Monday Morning Staff Meeting

I'm glad to see all your smiling faces today. It looks like you survived the Thanksgiving holiday without having to resort to antacids.

Have I mentioned the rules for this meeting? Well, basically there are no rules. You can attend in your P.J.'s if you wish. In fact, we're going to have a P.J. party here real soon. Put away those torn and stained flannels and find something more appropriate like a pair of sock monkey footed P.J.'s. I'll let you know when we're going to have P.J. Monday.

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First and foremost on the agenda is the food. You KNOW that I saved you a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream. So yummy.



I can't believe that Ruta, in Devon, England, cannot buy canned pumpkin. That's terrible! I feel like the Pied Piper of Pumpkin Pie. Everyone should be able to bake up a pie at any time.

For those of you who have overdosed on pie, I've got a bag of Jay's shoestring potatoes for you to enjoy.



Blame it on the stinkin' merchandisers who display them at the checkout line.



Crunchy goodness.

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Do you do Christmas cookies? One of our very creative neighbors has a cookie exchange each year. It's alot of fun. I come home with at least a dozen different kinds of cookies.

Look what I found for $3.00.



Three Wilton snowflake cookie cutters. I'm hoping to create something as wonderful as those cute cookies in the King Arthur flour catalog. The packaging on these cookie cutters contain a recipe. They are a little labor intensive for the cookie exchange because I'm required to bring 10 dozen.

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Since my children are grown I don't give too much attention to the toy section of the advertising flyers, but I was drawn to an ad for the Easy Bake Oven. They're still making that? I can't remember having one but I do remember that it "baked" a small cake using a light bulb.

The new 21st century version looks like a microwave and has a digital clock. I'm sure the clock is functional but I'm wondering how the new version bakes the cake. Still a lightbulb?

I can't remember a single toy that I loved better than my Barbies. Every budding clothing designer (or interior designer) cut their creative teeth on the Barbie experience. My mom sewed clothes for Barbie as Christmas gifts. To this day I can't imagine how she had the patience for that teeny tiny work.

Were you one of the lucky kids that had an Easy Bake oven? Did you love dressing your Barbies? Do you have a love/hate relationship with Bratz dolls? What about that doll with the huge eyes? What's her name?

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Old Navy has simply got to bite the bullet and hire some models for their ads. The papier mache manniquins are freaking me out.



Seriously, have you seen these things? They're second on the scary scale, just behind clowns.

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Thanks to everyone who participated in the Thanksgiving fill-in-the-blanks contest. You guys are awesome. Not only did we get the "leftovers" answer but some other creative thoughts.

You know the low tech drill. Names on paper.



Names in basket.



Equals ...............



Winners!

Yes, I drew TWO names.

Jenni wins a Jelly Roll of my cotton dishcloths.



..... and 1 in College, 1 in Diapers (sorry, I'm shuddering at that thought) wins



a Paisley Wallet.

Please contact me via e-mail so that I can get these in the mail to you. The rest of you, hang on because I'll have more giveaways in the next few weeks.

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Be sure to check out Ruta's site from Devon, England. I'm salivating at the wild beauty of that place. The Farmer simply must get me to England.

Thanks for attending yet another Monday Morning Staff Meeting. The world can now continue to spin on it's axis.

Don't forget that today is Cyber Monday, the day for you to shop online. I'm going shopping on the Etsy site. Have you heard that Oprah isn't going to be doing her "Favorite Things" show this year? Never fear, I'm going to be back tomorrow with some favorite picks from Etsy. Who needs Oprah?

See you then.

Thanksgiving Review

Today I'm going to share my thoughts on Thanksgiving and take you along on our family celebration.

The Fourth of July is nice but in my book Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday. The tradition pre-dates the revolution and speaks to a time when survival was not assured. It's a time of gathering together to be thankful fofr the bounty in our lives, both of food and of fellowship.

If Thanksgiving didn't exist we'd have to invent it!

Each family has their tradition in terms of what type of stuffing is served but at it's core the day is about food.

