We Had a Lovely Turkey Day - Turkey and a Beloved Movie to Top Things Off

 I hope all of my US readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I had a turkey in the oven for much of the day, and it turned out PERFECT! I was delighted. DH and I are looking forward to the left overs for a few more meals. He spent most of the day in the computer room playing his on-line game, which allowed me to be in the kitchen, undisturbed, playing various solitaire games on my phone while basting the bird every 20 minutes. 

The turkey turned out spectacular. I used my plant-based 
butter to melt, and added an herb mixture to it. It was really 
tasty. I also had my hand-made cranberry sauce. I skipped 
stuffing but I think DH might have made some for himself. 
One thing I did that I hadn't done before, was cut up an 
onion and put it inside the turkey while it cooked. It helped 
keep the meat really beautifully moist. 

After dinner and the dishes were done, he announced he wanted to watch "The Fellowship of the Ring" since we hadn't seen it in quite some time. What a delight, to re-enter Peter Jackson's world of Hobbits, Elves, Men and evil entities. Of course there are things I don't like about the triad, but generally, the first movie, that wonderful visit to Hobbiton, ending with grief in Lorien ... there's nothing much better. It has aged well. 

I always enjoyed the first of the Trilogy the best - 
in the books, as well as in the movies. There's just 
so much of Middle Earth to explore, and it isn't 
all battle, battle and more battle. LOL

I'm trying to get to the swimming pool today. We have the first day of our two-day inventory reduction, after Thanksgiving Day sale today. We changed things up quite a bit for this year's sale. We're not reducing the price on our seed beads at all. I'm sure we'll still sell some of them, but we're focusing on larger beads and Swarovski crystal beads instead. So, we'll see how we do. It's a BOGO, which is also a much larger sale than we've done in the past. I am hoping we'll be super busy. 

I'm not fond of sales, but we do a major sale every Black Friday 
and Small Business Saturday. We changed things up a bit 
this time - no seed beads are included (although we're happy 
to sell some - LOL). We're focusing on larger than seed beads 
for both days of the sale this year. 

DH was busy on our huge ladder yesterday, replacing light bulbs, so hopefully we've got some good lighting around the place today. I'll need to print our our Holiday Hours handouts, and I'm hoping to get some of the sparkling garland up, but if not, I'll get to that tomorrow. It's not that important. I will have to print out a copy of our customer email to remember exactly what's on sale today - LOL.  

Sol I'm off to the pool. Have an excellent Black Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Retail Hell Starts Today - Be Kind to your Shopkeepers and Sales People

So, it's time for Retail Hell, aka Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Actually, it's not horrid - we usually get an opportunity to see many of our long-time customers again and wish them a Happy Holiday season. But, it's the start of our holiday schedule also, which means this upcoming Sunday will be my last Sunday off until Christmas. *sigh*

I'll be waving good-bye to my Sundays off 
starting next week. I have a real love/hate 
relationship with the Holiday season. I 
used to adore it, then I started working retail. *sigh*

A guy from our security alarm company showed up at the shop on Wednesday afternoon to install the new equipment etc that will have our security system feed directly into their call/alarm center instead of having to dial out to them. It's the final cog in our going 100% digital. Except, of course, my system, being as old as it is, is not being cooperative. The tech finally figured out what was going on and what he needed to do, but it was already 6:30 pm, Jim was chomping to get home, and so was the tech. So, today is "Second Verse, Same as the First" with the change that at the end of it all, we'll totally be off copper wired phones and alarms and into the digital world. Of course we'll have to do the whole thing again next year at home, but at least this is one huge step. 

We'll probably have a much easier installation of 
digital equipment for our home next year than we've 
had for the shop. When we close the shop, I'm grabbing 
those new digital phones and they'll go home and replace 
my copper wired phone system. 

