Shaking Things Up - Cleaning, Charging and No Running Shoes (Yet)

I'm shaking my schedule up a bit today because I forgot to charge my phone overnight. Now ... if it was a swimming day, that wouldn't be a problem. But it's a treadmill day, and I use my phone to listen to Sirius Turbo on the radio while I'm looking at scenery on the screen. Without the music and the scenery, I don't treadmill. So, I plugged the phone into the quick charger and I'll take care of my blog first to allow it to get enough charge to get me through my 45 minutes on the treadmill. 

I'm shaking up my schedule today to allow my phone to 
get some power before I start my workout on the treadmill. 
I always listen to the phone while "running", and it's TOO 
boring for words (even with the virtual scenery) to deal 
with in silence. 

My goal for yesterday had originally been getting my running shoes. I did "fess up" to DH about losing my certificates from the holidays, his response was "they're probably around here somewhere". *sigh* But, since I still hadn't found them, and he wasn't paying much attention to the fact that I really need some new running shoes, I just followed the leader yesterday. He tackled the dining room and made some serious inroads into that room by the end of the day. We've been using that room for basic storage for years. Now things look almost civilized, a lot of trash was added to the trash bucket, and I did a ton of shredding old paperwork. It might not have been what I really wanted to spend my Sunday doing, but I was quite happy with the end result. 

The Nike outlet store might be my best bet. I'm not really 
looking for any specific model or appearance, I just need a 
set in my size that will work for my treadmill. I generally 
use my running shoes for up to five years (or more), so 
I'll get my money's worth from them, once I finally 
purchase a pair. 

I did take a little time late yesterday afternoon to check the costs of new Nike running shoes. OUCH! Expensive! There is a Nike outlet store at the outlet mall and their prices seem much more reasonable. I'll keep wearing my current set until they're a bit more dead, but then I'll head to the outlet store for my replacements. I probably won't find the certificate, but paying a bit more than $100 is a LOT better than paying a bit more than $200 for a set of shoes. OY! When did things get so expensive? 

I just purchased a GaN fast charger from Amazon 
and received it late last week. I've been using 
it and it works like a dream. It's a LOT faster 
than just plugging in with a normal charging cable. 
I'm now at 57% charged and I've only been 
writing this for about 15-20 minutes and had been 
below 10% power. 

I had plugged my phone into the fast charger when I sat down to write this. It was at 8% power. I've been writing this and just checked - I'm up to 46% power now. I still have to plug in my pictures and get things posted, so I'll be at more than 50% by the time I'm finished with this and changed into my exercise gear. I can live with that. A treadmill run without music is just TOO boring for words! LOL. So, I'm hoping I'll have a good Monday, and I hope all of you also have a good one. I'll be back tomorrow for a quick post before heading to the swimming pool. Be kind - the world needs kindness right now. Slava Ukraini. 

Still No Certificates and Working on Fridays

Instead of a day off yesterday, I worked for most of the day in the basement shrink-wrapping artwork to put out onto the sales floor. We have a massive amount of artwork and a lot of it can be backed and shrink wrapped and easily put out for sale. It's not necessary to frame them - that just adds to the cost for the customer. This way we can keep costs under control for everyone. 

My shrink wrapping equipment is almost identical to 
this set-up. The wrap is on the large roll, it actually 
threads onto the shorter black post which separates the 
two layers of the wrap. The larger hinged item with 
the large black handle is a heat sealer/cutter. When 
you've pulled off the right length of wrap, you depress 
the long heat bar which seals and separates the 
sealing material from the roll so that you can then 
use the heat gun (standing on top of the very back 
of the equipment) to actually shrink the wrapping around 
the artwork and to coax any wrinkles out of it. 

Still no luck with finding the certificates, so I'm going to have to "fess up" to DH and admit that I managed to lose them. He won't be pleased, but I'm hoping he'll still buy my new set of Nike running shoes, in spite of my not having the proper certificate from hin. The other ones, I really don't remember as clearly, so they're a bit less of a serious loss at this time. I need new running shoes desperately, though. My old pair are on their last legs, so to speak. 

