My dear, what big PIES you have!

July 31, 2008 in Well-Being

Monica had another "BOOBIE" event selling t-shirts and other paraphernalia to support Breast Cancer Research for "Walk for a Cure." This particular BOOBIE booth was for the Mini Sturgis at Cruisers in Post Falls, ID. The crowd here sported lots of tattoos, leather, piercings and BOOBS. (real, fake and some shockingly enormous!) Even though they couldn't fit her into one of their t-shirts, Ms. Echo Valley was still more than happy to pose for a photo with Monica and her friend, Jen.

As we were reviewing Monica's Biker Event photos and Debbie's lake photos, we noticed a similarity between these two shots! See if you see what we saw? :):)

To read more about the BOOBIE girls or buy a shirt, visit www.huglovesave.com

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(Not-So) HUMBLE PIE

July 28, 2008 in Recipes, Travel, Well-Being

I just finished a glorious week at the lake. Most of the week was about reading novels, easy hikes, tooling around the lake and laying in the sun.

However, I did have a birthday party for my good friend Lynn while I was there and she requested a Birthday Pie instead of cake. The last thing I did before driving up to the lake was pick raspberries from my backyard patch and pick up a box of fresh peaches. I brought up Betty Crocker’s peach pie recipe for inspiration. (you can always count on good old Betty Crocker for a reliable recipe for basic baked goods)  I added raspberries to the recipe.

I asked Murphy and Anna to pool their baking talents with me to put together the pies on party day.  Peeling and slicing peaches takes a little time, but who cares when you’re at the lake –  it becomes a fun activity. We had a blast making them and even though I left evidence of juicy run-over on the bottom of the condo oven, they turned out luscious looking. In fact Dan, (official lake photographer) couldn’t resist snapping a shot of them right out of the oven.

After all the oohs and aahs, TEAM PIE starting feeling pretty good themselves and thought we should be photographed with our masterpiece pies.  Here we are, swelling with pride:

A few hours later, we finally all gathered together to sing “Happy Birthday” and cut into the pies.  The crowd started flooding us with compliments and we recieved so many “Hmmmm’s” and “yum’s” that we almost started to believe that we had actually invented pie. 

Not-So Humble Pie
Peach and Raspberry Filling for Two Pies

Pastry for Two, Two-Crust Pies
1 1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8- 9 large sliced peaches
3 cups raspberries (drained)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg white

1. Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. (I used the (almost homemade) kind you purchase premade, but needs to be baked)
2. Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon in large bowl. Stir in peaches, lemon juice and add raspberries last. Turn into pastry-lined pie plates. Lay out top crusts and baste with egg white.  Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Cut into strips to make lattice for top of pie.  Place lattice strips on top of pie, trim off excess and flute edges.  Dot butter in openings between lattice strips.  Cover fluted edge with 2-3 inch strips of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning.
3. Bake about 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through. (Line bottom of oven with foil to prevent mess) Cool in pie plate on wire rack. Serve with vanilla ice cream and a big (not-so humble) grin!

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GIRLS LIKE US

July 23, 2008 in Books, Music

If you grew up in the 60’s or 70’s like I did you probably were influenced, inspired or at least entertained by artists Carole King, Carly Simon or Joni Mitchell. For me, it was all three. So when I received a copy of the book, Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller, chronicling the life and time of these three women of enormous talent – I thought the book had been written just for me. All three women “come from such different sets of circumstances” and their journeys were very influenced by the times they were living in.

Carole lived in Brooklyn, NY. She married very young and was raising young children while writing song after song for many years before breaking through with arguably one of the most popular albums of all time. (that would be Tapestry, of course) Carly was raised in the intellectual, upper crust world of publishing. In fact, her father ran the publishing empire, Simon & Schuster. She also rather famously married the super talented (and then heroin addicted) James Taylor. (James was in all three women’s lives) Joni was raised in Canada and gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock that she gave up for adoption. This decision haunted her until decades later they were reunited. To learn that her song “Little Green” was written about her child was poignant.

Their journeys were truly fascinating and their love lives beyond (my) imagination. There were so many other famous musicians, actors, and politicians that were woven through their lives and inspired the songs they wrote. I had to pull out their classic albums to revisit these songs and lyrics to hear them with new ears.

