Catching Up a Bit - Full Steam Ahead

Remember that huge snow storm we had a couple of weeks ago? The one where I was shoveling the driveway for almost 90 minutes until I finally got to the point where my wonderful next door neighbor had snow blown the bottom quarter section out for me? I totally tore up my upper right thigh muscle moving the snow that morning, and it STILL hurts. Today was the first day I was brave enough to use the treadmill, and I only made it for 30 minutes. Still, that's better than nothing. But I'm achy, and can't believe that my thigh is still in a lot of pain after almost two weeks. 

Basically, that middle red spot is pretty much 
where I'm hurting. The rest of it has nothing 
happening, and the front of the leg is also fine. 
I just really tore that muscle while shoveling the 
snow a bit more than a week ago. 

Although I'm supposed to be at the shop today, I'm probably going to stay home for a lot of the day, working on two pictures I'm in the middle of framing. I got the glass cut for them at the shop yesterday morning. I have the triple mat for one cut out on the exterior. I still have to do the cut outs for each piece, then get everything assembled. The second one hasn't had the mats cut at all for it, but that one is only a double mat, so not quite as complex or time-consuming. It's inconvenient working from two different locations, but that's how it is right now. A lot of back and forth. 

Our various store signage is on its way to us. We 
are required to return these when we're finished 
using them, so we'll have to unpack carefully so that 
we can repack things properly. 

Our store signage for "Going Out of Business" is on its' way. Travis emailed the dimensions of the exterior sign to me because we need to get a license for that one. I'll be sending DH downtown early next week to get that taken care of. Then I need to double-check and triple-check the dates he's got our sale scheduled for and make sure I have them written on the main calendar that we all refer to. It'll be "All Hands on Deck" once that starts. 

It'll be "All Hands on Deck" for us once the sale 
actually starts. We're not quite there yet, but it's 
getting closer and closer. 

So, that's about all I have for news and chit-chat today. I'm going to have breakfast and plan how I can most efficiently use my day. I have frames that I need to match up with artwork so that I don't waste either one. That takes more time than you would suspect since the frames were made for different pieces, so they're all playing substitutes in a square dance that's becoming a bit crazy. Have a great Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. 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. 

Olympics, WildFit and Furniture - I've Got a Lot Going On Right Now

I'm always sorry to see the Olympics come to an end. Summer or Winter, they're an event that I've loved since I was very young. I tried to stay up last night to watch one event, but simply couldn't keep my eyes open and gave up. I'm sure I'll be able to catch some of it on replay if I have any time to web surf today. 

I've always preferred the Winter Olympics to the summer ones, 
although I'm not really a fan of the cold and snow - LOL. 
Still, the events are so much fun to watch, it's not just a 
bunch of field and track events (as you can tell, I'm not really 
much of a track and field fan). 

Today DH is starting the day out by going downtown and getting us our license to liquidate. Yes, we actually have to be licensed to have a "Going Out of Business" sale/event. *sigh* It's been impossible to reach these people via the phone, so he'll drive down there this morning and perch in their offices. It's much harder to ignore a breathing person than a ringing phone. 

Ernest Thompson originally made our display cases 
and shelving for my Mall of America store. At that 
time the setup I got (more than 12 cases and assorted 
other pieces) was $15,500. Their current value? A 
LOT more than that. I need to get some photos off 
to them and if I'm lucky, they can come back to me 
with a current valuation. 

Meanwhile, we got all of our display cases measured and photographed, at least the cash wrap ones. We still need to do the product display cases - the pottery, katchinas, stone fetish animals, etc are all displayed in those cases. The ones we did yesterday are in the jewelry area - jewelry has always been a large part of our inventory offerings. 

The To-Do list isn't a list, it's a booklet - standard 
paper size, more than 50 pages of instructions. 
It's a lot to do, and we're getting it done. 

But we're working our way down the list that Travis provided to us. It's a lot of work, but we never were under the misapprehension that simply thinking it would be easy would make that possible. There are just a LOT of T's to cross and I's to dot. Feel free to send me some ink - LOL. *hugs* I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. 

I still have four alkagizers every week - it's my usual 
lunch at work. I think my body really likes the nutrients 
that I get in them. It's hard to believe it's been five years 
since I first started WildFit, but I don't regret a single day. 