I need a new set of Nike running shoes. I've tried other 
brands in the past and they just ended up hurting my 
feet. I use my shoes every time I'm on the treadmill. 
But they're VERY expensive and I have to actually try 
them on to see what set feels right on my feet. *sigh* 
I'm doomed. 

I rather enjoyed the quiet, yesterday. I spent almost all day in the basement framing room dealing with the shrink wrapping equipment and the vertical cutter that is used for mats and glass. I enjoyed the solitude and not having to deal with customers. I love our customers, but sometimes it's nice to not have to assist people with their particular projects or what they're looking for. 

My Fletcher vertical cutter is mounted to the wall 
of my small framing room at the shop. It's what I use 
to cut cardboard backing for the pictures I was 
shrink-wrapping. 

I suspect that working on Fridays will be a constant from this point onward until we've managed to close the store, so my Wednesdays will be VERY full and I'll be doing all of my kitchen work either Wednesdays or, maybe a little bit on Sundays. I haven't heard from Travis (I really thought I would be getting a call from him by now) so I'll have to phone him to make sure we're on track and he's on track as well. 

So, time to wrap this up and start my Saturday. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Friday and I'm Falling Behind Schedule

 I'm giving up on my certificates, and I'll have to tell DH about it. I think I'll do better with that in writing, so I'll have to type something up to give to him. 

I'm giving up. If the certificates show up, that's 
great, but I'm thinking they are long gone now. 

In the meantime, today is a very busy day. I'll be losing my Fridays soon - if we're going to be able to close on time, I'll have to be in the shop for at least part of those days. Right now, though, there doesn't seem to be a great deal that I can do to move us forward. I have to start some serious thinking about what needs to be done before we begin our liquidation sale. We have less than two months to have everything ready to go, and we're nowhere close right now. 

The time for our Going Out of Business Sale is quickly 
approaching and we're nowhere CLOSE to being ready 
to go. This might be a disaster of epic proportions. 

The whole idea of liquidating the shop is absolutely frightening, but maybe that's why the initial payment to Travis is as large as it is. It fixes the reality firmly and puts us onto the schedule. I need to phone him - we were supposed to have received a questionnaire of some sort, but I haven't seen anything come my way yet. If he sent it, I haven't caught the email. 

I'm generally a pretty positive person, but I've been turning 
into a Negative Nelly. I don't like that aspect of myself, so I 
need to work on turning things back to the positive. 

Anyway, I don't have a lot of positive things to say today, so I'll just say that I had an excellent run/walk this morning on the treadmill, and a great hot shower afterwards. That started my day in a super positive way. Have a wonderful Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap things up for the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Still No Success - My Certificates Just Aren't Here Any More

Yesterday's swim was more normal. The roads, although typical winter, weren't skating rink icy, and the usual group of swimmers showed up. (I rather missed my "private pool" - LOL). It was good to see my friends again though, and to share my lane with Jolene. Even Meg showed up, her Hubby having once again dropped her off in her wheelchair. I'm sure she's getting closer and closer to being able to put that wheelchair behind her, but it was a serious lower leg break that she experienced at the dog park, and she did say it would be a minimum of eight weeks before she'd be able to walk on it again. I think it's been longer than that by now, so her doctor must be erring on the side of caution. With a weight-bearing fracture like that, caution is a very good thing. 

Winter up here in the Frozen Northlands can be beautiful, 
but we all know to dress appropriately, and have the proper 
boots for walking on ice and through snow. I really feel 
sorry for our ancestors who didn't have down coats, internal 
self-heating vests, or good snow boots. 

I'm still looking for my "certificates" from DH for this past Christmas, but I'm almost ready to give up the hunt and admit to him that I have lost them. It's totally tearing at my heart. The certificates are my absolute favorite gift that he gives to me. Losing/misplacing/throwing them away (all possibilities) just makes me sick to my stomach. But, there's nothing much I can do about it. It's rather like a lost sock in the washing machine. You know you put in a pair, but there's only a single one when you remove the load. It's rare, but it does happen. In this instance, I had a brain glitch and I have NO idea what I did with the certificates. *sigh*

Sometimes my brain glitch really stops me short, and losing 
my certificates was a brain glitch. I've totally run out of 
places to look, however, so it's time to tell DH about my 
stupidity. *sigh*

I did, however, get a LOT done in the kitchen yesterday. I did my "Ogre Juice", I did a new batch of baked fruit for my breakfasts, and I did at least two different things for my dinners. My empty shelving on my side of the refrigerator are once again filled. What a relief! 