This was a book that I really never wanted to put down. After some 500 pages of fascinating accounts of their lives, my eyes welled with tears when I realized I was reading the final paragraph. If you’re interested in that period or these artists – I think you’ll enjoy how this author captures the details of the epic story of these “women of heart and mind.”

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MacGyver meets Martha Stewart

July 18, 2008 in Creativity, Friendship

I went to a sweet outdoor wedding for a very young couple last weekend. (My first outing after the Appendix fiasco) The couple was very casual and relaxed about all the wedding details. (no Bridezilla’s here) That was all up until the moment when they realized the garter was missing. I was sitting on the sidelines, minding my own business and enjoying my new lease on life, when suddenly Jennifer brings me a bra strap, a long crinkled piece of teal satin fabric and an old, dull pair of shears. “Okay Debbie Mumm, you need to make us a garter, and fast!” “It might not be too pretty, but find me a needle and thread STAT and I can make it happen!” I still had some of that hospital jargon in my head that just seemed to roll of my tongue.

All that could be found was bright yellow embroidery floss and the hardest part was threading the needle. I folded the satin fabric in half a couple times and did a long, fast running stitch to pull a gather. I ran the elastic bra strap though the center and attached it end to end. The edges looked pretty rough, so we disguised it with a scrap of tulle for a bow and a daisy out of the garden. It was a little bit “MacGyver meets Martha Stewart. And I got to feel a little bit like a hero when the bride gratefully pulled the garter up onto her thigh. She gracefully showed me a little leg, so I could snap up a photo. Some lucky bachelor caught it an hour later. Happy Ending!

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The Freedom to Craft!

July 14, 2008 in Creativity, Quotes

Nothing is more fun than to learn that someone has been inspired by our creativity. Kris was beaming with pride when we received these samples from Pam and her niece Mandy. These two are separated by many miles but share an interest in crafting. Quote of the Month was just the inspiration they were looking for to find another opportunity to keep in touch regularly and share their creativity with each other. Kris is more into the paper crafting, where Pam and Mandy interpreted their Quotes with more of an emphasis on using fabric. Pam shared that when her and Mandy do get together they shop our site for inspiration of what to do next. This is music to my ears – since every month we offer up lots of projects and ideas. Double your fun and share your love of crafting with a friend!

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It's Nice to Know

July 11, 2008

It's nice to know that even when you're laid up and out of the office that the work continues to flow. I'm always grateful for the talents and productivity of my staff, but never more so than when I’m out of commission. Outside of our building, there are other teams at work, too. While I was in surgery, this photo was taken at the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores headquarters. Rachel (from our agency in New York) is yukking it up with Dan, the seasonal fabric buyer, as he sports one of his shirts made with Debbie Mumm fabric. I love a man that is so passionate about his work that he wants to wear it.

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An Explosive Fourth!

July 9, 2008 in Family, Friendship, Holidays, Well-Being

Well, my holiday weekend plans took a big change of course........

So much for the Rooftop party downtown to watch the Fireworks, so much for going up to Green Bluff to pick Strawberries and have a picnic, so much for going to see Steve Carrel's "GET SMART"........

I conducted my own (internal) symphony of Fireworks with an ambulance ride to the hospital with a ruptured Appendix!

I'm still home recovering after the surgery - but thought I shouldn't wait any longer to explain my absense. By the way, there will be no photos in this blog! Although, I wish I had my camera when they had to pull over the ambulance so the Newbie Paramedic in training (her 3rd call!) could insert my IV. There was much fumbling - I just looked away. I wouldn't have minded having a photo of my son sitting by my side in the ER and the next couple days attending and comforting me. The McDreamy ER Doc would have been a good shot too. (and we thought that only existed on TV) I would have been pretty glamorous in a shot of me trying to get a spoonful of broth to my lips while every appendage was hooked up to some monitoring device. My whole body was bloated and swollen and I looked 20 pounds heavier too. Yes, that would have been a good one - but I forgot my camera.

