2319- Monster Code For A Party!

Feb 5, 2019

2319 or 23-19 is the code in Monster’s Inc. for something from the human world coming back with them. It must be destroyed, since it is toxic and could likely kill the monsters! This year in 2019, February 3rd was 2-3-19, but the great thing is, every month this year has a 23-19!

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2319

In Monster’s Inc., the first time a 2319 is put into action is when the monster, George returns from a great scream and has a child’s sock on his back. The sock is immediately destroyed and poor George is completely humiliated by being thoroughly shaved. George has really bad luck as 2319 seems to follow him throughout the show.

Purple socks in memory of Uncle Mike. His Birthday is February 3.

So, new socks were a must for our party!

The 2319 Party

We donned our purple socks as we watched Monster’s Inc. and Monster’s University. Our kids are pretty grown up, now and so it has been a while since any of us have seen these shows. It was so much fun and lots of memories!

My daughter made a fabulous gluten free monster cake. Purple and blue of course!

Fun, relaxing and low key is the way we like to party. So much less stress and still a lot of fun!

The Cake

My daughter made the cake using Gluten-Free Heaven’s Yellow/Vanilla Cake Mix and a buttercream frosting. She put food coloring spots throughout two of the layers and mini chocolate chips in the third layer. I think she could have done more chocolate chips! It was delicious!

It looks like a monster with it’s mouth wide open! LOL

And don’t forget the ice cream! My kids LOVE Playdough ice cream! Personally not my favorite since the yellow has a banana taste, but my kids love it!

More 2319 Party Ideas

Have someone draw (or get a monsters poster) a monster’s back on a poster board. Draw the outline for a sock on the monster’s back. Cut out little socks to “pin” on the monster’s back.
Make a blanket fort to watch movies in
Monsters photo booth with props
Make sock puppets that look like monsters

Remembering Mike on 2319

We decided our 23-19 would be February 3, 2019. It was perfect! My brother-in-law passed away a year ago, right before his 51st birthday. He was a character! He would have loved a party like this. Well, February 3, 2019 would have been his 52nd birthday and what a great way to remember him!

We got everyone purple socks for the occasion. My husband’s even have lemons on them. Significant because many people mistake our last name for lemon.

Mike’s favorite color was purple!

Death in a family sometimes brings out the worst in people

Purple was his favorite color! He was so proud of all of his purple, he was even wearing purple socks with his sandals.

Then, the two main monsters in the movie are named Mike and James. Just like my husband and his brother.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Eating Gluten Free on Thanksgiving

Nov 1, 2018

When you have celiac, gluten intolerance, a wheat allergy or some other medical issue that causes you to need to eat gluten free, there are no holidays from gluten free eating. There is no “just a little bit” because, “Yes! A little bit will hurt!!!”.

So, how do we have a safe Thanksgiving and enjoy it with family and friends?!

Thanksgiving Host

The easiest way, is if you are the Thanksgiving host, but that isn’t always possible. Not to mention that “easy” only refers to the being able to have some control over what gluten is at dinner. Thanksgiving is a big event that can be stressful. Keep this in mind when approaching the host. They are putting on a big party and you don’t want to stress them out with demands.

However, it doesn’t hurt to ask them, if they would mind looking for a gluten free turkey and not stuffing it. If this is something they are unwilling to do, there are other things you can do.

There are many brands of gluten free turkey. Yes, turkey is naturally gluten free, but some companies inject their birds with broth that contains gluten. So, stay away from self basting turkeys.

Volunteer

Ask if you can bring something:

salad
pie
rolls
stuffing
side dish

This way you know there will be something you can eat. If possible, you may want to bring something for the meal and something for dessert. Dessert is always nice to have the option of, especially at a large gathering like this. (Often I will dish to the side what I need before I put it with everyone elses to cut down on possible cross contact.)

Thanksgiving Plan B

In the event that your host is unwilling to work with you or leaves you feeling like you don’t dare eat anything when you go, here is plan B. Alert your host that you will be bringing your own food, because you want to enjoy being with everyone, but really don’t want to get sick. Be sure to not make them feel guilty about you doing this. Emotions are already high during the holidays and you don’t need this to be a source of contention.

