Happy Thanksgiving!

We are having Thanksgiving at our house this year, as we do every year. Hubby and I are both only children and our parents are kind of spread out all over the area, so we are a neutral location. I am going to be extremely busy this week! I keep saying that phrase, don't I? ;) But it is a good kind of busy, one that I never complain about. However, blogging time for me will be a bit hard to come by, so I just wanted to send out a big "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone!! May it be filled with love and joy, no matter where you are or how you celebrate it. :)

And just for fun:

You Are The Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

I Passed!

When I came home this afternoon from a frenzied day of grocery shopping for the upcoming Thanksgiving Feast I found the most exciting little letter in my mailbox. I actually passed my Food Service and Sanitation test. With a 95%. Woo hoo!!! Now I can be absolutely certain that my food for the Thanksgiving Feast at school tomorrow will be safe. Who knows if it will taste good, but it will definitely be safe. ;)

I must return to my turkey and stuffing now. If you ever need to know how to make an entire catering size tray of stuffing (apx. 90 servings), just drop me an email and I'll tell you all about it. I've never made this much stuffing before, but I sure know how to do it now!

Thanksgiving Feast

I have been doing entirely too much at my kiddos school this year. Seriously. I have had folks come out and ask me if I have moved into the building. It's been crazy, and I did it to myself so I have no one else to blame. This Friday, I am the "General Overseer" of the Kdg - 4th grade Thanksgiving Feast. And this is not just a small little lunch. We are feeding about 215 kids and adults a real Thanksgiving Meal: turkey, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, rolls, etc. I have been busy all week shopping and trying to find people to help cook and serve. I am not complaining. As I said, I did this to myself. But it has been keeping me very busy. So if I am a bit scarce over the next few days, you know why. And if you wouldn't mind, please say a prayer that I have planned enough food for everyone and that everything goes well. I'm running on a wing and a prayer this week. ;)

PLEASE REMEMBER

to Thank a Veteran!!!

* Sorry that I am a day late :( I chose the link above because they have some great pics, educational materials and info about our Veterans.

For the record.........

I was in grade school in 1983. ;)

You Belong in 1983

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

Unexpected Little Blessings

I still need to clean up my garden for the winter. It's been a bit of a wacky gardening year and I have been very busy since my kiddos started school, so I just keep putting off my garden cleaning. It got to the point where looking at my grungy garden was reminding me of all of my failures this past garden season. Sure, I had a nice harvest, but it was nothing like *I* had planned. I wanted a full three seasons overflowing with vegetables. I wanted to walk into church and loving donate all of the extra perfect vegetables that my family couldn't eat because we had such a great harvest. I wanted to stock my freezer with 30 containers of homemade marinara. I still had a wonderful harvest. I still have a freezer full of fresh veggies to help feed my family over the long winter. But it just wasn't ENOUGH for me. I wanted more!! I wanted no powdery mildew to kill my pumpkins and peas. I wanted no standing water in my garden make my tomatoes burst on the vine. And I wanted no unexpected frost to kill my tomato plants after they had FINALLY just started to recover and bring me more luscious fresh late season tomatoes. I felt defeated instead of victorious. So I let my precious garden sit and fester.

My cauliflower plants had a rough spring, too. I managed to eek out three heads of cauliflower before the weather got too hot. There were three more plants left in the garden before the hot weather hit, and I just couldn't bring myself to pull them. So they sat in my garden all summer long. I had hope for them. When the weather cools, I thought, they will finally wake up from dormancy and grow again. Then the cabbage worms came in early September. I was too busy at school to be able to hand pick my cabbage worms as I always do, so they feasted on my poor last cauliflower plants. There went my last hope of more fresh cauliflower!! But I still didn't pull my sad leafless plants.

This weekend I had a few spare moments while we were closing our pool for the winter. So I strolled out to my garden to get a peek at everything that still needs to be done. I found lettuce that needs to be pulled because we had 70 and 80 degree days during most of September and October that made it too hot for it to grow. Dead tomato plants that need to be pulled hung sadly from their stakes. My broccoli went to seed. And I found ONE beautiful, perfect head of cauliflower on a tall scraggly plant with barely any leaves. WOW!!! I could not believe my eyes. I had to call my hubby over and show him. I had given this plant nothing except my sympathy and it repaid me with one of the most beautiful heads of cauliflower that I have grown all year. And please understand, dear reader, that this was truly one UGLY plant! It defies all commonly understood laws of gardening that this plant produced a head. As I was standing there in my garden with the cool autumn sun shining on my face, I was reminded that it is GOD who is in control. Not me. Only GOD. He can perform miracles with things that we dismiss because they don't meet *our* standards and expectations. God made my garden give me plenty but I was upset because it didn't go my way. Then when I gave up and walked away in frustration, he took over and gave me a little reminder of who I should let be truly in control and who I should thank even when things don't go the way that I planned.

My blog header says "Just planting some seeds and waiting to see what pops up next". I try to live by that motto. Enjoy what I have, take life as it comes, trust God. But I fail, alot. Isn't it wonderful when God sends you unexpected little blessings to remind you how important it is to wait and see what pops up?

Where's KitKat??

I wonder that myself sometimes...... (LOL!!)

But this time I know exactly where I am. I have been busy enjoying some type of stomach flu along with my whole family while my hubby has had the week off to celebrate our ten year anniversary. Nothing says romance like having hubby help you out when you are ill (and vice versa). :) Even after ten years I still hate when he sees me sick, but it is so sweet how he takes care of me and the kiddos when we are down.

Anyway, we are all feeling better now and I am off to try to enjoy that last few days of his vacation. I'll be back in a day or so.

Have a great weekend!!