Simple shopping....

Simple shopping...hmmm....sometimes the two don't quite go together! In my efforts to simplify our meals, our health and our budget...I'm trying to eliminate some supplements that we are taking....and get more and more of our nutrition from food. I have tons of books, and usually pick and choose and glean from all of them, but one that has made the most sense to me is 'Nourishing Traditions' by Sally Fallon. I've always made our own homemade broth...and when I found out how very nourishing homemade bone broths are, I rejoiced! (I'll be doing another NT post soon)

So...today, since Ron was off, a friend and I set off to do some healthy shopping as inexpensively as we could. We headed to Trader Joe's. (with a quick stop at a yarn store...I can never pass them up!) Trader Joe's (for those of you who have never been) is a really cool grocery with everything their own brand....most organic, or at least simple ingredients. I love this store! Shopping with Amy was so much fun,too, as we have never had the chance to visit....so we talked all day! Most of what I get at Trader Joe's are things that I cannot get anywhere else...or I can't get them for that low price. I stocked up on lots of Gluten Free pasta, GF spagetti, Thai rice stick noodles, tuscano sauce, green tomatillo salsa (my very, very favorite!)...cashew butter for Meghan, and some gluten free waffles.

After that, we headed to the Strip District to a restaraunt supply store, then an oriental market for more gluten free supplies. 85 cents for tapioca starch! I loaded up! Picked up my husband some of his favorite Mancini's bread as a treat and headed home. Shopping with a friend is always more fun than shopping alone!

Ron is picking up our natural foods co-op order now. I've found for us, that ordering all of my dry beans and grains in bulk really saves us money...and with a pressure cooker, they cook up quickly. I also grind a lot of beans on a coarse grind, keep them in the freezer and cook them up quickly with some boiling water and spices for instant refried beans. Now we have to rearrange the pantry, and we're done for another month. I love "shopping" from my pantry and seeing how creative I can get to plan my menus as healthy as possible with what I have.

Now I'm off to finish dinner. The girls have a couple friends here now who will be joining us for dinner and a few more coming over in a little while for another movie night....complete with homemade lattes and popcorn again! I love having their friends here! They are welcome here anytime....and I have fun with them,too! I'm sure the girls will be posting their fun time tonight soon! Blessings! ~Sue~

Happy Birthday, Ella!!

It is my dear friend Ella's nineteenth birthday today! We spent over an hour on the phone last night and I plan to call her later today to sing Happy Birthday to her. :) It's little tradition we have in our family. :)

Ella is truly a wonderful friend. Though we haven't known each other very long, it seems to me that I've known her forever! She has a wonderful gift of encouargement and her voice always rings with joy-over the phone and through her e-mails. I thank the Lord for Ella!!

We've discovered that we have A LOT in common.....to say the least. :) We're both old movie nuts, old-fashioned, love books and writing. :) But our common bond is not our passion for old movies and Frank Sinatra (who is crooning right now on the CD player) but the Lord. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful friend in Ella and has blessed our friendship so much!

My dear friend, I wish you a wonderful birthday and to let you know that, "I thank the Lord upon each rememberance of you." Phillipians 1:3.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Legacy: a Short Story in Progress

This is my homemade book cover for a new short story I am working on about a real life girl: Isabella of Castile. The story follows from age three until her secret marriage to Ferdinand, heir to Aragon. I researched her extensively, and whats really neat about writing fiction based on a true story is that the characters are already named, the story is written, and all I need to do is write about it and flesh out some details. Here is the prologue to Legacy; hopefully as I write more, I will post more of the story. But for now, here is the beginning:

Prologue:
Shy. Sweet. Innocent. Those were the words Isabella would have used to describe the reflection she saw staring back at her. She was only three years old, but wise beyond her years, her mother often times said. Her father had bought her first pony, and she spent much of the day riding it. She was just getting ready to have supper when her mother rushed up to her room, with a frightened expression on her face. “Isabel! Date prisa, no tenemos mucho tiempo! Tenemos que apurarnos y dejar! Ahora!” Isabella knew enough to know not to question her mother when she spoke so hurried. Isa quickly grabbed her cloak and a bag of possessions and ran with her mother. They went into the nursery, where Isa’s little brother, Alfonso, slept soundly. The queen wakened the sleeping infant, wrapped him in a blanket, and rushed out. Where are we going? I am so confundido! Isa thought as they ran to the stables, where they both collapsed into the hay.

