I Might Be On Radio Silence For A While

Our Going Out of Business Sale opens to the public on Wednesday the 8th. We'll be closed for business after today, for three days of preparation - hanging signs, doing interviews with newspapers and other media outlets, and rearranging product to maximize visibility and, hopefully, sales. It's going to be some long days, and it will be exhausting, but I'm hoping it will be worth while at the end of it all. What I do know is that all three of us are working super hard to make this happen. (I found it highly amusing when Travis was questioning the valuation we had placed on some items, DH came back to him with direct quotations from Travis' own book to hold up his position. Go DH!- LOL)

I've got a bunch of signage - not just the huge "Going 
Out of Business" sign for the exterior, but also lots 
of window signs, and signs to hang from ropes that 
I'll string for overhead. I'll have to make sure that those 
signs don't interfere with our alarm system which 
works on infrared light connections. 

We spent yesterday fielding questions from customers who had received cards for our opening day, or who had heard we were closing and wanted to confirm (while buying beads, of course). We're rearranged product display boards, consolidated products into more visible areas, I photographed all of the signage we've got from Travis, and we're still exchanging emails with him regarding specific points of potential contention. I'll be checking his book today to double-check time frames for signage and other important things, like when new discount levels kick in, etc. 

The difficulty with any business is "What is the business 
actually worth? What's the valuation?" A lot of different 
factors go into that - the actual physical merchandise, the 
settings - showcases, etc - and the customer base loyalty. 
One of the things is the displays, and we know the value of 
our displays - we've researched it heavily. We can support 
our valuation, and support the discount levels we've placed 
on them by directly referring to what he actually said in 
his book. We quoted the paragraph to him verbatim. 

I'm warning all of you ahead of time, that my posts may be shorter than usual - just a quick check-in to say "I'm still here", and "I care about each of you, but just can't chat right now". LOL Oh and talking about "chatting", Aearwen, I'm not really sure if we'll have the opportunity for our Wednesday chats until after we've shut the store down at the end of May! That's a long time away, so we'll have to play things by ear, but I suspect I'll be at the shop six days a week for the next six weeks or so. 

We're going to be playing a lot of this by ear and by 
feel. DH wants more $ out of the business than I do, but 
he's my money man. I want the customers to be happy/sad. 
Happy for the bargains, but sad to see us go. And I 
want them to still check out the last deals as we get 
towards the end of May and final closing. 

The only real negative to all of this is my sciatica. That's not going away. A good massage or maybe a chiropractor might help, but that takes time that I just don't have. I might get in touch with my oldest niece - she's a licensed massage therapist and may have some recommendations for me. Aside from that, I'll just have to live with the discomfort and hope that it can work itself out. 

I just can't seem to shake my sciatica pain. It's primarily 
at the bottom of my ass - so sitting is uncomfortable, and 
standing is a bit better, but not my favorite since I have 
a lot of computer work to do which requires sitting in 
most cases. Even just driving to and from work is painful. 
SUCKS! LOL

So, I've blathered on long enough. I'll be back on Monday and Tuesday mornings, for sure, but then we open for our invitational event on Wednesday and it might just be a quick check-in to say "I'm still here" from that point onward. (Aearwen - no Wednesday phone call this week for sure, and I'll be playing it by ear from that point until the sale ends.) Enjoy your weekend and Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Here and There, This and That Kind of Day

I had two prints to frame yesterday morning, The first one was no problem and looks great with a triple nested mat around the print. But, the second one required a quick trip to my mat supply store around 10:30 am because I had completely miscut the twin mats for this one. OOPS. So, $26 later, I had two new matboards in the same colors in my car, heading homeward again. I had worked out a schedule with DH where I could work on my framing in the morning, and come into the shop about 2:00 pm when he could go home and work on his repairs. 

The first piece, which I chose a triple mat for, turned out 
great. 