My sister and brother-in-law were kind enough and brave enough to host the festivities this year. A proper Thanksgiving meal is alot of work and also involves preparing the house for the event. I've always said that the best way to get your house in order is to plan a party.

Here's the beautiful dining room table. Unfortunately this is after we ate. I totally forget to snap a picture before the meal. Notice the beautiful fresh flower centerpiece.



Gravy is the number one food item on our list. Our father was a cook in the Navy during WW2 and Korea. He was a gravy master, or is it Gravymeister? Whatever..... you could not get out of your childhood without learning how to make good gravy. It's almost a beverage in our eyes. It's keeping warm on the stove as we load up our plates.



Deviled eggs are a staple. Yummy little bits of goodness.



I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the wonderfully creamy jello. It was black cherry combined with Cool Whip. It disappeared really fast.

This plate is only half full. I haven't made it to the zucchini casserole or the brandied carrots yet.



Jenny wore here Snuggie for Dogs. She was a little frightened by the sheer numbers of people who descended upon her territory.



This is the cutest stinking dog I've ever seen. Seriously. She's a King Charles Spaniel/Bichon mix and a cuteness overload.

After dinner Mom went to work washing dishes. She LOVES washing dishes. No kidding.



We all launched in on our family stories and conversations. Here is the Farmer's daughter holding court with her Uncle Ski.



My sister and her husband figured large in my children's childhood. Almost every good family story is based on time spent at their beautiful place in northern Wisconsin. Fun, funny and crazy experiences.

After dinner the men retired to the man cave. Big screen TV and football ensued. Yet another tradition.


Left to right: the Son, the Farmer, the Daughter's boyfriend

Wonder when those football players celebrate Thanksgiving.

The cranberry sauce was delightful. I failed (yet again) to get a photo. My sister had sliced the sauce out of the can and then cut pieces using a small maple leaf cookie cutter, the same one used to cut the pastry embellishments for the pie.



You know me, I'm all about the pie. The saying goes, "as American as apple pie" and though many view apple pie as the ultimate American tradition, I beg to differ. It's pumpkin pie all the way. Creamy, slightly spicy goodness. I think I'll bake one today in anticipation of the Monday Morning Staff Meeting.

I'm thankful that people are willing to take on the work involved in hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. It's a terrific celebration.

For those of you outside of the U.S., I hope this explains the day.

For an American, nothing is sadder than to be far from family and friends on Thanksgiving. Many years ago I spent the day a thousand miles from my family, having a mediocre turkey dinner on a military base under fluorescent lights. We were so poor we didn't even have a phone with which to call our family. My loyal reader Schnitzel recounted her Thanksgiving in Germany where the Trout was stationed. She was determined to create Thankgiving and cooked a turkey roll on the landing of her apartment.

SCHNITZEL COOKS A TURKEY ROLL

Thanks for coming along to Cindy and Ski's for Thanksgiving.

P.S. The only downside to going to someone else's house for Thanksgiving is __________________.

(Fill in the blank. I'll have a giveaway on Monday, drawing a name from the pool of correct answers)

Poke me with a Fork...Part two

Evidently I already have a post entitled "Poke me with a Fork", so we'll just call this Part Two in the saga.

You'd think that my 7 years experience working in retail would swear me off of Black Friday forever and it has, but we needed some laundry soap and a few other items so early this afternoon we headed over to Target. Their sales flyer had a number of items that I really wanted to take advantage of, some nice sheets, reasonably priced towels and other items.

You know the outcome of this story before I even begin. Nothing....NADA.... zip..... ZILCH. Target did not have a single item I'd placed my list. These were not "Power Hour" items or "Doorbusters" or items that were only available during certain hours. Neither were they listed as items with limited quantities.

The thought process seems to be, "We'll put 10 on the shelves and when they sell out the customer will pick something else...at a higher price." WRONG. I left the store with nothing.... not even the essentials I went for in the first place.

NOTE TO RETAILERS - If you are not going to carry enough merchandise to get you through one day of sales, don't waste the ink that's required to print the flyer.

Target is not one of my primary shopping venues and I'll guarantee you that it will be a long, long time before I return.

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Let's talk about Kohl's.