And yesterday was the 5th anniversary of when I started the WildFit program. It was, without doubt, one of the best decisions I've made in my life. I'm at a great weight, and I've been maintaining it for several years now, and I eat nutritiously, so I consider it a total win. Sometimes I can make a good decision - LOL. So, have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Slow Progress is Still Progress

I'm not really sure why I'm running a bit late today, but I am. I had a nice fast-walk on the treadmill, and treadmill days are always a bit later than swimming days, but I'm about 25 minutes late on my schedule and actually have to eat my breakfast and head to the shop. I have three different emails to reply to for Travis, and I need to think about how we can get around some security check-in issues so that he can actually send things to my main email list. I may have to suggest that he send it to me and I then send it onward. It might be the best and simplest solution. 

Travis probably doesn't look anything like this 
any more, but who knows? This is the only photo 
I have of him, from his book. I've spoken with him 
numerous times, and exchange daily emails with 
him several times a day, but I've never really met him. 

I'm generally getting 1-4 emails a day from him, though, and that makes me happy. He's reading what I'm responding and he's working on getting us the best advertising coverage possible. That's what we'll need to have a successful sale, so I'm pleased, thus far. We'll see in the long run, but I'm getting responses and hope to get results as well. 

We have a store full of industrial steel shelving units. Both 
upstairs and downstairs, it's the primary furniture. The 
upstairs ones are holding product, the downstairs ones are 
almost all empty now - we've been working on that for more 
than a year. 

DH and I will be spending Sunday in the store's basement. I have banks of steel shelving down there, some of which are using the incorrect shelves for that type. We'll be switching shelves from one style to another, and finalizing a complete listing of everything we have down there for sale. If necessary, we'll escort a customer down there, but I'm hoping that photos, etc will do most of that sale for us. We also have a bunch of shelves on the main floor, which is where we keep our stock. We'll be selling those shelves also, but whoever purchases them will have to wait to get them until after we're completely finished with the actual sale. 

Slow progress is still progress, but we have to 
do something every day or things won't be done 
on time. We're actually on a schedule. 

So, things are progressing. Slowly ... but that's OK. We still have some time, we don't need to be in a massive rush, we just have to do something to keep the momentum going every day. In the meantime, we can watch/listen to the Olympics, which we're enjoying VERY much. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

A Treadmill Saga and a Scissor Lift? Fancy Equipment!

I didn't get quite my full 45 minutes on the treadmill this morning. I can't run/walk without tunes. I don't know about other people, but for me - tunes are essential to take my mind out of my room and into the virtual reality scenery on my screen. Running is, essentially, one of the most BORING physical activities EVER. But I do it three days a week for my health and general fitness. I can't be in the swimming pool more than three days a week because the chlorine is complete hell on my skin. So I run/walk for three days and I swim for three days. It works out well. 

I'm only on the treadmill three times a week, and in 
the pool for three days as well. That gives me six 
days of solid activity to start my days. It's keeping 
my weight under control and I'm at the weight that 
I want. 

But to run, I need two components. I need the treadmill to be hooked up to my virtual scenery films, and I need my Sirius XM tunes. Today, I needed to re-log in to Sirius, so that took a bit more time than usual and I ended up with about 40 minutes instead of my usual 45. Still, both DH and I (and probably Chickie too) are running on empty. There's SO MUCH to do before the closing sale begins. 

I've subscribed to SiriusXM for years and years. It's what 
I have in my car and on my phone. I also consider my tunes 
an essential part of my treadmill days. For swimming, I 
listen to audio books. 

So far I'm very impressed with Travis. He's massively organized, very much in contact, and is keeping us to a schedule that will allow this whole "Going Out of Business" thing to actually work! While I'm working with Travis, getting him whatever information or doing whatever action required, DH is working on the shop making sure that everything is correctly labelled, priced, and actually in inventory. What a job! 

A scissor lift would make putting the sale banner at the 
store front a LOT easier than ladders would. I know 
they're available for rent. I'll have to look into it. 

But today is February 6th, and the clock is ticking down. There's still a HUGE amount of things that need to get done/finished before our "Going Out of Business" begins. I had been hoping our landlord still had access to a scissor lift - I had seen him working with one in the past. But, I had a chance to actually ask him while he popped in to the store yesterday, and no. He no longer has access to that equipment, and also is running his business solo these days. A LOT of work for one older guy who has usually had minions of one sort or another to help him with odd jobs. So, we'll have to figure this one out on our own. It'll happen, I just don't quite know how/when. Have a great day. Slava Ukraini. 

