Bella at Midnight/ Diane Stanley is a story of an  girl who becomes a knight and a princess by the end of the book. Isabella's other dies  when Isabella is only days old. So she is sent to a cottage of a wet nurse. Her Father does not want anything to do with her because of the reminder of her  mother , so continues to stay in the lowly cottage even under protests from  her aunt.

   Her best friend is Julian who was also cared for by the family for a while His Father  is the King , but he is the last  one of 4 brothers.  Isabella and Julian  go  their  separate ways when it they are older because Julian is of royalty , although Bella still cares for him deeply. They are reunited in rather unlikely way to come to a very satisfying conclusion  of the story.

Weekly Reading- Listen to the Moon

  I have been  doing a lot of reading. One of my favorites was Listen to the Moon ( M. Morgurego) .  This is the amazing story of the author's grandmother who 'came out of nowhere'.   ' Lucy"was rescued  by Alfie and Jim Wheatcroft and taken to their  home on the islands by Sicily.

She is loved  and taken care of , even though she is found with a blanket with  German words on it. This is during the time of the beginnings of WWI. Traumatized by something or someone , she does not speak for the longest time.
Alfie ( the son, who is  a couple years older than she) makes the most progress with her, She listens to him and he can tell that she understands what he is saying. He protects her at school.

 The doctor is also supportive of the Wheatcroft. Mary the wife and mother dotes on the girl and loves her like the daughter she never had. The town is not so good to the family, because the girl is believed to be German.

The story unfolds slowly  as 'Lucy'  gets better, A piano, a German, and time bring the story to a very satisfying conclusion, I just wish there was another book so we can see what happens next.

Looks like a new house!

  The painters are almost done and it looks like we have a new house! We are waiting for the neighbors to comment - but that may not happen . Anyway we LOVE how it turned out.  I think they are going to do another coat on the front . The front shutters are not yet done.( Bob is doing those- and I may get to help)
This is not the best shot- got the sun coming through  but I just had to share!

Easy Vegetable side dish

 Melt butter and olive oil together. Throw in the rest of the ingredients.Toss so all is coated. Saute until desired doneness.  We like ours crisp tender. It works perfectly in the copper chef!

I am using my new copper chef pan and loving it.  We have a veggie  side dish that is easy to make and good for you too!  It is Sauted Cabbage!

Olive oil-  a little( add as needed)
butter-  1 1/2 tablespoons
Cut up cabbage ( for the two of us we usually use half a head)
garlic cloves- 2 or 3 cut fine (optional)
onion slice thin (optional)
salt
Pepper

Extras: bacon, shaved carrots, shredded brussel sprouts,  oregano,  basil, thyme, ( you get the idea here?)

Product Review- Copper Chef Pans

      We recently purchased  our Copper Chef Pans and we are loving them!  They are exactly what they claim. Very easy to cook on and to clean up.  Just wipe and you can start cooking again.  So far we have  made eggs( several ways) ,  sauted cabbage,  and pork chops.
 
       I , of course, had watched the infomercial , read  and watched reviews, and looked at some of the recipe video's before ordering.    We were in the market for new skillets because our  nonstick  pans were looking like the non-stick coating was coming off.  I did not want  nonstick again but was unsure on what to get that would work for us. We do a lot of cooking so we wanted something that would hold up for a while.








http://www.copperchef.com/

Table wear by Pioneer Woman/ Flowers

     The other day Bob went to Walmart   for some items that we needed. He came home with placements  for our dining room table.  They are Pioneer Woman's new line of linens . We had looked at them another time in Walmart when we  there.  
    
       Theses of course match our  new dishes that we have ( previous gifts from myself and my mother!)   I love Pioneer Woman's new line of dishes  and glassware!  They are so colorful and every time we use them, we comment that every type  of food looks so so on them, no matter what it is! 

   So we now have the matching placemats.  I am going to sew up some napkins I think to go with them. I am not sure  if they have matching  napkins  but I am thinking with just a yard of fabric I can whip up some napkins that will go with these and some of the other placemats that I have.

  Also  you will  see the beautiful flowers I received  from my niece and her boyfriend . They are staying so good and they look fabulous with our placemats and dishes!

Netsmartz.org- teaching children about interent safety

     Netsmartz.org    is a webstie for parents and educators to help them teach  children and students the importnace of being safe online.This has lots of  links , ideas, videos discussion guides , handouts, etc for parents and educators   to help   them educate thier children and students l about the safe use of the internet
   NetSmartz is an interactive and educational program of the National Center for Missing and Exploited children.  It consists of age appropriate resources  for students 5 to 17 to be used by parents, and educators.  There are  many resources here  which include videos, games, lesson plans, activity cards, and presentations.
     The programs are  both educational and entertaining. My students love the NS teens and go back  to replay the games and look at the comics.  If you poke around you will find something you can use with your own children or students.

   Did anyone  find anything similar?  I am constantly on the look out for more sites like this that have excellent content for use with the students.