So, I told the tech that I would be at the shop by 7:00 am, resigned myself to getting up at 3:00 am today instead of my usual 4:00 am so that I could get my 45 minutes on the treadmill going before anything else, and I'll be on time. I still have to eat breakfast, but it's not even 6:00 am yet, so I'm right on time. 

I'm running tight on time today, but still have a bit 
of room to breathe. Barely - LOL. 

Still, I can't spend a lot of time chatting with all of you. I'll let you know tomorrow if I have functional phones or not. *sigh* The phones themselves are still coming up with "place holder" phone numbers from the 218 area code. At least I know why we have those odd numbers, it won't be permanent, and won't affect our being able to use/answer/call/etc our phones. At least, ideally. There's nothing like learning a new phone system on one of the busiest sales days of our year. *sigh*

I'm hoping we'll have a successful Black Friday and 
Small Business Saturday sale this year. We don't do 
sales - only these two days and then our after-Christmas 
end of the year sale. That's it. No constant bombardment 
of "buy this, it's on sale". Instead of sales, we have beads 
on clearance all the time - ones that we have too much 
stock of, and we want to reduce the numbers. These are 
always a great savings and very popular. 

Have an excellent Small Business Friday, and if you can support a small business in your area, please do. All of us are trying to keep our heads above water against the Amazons of the world (and I order a LOT of things from Amazon too, like most of you do). Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. And if you haven't voted for my current story yet, I'd sure appreciate your vote. Here's the link: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1175673.html Slava Ukraini. 

Thanksgiving Was A Lovely Day - Food, Football and Holiday Cards

Thanksgiving turned into a very productive day. It was warm enough (barely) for DH to finally attack the gutters around the house, clearing out the leaves so that we will have less ice buildup over the winter. He was chilled and grumpy afterward, but also glad he got it out of the way since he's been wanting to get that done for a few weeks now. 

Our turkey looks slightly overbaked, but it was 
absolutely fabulous. The skin was crispy and 
perfect, the interior was juicy and flavorful. It's 
one of the best turkeys I've ever roasted. Yippee! 

I, on the other hand, started working on my turkey at 7:00 am and had it in the oven by 8. I followed the directions of my favorite on-line turkey guru to the letter (almost) and even added chopped rosemary and thyme into the melted butter that I put between the skin and the meat of the breast.  Then, uncovered in a VERY hot oven for 20 minutes (although I forgot and left it in that very hot oven for 40 minutes instead), and then covering the whole with foil and turning the temp WAY down for the next few hours. 

We like a well-basted turkey, so I was up basting it every half-hour or so. I had my digital thermometer inserted, so wasn't worried about anything else. I turned it around 180 degrees mid-roast and re-inserted the thermometer in a different location which did seem to need more heat, so it was good that I did that. DH started making his side dishes and I pulled the turkey out to sit and rest for 20 minutes while he cooked. Finally it was ready, and it was absolutely AWESOME. Very flavorful (the thyme and rosemary were an excellent idea) and yummy! I steamed some fresh green beans and had a large salad, DH had his stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy and corn. The best part of this meal will be the leftovers. 

I love my Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I don't have 
this many, but I do have a very nice selection. 
I'm going to need to start buying the refills for 
them, so I'll have to start a list of which ones I 
own and which refills I've already purchased. I 
think that will make a nice holiday gift for 
myself - one that DH would never think about 
getting for me. 

I spent the majority of my day, however, working on painting my holiday cards. I got about 2/3 through the fronts of the cards, and then I'll tackle the inside of the cards on Sunday. I'll (obviously) finish the fronts first before starting the interior image. It's been fun to pick up paint brushes again, it's been a few years since I've painted my cards so it's a nice change. It'll still be a bit before they're finished and ready for mailing, but I'll tell you when they hit the mail so that you can watch for them to arrive at your homes if you've on my list. 