ICE Continues and So Do Our Closing Preparations

Today I'll take the headshot that is required (I really hate having my picture taken at the best of times, taking a "selfie" is most certainly NOT in my general wheelhouse). Nonetheless, despite my hatred of self-photos, it's required so I'll get that done. I'll also do a walkthrough for the store video, or maybe two if I have the time. Meanwhile, DH is busy at work in the warehouse, bringing up empty boxes for me to take flat, and waiting, impatiently, for our trash and recycling bins at the rear of the parking lot to be emptied so that we can use them again. I already have several boxes of flattened cardboard waiting for an open recycling bin. 

Sure, we could have been flattening boxes for months, or 
years now, but we didn't. So, we're packing it all into a 
quick decimation of shelves and shelves full of cardboard 
boxes that need to be flattened and recycled. It's a lot of 
work, but we're getting there. 

Of course, this is all stuff that we could have done more gradually over the past ten or so years, but we're not that forward looking in general. It will be a relief when I can walk into the basement and see all of the STC detritus gone. We still won't be cleaned up and ready to move out, but we'll be MUCH closer to that reality. All three of us are working extremely hard to make this possible. We know it's essential and that right now, time is NOT on our side. 

Time is not our friend right now. We're working on a very 
tight schedule to get things done on the list that Travis 
provided. We've spent a LOT of money to hire him, and I'm 
just hoping and praying that this turns out OK. 

As I recall, this weekend is a dead weekend for football, with the Super Bowl being held next weekend. That will make it much easier to spend another Sunday at the shop working hard. We actually can get a lot accomplished if we don't have to help customers. We love our customers - they pay our rent - LOL. But ... they can be very time-heavy and even though we love them, time is not our friend right now. 

This clever sign that's been making the rounds 
takes our standard "Snowplow Route" signs, 
but changes the text and the bottom to reflect 
our current reality. 

So I hope all of you have a fabulous Friday. We'll continue fighting our battle against ICE here in the Twin Cities, and continue to publicize the many illegal activities that Trump has acknowledged and allowed under his name. Those of you interested might be able to replay Mayor Jacob Fry's speech to the US Mayor's assembly yesterday. It was a phenomenal speech about exactly what's happening in his city, Minneapolis, right now - the fight that we are fighting against fascism. I'm quite sure it's out in the www somewhere now. Slava Ukraini & ICE Out! 

It's VERY COLD and A Short Discussion of Weaving and Gowns

Happy Friday! My phone is telling me that the current temperature is -21 F. Yeah, that's a minus sign in front of the number. It's COLD. DH spent yesterday photographing Navajo weavings. We'll probably be putting most/all of them out to auction with our Santa Fe auction people, but to do that we need photos, dimensions, etc. We're also freaking out a bit over the scheduling for our closing sale - it's VERY precise - 15 pages worth of specific instructions and dates. The sale itself starts in early April, so time is running out and we're nowhere close to being ready. But, we're putting noses to the grindstone and working hard at it. 

Whichever way you look at it, it's damned COLD 
this morning. I'm grateful for my cold weather 
gear, but I'll still be shivering and Minion 
won't be happy being parked in the cold either. 

Yesterday DH pulled down a lot of our Navajo weavings, replacing them with other ones - mostly lesser quality at a lower price point. The good ones we'll be bringing down to Santa Fe ourselves after the shop has closed. But it was an all-day affair photographing each rug on the photo board, culminating with packaging many of them in plastic for storage. Our weavings cabinet is far from empty, but it's nowhere as packed as it had been. 

In this picture, the weaver is weaving a sampler 
weaving - one style on the left, a second 
style in the center and a return to the left style 
on the right. The loom is a vertical loom and sheep's 
wool is usually spun for the yarn. It's a tradition 
that goes back centuries. 

I spent a fair amount of time on the phone contacting a variety of places I thought Mom's couture dresses might be accepted at for resale. I have two "very interested by not accepting anything until April" responses, and one recommendation for a specific Minneapolis shop that I had thought would be worth while to contact. When I contacted them, they expressed an interest in photographs, but also warned me that they usually will only accept items in a group of 10. Well, I don't have quite that many - I think it's either 7 or 8 items that I have - but she said to go ahead with the photos and send them anyway, even if I'm below their minimum quantity. Exceptions can sometimes be made. So I'll try to get that done early next week. Meanwhile, they're in the trunk of my car - not the best place for them, but then again, with the temps as they are, the car is probably safer than many other locations. I might move them back into the house, but I'll leave them for the time being. 

