Moving Onto Our Second Day and An Unexpected Phone Call/Video Call From a Dear Friend

Today is the second day of our "Inventory Reduction Sale". Yesterday went really well, the customers were spaced out well, so we were able to really help those who needed help, and we sold a great deal of product to very happy crafters. A total win/win. 

Black Friday turned out to be a very good sales day 
for us, with customers spaced out just enough to be able 
to really assist them. 

In the latter part of the morning, I heard my cell phone "ding" and took a quick glance at the screen. My friend Shruti from India had posted something, and since I wasn't with a customer that moment, I responded right away. She then put herself on video and we had a nice video chat for about five minutes or so. What a TREAT! I got to wave "Hi" to her mother too, but just seeing Shruti and chatting with her for a little bit. Well, it totally brightened my day so much. 

I was hoping to share a photo or two of Shruti and her 
lovely watercolors, or the mosaic wall that she did in 
her house, or any number of other photos I've seen of her 
in the past. But everything is on Instagram, and almost 
impossible for me to snag and share. *sigh* I tried. 

Shruti and I have been friends for more than a decade, probably closer to two decades. We first met each other at a conference - I don't recall if it was Bead & Button Show or one of the PMC Conferences that I attended. But we chatted and exchanged information, and she was my roomie for the PMC Conference in Indiana one year. It was FABULOUS. We had SO much fun. Towards the end of the conference, I "kidnapped" her and we drove to a nearby town with a Dick Blick art store. We both went a bit crazy in there buying all types of materials. 

I think Shruti and I had met before the 2012 conference, 
but I also know we were both there. As was Holly, 
the teacher for this class, and other friends with whom 
I'm still in touch. The ability of modern tech to 
link us all, despite distance and time, has been one 
of the truly wonderful things about living when we 
have. This linkage would have been much more 
difficult without computers, phones and Facebook. 

We waved good-bye after the conference, but stayed in touch. She traveled - all over the world. Vacations in the far north where she rode a sled down a glacier, and other trips here and there. Whenever she came to the US, she usually would give me a call. We always exchange holiday cards, and her cards are ones that I always save. She's put mosaic onto her walls, taught a bunch of art classes, she works with color and shape in ways totally different than I do, and we complement each other. I'm very fortunate in my friends, and Shruti is high on my "friends list". What a joy it was to chat for a short time. And to actually be able to see her ... what a PLUS! 

Today we'll be selling stone, bone and larger glass beads 
(anything larger than seed bead size, so 2mm on up). It 
usually brings in a totally different group of people than our 
seed bead sale does. But every one of them is SO creative. 
I just love that about my customers. So many ways in which 
they use our products. 

So what happened on your Friday? LOL I hope it was as nice as mine was. Now I'm moving into my Saturday sale - beads that are NOT seed beads are the focus for today - lots of pressed glass shaped beads, as well as the Swarovski crystals. And then this year's major "Inventory Reduction Sale" will be over and we can assess whether or not it was a success. I know I totally collapsed after dinner last night. I suspect it will be the same tonight. Have an excellent Saturday and weekend, I'll be back on Monday. And, if you haven't voted for my story on LJ Idol, I'd appreciate your vote. Check yesterday's post for the link. Slava Ukraini. 

One Day Down, One to Go - I Will Survive - LOL

Just a short post today to check in, I'm running a bit behind time, and I'm exhausted from yesterday and not really in a good head space for today. I need to just sit quietly for a bit and get grounded once again before dealing with the next batch of customers. Fortunately, or unfortunately, our Saturday products aren't as popular as our Friday offerings, so we won't be quite as busy today. 

We don't do sales all year, we reserve the big 
sales for the Holiday season. Although we always 
have different bargain bins, the only store-wide 
sales I do are these two days - days when everything 
in the store is on sale. Ninety-nine percent of my 
sales on these two days, however, come from my 
beaders picking up new product for their stashes. 

Yesterday, however, was very busy. Which was great. It was fun to see a lot of our customers again - some of whom were in only last week, others of whom we only see a few times a year. We didn't see a couple who I really wanted to see - Joyce in particular, a good friend over many years who's totally bead addicted. She gives the BEST hugs, and she was MIA this year. I hope everything's OK with her. Her husband can be a "bit" overbearing at times. 