“Madre, what is going on? Why are we running?” Isabella asked, gasping for breath while her mother patted her head. “My dear little Niña, your father has passed on. He died quietly in his sleep and is now gone.” The queen saw two silent tears run down the small child’s face as Isabella hugged her knees to her chest. “I am afraid that is not all. Not one hour after your father’s death, your half hermano has been crowned king.” Isabella’s eyes widened. Her half brother, Henry IV, was a cruel man interested only in himself. “What will he do to us? Aren’t you still queen?” Isabella’s thoughts ran at the speed of light while her mother rose. Isa stood and lifted the hood of her cloak. “He is splitting us up so we can no longer be together. My hand maiden, Maria, will watch over you and be your mother until we can be together on day. Learn to call her Madre and love her like you do me. You must have the strength of a lioness and the sharpness of a serpent. Now go and be a strong warrior angel.” The queen’s words rang in Isabella’s mind as she and her new ‘mother’ rode towards the road out of Portugal.

At a stop in a small village outside of Portugal, Isa asked her Madre to dictate a letter to a very important person:
Jesús, nos ayudan a estar cerca de nosotros oh señor su humilde servidor, ~Isabella~
This translated means:
Help us Jesus Be near us oh lord Your humble servant, Isabella

This was the beginning of some new adventure, and the end of everything Isa ever knew. She knew that if she wanted to survive, she needed strength. This simple child’s prayer would become a hero’s legacy.
This is Isabella’s story.

Gifts and Blessings!

This day has been so very, very filled with gifts and blessings! For some reason, I was so touched by each one of my children as a special, unique gift today...and the gift of having a baby in the house again! The weather today was so beautiful....especially for Pittsburgh in February! I've always said, that I believe that God gives us days like today in the middle of winter as special gifts...to remind us of His faithfulness....that Spring ALWAYS follows Winter...the seasons are unchanging....and so is He...the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Our high temperature was 64 degrees! And, did we take advantage of it! Today was another "Ty Day" as well....and we had him outside almost more than he was inside! Ty has 'graduated' to the clip-on toddler chair at the table with us..he loves it!
It looked like it might rain this morning, so I put Ty in the carrier, put raincoats on the little ones, grabbed my umbrella and off we went for a walk. I wasn't letting anything keep me inside today! We saw green garbage trucks, trolleys, birds and squirrels nests...and a water main break. ( Ronnie pointed that out, he was intriqued)

What a blessing it is to homeschool! I had to get a shot of this...where else can you do your geometry and lit with a sleepy cat on your lap?!


This is typical...Ty was playing, Anna was sitting next to him playing doll house, Ronnie was doing his math, and I was sitting on the floor with them doing some natural food ordering online. When Ty is here, he just fits right in!

This is so special to me! This was my great-grandmothers rocker. It sat on my Gram's front porch ( my Baba lived with my Gram) and between Baba and Gram....many, many babies and sleepy toddlers have been rocked in this chair! The only babies that my gram didn't rock at all , are Anna and Ty....you can bet I'll be rocking Ty a lot this summer on the deck in the shade of our big oak tree!

Today, though, Anna and I took turns rocking Ty in Baba's chair.

Ronnie and Anna had so much fun today! They rode their bikes, played in the yard and were swinging on the swingset....Anna learned to petal!

Ty got to swing, too! We got this toddler swing when Ronnie was a baby at the old house, then hung it here when we moved....Anna was only 1 year old, and she loved to swing. (still does) Now Ty gets to enjoy it too! And there is never a shortage of hands to push him or play with him around here!

Here he comes! Look at that face!

The closer he came, the more he laughed!
Everyone wanted a turn with Ty!
We all have so much fun with him!I pureed for Ty part of what we had for dinner...I just pureed some brown rice and carrots for him.....he loved it! He looked so funny "chewing" with no teeth!

Then his Daddy came....and finished feeding him before taking him home. It was hard for Todd a little bit, because everytime Ron would talk, Ty would swing his head to see him!

~Like I said...a day of gifts and blessings! After Todd and Ty left, we had a cubscout den meeting here. It was fun....our cubmaster came and told the boys all about camp and different activities coming up in the summer. The boys have already earned their Tiger badges, and will be officially "wolves" in May. It was a very full day, but so full of blessings! I am tired! Another full day tomorrow as well...so I'm off to bed! I hope your days are full of gifts and blessings, too! ~Sue~

Warm water therapy....

