Time - There's Never Really Enough of It, Is There?

It's a swimming day so I'm here, dressed in my skin suit, ready to hit the pool in an hour. I always enjoy my swimming, but my skin absolutely hates it. There's a rough spot on the side of my hand that's just not healing, despite constant care. I'd bug my skin doctor about it, but I know not much can be done aside from creams I've already been prescribed. So I'll push onwards, keep with the regime, and hope that things heal up soon. At least having potential scarring won't make much difference on the side of my hand - LOL. 

It's all too easy for me to lose track of time. I have so many 
things to get done, and I just get involved and before I know 
it, I'm late for bed. It will catch up to me by the end of the week. 

I lost track of time last night and went to sleep almost 40 minutes later than usual. I'm not dragging today, but that 40 minutes will drag on me by the end of the week, I can guarantee it. But, as I keep reminding myself, we take things one day at a time right now. We do everything we can to move one step closer to our goals, and just realize that it's the only way they will be accomplished. 

I have a new phone game that I'm addicted to called 
"Arrows". I totally adore it. It's relatively quick, and 
it's challenging. It's a total winner for me, at least. 

I have a new game on my phone that I'm enjoying, called "Arrows". It can be a real challenge sometimes, but there is always a way, it's just finding it sometimes that is challenging. I'm totally addicted to it. I guess it's that sense of accomplishment when I solve a really difficult one that makes me happy. In any case, I recommend it to those of you who enjoy phone games. 

Wrapping this up for the day and looking forward to a 
good, productive day today. *hugs* to all of you! 

So I'm wrapping this up and heading to the swimming pool. I'm hoping I get a good solid workout in today, and that the rest of my day moves smoothly as well. Have an excellent day where you're at, be kind, enjoy the world and people around you, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Countdown to Santa - Are You Ready?

Are you ready to entertain the visit of a jolly spirit who eats your cookies and drinks your milk, but leaves packages under your tree, or bush, or on the table? Are you ready for an invasion of visitors, guests, cards, pets and people? In other words, are you ready for the "Holidays"? I'm quite sure many of my readers are not "quite" ready for this yet. As is often the case, I'm relying heavily on gift cards. DH is almost impossible to buy for, and with his birthday so very close to Christmas, it's a double-whammy for me. I actually bought him more than I normally would have, but that doesn't necessarily mean much. At least we'll eat well - LOL. 

I do love prime rib, even if I'm always a little worried 
about cooking one. It's a VERY expensive cut of meat. 
But I've done it before and it turned out beautifully. I'm 
sure I'll be successful again this time. 

I took a closer look at the "Beast" that's in my freezer. It's HUGE. It's a 5+ pound chuck of meat, which I'm expected to roast to perfection. I'm pretty good at roasting prime rib, but it's always a bit frightening to face a piece of meat that costs that much and that we'll be eating for days. If I mess it up, he'll have wasted a lot of money on something that could have been awesome, and didn't quite turn out that way. I'll be checking my recipes out quite carefully. I've cooked beasts before, and they've been awesome, but I always double and triple check to make sure I know what I'm doing and that I have everything I want on-hand before the stores close for the holidays. I'm cooking this on Christmas Day. 

There is so much that is wrong about the Christmas that 
is presented as "true" in modern days, but people seem 
to find it just perfect, and it's not my religion, so more 
power to them. 

For those of you who are Christian, or nominally Christian, this is an important time of the year for you. I know many of you are planning to be in Church for Christmas Eve and possibly Christmas Day. It's rather nice that midnight services (which I've attended every now and again) allow you to pack both days into a single event - LOL. I'll celebrate the Solstice as I always do - quietly, but respectfully, as we pass into the next phase of the cycle. 

I celebrate the turn of the season, the rhythm of life 
on this planet, and the annual rotation around the 
sun, whose light allows us to survive on this, the 
Third Rock from the Sun. 

The three Sundays I've worked have actually been busy days. Yesterday was quite a respectable total at the end of our four hours, and the last two weeks also had people and good sales. I'm very grateful. It was business we desperately needed. We also need items that we ordered last week, but unfortunately I suspect they'll arrive too late to be of much help this season. Now to start working on our four-day END OF THE YEAR sale. This is our big one - huge discounts on almost everything in the store. 

I'm pretty sure I'll have to work all of the days of our 
End of the Year Sale. I'd better double-check my days 
and dates, and I'll probably take Tuesday as my "day 
off" next week, else I won't get one at all. 

So, time to wrap things up for today and get moving. I need to get a couple of bills paid before I go upstairs for breakfast, so I'd better move along. Have an excellent day, Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Checking In For The Holidays - I Think I Need More Time!

I'm missing 10 completed holiday cards and it's driving me totally crazy. I've looked everywhere I can think of (I'll check one last place when I get to the shop in another 1-1/2 hours), but I'm coming up empty. Right now I have 40 cards completed and ready for their interior notes and to be put into envelopes and mailed. I'll start printing envelopes tonight, and if all goes well, I'll have my international cards in the mail no later than the end of the week, but Wednesday preferably. But where are my missing 10 cards? If any of you can send prayers up to whatever spirit helps with lost items, I'd greatly appreciate the boost. 

I need to find my missing 10 cards. I want to get 
all of these sent by the end of the week (ideally), 
the middle of next week at latest. If I can't find 
the missing 10 cards, I'll have to actually purchase 
a box of cards to send to those people, and I'll 
be very disappointed that they won't be getting 
this year's handmade card. ARGH! 

My three Sundays of work began yesterday. In past years, they've been boring in the extreme - real "cricket" days of no customers, but still getting administrative work completed. Yesterday was unusual in that we were busy - pretty much for the entire 3-1/2 hours of open doors, we were busy. We actually ended up with decent dollars for a Sunday, and it was a nice change of pace. Since we also had the hockey game on in the background, I was able to enjoy that at the same time. A total win. 

I'm very grateful that we're never this busy at the shop. I'd 
go totally crazy if we were and I wouldn't enjoy meeting 
the customers and getting to know them and their project 
goals at all. Big retail is absolutely NOT for me. 

DH has been busy finding and fixing a lot of the broken jewelry we've had hanging around here. He's been resetting stones, cutting new ones when needed, polishing this and that, and trying to get as much out on the sales floor as we possibly can. He's done a pretty good job, but there are a few things that he needs my help with that are holding him back. Although he knows the rudiments of more advanced jewelry making, for those things, I'm the expert. And, of course, my time is practically non-existent at this time of the year. I've got to sandwich in two customer repairs that I have pending too, so my time just isn't there to help him out right now. 

Time - I never seem to have quite enough of it, although 
I pack it as full as I can. I don't want to waste any of 
those precious moments, even if it's spent with something 
as simple and satisfying as reading a book. 

So, if someone is looking for a holiday gift for me ... give me time - LOL. The one thing that can't be given or exchanged - time. My time is compressing on me and Christmas isn't holding back. I actually do have to do some holiday shopping, and I have to get Sharon's gift sent out to her (I've had it in a box in my bedroom closet for a month or so). We have THREE WEEKS until Christmas, my friends. I hope all of you are a bit more caught up than I am. I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully having found my missing 10 holiday cards. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.