DH did a great job with the store tree on 
Wednesday. I ended up going over to the 
shop Wednesday night to spend an hour or 
so getting the garlands up and the wreaths 
on the door and front case. I have holiday hours 
signs in my laptop bag to hang on the door and 
windows today, and some handouts for the 
bags of our customers. I think we're as set as 
we can be for our Two-day Sale. 

Other than that, we watched football for the day. Some really good games were played yesterday and apparently, the Minnesota Vikings ended up winning their game. (Since it was the late game, I went to sleep before halftime.) Still, all in all, it was a lovely Thanksgiving. Today and tomorrow is my Two-day After Thanksgiving sale at the shop, and Sunday is the last Sunday I'll have off from working until Christmas Day. That's a rather depressing thought, all around *sigh*. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Life Is Returning To Normal and Shoveling Will Be Necessary

Last night I had the first real meal I've had since I got my braces put on November 2nd. I actually had a small salad (I do chop the lettuce leaves a bit smaller, but still - I missed my nightly salad), also small bowls of roasted butternut squash and some roasted heirloom carrots (cut small since carrots are a tough veggie to chew and digest sometimes). I also actually cut my chicken instead of mincing it. I'm ridiculously pleased that I was able to eat everything easily. Of course I cleaned my teeth like crazy afterward because braces catch everything and I'm trying to eliminate the possibility of dental cavities for my future. 

Apparently there is a "Real Food" movement. Who knew? 
It looks pretty similar to my WildFit dies - lots of natural 
foods, but the Real Food movement also allows for some 
processed foods like breads and cheeses which I don't 
allow into my personal diet. Still, it can't possibly harm 
people if they returned to a more sensible way of 
interacting with food. 

We were hoping to stream a show on Egyptian archaeology last night, but it's unavailable for another week or two. So he ended up playing Bridge on his phone and cursing at the game constantly, and I ended up solving puzzles on mine, while some stupid program played in the background that we both ignored. I think I was asleep within a minute of my head hitting the pillow. 

I realized this morning that the other 
skin suit I purchased was the 
Leopard Shark, not the Tiger Shark 
I had posted yesterday. So I have spots, 
not stripes today. It's a lovely suit, a bit 
heavier material than the Sea Turtle, so it's 
nice and cozy for those cold mornings. 

Today is the final swimming day for the week, and I'm wearing the Leopard Shark skin suit today. It fits like a dream and it's a bit thicker fabric than the Sea Turtle I was wearing yesterday. I'll get a lot of use from both of them. It'll be nice to be away from the chlorine for a few days, though. It always plays havoc with my skin, actually causing the skin of my fingers to crack open sometimes which can be quite painful. Still, that's not enough to make me quit swimming. I love the sport too much to let those minor inconveniences and pains to stop me from being in the pool three days a week. 

I was worried that I would have to build snow shoveling 
into my very busy day yesterday, but it didn't snow at all 
after DH shoveled in the morning. However, glancing out 
today, I'll have to shovel either before leaving for the 
gym, or right after I return from there. It doesn't look 
like much, but we're diving down into very cold temps 
today too, so it's going to stick around. 

It looks like I might have a little shoveling to do this morning before I leave. It'll depend on whether it's actively snowing, or if it looks like it'll stay clear for an hour or two. If clear, I'll shovel. If it's snowing, I'll probably blow it off until just before I leave for the shop. I'd rather not shovel it twice if I can help it. 

We've had a Black Friday sale for decades. It's the one 
time of the year when we have deep discounts across 
the board (except for our antique Native American 
silver and turquoise jewelry). With that small 
exception, absolutely everything else in the store is 
deep discounted. We'll have to see how we do this 
year, but I'm bracing for a disappointing numbers. 

