Fill The World With Some Joy Today

Yesterday's sales numbers were excellent, and we have three days of our year-end sale still remaining. We were all kept quite busy helping customers or getting them rung out and sent on their way, merchandise clutched to them. It helps that we're having good weather. It's cold, but it's the end of December. It's supposed to be cold. But the roadways are clear and there's no snow, rain or sleet happening or expected in the immediate future. I'm relieved. 

Things are going well. We still have three days remaining 
in our year-end clearance sale, and I'm hoping the numbers 
will be strong for all four days. Then we can collapse. LOL

I've always believed that we have the BEST customers in the world. They're polite, they help others find what they're looking for, they're not pushy, and they know that beads are one of the sure ways to happiness. Beads are rather extraordinary - they're good forever. Beads are found with prehistoric burials, or clutched in the hands of a five-year-old as a charm against bad things. Beads are magic, they're portable, and they create bonds between people. I love beads, and I love selling them to people who make extraordinary items with them. It's been my task for more than 30 years, and I love it. 

These stone beads date from the Neolithic, and there have 
been beads far older than that also discovered and cherished. 
Beads seem to have been with mankind for as long as 
we've walked the earth. 

I finally had a chance to get to the grocery store yesterday, and picked up all of the ingredients necessary to make a nice hearty soup tomorrow that will take me through dinners for much of next week. Tonight's dinner might be a bit scant, but I have some stuff in my freezer that I can add to my usual salad. I certainly won't starve - LOL. 

I'll be making a vegetable soup of some kind tomorrow. 
I got all of the ingredients yesterday morning on the 
way to the shop - just need to pull out the stock pot, 
load it up with all the good stuff, and start it cooking. 
I do love soups during the Winter months. 

And I finally got a good night's sleep. Yesterday night's sleep was fussy and stressed, I don't think I managed more than two hours all-told. But last night I crashed until my alarm went off this morning. I feel MUCH more human. It's rather amazing what sleep can do as a restorative - probably why sleep deprivation is used as a torture device by some regimes. 

What a difference a good night's sleep can make. Today 
I actually feel human and ready for Day Two of our 
Four-Day End of the Year Sale. Yippee! 

So we go on. The month and the year are almost complete. Look back at your year, a few days early. Look back and see what positive things you have done that has made the world slightly better for everyone. It doesn't have to been anything major - how about being friendly, smiling at everyone? That can leave so many good feelings behind you as you progress through your day. Why not try it today? If you like the results, make it part of your daily regime from this point forward. The world will benefit from a bit more joy. I'll be back on Monday, so have a safe and joy-filled weekend. Slava Ukraini. 

The Sale Continues - Only Two Days Left Now

I slept until my alarm went off, which means this will be a short post today because I have to push my time to be at the swimming pool on time. Although it's a Friday, and I usually don't swim on Fridays, since I had Tuesday off and allowed myself to sleep in, I'm swimming today instead. And it's a VERY busy morning before I open the shop to the third day of our "END OF THE YEAR BLOW-OUT SALE" again. 

Our Year-End Sale is going well. DH is pretty happy with 
the numbers, so that's a bit of a relief. These last two days 
are traditionally better than yesterday, so we'll see if 
trends continue to track prior years. 

Yesterday was much slower than the first day, which is expected. I had a "Don't Mill This Sale" reminder email scheduled to be sent yesterday evening/night, and if we look at prior years, Day 2 is always the slowest, so we weren't concerned. We still did just fine, and fortunately weren't too busy to spend some serious time working in tandem with a woman who wanted to bead two projects. The photos weren't the greatest and the directions were also rather poor, but she's quite talented in other art forms, so I'm sure if she takes her time, she'll be successful. 

The majority of my beaders who are beading 
contemporary projects, are buying Delica 
beads. These small, cylindrical beads (which I 
adore) come in a huge selection of colors and 
fit together beautifully just like bricks in 
a wall. I've carried them since they were first 
introduced and they're my best-sellers of the 
Japanese beads we carry. 