Large weavings, such as this one worked on by two 
weavers simultaneously, are rarely made any more. 
The looms are too large to fit within the hogan, 
and the dollars paid don't make up for the time 
when several smaller weavings will sell for the 
same or more and take less time to make. This photo 
probably dates from the early 1900's. You can see 
a second loom in the background with an additional 
two weavers working on it. They were probably 
working at one of the trading posts and would 
sell the finished products directly to them. 

So, despite the cold, I have to get a very early start today. I need to get the W3 typed up for the Federal Government, and I only have a single copy of the form. NO MISTAKES ALLOWED. I have no correction ability on my typewriter at the shop anymore, and the computer and computer printer can't be used on it either. So, I've got to eat breakfast, bundle up, and hope that my car will start tonight after sitting in the parking lot for hours and hours. Minion was a bit slow to start last night when it was -11, adding an additional -10 to that and an extra hour in the parking lot ... well ... it could be problematic. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

It's a Lazy Morning ... Well ... For Another Hour - LOL

 

I was up late last night, watching an episode of "Brokenwood", so I'm in a bit of a rush today. I start the day out by dropping by my cancer center for a quick update meeting with my Primary Care Physician. I'm hoping to get the OK for an MRI, and that's got to come from him. I'm absolutely fine with that - he's awesome and actually lives just a few blocks away from me. 

We love the Brokenwood Mysteries, and since it was an 
episode that I barely remembered, I stayed up to watch it. 
I gave up my treadmill because of it - I actually needed 
some sleep. 

Since I was running late, I skipped the treadmill today. I have to work, even though it's a "day off" for me, and time isn't my friend today. Yesterday DH and I wrapped and identified and switched out artwork from the store walls. Originals and pieces we feel will do well at auction we'll store and take down to the auction house later this Summer or in the early Fall. He brought a bunch of artwork home yesterday, and we have three that he forgot to load into the pickup that will come home with us tonight. 

I have nothing against being a little lazy. It's 
never something that hangs around for long. 

Sometimes it's nice to be a little lazy, even though I'm really nowhere close to being lazy if truth be told. Still, I had a bit longer sleep-in, and wasn't quite as rushed with my daily meditation as I sometimes am. It's cold, but not snowing, the roads are just fine for driving, so it'll be a nice trip out to the Cancer Center in a bit more than an hour. Right now, however, I'm going to grab a quick breakfast and then get my act together before I head out. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. 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. 

It Was the Final MCI Class, and It Snowed, So It's Shoveling Time

I have a 7:00 am ear doctor appointment at the clinic, and the roads will be icky. I have to start things out by shoveling the driveway, so this will be a short post. DH wants me to work at the shop today, and I really don't have the time to do that. I might be able to do an hour or two, but nor a lot more than that. I'm winging things today. There's a lot that needs doing, and not a lot of time in which to do it. 

I've got to at least get the driveway cleared before I leave for 
the Clinic. I hate having tire tracks through the snow to ice 
over later on, if I can help it. So, I'm heading out to clear it 
away as best I can. 

On the positive side, all of my holiday cards were mailed over the past week. That's at least one thing off my list, and I'm grateful. I've started receiving cards from many of you, and as always, they're a delight. *hugs* to Ivy whose card I received yesterday. Beautiful as always, and the enclosed catch-up letter was also a real positive because it's always good to catch up with you on a more personal level. 

I've never actually met most of you, my 
friends of the heart. We've chatted and shared 
for years now, but you live far away from me. 
You're still treasured friends, however. You 
don't have to be close to be dear. 

It was the final meeting of my Mild Cognitive Disorder class yesterday. We all agreed that it was very worthwhile, and had a little celebration and wrap up at the end of it. I'll miss seeing some of these people - they've been a real delight to get to know over the weeks. We're all in different stages of MCD, I'm very much in the early stages, and it's a long road ahead of me. I hope I've gathered some tricks, etc that might help me on this journey. 

Mild cognitive impairment is a bit frightening. It's a slippery 
slope towards true Alzheimer's disease. I'm on the very early 
slopes of this, but it still loome as a probability in my distant 
future. I guess I'll go shovel the driveway and get some of this 
doom and gloom out of my system - LOL. 

In any case, I have snow I have to shovel, so I'm cutting this short and getting to it. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with a bit more time than I have today. Slava Ukraini. 

It's A Quick Post Today - The Pool is Calling to Me

I don't have a lot of time today to post. Because of the snow earlier this week, I pushed off my swimming schedule by one day while I dug the house and driveway out. So ... today is that make-up day. I'll be in the pool instead of on the treadmill today. That means I've got about 10 minutes to get this up before I need to get into the car. 

