Patriotic Buddy Poppy Wreath for Veteran's Day

Due to the chaos/mess of the holidays, I didn't get this posted when I wanted. My soon-to-be sister-in-law asked for my help decorating the the local VFW's float for the Veteran's Day parade. I wish I can could claim the idea on this one but it was all hers. And it turned out to be a good one!

She was given a full box of Buddy Poppies to play with. And that we did. We pulled the tags off each one and left the wire stem. Then we simply stuck the stem into the foam wreath. She wanted red, white, and blue theme colors, so we attached a white and blue deco mesh bow to the bottom to take the Christmas-y look away from it.

Aside from the poppies blending together too much, I say it turned out cute! She was very pleased with the results. And here is one on the float! 

We had a lot of trouble finding the foam wreaths. At the time, they were out of stock everywhere. I wanted to get a larger one but we went with what we had. We also painted the signs with silver, red, and blue. We worked HARD on those! But I really have to give all the credit to my sister-in-law-to-be.  :)

Portal Companion Cube Wedding Shower Cake.

Bakery that made it had no clue what the heck it was supposed to be. Ha!

I've been meaning to post pics of the Companion Cube cake my co-workers gave me for my in-office Bridal Shower ever since... uh..well, lol, Spetember of 2010. Ha ha! Better late than never!

Only one other person in the office knew what the Companion Cube was and that's only because of me being a super dork  at work (and maybe because I have a paper craft Companion Cube sitting on my desk). So trying to keep it a big secret, but not knowing what it was or even how to describe it to a bakery (whom also had no clue what it was) must have been quite a challenge for the rest of them. Teehee, how funny! I love it! But with that being said, I think it turned out great considering. It was also a teensy little bit awkward during the party because everyone in the room was in a low whisper asking, "What the hell is that thing? o.O" HAHA! I'm socially awkward anyway, but it's no matter because that made me love the cake even more! *Loner Nerd Victory Stance*

The shower was a total surprise; I didn't have a clue. Since I was unable to get the wedding cake of my dreams (3 Tier white cake with a FFXI Red Mage Cake topper or a Companion Cube), my best-est buddy at work was sneaky enough to arrange for me to have one anyway. And that was perfect enough for me :)

The best thing about it though:  it was Italian Cream. :) Yummlies.

Peanut-Free Fundraiser: Thank You Kim & Scott's Gourmet Pretzels.

I posted this a few years ago when My Space was all the rage. Since it's long gone and deleted, I decided to post this again out of appreciation. It was a fundraiser for a local school and I have yet to see another one like this. I apologize for the blurry pic (all I had was my cell phone camera at the time), but look! Peanut Free!! Most fundraisers I have to pass up; my son can't eat any of the goodies because majority have the warning, "May contain peanuts." If they are selling non-food items, I will most definitely order because I encourage it. But this was the first fundraiser that landed in my hands that said peanut free! Just because of that, I bought that $15 pretzel!

I checked out their website and they have a "Dietary Allergy Awareness" section that reads as follows:

"•We are a nut-free bakery using only all-natural and premium ingredients, and strive to provide dietary alternatives!
• Our pretzel creations are all-natural and contain no preservatives, trans fats, or hydrogenated oil.
• We offer pretzels in our line that are dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free.
• Our Traditional and Stuffed Pretzels are 100% vegetarian.
• Our Café offers nutritional alternatives including our Sunflower butter & Jelly Pretzel Sandwich. We also provide dairy-free and egg-free options, including our soy milk, Traditional Bavarian Pretzel, fresh fruit cups, Knot Dogs and more."

And to make it even better, they feature a logo on the same page that reads, "Allergy Aware Because We Care - Made in a Nut-Free facility."

I love that! Thank you, Kim & Scott's, for caring and being aware. :)  

Two True Stories about Food Allergy PALS.

As a mother with a food allergic child, I get a lot of stories from friends in regards to peanut allergies. I love to hear them because it makes me feel that people are listening and developing an understanding and awareness. A Food Allergy PAL is a person that is non-allergic that helps out those that are. This was something that was created by FAAN.  I wanted to share  two stories I heard this week from different co-workers that involve real-life F.A. Pals:

Story #1:
This one made me smile. A lady I know has a 6 year-old neice that is attending a summer daycare through a church. One day the neice offered her aunt some chocolate covered peanuts, and before the aunt stuck her hand in the bag, the neice quickly hid the bag on her side and asked, "Wait! Are you allergic to peanuts?" The aunt said she was kind of taken aback and that she immediately thought of me and my son. She said to her neice, "No, I'm not allergic to peanuts." The neice replied, "Ok, good! Because it would have been bad if you had eaten one!" Then she and her neice talked about peanut allergies off and on for the following few hours.

I was tickled by that! We never figured out how her niece managed to learn of peanut allergies. All I could think of was that there must be allergic children in her daycare class and the teachers are teaching the kids about the dangers of food allergies. I think it's fantastic that kids, even at that young an age, are becoming aware and learning how to prevent their friends from ingesting dangerous foods!

Also, the earlier they learn, a better understanding and tolerance they can build. Which brings me to...
Story #2:
I'm not fond of the situation that occured in this one, but I was very glad to hear the outcome. This one has been through two other people before it reached me, so the details are probably different but the general idea of the woman's attitude holds true.

Apparently there was a birthday/holiday party at a local daycare. This daycare sent out notes to all the parents saying they had children with food allergies and gave them instructions on how to read food labels and a list of safe/unsafe foods. That impressed me because I have been dreading the classroom parties for when my son starts kindergarten this fall. Another thing that scares me is the attitudes, misunderstanding, and intolerance from the other parents. Which is what happened next...

One lady apparently did not read the letter and brought a box of store bought cookies LOADED with peanuts. When the teacher politely told the lady that she couldn't accept them because they had allergic kids, the woman became unglued and irrate. She said was put out of her way to buy those cookies and then informed the teacher that it was a pain to change it or buy something else, and the whole thing in general was a pain! All this said with a raised voice. The teacher told her that she understood her situation and asked then woman if she could kindly understand the situation of the allergic students. The woman was still irrate.

Needless to say, one of the mothers of the allergic kids was standing nearby and heard every word. If it had been me, that little anger monster inside of me would have grown 20 ft tall and I would have marched over to that woman and told her that my child's life is well worth the trouble of not accepting her $3 box of death, but that would probably would have just made the situation worse.

The best part of the story is this: the teacher finally told the woman that her attitude in the situation wasn't appreciated and asked her to leave the daycare immediately. And she did. So CHEERS to the teacher! I wish I knew who she was, because people like her are heroes to me! I really hope that my son gets a teacher that's just as great and understanding.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my stories as much as I did. And remember, keep reading every label!! Have a safe and happy summer!