But she soaked up a lot of Chickie's time, and a good part of my afternoon as well. Sometimes it does better to switch viewpoints and advice. Things said by one person can be told in a different way (with the same end result) and suddenly listened to. It's always amazing, but Chickie and I are quite good at it. And it was a rather slow afternoon, so we had the time. By the time the customer checked out and went home, she must have had at least 100 different tubes off the board, trying to figure out which colors she wanted in which parts of the two projects. 

Because this is our Year-End Blow Out Sale, 
people can come and shop multiple times 
over several days and their discount applies 
each time. AND, this time we have the 
entire store on sale, which is quite unusual 
for us. It's been fun, and it's been busy. 

It was a relaxing evening, which I really needed, and today we dive into Days 3 and 4 of the Year-End Sale. Then we lock the doors tomorrow evening and start doing reports. I'm not sure if DH plans on stopping by the store on Sunday to run the year-end reports. I think I'd rather do that than stay late on Saturday, but either way is possible. In any case, we have two more Sale Days remaining, and there's a pork roast in the refrigerator waiting for Sunday. All is good - LOL. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. OH!!! And just to make sure I have thanked everyone, thanks for holiday cards go out to Helen in Idaho, my BFF Sharon, my long-time writing friend Iris from Germany, and DH's friend of many years, Tom from Georgia. The cards are all splendid and look amazing - my mantle is almost completely filled out. Thank you!!! Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים לישראל.

Day One of the Year-End Sale Was Successful - Now for Day Two

Yesterday was the first day of our "Blow Out" sale and it was a huge success. I'm still having problems with the sales register at times, but thank goodness Chickie is there to bail me out. We were busy for most of the day, and the final total dollars for the single day equaled the total of some weeks earlier in the year, so I was quite pleased. 

We're now entering Day 2 of our 4-Day "End of Year Sale". 
I'm hoping today will do as well as yesterday, but that's 
doubtful. One of the reasons we did so well yesterday was 
one of my professionals came in and stocked up on sterling 
silver sheet and stock wire for her work. Additionally, 
she bought a fabulous $600 cluster bracelet, so it was an 
awesome sale, and she got an amazing deal. 

One of the BEST things, however, was my dear friend/customer Joyce. We had missed her over Thanksgiving. She was never over often - her personal bead collection rivals my own - but she would usually come over our two sales - Thanksgiving and after Christmas. Often with her sister accompanying her - Mary (also a delightful person but she lives in a different state, so we see her very rarely). Joyce hadn't shown up for our two-day sale, and I had been quite disappointed. But here she was, our second person through the door, and she spent several hours getting a great selection of beads to add to her collection, and a LOT of hugs from me and Chickie. Customers can become friends, and friends can be customers. 

It was wonderful to catch up with Joyce and 
Greta and other long-time customers. It's the best 
part of this sale - my customers come out of the 
woodwork for this one, and we get a chance to 
connect once again. 

Today I actually slept until my alarm went off, so I'm a bit rushed with my post, but I'm ready for the swimming pool and I really need the exercise. All of this beef for dinner have me at the upper range of acceptable weight, so I need to work some of this off. I did get another Holiday Card from DH's oldest friend in Georgia. He colored in his Gnomes and sent me copies of his choices of colors. Quite fun! I do hope all of you who received my Gnomes have had fun with them also, and I remind you to please send me an email with them, or a link to where I might see them. My mantle is almost filled now, and my heart is overflowing with the simple joy of multi-colored Gnomes. My universe is full. 

So many of you have had fun coloring in 
your gnomes and sending me photos of 
what you have done. Jim's friend actually 
 made a copy of his gnomes and included 
them in his card. He had fun - and that was 
my intention ... to spread some holiday fun. 

