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. 

A Bit of Here and A Bit of There With A Few Vintage Photos From Prior Blog Posts

Schedules are still messed up, of course, but I'm getting back into my normal groove. I worked out on the treadmill this morning - time to get some of my two pound holiday weight back off - LOL. Two pounds isn't much, but I'd like to eliminate it before it grows. 

I'm choosing random images from prior years to 
populate today's blog. This is a Zia - a four-directional 
symbol associated with the Native Americans in the 
New Mexico area of the USA. It's a favorite of mine. 

It's also January, and we're focused on getting things ready for selling out and closing the shop. That's a massive amount of work, but it has to be done. No choice. So, there's every possibility that over the next five months, I'll have days that I'll miss posting here and there. I'll still try to pop in my usual six days a week, just to say "Hi" to all of you, but no guarantees. 

In 2015 I had to pull over and take a photo of my 
mileage - 12345 - LOL. Currently, my dear car 
is over 80,000 and still working well. She's absolutely 
FILTHY from the snow chemicals now, so desperately 
needs a good wash. She also needs new wipers. 
I have it on next week's mental schedule. 

I'm still getting holiday cards. I got one yesterday from my dear friend in the Netherlands. It was beautiful, as I would expect from Hans. He's another on-line friend whom I've never met face-to-face, and we've known each other for more than 20 years now. He's an extremely talented jeweler, and we met on one of the jewelry websites when he was still living in St Martin in the Caribbean.  He subsequently married and moved back to his home country of the Netherlands, opening up a custom jewelry shop in his town. It's always a joy to hear from him. 

This photo of abstract circles from 2020 still appeals to 
me and my artistic side. I just loved how the colors, 
shades and placement really worked in it. 

I also got a card from my "sister" in Washington state. She doesn't celebrate Christmas, but does celebrate Yule and the changing of the year. It's always a joy to catch up with her and her family. I miss our Saturday morning meet-up's with a cup of coffee at the coffee shop next door to my shop. 

I have a very high mountain to climb over the next few 
months. If I can get through that, I can have a feeling of 
accomplishment and a freedom to move onward to the 
next stage of my life. I'll feel much like this person did 
from 2020. 

So, as we close down another week, and begin a new year, I hope as you look back on 2025 that you were happy with most of it. Given our world politics, I doubt any of us are happy with everything, but if your personal life and surroundings are giving you happiness and peace, that's really what counts. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday. (At least, that's the plan - LOL). Slava Ukraini.