I am still happy from the retreat I went on. There were 12 of us. Before we even went up to Auburn, there were a flurry of emails about who would bring what, who needed rulers for a specific project, etc. One of the topics was snacks. I bet each of us brought at least three snacks. The "snack" table measured 120"x32" and was absolutely covered with cookies, pretzels, chips, tail mix, candies, etc. I brought breakfast cookies. These are truly delicious and they are full of things you eat for breakfast.
Breakfast Cookies
From The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham
1 stick of butter at room temperature (softened)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats or unsweetened granola
1 cup broken walnuts
Preheat oven to 350*. Grease two baking sheets.
Cream sugars and butter together until smooth. Add vanilla and egg. Beat well.
Stir in flour, salt and baking soda. Add cereal and walnuts, blending well.
Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out onto it. Roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness.
Cut the cookies out with a 3-" cookie cutter. Place the cookies slightly apart. They don't spread.
Bake 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on wire rack or waxed paper,
Just to give you a quick idea of how things NEVER go as planned:
Friday, June 29th
The retreat starts at 2pm. We got special permission to be there two hours early. I leave at 10:40am. I should say here that I live approximately 25-30 minutes from the far side of Auburn. I drop the darling daughter off at work and then go in and shop at JoAnn's. I stop at the bank (just across the parking lot from JoAnn's). I am supposed to be at Paul's house by noon. Paul is a family friend who moved to Auburn in June of 2011 and I had never seen his house. I knew I would have all this extra time and seeing the house seemed like a good time killer. By 12:10pm I was lost. I get lost all the time. I must say that this time it was Paul's not so good directions. When I finally found it, I got the grand tour-- three bedrooms, two baths, kitchen with dining area and a livingroom. We discussed the plans Paul had for remodeling and at 1:15pm went over to Chevy's to have lunch. After a very yummy lunch with an extremely good margarita, it was 2:45pm and I was definitely late for the retreat (although I did have until 4pm to get there). Because I left the directions to the Mercy Center at home and was coming from a completely opposite direction, I had to call and ask for more directions. I was the only one not there and my friends seemed concerned since I was expected an hour ago!!! I got there in one piece and Jill took my stuff to the room and then showed my how to get to the quilting room. I was ready and in place by dinner!
Despite this being a time away from distractions to quilt, we were required to work for our keep. And it was such arduous work!! We had to make our beds up the first night--Friday, and take them apart when we left on Sunday. We had to set our table for each meal. The dinners, lunches and breakfasts were wonderful. The first meal was salmon (after all this is a catholic convent and it was Friday. Jill, Valerie and I were the first three people in line and not one of us took the fish. I had had a big lunch and only ate the vegetables, but I don't like salmon. All three of us don't like salmon. Every meal was fantastic. My favorite was the giant breakfast burrito. We shared our meals with two other groups. One was an intensive healing group, but we didn't find out what kind of intensive healing was going on. The other group, Abundant Life--about 20 black women dressed up like they were going to church with hats and gloves--had a message for their group. It was MISSION POSSIBLE. Isn't that just so uplifting???
We quilted whenever we liked. Some until the wee hours of the night (I went to bed at midnight) and some beginning in the wee hours of the morning--Cordelia.....Vonnie told me someone snored loudly and kept her up at times. I know I snore and her room was next to mine, but Jill was on the other side and said she didn't hear me. Sorry Vonnie. The first night I sat down to read before I went to sleep and found I had left my book in the quilting room. I was already in my pajamas and didn't want to walk the few feet, so I read the Bible in my room. It is a convent--nuns live there--there was a Bible in every room. We had music in the quilting room supplied by Kimberly. We finished enough squares to make two donation quilts for the Mercy Center. Quilts were finished. I made a purse, started a quilt for my friend, Sandy, and studied the blocks I had for my Linda Ballard project--Now You See It, Now You Don't. Valerie brought her daughter's lap top and she and Jayma watched the Harry Potter movies. It made me want to watch them all over again. I will when I find the first movie that I have hear somewhere!!!!
The center was wonderful. There was plenty of room to walk and see the beautiful grounds. Jill and I walked the Stations of the cross. I was winded at one point. I must start walking again at home. I am so out of shape......
I am sure I left so much out, but I am at the end. I am all set to go again next year!
What a great time you had!
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