So, I'm going to wrap this up. The pool is awaiting and I need to work off some of my post-holiday weight. Three more days for our End of Year sale, and then I can relax again for a little bit (even though we'll have to print out our end-of-year reports, etc. Last night's PBS show "Nature" was all about penguins, and it just made my night. Such awesome birds! Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

My Final Larger Blog Entry for 2022 - This and That, Lah-Di-Dah

It was hard getting back to the treadmill this morning, and I only managed 2 miles instead of my normal 2-1/4 - 2-1/2. But, at least I was back on it, so that's a good thing. I can't be in the pool more than three days a week. The chlorine is absolutely deadly for my hands. 

As much as I love to swim, and as many friends as 
I've made in the pool, the actual chlorinated water 
is absolute hell on my hands. I won't give it up, but 
I also can't do it more than three days a week any more. 

Today is the final day of our 4-Day End of the Year Sale and we've done quite well with it. I don't recall how we do on the final day historically (I'm quite sure DH knows), but we'll close tonight, do all of the year-end reports, and call it a wrap for 2022. Has it been a great year? Absolutely not. But it may turn out to have been a good year. 

I want to retire, and that means a lot of pieces need to 
fall into place. DH is finally on the same page, and I 
know this won't be easy on either of us. But it simply 
has to happen. No choice. 

Starting next year we can focus on clearing out as much as possible. It's not going to be easy - we've been in business since the mid-1980's and have accumulated a LOT of inventory. Still, this has to happen. I need a life outside the confines of the store. I have no idea if we'll meet DH's time schedule, but he knows I won't be there while I'm at my reunion. I really want to take some extra time for that as well, but we'll have to wait and see if that is possible or not. 

It's a long list - things that have to be accomplished before 
we relinquish our rented space and move the last items 
to consignment or Etsy. I suspect I'll be doing a lot of  
work on the laptop to get things listed and available 
for sale. 

My new year will start out with my next orthodontic appointment, followed by a week of jury duty, and then my semi-annual dental checkup. Not very exciting, all things considered, but I'll manage. At least I only have to phone into the special phone number two times a day for a week to see if I'm being called up for consideration for a case. They insist that I have my time free for two weeks, in case I'm selected, but I'm really hoping that won't be an issue since I really can't do that. We'll have to wait and see what happens. 

I'm not looking forward to possibly having to serve on 
a jury. Not because it won't be interesting, but because 
I really can't spare the time. Still, I'm out of options and 
am totally unwilling to pay the fine for not serving, so 
I'll potentially get tagged on this one. Ugh! 

DH and I will stay late at the shop today after we close, to print out the end-of-the-year reports. Since the printer is a mess right now, that means hand-feeding every piece of paper through. It's only the feed mechanism that isn't cooperating, but it's a PITA to stand there and feed in the paper, one page at a time. But, it can be done, inconvenient or not, so I'm grateful for small matters. Things could be worse. And on we go, la-di-dah, la-di-dah. 

Apparently there is a "Lah-di-dah Trail" in South 
Africa. Who knew? I think I like the whole idea 
of spinning off to go somewhere and Lah-di-dah - LOL. 

Have an excellent end of the year, all of my friends both near and far. You've enriched my year and my life greatly and I appreciate each and every one of you. I'll probably post a quick "Happy New Year" tomorrow, but consider this my final blog for 2022. Slava Ukraini. 

It's the Last Week of the Year - Did You Have a Good Christmas?

Today the store begins it's 4-Day End of the Year Sale - our biggest sale of the year. All hands are on deck for this one - all three of us showing up to work each day. Will we be busy? It's hard to predict because a lot of it depends on weather, temperatures, holiday gifts that were given, etc. I'm sure we'll have a lot of our regulars over the next few days, but hopefully some newer people as well. I'd like to wrap the year up tightly with a good sales week, so please think lots of positive thoughts for us. 

Time for our Four-Day After Christmas Sale. Ir's always 
a rather exhausting time, but we really need the customers 
and the business, so I hope they will come in and take 
advantage of the savings. 

