To "THRIVE"

My sister said I "thrive" on all the cooking I do for my family. THRIVE! Ruffle my feathers she did. What did she know? It's a lot of work to plan, prepare and pull off even the most casual meal for our large family!

I made a New Year's resolution: Come January One, I was not going to "thrive" anymore on Sunday...we would be having sandwiches every Sunday for supper.

First Sunday it worked like a charm...crock pot Sloppy Joe's, Chips and Chocolate Chip Cookies (oops, I "thrived" and made the cookies after church) hmmm...

Second Saturday: I looked at Cally's Blog and somehow found myself calling her to see if SHE would make Melissa's Mexican Fiesta Biscuit Bake for Sunday night dinner. She enthusiastically said YES! She didn't have everything to make it, but I was going to the store so no prob...the sandwich thing vaguely floated through my mind...so did Fried Apples, Green Beans and Cherry Chocolate Chipper Cake...YIKES! Saturday evening I cooked the chicken and grated the cheese for the FIESTA stuff we were going to have on Sunday.

Second Sunday: Sunday morning I started with the Cherry Chocolate Chipper Cake and lovingly daydreamed about how much Shane would go on about the cake because he loves Chocolate Covered Cherries and the recipe said if you love Chocolate Covered Cherries you will love this cake! As I peeled and sliced the apples I fondly remembered how Cally ENTHUSIASTICALLY went on about the Fried Apples at our Christmas dinner, and I was all warm and fuzzy inside with anticipation for her to enjoy them again. No thriving here!

I looked up the definition for thrive. It is: to prosper, be fortunate or successful, to grow or develop, vigorously flourish, advance. All of those words describe how I feel about my family. Hmmm, wonder why I thought thriving was bad?

So maybe, after all, I do thrive on bringing pleasure to my family, at least, I thought so...as I saute' apples 15 to 20 minutes or until my heart, oh, I mean the apples are tender.

Mandy said, "Wow, look at all this food, I thought we were just going to have SANDWICHES." Shane said the cake was O.K., but Mandy said several times, "This cake is really good!" She LOVED it...hmmm...thrive...family...to be successful...