Today...

...a client called me and said "Do you believe that great minds think alike?" I answered in the affirmative and then asked her why. Turns out, she got the Starbucks gift card I sent her (she's one of our high revenue clients, so I was asked to select a gift card for her) on the exact same day that she sent me a Starbucks gift card. I haven't received the card she sent me...I expect I'll get it Friday. Still, it's awesome. The first gift I've ever gotten from a client!

Another client called me. We had a bit of difficulty yesterday - a misunderstanding - and things were a bit tense, as she was leaving town this afternoon and absolutely had to have her check. So I issued her check, guaranteed by noon courier delivery at no charge. This was a courtesy, to help diffuse a difficult situation. She called me today after she received her paycheck, thanking me profusely and telling me how much she appreciated my efforts to resolve the situation.

I got 2 comment cards today. One was straight A's. The other was all A's and one B, with a little note saying that I'm doing an excellent job.

I had clients who normally are all business, just want to get their payroll done and get off the phone, actually spend a moment today talking to me to ask about my Thanksgiving plans and to wish me a happy holiday.

Holidays are miraculous, I tell you. Miraculous.

Cooking Up a Storm

I have the whipped sweet potato casserole in the fridge. All I need to do for that tomorrow is sprinkle on the mini marshmallows and pop into the oven. I just finished the mashed potatoes, which have already been scooped into the crockpot. I tasted them, and they are SOOOOOOOOO good. Honestly, some of the best mashed potatoes I have ever tasted. The ranch dip is done too, ready to go into the veggie and cheese tray.

Lance picked up the pumpkin pie from Shari's. Sadly, they didn't offer whipped cream. *sigh* I miss Frisch's pumpkin pie (which always came with a generous tub of homemade whipped cream). But I made sure to have some Cool Whip just in case. So that's thawing out.

I cleared off the bottom shelf of the fridge, which was entirely devoted to beer and Pepsi. Beer is in the cooler. Pepsi is on a shelf in the garage, where it should stay perfectly cold. We had enough ice in the freezer from our ice maker that we didn't need to go out and buy ice.

Lance brought home DQ, so I just took a little Blizzard break.

Lance just started clearing away clutter and doing some clean-up. I will be joining him here in a bit.

Tomorrow, all I'll really need to do is some simple prep to the turkey breasts, putting them in the oven, putting together the green bean casserole (which won't take long), assembling the veggie/cheese tray, putting the crock inside the cooker and turning it on to warm the mashed potatoes, putting the casseroles in the oven about half an hour or so before the turkeys come out, and putting the dinner rolls in the toaster oven. Really, not all that much work. Oh...and I gotta make the gravy.

I can mostly take it easy, which was really the plan.

At some point later on tonight, I will attempt to call my brother in Guam, where it is now Thanksgiving. They are probably out and about today, so I may not be able to reach them.

Most of my family is in Findlay right now - my South Carolina cousins and their kids, the Illinois cousins, my Aunt Sue, Mom and Rob, and of course, Grandma. *sigh* I miss them so much. I miss that Thanksgiving. It's been 3 years since I've been home for Thanksgiving. I almost ache just thinking about it.

But we'll have a nice time here. We'll be with friends. The food will be good. The Macy's parade will actually be on at a decent time (it was always on in the afternoon when we were in Germany...never did get used to that)...this Thanksgiving will be infinitely better than last year, when we were sitting around in an empty house just killing time until our move back to the States.