I've found some nice things in Kohl's. It's crazy that it seems like the entire store is perpetually "on sale" but I suppose that's what they're known for.

The Farmer got a Kohl's charge and we use it occassionally. He schedules his credit card payments online through his bank. This month he mistakenly scheduled the payment to process after midnight on the due date so technically he was one day late with his payment.

The result? A $39 late charge on a $150 balance.

The old school loan sharks from the old neighborhood (think Godfather) didn't charge those percentages! We're done with Kohl's. Just because the law says you can charge those rates doesn't mean you should.

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Joann Fabrics takes the cake today. I figured I'd follow everyone's advice and shop online, avoiding the crowds for the supplies I need to finish all my Christmas projects. No wasted gasoline, no parking lot wars, no long lines........

NO WEBSITE! Poof the Magic Dragon...gone, down, toast.

Joann had online coupons and sales that started yesterday. There were problems right off the bat. I spent time loading things into a cart, the prices advertised didn't seem to be reflected, the coupons wouldn't load and I got bumped out. We had to leave for dinner at my sisters and I figured I'd shop again when I got home. Things were worse when I returned to the website.

This morning the entire website crashed and burned. Not only has Joann not made their sales goals for today, they've made NO SALES whatsoever! They are promising that everything will be honored when the website comes back up but seriously, think about it..... the original customer base crashed the site, the number of customers wishing to avail themselves of the offers will only grow exponentially.

I'm trying to imagine that the management team didn't have a meeting in which the IT team was grilled as to their preparedness for the onslaught of business. Retailers have no business whining about lagging sales if they can't even prepare themselves for the business that DOES come their way.

It's totally ridiculous.

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Tomorrow I'll post a review of our totally wonderful Thanksgiving day.

The only downside to going to someone else's house for this holiday is.....

NO LEFTOVERS!

Maybe that's why I'm cranky. Nah, it's the retailers fault.

First Course - Soup

Today we're going to make pumpkin soup. This recipe is from COOKING DOT COM. Be sure to visit the website and check out the great collection of recipes.

Let's gather together some of our ingredients.



The allspice and crushed red pepper will give the soup some bite.

PUMPKIN COCONUT BISQUE

2 TBSP. butter
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cups canned solid pack pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1-1/2 cups canned, unsweetened coconut milk

Melt butter in a heavy, large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until golden, about 8 min.

Add pumpkin, broth, sugar, allspice and crushed pepper. Bring to a boil.



Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth. (Don't skip this step) Return to pot. Bring soup to a simmer, thinning with coconut milk until it is the desired thickness and taste. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

NOTES: Unsweetened coconut milk should be available in the Asian section of your local food store. It's a staple in Thai cooking. The soup will appear very dark until you puree it in the blender. My batch was VERY thick and even the coconut milk didn't thin it down enough for me so I added more chicken broth.

You can garnish the soup with toasted coconut if you wish.

I've had Pumpkin Curry soup many times before. This was different and was a hit with my family. The "kick" doesn't become apparent until a few seconds after you take a spoonful.

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I hope everyone is moving along in their preparations for Thanksgiving. Thankfully I don't have to cook this year. My sister has invited the whole family over to her house and we're reallly looking forward to it.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Good morning everyone. Thanks for your patience last week as I was busy in preparation for the Christmas craft show and the birthday dinner party for our daughter. One of those events went well and the other did not.

First we need to talk about today's treat. It's a leftover from the dinner party. You won't mind leftovers like this:



It's Italian cream cake and it's simply wonderful.

There's an old saying, "If you want something done, ask a busy woman."

I find this to be so true. It must have some basis in physics, a body in motion stays in motion. A woman with a to-do list is a force to be beckoned with.

Last week was such a busy blur but lists, timetables and a plan helped me pull it all off.

I participated in a craft show and ran home to host a dinner party that evening. It was all possible because I did most everything ahead of time.

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The craft show was disappointing and I will not do this one again. Here's a photo.



Do you see any customers? Neither do I. I'm not quite sure what the problem was. I heard that they advertised it and there were large signs out on the main highway. Perhaps they were up against another big craft show that weekend. I'm not quite sure.