We had a very nice holiday and I hope all of you did as well. Christmas was quite low-key, and the day after started out with DH pulling more than three feet of snow off the roof - a long and miserable job. Not really a great way for him to spend his birthday. I assisted by shoveling the walks and the driveway, then driving to the local convenience store to purchase a newspaper since ours was MIA. *sigh* I tried out the recipe I was thinking about bringing to my niece's get-together on the 1st, and they were quite good and pretty easy to put together. But I may still change my mind and go into a different flavor profile. 

I've been trying out a Honey-glazed Harissa Meatball 
recipe for the family get-together. The meatballs are 
quite tasty, but the glaze didn't come together well, it 
broke and congealed poorly. So I'll try a different type 
of sauce instead. I don't have a lot of time to experiment, 
I need this ready to serve by January 1st. 

Today it's back to the YMCA and the swimming pool. Hallelujah. I have been a turtle over the past four days. I really need to get moving once again, get some activity going. I know I can't sit back for too long - it catches up with me and takes too long to get back into an exercise pattern. I'll be without a pedometer for a few days, however. I found my current pedometer in the washing machine after a load yesterday, and it didn't survive the process. So, I ordered another one and it should arrive late this week or early next. I have a pretty good idea of what I do for daily steps anyway. I should add a second one into my shopping cart. I seem to be destroying them about every six to eight months. So far I've dropped one onto a tile floor, and then drowned the second one. How will I destroy the third one? Decapitation? 

This will be my 3rd OZO pedometer in a year and 
a half. I dropped the first one, and the second one 
went through yesterday's laundry. I guess I shouldn't 
be trusted with a pedometer - LOL. At least I have 
a pretty good idea of what I do for steps, and not 
tracking exactly won't be a tragedy for a few days. 

I hope all of you had a lovely holiday week; that you were able to spend it with others if you desired, or on your own if you preferred. I hope that Santa Claus was generous and aware enough of your needs and wants to give you the perfect gifts. I just want to make it through the next four days, do my end-of-the year reports, and call this year DONE. That's my personal goal. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Light, Shipments and Tags - It's All a Lot of Work

DH had a very busy morning yesterday. He did a little bit of shoveling on the driveway, clearing away the light snow we got overnight, then, after breakfast, he headed over to the shop, dropped off his things, and headed over to the hardware store to get a new snow rake. By the end of the morning, he had purchased a new snow rake, some large bags of salt for home and shop to help us keep sidewalk ice to a minimum, and another box of fluorescent light bulbs for the shop. 

We have three long rows of these fixtures in the main floor 
of the store, and two long rows of them in the basement level. 
They're not classy, but they give good light. The bulbs 
are eight feet long, very unwieldy to move around easily, 
and the ballasts need to be changed over to a new 
style. We're still in the process of doing that. 

Next week I'll need to take some of our burnt out bulbs back to the hardware store and turn them in for recycling. My neighborhood hardware store isn't in business any more (they retired in early spring - good timing!), so I now have to drive my bulbs to the big-box store for recycling. It'll be a mess, but I'll have to make it work. 

For many years now, we've had a major 
sales event at the end of the year. It's a 
"Thank You" to our customers as well as 
a top-off of cash into our till for the 
year. 

The first day of our year-end mega-sale went quite well. I even was lucky enough to have a customer buy several items of jewelry for his wife, and he didn't even have a coupon, so no discounts on a $700+ sale. Huzzah! That made up for the professional who purchased a lot of antique beads and precious metal components using a coupon - items that would normally NEVER be discounted. 

Each of our one-inch-square price tags 
has to have our computer number, product 
description, part number, country of 
origin and price. Although I can "ditto" 
by line, when I'm entering 1000's 
of tags by hand, it's very time 
consuming. 