We usually have our long-time customers purchasing 
from this sale - people who've been shopping with us 
for 10 years or more. But, we often will also pick up 
a few new customers through it too, so it's worth the 
effort to hold it. Our customers certainly appreciate 
it, and we always need the extra boost of income. 

Sales were busy all day, and we ended up only a couple of hundred less than last year, so totally OK. It would have been nice to surpass last year, but I'm pretty happy with the day's totals. We'll see how today does. Today we offer "larger than seed beads" only, and pull in a totally different group of people for that one. It's never quite as well attended, but it's a bit more labor intensive in some ways because we're always getting into each other's way while pulling product for people, and we have to be very up-to-date on returning samples to the sales floor for the next shopper. 

I have a small staff - DH and Chickie and me. But 
we're all VERY experienced at helping customers 
get exactly the product or color they are looking for, 
and warning them away from products that may not 
last, may fade, or may cut their threads in some 
applications. We work with our customers intensively 
to make sure they're getting the BEST product for their 
projects. It's Labor Intensive in the best way. 

So, it'll be another busy day today. I might have messed up and given a bit more discounts on a couple of early sales yesterday, but I'm hoping I got that under control quickly. I can't afford to make a lot of mistakes when we're offering the deep discounts we offer on these sales days. I'll come home tonight and collapse. I plan on having a VERY lazy Sunday to recover before we begin the last week of November. The holiday decorations are up, and we're playing Christmas songs on the radio, we're almost ready for the holiday. I guess I should see about getting some gifts for DH. I have NO idea what he'll want, but I'll figure something out. Have an excellent Saturday and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

It's Saturday! One More Day of Our Sale, Then a Well-Deserved Day Off for Everyone

Yesterday's first day of our Two-Day Black Friday/Small Business Saturday sale went very well. I'm absolutely sure I messed up the totals on a few of the sales, but people were very understanding, and we sold a LOT of product. We had fun. It's been a long time since we've had fun with our customers. 

Today is Small Business Saturday. If you have 
an opportunity, support a small business today by 
shopping there instead of at the large big-box stores. 

Today is our second day of the sale - today is for larger than seed bead items. So we'll have pressed glass and crystals in the multitude of shapes and sizes that we have available. DH and Chickie will be kept busy pulling the bead packages for customers, and once again I will be manning (or womanning) the register. The second day is never as strongly attended as the first, and always a bit slower for sales, but I'm hopeful that we will have a good response, especially for our Austrian Crystal beads. The sale will also include our Bali and Thai silver, if people are astute and actually ask - LOL. 

Tomorrow I'll collapse - LOL. 

Tomorrow I can play the "Victorian Lady" 
and collapse - LOL. Today, however, I need 
to be alert and on my toes for my second 
sales day. 

We had leftover turkey for dinner last night and it was just as good on Day 2 as it was on Day 1. Of course, clumsy me, I was carving a couple of slices for myself and the knife hit a rib bone, skittered off, deflected against my index finger, and gave me a nice deep cut. (I keep my knives very sharp). I've had to keep a bandage on it because it's too easy for the healing cut to tear back open again and it bleeds quite heavily. *sigh* I'm such a klutz! 

Many years ago I used to make turkey eggrolls with the 
leftovers of my turkey. They were always a hit, and I made 
them as appetizers for various holiday parties as well. 
I'll have to see about gluten-free egg roll wrappers. If I 
can find something that will work, I might give these 
another try. I can "fry" them in a 425 degree oven, I don't 
have to use a deep fryer (although I might still have my 
old one in the back of a cabinet somewhere). 

I don't have a hockey game until Sunday and I have no idea which of the myriad football games scheduled for Sunday we'll have available in our area (we don't pay for additional cable for football, just rely on the standard network broadcasting). I suspect it will be games I can easily ignore, but I'll probably have them on in the background anyway. My focus will be on continuing to paint my holiday cards. With luck (and some diligence) I'll finish the exteriors and begin the interiors tomorrow. 