Here's part of my display.



And no, that's not a customer on the left, that's another crafter.

I want to give a plug for Bob and Sue Wulff. They had a wonderful display of Bob's gorgeous hand crafted pens. If you know anyone who loves writing instruments, send them to their site.

WRITE IN STYLE PENS

More pens. Be still my heart.



I promised myself to return the booth and buy the beautiful fountain pen crafted from inlaid wood as soon as I made some sales in my own booth.

Didn't happen.

No sales.

No pen.

I promise to return and treat myself to that pen. It's something to work towards!

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Thanks to my sister who sat with me for the day and made the hours fly by.

We packed up early and I headed home to complete the final preparations for the dinner party. It was a birthday celebration for our daughter and we invited her boyfriend and his parents who are dear friends of ours.

I love to entertain!

Here's the menu:

Pumpkin Coconut Bisque
Romaine salad with apples and almonds
Roasted Whole Beef Tenderloin with Port Wine Sauce
Grilled vegetables (red, yellow, orange peppers; mushrooms; zucchini and eggplant)
Baked potatoes
Italian Cream Cake and fabulous Brownies courtesy of my friend Jan

Everything went very smooth with the birthday girls help.

One thing about having a party - it's a good way to make sure your house gets cleaned.

My greatest wish is that I could entertain some of my readers. The Pioneer Woman does this and I know some of you have been a guest in her home. Jenni, you've been there, correct?

I don't have a plush bunkhouse but my guests could stay in my sewing studio/guest room. I might even put you to work. I'd feed you well. Beef tenderloin, for example.



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It's Monday and everything returns to normal around here. Translation: the Farmer informs me that he's out of socks and underwear. That means it's laundry day!

..... and vacuuming day

..... and figuring out what's for dinner day

..... and errand day.

Thanks for visiting with me today. Come back tomorrow when I share the recipe for Pumpkin Coconut Bisque. My kids loved it.

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My mammogram is scheduled this month.

Watch this video made for breast cancer awareness by Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.



Did I see an orthopedic surgeon rocking out?

I love the elderly maintenance man letting loose.

Do you think this is where ALICIA'S husband works?

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That's all I have to say today. I'm turning the meeting over to you. What's new?

The Meet-Up

Those of you who have been following the International Space Station across the sky will be interested to know that Space Shuttle Atlantis will be docking with the station today at 11:53 a.m.

The astronauts will have a busy day unloading a payload and preparing for a spacewalk on Thursday. Until this mission ends you will be able to see both streaking across the sky. Check the timetable for sightings in your area.

SPACE STATION/SHUTTLE SIGHTING OPPORTUNITIES

The Farmer and I were able to send our children to U.S. Space Camp and it's an educational and adventure opportunity that I highly recommend. It was a bit expensive at the time (probably still is) but we felt it was something that would stay with them for a lifetime. Certainly they couldn't attend at the same time, so each got to go when they turned 12 years old.

Out son attended first and two years later his sister attended. There were campers from all over the world and an astronaut was in attendance to give them their wings at the graduation ceremony.

They attended the Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama and we stayed in an "hotel" for the week. There's plenty to do in the Huntsville area. The "hotel" was actually a nice apartment complex set up to house engineers and scientists working on short term projects at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. While the kids are attending camp, you can tour the center. My favorite part of the tour was watching astronauts train for spacewalks in the huge freshwater tank.

U.S. SPACE CAMP IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA

A quick check reveals that the tuition is the same as it was 17 years ago!

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Thanks so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate the fact that so many of you decide to come because attendance is strictly voluntary.

I'm thinking about all those meetings I attended during my working life, especially those during my tenure at the newspaper. There were times when I felt like jumping out of my skin. I was always stunned at management's ability to dish the most outlandish lies and half-truths. Here's a good one. You've probably heard this a few times.

"Tom Parker has decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities."

Yeah right. Translation: "We fired him because he told the truth and wouldn't play our silly mind games. Oh, and he had great ideas."