It actually worked out pretty well, except he stayed at the shop until about 4:00 pm. But I was in the framing room in the basement, and we weren't very busy, so Chickie didn't need to call me upstairs. I put one piece together and it's stunning. I'm very pleased. The second piece, however, I had cut too short on the width opening. The actual full size of the mats was perfect, but the cutout was incorrect. *sigh* I was back at my detail cutter at home at 6:00 am this morning, and by 6:30 am I had those mat cutouts lengthened, smoothed, and the completed items back in their bag ready for transport to the shop. I'll assemble them today, get the frame onto them, and I'll be ready to put in the nails and attach the hanging wires. 

The first picture, that turned out great, was this one - "Evening 
on the Washita" by Donald Vann. I chose a triple mat with a 
gradience from the peach to the light blue, and then black  
for the mats. The frame is almost a driftwood color/feel. I really 
like how this one turned out. 
 

The clock, of course, is ticking towards our big sale. On one hand I'm grateful that we're on a schedule, on the other hand I'm frightened to death. It's rather like "What if we hold a sale and nobody comes?" on the right hand, while the left hand is screaming "What if we have too many people to actually be able to handle things on our end?" It's the same nightmares I had when we ran our big Swarovski crystal sell-down sale last year. That ended up manageable (barely), but this one ... well, we've never had a sale like this before, and won't have one again. It's virgin territory for us and we're all petrified in our own ways. 

I have to keep reminding myself of this, even though we 
are actually on a rather strict time schedule. But, there are 
times, like now, when we're just hanging in there until 
the next surge. 

So I'm going to end this here and hope that maybe I'll get a "day off" tomorrow (although I doubt that - there's still a LOT that has to get done at the shop, so I'm sure I'll be there for a few hours, no matter what). Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning. Be kind and enjoy life. It's the only one you get, after all. Slava Ukraini. 

Checking In - Friends Would Worry *hugs*

Just a very quick check-in. I'm running really late today - no special reason, just am. So, I'm checking in because I have friends who would worry if I didn't post on a regular day, and I don't want to cause anyone to worry on my behalf. Have an excellent weekend, one and all, and I'll be back on Monday - hopefully back on schedule and on timing. *hugs* and Slava Ukraini. 

Screwdrivers, Computers and Sugar Ants

So, the missing screwdriver (and a pair of heavy-duty ridged pliers) were found - actually next to where he sits when he's working on the computer. *sigh* Of course that doesn't solve everything, but we're moving ahead - step by step, photo by photo. 

We own a lot of screwdrivers, but the one he was missing he was 
using to disassemble metal shelving to make them uniform in 
their type of shelves - either industrial or commercial. He was 
really upset that he couldn't find it (he obviously didn't look 
very well). 

Yesterday it was time to tackle my area of the back room - the credenza where we keep the printer and a back-up computer system, and the smaller credenza where we have old printers and/or copiers, and where Chickie sits. It was a job to get everything cleared off enough for the photos, but we got it done and everything is back in the appropriate place now. I'll probably toss the old printer, although keeping old printers is what saved us when our regular printer died a year or so ago. 

We're nowhere as bad as this. We only had three old printer, 
and one of those is our main printer right now. That leaves 
us with two old printers that possibly would work with our 
computer system. But, the printer only needs to work for 
another few months, so I'm hoping it hangs in there. 

I'm still fighting the good fight again sugar ants. We live in an old house, and there are cracks in the foundation that are plenty large enough for something smaller than 1/8" to crawl into. I saw a few in the downstairs bathroom about two weeks ago. Sprayed, and they were gone. But I also knew that when they were one place, they'd probably show up at another, so I've been watching. 

Sugar ants are TINY, and so they're able to get in through 
small cracks in the brickwork or the foundation. I keep my 
eyes peeled for the suckers. I'm on a mission to keep them 
out of my house! 

Sure enough, a few days ago they showed up in my bathroom (which is directly above the downstairs shower room), and my bathroom is directly next to the pantry. The last time we had these miserable little beasts, we ended up having to pull EVERYTHING out of the pantry. I decided to do a pantry check today, and did find a few of them, which I instantly sprayed with ant killer. I'll keep a sharp eye out. I might clean out the bottom levels next Wednesday on my "day off", but I really can't do anything until them. All our time is focused on the business, and I don't have any days off except Wednesday right now. 

