Sincerely Giving Thanks – November 2016 Visiting Teaching Handout

For the month of November, we (L.D.S. Relief Society Visiting Teachers) are directed to choose a talk from the October General Conference session to give as a visiting teaching message.  My thoughts were directed towards the month of November and Thanksgiving.  Thinking along those lines, I enjoyed the talk given by President Henry B. Eyring, titled….”Gratitude on the Sabbath Day”.  In this talk, he stated that the Lord instructed the Saints, in 1831 that their prayers and thanks should be directed heavenward.  They, and we, were told by the Lord how to worship and give thanks on the Sabbath.
So with the message presented by President Eyring, my thoughts again were turned to Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks.  It was then that I remembered coming across a quote by President Monson, given in October of 2010, titled…”The Divine Gift of Gratitude.  In his talk, President Monson made the statement about Sincerely Giving Thanks.  With that, and seeing a few ideas on the internet, I made my version of his quote into a handout.

Raking Garden Leaves

Thank goodness I got all the back yard leaves raked on Thursday because it rained most of the day yesterday. 

I had a lot of leaves in the driveway too, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.  When I tried to rake them up, I was getting a lot of small pebbles in with the leaves. 

I decided to just rake them up anyways, using a lighter touch on the rake so I didn’t get too many pebbles.

And the rewards of my efforts……..12 piles of leaves.  The reason I say rewards is because all those piles of gold get tilled into our garden plot, making that area ready for next year.  The picture only shows 11, but there is actually a hidden pile of leaves off to the far left-hand side of the screen.

What took me close to two hours to rake into piles, my husband came home from work and cleared it all up in little over 30 minutes.  Yes, living on a farm has its rewards……scoop up the leaves then back out of the driveway and haul them to the garden plot.

I’m hoping to get another good day so I can get the front yard raked and the lawn mowed one last time before winter sets in.

The leaves on the front yard come from two trees (one tree is directly behind the other tree so you can’t see it in the picture) and with the two of them….YES.…lots of leaves.  A ground piled thick with leaves.

And by the looks of it, there are still a few more leaves left on those branches….ha!  Looks like we will be having one happy garden plot this coming spring.

Oh, and I almost forgot.  We also have a smaller tree in the other corner of the front yard.  But hey………it’s nothing compared to the other rakings.

The funny thing was……….the next day after getting out of bed, it took me half the morning to figure out why my shoulders were sore.  Getting old-er…..yup, definitely getting old-er.

CornerStone Cafe in Moore, Idaho

Today, a friend and I went to visit another friend in the Arco hospital.  We decided to leave a bit early and try out a new café.  It is called “CornerStone Cafe”.  It replaced the Mi Nest Cafe that was there last summer.  Their official opening date was October 17th, 2016.

The inside is basically the same as it was before with the exception of new decorations.  They added a touch of their own, making it more of a western style.

Neither my friend or I wanted a big meal so we asked if we could order from the kids menu.  They were very accommodating and allowed us to do that.  My friend got the Grilled Cheese on Texas Toast with a mini salad and I got the Grilled Chicken with a mini salad.  It didn’t dawn on me until I was almost through with my salad, but I ended up putting the rest of my grilled chicken, which was super moist, in what was left of my salad.  Totally Yum!  To top off the salad, one of their dressing choices was a garlic aioli (I love garlic) dressing that was excellent. 
Will I eat there again?  Absolutely!

Here is the menu we chose from:

If you don’t want to choose from the above menu, they also have a “Build Your Burger”.  This is not like a regular menu but it is in the form of a note pad.  They just rip you off a page, you fill it out and give it to the waitress.  I am a hamburger kind of lady so I will need to go back and try out their hamburgers, too.

Gang of Elk

This past Saturday, October 22, 2016, just a little before sunset, my friend called and asked if I wanted to go and see the elk.  She said, "you need to come now, if you want to go.....right now".  So out the door I went, looking pretty scroungy, I might add.
There were approximately 100 head, and it was AMAZING.  We were a ways off, but still close enough to hear them bugling, as you can hear in the video I posted. 
I've lived in Idaho for 36 years and although everyone talks about all the elk, I never saw any until last year.  The ones we saw on Saturday were much closer but still far enough away that the quality of the pictures and video are not the best.  But...................................amazing it was!  And, with the binoculars we had, it was almost just like being right there with them.
Before posting this blog, I looked up what a group of elk were called and to my surprise, they aren't called a herd of elk, but they are a gang of elk.  Hmmmm......learn something new everyday.