One of the saddest days at the newspaper was when our publisher, The Best Boss Ever, was squeezed out of his position. Things were developing behind the scenes that made it impossible for him to stay. He is a man of character who believes in transparency and also in the fact that everyone in his employ was an intelligent human being. He gave us credit for being able to understand the difficult position the newspaper industry was in and knew how to put together an entire team of people who were willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard.

One day he grabbed his lunch box that his wife packed for him everyday and he walked passed my desk.

"Have a nice lunch," I said.

He walked out of the building and never returned.

Elvis had left the building.

Those that forced him out called a meeting and announced our new "program" and direction. Nothing personal, it's just business.

Sorry, it was all personal to me. After all, I spent 2/3 of my waking life there.

I raced into the lunchroom where I knew there was a copy of our publisher's mission statement hanging on the wall.

I stole it.

It's hanging in my sewing studio.

Here's the best part:

"Our associates form a special team: We challenge each other to greatness, celebrate success loudly and do not allow others to define our limitations."

It occurred to me that we can apply that to friendships also. Aren't we a special team?

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This morning I am serving pumpkin pie.



Fall and Thanksgiving are simply excuses to indulge in pumpkin pie. I'm not quite sure why we don't indulge in this treat year round. Perhaps we'll make it a tradition to eat pumpkin pie at least once a month.

Here's a great pumpkin recipe for you. It's a pumpkin dip that's served with those crispy gingersnaps.

PUMPKIN MOUSSE DIP

4 cups powdered sugar
Two (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese
1 can (30 oz.) pumpkin pie filling
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. cloves

Combine sugar and softened cream cheese until well blended. Mix in remaining ingredients. Chill dip before serving. This dip is good with gingersnaps.

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Today is our daughter's birthday! We are very excited that she will be home next weekend, at which time we will celebrate properly.

In this family there always seems to be a story behind every occasion. The story behind her birth revolves around the fact that "back in the day" we didn't know the sex of the baby beforehand. Ultrasounds were available but not generally used to determine the sex of the baby.

We had a son and I was wanting a daughter. I couldn't allow myself to believe that it could be a girl. I was carrying the baby in the same way as our son and so convinced myself that it was another boy. I went so far as to hand stitch 35 birth announcements with the name we had chosen, Joshua Paul.

I went into labor, a story in itself.

The baby was born and the doctor says, "It's a girl!"

At this point I literally shot straight up in the bed and shouted, "What do you MEAN it's a girl????"

The nurse look alarmed and pulled the Farmer off to the side.

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

"No," he said, "She just can't believe it."

And so our Sarah began her journey, with a mother in shock at her great luck to have a daughter.

Happy Birthday Sarah. You are our "Punkin".

NOTE: There's a funny story connected with this birthday but I can't tell until tomorrow.

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I apologize for being a little scarce around here. Back in September I applied for a local craft fair but unfortunately it had received it's quota of crafters very quickly and I was rejected.

A week ago I received a call from the organizer saying that someone dropped out, could I participate?

I've been scrambling to get ready for this fair. We've also planned a dinner party for that evening. Our daughter will be home to help and I'll have everything done ahead of time. I'm all about the preparation.

Bottom line is, I've got lots of cleaning, tagging, cooking and decorating to do this week. Please forgive if I'm distracted.

If you're in the northern Illinois area, I invite you to visit me at the craft show.




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That's it for me. I'm turning the meeting over to you.

That Explains Everything

Yesterday the Farmer and I did some errands together before his appointment with an ear doctor. He's been having pain in his ear on and off for a week and decided it would be a good idea to have it checked out.

Lately he's been driving me crazy because I'll say something or ask him a question, with no response. Many, many times I'm left standing there exclaiming, "I guess I'm talking to myself again." It's only at this point that he responds, "What? What???" It's frustrating.

The doctor performed the examination and couldn't find any infection and decided to give a full exam including a hearing test.

The Farmer listened to beeps and blips and raised his hand and pointed per the instructions of the person giving the test. The results were explained to him by means of a graph. They accurately predicted that he would have great difficulty following a conversation in a restaurant or say, a wedding reception.

I was sitting in the waiting room when he returned with a odd smile on his face. Something like this:


The Farmers as a kid

"What's up with you?" I asked.