So, on that note, I'm out of here. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back Monday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

Life and the Olympics Progress - LOL

We're already starting to look into pricing for moving vans (smaller - we're not moving a house). We'll need to move things home, and then leave for the Southwest almost immediately afterward to bring our artwork to the auction house. Shipping costs would be more than the $1000-$1500 the truck will cost us. We'll tow my car behind so that we can drop the truck off in Santa Fe and then, after a few days wandering the Plaza, we'll head back home again. It's not a horrible drive (except in the winter sometimes), but it takes two days if you're going to be relatively comfortable. 

We'll probably rent a truck and tow my car behind. It 
seems that most of the truck rental places have either 
two-wheel or full 4-wheel trailers available for your 
car. I'm 100% in favor of the 4-wheel version so that 
Minnion doesn't get extra wear and tear. I'll check with 
my dealer about their recommendations too, of course. 

I'll check with my dealer, of course, about towing the car that far. We did this with my Subaru when we first moved up here, and there were all sorts of problems because of the car's front wheel drive. I'm not sure about my Mazda, but suspect things have gotten a bit easier since those days. 

Norway won the women's Cross Country Women's Relay race 
over Sweden. It was very hotly contested and beautifully done. 

I decided to blow off the treadmill today and just relax for a bit instead. I was still up at my usual time, but sat and took my time with my morning meditation and phone games before slowly getting up, showering, and turning on the Olympics. Cross country skiing - Women's Long Track. Lovely! It's cloudy over the cross-country track today, which won't help with any topographical changes. 

Malinin fell twice in his final performance last night, and 
ended up in 6th place! Very poor! Mikhail Shaidorov of 
Kazakhstan won the gold medal, so Bravo! Well done! 

I didn't stay up long enough for the Men's Figure Skating. Malinin fell twice, though, so the gold medal was out of reach. In fact, any medal turned out to be out of reach - he fell out of the medals with those two falls. I'm sure he'll be competing in future, but he was off his game when he needed to be point-on. Bad showing! 

Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the Men's Individual 
Gold Medal. Japan won both the Silver and the Bronze with 
excellent performances by Yuma Kagiyama (Silver) and 
Shun Sato (Bronze) of Japan. Congratulations to all 
three skaters - well done! 

But, I'm going to have a leisurely breakfast and watch the finals of the Women's Cross Country Skiing event. The skiiers are about to enter the final lap. What a grueling sport!  I was able to watch the finals of the Men's Skeleton yesterday - one of my favorite events which I rarely get to see because we usually don't have a good competitor in the field. Great Britain won this year in a stunning run! Well done! 

Matt Weston of Great Britain pulled out the Gold Medal in 
Men's Skeleton yesterday with an absolutely almost 
flawless run. It was a thing of beauty to see. Bravo!!

So, I'm wrapping this up and calling it complete. I'll be back on Monday morning. Have a great weekend, enjoy the Olympics if you're watching, and Slava Ukraini. 

Olympics Are Finally Here Again - YIPPEE!

I was up late last night watching as much of the Opening Ceremonies as possible, but I'm running late, so I'm just doing a really quick check-in. Have a great weekend, we'll be glued to the Olympics as much as possible. I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Our Clock is Ticking and We're Nowhere Near Ready

It was a very busy cleaning day yesterday. DH spent the entire day cleaning the storage and framing areas of the basement space. It probably hasn't had a serious clean since we first moved into the space almost 40 years ago. It's a lot of metal shelving and a LOT of boxes. We're still going to need boxes for items that people purchase that should be boxed up like pottery or katchinas, but we don't need hundreds of used boxes from this shipment or that one. We also don't need the rows and rows of empty product boxes for beads that we're clearing out and selling, but not reordering. We've been breaking down boxes for several weeks now and putting them into the recycling bins that are at the end of our parking lot. 

