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

November 23

Hi all...so here is a status photo of Family Sampler. It is coming along, but haven't had much of a chance to put any stitches in it since Sunday while sitting on the plane. Yesterday and today I spent time in our store getting comfortable doing fruit prep and creating the fruit bouquets...and it has been busy! Lots of fruit centerpieces for the Thanksgiving holiday...Yahoo!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I did my grocery shopping this morning at 6:30am - trying to beat the last minute rush to the store for Thanksgiving holiday foods. My 13 pound turkey has been sitting in the refrigerator since Monday morning trying to thaw out (no, it is not one of our neighbor hood "free range/wild" turkeys - but it was a free turkey the grocery was giving away when you made $100 purchase). Tomorrow morning, while I wait for the Sears Repair man to visit, I will try to get most of the baking out of the way...pumpkin pie for DH, special "grandma" rolls for Robert.

Yea, the Sears Repair Man is scheduled to visit as my clothes dryer doesn't get hot and, therefore, doesn't dry clothes...no matter how many times you turn it on - cold air doesn't dry clothing. Hopefully it will be a quick fix! I have a lot of clothing from our weekend trips waiting to be cleaned.

Well that is about all from my home. Hope all is well in your household.

Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often,

Lisa

November 17...November 18...I am loosing track

Boy, blogging everyday is hard - expecially trying to remember to do it. There are days that I think that I sat down and typed out a post, but when I check my blog the post was done for the day before. Oh, well...let's just say that I am trying and leave it at that.

Yesterday my oldest son left for Canada - the first time that he is travelling without DH or I for the whole hockey weekend. It feels a little strange to "let him go". I know that he is capable of handling a weekend without either of us...and I know the 6 parent chaperones going on the trip and the 2 coaches...so he is in good hands. As my mother pointed out, this will be a good experience for him as well as a great exercise for me to "let him go" and "let him grow up"; for he will be 15 in January and probably the only one on his hockey team who hasn't had the experience of being away from mom and dad a whole weekend.  He did call last night when the plane landed in Calgary; and while I haven't heard from him today, one of the parent chaperones emailed me that everything is going just fine. I am not sure that this was with regards to Robert, or to let me know that the hotel accomodations I arranged for last night for the whole team, but I appreciated the email this morning.

Tonight will be my turn to prepare for travel. Matthew and I leave tomorrow afternoon for Phoenix for his hockey tournament. It has been a long time since he and I travelled together for one of these weekend. I am definitely looking forward to it!

Aside from all of that, I was able to get in a few stitches last night on Family Sampler at the rink while Matthew was on the ice...but not enough for a status photo. I am sure that with a 2 hour plane ride tomorrow, I will be able to get more done!

In light of Thanksgiving being a week away (in the US), I came across some readings and thought that I would share with you all. Have a good day my friends in blogland and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often - Lisa

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, choas 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 Beattie

Gratitude helps you grow and expand;

gratitude brings joy and lughter into your life and into the lives of those around you.

~ Eileen Caddy

These are the gifts I ask

Of Thee, Spirit serene:

Strength for the daily task,

Courage to face the road,

Good cheer to help me bear the traveler's load,

And, for the hours of rest that come between,

An inward joy of all things heard and seen.

~Henry Van Dyke

An apology...A Finish...An Weekend Hockey Update and a Blogoversary Giveaway

The title says it all, so let me start off with the apology! This goes out to Valerie of FogcityDweller...

"Valerie, my dear MW SAL partner, I didn't get a start on my MW as planned yesterday. I did spend Thursday evening, after our T-giving grilled meal, and got everything organized...just felt that I needed to get Sara's Friendship RR stitched so that I could get that in the mail in order to keep the RR's moving (as we are getting close to finishing it up)."

A Finish...Sara's Friendship RR
This week the mailperson delivered Sara's RR, and since many group members are getting antsy to finish this RR (as per "original" plan all the RR's should have been home by now).  I don't blame them, for I am anxious to get mine home and finished too (especially since I had to start over mid-way through) but life seems to get in the way of "orignial" plans most of the time. After getting all my MW supplies set up, I pulled out Sara's RR, picked my color and started to stitch my heart. I chose Threadworx Overdyed Floss #10342, which reminded me of the Fall colors on the trees outside right now (sorry about the blurry photo).

And here is the status of Sara's RR...

Now that it is completed I will be able to get it in the mail on Monday to the next person (Karen in AZ). Oh, yah...I have also finished stitching all the Christmas Ornaments for the couple of exchanges, but for some reason I have been fighting with my sewing machine during the finishing process...so I have taken a break from those; but will get back to them tomorrow evening probably (depending on what I need to do in preparation for back to school and work).

Weekend Hockey and Thanksgiving

As in some of my earlier posts, Thanksgiving holiday means hockey (the Regional Silver Sticks in San Jose, CA). Only Matthew's (youngest son) team is playing in this tournament. They have played 3 games as of this posting and have won all three. They have a game this evening and then probably the Semi-Finals & Champs (we hope) tomorrow. While most of the team families haven't been too keen on the schedule, due to having 3 very early morning games, it actually worked out nice for Thanksgiving. With a game at 8am, we were able to be back home for a noon Thanksgiving meal. Ours wasn't the traditional meal, for I each member of my family of 4 picked the protein of their choice out of the freezer (I had ordered a combo meat package from Omaha Steaks last month...pork steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, sole) and we fired up the grill. Aside from the proteins we had the mashed potatoes/gravy, Durst noodles, steamed green beans, mashed butternut squash and salad. Perfect size without any leftovers.

After awhile, with only us here in town, we have become grateful whenever we all are in town as we travel so much with both boys' travel hockey teams. It is a priceless moment when we can all sit down as a family at the table and have a meal - so even if we don't have a "traditional" turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, we have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal as a family. (Hopefully that all makes sense).

A Blogoversary Celebration and Giveaway

Happy Blog-o-versay to me...Happy Blog-o-versary to me!

Sorry, I just had to toot my own horn...LOL.

Today is my 1 year Blogoversary! Last October I found the blog community; spent a little over a month reading and commenting and finally on November 28, 2008 decided to start my own. Since then I have posted 179 times and have a following of 32 people. I have joined an RR with a group of wonderful women who I have come to know through their mailings and emailings. I have participated in the Year-Long Prairie Schooler Exchange and the Lizzie Kate Exchange, as well as several personal exchanges. I have met so many wonderful people by blogging and reading their blogs...now I cannot imagine my life without!

To celebrate and to show my appreciation, I have decided to host a Give-a-way....

And the Give-away prize is...

Drum Roll Please...

A $20 Gift Certificate to www.123stitch.com  

 To enter, just leave your name and email address in the comment section of this post only. If you want, you can spread the news, but it is not a requirement. I will let the sign ups go from now until Saturday, December 5. I will have one of my hockey playing sons pick the winner on Sunday, December 6 before they go to hockey practice.

Take care all...thank you for your support over the year and I am looking forward to our jouney together in the years to come!

Remember...Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often! Lisa