Make
the best of today, for there is no tomorrow until after today.
- Liz Strehlow
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Ending the day with a smile . . .
"The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can
be."
-- Walter Bagehot
-- Walter Bagehot
"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could
produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know
that is not true."
-- Robert Wilensky
-- Robert Wilensky
"To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of
civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level."
-- Bertrand Russell
-- Bertrand Russell
"I hate the outdoors. To me the outdoors is where the car is."
-- Will Durst
-- Will Durst
The Aftermath of Thanksgiving!
Every year, there is always one dish and one dessert that turns out to be the most popular/favorite. As you can see from the lone slice of pie on the left, my daughter's Banoffee Pie disappeared first. My Apple Crisp was the favorite of my offerings. Much to my surprise, my cornbread/sausage stuffing was the one most people went back for seconds.
Judging from three bags of turkey bones, I fore see at least three turkey soup dinners in our future. Hope the bread stuffing has leftovers as I want to try the stuffing dumplings, again.
I hope everyone had a wonderday day and those of us celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you had a happy and blessed one.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Just taking a moment, before I'm up to my elbows in turkey fixings, flour, and company, to wish everyone who celebrates this day, a most blessed and happy Thanksgiving.
Right now, I'm grabbing a light breakfast in preparation for the work ahead. Although I got a lot of things done, yesterday, I know there will be that last 30 minutes of panic before the food is on the table and family and company in place.
It looks like we had a bit of rain last night so I'm hoping the day remains brisk and cool. According to the weather report, our current temperatures of around 60 will jump 20 degrees by next week. Typical California weather - swimsuit weather in December!
My husband made a last-minute trip to the store yesterday but, naturally, my daughter comes in just before bed and asks, "Did you get the cream and sour cream I need to make my pie?" Nope! I hate shopping on Thanksgiving but will hold my criticism of this until we get the cream and sour cream!
I'm shocked, however, at some of the stores (other than grocery) are staying open on Thanksgivng with offers of pre-Black Friday deals. Why is the world so intent on disrupting the family dinner and, in the long run, the family unit? Nothing sacred in this secular world of ours.
No, we are not planning to venture out on Black Friday. There is no sale worth my time and effort to get trampled in the crowds who long to spend more money than they have and then complain the banks are stealing from us because of the credit card interest rates. I know I'm rather simplistic but if you don't charge it on your credit card, you won't have to pay hundreds more on unpaid balances.
Off to gear up for the day and get a few things bubbling and baking in the oven.
God Bless!
Right now, I'm grabbing a light breakfast in preparation for the work ahead. Although I got a lot of things done, yesterday, I know there will be that last 30 minutes of panic before the food is on the table and family and company in place.
It looks like we had a bit of rain last night so I'm hoping the day remains brisk and cool. According to the weather report, our current temperatures of around 60 will jump 20 degrees by next week. Typical California weather - swimsuit weather in December!
My husband made a last-minute trip to the store yesterday but, naturally, my daughter comes in just before bed and asks, "Did you get the cream and sour cream I need to make my pie?" Nope! I hate shopping on Thanksgiving but will hold my criticism of this until we get the cream and sour cream!
I'm shocked, however, at some of the stores (other than grocery) are staying open on Thanksgivng with offers of pre-Black Friday deals. Why is the world so intent on disrupting the family dinner and, in the long run, the family unit? Nothing sacred in this secular world of ours.
No, we are not planning to venture out on Black Friday. There is no sale worth my time and effort to get trampled in the crowds who long to spend more money than they have and then complain the banks are stealing from us because of the credit card interest rates. I know I'm rather simplistic but if you don't charge it on your credit card, you won't have to pay hundreds more on unpaid balances.
Off to gear up for the day and get a few things bubbling and baking in the oven.
God Bless!
Invisible Mom - Great Reminder on Our Day of Thanks!
Invisible Mom (passed on by a friend - from the Internet.)
It all began to make sense -- the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids would walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'
Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie
this? Can you open this??
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a taxi for order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'
Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock? Where's my phone? What's for dinner?'
I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . She had just returned from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well.
It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'
In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:
1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it.’ And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.
‘No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.’
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.
It all began to make sense -- the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids would walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'
Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie
this? Can you open this??
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a taxi for order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'
Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock? Where's my phone? What's for dinner?'
I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . She had just returned from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well.
It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'
In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:
1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it.’ And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.
‘No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.’
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.
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