Ahhhhh....the joys of warm water! I was thinking of this yesterday morning while in the shower....when you have any type of muscular or joint pain (not to mention neck pain)....warm water is an inexpensive, calming therapy. It loosens the muscles, relaxes you....calms you and loosens you up.

For some reason, this thought continued in my head yesterday, as Anna was washing her hands...for a long time....and both my little ones like to play in warm, soapy water in the kitchen sink. (who doesn't?!)

Again, last night....Anna was swimming, soaking and playing happily in the downstairs tub for almost an hour...singing, playing with her Ariel mermaid doll and cinderella swimming doll...she made them a boat, had a fish and was having a grand time! Ronnie was in the upstairs tub...he said he just "wanted to relax....floating around"...I had to call him twice to get out! At the end of a long day....even if they are not really 'dirty' and need scrubbed....soaking for 1/2 an hour or so really does "sooth the savage beast"....I think when I'm in the kitchen working, that I'm going to start filling up the sink and letting my two little ones "do dishes"...even though we have a dishwasher....it will make them happy...and they want to be wherever I am anyway. We can put some Chris Tomlin worship music on (which will sooth me!)...and sing and play in the warm water. (I think I'm going to teach them to scrub floors for me as well....hmmmm...warm water sloshing around, crawling all over the floors....they'll love it!)

I think I'm going to start today! Hopefully, a quick walk in between raindrops, then some "warm water therapy" for my little ones!

Hope everyone has a blessed day! ~Sue~

A Spot of Tea

Today we went over our friend Bella's house to have a fun afternoon of crafts, slot car racing, and dressup clothes. Our mothers got to talk while Meghan, Bella, and I made cards. I am telling you, card making is really fun and I made two cool cards: one in a standard card style and another flower style. You use scrap book paper and templates and the cards turn out super well!

Anna had her very first real tea party at her first playdate! She and Sophia played baby-dolls, doll house, ballet class, and of course princesses. Everything a little girl should do! Ronnie had a blast with his friend Dominic playing cars, legos, and watching Lego movies. My mom and Mrs. Porcari talked until it was time for the tea to begin! Everything was set up beautifully, from the teacups to the candles and centerpiece. They served delicious gluten free apple spice cake that was so yummy! Anna and Sophia were pleased to be included, and they even had their own namecards in a decorative way: This was the place setting: little mirrors with the name written using special marker. Lovely!

Even if my name is spelled wrong, it is still lovely!
When we made cards, we talked and observed the little girls playing and chattering. They were adorable when they were playing together!

Mrs. Porcari and Mum (Below)

Well, I need to go finish cleaning up dinner and the the Duggar's will be on at 8:00 PM! You all know how much we like the Duggars :)

Special bulletin announcement!

We interrupt the progress of the famous "Dr. Who Scarf" for a very important project: I took this picture to show how long it is in respect to Anna's height!

I must make a very special, double flannel blanket for our good friend's new son, Camren Richard Reynolds! He arrived a little bit early, is doing fine...and will be home sooner than I thought...so Dr. Who will have to wait for someone more important! Welcome to God's world, little Camren! ~Sue~

Arcs and Angles

I'm going to sound like a complete nerd, but I am excited about math today! Our lesson today is Arcs and Angles and it is a refreshing change from basic trig and hypotenuse lessons. I drew some examples from my book, and I was happy to see that it was easy and it makes sense! Dontcha just love those lightbulb moments? ;PIf you can't read the words (sorry bout that!) it says, "RS is a Arc or a semi-circle" That was one of the first main points and the thing that screamed to me, "EASY!" and it was really interesting. We use Teaching Textbooks Geometry this year, and we're liking it. We don't watch the lessons, because the book work practically explains itself. Here is an excerpt that pertains to the image above:

A part of a circle is called an Arc.

Arc RS represents half a circle, which is also why it is also called a semi-circle. An arc is a portion of a circle consisting of two end points and the set of points on the circle that lie between the points.

The next thing we learned about is Big arcs and small arcs.

The arc that is bigger than a semi-circle (see image above) is called a Major Arc

An arc that is smaller than a semi-circle (see image above) is called a minor arc.

Well, I'll quit boring you with my math talk so you can read something that actually makes sense (LOL)... hope ya liked my math post!