Good Solstice to All

Good Solstice to all of you. Tonight is the longest night of the year for us here in the Frozen Northlands, and then we're into an upswing once again. I think we all need this. Whether you're in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, Solstice is a time for reflection, resetting goals, and refocusing on friends and family. I'm looking forward to passing through the longest night of the year and starting to slowly grow with the light once more. 

Good Solstice to all of my friends and Blessed Be. 

We're in the final countdown for Christmas, and it's been too quiet at the store. I have a feeling my end of the year sales numbers won't be anywhere close to where I want them, but I still have my four-day after-Christmas sale coming up, and I'm hoping for a few holiday miracles. Tomorrow is the last Sunday I'll have to work, and I'm grateful for that. It's always exhausting to be working six-day weeks. 

DH attempted home-made caramels yesterday. which
didn't end up looking like these. I think he'll try
again on Tuesday. 

DH tried cooking home-made caramels yesterday, and discovered that our candy thermometer isn't reading temps correctly. That's a problem when dealing with fussy things like caramel. He ended up tossing the batch, saving a small amount to show me. What was supposed to be a smooth, soft caramel was a perfect stand-in for limestone. Although DaVinci might have loved working with it, it's not really edible. 

I'm working out the details for our 4-Day Sale email. It takes a
lot of tweaking to make sure it's clear and the loopholes are
closed. I'm adding a one-time one-use e-coupon to the sale good
for a phenomenal savings on one non-craft-supply item. 

I spent most of the day working on the email for my end of year 4-Day Sale. I think I've got that pounded into shape now, and will fine-tune it today. I want to send it out on Monday and again on Thursday, and I'm hoping that Friday/Saturday and the following Monday/Tuesday will be busy with lots of sales and interesting customers. It's the fun customers who make working retail worthwhile. 

One of the things he's been wanting to get is a set
of loading ramps for the truck. He needs something
that will fold up small, but be able to handle the
weight of the snow blower if he needs to get it to
the dealer for a tune-up. 

I finally decided on two major gifts for DH, things that I can afford, but that he's been mentioning he wanted or grumbling about. We'll see if he takes advantage or not, but when it comes down to reality, he's a tough guy to buy for. I'm really looking forward to just wrapping the year up and returning to cleaning up my studio, organizing things, and getting rid of more junk. It's hard, but it needs to be done. 

On that note, I'm going to address and send my final two holiday cards on the way to work this morning and call them done for this year. It was fun. Now to design and start work on next year's offering - LOL. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Solstice. I'll be back on Monday.