As I was scheduling my kid’s upcoming events in my calendar today, I suddenly took a good look at the date and gasped. How is it already November? Where did this year go?? And how in the world am I going to be ready to host Thanksgiving dinner in a little over a week? Almost instantly I was transported back to memories of the first Thanksgiving my husband and I hosted as a married couple. We got married November 7th and I was so looking forward to having our families over that Thanksgiving. I meticulously cleaned our house and planned the menu. My husband helped me to polish my grandmothers silver and set the table with our new tablecloth and napkins. I really wanted to prove to our families that I was a grown up; capable of producing this really elaborate meal. So it was with a great deal of pride that I opened the front door when everyone arrived. After serving beverages we sat around and shared stories, watched football and laughed. I have to admit I was feeling a little smug at this point. You see, my mother had warned me that it was a lot of work to host a big holiday like Thanksgiving. She had wondered out loud if this was going to be to much coming right on the heels of our wedding. I had assured her that my husband and I were more than capable of handling it. With a little planning everything would run smoothly.
With this thought in mind and a little smirk on my face I went into the kitchen to check on the progress of the food cooking in the oven. As I opened the oven door I expected to see all my dishes bubbling beautifully and almost ready to be served. Instead, they were all luke warm and in no way ready for consumption. As I felt the panic rise in my chest I called my husband into the kitchen to see if he knew what the problem was. Obviously, something was wrong with my oven and I didn’t know what to do about it. We turned the heat up and the food eventually cooked through and we did serve a wonderful dinner…about an hour and a half later than we had planned. One good thing about eating that late is everyone was starving and couldn’t eat fast enough.
A couple of days later, I called an appliance repair company with my tale of woe. They came out to check my oven and said all it needed was to be calibrated. If only I had known that before Thanksgiving.
So this year as I opened a Thanksgiving card from my mom that said, “Turkey roasting, Glasses toasting…Giving thanks that I’m not hosting!” I laughed out loud and then called my appliance repair contractor.
Shannon Shimizu is a small business owner of a contracting referral service called Five Star Consumer Referrals, Inc. The Five Star vision grew out of frustration of not knowing any reliable contractors for home improvement and repair projects. The goal of the business was to supply homeowners with excellent contractors who were licensed, insured, bonded and whose references were checked. Homeowners were thrilled with the prospect of having an outside third party who had a vested interest in the outcome of their home improvement project, and contractors were very happy to have a generous source of qualified leads.
In addition to running her business, Shannon is a wife and mother to two young children. Juggling motherhood and a full time business can be stressful but the rewards of being able to work from home and raise her children is well worth the tradeoff.
For more information on Five Star Consumer Referrals, Inc. http://www.5starhelps.com