So, have a lovely Saturday. Be kind, stay well, and enjoy your weekend. I'll be back on Monday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

Day 2 Of Our Two-Day Sale and A Bit of ARGH With My Holiday Cards

Today is the second day of our After Thanksgiving Day Sale. It's "Small Business Saturday", an event first started more than a decade ago by the American Express credit card company. We have different items on sale today than yesterday, and we'll see how it goes. Today's items are usually more labor intensive for the staff, but typically Day 2 brings in less money than Day 1. Yesterday was the super small beads, aka "seed beads". Today's sale features beads larger than a seed bead - those that are actually sized by millimetres. 

Today is Small Business Saturday and we thank our customers 
by offering the second day of our two-day sale. We rarely 
have sales, so these days are quite special. 

I got a bit done on my cards yesterday before we opened, but not as much as I wanted. Still, I'll take any progress as a win and move onward. I'll have to leave myself a note to NOT order this particular card finish again. I'm finding the embossing powder has a difficult time adhering well to the "metallic" coating of the cards, and this is creating a problem. They certainly won't be as neat as I prefer this year, but the sentiments and the good wishes I put into each one will still come through over the miles. 

Metallic cardstock has a slightly metallic sheen to the 
paper. It's lovely to look at and has a nice weight, but 
it's turning out to be quite difficult for my embossing 
powders to really grip well. That's causing some problems, 
and additional time spent. It's also making this year's 
cards messier than I would like. I don't have the time or 
money to redo this portion of the cards, so I'll have 
to live with it and push through. 

With luck and some time, I might have them almost complete by the end of next week. I'm certainly going to try, although I still have quite a bit left to do. At least I get my "days off" next week, and I'll be using whatever extra time I've got to work on them. I can't put the inserts into the actual cards until I'm finished with them. Each card has four separate images embossed on them - that takes some serious time. 

My cards are somewhat like an assembly line. Each 
step of the process has to be completed before 
the next step can commence. The different parts 
are prepared and then assembled. It's easy in 
concept, a bit more difficult in the actual doing. 
But the challenge is always fun. 

Still, it's a lot of fun to see them come together, and I don't regret the process or the design decisions (except for the metallic finish of the actual folded card). I'll be happy to send them out. It's been a joy to be creative once again - exercising those parts of my brain that have been latent for too long these past two years. 

It costs nothing to brighten someone's day, so try 
to spread a bit of kindness behind you as you move 
through your day today. 

On that rather creative and/or domestic note, I think I'll wrap this up. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend and please, be kind, acknowledge the worth of those you meet in your daily life, and smile. A little kindness can go a long way. I'll be back on Monday. 

Perseverance and Small Business Saturday

Although we have had Black Friday sales where we've been run ragged, yesterday was slower paced and even had some down time. We did sell a lot of beads and had a lot of happy customers, but our numbers were down from prior years. We had a good sales day, but it won't go down into the record books. 

We were missing a few of our long-time regular 
customers, who NEVER missed a sale. It's got me 
worried about them - how they're doing, if they're 
sick, or maybe they just couldn't sneak away from 
home to go bead shopping. 

I think the pandemic still has people shy of going outside of their homes except for absolute necessity. Some people are also under quarantine for various reasons. In fact, we did have a quick phone order for pickup from someone who was quarantined and whose aunt picked the shipment up for them late in the day. 

Please, if you go out shopping today, support your 
local small businesses. They've had it hard this year 
and need the business and positive feedback. 

So it was an odd Black Friday sale, but today we forge ahead to our Small Business Saturday sale featuring strung and sparkling beads. That usually is a smaller sale for us, but a bit more labor intensive in some ways for the staff. The lighting in some of the stock aisles is poor, so finding the products quickly and efficiently can be difficult. Lighting has always been a problem in the store - we have 12-foot ceilings and getting up the ladder to change bulbs, or change ballasts, is quite challenging. 

It's been a year to hand in there and persevere. Many 
of the small businesses around you might well be 
closed by this time next year. Choose which ones 
you want to survive and patronize them. Help them 
keep their doors open. 

But we will persevere and get through today, and then we'll have a relaxed Sunday, because it's been a LONG week. I can re-focus on my holiday cards, and if everything works out properly, I can address envelopes within the next week and start sending them on their way around the world. The mailing list has been finalized, and I have just a few minor finishing touches to put onto the cards. 

Have an excellent Saturday and Sunday. I'll be back on Monday, and please ... be kind, stay safe, and please wear your mask. 