Decide if there are parts of the meal you are safe to eat and just bring the parts you need. Your health is important and you need to do what is best for you.

Option 1

Decide if you feel safe eating parts of the meal: salad, deviled eggs, vegetables, plain mashed potatoes etc. Bring your own gluten free: rolls, stuffing, gravy, turkey (if they aren’t working with you), pie, etc.

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Option 2

Bring your own turkey and stuffing if you want. I’m not talking about walking in with the whole bird! Here are some options:

Cook your own turkey at home, cut it and bring what you plan on eating. At least you will have leftovers.
Get turkey from a deli (check on it’s gluten free status) and bring that with you.
Cook a little Cornish hen for your Thanksgiving meat. It is small and looks so cute when cooked.
Offer to bring the Thanksgiving turkey for everyone and take that load off of your host.

Option 3

Bring all your own food and don’t worry about what everyone else is having. No cross contact or worrying what Aunt Martha put in her bean casserole.

There are some restaurants that serve gluten free Thanksgiving dinners. If you have a place like this near you, you may be able to place your order ahead of time and pick it up on the way to your party. You’ll have to do some work before Thanksgiving to have this in place and double check on their menu. Even if they say it is gluten free, it is still a good idea to ask questions and be sure that they truly know what is gluten free and that gluten free is more than just ingredients, it also involves the kitchen processes.

Thankful

Remember to be thankful this Thanksgiving.

Thankful:

To have a diagnosis and/or know what you need to do to be healthy
There are options for how to enjoy this holiday and still be with family and friends
Your health is in your hands- through diet, you can choose how healthy you are going to be
Hopefully you have family and friends willing to work with you that you can be thankful for
Thanksgiving is only once a year
Time with family and friends

Wishing you a happy, safe, gluten free Thanksgiving!

Ideas for 50th Birthday Party

Aug 24, 2018

The 50th birthday is a big deal! After all, you are 1/2 way to a hundred and that is 1/2 a century!!!

For my husband, the first thing I did was create a secret Pinterest board for 50th Birthday. From those ideas we got many of our own and incorporated it into our party.

Taco Bar

The taco bar was a perfect idea, because he loves tacos! I believe this is where I got the beginning ideas from and then made it work for us.

I wish I had better photos with the food uncovered! There was a lot of smoke in the air from forest fires and ash kept dropping from the sky! Not to mention the bugs, flies and wasps.

Everything is covered to keep the bugs, bees, flies and ash out of it for as long as possible.

We put some basil plants on the table to try and help with the bugs. My daughter also wiped the table with almond extract to help keep the bugs down. It did seem to help, some.

Our taco bar included: pulled pork, hamburger cooked with taco seasoning, refried beans, sliced olives, jalapeños, cheese, sour cream, onions, tomatoes, corn flour taco shells, and crispy corn flour shells. We also had nacho cheese and corn chips.

The Details

It’s the little things that people may or may not notice that make it fun!

At this end of the table, we have a favorite photo that he took of our daughter when she was 2. He loves Snoopy and Woodstock. The book on the table is one to give him a hard time. It is Dr. Seuss- A book for obsolete children.

Here we have a computer reference in the decorations, a book about a family vacation and other things to celebrate aging. Very large TV remote a chalk sign and the 50 candles

Don’t forget the black balloons! (Clickable links)

Having your own helium tank helps, it is hard to transport all those balloons once they are blown up!

Creating a Timeline

We gathered photos from his life and put them in categories of the decades from when he was born to present day. We added a few more categories like: “Why We Wait”, “Our Dad” and “Favorites”. Everyone enjoyed looking at the photos and seeing him the way we see him. My youngest daughter made the category signs and we hung them on the volleyball net. It isn’t to it’s full height, so it would be easier to view the photos.

This last section was called “Our Dad” because no one knows him the way we do.

50th birthday celebration time line photos

This takes us to present day.

We had photos for every decade of his life.

50th birthday celebration- time line photos of the birthday boy's life

My husband doesn’t have a lot of photos from before we got married. We recently reorganized the house and I couldn’t find his high school photos, so there aren’t many of those.