"Well, the doctor explained something to me," he replied.

"When you read a certain age you lose parts of your hearing in certain ranges. There's certain bands of the range that you have great difficulty in detecting," he continued.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, actually a woman's voice is a higher range than a man's"

Can you guess where this conversation is going?

"It's very difficult if not impossible to hear that female voice if there's say, a TV on in the room."

HUH??

Did he just say what I think he said? Yep.......

Ladies, your men are not ignoring you. They simply can't hear you because of this special form of hearing loss.

It MUST be so, because the doctor said so.

But, then again, he's a man.

Napkin Folding 101

FFor those of you who have been reading for awhile I will apologize for repeating myself but with Thanksgiving fast approaching this information is timely.

Here's the napkin folding tutorial that I published last November.

Enjoy!

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For those of you who are hosting Thanksgiving dinner, I say sit down, relax and I'll show you a last minute napkin trick.

No matter what amount of chaos existed in our house when I was a kid, my mom always set a fabulously beautiful table for the holidays. I guess you could say it's a tradition, or a challenge, to come up with a wow factor. Years ago I purchase a small book that showed how to fold napkins and the "Fleur de lis" has always been my favorite and it's so easy.

Grab a napkin and play along. It works well with a napkin that is the same on both sides. First you're going to fold the napkin in half diagonally.



Fold one of the points down, like this:



Fold the second point down to match. Now turn it around so the points face up. It's easier to fold this way.



Starting at the left side and working across, make accordian pleats, not too small, not too large.

]

Keep folding across the entire length.



You'll end up with this. Be sure to hold on tight!



Place it inside a glass and pull down the tails. This is a water goblet.



Voile! You've got a beautiful presentation with a minimum amount of work.



You can also grab the corner of the front petal and pull down, which will give you this effect.



Have fun with your Thanksgiving preparations. It's meant to be a time of joy and sharing. Give thanks!

Dog Gone

Let's get a head start on holiday gifts by making something for our four-legged friends.

Each year I try to bake batches of dog cookies for all the dogs in my life, including my own. The good thing about these is that they can be baked ahead and stored in a jar with a tight lid and they'll stay fresh.

I published this tutorial every year as a gentle reminder than we shouldn't forget our canine friends at Christmastime.

Let's get started.

DOG COOKIES

1/2 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup meat broth (beef or chicken)
6 TBSP. oil
2/3 cup whole wheat flour

Rolling pin & bone shaped cookie cutters

Mix dry ingredients together, add the wet ingredients. Use your hands to mix well. As a few drops of water if the mixture seems too dry. If the mixture seems to wet add 1 tsp of flour at a time. Be careful not to overmix or the dough will be tough. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. Cut cookies and back at 350 degrees for 30-35 min.



This batch made 8 large cookies and 30 small cookies. Numbers will vary depending on size of cookie cutter.

I found a place that carries the most wonderful collection of dog cookie cutters in the shapes of bones, fire hydrants, paws, dog houses and almost every "shape" of dog. Poodles, Corgis, Westies even a Chihuahua!

GOOD DOG EXPRESS COOKIE CUTTERS

Farmer's Wife Tip: Copy your favorite recipes on 3 x 5 inch index cards. Sandwich the card between two layers of clear contact paper. Spills can be wiped off with a damp rag.

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

It's Monday morning again. How can that be? I swear that the older you get, the faster time flies.

Thanks to everyone for coming out of hiding to leave a comment. It's good so see all of you. I appreciate the fact that you take time out of your busy day to visit with me.

The first order of business is always the food. No food this morning, just martinis.


Photo - Crate and Barrel catalog

Just kidding. Things have been super busy around here and I thought maybe a martini would take the edge off. I've got glaze donuts and an apple pie for us to feast on. Unfortunately you're going to have to use your imagination because I don't have pictures.

Dig in. There's also coffee, tea, pumpkin lattes, milk and juice.

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The first item on the agenda is to give everyone a heads up that there will be a shuttle launch on November 16th. I think it was originally scheduled for November 12 but the date has been changed. Launching shuttles seems to have become a ho-hum affair but to someone who remembers the first launch of an America into space, it remains an exciting prospect.

