Tired of being tired?

A walk through the Corvallis Rose Society Memorial Garden

One of the best places in Corvallis is the Rose Societies Memorial Garden.  This memorial garden is is full bloom this time of year and is such a grand place.  It's a stretch of land dedicated to the memory of others.  Loved ones can have a certain variety of rose bush planted and a dedication stone placed under it to remember that person or persons.  We decided to take a walk through and admire the beauty before the season was over.


  







  

  


  

  

    


  

  


Learn more about the Corvallis Rose Society here.


(Recipe) Poor Man's Stew

Okay, so in order to make this look like a "true" Poor Man's Stew, I used my old crock pot that has been in my life since I got married 12 years ago.  It's seen better days, that's for sure, but I can't seem to part with it.  Not yet at least.  So here's how to make Poor Mans Stew.

All it takes is five ingredients.  That's it!  

•What you'll need:

1.  Stew Meat (2 lbs.)
2.  Beef Stew Seasoning Mix, (1.50 oz)
3.  Sweet Peas (15 oz)
4.  Sliced Carrots (15 oz)
5.  Whole Kernel Corn (15 oz)



Start with two pounds of stew meat.  I found a good deal on the ones already packaged, but you can find other varieties that are prepared for stew.  It just depends on what your preference is.  I found these packages on sale at the local Safeway here in my town.


Place the two pounds of stew meat into your crock pot and add the liquid from the cans of veggies.  Don't add the veggies yet, just the liquid they are packed in.

Cook on high for 30 minutes with the lid on.

Add the vegetables in with the meat, along with the stew meat seasoning package.  Cook for an additonal 30 minutes, or on low for several hours.  I've also made this in the morning and let the stew meat cook on low all day with the seasoning and then added the vegetables 30 minutes before dinner.  This recipe is pretty easy and is a quick dinner on the go, as well.

Super delicious!  

You can pair this soup with some Hungry Hippo Soup Bread found over on Handmade Charlotte! (How cute is that?)



A season of baseball

We wrapped up our season of baseball for the year.  Skylar's team did great, but unfortunately no games were won.  This team was sort of a throw-away team with no coach at the beginning of the season and thanks to Jeff stepping up to coach, the boys were able to play.  The team was made up of a lot of kids that were either, fresh to baseball, or had taken a few years off from playing (Skylar).  The improvement of the players throughout the season was awesome to see!


Our season was full of a lot of great things.  Kids coming into baseball and falling in love with the sport, shy kids coming out of their element and making new friends, an Arkansas family surprise, and Skylar diving deeper into his game and getting better with batting.  We also found out this season, from Skylar hitting, that he needed glasses.  It was a baseball season to remember!

Jeff hitting to the outfield.

Skylar played third base this season and was a champ at scooping up grounders.


Team encouragement, even at practice, was always a plus!






Great group of boys! We hope to see them all next spring!



We wrapped up the end of the baseball year with a bowling party for the boys, courtesy of the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club.  It was a great way to end the season!



You can follow our baseball season on Jeff's coaching blog here.
We can't wait until next season!  


Five simple things

Hello.  Happy Saturday!  Hope your week was great!  Here are the things that made my week awesome!

1.  These Veggies.

  
Because they came straight out of our organic garden and were delicious!

2.  This Cookie.

Because it was baked in a cast iron skillet and was perfect just the way it is.

3.  These Clouds.

Because it was a storm coming and I was hoping it brought thunder, but it just brought rain and some wind.  Maybe next time. 

4.  This Flower.

Because it kind of marked the end of summer for us here in the Valley.  

5.  This Yard.

Because I did a little experiment this past summer by running the water sprinkler every day for an hour on the grass.  It didn't seem to go brown, but the water bill was a little bit out of control.  I think next year, I will let the grass go brown.  


Five simple things

Yay for the weekend!  So glad this week has come to an end.  It was one of those weeks where I felt like it would never end.  We had a great week though and I can't wait for this weekend!  Here are the things that made my week awesome!

1.  This Movie Date.


Because we enjoy the local, small theater here in town.  They have some really near lobby displays all the time.  The displays change once a month/or so, and are always really interesting.  We went to see Fantastic Four and in the lobby this month was the Wizard of Oz display and Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin.  Three of the Rack Pack members.  

2.  This Sensory Activity.

  
Because even though my child is a bit older, he still enjoys sensory play.  You can find out how to set this up here.

3.  This Movie Night.

Because even though it was on August 28 (My birthday) we are still talking about how fun this movie was to watch in 3D.  

4.  This Ice Cream Cake.

Because it was Hello Kitty and was great for my birthday cake.  

5.  This Card.

Because it came from my mom and was a really nice surprise!  I love how she adds a book of stamps to her cards as a nice treat to write more.  Makes me feel good.

Extra:

Don't forget to check out the new Rustic Stars in the Peppermint Bee Shop.  They sell in sets of two for $5.