We have three 55 gallon and one HUGE metal 
recycling bin for the four tenants. We're using a 
lot of that space right now, and our landlord said 
if we needed to arrange for a non-scheduled 
pickup, he'd make it happen. I am apologizing 
to each of the other business owners for 
monopolizing the recycling bins as well. 
It's temporary, but absolutely necessary. 

Everything kicks into high gear on Monday. I have another phone call scheduled with Travis. I'll have to double-check the multi-page document that he sent to me. We've been working our way down the instructions in that document, pushing to get everything completed. I suspect we'll be spending Sunday at the shop as well, my plan is cleaning my front windows and the front window display. It's filthy and needs some serious love. The hard part about washing the front windows is two-fold" (1) They're BIG and very tall. It's a lot of cleaning, and (2) they are protected by decorative rod iron work that we commissioned when we first moved into the space. The ironwork features our Stormcloud logo and it's beautiful. We're bringing the iron home with us when we leave. We'll put it into our front garden area. 

Our storefront is pretty basic. It's the inside that's 
the fun part of the store. I need to clean the right-side 
window desperately. It's absolutely filthy. 

I have to film my walk-through which I need to submit to Travis no later than the 2nd. That means starting outside for a view from the street, then moving inside for a detailed look at the sales floor and finally moving downstairs to the warehouse area. The total length should be about 7 minutes, I figure about 30 seconds on the outside, 5 minutes on the main floor and 1 minute on the basement. I'll need to keep a close eye on the time, and make sure I provide a good view of everything - the artwork on the walls, the jewelry in the cases, and the beads everywhere on display cases and on shelving. We're an eclectic store, to say the least. 

I'm very grateful that Super Bowl isn't until next weekend. 
We'll be working and cleaning the shop this Sunday and 
wouldn't have any time to watch the game. Hopefully next 
Sunday will give us some time, although we'll still be at the 
shop for a while, I'm sure. 

I'm grateful that Super Bowl isn't until next week, because I'm quite sure we'll be working at the shop tomorrow as well. There's always something else that needs to be done, and we're giving this our best effort. But we're only two people (three if you count Chickie, but she's not cleaning, she's spending her time with customers and she hasn't been at her best, physically, so that's also not a good thing). 

OK, these AREN'T MY bulbs because I couldn't get the 
photo I took this morning to my computer in time to 
share it. But, both of my amaryllis bulbs from Sharon 
are blooming, and they have second blossoms almost 
ready to burst and third ones still coming. There's also a 
third stem sprouting from each bulb. BEST HOLIDAY 
GIFT EVER!!! DH is still astounded about how the waxed 
bulb can be enough food and water for the bulb, but he's 
very impressed. 

All in all, time progresses. If I have some short posts over the next couple of weeks, I hope you'll understand and cut me some slack. My immediate future is terrifying, my long term future is wonderful. I just need to get from one thing to the other. *Hugs* to all. Slava Ukraini and Melt the ICE. 

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. 

Living An "Interesting" Life with Heterogeneously Dense Breasts - LOL

It's two days in a row that I'm skipping the treadmill. Yesterday was because of my doctor appointment and the schedule that required. Today I was just lazy - sometimes I have to allow myself those little luxuries. I'll be back on the treadmill on Monday, but I guess, subconsciously, I needed a bit of time off. 

I love my treadmill, but today I'm COLD, and I'm allowing 
myself a day of lazy morning before heading out to the 
shop for a day's work. I've been repairing broken beadwork 
for the past few days. At least that's enjoyable, as opposed to 
other tasks (like sweeping and general cleanup) LOL. 

My doctor appointment went VERY well. I adore my cancer doctor - he's absolutely marvelous. It was time for a one-year checkup - it's hard to believe it's been a year since my initial diagnosis, but the calendar doesn't lie. I asked him about getting annual MRI exams since my breast tissue is very dense. Apparently my breasts come in at a Stage 3 of the four levels, and usually only Stage 4 level is covered by insurance for annual exams. It's a matter of phrasing. 

This is my cancer Doc - Doctor Domingo Perez. He's got a 
couple of short YouTube videos out there if you're interested 
in why I like this guy so much. His care for patients comes 
through the videos beautifully. I totally trust him to be on 
my side in this. 

Here's what Google says about it: The four levels of breast density, classified by radiologists using the BI-RADS system, describe the ratio of fatty tissue (dark) to dense fibroglandular tissue (white) on a mammogram, ranging from A: Almost Entirely Fatty to B: Scattered Areas of Fibroglandular Density, C: Heterogeneously Dense, and D: Extremely Dense, with higher densities potentially making cancers harder to spot and increasing risk. 

I have Grade C on my mammograms. If I had D, an annual 
MRI would automatically be recommended and covered by 
insurance. I have C, though, and so we'll have more hoops 
to jump through to get any MRI recommendations and 
procedures covered by my health insurance. We'll work on that though. 

So, Doc Perez is going to see if it's possible to adjust things to allow an annual MRI exam. He totally understands my desire. As I told him - "A friend's mother just went through breast cancer and her cancer was 2mm large. My own, as you know, was 10mm. That's a huge difference, and possibly could have been found earlier if I was able to get a mammogram that didn't come through with "Heteogeneously Dense" tagging. According to Doc, if my mammograms came through as "Extremely Dense", an annual MRI would be recommended and covered by insurance automatically. It's all a matter of getting the insurance to cover the procedure. MRI exams are VERY costly. 

So, we're going to see what we can do about this. He agrees with me and understands my frustration with the whole business. Meanwhile, I have a shop that needs serious work to be ready for our clearance sale which is upcoming almost too soon for all of the work we have to do. There's nothing like living an "interesting" life - LOL. *hugs* to all and have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back on Monday. 

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. 

I Had a Hearing Test - It's Been a Couple of Decades - LOL

I finally feel like I've caught back up on my sleep. And it's Saturday, I'm grateful for that, even though we're still going in to the shop tomorrow for our final open Sunday and to get more work done. DH awakened early, so even though he didn't bother my meditation, he was still already up when I started on the treadmill. Oh well, he's making noises in the shower right now. LOL

I was rather surprised by how comprehensive my hearing 
exam was. It used earbuds as well as headphones, and 
I was closed in a sound-proofed room for the test itself. 
To my relief, the room wasn't claustrophobic. LOL

I went to the clinic yesterday morning for a hearing test. My MCI group had recommended that each of us get our eyes and our hearing checked annually. I haven't had my hearing checked for more than a decade, so I figured, "Why not?", made an appointment, and saw Benjamin. I had a hearing test done decades ago for a job I held, and they discovered some hearing loss in my right ear. I still have more hearing loss in the right ear than in the left one, but all things considered, my test was actually pretty good and my ears are also pretty good with no hearing aids recommended at this time. Go me! LOL 

It was a very comprehensive exam, testing more 
than just the two things indicated on this sample. 
I was quite pleased, though. I do miss some of the 
higher pitched sounds in my right ear, but my 
baselines are good and no hearing aids are 
recommended "at this time". Of course, I'm getting 
older so anything like that is subject to change. LOL

I have a lovely printed chart of the test results, and had to contact Google for help with interpretation, but all things considered, I'm pleased. I know DH is very hard of hearing and usually has horrible hearing test results, but I also know that he doesn't go every year when he should be going. He complains about how he can't hear the girls. Well, I didn't have a girl, I had a guy. Maybe DH should try to get an appointment with Benjamin. 

So, I'm ready to jump into the day. Have an excellent Saturday and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Week of Accomplishment!

It's finally the end of a very busy and stressful week. I had an excellent fast walk on the treadmill this morning, and have my first cup of herbal tea next to me while I type this. I've started a Xmas Gifts for me list for my DH, leaving in on the refrigerator door in hopes he'll see it. I desperately need a new set of Nike running shoes for my treadmill days, and a set of running shorts for the hotter months would also be beneficial. We'll see if he actually does anything much. His gifts over the years have been getting sparse. 

Today's run went from Venice to Cinque Terre in Italy. There 
were some canyons too. It's one of my favorite runs, except 
for Venice. I'm not very fond of running through cities, even 
if they are as charming as Venice. 

I'm anxiously awaiting the physical court verdict so that I can take that with me and get an updated Driver's License and begin to get a new passport. It's really those two things that spurred the whole issue in the first place. My documentation was not accepted, but with the court order, a lot of things will change - in my favor. As it is, when my driver's license expires next May, I wouldn't be able to renew it. NO BUENO! LOL 

I'm waiting for the paperwork to get a "Real ID" card 
from the state. It's basically a driver's license with a few 
extra parts to it that will allow me to board airplanes, etc. 
Rather important, I suspect, since I plan to travel when 
I'm finally rid of the shop. 

So I'm going into the weekend with a feeling of accomplishment, at least. I found and looked through all of the house documents yesterday, but no problems there. My name is exactly as I have in the court document throughout. I guess things were a bit less strict in the mid 1980's when we bought this place, but I'm very grateful that I won't have any issues with my name as listed on the purchase agreements or the Title of Deed. 

I'll have to start a small "To Do" list. I'm 
not fond of lists in general, but they can be 
helpful when trying to make sure everything 
is completed. My mother ran her life with lists, 
but I tend to run mine with short lists that 
will be current for a day or two only (except 
for the grocery list). 

I'll have to start a list of things to check, however. Things like bank accounts, stock and securities accounts, etc will all have to reflect my proper name. I don't think I'll have any issues with them - most of them are probably already using the name I have now legalized. But, I'm sure there will be something that will crop up as I go through things. Probably something I rarely use, but that still has importance and needs updating. 

Have a great weekend. I'm hoping to get some more of 
the leaves raked up. It'll be the last nice weekend we'll
have, maybe until Spring! 

So, I'm wrapping this up, having breakfast, and heading off to the shop. I hope all of you have a splendid day and a wonderful weekend. I'll be back on Monday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Fun Cooking Day, Now Reality is Knocking Again

I spent most of yesterday in the kitchen. My refrigerator looks much happier now - prepared meals and morning fruit are stacked on my side. I always enjoy a good day of cooking, and one of the best things about yesterday is the roast beef that I made. It turned out glorious - perfectly medium-rare, and my slicer still works well. I ended up with 30 slices of roast beef for sandwiches for about $16. A steal of a deal. 

The roast beef I had purchased on Wednesday cooked up 
wonderfully and I was able to slice it super thin, so even 
though it's a tough cut of meat, it's still very tasty and easy 
to eat. Lunch! LOL

We had been waiting for a reply from Travis regarding our next steps for our business liquidation, but frankly, I wasn't super happy with what we got back. We're supposed to schedule another phone meeting. I'm fine with a lot of that, but at some point I'm going to need more assistance and I'm hoping against hope that he'll be able to actually provide that. I'll also have to do some searching for firms we'll need to hire for publicity, mailings and website advertising. More things on my plate "sigh". 

It's so easy to start a business - a minimum of muss 
and fuss and a single piece of paper filed with the 
city you're operating in. Closing a business, on the other 
hand, is a nightmare of regulations, governments (city, 
state and local) and procedures. ARGH! 

I took a bit of time last night to contact a friend about a gift for another friend. Since at least one of these people reads my blog semi-regularly, I'm not going into specifics, but I do hope that Friend #1 can do what I'm asking (I'm perfectly willing to pay a good rate for the job), and that Friend #2 will be pleased with the result. I'll have to wait and see, but I have high hopes on this one. 

