Mighty Mountain Maples

Today my husband and I drove up to the North Fork of the Santiam River to take a hike back to see a waterfall. The day was cool (about 60 degrees), but it was sunny which is a rare commodity around here this late in October. I'm including the following photos so you can appreciate what the northwest looks like in the fall. Hope you can come and enjoy it with us some day. When I saw the size of these maple leaves, I could hardly believe my eyes. Rather than trying to describe how big they were, I put my hand on it to make it more believable.

The moss on this branch created a perfect photo with Halloween next week.

The name of this waterfall is Little Falls.

This view made the hike all worth it. I took it at the same place the previous picture was taken. All I did was look downriver.

Even 3-year-olds can be a blessing

One of the things I wanted to do this school year was to have my 3-year-old preschoolers be involved in some sort of an outreach into the community. Our school is located across the street from an assisted living facility. I am quite familiar with it, because our neighbor spent the last few months of his life there, so I visited this place on a regular basis. So I contacted the office there and asked if my class could bring birthday cards at the beginning of each month that could be distributed to the residents on the appropriate dates. She told me how many to make, and at the end of September I delivered them.

Today, I got the following thank you:

"3-year-old class: thank you for the birthday card. That is so very thoughtful! I liked the decorations you added to the card. Have a wonderful life. Thank you again - you really brightened my day."

We bless many people every day and don't even know it. But today, God allowed this teacher and 16 boys and girls to find out that a simple act of kindness makes a difference. That's why I'm passing it along to you. And during this week and the next, we have 5 more cards to make so that the blessings will continue.

Yummy applesauce is a family affair

On Saturday morning, we headed out to Herb Doering's farm to purchase apples. He has been the source of all the apples we have used to make applesauce in the 16 years we have lived here. We chose a 20# box of golden delicious and a 20# box of Jonathans. Each box was $6 which is a great price seeing as how apples in the store run between $.89 and $1.50 this year. So armed with my applesauce maker, heavy duty aluminum dutch ovens and lots of plastic freezer boxes, we headed over to Andrew & Megan's to start the process of some of the best applesauce in the world (yes, that's right - in the world).

Andrew rotates the apples so they cook evenly.

Megan gets the first sample. With cinnamon and a scant amount of
sugar, the warm sauce was very tasty.

My applesauce maker attaches to the side of the table. Once the apples are quartered and cooked they are poured into the white hopper at the top. Using a wooden tool and cranking the handle, the apple skins/seeds/stems go straight and the sauce comes down to the left. Looks like Andrew is trying to get his first sample. Note Molly laying down by the front door. With all her fur, I think she was too warm laying on the carpet. Later in the day, I found her all by herself in a cool, back bedroom.

Lowest gas prices are here!

That's right, Costco started offering regular unleaded gas at $2.89 a gallon. We had bought it the day before at $3.03 and thought we were doing well. So hopefully the price will stay low so that I can make use of that good price. From the other side, who would have thought that we would be so happy to have gas at this price?

All I Need is a Good Contest

Andrew asked me recently what I had found to take my interest now that we have both a Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread in our area. I've decided after my shopping trip yesterday that I've found what it is. Let me tell you about it...

When I started teaching 3-year-olds at a new school, they told me about the Box Tops for Education program that they participate in each year. I knew about these box tops because they are on a lot of products that I buy such as cereal, cake mix, and other boxed products put out by General Mills. Each box top is worth 10 cents, and schools can use the money to purchase much needed supplies. But then my school threw in the bait: there will be a contest between the grades to see who can bring in the most box tops each month.

So I went onto the website, printed out a list of all the products (which now include Ziploc, Kleenex and a lot more), and I handed these lists out to the parents. I looked through my pantry and found close to 20 plus I raided Elie's, Andrew & Megan's and Jennifer found 23 in her stash!!!

But what got my adrenaline pumping was when I saw the Albertson's ad last week which featured many of these products on sale. Once you buy 10 participating brands, there was a bonus $5.00 taken off at the register. Great! Then in Sunday's paper there was a whole insert with coupons for these products. So I talked my husband into taking me there after we visited the Verizon store, and the two of us got to work. Armed with the ad, coupons, and determination, we got our cart and started cruising the aisles.

The first stop was cereal. I needed to find three General Mills brands so that I could use my $1.00 off coupon. No problem. Since we were in the cereal aisle, we also found fruit snacks on sale plus a coupon to buy 2 and get 50 cents off. I chose Batman and My Little Pony to share with my preschool class. This is fun! Now we have five items with five to go. Our search continued in the baking aisle, refrigerated biscuits, paper products and before we knew it, we had all we needed.

So now it was on to the checkout. I would NEVER shop at Albertson's and pay their full price for anything. $3.29 for the smallest box of Cheerios? Never! But $1.50 with a coupon? Now that's OK. So if I had bought these items at full price, the total would have been close to $40.00. But with the sale prices, the total was reduced by $16.00. Coupons took another $4.29 off, and the bonus of buying 10 participating items subtracted $5.00. So my total was $11.77 plus I have all those Box Tops for Education coupons to add to the contest for my class. Wow!

Now if I could just remember what our class will win.....oh well, it was lots of fun. By the way, do you have any box tops?

Try this recipe

I made this dish for dinner this week, and since it's not only delicious but quick, I thought I'd send it along in case you would want to try it.

Baked Potato Frittata

3 T. butter/margarine
1 large potato
1/4 cup chopped onion
8 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Optional: cooked Italian sausage or other meat

Bake the potato (microwave is quick); peel and dice into bite-sized pieces. In fry pan, saute onion and potato chunks til potato is lightly browned. Beat together eggs, sour cream and seasonings. Pour into the frying pan and cook til eggs are almost set (I keep moving cooked eggs to the top to move process along). Sprinkle with cheese. Broil about 6" from heat til cheese melts, but watch carefully.