The time line photos were fun to gather and put together. It turned out to be everyone’s favorite part of the celebration. It was a great way to honor him, his life, the father and wonderful husband that he is!

The Candles

This was by far my favorite decoration and thing to do at the party!!! I got the original idea here.

They were more challenging to put together than I had anticipated but it worked out great! Check out the instructions here.

Thank goodness this was an outdoor event! I had not anticipated such a large flame!

Blowing all 50 candles out in one big breath!

He huffed and he puffed and he blew them all out with one great big breath!

The Music

One of my daughters was in charge of music. She organized a play list that included songs from 1968 to present day. It was a lot of fun to hear the old songs as well as more current music.

The music really added to the ambiance. It was played from a smart phone to a sound bar speaker.

Birthday Attire

This was one of the hardest decisions! What were we going to make him wear?!

The Cake/s

Because our party focused on Dad’s favorite things. We ended up with two cakes. The first one is his absolute favorite and my youngest daughter enjoyed making it for him: Applesauce Spice Cake (gluten free, of course) with cream cheese frosting. Recipe here.

The second cake, my oldest daughter enjoyed putting together, with help from the other sisters. It had to be chocolate. Dad’s favorite story to tell is about when he was in 1st grade and put ketchup on his chocolate cake. However, before he could taste this anticipated deliciousness, the janitor came by, looked at the ketchup on the chocolate cake and said, “We don’t put ketchup on chocolate cake.” and the janitor threw it away.

Favorite cake story for dad's 50th birthday

They thought it would be funny to put dinosaurs on because now dad is so ancient

My daughters conspired a trick to play on him and for a moment he was tricked into thinking they were putting ketchup on his chocolate cake.

I hope these ideas help you make your celebration wonderful and fun!

50th Birthday Celebration

Aug 20, 2018

We wanted to make my husband’s 50th birthday celebration a lot of fun for him. My husband didn’t have birthday parties as a child and since we have been married they have been family parties. But being the Big 5-0, we wanted to do something special!

We had him wear his new, special shirt!

50th birthday celebration- old attire required

“Vintage 1968, Aged-perfection, Genuine- All original parts- mostly”

Favorites

We decided to invite some of his favorite people and have some of his favorite things.

We had a taco bar for dinner. I wasn’t able to get a good picture of things uncovered. The flies, bees and little bugs and ash made things difficult.

Ash? Yes, ash. There are so many big forest fires in our state right now and a lot of smoke has blown in from California’s fires that our air quality has never been this bad! I have never seen it this smokey before! And the ash was falling and obvious on our black covered tables, which we kept wiping off.

Favorite Food

We covered the tables with a black covering. I had intended to write with a white chalk pen what everything on the table was, but ran out of time.

Everything is covered to keep the bugs, bees, flies and ash out of it for as long as possible.

We had pulled pork, hamburger taco meat, refried beans, cheese, salsa, onions, tomatoes, olives, guacamole, jalepeños, corn flour taco shells, and crisp corn taco shells.

At the other end of the table we have nacho cheese, corn chips and some Baskets with Checkered Food Wrapping Papers (just for the fun of it.) if people wanted to put their nachos in them. My daughter made homemade root beer!

We put some basil plants on the table to try and help with the bugs. My daughter also wiped the table with almond extract to help keep the bugs down. It did seem to help, some.

Favorite hobbies and more

We had one table set up that was about James and his hobbies and things that he likes.

There’s a lot of photography items on this table. Most of the art work in our home is from the photographs he has taken. The waterfall also represents a favorite vacation and the book and pictures of our kids because family is really important.

He loves snoopy and so we have a snoopy on the table as well. I tried to find some computer stuff but couldn’t locate anything I felt would be appropriate on the table.

Here we have a computer reference in the decorations, a book about a family vacation and other things to celebrate aging. Very large TV remote, a chalk sign and the 50 candles.

At this end of the table we have a favorite photo that he took of our daughter when she was 2. He loves Snoopy and Woodstock. The book on the table is one to give him a hard time it is Dr. Seuss- A book for obsolete children.