Of course, just to add to the mess, we got a major shipment in the door and DH started to receive the items into the computer at the same time that I selling merchandise to customers. We run an ANCIENT and specialized computer system at the shop, and I live each day with fingers crossed that it will live another day. Fortunately, it managed to trudge through, and now I have several days of work generating price tags for each of the items - something that used to be done automatically by our sales and inventory program until it had a hiccup earlier this year. Since that time, price tags have to be generated by hand. *sigh* 

Still, it was a good first day. I also got one more holiday card in the mail when I got home. I'll be going through them and making sure I acknowledge each one late this week or early next. They're all beautiful and I love each and every one of them. They look amazing stretched across my mantle and give me great joy. On that note, I'm off to start cooking breakfast and then head off to the shop. No rest for the weary, it's Day 2 of our three-day sale. As always, please be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

I'm Already Tired of Cold ... and Celebrating a Birthday!

Like the majority of the country, we're still in the deep freeze. Currently it's 3 F (-16.1 C) which actually is considerably warmer than yesterday's negative temps, but still darned cold. Where heaven is temperate climates (with minimal bugs), hell is either cold or hot, depending on the origin of the mythos. For the Bible and other religious books originating from the Middle East and Mediterranean, hell is hot - beastly heat, flames, and whips of fire. But in the northern climates, hell is cast into the cold and ice. Not always a place of punishment in the afterlife (a very Christian slant), but just another place where the soul passed time, often doing activities similar to those done during life. 

I don't like shoveling snow. I do it because I hate frozen tire tracks
even more, but snow can add an additional 15-30 minutes of time
before I leave for the gym and my time is always tight in the early
mornings. I'll probably miss the snow before the gym, but catch it
afterward. *sigh* I don't think I'll miss it entirely today. 

Anyway, within that digression is the thought that for some cultures hell is cold, and if that's the case, we're probably living there right now and for a few more days. It's frigid. Of course, it will warm up just enough to toss a sprinkling of snow at us. I'm hoping I can escape shoveling, that the snow starts after I'm finished with the gym and on my way to work. That'll force DH to shovel instead of me and he's much better and faster at it. 

Our annual year-end sale started out very well, but we have
three days left. I hope the momentum stays high and
that we get the sales numbers we need. 

The first day of our sale went very well, and today begins Day 2 of the four days. I'm really hoping for the best with this. We need to end the year with a bang - it's been a harsh year all around. But I'm taking the strong beginning of yesterday and thanking whatever forces I can. It was good. Now - not to be ungrateful, but can we rinse and repeat? 

Wombats are SO cute, so here's a Wombat for you, my friend!
Happy Birthday! 

Today is Curious Wombat's birthday. She was one of my first friends on Live Journal and I still treasure her friendship. So I'm doing a bit more of a shout-out today - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you and may this next year be filled with joy and happiness as you move into your new place in a few weeks and settle down with your Hubby and Willow. 

So, not much else to say today. Oh well, not every post will be a life-changer. The only constant is that I wish the best for each of you and yours each day. Have a great Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow - hopefully a bit warmer because this cold snap is getting old already - LOL. 

Back Into the Groove For a Few More Days

I'm back after three days off and I missed all of you. Did you miss me? Of course, your lives (as mine also), were taken up with friends, family and food. The dreaded trio. But I had a great three days off, and I hope your holidays were equally pleasant. 

I'm right back into my routine today and the weight I gained
should be off by the end of January (it would be sooner,
but I still have my family New Year's Eve get-together
to eat my way through, as well as a lot of left over
prime rib and ham). 

Despite the holiday cheer, I'm really looking forward to diving into work once more. I gained five pounds over the past week! It'll come off quickly, but I have another three-day weekend coming up, so it'll be a bit harder than usual. I can't wait to get into the pool today. I almost broke down and went for a swim yesterday, but figured the extra two days away from the pool would actually be good for my body. The occasional down-time can be beneficial. 

I made Prime Rib (Standing Rib Roast) on Monday for
our Christmas Day dinner. It turned out really lovely
and I have a bunch left over to eat over the next few days. 

