Monday, March 16, 2009

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Good morning everyone! I'm feeling so much better but I've vowed not to overdo things. Thanks for all your kind wishes and thoughts.

I figured it's OK to be in the same room with you and therefore I've dispensed with the remote video feed.

Let's get this meeting underway.

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Just a reminder that our friends Kari & Kijsa are having a Pillow Parade tomorrow. Take pics of your cute or special pillows and post them for the parade. Personally, I don't think I have any cute pillows. I'm sure they're not interested in seeing my "crunchy" pillows. I'm addicted to buckwheat hulls pillows. The Farmer calls them "crunchy" pillows. I'm so addicted that I take them on vacation with me. That makes for quite a sight when I'm walking through the airport with my pillow.

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Next on my agenda is Sam's Club. There's good and bad news. I commend them for making the decision to support local businesses by offering locally produced merchandise. I'm all for local commerce, but the business they've included in their bakery department is Hahn's Bakery. DRAT!!!! It's taken me two years to break the Hahn's habit. I've re-trained my car to avoid the street they're located on and I was doing really, really good until I walked into Sam's Club and saw this:

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Smack your grandmammy - this is the most delicious and evil concoction on the planet. It's more addicting than *cocaine*. I am serious! Just look at it. You're really lucky that I'm going to share with you because in the past I would have eaten it all myself.

The bottom layer is really yummy and moist yellow cake.

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You'll notice it's a very thin layer compared with ......

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THE CRUMB LAYER. It's thick, thick, thick and delicious. It's got just the right amount of cinnamon, sugar, flour and butter. This is stinking heaven! Am I the only one that loves crumb cake?

Okay, everybody gets a smallish piece because this is pretty rich. If I give you a larger piece you'll just be paying attention the crumb cake and not to me.

There's coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice and milk in the back of the room. Dig in!

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The other day Vee asked me if I had a good stack of books and movies to get me through my recovery. Yes, I do! I got this trade paperback copy of Team of Rivals by Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin. This ought to keep me busy for awhile. It's a book about Abraham Lincoln that is 750 pages long with 121 pages of notes! The research involved in this effort is mind boggling.

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I did manage to finish Poisonwood Bible in the throes of my illness. As someone mentioned it probably wasn't the best choice to read while ill but I did enjoy it and I'm not a lover of fiction. When I went to file it away on the bookshelves I discovered that I have another copy! I do this occasionally when shopping at Goodwill. I can't remember which books I've already purchased and for 79 cents I take the chance that I've already got a copy.

Are you interested? I'm going to give away the extra copy. If you'd like to read The Poisonwood Bible, leave a comment to that effect..

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I cracked open a new package of printer paper and look what was included inside.

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Seeds! Five blue spruce seeds to plant your own tree.

The directions are as follows:

1. Soak seeds in water for 24 hours.
2. Fill pot with 4 inches of soil.
3. Plant seeds 1/8 inch deep.
4. Keep soil moist and in lighted area.
5. Seedlings will start to grow within 2 weeks.

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They forgot to add - WAIT 30 YEARS.

Look, I'm too old to be waiting for blue spruce trees to grow. Are you younger or more optimistic than me? Leave me a comment and these seeds could be yours!

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The floor is now open for your agenda items. What's on your mind? What have you been doing with yourself? Would you like to share something with the group?

Next...........

19 comments:

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

I love http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

by Barbra Kingsolver and I've heard people say that one of their favorite book's of all time is The Poisonwood Bible but I'm not a fiction reader either so I've never read it.

The Cutting Edge of Ordinary said...

I read and really enjoyed the Poisonwood Bible. I passed it along and now about 3 friends have read it too. Recycle!

That crumb cake looks sinful!

Becky said...

Good morning, Suzanne! Glad you are feeling better. That crumb cake is making my mouth water! I love crumb cake and this looks like it "takes the cake"!!! Hope you have a restful, healthful week. Becky

Heidi said...

*raises hand* If we were a group of men, I may strip for the crumb cake.... just saying - I MIGHT... Now, for the book - never read it and the seeds WOULD LOVE THEM!!

chocolatechic said...

Good morning friends.


That crumb cake might weaken my resolve to be a sharing kind individual.

My agenda for the day is laundry, teaching school, and taking the girl to the doc. I think her arm is broken.

Anonymous said...

I am glad you are on the road to recovery!

We spent the weekend taking down a couple of trees and our pool. The trees will remain down but the pool will be resurrected in a new, as of yet undetermined, spot.

Amber said...

the seeds would be wonderful...I would be 64 by the time they are grown...read the book and loved it!

Vee said...