Sometimes it seems like my life is running around in 
circles - one after the other. But ... yesterday turned into 
a really good day after a somewhat rocky start. 

My international Holiday Cards went into the mail yesterday. I still need to do a bit of work on my domestic cards, so those will be sent early next week. DH has "requested" (more like ordered) me to work at the shop today, so my second "day off" of the week isn't happening. And, of course, we're working on Sundays for a few more weeks. Any "spare" time I had is quickly disappearing. But ... I'll get those cards into the mail ASAP. 

My international cards are now on their way. I'll have 
my USA cards in the mail, hopefully no later than early 
next week. I'm running late, and I apologize! 

I didn't make cards this year - time simply wasn't anywhere on my side. I went for beauty instead, and chose a card assortment of five views in each box. They're all lovely, and what you're getting from me was a totally random choice of which card came up in the pile next. I've already started receiving holiday cards from some of you, and I know that my mantle will look very festive within the next week or so. 

My Mind Matters group yesterday was a real joy to 
attend again, and with my friend Claire (Chickie Mama) 
alongside. I've made some friends in that group and I'm 
going to miss them after next week's final meeting. 

Yesterday's Mind Matters group was actually a very good back and forth of tips, techniques, and observations between all of us in the group. Sue was there again, and things are going much better for her Mom now - a really good development - but we were missing Becky. I suspect she thought it was just too difficult for her to maneuver through parking lots, etc with her walker. Next week will be the final meeting of the group and I'm finding that I'll really miss that give and take. They're really great people, every one of them. 

So, I'm out of here and heading for the swimming pool. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

My Name Is Now Official! Court Was Successful!

Virtual court was very successful, and I won my case. I'm sure it didn't hurt that I had my oldest niece, Catie and Chickie Mama as my witnesses. They've both known me practically forever - LOL. I should be receiving the official judgment in the mail and then I need to get busy getting a bunch of things taken care of - first of which will be an updated Driver's License. I'll have to start a list, though. There are a lot of governmental entities that will need to be contacted to make sure my information is up-to-date and accurate. I might be able to finally get a new passport too! That would be delightful. 

Thank goodness for my days with WildFit during the COVID 
shut down. I got used to using Zoom at that time, and it wasn't 
horribly difficult to get back into it. The lens cover for my camera 
is quite a small slide lever. Getting the video turned on so that 
I could appear on screen was almost the hardest part - LOL. 

DH, of course, was totally grumpy about the whole thing. He's already grousing because we need to check my signature on the deed for the house. It has to have my legal name, and if not, I'll have to arrange to get it revised. I'll check that out this afternoon, I think I know where he has it. I'll also check on hours at the Social Security office to make sure I can be at one of the locations in tine to be one of the first people let through the door for service. 

I will be drowning in documents for a while. I'll need to make 
sure that everything is updated to my legal name ASAP, and 
then I can arrange for other things that may need to be tweaked. 

Anything and everything official will need to be checked. My driver's license is the only thing I know I don't have problems with; my problems with renewing it is what led to this whole thing. I simply didn't have the correct documentation to be able to get a new license and my current license expires on my birthday next year. 

I'm extremely fortunate in my friends - near and far. For 
the court, my oldest niece and my dear friend Claire 
stepped up to the plate for me to be my witnesses. I can't 
thank them enough! 

Claire and Catie - what fabulous friends and relatives. I couldn't be luckier. They've both known me practically forever, Claire since 1993, Catie since I moved up here in the mid-1980's. They were the perfect witnesses. I think the Judge appreciated an easy case for a change - LOL. Now the harder work starts, as soon as I receive the official judgement, I'll need to get it notarized, then I can have a copy for me and a copy for whatever entity I'll need one for. My bank can do that for me without any problem. 

I'm celebrating today. Although I still have a lot that I'll 
have to do, the major roadblock has been removed. 

So ... whew!!! Whoopie!!! Thanks for all of the positive thoughts and prayers - they worked! LOL I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Today I'm Sleepless in St Paul - It's Zombie Time!

I'm stressed and I'm exhausted today. I couldn't fall asleep last night. I tossed and turned until 2:00 am or so, then gave up and played games on my phone for an hour. I reset my alarm to 5:00 am instead of the 4:00 am I had previously set, and finally managed to get a bit over two hours of sleep. Yuk! I'm certainly not firing on all cylinders today, and I have a lot to do. 

