Progress, My Attacking Loon & A Book

I finally got my Dremel back from DH yesterday. He "borrowed" it from me several years ago and took it to the shop for repairs, etc. He doesn't take great care of his tools, and he has a Dremel of his own, but no ... mine was nicely packaged with all of the various bits and wrenches, and it was convenient for him to just reach into the drawer where I kept it and grab it. So, I haven't had my Dremel for quite a while, several years, and I haven't been pleased about it. 

My Dremel is older than this, and not everything pictured 
here came with mine, but it's as close as I could find. 
I love the hard-shell case. Everything is in one place and 
that's what I needed when I was taking it with me to 
various jewelry workshops. 

Yesterday he came up from cleaning the basement and deposited a mess on my desk. My Dremel, and the various tools, drill bits and other assorted things. Apparently I could take it back now. Whoot! I carefully got everything back in order, wrapped the cording around properly, and viola! Everything fits beautifully and it is now back at my craft desk where it belongs. 

I love my Minnesota We Stand United Sweatshirt. It's 
super attractive, light enough weight that I can wear it 
for several seasons, and it's our attacking Loon - the 
symbol of our resistance to Trump and his immigration 
policies. It's perfect! 

I'm wearing my Minnesota Loon - We Stand United sweatshirt to the shop today. It's a beautiful hoodie, and I'm very pleased with it. Chickie has a t-shirt that proclaims her solidarity with Minnesota, but I think my hoodie is much prettier. It's lightweight, so no problems wearing it through the day, and I can always layer if we have serious cold (which isn't the case right now). I'm pleased with the purchase, and I'm quite sure DH will grumble about it. But there's no text, just a wonderful, beautiful Minnesota loon, wings spread - a quiet statement of resistance. 

When I first spoke to Travis, several years ago, he sent me 
a copy of his book to read. (I certainly didn't just purchase it - 
it sells for MUCH more $ than I could spend at that time, or 
even now). I've poured over it several times, and it's coming to 
work with me again today because I want to check out some 
timelines and prep details. 

So, it's Saturday. Maybe I'll be lucky and able to take tomorrow off from work. I'm bringing Travis' book along with me to the shop today so that I can read ahead and get a better idea of whether we're on track for our closing schedule. The dates are coming up quickly, and there's still a BUNCH of things we have to get done before the licence is obtained, the banner and signs go up, and we're ready to go into the final stages of closing out the store. It's nerve wracking. It's so much easier to just turn in your notice or, in some cases, simply declare "I Quit" and walk out the door. It's much harder when you actually own the business. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning. 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 a Deep Freeze and ICE Out in Minnesota

Yesterday was "ICE Out" or "No More ICE" in the state of Minnesota, or at least in the Twin Cities area. Multiple businesses were closed, people were demonstrating against ICE on almost every corner. The fact that the weather was at -8 F also didn't help/hurt. Essentials like banks, etc stayed open, and we were open, but the day was spent on some serious remodeling. We have to do a video walkthrough of the shop for Travis, and Chickie and DH dug into things - basically doing a fairly decent remodel of the North side of the shop. It looks good - really good. There's still a LOT to do before we film, but it's starting to come together. 

Minnesota is a state where we take personal freedoms 
very seriously. The entire state united in protest against 
ICE yesterday. It was remarkable, and given the wind chills 
of -16 or more, it was done in short, but sustained bursts. 

We didn't have any customers at all yesterday, and given the mess that the store was in when I arrived from appointments in the early afternoon, I was rather grateful we had been given this day. I immediately set myself at the typewriter and worked on getting the W-2 forms typed out. DH will look them over today, and then they'll be ready to distribute so that everyone can get their taxes done on time. 

I usually try to type the W2 Forms in the very 
early morning hours when I won't be 
interrupted, but yesterday afternoon proved to be
a good time to get them done. DH will look 
them over today and then distribute them where 
they need to go. 

It's going to be early mornings and late evenings for a while now, though, as we get the store ready to close, so my daily updates might be shorter on some days. The kink for yesterday came with massively cold temperatures added to the fact that our garage door at home wouldn't close properly. I contacted my garage door people and they added us to their list of homes. They arrived shortly after noon, replaced and repositioned some sensors, and voila! The door now works once again. I am pleased about that, but it meant that I was at home waiting for repair people for the entire morning - a real waste of time in many ways. 

Automatic garage doors operate with sensors that send an 
electronic signal from one side to the other. They weren't 
communicating on our door, and needed to be replaced. 
So, the techs pulled the old ones, installed new ones, and 
pushed the new ones a bit farther away from the actual 
door surface for a stronger connection. We'll have to be 
careful when we pull out the snow blower, but I think 
that extension was a good idea. 

So, I'm heading out into the cold. It's only -16 F right now, which is a big improvement over the -26 F of yesterday at approximately the same time. We're totally into the deep freeze of Winter. Bundle up, be safe, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.