My refrigerator is stuffed with food, but the chex mix is eaten, and I don't really care about cookies. DH made a lot of chocolates and some truffles, but I can easily eat one - or none - and ignore the rest. I have prime rib and the last of the ham in the fridge, though. Those have to be eaten or frozen. I also have pasta left from last night's dinner when I took DH out for Italian for his birthday. 

Chex Mix is always my downfall, but it's eaten
now and we're not making more until next
Christmas. It's soooooo good, but I'm happy to
have it gone for another year. 

Santa Claus was very good to me, as he always seems to be. I have cash and certificates for the next year, and I got enough Barnes & Noble gift cards to stack my account with more than $100 for e-books. It won't take me long to have that spent, but I'm going to have a delightful time choosing and then reading my books. 

DH and I went to see "The Last Jedi" yesterday. I really enjoyed
it and recommend it if you're unsure about seeing it. 

DH wanted to see "The Last Jedi" for his birthday movie, so we bundled up in the sub-zero cold and headed to the cinema yesterday. Chickie wanted to see the movie a second time, and it was $5 Tuesday, so all of us ended up at the same show, although her seat was a bit farther down the row. No spoilers from me, but I really enjoyed it and I like where they are bringing the story line. 

So, I now dive into four days of our "Year-end Four Day Sale" at the shop, then I run my year-end reports and collapse for three days off as I begin a new year. It's nice to be back! Happy Wednesday - tomorrow I'll start showing all of you some of the really lovely holiday cards I received! 

Random Thoughts and ARe

Looking back over my year, it hasn't been a bad one. I'm actually ending up at the same weight I was when it started - the exact same weight. That means I lost and then gained and then lost and then gained the same six pounds over and over again throughout the year. In a way that's frustrating, but since it's a weight I'm actually fairly happy with, it's not so bad. I still want to lose that last fifteen pounds and was half-way there in August, but it's not urgent.

I would prefer my plateau to be six pounds lower, but it's really OK
where it currently is as long as I continue my swimming. I can't
afford to coast here, though. Maintaining this weight still requires
work and daily trips to the gym - actually a really good thing. 

After tomorrow's swim I will have been at the gym 289 days this year. That's something that I'm much more pleased with than the weight loss or gain. My body is much happier, and I'm feeling good! I switched to all swimming during the summer and stayed with it instead of alternating machines/swimming on opposing days. I'm not sure that was the best decision, but swimming is great core and all over body exercise, so I think I'm OK with this. I know it's less damaging to my body to swim my daily mile in the pool than to run on the elliptical and ride the bike. I'm hoping that when/if I retire I can work equipment back into my routine, just extend my time at the gym by another hour or so. We'll see - that's still out there a year or two.

One class I'm considering would be this bezel-set and wire-wrapped
cabochon pendant. I think it looks rather fun, and other classes by this
teacher also look interesting. She has a different take on this type of
project, and a fresh point of view. 

With DH's help, I found several Bead & Button Show classes of interest for this year, so I guess I'll be attending after all. I'll take a final look through the print catalog and on-line today and try to call for hotel reservations. Those have to be made early - in fact, I probably should already have tried to make them. But, until earlier this week, I was going to try to get to Vermont in July instead of Milwaukee in June. I've had too many customers asking me if I will be in Milwaukee again to blow it off. Duty calls, but duty can also be a lot of fun.

ARe books is going dark at midnight on December 31st. They stated that
they have been steadily losing money and feel there is no way to have
a viable business in the industry of books and publications these days.
Because books are my life blood, I sincerely hope they are the exception,
not the rule. However, if you ordered books from them, make sure they
have been downloaded and that everything is finalized before Saturday night. 

