Monday, June 28, 2010

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Monday Morning Staff Meeting!

This morning I'll be serving German Apple Pancake. I know, I know. We've had this before but someone sent me an e-mail requesting it.



It's plenty sweet on it's own so I would suggest foregoing the maple syrup.

GERMAN APPLE PANCAKE

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About those Beekman Boys.........

I concur with all your comments. It's pretty funny to watch people move to the country with the intention of living the simple life. The problem is they'd don't realize how much work is involved in that simplicity. I haven't yet watched an episode of their TV show, I'm not quite sure if we even get the Planet Green channel.

Why is it these guys remind me of Green Acres?

Their website is very professional and looks like a ton of work to maintain. I can't imagine that they have time away from their farm chores to do all the work necessary to maintain their empire.

And that brings me to something I've been thinking about for awhile. I was so excited when I first discovered blogging. I was sitting at my job at the newspaper and I was blown away by the premise that everyone could have their say, that the "big boys" no longer controlled the flow of information. I was thrilled because I had a lot to say!!

It's like that old movie where some friends get together and say, "Let's put on a show", only I was saying "Let's put on a blog". I started writing and reading. I loved the simple feel of it all. But things started to change. Pretty soon bloggers started to get advertisers and became the equivalent of media stars. I wasn't at all comfortable with the shift.

What happened to the grass roots feel? Now there's a plethora of highly produced blogs, slick as expensively produced magazines. Bloggers have become large enterprises.

I have a couple of advertisers myself, but it's certainly not a business for me. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the issues involved but I do know that I love, love, LOVE blogs with a grass roots, unpolished look that are loaded with real life. I'm thinking specifically this morning of Yoani Sanchez who blogs GENERATION Y from Cuba. Here's a woman who has struggles that we cannot even imagine. She's at the cutting edge of change that is brewing on the island. Here's a quote that I have hanging in my workroom:

"There's a special place in hell for women who do not help other women." - Madeleine Albright


I believe this to my core. We must help other women in whatever way we can, even if it's just a supportive comment.

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If you look on my sidebar you will see a list of Peeps. My Peeps are those people who make my life easier and those who have agreed to be my in-house experts.

Hey - speaking of that, have you seen my Grammar Nazi lately? I'm sure that I've been dangling some participles but I haven't heard from her.

Anyway, I've got a new group to introduce. Do you remember the ballerinas from the Warrior Dash?

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Krista, Gabby & Kim

They have agreed to be my Official Blog Ballet Troupe. They are called the Hash House Harrier Corps de Ballet.

What's a Hash House Harrier? Krista explains it as a running treasure hunt for beer. It's a little hard to explain. Read about it here:

HASH HOUSE HARRIERS

Krista practices ballet in her spare time. She's a PhD candidate in Microbiology.

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Speaking of Peeps, I'm going to mention that PAM KITTY is in danger of losing her position as Crappy Commenter.

She's commented twice, TWICE in the last week. That does not translate to crappy commenter in my book.

Pam - go sit in the corner and be quiet for awhile.

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Would you like to be a Peep? Think of a title for yourself, or some task that would be invaluable to me and let me know. I'm looking for more Peeps!

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Next week is going to be Creativity Week around here. My daughter-the-interior-designer got me involved in an art installation. It was so much fun and now I'm wanting to create art just for art's sake. You're going to be very surprised at what I put together for the exhibition.

While cruising around the web I found another art project.

Doily trees.

What are doily trees? Check it out for yourself.

DOILY TREES

Grandma might not approve of her doilies being used outside.

This woman was inspired by an art installation she saw years ago at the Toronto Zoo. Now my sister and I are inspired to create one ourselves. Stay tuned.

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I love when bloggers inform about upcoming events. There was a craft fair last weekend and we were all invited by the blogger over at MAKE DO MEND.

She's always doing wonderful, creative things. Oh my goodness, how I would love to attend one of their gatherings.

CRAFT FAIR

The only problem is, they're in the southeast.

Southeast London, that is.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the resources to just pick and go?

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That's it for me this morning. How about you? Anything to share? I'd love to hear your opinions about anything I've mentioned this morning.


10 comments:

Mary Rex said...

I just love your blog. I don't have time right now to say much more, except thank you for the nice long post! And the pancake. Yum!

Lisa D. said...

The German Apple Pancake looks delicious!
I understand what you're saying about blogs. I enjoy reading blogs because it is and opportunity to peek into the life of somebody I'll never get to meet. It's an opportunity to get to know them, by participating in comments. We might live thousands of miles apart, and live very different lives, but we still share some of the same experiences, and we can see things from a different perspective through their eyes.

Anonymous said...

I'm in the panhandle of Texas and have so enjoyed all the places you've "taken" me to since I first started reading your blog in '07. Thanks for sharing.

arlene said...

Suzanne, I believe I am your unofficial lurker. I love your blog, the grassroots feel of it, and try to visit at least once a week. Love how you are, in my eyes, keeping it real. Life isn't perfect, but you are making delicious lemonade. As is the Farmer, apparently.

My made-up Peep name would be Semi-lurker Fan (since I do comment occasionally).

arlene in Kansas - MANY miles from anything!

chocolatechci said...

I, too, like simple blogs.

That is one of the reasons why I don't allow advertising on mine.

Sooooo many people have suggested/ asked me to do it, but that isn't why I blog.

Hugs to you.

Vee said...

(The biggest news that I have is that the medical supply people will be here at 10 am tomorrow and the hospital bed they're installing is a foot and a half longer than a standard twin. That means reconfiguring my grandmother's space and shoving furniture around. Ugh.)

Looking for more peeps? How many does a gal need? :D

Thank you for the eclectic information. One can count of you for quirky. There certainly has been a shift in blogging. I'm not always pleased, but then I'm not the queen.

Vee said...

on you...count on you...

life in red shoes said...

Pancakes- DELISH!

Beekman Boys- My new must watch, love them. And how could we expect anything less than fabulous from Brent, he worked for M A R T H A, it's in his blood:)

I absolutely, positively agree that as women need to help one another. I read some blogs where I know this is not true, too competitive...too bad:)

I love being one of your peeps, in fact I have just recently discovered the wonders of borax!

Can't wait to see what your lovely daughter has in store, has me hanging by a thread.

The England thing, are we going to let a little thing like that stop US?

And hey, where IS the Grammar Nazi? , I'm sure she'd have a few words for me:)

Nedine Says said...

Disclaimer: I have seen parts of two Beekman Boys. I give then another year, tops. I have yet to see them actually do anything on the farm that would qualify them as "farmers"I hope I am wrong and like I said I have only seen parts of two episodes because I can never remember what night they are on. Oh and on Facebook Josh, the one that looks like Augusten Burrows from Running with Scissors, broke his toe and got a huge splinter in his foot. I bet he was running around barefoot...hello. Tetanus !

Millicent said...

So glad you have added a ballet troupe to your peeps. I think you were terribly lacking in that area. I loved your post about the Warrior Dash, and I've enlisted my kids to do it soon. That is so cool, and we loved the shoe donation pile. What a great idea!