So, have a fabulous Thursday. I'll be working on my Black Friday/Small Business Saturday sale email and sending that out to my list today. Sales have been very disappointing and DH is very unhappy. Me? I knew this was coming. If we had closed when I wanted, we wouldn't be dealing with this added stress. He'll be out shopping for a turkey today, though. Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK! OMG! I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Thanksgiving Day Was Lovely and Today We'll Be Busy (Fingers Crossed)

I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving (if you're in the USA). Today is Day 1 of our Two-Day After-Thanksgiving Day Sale and I hope we're really busy. We concentrate on different types of products for each of the two days. Today is a seed bead day, and with luck, we'll be able to keep up with a nice steady group of customers. It's "All hands on deck" for these next two days - nobody gets a day off. It's also a good way to lose the one pound I put on from yesterday's Thanksgiving Day meal. 

My salad is at the bottom, his soup at the top. 
The salad had a crumbled blue cheese and a 
dressing with cranberry. My tea was a lovely 
herbal tea with honey and lemon. I don't normally 
eat cheese, and I know there was sugar in the 
dressing, but I was treating the day as a 
vacation day. So I ate it and enjoyed it. 
No guilt. 

It was a lovely meal. I decided to treat the day as if it was a day when I was on a vacation and be a bit more flexible with my food choices. We started out with either a spinach salad or a chicken soup. I chose the salad, DH chose the soup. He explained that he "Wasn't Popeye", meaning that he really doesn't like a spinach salad. But the salad was absolutely delicious. 

Here's my main plate. The green beans were outstanding 
and the turkey was perfectly roasted. I ate a tiny bit 
of the mashed potatoes and the corn-based stuffing. 
The cranberry compote in the little dish was also lovely. 
It probably had sugar in it, but I ate all of that and all 
of the turkey. 

Past the bowl holding my gravy, you can see DH's plate. 
He had the gravy on top of his stuff, and he ended up 
eating everything. He wasn't as fond of the green beans 
as I was, but he declared the meal good, so that was 
a win. LOL

Then we had the main meal. Three thick and generous slices of roasted turkey, a corn-based stuffing, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans that were beautifully seasoned, and a cranberry compote. I asked for my gravy on the side, and used the bare minimum of it to dip a few pieces of my turkey into. DH had his gravy on his plate. The cranberry compote was a surprise - really tasty! 

We each also ordered the Prime Rib (for an extra charge, 
of course). I like mine medium-well, and it was 
perfect. There was an au-juis dipping sauce as well 
as a horseradish sauce. I brought most of this home with 
me. It'll make a nice dinner or two. 

We also ordered prime rib for an additional charge. Although we brought most of the beef home with us for another meal, again, it was lovely. My meat was perfectly cooked and so tender it almost melted in my mouth. It was served with containers of au juis (spelling?) and horseradish sauce. I brought my au juis home with me along with most of the beef. I'll get another two dinners from this. 

DH ordered his prime rib Medium-Rare and they came 
through with that. It was WAY too rare for my taste, 
but he was happy. He also brought quite a bit of 
that home with him for another meal or sandwich. 

After we returned home, we relaxed. PBS was showing four hours of the Great British Bake Off show's Master Classes with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. They were from a few years ago, but were delightful to watch. We watched football when we weren't watching the bakes. We relaxed and enjoyed the day. Today we won't be relaxing - at least not if we're lucky. We need some good sales for these next two days. Now I'm off to the swimming pool to start the day out right. Have a lovely Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Perseverance and Small Business Saturday

Although we have had Black Friday sales where we've been run ragged, yesterday was slower paced and even had some down time. We did sell a lot of beads and had a lot of happy customers, but our numbers were down from prior years. We had a good sales day, but it won't go down into the record books. 

We were missing a few of our long-time regular 
customers, who NEVER missed a sale. It's got me 
worried about them - how they're doing, if they're 
sick, or maybe they just couldn't sneak away from 
home to go bead shopping. 

I think the pandemic still has people shy of going outside of their homes except for absolute necessity. Some people are also under quarantine for various reasons. In fact, we did have a quick phone order for pickup from someone who was quarantined and whose aunt picked the shipment up for them late in the day. 