Several friends and authors have posted that ARe books is shutting down effective January 1st. They won't be honoring any pre-orders. This has certainly left people in the lurch, but several other publishers have stated if you can prove your book pre-purchase, they will honor that and arrange for your download at no charge when the book you pre-purchased is released. Of course, ARe's shut-down is also leaving the authors in limbo, and they are only paying out a percentage of the royalty payments they were contracted to pay in the 4th quarter - only 10 cents for every dollar they owe the authors. They are also cancelling, but not repaying, any pre-paid advertising dollars, so this is ugly and rather cruel. Most certainly NOT a good way to end the year for several authors I know/read.

It's been a fun and busy four days, with excited customers and wonderful
projects to help them choose their beads for. We've also sold some
finished products so we're happy there too. One more day of working
hard and tomorrow is a short day when we close early, do our
end of the year reports, and leave to collapse for two days of rest and
relaxation. 

Today is the final day of our Year-End Four-Day Sale and I'm very grateful. It's been a huge success, but Chickie and I have been running our feet off! Yesterday Chickie didn't get her lunch until almost 2:00 pm and I didn't get one at all - it was crazy/busy. But I'm NOT complaining - I was and am delighted to see the customers and friends. I hope today will also be strong, allowing us to end the year with a bang instead of a whimper. Happy Friday to you!

One Down, Three To Go

Day one of our four-day coupon sale went very well. The weather was perfect and we were busy enough that I didn't even get a chance to sit down until 4:30 pm. Lunch was a dream, but not a reality. Nonetheless, I was happy with my results at the end of the day. Three days to go and I'm hoping that today will be as crazy as yesterday and then things probably will settle down a bit as people return to work next week.

Love after Christmas sales, but I spent too much for
gifts, so I'm passing on the sales. 

DH and I celebrated his birthday yesterday evening, finishing up the prime rib from the day before. He has a habit of not wanting to open his gifts, so I threatened him with no dinner if he didn't open them. It wasn't much - a Barnes & Noble gift card for more e-books for his reader and a new pair of slippers, but he was really pleased because his old slippers were worn out. SCORE! That makes two clothing items that he needed and wanted that I actually got for him. I'm not usually that good on the gift end so I'm happy!

I used to belong to the YMCA and I really enjoyed it. They have
great equipment and they have a pool so I can do laps. 

I've looked into joining my local YMCA so that I can work on exercise equipment that I don't have at home. This would entail a shift in my schedule that could be a bit bumpy, but that will work in the long run I think. They open at 5:00 am, so if I skip my shower and take it at the gym instead after exercising, that gives me an extra 30 minutes to get my emails taken care of and my blog written and posted. Then off to the gym for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, shower, and hit the coffee shop about 7:00 am or so. That's later than usual so some of my friends will already be there and gone, but it's probably do-able. I'm going to look carefully at my options on this, though. I really need to do something physical before I fall apart into a puddle of overweight goo.

I'm hoping I can work out my schedule so that I can keep up with
my blog and my writing, but still get some physical stuff done. If I
don't improve my physical activity, I'll be walking with a cane or walker
within ten years and that's not acceptable in my view. 

I know this is the time of year when many of us look back on the year past and how we planned X Y and Z but accomplished A B and C instead. I think the second part of the sentence is what's important. No, many of us didn't achieve all of our goals. But each of us accomplished something and that was an effort in and of itself. So, as I wrap this up for today, maybe it's time to look at the year in review in a more positive note. Concentrate not on what could have been, but what actually was. I may not have lost the weight I wanted to, but I did manage to once again succeed at NaNoWriMo. I guess I should choose my battles more carefully - LOL. Happy Saturday to all!

Christmas Was Wonderful

Christmas was really wonderful. I had a bunch of gifts for DH, all of which he really liked. I think the best was the new parka - he really needed it and tried it on immediately. We both had ended up at Total Wine and chosen some new Port varieties for each other. That will be lots of fun. And we had cookies and eggnog in the morning and prime rib for dinner. It was a lazy day, an easy day, and was just what we both needed. Now we're recharged for ...