I was sitting in a math class when Alan Shepard rode the Freedom 7 capsule in sub-orbital flight. They piped the radio coverage over the intercom. When Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon, I was sitting in my apartment in San Antonio, Texas. You remember these types of thing vividly.

There will be live blog coverage of the shuttle launch

NASA SHUTTLE PAGE

NASA SHUTTLE LAUNCH BLOG

The shuttle will be docking with the International Space Station and if the timing is right you can actually see the shuttle approaching the station for docking. The shuttle appears to be chasing the station across the sky.

SPACE STATION SIGHTING OPPORTUNITIES

Look on the left side. Click on your country, choose your state (area), choose your city and it will give you a table of sighting opportunities.

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I also need to mention that the next meteor shower will be the Leonids on November 17-18. The shower will peak in the predawn hours of November 17. It will be a new moon which will not interfere with the viewing. Experts predict that this will be a good year for the Leonids.

My neighbor, the "Queen Bee" and I usually try to sit out and view the meteor showers.

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Second only to my love of books is my love of CATALOGS.

I love catalogs. This must have it's roots in childhood when we poured over the Sear and Roebuck catalog. I love nothing better than drawing a hot bath and relax while reading my favorites and dreaming about some of the items.

At one time I received Horchow Home and I loved dreaming about the beautiful and expensive items. They were certainly above my buying power and the publishers must have realized this because if I remember correctly there were all kinds of hoops to jump through and in the end it was almost impossible to be on their mailing list.

I love Crate and Barrel. There's a store not far from here in the "lifestyle mall". I can dream over the catalog, order something and pick it up in the store. The problem with ordering from a catalog or online is the shipping charges. Sometimes they can be quite hefty.

That martini set-up at the top of this post is from Crate and Barrel.



I love these leaning bookcases and I ordered one for our bedroom. It holds lots of books and more catalogs.



These bookcases are also available at places like Target.

Here's one of my all time favorites from Crate and Barrel.



A dozen small white appetizer plates. These are incredible versatile and I use them for both appetizers or desserts. This is one of my favorite things to give as a hostess gift.

This is a smaller version of the storage bench I got for our laundry room.



Mine has three baskets and it's just a wonderful piece.

Look at these cute Christmas ornaments.



I might just use this for inspiration.

My new favorite catalog is King Arthur Flour. If you're into baking you need to check it out. Comparatively speaking their items are quite affordable and they carry flours, yeasts, salts, flavorings, gadgets and much more.

These are bakeable paper pans that you can use for gift giving. Just bake the item in the pan, wrap it up and you're done.



Yummy extracts.



I want to treat myself to these biscuit cutters.



Do you need chocolate? They have chocolate.



Callebaut, Guittard, Belcolade, Merkens and more.

Look at these cookies.



I think I need those snowflake cookie cutters.

If you go to their website they have a tutorial on how to make that gingerbread house that graces the cover.

GINGERBREAD FARMHOUSE TUTORIAL

Those are just two of my favorite catalogs. I also love Pottery Barn but their prices keep me at bay. How about you? Do you have favorites? Do you actually order and have you been satisfied?

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There's a good reason that I've been scarce around these parts this week.

I've been playing Santa's Elf, putting together a Christmas shop. It's called Christmas with the Farmer's Wife and it's filled with my handmade ornaments and Christmas decorations.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE FARMER'S WIFE


You can also find a link to the shop on the left hand column, just below my regular shop.

Speaking of that, I've listed new aprons (Christmas and Thanksgiving) and cotton dishcloths.

YES, I've been busy!

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Stayed tuned because later in November I'm going to republish my gingerbread house tutorial. We'll also be baking dog cookies for the pets on our gift lists.

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I'm going to turn the meeting over to you. Feel free to discuss anything you wish.

As for me, I'm going to have that martini.

DIsclaimer: Unfortunately, Crate and Barrel and King Arthur's Flour have NOT paid me to say nice things. If they did I could probably shop their catalogs more often.... hint, hint.

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