Hahahahaha...are you quite certain that it'll be thirty years? Thirty? Really, that long? Sure, I'd like to plant a blue spruce. And I'd also like to read the book....Poisonwood something. Sounds awful, but I might get sick and need a lift.

That cake! Oh my heavens! What a cake! I can't get over that crumb layer. It's beyond the moon. How did they ever come up with that one. I wonder if I could make one myself...oops, sorry, what were you saying, Suzanne?

Patricia said...

Yes, I would love to read the book - I've heard it's 'interesting' !!

I LOVE CRUMB CAKE TOO !! Ooey, gooey, goodness, buttery, surgary, deliciousness !!!

Anonymous said...

Seeds in printer paper, now that's ironic! "Since we are cutting down trees, you should plant some."

Glad you are feeling better.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been to a Monday morning staff meeting in a while, so I found this one a lot of fun. (Great array of topics, Suzanne, including Poisonwood Bible...) Of course, I always learn something new from you. I was not familiar with Hahn's Bakery, but will be on a scouting mission for that cake you so deliciously described and photographed. Wish I could have it for breakfast!

Texas Gardener said...

Good morning from Fort Worth! It's supposed to be 80 here today. We have had crazy weather, hot, cold, wet, hot. I am the webmaster for a site that the community garden has here. This weekend I started a blog on it. Take a look here http://www.localharvest.org/blog/27123/

My blogger blog has sat dorment, poor thing. The local harvest blog is easier to do.

Hope that crumb cake tastes as good as it looks, enjoy!

One Gray Hair At A Time said...

Now that's my kind of cake, the topping is my FAVORITE. Now I have a confession - I AM a lover of fiction; don't hate me. I would love to read the book and then pass it on to someone else. Loving the Monday Morning Staff Meetings.

Judy said...

My parents built a new home when they retired...and kept planting trees year after year. I always wondered why they bothered since trees don't grow over night. That was 25 years ago...dad is still around...and the trees are quite substantial by now. You are just a young thing...plant the seeds!

Guess what I baked on Saturday? Two pans of crumb cake.

Suzanne said...

Joanna - I've got another Kingsolver book (Pigs in Heaven) but it's not grabbing me.

Lisa - I love to pass things along but it's very, very difficult for me to part with books, unless I have doubles. As a result we have about 3,000 books in our home! I keep the bookcase building industry alive and well.

Becky - This crumb cake is the BOMB, as the kids say. Omigosh

Heidi - PHEW...you've had a bad day already lady. (Everybody, go over and check out Heidi's flood). Build an ark. You do need some blue spruce trees as a windbreak out there on the Wisconsin tundra.

Chocolatechic - Did you see Lord of the Rings? This crumb cake is the bakery version of the "precious" ring. You're doing laundry too? Heidi said she's got 8 loads to do. Teaching school is good but what's this about a broken arm???? Yikes. What was the girl doing?

Ang - Taking down trees can be dangerous work. Please be careful. I love the talk about a pool. I want a pool but I'm too lazy for the upkeep involved.

Amber - The trees would be mature just in time for your retirement. I haven't talked to anyone that didn't like that book.

Vee - No, the book is not uplifting. That's why someone was questioning the choice when I was down and sick. I've read two book about Africa now and neither are very uplifting or flattering to the continent. The crumb layer? OMIGOSH. I'm not quite sure how they came up with it and I'm not sure if they actually need that thin yellow cake layer. All crumb would be good. I think you could try to make it yourself. The cake is very moist, probably like a cake that has pudding in the recipe.

Patricia - I'll add your name to the Poisonwood list and I'll draw a name on Thursday! Have some more cake.

Okiesister - I thought it was pretty strange myself. I think they're trying to prove how green they are.

Cindy - I haven't been marking you absent. I decided to cut you some slack. HA. Hahn's Bakery is a local, family owned operation and I don't believe they even have a website. It's an old fashioned bakery where everything is produced on premises. No frozen dough here!

Texas Gardener - I'm going over to check out your site. Thanks for visiting.

Cathy ~ Tadpoles and Teacups said...

Wait 30 years?! lol
Swing by my blog to sign up for a giveaway! :)

Anonymous said...

I did not like the Poisenwood Bible. I don't remember why exactly, but I remember not loving it. I am waiting for Team of Rivals to come in at the library then I'll be reading that too! Funny!
That's kind of cute about the seeds. I'm assuming you would start them inside right? You don't just throw them in the ground. Sounds fun to me!
oh and before I forget, LOVE crumb cake, Crumb topping on anything really...

amycaseycooks said...

Oh the crumb cake is a weakness of mine. I am now going to have to make a trip to my bakery in the morning!

Louise said...

I wish I could grow a tree from seeds here. It would be 5 years before it could survive in the ground! Were they doing it to replace wood they used to make the paper?