It's Not Easy Being Super Mom....

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and all that comes with it.  I was excited for this holiday season as this would be our second since starting the food allergy diagnosis "newbie no longer".  And everything was going great for the beginning, and then she got a hold of the baked beans, that story was told in my last post.  Since the baked bean incident- we have dealt with two more food allergy reactions and numerous invites to parties (hers not ours).  With invitations come the B.Y.O. concept for her (food that is).  No worries, none at all.  Our local Wal-Mart and Kroger have come a long way in stocking food allergy options.  So, it was no big deal when I go to Wal-Mart the day before her party to pick up a few supplies for food options.  No big deal at all as I'm standing in the small section of her allergy-friendly options.  No big deal at all as I'm continuously staring at zero availability for her food allergy options.  Yep, that was me in the middle of the aisle with my hands on hips staring at the fact of zero cookies and zero baking supplies.  As fellow customers passed by and stared at my continuing pissed off stance, one woman took one look at me and asked what my kiddo was allergic to.  Yes, it was that obvious.  I mean, how dare they?  How dare they not have the ingredients I needed to make my last minute cookies.  Who do they think they are by not allowing me to procrastinate like everyone else?  Finally, I come to the conclusion that I would not be baking cookies for her party that afternoon.  Instead, I would go to the cereal aisle and luckily grab the last box (yes, last box) of gluten free rice chex and put a new plan in action.  Across the street is Kroger and they would surely have what I needed.  Yeah, right.  I left town and headed out to our farm in tears the entire drive.  I called my husband on speaker phone and told him of the betrayal of the grocery stores.  His suggestion?  Just bake something else.  Just bake something else?  Did he forget that we had a date night scheduled?  I want my date night, I want to not cook or worry about not cooking.  I wanted a Margarita, darn it!!  Well, forget him.  I instead call a dear friend whose daughter is gluten intolerant and gets how exhausting and frustrating it can be.  We laughed and made fun of our predicament.  We talked about how tired of cooking we were, telling our beloved children to just get an orange or whatever was leftover in the fridge.  There was not a mom of the week award awaiting me, for sure.  I can't help it.  I admit that there are days that I do not don my apron; cooking from scratch sun-up til sun-down.  In fact, there are some days that I want to say "Screw It", I wanna order a pizza.  Do I do it?  Nope.  Instead, this Holiday season I have made friends with Captain Morgan (maybe you've heard of him?)  He likes my apple cider.  I get over it, I move on and make another plan.  I laugh about it, because do you know what the funny part is?  Usually, the food I end up "throwing together" is better than what I was planning originally.  Instead of my cookies, I used my Gluten Free Rice Chex and followed their ingredients for Muddy Buddies.  I substituted Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (I have an emergency bag) and Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter.  My daughter took a huge container to her party/sleepover and the kiddos loved it!  You know what that means?  Total Mom Award Recovery!!!  So you see, sometimes it just sucks wearing that cape; but I would never, ever change a thing!  Merry Christmas!