Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a warm & cozy Thanksgiving and get to spend your day with family and friends. And don’t forget to count your Blessings.  Love, Debbie

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Pajama PARTY!

Since our office is piled high in fabric – we thought, let’s get together and have a PJ Making Party and use up some of this fabric. Picking our fabrics was the hardest job since we had so many choices. By taking turns cutting out our pieces, we managed to all share one pattern. (Butterick #B5153) We were too excited to stop for dinner, but snacked on brownies and Pinot Grigio. It was only a matter of two hours before we all emerged with our new Jammies. We hit Target to pick out coordinating tops to get ready for our “photo op.” (Fancy Jackie cut out and appliqued horses to her top.) We also made our get together an excuse to gather cash and food donations for our local food bank. Next day I hauled off five bags of groceries and a $100 check to Second Harvest!

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It's a “Boy” Birthday

Our office is full of "girly" things but Tom manages to hold his own as the only guy in the art studio. For his birthday celebration today, Kris scoured our prop room and found a few "boy" items to decorate his birthday cake table with.  Carolyn came up with a fun way to give a Starbucks gift card. She asked for a Starbucks cup, filled it with tissue (candy would be fun inside the cup too) and the gift card and topped it with a bow. Way more fun than a teeny envelope!

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It takes a Village!

Kathy Arbuckle is an incredible and humble artist and I’ve had the good fortune to have had her on my team for nearly 10 years. Kathy has many passions in addition to art, but I would say what is nearest to her heart is her love of animals. When it’s feeding time on Kathy’s spread, it means a loving visit to her 2 Pygmy goats, a flock of laying hens, 2 big outside dogs, Sammy and Summer, 2 horses, Teddy and Wyatt, and even several goldfish that reside in the water trough. Her little house dog is a black Pomeranian named Daisy. Always at her side, even in the deepest winter snow, Daisy is cheerfully underfoot as Kathy’s self appointed guard dog. (She thinks she’s a BIG dog and is the great protector)

A woman of great faith, Kathy is mother to one grown son, Nathan and shares her life with her hubby, Bud, of 30 years. Not a year goes by that Kathy doesn’t plant her vegetable garden. She's been raising her own tomatoes from seed for over 10 years now. Her fruit trees produced a bumper crop this year allowing her to make 3 gallons of applesauce - Yum!! Kathy is our resident "egg lady" too - bringing us freshly laid eggs whenever we need - presuming the hens are in a cooperative mood of course. In the fall and winter months Kathy pulls out her knitting needles producing beautiful scarves and sweaters.  Right now her kitchen table is covered with beading supplies after recently catching the beading “bug.”

Inspired by the encouragement and guidance of the lyrics, Kathy is a fan of Contemporary Christian Music. However, her very favorite recording artist is her Dad. She grew up listening to his wonderful, rich voice accompanied by his ukulele. He has recorded 3 CD’s and now her husband has taken it up and serenades her daily at the dinner table. It is now a tradition and favorite family pastime. This very down to earth woman loves all things creative and domestic, but occasionally takes the time away from the homestead to visit some of her favorite places like Glacier, Montana, Avalon Harbor, Catalina Island…The beach…Lake Wenatchee, and Leavenworth, WA. Her vacation dream plans include Hawaii and New Zealand. She hopes that someday she'll clear out a window of time to write and illustrate a children's book. Hopefully between feeding all her critters!

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Make the Best

Here are some words to help us stay grounded and strong while we deal with uncertainty.

Be GRATEFUL for every Blessing that you have.

 
Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.
 

Being resourceful makes you stronger and more resilient.

 
Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything and everyone has sorrow intermingled with the gladness of life.

 
Create your own standards. Be YOU. Don’t let criticism worry you.

 
Do things you enjoy – and make choices that manage your debt.

 
Envision your future to be everything you desire.

 
Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
 

Laugh, smile, feel good at every opportunity.
 

Remember the sage advice, “This too shall pass.”
 

Be GRATEFUL for every Blessing that you have.

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Best Carrot Cake Ever

Jackie loves to bake and aren’t we lucky? This is one of her favorite recipes and I can vouch for its deliciousness!

Best Carrot Cake Ever!

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups grated carrots
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup raisins
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine grated carrots and brown sugar. Set aside for 60 minutes, then stir in raisins.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 10 inch cake pans.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir into the wet mixture until absorbed. Finally stir in the carrot mixture and the walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

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It takes a Village!

I have a very talented and good hearted group of people that I get to work with. I’d like to introduce you to each member of my in-house staff  – so for the next month or so, I’ll be featuring staff profiles so you can get to know them too.

Jackie Saling has been working with me for 13 years. She even worked for a year with me in my basement when we ran out of space at our office. (whoa - that brings me back!) Jackie has a force field  of her own and turns out great fabric designs and has developed great relationships with many of the companies that produce products for us. Jackie, has earned the nickname ”Jack” by being a Jack of all trades. There’s nothing that she isn’t good at - particularly when it comes to gardening, baking and decorative painting. She’s not afraid of power tools and loves sports too. Before working at “Mumm” she was a hairdresser and taught decorative painting. She still cuts hair occasionally for staff members and purchases beauty supplies for us.

Jackie has three grown children and is a proud grandmother of 2. When she is not being a domestic goddess, she is out kayaking with her soul mate, Bill. She and Bill recently took a vacation in the South of France where she hopes to retire (heaven forbid!) when she’s young enough to enjoy herself and still look good on a topless beach. Still a rocker at XX (don’t worry – no ages will be revealed in these profiles), she listens to Nickel Creek and classic rock. She participates in a book club and a craft club, but from what I hear the focus is usually on what wine they will be drinking. Jackie keeps our plants watered and brings a lot of humor wherever she goes. 

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Quote of the Month

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” is a quote from our 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Instead of interpreting, I just asked Kris what her intention was in sharing this with us. She told me that very often people express their gratitude with words on Thanksgiving, but she wanted us to be inspired to express our gratitude with our actions all year ‘round. I’m grateful for that!

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Historical Election!

"We're not red states, we're not blue states, we are the United States!"

Hooray, the election is over and we've elected a new president. It is a profoundly historical moment in history and I feel proud, inspired and hopeful.

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