The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The signs and banners have arrived. They're top quality, which is good because we pack all of them up into their boxes again after we're finished with them, and return them to Travis. DH isn't happy with the banner which says "Going Out Of Business". He had wanted the shorter version - "Closing Sale", but we didn't have any say in that and it is what it is. Now to figure out how to get the damned thing up on the storefront. But there are other things taking a higher priority right now. 

Our Going Out of Business sign is all yellow, and 
doesn't have the red stripe below, but this is as close 
an image as I could find. Now to get the damned 
thing up on the storefront. We have SO much to do 
before we open the sale next week. 

DH realized, late yesterday, that we hadn't been updating a form that we had filled out in February. Looking the form over again, we realized we had completely misunderstood its' purpose when we had originally had it presented to us by Travis. We had thought it did A, but it actually does B and we had all of the wrong information in it as a result. He immediately started reworking it, and was deep into it when I went to sleep. 

 
I can't seem to get this centered, just par for the 
course right now. ARGH!!!

Travis really dropped the ball too. He did a press release and didn't run it by us first. Big problem - he used my full name in the press release. I'm not out there with that name associated with the business at all - I use my maiden name for the business. We're VERY unhappy at this one, because the release has already been picked up and published in several places. Great for the publicity, very BAD for the error. 

Can I just quit now? What a total mess. If 
I can make it through the next 6-8 weeks, it 
will be miraculous. 

I have no idea how late DH was up working on the inventory form. I gave up dealing with his bad mood shortly after 8:30 pm and went to sleep. At least I got a good night's sleep out of it. I'm not seeing papers and notes scattered all over, so I assume he accomplished something with the task and I'll be hearing about it today. We're under the gun, and this extra task which took almost all of yesterday, really wasn't welcome. 

So, on that note, the good and the bad, I'm out of here. I'm going to have breakfast, and then head to the shop. It's going to be a LONG day and my sciatica still is acting up, which isn't helping at all. I'll update as I can, but my posts might be short for a few days while we start the sale in the middle of next week. I'm not sure how much "spare time" I'll have. I'll at least say "Hi", but it might not be much more than that. LOL

It's Wednesday - A "Day Off" and Lots of This and That

It's Wednesday, the mid-day of the work week for most people. Of course, I work through Saturday, so I don't have a firm mid-point. Ideally, if all goes according to schedule, I have Sunday and Wednesday off, so today is a day to do some cooking, some housecleaning, and some work on some legal papers that should have been emailed to me yesterday afternoon. We'll see how efficient his legal office is when I open my emails later this morning. 

It's a Wednesday. That means it's a trash day, it's a 
recycling day (every other week), and the yard waste 
bucket needs to be brought to the curb as well (if it is 
full enough). I'll always have one bucket at the curb on 
a Wednesday, but at this time of the year, I'll often have 
all three in a row. 

Now, however, I'm seated at my desktop computer, looking at a crowded desk with one bill to pay prominently positioned. I have a new Denver Broncos emblem that Sharon sent as a "Thank You" gift to me. It's supposed to replace the rather sad sticker that Minnion has on the rear panel. Minnesota weather isn't friendly towards decals. The new emblem is slick! Getting the old emblem off ... well that will be the problem. I've tackled that before to replace stickers on Minnion in the past. Not easy! 

Sharon sent me a new Denver Broncos logo sticker 
for my car. It's very shiny! LOL I love it. My old 
sticker (also a gift from her) is showing its' age and the 
experiences of harsh winters. Time to upgrade! 

But I think I can spend some time actually doing something like that instead of cooking like a crazy person. Of course, I also have legal paperwork to review in my computer in-box, I need to shop for groceries, and I also need to make a quick stop by Target for two ridiculous things, but things that are needed. So it will be a full day, with some out and about and a bit of this and that. 

I've been in touch with this author and 
business owner for several years now. I 
firmly believe that hiring him to handle our 
store liquidation will be the best way for us 
to go. I'm almost finished with the book, then 
I'll lend it to DH. I thought I also had it in 
PDF format. I'll have to check to make sure. 