 

Bugs and Kisses

There are numerous “Bugs & Kisses” ideas all over the internet but the first one I came across was from Pink Peppermint Design.  I thought this was such a cute idea for the few children that come to our home for Halloween.  Most all the ideas I came across had Hershey Kisses and spiders inside a container/bag with a tag attached. 
Living a long distance from any type of store that would carry spiders and bugs, was making this fun idea, a “Maybe Not Happening” idea.  I loved the thought of giving the children these Halloween treat bags, so I hopped on the internet to see what I could find.  I searched and searched for a bag of spiders but the cost to have them shipped was ridiculous!  I then came upon some 11.5” x 5”, cello spider bags on E-bay.  Ok, this would work…..I could still use the theme “Bugs & Kisses” by using the spider bags and putting Hershey Kisses inside.

When the bags arrived and I opened them, they were bags that had tucks on the sides so when fully opened, they were HUGE.  It would take me a very large amount of Kisses to even partially fill one of the bags.  Thinking, thinking, what next.  Then while laying in bed that night, the idea came to me…..hmmmm…..I wonder if I could use my FoodSaver, bag sealer and seal the other end of the bags and then cut each bag in half, giving me two treat bags from one.  Eureka….it worked, perfectly!  Now I actually have 50 treat bags instead of 25.
So with new smaller bags, Hershey Pumpkin Spice Kisses, orange ribbon and my tags, I’m all set to go.  Oh how I love it when things come together.

Bottled Tomatoes

Did I hit the nail on the head, or what.  Yesterday I posted a blog about my pickled beets and that I was thinking they would be the last of my canning for the year……but then something else always comes up and out comes the canning supplies.
Well, that is exactly what happened.  After posting my beet blog, I looked at the tomatoes that I had brought home from Utah, that I was planning on just freezing because they were ripening too fast.  After peeling them, I ended up with a lot more than I had anticipated so out came the canning supplies.  Granted, I only got 4 quarts but hey, 4 quarts is more than I had before.
I had some yellow tomatoes too, so I placed them in the pot with the red tomatoes since they basically taste the same. 
When canning tomatoes, for some reason after they have settled, they separate and you have about 1/4 of the jar that is a light yellowish-red liquid on the bottom and the tomato pulp rises to the top.  That is how mine looked this morning so I shook each bottle before taking pictures.

Pickled Beets 10-10-2016

Ok, I’m thinking that my pickled beets are the last of the canning for this year.  I say, “I’m thinking”, because I say that a lot and then something else comes up and out comes the canning supplies.  I didn’t do as many beets as I usually do but 21 is good enough.  The past few years we have eaten so many pickled beets that we decided not to do as many this year and we still have some left from last year.  But, when all is said and done, pickled beets are great just plain out of the bottle as a side to meals and putting on green salads.  They sure are pretty when bottled with that dark reddish purple color.

Guess Who’s Coming For Breakfast?

Early this morning…….we’re talking 5:30 a.m., I thought I would get up and feed the cats before the magpies were awake.  I’m sure they were awake, but they don’t fly in and eat until it lightens up. 
As I approached the back door, flipped on the porch and looked out, I was met by a raccoon, starring me down.
Ok here we go on the run to get my camera.  He was off the porch by the time I retrieved my camera, but he was standing by the porch, near a little green bucket that I keep water in for the cats.  It was a bit dark, but I still got a (some what) picture of him, and his glowing eyes.  And proof he was on the porch……his little wet paw prints.

One Tomato…..Or Two?

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Utah to spend some time with family.  While there, my cousin showed me his tomato patch….talk about tomatoes, they were everywhere.  Before leaving to come back to Idaho, he picked me a bunch of totally green tomatoes so I could come home, let them ripen, and have tomatoes for a month or so.  They have been great eating.  I love tomatoes in many recipes but one of my favorite ways to eat a tomato is a tomato in one hand and a salt shaker in the other. 
This tomato was such a different/strange looking tomato that I had to take pictures of it.  The bottom part of it ripened and the top part stayed green.  It took quite awhile for the top part to catch up and turn the same color as the bottom.  While in its two-colored state, we tried lifting the top part to see if it was one tomato or two but at that time, we couldn’t tell because the top part wouldn’t lift enough for us to see.  A few week later, this past  Tuesday, both parts were ripe enough to eat so I broke it apart to put in a meal with some macaroni and hamburger.  I still don’t know if it was one tomato, or two…..parts of it were combined like one tomato but other parts were separated like two.  Very Strange Tomato.

A Little "Deer"tour Is A Good Thing

Last Wednesday, October 5, 2016, my daughter Brittney, was up visiting for a few days and on her last day here we decided to go for a ride.  It was such a beautiful day for sight seeing, even though in the beginning of our ride it was pretty cloudy and the tree colors weren’t too vibrant.  However, towards the end of our drive the sun came out and it was beautiful.  As we were heading home and a few miles before getting there, we decided to take a little detour.  I’m thinking this little "deer"tour was a good thing!