I'm just a LITTLE stressed out right now. I'll manage, because 
there really isn't any alternative. I have other things I can do 
today as well as driving around looking at spaces for rent, 
but that's VERY high on my chore list for the day. 

My goal today is to look at other possible spaces for our Going Out of Business sale. I know there are some vacant storefronts in Rosedale Center as well as in the surrounding area. I'll gather up contact information, check things online, and make appointments for viewing if I can. This whole "shutting down the business" thing has me totally tied up in knots. 

There are a ton of regulations surrounding business 
liquidation sales. Mostly put into place to help assure 
the consumer, they are multiple barrier for the shop owner. 

I want to call the guy I want to hire to conduct our sale next week. I don't know if our schedule will work into his schedule. I'll make adjustments in my schedule if necessary, to meet his timeframe. I'm not willing to take a chance with anyone else, and I know he'll be successful if I can find the right place to rent. But a conversation is essential. 

Since the mall I was hoping would allow a short-term lease 
for our liquidation sale won't rent any space because they 
want to tear the mall down and rebuild, I need to look at
renting another property. There simply isn't enough space 
at my storefront to conduct a successful business liquidation 
sale at all. 

So, I'll be a bit of a zombie today, but at least it's a "day off", so I don't have to be at the head of my game. Chickie and I are on the same page on this tactic - we know we don't have sufficient space at the shop to run a major sale of any kind. Getting space and lining things up to move into it with sufficient timeframes to get everything into place is Steps One and Two. It's a rather frightening task that simply has to be accomplished. 

I'm used to short sleep - I usually get about six hours which 
is too little for a lot of people. But when I'm working on less 
than three hours, like today, I'm not really functioning at top 
levels at all - LOL. 

So, as I shuffle my way through the day, I'll be doing this and that, going here and there, and hopefully, I'll get a better night's sleep tonight because I'll have accomplished something today. That's the hope - LOL. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

The Scoop On My Name Change For the Curious

Since many people were asking, here's the name story. I stopped using my given first name when I entered Junior High (Middle School in some districts). I was in a new school in a new part of the city and nobody knew me at all. My home room teacher asked each of us what we wanted to be called, and I gave my middle name. I wanted a new me for a new start in a new school. 

I attended Merril Middle School in Denver, Colorado. It was 
a brand new start for me in a new area of town where I knew 
no-one, and nobody knew me. It was a chance to reinvent 
myself, make new friends, and grow into myself. 

Over time I grew to prefer my middle name and got everyone to use it - some family members took a bit longer than others, but eventually everyone shifted over. I got my driver's license under the new name, but my passport had to be under my original name because it was a government paper. Then I got married. 

Then I got married, and the judge (because getting married by 
a judge was a LOT easier than getting married by a priest or 
a rabbi) ... well, he insisted that my first name had to be part 
of my signature because it was a legal document. The damned 
signature took up more than half of the space! Something 
had to be done. 

Suddenly I was faced with four names - my preferred first name, the first name that I never used, and my two last names, which I decided to hyphenate into a single long last name. Leaving out the name I never used (or used as a middle name under duress), I was looking at a LOT of the alphabet. I figured my name was unique enough with the hyphenated last name. Now I needed to convince the government. 

For several times I went to one of the offices of 
Social Security and waited in line for their doors to 
open so that I could actually speak to an agent. Finally, 
I was able to speak to someone who actually understood 
and was able to get my name changed in their records 
to reflect my married name without the added first name. 

After several long weeks of speaking to people at Social Security, they finally moved it through their system and my payments and account are under my name without the middle name I don't use. But I can't update my driver's license without showing proof of name that I don't have, and I can't update my passport because of the same issues. Identity has become much stricter in the decades past, and that's a good thing in many respects. However, going through this name change will strike the original first name from my name forever. I don't have a problem with that. DH does, but it's not his name. 

My driver's license is coming up for renewal, and they 
won't let me renew without all of the paperwork that I 
don't have. Getting my name legally changes will allow 
me to get my real id driver's license as well as a new 
passport. It also will make a lot of documents that I've 
signed in the past legal - such as our old mortgage 
documents, etc. It needs to be done and the sooner, the better. 

So, that's the story, in synopsis format - LOL. Of course there are many things that were issued under my legal name that won't actually be accurate any more - my BA and MA degrees, for instance. I'll live with it. I rather doubt, at this time in my life, I'll be needing my BA or MA diplomas for any reason. I just want to be able to get my driver's license renewed and a passport. That's why I'm getting the name change done.