I took most of yesterday and a highlighter and went through the book on liquidating the inventory at the shop. I've wanted to hire this particular guy to run our End of Business Sale for more than a year, and DH may finally be on the same page. I'm almost finished with the book, then I'll turn it over to him and he can read it too. I think I might have an e-version of the book in my computer files. If so, I'll pull that up and start listening to it. I need this in my bones - need to know exactly what needs to be done without looking everything up. Getting out of business is a LOT more complicated than opening up a new venture. 

I'm always stressed these days, and swimming (or working 
out on the treadmill) is essential to not exploding - LOL. 
I do love my days in the pool - indoor or outdoor. We're back 
indoors again now - Winter is Coming! 

So, I'm off to the pool to work off some of this stress. At least my underwater audio book player seems to be OK again. I ordered a new one just in case, but I'll keep it in its' box when it arrives and only open it when my current player bites the dust. Yesterday's swim was BORING because my headphones weren't working properly - thus my new order and my second attempt at repowering my headset. All seems to be good now, though. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

I'm Rushed - So Much To Do and I'm Running Out of Time

How can I possibly be rushed at 3:22 am on a Wednesday morning? Well, it comes with thinking about everything I have to get done today. I actually think I have the Swarovski sale nailed and ready to go, but getting it scheduled so that we're all available to work it is tricky, to say the least. I think this one will need everyone on board, or at a minimum, Chickie and I. I want to run the sale for six days, but I don't think I can run it Monday through Saturday because I'm not sure DH will be able to handle the logistics. I think this one will require all of us, and that might be a real problem. 

My scheduling nightmare isn't quite as bad as this. 
This particular scheduling nightmare is the American 
Hockey League's schedule for an upcoming season. 
ACK! Mine is bad, but achievable. This one ... I'm 
glad it's not me! 

But, I think I've figured out the logistics. I'll run some tests in the early morning tomorrow and see how things actually work. I'm thinking I might schedule a Thursday through Saturday, followed by a Monday through Wednesday. I'll have to give up my Wednesday off, and Chickie will have to give up her Monday off. I'm trying to think if I can refine the procedure and streamline it even farther. I'll put some thought into it today. I can always change things on the laptop f I have some time today. 

Getting a major sale scheduled with all of us available, 
despite our various "days off" (which just can't 
happen) is a nightmare. I might have a resolution, but 
we're all going to have to make sacrifices. 

But, I need to cook some food. My dinner larder is empty. I'm OK on my fruit (until Friday when I'll make a new batch), but I am out of main dish options for dinner. I'm hoping I see something at the store that attracts me, because I'm rather uninspired (because my thoughts are here, there, and everywhere) right now. 

My thoughts are bouncing all over the place, and add to that 
the fact that it's already August so that means Ren Fest 
and State Fair and Sharon's visit. OY I want ALL of these 
things, but I have to push a major sale through too. Maybe 
I'll postpone the sale until after Labor Day. I'll have to 
double-check Chickie's schedule (she's going to New York 
for a family thing). But that might work out better. 

And I have to rewrite my current story for LJ Idol. I'm not happy with what I've written thus far, and it's due tomorrow, so I'd better get into gear. It'll require a total re-do - it's really not what I had wanted, and I'm finding the subject for this session a bit difficult to get my head around. It'll come, but I DO have a deadline to meet. 

If I didn't say it before, I'm saying it now. 
THANK YOU to all of you who were kind 
enough to vote for my previous story. I ended 
up in the upper end of the votes again, and 
I could NOT have done it without you! 

If I didn't say it, I'll say it now. THANK YOU!!! All of you, my friends and readers who have been voting for my stories. You're keeping me in the chase, and that's SO important for me. I love the challenge, and I know I'll have too many other things asking for my time once I'm booted off the island (so to speak). I'd love to win, but that's highly unlikely with the range of talent we have in this group. So I keep writing, hoping that what I write captures the imagination of the readers enough to garner their votes. YOUR votes - which really DO matter. 

It's pretty obvious that "Bucky Beaver" had the 
right idea when he visited in the Spring before our 
outdoor pool was drained, refilled, and open for 
swimming. It's a great place to be. I looked in the area 
for where he might call home, and we have a TON 
of wetlands around the general area, so he actually 
had lots of great places to build a dam and be 
industrious. 

