Bouncing Around My Thoughts - Can You Keep Up? LOL

I hope all of you had a good St Patrick's Day yesterday. Mine was completely uneventful, but that's just fine. I have enough things going on in my life and really didn't need to add St Patrick's Day celebrations to the mix. And it was darned cold out - so people celebrating doing the various parades were most definitely bundled up if they were at all using their brains. (Sometimes I wonder if the brain simply goes on vacation sometimes when I see people in very cold temps without appropriate winter clothing on.) 

It was COLD yesterday, so I have no idea how attendance 
at our St Patrick's Day celebrations was, but usually the 
party goes on, no matter what. We're from the Frozen 
Northlands after all! LOL

Today will be a very busy cooking day. I'm out of almost everything I had made for my dinners, so I need to figure out what I'll make, and I also need to make a batch of baked fruit for my breakfasts. It'll be a day in the kitchen separated by loads of laundry and a bit of grocery shopping, ending with a meeting with our accountant for our personal income tax returns. I think I have everything together for Paul, but if not, I'll drop the rest by on Friday morning on my way to the shop. 

I need to make my next batch of baked fruit today. It's 
what I eat for breakfast, and I'm down to a single 
portion. It's not hard to make, but it does take some time 
to get all of the fruit prepped and onto the baking sheets. 

Meanwhile, DH keeps complaining about how Chickie and I aren't pulling our weight at the store, and we keep ignoring him. If we actually paid attention to him, we'd be totally in a bad funk of a mood, but we've learned how to just let his words blow by us. It's self-defense in our lives. 

Over the years, Chickie and I have mastered the art 
of letting DH's words just blow by us. If we actually 
paid attention to him, we'd be horribly hurt by his 
words at times because he has no filter and puts 
his stresses on us. Not fair, so we ignore him instead. 

I also have to remember to contact the customer service department of my vitamin supplements company. They resumed shipping, and I was on a "Do not ship until I contact you" order. I wasn't allowed to take any of my supplements for more than six months while going through cancer treatment, so I'm way behind. But I'm getting new shipments now, so I need to remind them to NOT send me anything until I contact them again! GRRRR I love my supplements, BUT I'm over-supplied! 

Stonehenge Supplements just changed their 
packaging recently to look more streamlined. 
I'm not a fan. I liked their old look with the 
Stonehenge monument on the label. Nonetheless, 
these two work well together and I really do 
notice a negative impact when I don't take them 
(as required while I was undergoing my surgery and 
recovery from cancer last year). 

Have a great Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow - hopefully for a less busy and stressful day. Be kind and Slava Ukraini. 

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy St Patrick's Day to one and all. I celebrated the day when I was a child, but nominally. On the sidelines. Sometimes Mom would make a corned beef, but only because it was on sale, not because of any special holiday. Then I married into an Irish/German Catholic household and things changed - radically. My in-laws celebrated and were involved in St Patrick's Day in numerous ways. They didn't march in the parade, at least not when they were getting older. But they were involved in a lot of the different events, etc. 

This is a prior year's St Patrick's Day Parade in downtown 
St Paul. I forget how many miles they walk, party and 
celebrate, but it's quite a few, making their way from downtown 
towards Minneapolis. 

I enjoy the holiday - it's always fun to have a good time, and when we have good weather, it's even better. Up here in the Frozen Northlands, it's been everything from really warm Spring days to days with heavy snow in the years I've been living up here. You never know what St Patrick's Day will bring, but the parade will go on. I recall seeing the signs for parking and alternative ways to get to the clinic last year when I was doing Radiation Therapy at this time of the year. Ov course, at the hours that I had my appointments, there certainly was no parade - LOL. 

I totally realize that Corned Beef & Cabbage is NOT a 
traditional Irish meal. But it is the meal most associated 
with St Patrick's Day in my part of the Universe. I'm not 
making it this year, no real time to cook. But, we might do 
it on Sunday. Just because it's pretty tasty. 