Please, if you go out shopping today, support your 
local small businesses. They've had it hard this year 
and need the business and positive feedback. 

So it was an odd Black Friday sale, but today we forge ahead to our Small Business Saturday sale featuring strung and sparkling beads. That usually is a smaller sale for us, but a bit more labor intensive in some ways for the staff. The lighting in some of the stock aisles is poor, so finding the products quickly and efficiently can be difficult. Lighting has always been a problem in the store - we have 12-foot ceilings and getting up the ladder to change bulbs, or change ballasts, is quite challenging. 

It's been a year to hand in there and persevere. Many 
of the small businesses around you might well be 
closed by this time next year. Choose which ones 
you want to survive and patronize them. Help them 
keep their doors open. 

But we will persevere and get through today, and then we'll have a relaxed Sunday, because it's been a LONG week. I can re-focus on my holiday cards, and if everything works out properly, I can address envelopes within the next week and start sending them on their way around the world. The mailing list has been finalized, and I have just a few minor finishing touches to put onto the cards. 

Have an excellent Saturday and Sunday. I'll be back on Monday, and please ... be kind, stay safe, and please wear your mask. 

Turkey Day Was A Wonderful and Relaxing Day

Yesterday was a wonderful day filled with relaxing, cooking a very large bird, eating too much, and finally relaxing in front of the TV. I'm hoping today will be the antithesis to yesterday, and that it will be busy, filled with customers wanting to take advantage of our Black Friday sales event, and that we'll be too exhausted at the end of it to do much more than eat leftovers. 

This is my bird after I took it out of the 
oven and had it resting for 1/2 hour 
before carving. It was an excellent 
bird and ended up roasted perfectly. 

Among the things I had done on Wednesday was pick up my pumpkin pie (an annual treat) and then I had settled down at my knitting machine determined to make that bubble hat. My first effort was pretty good, but I was an idiot and pulled it off the machine without binding off the edge, so I pulled off live stitches. That didn't work well, so I pulled it completely apart and remade it. In essence, I made two complete hats on Wednesday, but only one was actually finished. 

For dessert, we each had a piece of my pumpkin 
pie as well as a piece of DH's home-made pecan 
pie. Both pies were lovely. Too many calories, 
but I'll work those off quickly. 

I wore it yesterday and asked DH what he thought of my new hat. He said he thought it was really cute. I said that I had "made it yesterday afternoon" and he sighed. "Really? In one afternoon? What did you buy this time, a knitting machine?" When I acknowledged that I had indeed purchased a knitting machine, he made a mighty sigh, complained a bit about more junk, but since he was actually in a good mood, he didn't lose his temper about more stuff, just lived with it. I told him my goal was to make him two sweaters for next year's Holiday gift. 

Yes, the eyes are ridiculous on the head bust the pattern designer 
used for her photo, but the actual hat I made from her pattern 
is adorable. Now I've followed her pattern and I can change 
it to make it the sizes I really need for the people I want to 
knit for. 

So, the hurdle was presented and I jumped over it with grace instead of tripping on the top and falling flat on my face. The machine has now been acknowledged, and I might be able to work on items on days and times other than Wednesday afternoons. That would make me very happy, since I have things I want to make for the holidays. 

It's been a year of broken dreams. But through the 
shards, hope appears as the stars above. That's been 
my theme for this year's cards. I'll be sending them 
out soon - within a couple of weeks. 

I'm almost at the end for my holiday cards. Just checking my lists again, making sure I've caught everyone, and then I'll get them signed, the envelopes addressed, and into the mail. I'll be sure to let you know when they're out of my hands and on to yours. Have a wonderful Black Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, please be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. It's polite and it's life-saving. 