So, I'm plugging in pictures and heading to the pool. I think I need to work some of this frustration out in the water, so it should be a good swim today - LOL. I'm no Olympics swimmer - I'm slow and steady - but I swim regularly, I do at least a mile every day, and I feel SO much better after I've been in the water. So off I go. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Stress - Right Now It's Out of My Control - Website Issues and Clueless

I spent several hours in unproductive work on DH's business website yesterday afternoon. I really wanted to fine-tune the splash page and start the customer pages behind a firewall, and I did none of it. I started in on the thing that's really confused me since Day 1. Who is hosting the website? I need to get all of the credentials in order and I was able to do all of those, EXCEPT, except. 

It's almost ended up as a "choose which door you want 
to open" option. Door Number 1 is the website I'm 
developing. Door Number 2 is the website host that 
DH chose back in the late Spring, and Door Number 3 is 
the door that should hold both doors behind it. ARGH!

After two different customer service reps from Network Solutions, we arrived at the conclusion that Google actually had control of the domain. I don't think I have any of the Google domain information, however. I'll check carefully through my accumulated paperwork at the shop today, and if I don't have the info, DH has a folder somewhere that should have it. I need that before I can actually publish anything. It's more than frustrating, because when I go down the rabbit hole to WHOIS and DNS, I'm not coming up with us, although the name is certainly out there. But for some odd reason, the credentials I have are coming up with Toronto as the city, and unless that's the hub that DH and Chickie went through to get everything assigned, I can't see any reason at all why we would be clicking out of a Toronto address. 

I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels, here. I'm far 
from computer illiterate, but there's been too many 
hands in this cake and the recipe has been screwed up. 

It's beyond frustrating. DH was in a rush (as he always is) and wanted to forge ahead and try to offer something relatively small to a specific customer. To do that, he had to have the ability to communicate with them via email, and needed to have a platform for his company to generate quotations and accept bids. That leaves me on the outside looking in, because I'm the one tasked with developing the actual website, and apparently I have to dovetail it into a splash and spit put-together that DH and Chickie did on a workday when he had a bug up his tail. No ... frustrating doesn't BEGIN to describe it. 

Stress isn't healthy for me. I spend quite a bit of time on 
a daily basis doing a variety of things to dampen my 
stress levels. But it doesn't take much to kick them 
right back into high gear. The website is turning into a 
stress button. If any of you have any ideas or assistance 
for me, please message me. I could use some help. 

But, I'm taking the next two weeks off. I didn't get nearly enough done before Sharon comes, because I ran into this computer fiasco. I did get the upstairs vacuumed (and the vacuum works great), but didn't get to any of the dusting, didn't get her bed set up, and generally, still have a shit-load of stuff to get done on Wednesday and on Thursday morning. Mt Midoriyama is untouched, and probably will remain that way. I'm not super happy - I was ahead of schedule until DH asked me to put some more work into the website and I ended up wasting almost three hours with Network Solutions regarding getting everything registered properly so that I can upload the website when I'm finished. ARGH. My life! Anyone want a used husband? I'll sell him cheap! Have a great weekend, I'll be back Monday morning to start a hopefully less stressful week. 

We're Stressed - I Foresee A Bumpy Road Ahead

 DH was up for much of the night. He has an MRI scheduled for first thing this morning, and it's a bit of a drive south from where we live to get to that particular clinic. So, he left me a note asking me to wake him up when I leave. That's got to be my 4:30 am leave since his appointment is at 7:00 am or 7:30 am. 

He was up for most of the night, and has to leave for an 
MRI appointment early this morning. He's probably 
going to have to catch an afternoon nap or he'll be 
semi-comatose by tonight. 

I'll run into the same situation tomorrow when I have a 7:30 am appointment for my eyes, so I'll actually leave for that appointment right from the gym, maybe dropping off my swim gear before continuing south to my eye doctor, but maybe not. 

We've got some major roadblocks in our way 
while we try to get the store closed. There's 
nothing like government to toss roadblocks 
up and make them a total PITA. 

We ran into some major roadblocks for our store closing when I researched the requirements of our City for closing the store. It's not horribly difficult to arrange, and the cost is minimal for the closure license, but they also require an inventory list and our inventory records are woefully out of date and inaccurate. So, DH spent yesterday on the computer working on that issue, and I suspect will be spending a LOT of time dealing with that. We have some problem departments, and we'll just have to work through it. 