Favorite Cake

My youngest daughter made him his favorite cake! Gluten Free Applesauce Spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

My daughter was in charge of decorating the cake as well as making it. LOL

My oldest daughter made a second cake. Chocolate isn’t really his favorite, but she and daughter #3 had a joke they wanted to play.

Decorated with dinosaurs because Dad is so “ancient” now.

The Birthday Joke

My husband often tells the girls about the time he was in 1st grade. He got chocolate cake in the cafeteria and then he saw the ketchup. He put the ketchup on his cake and sat down to try it out. Before he could, the school janitor came by and saw the ketchup on his cake. The janitor grabbed his cake and said, “We don’t put ketchup on chocolate cake,” and threw it into the garbage!

He has always been so disappointed to not have tried ketchup on chocolate cake. However, every time we tell him now is his chance he decides he doesn’t want to try it.

My daughters made a runny frosting with some raspberry and vanilla flavorings and put it in a bottle labeled ketchup. After serving him his chocolate cake they presented the ketchup and squeezed it on his cake. He had a few moments of panic before realizing it wasn’t really ketchup. It was a great joke!

50th birthday joke- ketchup on chocolate cake

It almost does look like ketchup!

He’s a good sport! Trying to get over the shock of thinking it was ketchup for a minute.

50th birthday joke with ketchup on chocolate cake

Ketchup. . . or is it.

Party Music

Daughter #2 was in charge of the music. She put together a play list with songs from the 5 decades that are a part of his life. It was a lot of fun and added so much to the atmosphere!

50th Birthday Decorations

My favorite was the time line photos we put together of his life. We set up a volleyball net and didn’t put it to it’s full height, so it would be easier to view the photos.

My youngest daughter was in charge of making the time line descriptions.

My husband doesn’t have a lot of photos from before we got married. We recently reorganized the house and I couldn’t find his high school photos, so there aren’t many of those.

We had photos for every decade of his life.

This takes us to present day. We also have a category for “Why We Wait”. These are pictures my girls have taken of him talking to strangers and taking strangers pictures. We often joke as we wait that Dad has made a new friend, again.

We then included our “Favorite Moments”

This last section was called “Our Dad” because no one knows him the way we do.

The little details

He didn’t realize all of the little details, until he was looking at the photos. That’s okay, almost everyone else did.

decorations for 50th birthday celebration

50 is Nifty

Old Man Over the Hill

Recently upgraded to version 50.0

Looks 22, feels 18, Acts 10 That makes James 50

Level 50 Unlocked

Favorite Hot Air

Of course we had to light ALL of those candles! I missed 4 candles when putting it together and didn’t want to short him his 50 wishes. So that is why there are two groups. They were tricky to light. It’s a good thing I worked on getting them stable. A friend picked the bundle up and held them on their side while I lit the bottom ones, which then helped to light the rest. When we set it back down there were only two or three I had to light. Click on this link to see directions in putting the candles together.

Wow! Look at that flame!!!

50th birthday celebration- 50 candles to blow out

This picture is crazy! I don’t know what the flame is doing here. I’ve never seen anything like it.

He was worried his eyebrows were going to be burned.

50th birthday celebration- blowing out the candles

Look how his inhale disturbs the flame!

He actually did it! One big, giant breath! He was a French horn player in high school and it looks like he’s still got it!

Wow! Look how they have melted together! This was a favorite part of the party for everyone!

party

2319- Monster Code For A Party!

2319

The 2319 Party

The Cake

More 2319 Party Ideas

Remembering Mike on 2319

Happy Birthday, Mike!

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Eating Gluten Free on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Host

Volunteer

Thanksgiving Plan B

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Thankful

Thankful:

Wishing you a happy, safe, gluten free Thanksgiving!

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Ideas for 50th Birthday Party

Taco Bar

The Details

Creating a Timeline

The Candles

The Music

Birthday Attire

The Cake/s

I hope these ideas help you make your celebration wonderful and fun!

Share this:

50th Birthday Celebration

Favorites

Favorite Food

Favorite hobbies and more

Favorite Cake

The Birthday Joke

Party Music

50th Birthday Decorations

The little details

Favorite Hot Air

Happy 50th Birthday And Many More!!!

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