GIVING THANKS

 Hi, my name is Cindy.  Do you even remember me?  I am going to jump right into this post and pretend that I haven't been absent here the last couple weeks months.

Yes this is happening.  All over Atlanta.  We have had a record number of new customers and the guys are working their butts off to accomodate them.
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I hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving!  My brother Brrrian has been in town helping with the Christmas lights, so luckily we had family here plus a couple friends over for our feast.
 I was up very late tonight after stuffing myself with oh so much food.  Im talkin' about two turkeys (one smoked & one roasted), stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mashed taters, smoked succotash, brussel sprouts and collards.   
You would've thought I was hosting 10 people.  In reality just 3! But hey - whatever.  A dinner party is a dinner party and I wanted it to be nice. 

We didn't stop with that smorgasbord either.  After an hour break we broke out the pumpkin & pecan pies.  Not to toot my on horn, but I made the most delicious pie ever!  Big thanks to Martha's classic pumpkin pie recipe.  Hands down the best pie I ever made!  I think the key was her pate brisee crust.  Cold butter, flour and salt.  Done.  

Of course in order to get these masterpieces finished, there was a lot of this going on at Casa Espinoza

As a matter of fact, there has been a lot of this going on period.  As much as I don't like my TV on for hours upon hours, sometimes I just don't have a choice.  Obviously I am swamped over here in Christmas light land and need to update you guys as to what's been going on up in here.

That post is coming (I promise!) but I wanted to take a minute to be thankful/grateful.
I just can't believe how lucky I am.

1.  FAMILY
My parents.  My healthy, fun, generous, loving parents.  I am so grateful that I had a nice "normal" childhood and parents who showed me a good example.  Also, the rest of my family:  To have 4 siblings (with in-laws) that I genuinely like and enjoy their company is amazing.  I know I could call at any time and they would be there for me.  (Brrrian might not answer, but eventually he would be there for me -ha!) I might as well add on to this by saying how lucky I am to have married into the Espinoza family.  

2.  MY BABIES
Mateo and Marcelo deserve a separate space.   These little stinkers (as I affectionately call them) have taught me so much about myself.  First,  that I am not selfish, and that I can love way more than I thought humanly possible.  Also, that I have a lot more work to do to become the patient mother I want to be.   

They bring gray hairs happiness to my life everyday, and for that I am so grateful.  I would be remiss if I left out my biggest baby, Ernesto. This man is my perfect match (as imperfect as we are) and I am so thankful for the day that he showed up late to the Delta ticket counter 16 years ago. 

3. MY PAST (er...most of it!)

If you had told me that having kids was as fun as traveling the world,  I probably would have  said "Im sure it is" and then hopped on a plane to Buenos Aires to get my hair done.  Being a parent was not something I was dreaming of doing ten five years ago, although I knew I wanted kids in the future.  We waited until our 10 year wedding anniversary to get pregnant, and I would change a thing about how things played out.  Here I am at 41 years old with two toddlers.  I haven't had a job in five years, and have been a stay-at-home mom for three.  It's not as glamorous, (as I sit here un-showered in my robe) that's for sure, but it's still enlightening and satisfying.  Do I wish I was younger?  Hell yes!  But not at the expense of erasing some of my past to have kids earlier.  I am grateful for my past adventures, and think that this is why I am so happy at this stage of my life.  The stage where I am home [in my cozy clothes] most of the time.  It will be satifying to pass on our acceptance/knowledge/interest of other cultures/races/lifestyles.  An open-mindedness where travel played a huge part.  

3.  CRAIGSLIST/THRIFT STORES 
This may seem like a silly one to you, but I am so thankful that Craigslist and thrift stores exist.   Because of them, I am able to get that little rush that I crave so frequently.  Finding an awesome treasure for a deal is the best!  It plays a big part in my happiness overall.

5.  MY IPHONE/MOBILE BANKING 
The iphone is sooooooo awesome.  Beside just loving everything about it for social reasons, from a business perspective it has been invaluable to my job running the Christmas Light Pros.  I use Siri All. The. Time.  "Call so-and-so", "send a text to this customer", "get directions to...",  "What are the hours for the Goodwill on Piedmont Rd?"  Oops, that's not work related, but I do have to work in some thrifting somehow.  It's my second job.  The text to talk feature is the best thing since sliced bread.  We use Bank of America and they have a wonderful app where you take pictures of your checks to deposit them.  I don't think I have had to step foot in a bank since Mateo was born.  How great is that?  The app for Quickbooks (used to manage all customers/invoices/payments) also allows everything to be done on your phone.  So easy. So efficient.

I could go on and on.  But I'll stop there.