Our individual stress levels right now are through 
the roof. Just a LITTLE high - LOL. If we manage 
to get through this year and get the store closed, it'll 
be nothing short of a miracle. 

The stress levels we're both under right now are ridiculous, though. He;s snapping at me, and I'm pulling into my shall because putting on my armor allows me to deflect his attacks. It's not a really good way to work any relationship, and we won't be able to maintain it for long. 

So ... long story short ... we're stressed. We're stressed in different ways and expressing it differently, but we're both super stressed right now. I know we'll get through this, but it's going to be a rough road ahead until we get to the new pavement. Have an excellent day, I'm going to work out some of my frustration in the pool. Slava Ukraini. 

Meditation - Stress Isn't Good 24/7 and An Overview of the Insight Timer App

Today it's back to swimming for the next three days, so short posts because of time constraints. Still, it's so wonderful to be back in the pool - no objections from me at all. DH has been really nice, lately. Although I can hear what's going on in the war in Ukraine at work, at home he's been plugging in his earphones so that I don't have to listen to it 24/7. That's helped my stress levels get back down to a more normal level. Thank goodness! The human body isn't made to absorb stress 24/7 for long periods of time. 

Stress can be good, but stress all the time is not. The 
body simply can't cope with stress 24/7. It overwhelms 
the body completely. I know - I've had that experience 
and it was extremely uncomfortable and I don't 
want to go through that level of stress again. 

The current meditation course I'm taking (instead of the course on Tarot I had originally intended to be deep into right now) is called "Protect Your Body from Daily Stress". It's something that we all need, and I might just listen to the full course again when I'm finished, to get it pounded through my brain a bit better. I do tend to live in stress more than I should, and I know that's not healthy ... but it's hard to let go of habits, good and bad. 

I meditate every morning, first thing in the morning. I'm 
not outside greeting the sunshine. It's COLD outside, and 
I'm not willing to settle on the ground in my parka and 
boots to meet the sun (which usually isn't coming up 
until I'm leaving the gym anyway). But, I do make sure 
to get my daily guided meditation in first thing every 
morning. I find that it starts my day in a good way. 

I find most of my meditation courses on "Insight Timer", a lovely no-charge app for meditation that I found when chasing one of my favorite meditation guides through the World Wide Web. I wanted to hear more of his meditations, having found him on Omvana (the MindValley meditation website at the time), so I started searching for him. I finally found him on Insight Timer, and joined. Since most of their meditations are no-charge, it was exactly what I wanted, and I've found some wonderful teachers in the more than a year I've been using it. 

I use "Insight Timer" for my guided meditations 
more often than any other meditation website 
I have boodmarked. It's got a huge number of 
teachers, several of which I'm totally following. 
A good meditation teacher can be tricky to 
find because everyone is a bit different and 
who appeals to me might not appeal to you. 
Here's a link to a review of the Insight 
Timer app. Read it to find out more information 
if you're interested. 
https://www.choosingtherapy.com/insight-timer-review/

I get a great deal of value from my daily meditation and it's made a huge difference in my life and lowered my stress a great deal. It's not perfect, I can still get overwhelmed by stress if I allow myself to, but it's a vast improvement over the past months. It's definitely a practice I'm continuing. On that note, I'm finding photos and getting this posted. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Sink Repair is Backed Up But Swimming On Tuesdays and Thursdays is a Dream

Yesterday I phoned my plumber, Jack, to request him to come out and deal with my kitchen sinks. He and I finally linked up shortly after noon, and he told me he was in Covid quarantine until Tuesday. He was feeling fine, a little restless because of the isolation, and was tired a bit more than usual, but he seemed fine. Although he recommended another plumber to me, I like Jack. I've used his services for years and he's always been very good to us. So, I scheduled him to come out on Thursday, the 3rd and take care of the sinks then. It will be inconvenient, not having a kitchen sink until Thursday, but I dearly want to get it done right, and I know Jack will be reasonable on the charges and responsible as a workman of integrity. I'll manage a week of inconvenience. 

