November 25...Happy Thanksgiving!

Good morning - today is the Thanksgiving holiday for us in the US. Yesterday I made my pumpkin pies (a request from DH...his mother's recipe of course) and made the dough for "Grandma's rolls" (a request from Robert...another recipe of my mother-in-laws...and one that I have never been able to master. Mine never come out as good as hers, be every Thanksgiving DH & Robert request them to be made).

This morning...around 1am, I was wide awake and decided that it might be more productive if I got out of bed - instead of laying there looking at the dark ceiling - and finish prepping the rolls which had risen for 6 hours. I rolled the dough out, coated it with butter, cut out triangles, rolled them up like crescents and set them out to rise some more before they are put in the oven later today. Maybe this year they will taste "as good as Mother's" :) I also decided to prep the turkey - coating that with a butter, onion, carrot, orange rind and spice mixture (I just made it up as I went). Once Tom was back in the refrigerator and the kitchen was sanitized (don't want anyone to come down with food poisoning over the holidays), I went back to bed.

Back in bed, I found DH was also up and thinking about our business. Yesterday after all of Wednesday's fruit bouquet orders were produced and delivered, the staff and I started prepping and producing all the bouquets which were pre-ordered for pick up for Thanksgiving (we are open 8-12 today for pick up only...no employees are coming in...it will just be me, DH, Robert and Matthew working in the store). Once all the fruit bouquets were created, wrapped and tagged for pick up, we came up with a large amount of extra dipped fruit - apples, cinnimon apples, strawberries and bananas. It was bothersome that there was so many extras as they will not be good after today.  So, the more we talked, we decided that we would pick out the best of the best and box them up in the dipped fruit boxes and sell to walk in customers.The rest that aren't pretty enough to sell, we would create a sample tray for customers to try while they are waiting for us to bring out their arrangement.

Well, now...with all these ideas churing in our head, do you think that we could really go to sleep? If you said: "No" you are correct. So, what does a business-owner do when they have a good idea? They act upon it. Quickly we jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and ran to our store (btw...it was 3:30am). Once there, we created about 8 boxes of dipped fruit and loaded up the sample tray so that we were ready for the first pick ups, which are at 8am...only 2.5 hours from now.

And what am I doing "now" you ask...well, getting in my Thanksgiving exercise of course. DH and I got home around 4:45am...he went back to bed and I got on the stationary bike, which I am doing as I post this post on my blog.

I know...I am a little crazy...I will find time to get some rest later today.

In the meantime...here are thoughts to keep in mind on Thankgiving Day as well as everyday of the year!

Have a great day - Thank you for visiting! Lisa

Deciding to be grateful for our situation, our experiences, our unique perspective, quickly changes our outlook on everything that did happen, on everything that is happening now, and on everyone we meet. Accepting that we are in charge of whatever kind of day we will have forces us to accept responsibility for our joy, which can always be ours, or our unhappiness. And being grateful feels so good. Gratitude is an attitude, and I can feel it whenever I want.~Unattributed


The art of thanksgiving is thanksliving. It is gratitude in action. It is applying Albert Schweitzer's philosophy: "In gratitude for your own good fortune you must render in return some sacrifice of your life for other life." It is thanking God for the gift of life by living it triumphantly. It is thanking God for your talents and abilities by accepting them as obligations to be invested for the common good. It is thanking God for happiness by striving to make others happy. It is thanking God for beauty by helping to make the world more beautiful. It is thanking God for inspiration by trying to be an inspiration for others. It is thanking God for health and strength by the care and reverence you show your body. It is thanking God for each new day by living it to the fullest. It is adding to your prayers of thanksgiving, acts of thanksliving. ~Wilfred A Peterson

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow ~ Melody Beatti