This Week Is The Beginning of Our Holiday Season

I'm going to be finishing my cards over the next two mornings, and beginning to bring my equipment back from the shop to my house. I hope to spend Thursday roasting my turkey and printing out holiday card envelopes while watching football. On Friday we jump into our annual Two-Day sale and that starts our holiday season. I'll be putting up our garlands at the shop on Tuesday, and DH will have to decorate the store tree with our remaining ornaments on Wednesday. (I refuse to decorate any Christmas trees.) 

My holiday job at the shop (aside from composing and 
sending our various e-flyers to our customers) is to 
hang our tinsel garland along the tops of our bookcases 
and display areas. I'll be very happy when I never have 
to do this again. 

But none of us are really in a holiday mood. I haven't found anything wonderful for DH for either Christmas or his birthday (both of which are in late December), and I hate letting him down. I'll keep looking, of course, and I do have a few ideas, but I really have to get moving on those. I have a month, approximately, and that's not a lot of time. 

It's been a year of broken dreams. Even if 
I've allowed myself to expand in some ways, 
I've retreated in others. I miss hugging people 
a lot. Waving at them from behind barriers and 
a mask just doesn't make up for the personal touch. 

It's hard to get into a holiday mood in the "Year of Broken Dreams", which is how I think of this year of masks, fear and The Virus. I'm not seeing happiness and joy at the upcoming holidays, I'm seeing people at the edge of their patience with the combination of COVID and a contentious and horrible election. Frankly, I think we're all fed up with this year, and the celebrations for New Year's should be epic because we all want a do-over. 

I think getting a do-over for 2020 would be on everyone's 
holiday gift list, but it's impossible to gift this one. It 
doesn't stop me wishing that this year had been other 
than the terror-stricken and grief-filled year of angst that 
it actually has been. Maybe we can finish the year in 
a slightly more relaxed way, but only if we stay 
vigilant. 

So, as I finalize my Holiday cards, I think of everyone they are being sent to and hoping that our upcoming holiday season and solstice will be the beginning of some wonderful things over the next year. As always, please be kind, stay safe and wear your masks. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Random Thoughts - Knitting, Holiday Cards and Black Friday

I had approximately 3 hours to work on my knitting machine after finishing my myriad of errands yesterday morning. Of course, one of those errands was to go to Michael's for some "Caron Skinny Cake" yarn. They had LOTS of Caron yarn in lots of thicknesses and types, and they were luscious colors. I ended up with six cakes and settled down with one of them in the afternoon after I got my machine set up again. I had a pattern I wanted to try out, so I had a goal in mind. 

It's a horrible picture, but it's really a cute hat and I 
think, once I know what I'm doing, that I can do one
 in a couple of hours. I'm probably going to leave off 
the top pom pom. I've never been fond of them. But 
I might include it as a button on/off version. Maybe. 

I messed things up numerous times, knit and unraveled and repeated, but by the time I put everything back into the box and tightened the strap, I was fairly confident that I would be able to actually knit the entire item next week. It's a hat that was featured on YouTube by one of my favorite designers/instructors and it's not terribly complex. It is designed for a knitting machine similar to mine, and it's going to look great. Another question I had was the sizing - I think I'll need to drop it down slightly in size for the person I'm thinking of, but that won't be a problem at all. The original size will work for several other people. If I get one made next week, I think I'll be able to punch these out and I'll feel pretty happy. 

As usual, I'd be totally lost without my Tim Holtz 
Stamp Platform. I still need to add two stamps 
to the interior of the card before I can begin the 
final assembly. But first, I have to finish the 
final embossing and cutouts. For designing on 
a wing and a prayer, I'm pretty happy with 
how this year's card is turning out. 

On cards, I should be finishing up Stage 2 and moving to Stage 3 today. I have to finish the interior details before I can move to the final stage of assembly, and it's already the 19th. I want to have these ready to go by early December, so my clock is ticking. I suppose I should also be putting thought into what we're putting on sale for our Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales. I'll have to send that email out to my customers on Monday, Tuesday at the latest. 

