Day 17, Eagle-watching kindergarteners,oatmeal, the grossmutter's birthday party

Here is some architecture which impressed Noah at the University this morning.

   

 Here's the latest food scoop.  Hilary had picked up some rolled oats for me from the bulk food section at WinCo last weekend and sent it home via the travelers.  So this morning was the first hot oatmeal day in a long time.  I wish we had a WinCo store in this town! Oatmeal at only .51 per pound. 

     Old-fashioned oats make a nice, flaky cereal when the oats are added into already boiling water.  With milk and sugar they really hit the spot on a chilly morning.

     menu:  oatmeal with milk and sugar, applesauce, tea

Cost:  $1.88

  

20 oz oats:  .64

applesauce:  .40

brown sugar:  .20

10 teaspoons butter:  .20

one quart milk:  .44

      I had so much leftover oatmeal this morning, that I am going to add the leftovers to my bread.  Have you ever done that?   Cooked oatmeal adds awesome flavor to any bread recipe.  Try it!

Here is Noah with his class, checking out the eagles.  The bus driver went cruising around, searching for the birds, and guess where he invariably found them.... In trees surrounding cow/calf operations.  If you want to know which ranches have newborn calves and where the cows are calving, just watch for the circling eagles.

     Eagle watching is much more fun if you have binoculars.   In the picture you see about the same view as the naked eye sees.  Not much detail.  I lent my binocs to one of the boys in my group.  We saw lots of eagles, then we went to CWU's biology dept, where we saw lots of  hawk, owl, and eagle specimens and learned more about eagles.

Here is my group in front of a terrarium full of walking sticks.  We became very hungry after a big field trip on the long ride back to school.

Sack lunch menu:  chicken and rice casserole with carrots, celery/peanut butter logs, wedding cake leftovers

lunch costs:   $3.45

1/4 boiled chicken:  .99

1.5 lbs rice:  .96

4 organic carrots:  .44

onion powder:  .03

1 stalk celery:  .70

peanut butter to fill in the celery sticks:  .18

homemade wedding cake (gift):  no charge

extra bowl of bean soup for Rodger:  .15

snack:  toast

cost: $.25 because only 5 people wanted a piece today

cousins came over after school, and one brought candy ring suckers, so everybody was distracted from the usual snack

Supper was a simple affair.  Beef and potato stew.  Trudy made brownies for a basketball awards banquet.  Brownies are a cheap and easy dessert.  I always take brownies to school events and fundraisers, because they are affordable and always the first item gone.  That's a winning combo.

The other night at the Albertsons I saw another kindergarten mom shocked to find me at the checkout counter with 30 boxes of brownies in my cart.  Albertsons puts brownies on sale about 4 times a year at 1.00 per box.  What a deal.  With the eggs and oil, the whole batch of brownies costs only 1.37.

supper menu:  beef and potato stew, pears, yogurt, brownies

supper cost:  $4.36

hamburger meat:  1.57

4 lbs potatoes:  .40

one gravy packet:  .33

1 yogurt:  .25

3 pears:  .44

1 pan brownies:  1.37

    

     Rodger and I ate dinner with my mom at a specially prepared meal in her home.  Almost all my siblings were there and we had a nice time.  Kate took the twins to their award ceremony, along with all the little kids, where they also ate ice cream.