But yes, this nominal German Jew ended up marrying into an American Irish/German Catholic family - it caused a lot of people to go a bit ballistic on both sides of the family. But here we are ... lots of storms behind us, and probably a few in our future, but still together after more than 45 years. 

Tomorrow night we have an appointment with our tax 
accountant for our personal income tax returns. That 
usually goes pretty easily - we have our financial information 
in pretty good condition and I think I've remembered to 
print out everything necessary. But, I can always drop paperwork 
off to their office later in the week if I've missed something. 

Tomorrow we have an after-hours appointment with our accountant for our personal income tax return preparation. I think I've finally finished printing out all of the possible paperwork he might need, and if I am missing anything, one of us can drop it by his office later in the week. I don't think we'll have any surprises pending, but one can never know for sure until the numbers have been crunched. 

So, if you're celebrating St Patrick's Day with a toast of 
green beer, lift one for all of us who can't celebrate today. 

So, enjoy your Green Beer and celebrations today. St Paul will be celebrating alongside you, and the parade will go on, as always. It's going to be cold, but I don't think we'll be getting any snow, so that's at least one positive thing. Hopefully everyone marching will dress warmly. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Dreams and Snow - One is Inescapable, the Other Is Unachievable

Once again I'm dreaming of a new set of cookware. Every year the set of titanium cookware I've been dreaming about goes on MAJOR sale, but it's still VERY expensive, and I simply don't have the extra cash to buy it. As usual, I've chosen the set that I want, and as usual, I'll dream about it for a few days and then shelve the dream again for another year. I know it's healthier to use titanium for my cookware than my the old stainless steel with Teflon coating (micro-plastics are NOT healthy, and Teflon coatings are micro-plastics in your food). But, to get the full set I want in titanium would be close to $1000 and I just don't have the money right now. But a girl in the kitchen can dream, right? 

When we get a solid snowfall, it's a PITA to get our very long 
driveway shoveled. I'm just grateful that the storm hit over 
Saturday night because I had the tine to deal with shoveling on 
Sunday without trying to get everything done in 30 minutes to 
get to the gym on time. 

My next door neighbor was a total sweetheart yesterday, he snow blowed the bottom third of my driveway for me before he headed to church. He texted me that he snow blew the street part of my driveway so we wouldn't get stuck if we were coming or going. I texted him back, thanking him VERY much for the kindness since it still took me over an hour to get the driveway shoveled. 

It's a lot faster and a lot easier to snow blow the snow away 
than to shovel it. However, our snowblower is quite large 
and intimidating, and just getting it out of the garage is a 
task. I just looked at it carefully and decided I would skip 
it and shovel instead. A lot more work and a lot harder on 
my body, but the shovel is very understandable. 

Shoveled? You might be thinking what about the huge snow blower that we have in the garage? Well, although DH has taught me how to start it several times, I'm totally intimidated by that machine, I can't even get it out of the corner of the garage to start it up. No ... it's me and my little green shovel tackling the driveway, and we had 6" minimum of snow all the way down. A LOT of snow to move. It took me more than an hour to get it cleared, and I was thankful every step of it that Chris had been kind and taking the time to help me out. 

I strained the upper part of my thigh 
while shoveling yesterday and it hurts! 
It's better today than it was yesterday, but 
it's still complaining. *sigh* I sometimes 
really hate getting old. LOL

But, with all of the shoveling, I strained my thigh muscles in my right leg and they're hurting right now. I still have to shovel out the front of the shop. Hopefully Kevin, a local Native guy who show blows for my next door neighbor (and always makes it just that little bit more to get a coming and going pass for me at no charge) was doing his thing yesterday. If so, I'll only have to cut in a walkway from my door to the street so that customers can access the sidewalk without having to walk in the street. I hope I'm up to doing that. I'm hurting today from yesterday's exertions. 