As usual we'll hold a Black Friday and Small Business 
Saturday sale. We'll be limiting the number of customers 
in the store to no more than six, and of course we'll 
continue wearing masks and sanitizing. The State just 
closed down inside restaurant dining and all youth 
sports and gyms/recreation centers again for 30 days, 
and COVID cases are rising again. We're just not 
going to take any chances with our health, or that 
of our customers. 

So, the rest of my week seems rather full, all of a sudden - LOL. I think DH will be hunting for turkey and other Turkey Day food, and I'll get my usual pumpkin pie ordered today too. My local Baker's Square may have closed, but there is one branch of my favorite pie restaurant still in business in the Twin Cities. It's nowhere near as close, but I am familiar with where it is and picking the pie up next Wednesday won't be a problem. On that note, I'm out of here. Have a fabulous and wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Be kind, stay safe, and please wear a mask. 

Playing With Color Has Started

Yesterday was spent working on our email flyer for our After-Thanksgiving 2-Day Sale. I've got it almost ready to go, just making final decisions about what days to close for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Of course I'll be closed on the Wednesdays - December 25th and January 1st, but I'd like a second day too - either the 24th or 26th of December and probably the 31st of December for the New Year date. Still, it's hard with a mid-week major holiday since we're open seven-days a week in December (open on Sundays for limited hours instead of just Monday-Saturday). That means I'm working six days a week and it gets exhausting by the end of the holiday season. After I get this mailer nailed, I'll start working on my December mailers and my end-of-the-year sales announcements. 

I'm certainly not the only person to work extended hours
over the Christmas holiday season, but I do get quite
exhausted by the time Christmas Day arrives. 

I started applying color to the cards yesterday and I'm quite pleased. They're going to look fun and playful - exactly what I was trying for. I need to revitalize a few of my colors, but remembered I had purchased a spray for that purpose last year and even remembered exactly where I had it. I'll bring that to the shop with me today. Monday I have my semi-annual dental checkup, so I might not get any more painting done until Tuesday, but we'll see. If I can manage it, I'll keep putting down the color whenever I can. 

I had purchased a bottle of Refresher
last year and need to use it now. Some
of my colors need more "uumph". 

I also punched the holes for assembly yesterday with my big Crop-a-Dile that I purchased a few weeks ago. It works really great! I need to assemble the cards with ribbon and a small dash of glue. I should probably bring my serrated cutter back to the shop for a small clean-up, some of the cards are very close to the edge and it might be good to cut them down slightly. I have a bit more time on that, though. Assembly is the final step. 

I'm really loving my big Crop-a-Dile. It's performed really
well through a variety of materials. I foresee a bright future
for this tool. 

So, progress is being made. Next week is Thanksgiving (on Thursday). DH was supposed to have gone shopping, but I have no idea if he did or not. We'll have a pie, but since DH hasn't said a word to me since Wednesday night (when I apparently said something that set him off), I have no idea what our Thanksgiving meal will consist of. Nothing like approaching the unknown *sigh*. Life with a 5-year-old senior citizen. 

Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday. 

Going All Out

I'm going to have to go "all out" at the gym this morning. Yesterday, being a Chiropractor day, meant that I got a shortened exercise time and in reality, didn't get any cardio at all. I feel that loss today. My sweat level was so minimal yesterday that I could practically have worn my gym outfit a second day. Not that I'm doing that - I have three outfits and rotate them, doing a laundry load 2X a week to keep them clean and ready for the next day. I might not be the greatest housekeeper, but I'm a devil with the laundry and I like clean clothes. 

I'm a bit of a bear when it comes to laundry. I like fresh and
clean clothes to wear. I might wear a pair of jeans twice,
but I'll use a new shirt every day, no matter how clean
it still is. 