This Week Is The Beginning of Our Holiday Season

I'm going to be finishing my cards over the next two mornings, and beginning to bring my equipment back from the shop to my house. I hope to spend Thursday roasting my turkey and printing out holiday card envelopes while watching football. On Friday we jump into our annual Two-Day sale and that starts our holiday season. I'll be putting up our garlands at the shop on Tuesday, and DH will have to decorate the store tree with our remaining ornaments on Wednesday. (I refuse to decorate any Christmas trees.) 

My holiday job at the shop (aside from composing and 
sending our various e-flyers to our customers) is to 
hang our tinsel garland along the tops of our bookcases 
and display areas. I'll be very happy when I never have 
to do this again. 

But none of us are really in a holiday mood. I haven't found anything wonderful for DH for either Christmas or his birthday (both of which are in late December), and I hate letting him down. I'll keep looking, of course, and I do have a few ideas, but I really have to get moving on those. I have a month, approximately, and that's not a lot of time. 

It's been a year of broken dreams. Even if 
I've allowed myself to expand in some ways, 
I've retreated in others. I miss hugging people 
a lot. Waving at them from behind barriers and 
a mask just doesn't make up for the personal touch. 

It's hard to get into a holiday mood in the "Year of Broken Dreams", which is how I think of this year of masks, fear and The Virus. I'm not seeing happiness and joy at the upcoming holidays, I'm seeing people at the edge of their patience with the combination of COVID and a contentious and horrible election. Frankly, I think we're all fed up with this year, and the celebrations for New Year's should be epic because we all want a do-over. 

I think getting a do-over for 2020 would be on everyone's 
holiday gift list, but it's impossible to gift this one. It 
doesn't stop me wishing that this year had been other 
than the terror-stricken and grief-filled year of angst that 
it actually has been. Maybe we can finish the year in 
a slightly more relaxed way, but only if we stay 
vigilant. 

So, as I finalize my Holiday cards, I think of everyone they are being sent to and hoping that our upcoming holiday season and solstice will be the beginning of some wonderful things over the next year. As always, please be kind, stay safe and wear your masks. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Looking Forward To My Last Sunday Off For A Month

Yesterday I emailed my computer guru, attaching photos of what I was seeing when I attempted to power up my desktop computer - that dreaded Blue Screen of Death and the other things it splashed up on screen while attempting to communicate with me. Unfortunately, I don't speak code, so the computer and I are always at a disadvantage as we work through our daily lives together. 

My guru came back with '...he's busy with the horses as soon as it gets light, but as soon as he's finished feeding them, I can bring the computer on by and he'll change out the on/off switch while he's at it since he has those back in stock'. That totally works for me, and I responded later with an "I'll see you on Wednesday morning". He did say what he thought the screen gobble-d-gook was saying to me, but that's a language I don't speak well, so I'll leave it up to him - LOL. 

With luck, I'll be back up and running later on Wednesday, although if it's going to take long, I'll have to leave it and pick it back up the following week. I'm hoping for just a few days of no pictures in my blog, but it could stretch longer depending on the condition of my hard drive. I'll cobble on with my laptop and DH's computer in the meantime. It can work. 

Our Black Friday Sale was a wonderful success, all of the staff worked really well with the various customers and we pulled in the end of day dollar amounts I was looking for. Usually our second day isn't quite as good, but we'll see. Day 2's a bit harder one for us to work because of the items we feature for the sale, so my staff will get in each other's way more, but we'll be rewarded by our final Sunday off ... until after the Christmas holiday. Ugh! 

So, have a wonderful Saturday and a great weekend, and I'll be back on Monday - still on the laptop. I'm suddenly very grateful that I indulged in the purchase of my laptop years ago. It's been a workhorse over the years, despite it's being "FrankenSmaug" with bolts holding the chassis together, and tape around a few corners. Come to think of it, I guess I'm not that different - I've aged into my own bolts and tape and I'm still running strong - LOL. Happy Saturday. 

Chit-Chat - Cards, Sales and Leftovers

Yesterday's Black Friday sale at the shop went very well. We pulled in good dollars, but more importantly, we weren't swamped, just busy throughout the day. It was pacing we could handle without really feeling super rushed. Today is our Small Business Saturday sale and I'm hoping things go as well for this as they did yesterday. Then I can relax for my final Sunday off until December 23rd. 