We had lots of Christmas cookies to eat, but basic sugar cookies
are among my favorites. 

Our four-day year-end sale. *sigh* We have our main sale going on for Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. I hope we get a good response to the emailing, and I'm hoping we'll have just enough to keep us busy but not too much. It's a balancing act when we run a sale. We never know how it will hit and whether we have enough people on staff for the day. The only day I'm a bit worried about is Monday, but Chickie might work it in exchange for a different day off in a week or two.

So we're right back into retail hell, but it's only for four days. 

DH brought me to tears for Christmas when I opened my gift and saw my old cardboard washing machine with a check inside for a new washer/dryer. The original cardboard mock-up had been my holiday gift from DH more than 30 years ago when we had just moved up to Minnesota and were making barely anything. I was doing laundry in his grandmother's old wringer washer and the local laundromat, neither of which were a good solution. He saved and gave me the cardboard washer to show me that we would go choose a new washer right after the holidays. It was so amazing to me then that I kept that cardboard washer on a shelf through all these years and he found it and used it again. And I cried again. Silly me!

I've spent a lot of time in laundromats over my life. They're
boring places but they serve a function. 

So I'll have a new washer within a month or so and I desperately need it. I'm going front-load model, either Maytag or Samsung, and the matching dryer too. I can hardly wait because my current washer has been trying to die for the past six months or more.

I'm looking at Maytag and Samsung washers. I'm also
looking for a sale before I buy it. I think I'll skip
the pedestals. They're convenient, but more than
I want to pay for a bit of convenience. 

Thanks go out to each and every one of you for the lovely holiday wishes on my Christmas post. I hope each of you had a wonderful day spent with family and friends and that all your dreams came true. Have a wonderful Friday.

I Need A Few Flying Reindeer of My Own

Yesterday I got a phone call from a customer in a town an hours south of me. An emergency order. The order itself is small, but she's paying for some serious shipping and needs it in her hands by tomorrow morning. Oh joy! After asking my post person, I'm off to the airport post office this morning, just to start my day off with a bang. They open at 7:00 am and I'm hoping I'll be one of the first in line to get this package off my desk and on its way to her.

I usually avoid lines by using a small post office and being there
when they open. This package needs fast delivery though, so I'm hoping
that taking it to the airport post office will speed things up a bit. 

By 7:30 am I'll be at the bank. A lot of our annual renewals come through at this time of the year including our property and casualty insurance and other lovely things. Time to put some more into the checking account.

It's bad enough to have personal bills to pay. When I add in
the business bills, paying takes on a whole new dimension. 

I'm hoping to be at my desk by 8:00 am because that will give me an hour or a little more to work on my Email sales offer that has to be sent out to my customers today. Friday begins our year-end sale and this year we're going all out for maximum sales impact and product movements. The kicker is, however, that we need to get our sales flyer into the hands of our customers so that they can shop the sale.

I'm a bit nervous about our year-end four-day sale. We've never
done store-wide discounts before but we're doing them this time.
I hope I get the flyer together quickly and get it emailed out. 

The 23rd (that's today according to my computer) is traditionally our busiest sale day of the year. Yesterday was a bit frantic - feast and famine throughout the day causing us to run around like idiots on one hand and breathe and catch up on the other. By the end of the day I was a total wreck. I'll have Chickie working with me today and we're much better as a working pair, so I'm hoping we'll be a bit more efficient today, but yesterday had me asleep by 8:30 pm. Looking at how poorly my Denver Broncos played last night, sleep was probably the better idea anyway.

I understand bitter disappointment - I've been a Denver Broncos fan
throughout my life. But, I have to hope...

More holiday cards have arrived. As promised, I'll scan and post all of them after the holiday to acknowledge each of you and share their beauty, but I'm thrilled and honored that you've spent the time to send me these small folded pages filled with color and joy. Have a glorious Tuesday. I think I'll start the day out with a good breakfast...