I am in Love!

I just had to share this flavor of herbal tea with you all. It's first ingredient is red rooibos (Roy-boss) from South Africa. It's packed with anti-oxidants and is completely caffeine free! The best part of this particular rooibos flavor is that it's absolutely, undeniably delicious! If you like cinnamon, this is the tea for you. The package says it's sweet, and it is. But no sweeteners have been added. Try it. You might just be hooked!

More Simple Pleasures

Oranges are in season, and we have been picking in our neighbor's grove. The juice is fabulous. B likes to help squeeze the orange juice from the fruit. The boys have always liked to squeeze the juice in years past, but maybe they figure it's time to turn it over to their sister now. I am so glad for fresh juice, vs. frozen that we buy in the grocery store. And with cold and flu season upon us, it's perfect timing!


We have also been enjoying this cute little guy. We picked him up when we were in GA earlier this month. He fits right in among our other moose hanging around the place. We have bags of shelled nuts in the freezer, which we eat from almost daily. But it's more fun for Mom to crack the nuts for the kids! It's even more fun to have to pick up the pieces that go flying around the room as they are cracked (kidding!) It's not so fun to step on a piece of nutshell that got missed on the floor. Picture bare feet since it's hot in FL.

Homemade bread is always a simple pleasure. I have found a pretty tasty gluten-free version that we like. It cooks up nice and tall and is very moist (at least for the first day!) I have made it before, but for some reason I could not get it out of the pan this time! No, I didn't forget to grease the pan. It was well oiled. Lest you think I am a perfect cook and baker, I will share this photo with you. We still ate it right up but our sandwiches were quite misshapen! This photo does NOT very clearly display the gaping hole in it's bottom, but it was huge.

And in our quest to incorporate more fresh produce into our diet, I have been asking the kids what kind of veges they want to see more of on the dinner table. My kids can't be normal! They have to like something expensive like fresh asparagus. I used to buy it so infrequently that I can only think of a couple times it ever graced our table. But now, with trying to enjoy more simple pleasures, it's been on the menu several times in the last month or two. Good thing I like it too! I am also glad to have found a fresh produce store in E which has much better prices than Publix.

Life's Simple Pleasures

I have an annoying, odd, and even quirky habit. It sometimes drives me nuts! I have the tendency to hoard treats, or special stuff. I have done this my whole life. When I was a kid, if I got a rare (as in the "once in a blue moon" frequency) candy or bubblegum treat, I would often save it for later, savoring the idea of tasting it later, only to have the treat go stale. Worse yet, I often lost them, or had them swiped by my little sister! I still do this as an adult. If I have a special soap, I don't use it too often because I don't want it to run out! If I have a favorite perfume, I don't wear it until there's a special occasion. Well, my life is not exceptionally exciting, and "special" occasions don't come around very often. My special perfume, or whatever it is, will turn a nasty odor on me, and I no longer like it 15 yrs. later. Why do I do this? Every time I have to throw something out because it's not good anymore, it's a reminder in how crazy it is to save everything for later. I'll have to locate the verse, but the Bible even speaks about storing up (hoarding)treasures here on earth, where thieves and robbers may steal them, or moths destroy them.

So, since I have been pondering on this a lot lately, I have vowed to try and seize opportunities TODAY to do special little things with my kids. It may be something very simple, like trying a new variety of fruit that is always "too expensive" to buy. We recently scarfed down a pomegranate. It was delicious! The kids felt special for the treat, and that made them warm and open.

Another idea I am putting in place, is to actually play a family game together. It's crazy, I know, but I guess I have had the mentality that if I provided fun and educational games and hands-on projects in our home, that the kids would pull them out and use them while I was busy. It hasn't been happening on their own, so I am endeavoring to sit down and do these things with them. It has been fun, and it often seems to spark enough interest that they will go back to these projects or games later without me, when I am busy paying bills or getting my morning shower, etc. I guess kids can get in a rut, too, and just need a little nudge now and then, with some new ideas to build on.

We have been putting on special music for chore times, and even during free time between school work. I have all these lovely Christian and classical music CD's on the shelf, but we never listen to them. Why? Laziness to change out the CD's or even just turn on the stereo? Or is it just because I don't think about it? I guess I have a heavy dose of "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. It is not often enough that I will "stop and smell the roses." I must have been inadvertently passing this thought process on to my kids as well.

Recently, when I was at K's house, she offered me a cup of tea. Now, I have always enjoyed herbal tea, but I never make it! It's such a simple thing to do! So, the kids and I have been having mini-tea parties. It's so much fun to try different kinds of tea, and sample new flavors. And I already had all these tea varieties in my cupboard, just sitting there waiting for me to drink them. And who knows.....they might have tasted even better if they were fresh. Anybody know the shelf life of herbal teas?

Oh, and I almost forgot. The above picture is of our fireplace. We enjoyed our first fire tonight in our new house. It's going to be chilly tonight! My hubby said that it's finally feeling like "home" since we lit the fire. And he's SO glad that we went with the real wood-burning fire, and not the gas "fake" fire.