I always like to sign and date my cards
on the back panel. I've done them for so
many years now, it helps me keep things
in order, and it's the final step. 

I'm still trying to figure out how to sign this year's card. I always have some sort of "made by" on the back panel with mu name and the year, but usually have a stamp or something accompanying the details. I dislike reusing stamps, but my "made by" gets used often. I'm hunting for something different for this year's card, since I couldn't enclose an ornament this year. 

Hot turkey sandwich with gravy is a traditional after-Thanksgiving
meal. It's not really low calorie, but it's pretty good eating! 

We had leftover Thanksgiving dinner last night - the last of the stuffing, and hot open-faced turkey sandwiches with gravy. So good! Sometimes I think the leftovers are the best part of the holiday. At this rate we'll have the entire turkey eaten and gone before the end of the weekend. I only eat turkey for two days, leaving the rest for DH who adores it. So I've had my two days worth and I'll be eating something different tonight. He'll happily eat the rest - no complaints there. 

There are 100's of leftover turkey recipes out there. I used to make
a great Chinese-style sweet and sour deep fried egg roll with my
leftovers, but now DH prefers just to eat his leftovers as sandwiches. 

So today it's ALL HANDS ON DECK for our Small Business Saturday sale, then I can collapse for a day. It's the collapse part that I'm really looking forward to. I hope all of you have a wonderful Saturday and a great weekend with your friends and family. I'll return on Monday, hopefully with my signature dilemma resolved. "Hugs" to each and every one of you, my friends and cyber-friends. 

I'm Crunching Time and It's Not Working Well

Time is crashing in on me. Today will be busy, starting with packing product that arrived at the shop on Thursday. I've got it checked in and almost everything is ready, but I have minimal time for packing before Thanksgiving, and immediately afterward is our annual Two-Day Sale which can sometimes be very intense and busy. I'm also bringing my staple gun to the shop to get the holiday garlands up, and I'm going to have to spend a bit of time updating my emailing list with names as well as updating the email flyer that goes out to my customers. I have three days to accomplish all of this before my day off on Wednesday. I don't want to end up missing something important before my holiday season really kicks off. 

I'm experiencing a serious time crunch now. I only have
a very limited time period to get things ready for
our Black Friday/Small Business Saturday 2-Day Sale. 

Although it was snowing hard at the shop when I left last night, As I drove closer to home, the flakes almost disappeared. We were supposed to get snow overnight, but looking out early this morning, my driveway looks clear. That makes me VERY happy because I won't have to build shoveling into my early morning. I don't mind shoveling at the shop - it's less of a time crunch when I arrive there than when I'm trying to get to the gym in time for when the doors unlock. 

As much as I may want to stretch time, it seems to exist
quite nicely without my specific input and changes go into
a very full and never-checked suggestion box. 

I'll be spending my Thanksgiving Day (next Thursday for those of my readers outside the US) roasting a turkey, watching football, and painting more of my Solstice Cards. There's still a LOT of work to do on them and I'm starting to feel a bit of holiday panic. *sigh* It will all get done, but I'm going to be hard-pressed to make it happen. 

I could use another week, but I know that's never going
to happen. Still ... a girl can dream, right? 

So, as I fall into my own, personal time crunch nightmare, I wish all of you a wonderful weekend. My cheese grater arrived yesterday and it seems as if it will work perfectly. The drums fit tightly but interchange easily, the construction is all stainless steel, so easy to keep clean and sanitary, and it's not a huge item. I haven't yet washed it thoroughly and found where I want to keep it, but it will have a home by the end of Wednesday. I'll be back on Monday, so enjoy your weekend and be good (but not TOO good). 

Small Business Saturday - Shop Local Today

It's Saturday, and in the USA that means Black Friday has finished, but Small Business Saturday has supplanted it. For my part, I'll be grateful when tomorrow comes and I can relax for one day before diving into 6-day work weeks. Our Black Friday at the shop was a lot of fun. We were never pushed too far with too many people at once, and we had a chance to see and get hugs (and some home-baked cookies) from several customers who have become good friends over the years. Everyone should be so lucky in their life's work. The hugs made everything worthwhile. 

Small Business Saturday was started several years ago to promote
the idea that small business is the foundation of the USA and
the varied communities they serve.  It is a marketing ploy, but it
does remind people to shop local instead of on-line and that's
important for local economies and tax structures. 