Inconvenience is temporary, not permanent. It's a minor 
obstacle, but not a regular detour. To get upset at an 
inconvenience is a waste of effort. I'm not thrilled 
to be without a kitchen sink for a week, but I know 
Jack will do a good job and I trust him and his work 
ethic. 

DH is stressed out, so of course he's internalizing his stress and self-focusing 100% instead of paying any attention to anyone else. It'll do him good to be at the shop cleaning today. At least he can get some physical exercise while rummaging through paperwork and old software. I actually wanted to run a couple of things by him last night regarding the Etsy website, but talking to him would have been a waste of time and effort, so I'll go ahead with things as I see fit. I'm going to grab a personal portal as well. When I'm finally able to start making things once again, I want to be able to list them on Etsy and offer them for sale. 

DH is supposed to be handling Ebay while I handle 
Etsy. I'm almost ready to go live with my first items 
on Etsy, but suddenly he needs me to figure something 
out for him on Ebay, and he's not super clear about 
what he needs. I'm not doing it today, that's for sure. 
Today, if I have time, I'm working on Etsy. 

I'm a bit over-stressed right now, though. Between the store, Etsy, the various photographs that still need to be worked on, and of course, the kitchen sink (isn't that the saying? ... Everything and the kitchen sink?), my life is in somewhat organized chaos and I don't do extremely well with chaos. I'm going to try to find a spare 1/2 hour today to sit and meditate. I really need that extra calm, if I have any time to grab it. 

This looks like an adorable book to read. It does appear 
that the young child indeed has everything but 
the kitchen sink. 

Today I have to make my alkagizers for the next four days. Although most of the prep work is general washing of vegetables and cutting them up, there is the blender that will have to be dealt with. My general process for dirty dishes right now is to wipe them down extremely well, toss the toweling into the trash and then wash the almost clean container in the bathroom sink. I'll be able to do that with the blender too, but it's not going to be quite as convenient. But as the saying goes ... "I Will Persevere". 

I normally make four days of Alkagizers at a time, keeping 
them refrigerated in containers or my carry-all glasses 
until needed. It's a lot of work to be doing every day, so 
I've got the recipe nailed for a full 72 ounce batch at a 
time. I've got to do that today, so I'll have to clean the 
blender thoroughly in the bathroom sink. Quite a bit 
harder to do, but not impossible. 

I really enjoyed swimming Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. The Tuesday and Thursday sessions were empty enough that I actually got a lane to myself for the entire hour. I think I'm going to stick to that schedule for now, so I warned Rosemary that if I'm not at the gym doors on Monday, I'm shifting to the T, W, Th schedule instead. Although alternating exercises is good for the body, I get a better workout when I don't have to fight through as many waves created by the other swimmers in the pool. 

I adore my swimming days, but think I do better for my 
body when I have three days in the water and three days 
on the treadmill each week. I probably get a bit more 
exercise in my one-mile in the water, but my body isn't 
fond of the chlorine, so I can't go too overboard. 

Oh that note, it's time to start my day. I hope you have a great one. It's cold today - below zero - but not as bad as Wednesday was, and I only have a single grocery store on my shopping list today. All in all, I should be able to spend some quality time with Photoshop and also watch my stream of Project Runway. I do love my fashion - LOL. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Peace! 

Heat, Stress and Exercise

Yesterday was hot, but today will be even worse. I think I'm glad I'll be working today. At least I have air conditioning at the shop. At home, we have fans. They're great for moving the air, but when it's in the 90's, even the moved air is hot. 

We have an ancient box fan in the computer room, which
actually works pretty well, but it's loud. Each of us
also have standing fans at bedside - it would be impossible
to sleep without those. 

I gathered together and sent off my application with supporting documentation to the County for the grant, one day before the firm deadline. It was a pain to get the various information together, but we were successful, even with the "budget" requirements. The State Grant will become available sometime this month, and we'll try for that too. The City Grant was a bust - all we received was a terse email that we were not one of the recipients. But ... if we don't try, we won't get anything at all. We're getting pretty good at the documentation, too. That's a good thing ... I think ... maybe? 

I moved my father-in-law's chair to a different
location and set up my barre next to the treadmill.
I think it looks great - very minimal, and if I
need to, it folds into a compact square suspended
in the framework and on wheels, for easy put-away. 