I squeezed in a quick run of baked fruit in my kitchen 
work yesterday (I don't do the crumbles that this photo 
has, but the general fruit mix is pretty close). I adore my 
baked fruit for my breakfast, along with a couple of 
pieces of toast and a nice, hot, cup of tea. 

So today I'm off for my final swimming time of the week. I listen to audio books while I'm swimming, and my current book's characters are in the middle of a hidden city inside a glacier - very cold and icy. Highly appropriate for a Minnesota winter's day - LOL. I'll be back tomorrow, so have an excellent Thursday. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Going To Be a Busy Day and Lost Items!

It's a trash day and a recycling day, a "home" day and a shopping day, a kitchen day and a laundry day, and let's just start the whole thing out by swimming. I'm going crazy - I'm not finding the certificates that DH wrote out for this past holiday season. Every year he gives me handwritten certificates - something as simple as a bottle of my favorite rum, or something more complex like a night out. It's something I look forward to every year, and I know this year was/is no exception. EXCEPT ... I can't find them. I had them organized, and for some reason or other, I didn't put them in the usual place. Now I need one for this weekend (a new set of running shoes from FootLocker - desperately needed), and I can't find them at all. I'm practically in tears, looking everywhere, and I'll continue the hunt between errands, laundry, trash, recycling, etc today. But I'm simply not finding them. ARGH doesn't even come close. 

It's going to be a very busy day today. If I make myself some 
soup or stew, that'll be easy and I won't have to spend a lot 
of time in the kitchen. 

I have my first load of laundry in the wash (yes, I checked all pockets before putting things into the wash). I'm hoping that the roads are a bit less icy today. Yesterday's drive to the YMCA was dicey - it was very slippery out. A road that I'm normally doing 55-60 on at 4:30 am, I was creeping along at 35. Walking into and out of the YMCA was also a slippery experience. And the pool was just me and the lifeguard for the first half hour. Rosemary is off on her annual get-away with her family, I knew Meg wouldn't be there since she's still in her wheelchair, but I've never been solo - LOL. By the time I ended, Mary was in the lane to my right, and an unknown swimmer was in the lane to my left, so it wasn't just me any more, but since there weren't any others, I actually swam 10 minutes longer than I usually would have. That was a very good thing since I'm trying to drop my holiday weight down by about 10 pounds. 

The scale is not really my friend just now. It's the end 
of the holiday season, and I need to drop a couple of 
pounds back down to where I want to be. Getting back 
to the pool is a real plus. I don't lose weight as well 
if I'm just on the treadmill. 

Today is grocery shopping and cooking. My cupboards are bare (relatively speaking). I have food to eat, but nothing cooked that I can just grab and reheat. Maybe I'll make a stew if I can find decent, inexpensive stew meat for one. I'll also continue my hunt for my certificates. It's really driving me up the wall. They're SUPER important for me, and I never lose them ... except maybe I have done so this time. I went through all of the trash last night before bagging it and putting it into the bin. They weren't in any of the trash containers. That gives me hope that I put them someplace "safe", or forgot them in my robe or something silly. I'll be looking today. 

Putting something into a "safe" place is working a bit 
too well this time. I can't find the certificates at ALL. 
What Saint is it who helps find lost items? Maybe I should 
send up some prayers. 

So, I'm off to the pool. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back for my final swim of the week tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

DAMN - Another REALLY Short Post

I've managed to misplace something very important to me and I'm posting, but I'm going right back to hunting for it for every minute I have until I leave for the swimming pool. Have a great Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow - hopefully with the lost item recovered. Slava Ukraini. 

24 Hours of Personal Time

I'm not really in a good or chatty mood today. DH and I had a blow-out argument last night, and I'm just running things over in my head and contemplating. So, I'm just posting because I'm still here, but I'm giving myself 24 hours of personal time. I'll be back tomorrow.