Also, I'm back on my usual schedule today, and that means I'll be able to get some serious work done on my cards. Even though I want to have them done and gone by early December, the firm deadline I have is a month from now, so I'm still on schedule despite some minor setbacks (think ink). DH's schedule of having the craft room done and organized by Thanksgiving may also be on time, we're getting close with what we've already done. I'm not sure what's on his agenda today - raking leaves, I think. They do need to be moved from the front and lower yards. We can leave the upper yard for the time being. 

Raking leaves is not my favorite activity, but it's at least good exercise.
As long as the weather holds, we'll get the lower and front yards
done. It doesn't make a lot of sense to do the upper yard until
more of the neighbor's oak tree's leaves have dropped since we
get a lot of his leaves in that yard. 

We're also starting to put some serious thought into Turkey Day next week. I usually hold a 2-day sale at the shop directly after the holiday, and plan to do that again this year, but I have to actually sit down, update the mailing list, and write the text. I've been thinking about switching to Mail Chimp from Constant Contact, it would be seriously less expensive, but I would have to start the actual "flyer" from scratch. Not sure if I'm up for that. 

Black Friday doesn't have the same power it used to have. I remember
sitting in my car or standing in long lines to be let into various
stores on that day, usually freezing to death. But there was an
excitement that went through that crowd and you just don't get
that while cyber-shopping. We'll have normal store hours on Black
Friday and Small Business Saturday, but we'll push some serious
sales savings through for our customers. 

Still, the clock is ticking and work is stressing. Thank goodness I have some creative things to help take my mind off sales and the push for year-end. So yes, I might do a lot for my cards, but they are a sanity saver - LOL (and they're looking pretty darned good, too). 

Thanks to all who have played along with my mini-meme, it's been fun reading through your responses. Have a wonderful Tuesday. The week is rolling right along, and I'll be back tomorrow - Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel (do you hear the theme music of the show in your head? LOL). 

Thanksgiving For Friends Near and Far

A roasting pan was found, the pantry was stocked and the bird was ready. DH and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I got a few hours of extra sleep - no swimming for me for one day - then started prepping the bird. After it was in the oven cooking, I relaxed by finishing up the painting on my Solstice cards while watching football. After a lot of work, the cards are complete, just waiting for signatures and envelopes to be printed before mailing. I'll start finalizing my address list on Sunday and begin printing the envelopes. I've had a lot of fun with this year's card and I hope it brightens your day when you receive yours in the mail. 

There's nothing quite as nice as receiving a special
card or letter in the mail. I'm looking forward to
getting my cards mailed soon. I'll let you know
when so that you can watch for yours! 

Today is Black Friday, and tomorrow is Small Business Saturday in the USA. It's a really busy time at the shop because it's one of two sales we hold during the year. Our sales flyer e-mail with e-coupons went out to our sign-up list on Tuesday, and again early yesterday morning. We'll see how well we do today and tomorrow, but we're usually pretty busy for the two days. I plan to enjoy this coming Sunday since I'll be working short hours at the shop for the first three Sundays of December. 

Like most stores, we hold a Black Friday sale. We restrict most
of the bargains to those who have our e-coupons. Our in-store
customers deserve a special treat now and again. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. I know it's a US holiday, but it's one of the major ones that I truly enjoy. Yes, it's a lot of cooking (although the bird really cooks itself, so that's pretty easy). It also is a lot of clean-up, but DH pitches in and it's fast and easy. I've always loved the entire concept of Thanksgiving - not the pilgrims and Indians spiel, but the thoughtful reflection on friends and family who touch our lives. 

Thanks for reading and for your support and comments throughout
the year. I really appreciate it, and treasure all of my friends
both near and far. 

In that spirit, thanks to all of my readers and friends far and wide. You enrich my life, you support me when I'm down and help me celebrate the good things. I cherish each and every one of you. 

Thanks to all of my friends - near and far! 

Have a wonderful Friday. I'm back at the swimming pool today - only gained one pound from my Thanksgiving Day feast, but it'll be nice to start working that back off again. Enjoy your Friday and I'll be back tomorrow.