We'll get a completely different group of people in for today's Small Business Saturday sale. The items on sale today attract a different style of beader and I look forward to seeing my stringers and more adventurous seed beaders through the shop's door today. After the day is finally over, I'll head home to a nice big salad. I'm not in the mood for any more Thanksgiving repeats - most of the rest of the bird is all hubby's. 

I love salad and usually have one every night. I haven't
had my lettuce for the past two nights because of
Thanksgiving turkey and fixings. I miss it, so I'm looking
forward to tonight's salad (which may have some
turkey added to it). 

Tomorrow we're taking some time to head to the cinema to watch "Justice League", and I'll split the remainder of my day between painting the rest of the center elements in this year's holiday card, and playing my newest character on Lord of the Rings Online - a High Elf Warden named "Calaeril" (Light of the Sea). She's still a baby - not even a level 10, so everything is an adventure and a learning experience for her. 

In the High Elf intro, once you've decided to play one of these
characters and ponied up the 1000 LOTRO coins to buy it, you
get a rather fun and intense battle. Look at the characters you're fighting
alongside - Isildur, Anarion, High King Gil-Galad, Glorfindel, Elrond
Half-Elven and Cirdan. If nothing else, it's pretty cool sharing the
battlefield with these elves and men of renown. 

So, today's post is short and sweet. I'm wrapping this up and heading to the pool to work off some of my Thanksgiving pounds. Easy on but hard to get off, I'm determined! By this time next week, those Thanksgiving feast pounds will be long gone in my past and I'll be back on track for the next hurdles of holiday eating - Chex Mix, cookies and Honey-Baked Ham. Nom!!! 

Enjoy your Saturday and your weekend and I'll be back on Monday. 

I Ate Too Much But It Was Worth It

OK, like the rest of the USA, I ate too much yesterday. But it was SOOOOO good. The turkey was roasted almost perfectly, certainly within my top five over the years, and DH handled all of the other fixings - stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and his Dad's famous cheese-covered baked broccoli, With a slice of pumpkin pie a few hours later for dessert, we were both full to bursting.

I adore Bakers Square Harvest Pumpkin Pie. I used to bake my own pies,
but they're so good, I just pay them the money and take it home. December's
pie is my absolute favorite though - their Candy Cane Pie! NUMMY!!!

Sunday will be our final Sunday off before the Christmas holiday, and DH decided he wanted to see Justice League at the cinema, so we'll head over there on Sunday morning to watch our second movie in two weeks! This is a rarity for us - generally he prefers DVDs because they have captioning. With his hearing loss, captions are almost a requirement. But, he wants to see it in the cinema, so I made him a deal. I bought the tickets, he's responsible for buying waters and a large popcorn for us to munch on.

I'm looking forward to seeing Justice League on Sunday. It's not supposed
to be as good as Thor Ragnarok, but it'll be entertaining. I love
Wonder Woman and I think Aquaman will also be great fun. 

I spent Thanksgiving Day (between getting up every half-hour to baste the turkey) painting with my distressed inks. My holiday cards this year have required a lot of painting. I painted the exterior image a few weeks ago, and spent yesterday working on the interior element and the special gift that many of you will be getting. I love how each one is just that little bit different from the others, although the basic image is the same. I have to ramp up my intensity, the clock is ticking and these have to be in the mail soon.

Our e-flyer went out to more than 1500 customers. I know I won't
have that many coming through the door, but I also know that our
two-day after Thanksgiving Day sales do bring customers in to
take advantage of the bargains. 

Today is Black Friday, followed tomorrow by Small Business Saturday. We're running sales at the store (along with every other store in the nation *sigh*) and hope to have some good sales numbers by the end of the weekend. It's hard to say, but the deals we offer on these two days are pretty good, so we do get people counting on our annual e-flyer and planning a trip to see us. The key is balance - we want good sales, but we only are a staff of three, so I always hope for just the right number of customers shopping at any one time.

I hope your Thanksgiving Day or your Thursday was wonderful. I put on two pounds from the meal, but I'll be back swimming in a hour and it'll be off again in no time. Have an excellent Friday, and if you're out shopping, I hope you find everything you're looking for.

