, either. She is asleep.
The boys enjoyed pioneer club tonight. Our first round of The Inquisition after we leave church always leaves me wondering if they take after their father and sleep through the lesson. However, with a little coaxing they produce these great descriptions about their evening.
John, tonight, after telling us about Elijah and the ravens:
"So that's what that bird thing was all about. You know, the paper with the moving bird on it. Makes more sense now, doesn't it?"
James, explaining to me why he doesn't have his memory verse:
"Well, Mom, it's like this. I left it with my teacher because I always lose it at home. Now, though, it's safe and sound with someone more responsible. That's how I handled that."(He didn't have an answer for just how he's supposed to memorize said verses since he doesn't have the sheet with him anymore. But that's a trivial point, considering at least it's not LOST somewhere!)
We started reading back at the beginning of Story of the World Vol. 1 today. I'm going to read a chapter a day at lunch until we get to where we'd left off. Then we'll return to our regularly scheduled history lessons. This plan serves two purposes: they could use the review, and I don't have the energy to do anything in the activity guide for at least another three weeks. Sometimes it comes together so beautifully. *sniff*
We finished The Horse and His Boy. One drawback to having all seven books bound in one volume is that there is no sense of accomplishment when you reach the end of one book. There's no back cover to close gently while saying, "The..." and letting the boys say, with great pomp and celebration, "END!" Nope. The story just ends, and right there, facing you as if you should go on reading, is the title page of the next book. They're chomping at the bit to read Prince Caspian now. And I'm guessing this is only a problem for me, who is really ready to take a little break, isn't it?
Hey, while I'm rambling aimlessly, does anybody know what "patent flour" is? Our crunchy market isn't stocking the regular wheat-free brands as much anymore (have to request it and they bring it out of a freezer somewhere in the back), but they are stocking more locally made breads, which is neat. We picked up a loaf of Kamut bread tonight to see if John can handle that. We saw a loaf of oat bread that looked delicious, felt just perfect for sandwich bread, and listed "organic patent flour" as it's first ingredient. OK. So, what's that? Stock boy didn't know. He asked Bread Lady. She didn't know, so they asked Manager Lady. She was nice, but didn't know, either. They asked Owner Lady, who looked as lost as the rest of us. (Or that may have been the look of, "Why are all you people standing here, staring at me?" We were quite a little crowd by that point.) They said they'd track it down and let me know, but now the curiosity is killing me. Anybody out there heard of it? Tried it? Used it? Know what it is, even?
Ok, well, it looks like it's safe for me to go to bed! I'm going to make the rounds and kiss my babies once more before I turn in.
~Dy
7 comments:
A quick Google turned up a few hits on "patent flour". The most readable one is from The Artisan
"Patent flour is the purest and highest-quality commercial wheat flour available...."
As an aside, have you ever considered investing in a grain mill and grinding your own? We (Amber) just picked up 75 pounds of wheat berries today and it should keep us going for a while.
From http://www.theartisan.net/flour_descriptions_and_definitions.htm :
"Patent flour is the purest and highest-quality commercial wheat flour available. Patent flour is made from the center portion of the endosperm. Patent flour is classified in five categories, depending on the amount of straight flour it obtains. Extra short or fancy and first patent flours are made from soft wheat and are used for cake flours. Extra short or fancy patent contains 40 to 60 percent straight flour. First patent flour contains 60 to 70 percent straight flour. Short patent flour made from hard wheat is the most highly recommended commercially milled flour for bread baking, it contains 70 to 80 percent straight flour. Medium patent flour contains 80 to 90 percent straight flour and is also excellent for bread baking, as is long patent flour, which is made with 90 to 95 percent straight flour. It is up to the baker to determine which of these flours best serves his or her purposes."
Dy,
Where do you buy the Hyland's Colic tablets? I have a friend with a fussy little guy who could use some help with his tummy.
Thanks.
I love James' reasoning! I can never get anything out of Travis about what he did in Sunday school, but sometimes the craft gives me a clue about what was in the lesson. (sometimes!) I'm not sure whether he doesn't pay attention, or just isn't interested in discussing it wtih me.
No clue about the bread. I've had a number of people suggest to me that Katie's allergies could be food related, but I'm afraid to open that can of worms.
Cordially,
Melora
I found this description of it...probably something you could have found on your own. I've never used it, but love to learn new things.
"Patent flour is the purest and highest-quality commercial wheat flour available. Patent flour is made from the center portion of the endosperm. Patent flour is classified in five categories, depending on the amount of straight flour it obtains. Extra short or fancy and first patent flours are made from soft wheat and are used for cake flours. Extra short or fancy patent contains 40 to 60 percent straight flour. First patent flour contains 60 to 70 percent straight flour. Short patent flour made from hard wheat is the most highly recommended commercially milled flour for bread baking, it contains 70 to 80 percent straight flour. Medium patent flour contains 80 to 90 percent straight flour and is also excellent for bread baking, as is long patent flour, which is made with 90 to 95 percent straight flour. It is up to the baker to determine which of these flours best serves his or her purposes."
Wow, you guys rock. I was too tired to even think to google it. Der-de-der! Thanks.
Matt - a grain mill is on my list of things to buy. We can't do wheat, and it chafes my hide to pay three bucks for a small box of rice flour when I could buy a 50 gal. tub of rice for $18 and grind it myself! Gotta get the basement into a non-condemnable condition, first, though. :-)
Juanita - the only place we could find the Hyland's Colic tablets here is at the crunchy people's market. Depending on where you are, though, sometimes I've seen them at Wal-Mart (that was in AZ and NM). If you have a health food store, check with them to see if they carry it or can perhaps order it for you. The key is to follow the every-15-min regimen. It says up to eight doses and then every two hours after that, but we've never hit the full eight doses before it kicks in. HTH!
Dy
Hylands at WalMart here FWIW.
Dy, I just stopped by to tell you that after all my worries about Alzheimer's, metal build up, toxicity etc., etc., Miss Ellie decided to eat a piece of aluminum foil today!
LOL!
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