Peace Day

(this is from a previous year)

Chandler's first event with a community group he joined last week, Roots & Shoots, was the Peace Dove flying during International Peace Day on Sunday, September 21.

Roots & Shoots is a worldwide organization started and sponsored by the Jane Goodall Institute. The goal for his school's group, is the improve their human community and environment. One of the activities for the year, to maintain and enhance the school forest area, which is used by wildlife and for classroom studies.

The Peace Day event was held at McMenamins at their outdoor Yardhouse Pub. It was a simple event but sent a beautiful message. I am proud Chandler has the desire to be involved and stepped up to help.



Afterwards, we stopped at the Corn Roast hosted at Pacific U. An enjoyable community event hosted every year to honor the founders of Forest Grove.
We didn't have corn but did enjoy a cup of coffee while it rained.

Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival

Last Saturday, we attended the 18th Annual Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival in Forest Grove. We had no idea what was involved and had no expectations for the event or our art. We did arrive late since tennis lessons are Saturday mornings, which didn't make a difference besides our location on the sidewalk.

With chalk in hand, we found our square on the corner of Main and Pacific, in front of the US Bank. As we looked at our blank, concrete canvas, we pondered over the possibilities. I guess we all were hungry because pizza came to our mind. Henry wanted to create his own section. With that, Chandler and I decided Henry's section could be a piece of missing pizza pie.

Next year, we'll have plans with us, cushions and blankets to sit on, wipes for our hands, water to manipulate the chalk, extra chalk and maybe pizza!

Rachael Ray's Meals on a Budget...

and who couldn't use help with saving money these days!
Today, on Rachael , she created five meals under $22 for a family of eight from...Forest Grove, Oregon! They don't mention Forest Grove but during the video you may notice the utility bill with 'City of Forest Grove' at the top. I knew to look for them since the local paper had an article about their NYC adventure. They do some shopping at Winco (I don't shop there) it is a low price grocery store but is farther from us...gas may outweigh food costs these days, and walked around their neighborhood.
There go my chances of being on Rachael! How many families would they pick from a town of 20,000! Really, I'm so happy for this family, not only for their trip to NYC, but they received, from Sara Lee, $10,000 towards groceries!

My all time favorite tip from Rachael, freezing chicken breasts for future meals:
Place a single breast (or two depending on size of breast) inside a Ziploc Freezer bag and pound flat.
Add seasoning, marinade, spices (whatever you use that can freeze) and a little EVOO.
Repeat for all the breast and store flat/stacked in the freezer.
When ready to use, take out the number of breasts you need, defrost in the fridge.
Once thawed, the marinaded breasts are ready to be cooked.
It sounds simple enough, but I never thought of including all the seasonings. It makes for a quick dinner and it takes less room in the freezer than the store packaging.