So, on that note, I'm wrapping this up, drinking a nice cup of tea, having breakfast, and heading out to the shop. I don't want to try and shovel rushed - I'm not really able to be "Speedy Gonzalez" today. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Life in the Frozen Northlands - Live With it or Move

We're under a Winter Storm Warning for the next 48 hours. *sigh* We could potentially get up to 14 inches of snow with wind gusts of 39 mph and 1/4 mile minimum visibility. The storm is really hitting to the South and West of the Cities, but we're not escaping this one, and I'm really NOT in the mood for a winter storm. Especially when I know we'll be heading back to the shop tomorrow because we're still getting things ready for our closeout sale which starts all too soon. It's all a bit of a mess. 

We're under a Winter Storm Watch from mid-afternoon today 
until early Monday morning. But, we'll still need to get to the 
shop tomorrow - there's too much that still needs to be done 
to skip a day of working. 

Of course DH is double-thinking every decision we've made regarding the shop. That only makes things harder for Chickie and me while we're trying to make sure as many of our ducks are in a row as possible. I totally re-arranged a portion of our Northern wall yesterday to allow for a bit more artwork to be displayed, and new signage to be placed. 

We're not backing out of using Travis' company to help us 
liquidate the business, so complaining about minor details 
really is a waste of time. We don't have to like 100% of 
every action, but we need to do them anyway. 

Speaking of signage - DH is also complaining about our business liquidator. "When will the signs arrive", is a good question. "Did you read the postcard?" is another one (yes, I read it several times and I rather liked it - with a few specific changes that they are instituting before the print run). In the main, his comments are too few and too late, but annoying nonetheless. The contracts have been signed and we are committed to this action. We'll deal with any fallout after the fact on this one. 

So I'm wrapping this up, eating breakfast, and heading to the shop before the snow starts falling. Winter in the Frozen Northlands ... you either live with it or you move. Be safe and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

A Short Post Today - Meditation Took Priority - LOL

I felt the need for an extra long meditation this morning (of course if I had realized I was three pounds over my preferred weight, I might have shortened the meditation time). Nonetheless, I took that extra time for a bit of mental steadiness, and then switched clothes and hit the treadmill. Since I had done the meditation longer than usual, I cut my usual 45 minutes on the treadmill down to 30 minutes. 

I didn't do my full 45 minutes on the treadmill this 
morning, but I still got a solid 30 minutes, so I'll 
consider that a win/win. 

I brought a beadwork repair home to try and get done over the weekend - not that I really get much of a weekend - we're spending every spare minute at the shop - but I can give it a try. Chickie was going to repair it, but she's really not much of a beader and I would prefer it to be done a bit more professionally. So, it's on my desk in front of me right now. At least if I need any beads, I have LOTS of them here in my private stash. 

Beaded medallions are a common beading project in Native 
American tribes using beadwork. They're pretty easy to do, 
and always attractive. The one I'm repairing is only two 
colors - dark blue and white. It's broken at the usual point - 
where the strap attaches to the medallion. 

So, since I indulged at 3:00 am, I'm a bit tight on time at 6:30 am. I'm going to grab some breakfast and head over to the shop to assemble a frame that I picked up on Wednesday. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week (hopefully after a more standard 45 minutes on the treadmill). Enjoy your day! Slava Ukraini. 

Yesterday Was a Bit of a Cluster Mess - I Persevered

I had a nice, but very busy day yesterday. I did a lot of cooking, and while moving between the stovetop and the oven, I noticed a few of the small sugar ants that are the bane of my existence. So I killed them. Then, I noticed more in a slightly different place down that wall. Once again I brought death to them, and continued cooking. Then again, farther down. By the end of the day, I had sprayed and killed the damned things completely down the eastern wall of my kitchen. After I killed everything and didn't see any more movement at all, I swept things down thoroughly and did what I could to wash the floor. Note to self ... buy more Swiffer wet cloth packs. I used the last ones on this job. 

