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.

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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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Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You are.....

Yesterday a self-avowed long time lurker came out to leave a comment and for that I'm very grateful. I love to hear from everyone.

I'll have to admit that in the beginning I didn't understand lurking. Perhaps it's because I can barely keep my mouth shut, either in person or in print. Sometimes it seems like I can't get the words out fast enough and the thought of reading along without weighing in with my opinion was totally foreign to me.

But lately I've been trying to tone myself down a bit and there's a lot to be said for observing and contemplating without comment. There's also the problem of time. When your blogroll begins to run in the triple digits, something's got to give and usually it's commenting.

I do love to consider different viewpoints but have found that mostly we share common concerns and goals.

I'm grateful for everyone who takes time out of their busy lives to spend some time here. The visitors are the energy that drives the engine here on the prairie.