A lot to post about from this weekend, but let me make this first post about the person that made this blog possible. The wonderful woman who brought me into this world, My Mom!
Maureen Lynn Kimmel. She did all the hard work of bearing me, birthing me and bringing me up right!
My mom is one of those dynamos that was always up before everyone and working on something, whether it was for her or someone else, and then would be up late burning the midnight oil to finish either her project or some housework or task she had on her ever growing list. She also always had some sort of part-time job that she put alot of work into and allowed her to get us kids the nice things that she wanted us to have.
She has a definite knack for setting up fun times that become traditions. Fall apple picking at Irwin's Orchards, then the apple-pie-baking weekend once the apples were all picked, Easter bread making in the spring, Zoo trips in the summer, Planting and harvesting the garden, Sunday afternoon dinners, Birthday dinners (where we got to pick out everything about the meal). Its been fun to watch her transition these times into Grandma times with my kids as well. They thoroughly enjoy every time Grandma calls us with some fun idea she has cooked up for them.
Since the early days of part-time jobs and craft shows, Mom has turned a passion for cooking and an extrovert's personality into a profitable and beneficial business. As a Pampered Chef Director she does in home cooking shows and also contributes to many fundraisers. Of late she has partnered with a Kidney Research Foundation and has contributed a sizeable amount of time and funds to their efforts.
Past ventures of note:
http://www.sahshistory.org/Fund_Raising.html
http://www.childcarenetwork.org/DNN/Portals/0/Training/2009%20Thanks%20to%20Our%20Sponsors.pdf
Also a featured guest at the Michigan International Woman's
Show where a local write-up in 2007 had this to say about my MOM!:
"On the Celebrity Cooking Stage, Chef Maureen Kimmel whipped up a delicious dessert in minutes. Kimmel, a busy mom of five, specializes in meals in minutes and has been cooking for Pampered Chef, a kitchen tools and products company, for 13 years.
“People want fast but not fast food,” Kimmel laughed while offering samples of her scrumptious-looking Double Chocolate Trifle to passers-by. “I call it gourmet cooking in fast food time.”
Kimmel, who mainly does cooking presentations on the weekends, revels in the freedom it gives her away from a full-time job.
“Most of the people that do this actually work a full-time job and this is something fun that they can do on the side, maybe to save for a vacation or braces or whatever,” Kimmel said.
The Pampered Chef, a company founded by Doris Christopher, seeks to empower women by giving them the tools they need to achieve a better balance between work and family. The company offers quality kitchen tools that make their customers more skilled in the kitchen, allowing them to make meals faster so that they can spend more time with their families"
Happy Mother's Day Mom!
P.S.
After reading this, my wife said "it sounds like an advertisement for Pampered Chef" to which I replied, "It's because I am proud of my mom and her accomplishments, many of which have been affected by her position in the company"