When the barre is completely open, I have the wooden barre
raised properly and the workout mat extended. It comes with
the workout ball (and pump) and two different flex bands,
along with booklets and a DVD with Beginner,
Intermediate and Advanced exercise routines. 

On the health front, I am once again fighting a UTI. I was at Urgent Care first thing yesterday morning to get some meds before things got out of hand. The doctor said stress can trigger these, and I have to agree - I've been under some stress this year. But before this infection and the one prior to this earlier this year, it had been decades since my last one. I think I need to try and keep my stress levels a bit more under control ... during a Pandemic ... while trying to stay in business ... yeah. Right. In my dreams. 

Life has been a bit stressful lately - like during most of
2020. *sigh* I'm usually pretty good with stress, but
things have been a bit excessive - pandemic, etc. 

On that note, I'm going to wrap this up and start my day. I hope you have a terrific day and bring a smile to someone's face. To brighten the life of a single person is a mitzvah - a blessing. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Things Are Falling Into Place - Slowly

I received my two new pairs of Keds shoes from Zappos yesterday afternoon. After taking out the foam insert (I always remove them because of my orthotics), I tried the shoes on and ... they FIT! 
It's almost a miracle, getting a set of shoes that fit and are comfortable to wear after only two tries. So, today I'm starting to wear one of the sets to the shop. I'm super happy - a new set of shoes is cause for celebration. 

The new shoes are perfect! The much larger opening allows
for my swollen foot to still fit properly, and the size is
perfect for length too. I'm really happy. I now have two
sets of new shoes that will actually look good! 

I'm totally stressing out about the gym, though. I can't get there until Tuesday (dental appointment on Monday morning conflicts with the gym), but I'm trying to streamline myself as much as possible to be able to get into the pool quickly and leave the gym efficiently. I don't think it's going to be a huge problem, at least not until the winter when more clothing makes speed more difficult. However, I won't have time to waste either. We only have five lanes, and we'll be limited to no more than two people per lane. We're starting an hour later, and we'll be running into the group of people who usually swam at 6:00 am. This has the potential for disaster, but I have to try. My Neoprane ankle brace should be delivered today, that's the final necessary component to getting back into the water. 

I ordered one of these neoprene ankle braces for my
swimming, as well as one other style that's less
brawny for when I'm on the final stages before swimming
without any brace at all. They are due for delivery
today, so I'll be set for the pool on Tuesday. 

Of course there will be no pool toys and accessories available either. No kickboards, no pull bouys, no noodles or flotation belts. I have my own pull bouy, but I usually use a kickboard and I haven't ordered one. I suppose I've resisted ordering one because I can't really use one until I get the final go-ahead from my Podiatrist, and I'm not seeing him until mid-July. But, after more than two months out of the pool, and not a lot of time in it to re acclimate, I'll wish I had a kickboard. I'll use what I have, but I guarantee I'll be SLOW! 

I'm thinking about ordering one of these
kickboards for the pool. It's not expensive
and having my own would resolve any
problems with not having availability.
I'll probably check it out in more detail
at work today and make up my mind. 

Still, I can't really complain. Things are falling into place, slowly, and I'm extremely grateful that if I was going to seriously break my foot, that I did it during Stay-at-Home Quarantine. I had a tough time, but the rest of the world did too, and I think we're all so very anxious to get back to a more open life once again. Now, if we can just do it safely. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back to wrap up the week tomorrow. 

A Million Things To Do and One Day To Do Them

It's my "day off" and I have "PLANS". While the laundry is going, I plan to forge ahead with my holiday cards. Of course, I have other things also calling my name, but I'm going to try my best to sandwich in an hour of work on my holiday cards. I want to continue putting the final images into place so that I can break out the inks and start applying the colors. I adore that final stage. 

This time of the year is always hectic and packed
with a million things on my to-do list. It's a crumbling
precipice that I know well, but it's always uncomfortable
until I look back at it in hindsight. 

I still have a thousand other things perching at the cliff's edge along with me. That's indicative of my mind this close to Thanksgiving - a crumbling cliff edge with a long drop. I need to work on the mailing for our after-Thanksgiving sales, I need to determine final holiday days and hours. I need to clean off the top of my red rolling drawers because it desperately needs it. I need to do a final cleaning on my 24" inch sterling neck chains. And I need to do the usual things that Wednesdays entail - grocery shopping and basic errands. 