Post-Turkey Thoughts

I hope all of my US friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. We ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, cranberries and rolls, and had pumpkin pie for dessert. Tonight we get to do much of it over again with leftovers. After today I'll be done with turkey for a while, but it's sure good for that once-a-year large bird in the oven thing.

I knew I would put on some weight after yesterday's
turkey over-do, but I wasn't happy about it. *sigh*
November has not been a good month for me and
I have to watch carefully. I can't let weight get away from me. 

The other after-effect, however, is not so good. Two pounds!!! I'll be at the pool today swimming to get those pounds back off again, but November has not been a good month weight-wise. I need to get back to reasonable eating, and fight my body tendency to put weight on for the cold winter months.

I love my new coat. I felt like a kid wearing a favorite
outfit - I almost wanted to wear it to bed. It's really
long, with a back zipper that can be raised to allow
for longer strides. It's cozy, it has three good-sized
pockets, and the hood is wonderful too. I'm very happy. 

I'll be standing at the gym doors this morning, nice and warm in my new coat! Yes, it arrived at the shop on Wednesday and I had it in my hands Wednesday night. It's awesome! It's really long, it fits like a dream, and it's warm and cozy. I've transferred my pockets over to the new coat and my old, broken coat, is bound for this coming week's trash load.

My mailing list is almost complete and my envelopes
almost ready to finalize. Things are progressing nicely. 

While watching football games and cooking my bird yesterday, I managed to get some more work done on my holiday cards. Things are progressing very well and my mailing list is almost complete. If I have a productive Sunday and a good Wednesday, I'll be ready to sign, address and send them well before my firm deadline of Solstice. DH is making noises about maybe doing a movie Sunday morning, so the weekend might be a lot of fun.

Enjoy your Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales, if you are a shopper. I'm hoping for lots of customers and good sales for the two-day event at my store. I'd love to be tired in a really good way on Saturday night. Happy Friday to all!

Snow May Bury My Movie Plans

Yesterday was crazy busy - no real time at the shop to do anything other than process mail orders, help customers, check in the large order that arrived around noon, and work on my Black Friday/Small Business Saturday email sale notification. I finally finished up the email late last night, will take one more look at it this morning, then send it off. Hopefully it will work some magic and we'll be really busy on Friday and Saturday.

Although many people shop early sales or on-line, we usually have pretty
good response to our Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales.
Of course, we only run two sales each year - one after Thanksgiving,
and one after Christmas. 

Because of all that, however, I didn't get a chance to answer a lot of you or acknowledge your responses to my final card call-out or individual requests. Sorry about that. Today should be a bit better.

I really want to see this - really a LOT! I'm hoping that we'll
miss the worst of the snow so that I'll feel comfortable
driving home on the roads. If so, I'll be watching tonight.
If not, I'll have wasted the $5 pre-purchased ticket price. 

Speaking of magic, I want to be in the audience watching "Fantastic Beasts" tonight. In fact, my ticket is already purchased. But a snowstorm is rolling in and supposed to hit just about the time I would leave the theater after the movie. I don't want to be driving in bad road conditions, and DH has asked me to postpone the show if the weather comes through as predicted. So right now I'm on the fence about my evening plans. I suspect, though, that I'll be paying Chickie the $5 for the movie ticket, but will be skipping it. I'll just have to catch it another time with better road conditions. They are predicting up to five inches overnight tonight, starting at 6:00 pm and going through 6:00 am. Getting to the gym tomorrow may be as adventurous as I want to get.

The world of Harry Potter comes to the USA in this
prequel of the beloved series. It hits all my loves -
magic, the Harry Potter universe and art deco. 

I was out at the White Bear Lake pool yesterday since my Chiropractor is near that location. The pool heater was malfunctioning and the water was really cold! It's the second time I got caught there with a broken heater and it was just as uncomfortable as the first time, i.e., NOT fun. Thank goodness I'll be back at my regular pool today. They were working on the heater as I left the gym yesterday, but it's a lot of water to heat, so things may still be a bit on the cold side today at WBL. I'm sure my little Shoreview pool will be much warmer and I'll be much happier.

Have a great day. I'm really hoping that the worst of the slow bypasses us, but predictions put us right in the center of the storm. Damn - really want to see "Fantastic Beasts". Enjoy your Tuesday!