I truly hate these little sugar ants. They're a pest, not 
necessarily destructive, but they have to be in one of my 
walls for me to have seen them the three places I've seen 
them over the past few weeks. I did a MAJOR kill yesterday 
in my kitchen. I automatically kill them whenever I come 
across them these days. Afterward, I cleaned and washed 
the floors and the kitchen hasn't looked so good in months. LOL

So, while I was busy with the laundry and the decimation of tiny ants in my house, the time when I would usually talk with Aearwen came and went. I ended up calling her almost an hour late and leaving her a message. She, in turn, texted me later on again, apologizing on her part for missing our weekly chat. I guess life got in the way for both of us. But, we've been chatting weekly for years now, missing one or two happens and life will return to normal once again soon. 

Aearwen and I have chatted weekly for years now. Occasionally 
life gets in the way, and I guess yesterday was one of those 
days. Things happen. We'll catch up next week instead, and 
it'll be a lovely hour of this and that. 

So I guess I'm ready to jump back into the fray today. I did have a chance to make a batch of Ogre Juice yesterday, and I'm switching eating it from lunchtime down to breakfast time. All too often these days I don't have any time for lunch, and we've had no refrigerator at the shop because we've been defrosting it. (It's one of the items we're listing as "For Sale" in our inventory, and it desperately needed defrosting and a thorough cleaning). I don't mind eating my Ogre Juice for breakfast, but I can tell that my body is not happy about a lack of the green stuff, so I'll figure out a way to get it back into my daily schedule once again. 

We have an old Frigidaire refrigerator at the shop, 
similar to this. The city will pick it up at no charge 
and pay us $50, but we'll have to show that it's 
operational, and it has to be at a residence, not 
a business. So, we'll be putting this heavy sucker 
into the truck and plugging it into the garage 
at home to get the rebate and get rid of the appliance. 

On that note, I guess I've rambled off enough. A quick book recommendation if you want something totally quirky and off the track. Try the "Magic After Midlife Series" by Deborah Wilde. It's been a total joy reading about this Jewish magic user who speaks in Yiddish as often as English. It's a great character and a fun series - a good find for my NookBook file. Enjoy your Thursday, I'm off to the swimming pool. Slava Ukraini. 

Things Are Progressing, Snow and a Busy Day

I was able to get the Etsy order downloaded on my home computer, but wasn't able to do it on my laptop at all.  Very frustrating, and an unfortunate delay for my customer. I'll be emailing them today to update them and the order will go out on Thursday. Late. GRRRR. I might just do whatever I can at home today in hopes of dropping it by the post office later this afternoon. 

For some reason I couldn't access that order 
on my laptop at all. But, I was able to grab 
it from my older computer at home. Now to 
get that sent out with apologies! 

It's an early start for me today. We got snow starting just as I was pulling in to the driveway last night. I don't think we got a lot, but I need to get the driveway shoveled before heading to the pool, so I can't chat a lot this morning. 

We didn't get a lot of snow last night, but I still need to get 
the driveway cleared off. Hopefully the streets won't be 
too icy. 

Travis sent me the mockup of our postcard that will be sent to 15,000 people in the Twin Cities area. I actually like it quite a bit. It's very eye-catching, bright, brilliant, and very busy. There were a few small changes we requested which will be put into the final, but I'm happy. I was smiling all day thinking about it. At least some things are working correctly. 

It won't take long to get the driveway shoveled, but I'll 
have to get that done before taking the trash and recycling 
bins down to the end of the driveway. 

Of course, one thing works and another doesn't. He wasn't able to get access to one thing that I had sent to him - an important thing. So, I sent him the link once again, and made sure he had all of the permissions required for him to access the material. Hopefully he was able to do that yesterday afternoon - or someone on his team was able to. I'm sure I'll hear from him if access is still restricted. 

With only one day off a week now, I'm SO busy on that 
single day. Oy! 

And ... today is a "day off". Load 1 of 3 is already in the washing machine, and I need to figure out what I want/need to cook today. I don't have my Sundays any more - they've been spent at the shop getting things ready to go. I'll be VERY relieved when all of this is over. I have no idea if I'll make any money on it, but really, it's impossible to actually lose money on this. So, with that said, I'm plugging in pictures and heading to the driveway, snow shovel in hand. Have a great Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.