And Another Thing . . .
And Another Thing . . .
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Winter hours: Wed - Sat, 10:00-5:00
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Saturday, January 17, 2004 I loved the TV show Northern Exposure. I fantasized about living in Cicely, Alaska. After the last few days of these -20 to -30 wind chill temperatures, fugedaboutit! Simon, the lucky pup, didn't have school Thursday or Friday due to the wind chill advisory. And they have Monday off of course, so how's that for a long weekend? Not back in my day, I tell ya. We had to walk to school in blizzards, uphill both ways. Global warming, my ass.
I haven't posted an entry this past week because I've really had nothing to say. Not that I usually let that stop me, of course. Week in Review - shall we? This was my first week with my rearranged work hours so I go home at 1:00 on Wednesdays. I set up a project in the morning so I'd have one to step right into when I got home and wouldn't flounder around wasting time. But after that was done I did flounder, trying new things. A couple of things didn't work themselves out completely yet but I can see I'm on the right track. That got the ol' juices flowing! Our new cleaning woman stopped by so I could show her a few things. Yep, that's right, we've hired a cleaning woman. Before you get too excited, she's only coming once a month. Depending how things work out, we may eventually go to every other week. I never thought I'd do this but three things have happened. 1) I can finally admit it - I hate cleaning. I think I was feeling that my standards are so low and I do such a half-ass job, that surely I could suck it up and get it done. I love to organize and declutter and purge. Hate to clean. I am my mother's daughter. But Mom has a good reason to hate cleaning. Her mother was one of those who insisted they clean the heck out of their house every single week, whether it needed it or not. Our house is always neat as pin, really - but I can always find something more fun to do than clean toilets and vacuum. I don't even mind dusting - because that usually leads to rearranging, which makes me happy. Plus there are a bunch of other tasks I ignore for as long as possible. 2) Even though I'm not exactly making scads of money with this Pine Tree Designs stuff, it does somehow feel I can justify the expense. I mean, how am I ever going to make scads of money if I have to spend my precious time cleaning? 3) I finally get it that Steve just isn't into helping with some of this inside stuff. Back in October, he agreed to vacuum during the winter months, since he's not mowing the lawn. (Why should I have to do my inside chores year-round when he only has to mow the lawn for a few months? Can I get an amen here, sisters?!) He sees the justice in his pitching in a little extra but just can't get motivated to do it, I guess. (Big disclaimer: Steve really does do a lot of other every day chores around here. I won't bore you with a list, but suffice it to say we've both settled into our little routines, which are relatively equal. Other than I wish he would vacuum like he said he would, I have no complaints.) So believe me, he was totally on board with the idea of hiring someone the second I mentioned it. So she starts next Tuesday and will come every 4 weeks. She'll do our house alone but she is in business with a partner, both of whom are very nice. I didn't want to go with a company - wanted to support the self-employed, you know?
I worked at Village Gifts today. I had been told it's dreadfully slow this time of year so I went prepared with plenty to do and read. In fact, I just have to stamp my name on the back of my New Year's cards and I can mail them. All 70 cards are done! I made and attached the insides today, then wrote a little something in each one. That was a nice job to do in the peace and quiet of the store. I got to think nice thoughts about my friends and family. I enjoyed that. I felt like I was signing yearbooks or something - telling people what they have meant to me or how we met over this past year. "God, didn't biology suck? Stay as sweet as you are - see you over the summer!" When I arrived at the store, I immediately scanned the jewelry counter for my heart pins and didn't see them! Before I hit full panic mode, I saw them right next to the cash register! That's where I wanted them to be and would have put them there today if Linda had not already put them there. But I would never have asked her for "special treatment". I even sold one today! It's a nice, cheap, colorful impulse item to have by the register. And of course I wore one all day. After lunch I ate a small piece of chocolate and got so jacked up on the caffeine in the chocolate that I sort of rearranged the front window displays! I don't think Linda will mind and if she does, she can rearrange them to her liking. There was too much short stuff lined up. They needed some height. And they needed my cards in the window, dammit! I tried to pull a little something from all vendors, especially the vendors that I don't think sell much. We're still having our after Christmas sale and there are bargains to be had, but I tell you, I'm so sick of the holiday stuff, and almost as sick of the wintery stuff too. We've got snowmen coming out our eyeballs. I know it would definitely be pushing the season to have too much spring stuff in January in Rochester, but pulease! We need some color! When I stopped at the store Wednesday to put out my Valentine's Day cards, I ended up leaving my Christmas cards up because I realized everyone else still had their Christmas sale items out. For the first time since I started this in September, all my racks are full! It looks nice - especially the two rows of Valentine's Day cards - very bright and cheerful. I was actually worried that I had jumped the gun on the Valentine's Day stuff, but I saw two other vendors had a small selection of Valentine's Day stuff out too. My mentor, Maria, called me last night because I'd left her a message recently about helping me decide what to order in terms of gift bags and the like. She said the store doesn't sell much Valentine's Day stuff, but I'm not taking that to heart. (Get it? Heart?) The customers have never seen my stuff before. ;-) Anyway, she gave me a couple of other companies to try so I did some surfing online, but I tell you. The site I found right off the bat is still my favorite. I'm going to check the pricing a bit more but the site is so user friendly and that counts for a lot. I do a lot of surfing and I'm amazed at how bad business sites can be sometimes. I've put together an order but I haven't placed it yet. Maria didn't even tell me anything specific but having that conversation gave me the confidence I was looking for to take the plunge. That was a big relief to me. I was kind of annoyed with myself for holding back on ordering cheap stuff I could easily resell that would help fill up the new revolving card rack I've been offered. That was my whole goal! Glad I got over that hump.
Reading: Live Simply in the City, by Jonathan Allan & Lynne Cantwell Listening to in the car: The Secret Life of Bees
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