Next Thursday is looking like a train wreck already. I have my virtual court hearing scheduled for 11:50 am, and as soon as I'm finished with that, Claire and I will head to the MCI course I'm taking at my local health center. I'll have to tell them we might be slightly late, but we should be there on time, if everything clicks. I'll have to do the Zoom call from the shop, so I'll have to gather whatever paperwork I think might be relevant and take it to the shop with me. My documentation is shit - my birth certificate is almost a joke it's so bad. But, I do have my naturalization papers and other things that back me up as being who I'm claiming I am. If the Judge asks for something I forgot, however, it's not going to go well. 

It's been a while since I was last on Zoom, and both 
Claire and I will be in the same room for the hearing, since 
we need to leave for our MCI group as soon as it wraps up. 
I'm just hoping it will be cut and dried without any speed 
bumps. 

So, stress upon stress for the upcoming week. I'm going to wrap this up and try and enjoy a busy Saturday and a Sunday raking leaves (ick!). Have a great weekend, I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Busy Friday - Shopping and Shopping and Visiting a Friend

It was a very busy day yesterday, I did a bit of cooking, but most of the day was filled with this and that. Errands, tasks, and a special treat for myself were on the agenda. My treat consisted of attending the craft show that comes to my City annually. (https://www.facebook.com/PeggysHolidayBoutique/) I missed it last year - schedules just didn't work. I had one year when I was there and the store computers crashed so I called it short, took the computer to my Guru, and ended up spending the next three days with him while he fixed it yet again. So the craft show and I have History - LOL. 

The qualifications for the boutique are the items must be 
handmade, and they have to be quality. This lovely pottery 
display had some really lovely things, but I didn't need 
any additional stoneware at this time. 

I found the perfect "Thanks for being such a great friend" gift for Claire, got DH several containers of excellent fudge and a brownie (because he's got a sweet tooth), got Sharon's holiday gifts which will be boxed up and sent on it's way within the week, and picked up a set of earrings for myself. I had several people comment on how pretty they were just while wandering the sales floor. And they are - cute! They're also unique, which is a requirement for my personal jewelry. I suspect I'll get a lot of wear from this set of earrings. 

Hand made soaps and lotions were the focus 
of this crafter. Absolutely wonderful, but I passed 
on them too - my skin is too sensitive for most 
of these products. But ... I loved them nonetheless. 

I wanted to get my friend Meg a gift. She broke her kneecap, or her dogs assisted her in breaking her kneecap while at the dog park a few weeks ago. She's my regular swimming partner - we share a lane for most of my time in the pool. Then she shifts over to take Rosemary's lane. She's a serious swimmer, and much better and faster than I am, but we're very compatible in the pool. When I was laid up after my cancer surgery, she came by the house with a blooming daffodil to help cheer me up. So sweet! So, I wanted to get her something nice. 

Doesn't everyone need a gnome or two 
in their lives? These wonderful 
Scandinavian-inspired gnomes were 
absolutely delightful. But they weren't 
my choices either. 

I got a great card, then got two different gift certificates for dinner - one at Pizza Luce (which even has cauliflower crust and lots of vegetarian options for people like me), and the other at Chipotle, because again, you can pick and choose to get exactly the meal you want. I dropped by her house late in the day. The dogs were being atrocious (I have to say, they're not very well trained at all), and Steve had his hands full getting them away from the door long enough to pass the card along to Meg. I think her daughter was also there. They were almost getting ready for dinner, so my timing was actually really good (for a change - LOL). I passed on the card, told her I'd put some food gift cards in there in case Steve didn't want to cook all the time, and told her how much we all missed her at the YMCA. She had a huge grin on her face - she was so happy to see me. It brightened my heart a bit. 

One of the two food gift cards was for Pizza Luce. This is 
their BBQ Chicken pizza. I love them because they have gluten-free 
options like a cauliflower crust, and everything is always made 
from scratch. It's one of the few restaurants that I can easily 
eat a meal at, and it's tasty. 

So, I'm wrapping this up. I had a good run this morning, but I'm running a little late. Time for breakfast and then off to the shop. Have a perfectly wonderful Saturday and weekend. I'll be back Monday morning. Slava Ukraini.