A shot of Murphy and Anna accompanying me in my hospital gown with my two day old bedhead while I shuffled around the 4th floor with my IV tree would have been a cute one. I would have loved to have had a photo of my friend Lynn making up batches of soup for me to eat while I recovered and Dan hooking up my DVD player so I could watch movies from the sofa. My friend Jennifer brought me a new (cute!) set of pajamas from Victoria's Secret which was a big lift for me because now I have daytime PJ's that are different from my night time PJ's. Even though I've been home for days now and I know where my camera is, I'm still not going to take any photos. I'm sure you understand. Hope you all had a Happy Fourth!

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Girls Weekend Itinerary

July 1, 2008 in Friendship, Home

When I entertain my organizational neurosis often surface. And this last weekend, I was hosting three of my girlfriends in Spokane for a Girl's weekend.  I emailed them the plan ahead of time and we kept a copy on hand to make sure we were "on schedule." Compare my pre-meditated schedule to what actually happened:

Friday evening

• 6:00ish Gayle and Andrea blow into town (slightly road weary, but still high from their last Root Beer Float) Naturally, they were a little late, but made sure they worked in their floats
• 6:05ish After Gayle & Andrea wash the dirt off their faces (after a top down drive) and Deb fills the ice bucket for the first round of G&T’s and Hot Crab Dip.(now one of my stand-by recipes - but I modify it a little each time I serve it) Gayle took charge at the ice bucket
• 6:30 Optional: Quick cool-down swim We opt, not.
• 7:00 Dinner Menu: Grilled Chicken, Healthy green salad w/cilantro, multi-grain bread and cookies for dessert. We ate about an hour late and were too full for dessert - and Pepperidge Farm worked so hard baking those cookies!
• 8:00 Bedrooms are assigned: Andrea in the den, Gayle in Murphy’s room (sans Murphy, of course), Jan in the guest room
• 9:45 Murphy’s Chauffeur Services are employed – Driver (Murphy & co-pilot, Anna) head to airport to pick up Jan (she's an O.R. nurse and had to work all day)
• 10:45 Jan is delivered to the house, Deb immediately brings her a glass of wine Jan's too pooped for wine. Chit-chat ‘til midnight.
• 12:00am Nighty-night We feel our age now - can barely stay awake 'til midnight - yawn!

Saturday

• 8-9:00 Walks for those who feel like it Okay, so NO-ONE felt like it.  It was more fun sitting around in our jammies and visiting over coffee   
• 8-12:00 Pool-side Self-serve breakfast- Coffee, blueberry bagels, cream cheese, fruit salad Alternate taking showers
• 12-1:00 Pack Picnic Lunch

• 1:00- 4 Head to Arbor Crest Winery for a Tasting (Deb unintentionally takes the scenic route - luckily no one realizes this) Picnic: Savingnon Blanc is our agreed purchase for lunch, smoked salmon, cream cheese & crackers,left-over chicken, green grapes, carrot & celery sticks




• 4-5:00 Stop at Nordstrom to buy Andrea a new wardrobe Former CFO, Andrea, says "No, it's not in the budget" - Instead we go back to the house for an afternoon swim - pure heaven. No one can tell I've had pool problems - until I start whining.  A little more sympathy wouldn't have hurt!
  
  
  
• 7:-10:00 Dinner reservations at Ella’s (dinner & Jazz club) Murphy is once again our driver (he's broke and will do anything to earn a few bucks) After dinner we head to the Davenport Hotel for a nightcap - just so we can say we went bar-hopping. Gayle & I are big fans and we make everyone listen to Joni Mitchell on the car ride back. Once again, we can barely stay up 'til midnight.

Sunday

• 9:00 Self-serve breakfast – more of same. Everyone sleeps in and shows up with our swimsuits on to enjoy a morning float in the pool.
• 10-11:30 Craft Time – Outdoor Beaded Votives (this months craft project on our website) As much as everyone "says" they wanted to do the project - in fact they were earning beads (all former Campfire Girls) by helping Deb clear dishes, etc.......they preferred more time in the pool.
• Noon Airport Transport Since the chauffer is sleeping in - Deb takes Jan to the airport. Meanwhile, Gayle & Andrea discover that I am preparing to have a Garage Sale in the near future - they snap up more than a few treasures to take home with them.
• 3:00 - Gayle, Andrea and Deb try to stuff everyone's purchases in Gayle's VW Beattle - just barely fits. (we had to cut Andrea off from more shopping) They hit the road!
• 3:05 - I crash in my Recliner.

Was a great weekend!

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