I'm trying to stay away from the excuses because those
thousand things can quickly multiply if they are fed by
the fertilizer of excuses and "later". 

My desk is a disaster and needs a serious clean and straighten. The laundry is calling my name and I'll be busy with that all day. I have little bits of this and that to find realistic real homes for, and I need to sew two buttons back onto a sweater so I can get rid of it on my "to do" pile and return it to the shop. Of course, I've been trying to find a free 10 minutes to sew those two buttons on for the past three weeks. "Le Sigh!" I'm grateful that I don't have a Physical Therapy appointment scheduled until mid-December because I can's squeeze one more thing into today's schedule. 

Yippee! Even if I have a million things to do, it's
still a day off and I treasure those! 

So, basic same-old, same-old in my household. Still, a day off is always to be treasured. Chickie and I worked really hard yesterday at getting the stone and glass shipment checked in, packed, tagged and out onto the shelves. Today DH will finalize check-in of earrings and pendants that we received late last week. Once that's finalized and tags are run, Chickie can get them tagged and labelled and put out for sale. We're going to be in excellent shape for the holidays. Now all we need are people who want to buy wonderful stuff! 

On that note, I'm going to wrap this up and start the next step of my day. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Today Is Scheduled To the Max!

I am rarely so busy on my "day off" that I have to write myself a schedule to make sure I get everything done and appear on time for appointments. Today is one of those rare days and it's already driving me crazy. Still - I'll get through things because I have to. My time is compressed because I have a hair consultation today shortly after noon, and that punches a hole in my day. I need the consultation, but have to schedule around it. 

Wow! Do people actually do this? Do they have the
time to do this and still make the schedule and have
a life? I don't think I'm really good with daily
schedules, but I'd sure have a clean house - for a
nanosecond! 

As I mentioned a month or so ago, I've been losing a LOT of hair. I'm pretty sure I have Alopecia Areata - an auto-immune skin disease causing loss of hair. Those of you who follow American Ninja might remember Kevin Bull who also has this disease. What it's doing for me is dramatically thinning my already-baby fine hair. When I look in the mirror now, I think I'm looking at Ebeneezer Scrooge - NOT the vision I want when I'm looking at myself. So ... I'm heading off to a hair consultation at noon. 

I'm far from alone, and I've had friends who fought cancer
who also had associated hair loss, so it's far from rare. But
it's really annoying me. I'm not vain, but I also don't want
to hide under scarves and hats for the next 20 years. 

I'm not expecting any miracles, but I'm hoping that something can be done stylistically to make me feel a bit less ugly. I'm wearing a lot of scarves and headbands now, and that's one solution, but I'm hoping suggestions might exist for something that won't require my being covered up all of the time. There's a good chance that my hair growth may resume when my stress levels reduce, but I don't see that happening until late next year. I need to get an appointment set up with my dermatologist, but that won't happen until 2019 either. I'm just too busy at this time of the year and working six days a week doesn't help either. 

I'm starting to feel like I'm turning into a female version
of Ebeneezer Scrooge. I'm NOT this bad, but sometimes
I feel like it. I'm hoping to get a hairstyle that might
look attractive while I get this condition under
control. 

I chose the salon I'm going to based on a search I made for a salon that works well with chemotherapy patients, because my hair appearance isn't that different right now. Additionally, I'm so sensitive to chemicals and additives, having someone who can take that into account seemed wise. I made the consultation appointment a week ago and I'm actually looking forward to it, even though my hair is generally uncooperative and I may not actually get a hairstyle for another week or so. Today is only a consultation, after all.  

Any short hairstyle I end up getting will have to be easy
care, survive my daily swims, and take into account the fact
that my hair is quite literally baby fine. It's a real challenge! 

But I guess it's time for a change. I've been wearing my hair long and untouched for years and years now. It's time for a style that might pull me through this latest mess and return a bit of self-confidence my direction. It certainly can't hurt to get an opinion from a professional, right? So, on that note, it's time to get back to the swimming pool. At least there's one constant in my life right now, and I'm very grateful for my morning workouts in the water. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow.