Writers Block

I think I have writers block.  Or more likely I just lead a very boring life at the moment and don't have the ability to make the mundane and boring sound exciting and fun!  Either way, this will most likely be a somewhat uninteresting post but I didn't want to wait to post until I had something really good to post about because who knows how long that will be?

First up, in an effort to get 'er done, I am focusing all my stitching attention on Double Dutch.  It's coming along as you can see but really not as quickly as I would like.

Did you all check out the Online Needlework Show??  What did you see that you liked?  I went through each shop and found only 1 thing I wanted for myself but then I had to knock myself upside the head in order to bring myself back down to earth.  I mean really, I so do not need another BAP in my stash.  Especially one with 100 colors of floss.  Seriously?  Why am I attracted to things like this??  And the Name...The Tree of Life.  More like Death if I were to try this.

In my head I can see it stitched up over one on 40 count using the tent stitch.  It.Would.Be.Stunning.  I.Would .Be.Stupid.  Perhaps if I keep telling myself that I might even believe it.

Now for a framing project I recently finished up at the shop.

This sweet little southern gal brought in some buttons right after my surgery that she wanted to have shadowboxed.  The buttons were originally attached to the uniforms of civil war soldiers.  Specifically from the states that seceded from the Union. Some were in perfect shape and some not so much.  It took me a while to figure out how to attach them without doing any damage.  Some had shanks and some did not so stitching them on like you would a button was not an option.   Glue is never an option so finally I decided to use netting wrapped around each button, then pulled through a hole in the mat and attached on the back side of the mat/foamboard combination.    The next hurtle I had to jump was getting it all spaced out correctly.  That took some time too.  Finally I was ready to assemble it all.  You can't tell from the picture but the top mat is raised about an inch above the bottom mat.  It was very time consuming getting everything attached the way I wanted and put in the frame but it was well worth the effort I think.  The buttons are in the order of when the state seceded and the two nipple like objects on either side of the belt buckle (reproduction) are bullets.  Those suckers weighed a ton.  I would not have wanted to be shot with one.  Well really,  I wouldn't want to be shot with any bullet or projectile but you know what I mean, right? :)

Dan is back to working on the kitchen again.  He has finally caught up with his bird orders.  Good thing too since I think we will be hosting Thanksgiving and right now I don't have anywhere to put anyone since he has been using the dining room as his workshop for the kitchen.  It's also time to start thinking about our Village Open House.  We were planning to add a waterfront this year so I have been slowly buying a building here and there but no waterfront has been built yet.  It has occurred to me that the Holidays will be here before I know it and I am still not moving very well.  Decorating will be a several week project because if it so basically if we want to be ready, I need to start putting up the trees long about November 15th.  At the latest.  Yikes!   So sometime in the next 3 weeks, the kitchen needs to be completely done, the old refrigerator needs to be moved out of the library so I can clean and be able to get a tree in there and a waterfront needs to be built.  Did I mention in order to move the fridge, the garage needs to be cleaned out????  We are so screwed.

Gonna call this good.  Thanks for all the comments on retreat and hello to the new followers!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Fall 2011 No Frills Retreat Recap

I promised a post on our Fall no frills retreat and although I am a bit late with it, I try to always keep my promises so without further ado, let me Welcome you to the Prairie Creek Inn!

To give you a bit of history on the place, this home was purchased by Bruce, the innkeeper and his wife for the low low price of  one dollar.  It was then moved from it's original location and placed in it's current location.  The house was then completely gutted and rebuilt so basically it's a new house inside an old body.  The inn has only been open for business for a couple of years and is still a work in progress.  The original farmhouse on the property was  also moved, it now resides behind the main house and is called "the cottage".  It too is a work in progress.  Cabins are being planned for the future out by the lake which is only a short drive down the lane.  Even though things are still being worked on, the inn and it's surroundings were beautiful and we all had a wonderful time there.  In fact, we can't wait to see all the changes next fall when we return for No Frills 2012!!

Here I am, waiting anxiously at the curb for my ride to pick me up.

Mary Ann, Connie and I started our retreat adventure with a stop at Omaha Fixtures.  The three of us rarely get a chance to be away from the shop at the same time and with the expansion of the store we decided to take the opportunity and look at some display possibilities.  Then it was on to a shop meeting at Noodles.  This was my first trip to Noodles (i don't get out much).  I ordered the Macaroni and Cheese, it was okay but Panera's is much better.  But I digress, after lunch and a lively discussion about Spring retreat, we arrived at the Inn around 2:00 p.m.  It was a gorgeous fall day and the weather was predicted to be beautiful all weekend.  Bruce came out to the car and and helped us unload everything after which he gave us a tour of the house, showed us how the elevator worked, set up the tables and chairs and helped get the extension cords run for the lights before leaving us for the day.  The rest of the gang started to arrive an hour or so later.   Here's Sandy looking all lady of the manor on the porch swing.

Connie was in love with the little elevator in the house so she took charge of ferrying everyone up and down and getting them settled in their rooms, showing them the bathroom locations and getting them back down to the main floor without any mishaps.  Our own personal concierge and elevator attendant!  All weekend, every time someone needed something from upstairs or down she'd pop up and volunteer to get what they needed just so she had a reason to take the elevator!  After checking in, everyone quickly settled in to their stitching and before you knew it, it was time for supper.  A couple of us brought homemade soup and the rest filled in with snacks and such.  With our bellies full and the kitchen cleaned up it was time to settle back into stitching for the evening.  Long about 11:00 people started to drift off to bed.  I managed to hang in there until midnight or one but that pretty much did it for me.

Saturday morning Bruce had breakfast ready for us around 8:30.  Here's Bruce working on breakfast.

After we ate we got back to the serious business of stitching.  Here's a sampling of some of the projects being worked on.

Connie Jo working on a Pine Mountain design:

Connie Jo came to retreat with her 2 sisters-in-law.   Sister-in-law Denise was working on a Little House design called To bee or not to bee.

Sister-in-law Deb was working on a La-D-Da design called Trick or Treat.

Mary Ann was working on Double Dutch by The Sampler Cove:

Connie was working on a Country Cottage design:

Mary was working on the Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart, she has stitched them all on one piece of linen and has personalized each block.  It's very cool.

I worked on Elizabeth

I didn't get pictures of everyone's WIP's but Sandy was working on these cute little sled ornaments that you will see later, Lois was working on a White Willow Stitching butterfly, Doreen worked on a Halloween design and a Siamese cat design that you'll see later too.  Linda was working on a piece she is giving as a wedding gift, and Sue was working on a birth sampler and a Halloween chart.
 
I can't begin to tell you how much fun all these ladies are.  Every last one of them is unique in their own way and a delight to know.  I know my life has been much richer since they have come into it and I would be truly saddened if they were no longer a part of it.  Now they might tell you differently but that is how I feel about them.

We had some finishes occur during retreat.  Some of them were legit and others were brought to retreat with just a few stitches needing to be placed so they could say they had a finish at retreat.  I'm not going to point a finger at anyone in particular but let me just say this.....CHEATERS!!!  I was not one of the ones with a finish  I'm sorry to say.  But Mary Ann stitched her little fingers off and was the first to finish the Double Dutch SAL that she, Mary and I have been working on.

Doreen finished 2 projects.  A Rovaris chart

and a Halloween design by I can't remember who

Sandy finished these little sled ornaments.  Just too cute!  Everyone wanted them.

Connie Jo finished her Pine Mountain design

and Denise finished her Little house design:

Lunch Saturday was provided by Mary and Doreen.  Mary brought the fixings for taco salad and Doreen the fixings for sandwiches.  YUM!  Saturday afternoon I took a break from stitching and went outside to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  A porch swing, gorgeous view and the friendliest barn cat I have ever had the pleasure of meeting made those two hours the best 2 hours I have had since my surgery!  And that's in spite of the fact that I am horribly allergic to cats and paid the price for cuddling with him.  It was worth it though!   Linda took some pictures of me on the porch with the cat but she hasn't responded to my request for them so use your imagination please.

Saturday late afternoon found us at Lonestar Steakhouse for an early supper.  We needed to eat early in order for those that wanted to watch the Nebraska game to be back in time for kickoff.  It was nice to get away for a couple of hours, and supper was delicious!  One thing though, why in the world would you give a new waiter a table of 12 women???  12 obnoxious women at that!  Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

After supper, the "fans" went down to the basement and watched the game while the rest of us stayed upstairs.

While we were stitching I happened to mention my daughter was looking for a red trench coat for her Halloween costume and was wondering if anyone happened to have one in a size 6ish.  No one did but Connie whipped out her IPad and went to Etsy.com and voila!  6 pages of red trench coats appeared.  I scrolled through them and found one I thought might possibly work.  Called Abby, and told her to check her email for the link.  She approved of the the coat and the price and  since Miss Connie already had an Etsy account and a paypal account she went ahead and bought it for Abby and then Abby would just give her the money when it arrived. Awesome!   It was about that time that Sandy finished one of her little sleds and everyone was ooohing and ahing over it.  Sandy says oh, they have other designs too and I think I will order them.  She asked Connie if she could look at her IPad to see the other designs.  Pretty soon Connie is ordering the other designs for Sandy using her Paypal account.  Then the sisters/sister-in-law started asking Connie about her needlework stand.  Where did she get it, how much was it etc....the IPad comes out again and Connie finds the stands on Ebay.  Yep, you guessed it, Connie used her paypal again and bought the stands.  So now whenever someone mentions wanting something, we just tell them paypal Connie will take care of it!

The game ended in a loss so we drowned our sorrows in ice cream sundaes and cupcakes. The cupcakes were brought by Denise's daughter.  She works for The Cake Lady in Lincoln and man were those good cupcakes.  They were pretty too but I forgot to take a picture of them so you'll just have imagine their sparkly goodness!

I think everyone went to bed around midnight Saturday night.  Check out was at 11 on Sunday morning with breakfast being served at 9.  Most of us got up and stitched a bit before we ate and then we managed to scarf breakfast quickly and stitch a bit more before it was time to pack up and head on down the road tired but happy.   I think I can speak for everyone and say that we had us a rousing good time and we can't wait to do it again next year.

Back row left to right  Mary and Lois.  Middle row l-r: Mary Ann
Linda, Sue(peeking over Linda's shoulder) Sandy, Doreen, Julie
bottom row l-r: Connie Jo, Deb, Denise and Connie 

And that is the end of my retreat story.  I hope you enjoyed reading about it.  I'm sure reading about it is not nearly as fun as actually being there was though.  Maybe next year some of you  join us!

Take care till next time!

Julie

 

A post to tide you over while I work on a retreat post.

Helloooooo?   Helloooooo?   Helloooooo?  Anybody out there? there?  there? there?  

Yeah, I know, long time no post.  No excuse other than laziness I suppose.  Well, that and I just didn't feel like editing all the pictures from retreat.  I wish either my camera skills were such that my pictures didn't require editing or that my camera automatically edited the pictures for me thus saving me the time and trouble of doing it. See it really all goes back to laziness! Hello, my name is Julie and I am a lazy bum.

I'm not finished with editing the  retreat pictures but the grumbling of certain people has finally irritated encouraged  me enough that I figgered I best post something on here in the meantime.

I can't believe it is already the middle (almost) of October.  I wish winter went by as fast as summer and fall seem to or maybe I wish summer and fall lasted as long as winter seems to. Either way, winter is just around the corner and I don't feel like it should be.  The shop is gearing up for the Christmas rush on framing, Dan and I are discussing the village open house and what changes need to be made.  I pulled him off the kitchen to get the birds that were ordered finished so I didn't have that guilt hanging over my head so once he finishes the birds he has to finish the kitchen or there won't be any open house this year.  The kids birthdays are all coming up starting with Amy's this Friday and the garage is still crammed full of stuff that needs to be gotten rid of so my car can fit in it before the cold hits.  I'm a little leery about icy sidewalks this year due to the continued pain in my ankle and foot.  Last thing I need is to slip and fall. I'm still in PT for both ankles and I am still struggling with pain.  I'm not able to stand or walk for very long so I am behind at work which stresses me out.  Our customers are used to a quick turn around and they aren't getting it.  So far everyone has been mostly understanding.  But I can see the writing on the wall the closer it gets to the holidays and the crap is gonna hit the fan then.  So lets put the brakes on and make October last for an extra 2 or maybe 3 weeks this year.  Everyone okay with that plan?

Been doing some stitching and working on birds.  My friend Connie loves everything Paris so I hunted and hunted for some Eiffel Tower paper to fill her request for a bird.  Took me a while but I finally found paper that I liked and was able to present her with her bird last week.  She'd been patiently waiting since March and thankfully she was thrilled with her bird.  I also made her a little matching needle minder to go with it.

I finally got around to stitching another of  Paulette's  Hare charts.  This time it was her Autumn Blessings Freebie.  Had to change the colors a bit (don't I always?) so the rabbits would show up on the gold fabric I chose.  Now to get it made into a pillow.

Double Dutch is coming along well.  I say that but I don't really mean it.  Seems as though I stitch and stitch and then stitch some more and still no progress is made.  I know progress is being made, it just doesn't feel that way and I am chomping at the bit to start something else!!  Sucks that I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't start another large project until I have finished it.  I did sneak in the rabbits though which helped and I am working on Bent Creeks Noel Row off and on which also helps and Elizabeth on the weekends but mostly it's been Double Dutch so I can get the dang thing finished!!!!! Anyway, here's an update for you.

The family is all doing well.  Adam has put in for a job back here in Omaha.  No offense to all of you in the DC area but it's just not his cup of tea.  It'll be a while before we know whether he gets it or not.  The bad part is he has met a nice young lady while out there and he feels bad about leaving.  She however, was born and raised in DC and has no wish to see what Omaha is like.  Abby is still working PRN at the hospital and going to UNO to finish her bachelors degree.  Her blond hair is now a dark auburn and last Saturday she added clip in hair extensions.  Add in a spray tan and when she walked into the shop I didn't recognize her at first!  She is celebrating one year of dating her boyfriend this month and announced that she thinks it's time for me to get to know him better.  Uh-oh.  Amy is doing well at UNL.  She's officially changed her major to pre-med.  She wants to be a shrink.  I'm a bit uncomfortable with that idea as I know that every word out of my mouth will now be analyzed.  I know I'm messed up but I don't need my daughter telling me so!  Fall break starts this weekend and  Amy is flying to Seattle to visit a friend up there. She's a bit nervous about it.  She has never flown by herself before and the last time she flew, she threw up all the way home from DC.  Hopefully this will be a better trip.  Dan is busy working on birds and all the other stuff I can't do yet like grocery shopping, yard work, and quite often the cooking and dishes.  He's been a real trooper and I don't know what I would have done without him!

Think that's about all I have for now.  Hopefully I will finish up the editing and be able to post about retreat this weekend.  I have both days off so barring any unforeseen activities we should be a go!

Oh, and Carole, if you read this you should definitely duck and run!  LOL!!!  Doreen, consider yourself head slapped!!  Remember I know where you two live.  Just saying...

Take care till next time!

Julie

Fall Retreat

Just a quickie to say have a great weekend everyone!  I'm headed to P.T. and then leaving for our Fall No Frills Retreat!  I really need a weekend of good friends and fun times to take my mind off of other things.  I'll fill ya in on all the fun when I get back Sunday!

Take care till next time!

Julie

ER visit, the invasion, Elizabeth and more

Good Morning!

I hope everyone had a great weekend full of lots of stitchy stuff!  We had an exciting weekend here and not in the good way.  For some reason I thought that once the kids were of a certain age...they would be responsible and mature enough that I would no longer have to worry about middle of the night trips to the ER.  Asthma has been a part of our lives almost as long as the kids have been a part of our lives.  So I thought that at some point they would be intelligent enough to avoid those situations that they know will lead to trouble.  Or at the very least, figure out the early warning signs that they are headed for trouble and get the hell outta dodge.  I now know I was completely delusional.  Last year at Christmas we had almost the exact same scenario.  Abby went someplace she knows is going to cause her problems (boxer dogs and her don't mix) and ended up in the ER.  Fast forward to this weekend and she is back at the same place and guess what??  She landed herself and her father in the ER during the wee hours of Sunday morning.  Not only that but she drove herself home in the middle of this major asthma attack rather than having the boyfriend bring her home or take her to the ER.  Then she woke me up to ask if I thought she should even go!!  Yes Abby, your lips are blue and you have no air with which to breathe...might be a good idea to go see a Doctor!   3 hours later, having received oxygen, nebulizer treatments x3 and IV steroids and they finally let her come home.  She is still not breathing well and I am hoping she will take herself off to the Dr. like she is supposed to do but apparently, common sense is not her forte.  Someone please tell me she'll wise up at some point??

We had fog here last night and this morning when I let the dogs outside I just about lost it.  EVERY spider web was highlighted by moisture and clearly visible to the naked eye!  They are everywhere!  Every surface, tree, play set, blade of grass is covered by webs.  We've been invaded and we don't even know it until a little fog happens!  How would you like to be the little kid swinging on this swing?

Did some stitching on Elizabeth this weekend.  She's coming along nicely but since I am sticking to my weekends only vow, not as nicely as I would like her to.

I haven't shown you the Double Dutch stitch along for a while now.  That's cuz none of us have really been working hard on it.  Well, maybe Mary Ann has but Mary and I...not so much.  But I really want to finish it so I have put down Tuscan Rose for the moment and am working on DD during the week.  Here's mine as of Friday night.

Sorry no pics of Mary's or Mary Ann's.  I'll do better next time!

The drywaller has started the patching of the wall at the shop.  He should finish up tomorrow and then we'll start the paining process.  I took pictures of the shop as promised but you have to remember, it still looks empty since we didn't want to bring in the new display pieces and spread things out too much until the wall was fixed.  Just that much more to get dirty and to move around.  So far everyone that has come in has said it already looks 100 times better.  Not quite sure how to take that.  Must have really looked like crap before!!

I'm running out of time before I have to leave for Physical Therapy so I am going to call it good for now.  Have a great week everyone! And thanks for all the comments!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Stalkers, Elizabeth and Vacuums

Do you ever have the feeling that something or someone is watching you?    Maybe you get that prickly feeling up your spine or you have a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.  I have been dealing with this feeling for over a week now.  The reason for this feeling?  I'm being stalked!  I can't tell you how scary it is to know that I'm being watched.  By multiple pairs of eyes too.  I discovered one of the stalkers last week.  I was in my bathroom, sitting on the toilet of all places, taking care of business when suddenly I knew I was being watched.  I went down the checklist of possible reasons for the feeling.  Curtains open?  No.  Dog snuck in?  No.  Husband standing  there?  No. The bathroom is not that large so it didn't take me long to eliminate the most likely suspects.  That left unlikely or less noticeable suspects.  As I was sitting there I checked up on the ceiling and in the vent.  Didn't see anything that shouldn't be there or any sign of a hidden camera.  That was a relief.  Nobody needs to see video of me  taken with a hidden camera.  Or a not hidden camera for that matter!  But I could still feel eyes on me so I continued looking around.  Suddenly, my heart stopped dead in my chest.  I'd found the cause of my unease.  Across the way from the toilet stands the shower.  And clinging to the base of the shower was a large.black.spider!!!!  I think I might have mentioned once or twice that I don't like spiders.  At.All.  So I'm sitting there staring at the spider to make sure it doesn't move and he's staring back at me with all his many eyes just waiting to pounce when the time was right, most likely when my back was turned.  But that wasn't going to happen.  Now here's the dilemma.  I was still on crutches at the time and I knew there was no way on earth I was going to be able to crutch my way over there and kill the sucker before it skittered away and hid itself until the time was right to crawl up my nose or into my ear during the night.  No freaking way was that going to happen!  I knew Dan was downstairs asleep on the couch with the T.V on.  What were the chances of calling loudly enough to wake him up but not so loud that the vibrations would startle the creature into fleeing?  I could pound on the floor which happens to be right above the family room where Dan was busy sawing logs instead of protecting me from hairy arachnids but I was pretty sure that would startle him (the spider) into moving.  While I was thinking these thoughts, he and I were maintaining eye to eyes contact and I could almost hear his hissy little voice saying...I'll get you my pretty!  Deciding that yelling was going to be less likely to disturb spidey, I proceeded to do just that.  DAN!!!   DAN!!!  Then I waited, cuz Dan only has two speeds and they consist of slow and slower.  Being that he was asleep I knew he'd be moving slower.  I also knew if he heard me he would recognize the distinct tone of my voice that indicates the presence of an eight legged critter and he would come prepared to do battle.  So while I waited spidey and I continued our stare down.  By now I had one eye squinted to show him I wasn't scared because you never want to show them weakness or they'll pounce then and there!  But although I gave Dan plenty of time to slowly make his way upstairs...he didn't come.  So now I was left with 2 choices.  Sit on the toilet until Dan woke up on his own (usually around 2-3 in the morning)  and came up to bed or take the risk of pounding on the floor loudly and hoping it woke him up.  I pondered for quite a while, even called a couple more times but eventually I knew I was going to have to risk the pounding.  Taking a deep breath I grabbed my crutches and as hard as I could I hit the floor 3 times with them, all the while maintaining my squinty eyed stare.  Sure enough Spidey moved!  But I think he thought that the pounding wouldn't produce Dan any better than yelling did because after one hop he went back to staring at me.  I could hear Dan coming up the stairs and finally the bedroom door opened, followed by the bathroom door and Dan who said, how big is it?  See?  I told you he can recognize the panicked sound a spider causes even when it's a pound and not a call.  I pointed at the critter with a shaking finger and said...it's huge!!  KILL IT!!  Which he promptly did.  Boy was that a relief.  I thought my butt was going to be permanently attached to the toilet seat by this time!  So you are probably thinking boy is she a wussy and you would be correct.  I admit it openly.  You are also probably thinking, it's one spider, you can't be stalked by one spider!  HA!  Where there is one...there is always another!  The next night I went upstairs to bed and thoroughly checked the bathroom before taking care of business.  Crutching my way to the bed, I suddenly felt that feeling again.  I checked the ceiling and walls several times and threw back the covers to make sure nothing was lurking under them before finally deciding perhaps it was a hold over from the night before.  I sat down on the bed, removed das boot and swung my legs up onto the bed while laying back on my pillow.  My head no more than brushed the pillow when I spotted it!  Right above my head on the ceiling, hiding in the shadow of the texture!!  I bounced up off that bed and threw myself into the chair while yelling loudly for Dan.  He arrived quickly, paper towel in hand and asked. "where is it?"  I pointed to the ceiling, grabbed my pillow and threw the covers out of the way in case he missed and spidey jumped.  But the great white spider hunter was successful once again and he smashed that thing dead.  Now you would think that maybe word would go out in the spider kingdom that this is not a spider friendly environment and they would leave for better pickings.  But no.  The next day I made my way downstairs after showering (only after a thorough inspection of the bathroom) and sat down at the computer to begin my morning ritual.  And then I felt it.  That eerie sensation of being watched.  I slowly looked around the room, all the while hoping I was wrong because I was home alone and knew that if I saw spidey, I would have to find a way to take him out by myself.  Not something I like to do but unlike a certain daughter of mine who shall remain nameless...Amy...I won't leave it there and go to another room thereby giving said spider permission to stalk someone else at their leisure.  No, I kill the suckers even though I am risking an attack on my person while doing so.  Lucky for me, someone had used the swiffer the day before and instead of putting it away it was leaning up against the china hutch.  Swiffers work pretty good for killing things that are up high.  It allows you to be somewhat away from the wall so if you should happen to miss it doesn't fall on your head causing a sometimes fatal  heart attack.  My swiffer did not let  me down.  Yelling DIE Spidey DIE,  I obliterated the thing all over my suede painted wall!  But I didn't care.  All I cared about was that the sucker was dead.  Dan could deal with the debris later.  So you see now why I feel as though I am being stalked.  Almost every day another one appears to take the place of his fallen brother.  My paranoia is at a peak, my eyes are constantly roaming around the room looking for the next one to appear.  But I'm not going down without a fight.  Do you hear that spiders??  Get out while the getting is good or I'll take you out  or have Dan do it for me!!

Here's an update on Elizabeth.  I'm only allowing myself to work on her on the weekends.  I asked several people when the weekend started and ended last weekend and it was decided that Monday being a holiday meant it was a  part of the weekend so I got 3 days of stitching done on her.

And finally, a shot of the shop sans vacuums!!!  He is completely out of the shop now and we couldn't be happier.  First thing we are going to do is add a little color on the walls.  First they have to be repaired since Dude had slatwall the entire length of the wall.  Looks like it was shot up in a gun fight and the wall lost!  But we've spent the last couple days rearranging and it looks much better already.  I'll take a picture tomorrow and share it later.  Still have a long long way to go before I am happy with how things look but for now it's a huge improvement over vacuums, belts and bags.

Take care till next time!!

Julie

Hallelujah!!

Good Morning!

I am just popping in for a few minutes to say THANKS for the prayers...I think they worked!!  To give you a little background, almost 2 years ago, in order for the shop I work at to survive we entered into an agreement to share a bay with the devil vacuum cleaner dude in the bay next to us.  This would have worked fine if he had stuck around to run his own side of the store but after 3 months, his help at his other store quit and he went over there and never came back.  We have run his store ever since and have received nothing for doing so.  Dude's business has steadily dropped since he quit being there, who wants to buy a vacuum from a custom picture framer?  We had no training for the job so were not very helpful if people asked questions or needed something that required a bit of knowledge.  We were under the impression he would be moving out at the end of the lease since that is what he had been telling us was going to happen.   When I asked for prayers it was because he had told us he had sold his business and the new owner did not wish to move so we would have to.  Dude held the actual lease and we sub-let from him so we did not have any legal standing with the landlord.  His hands were tied.  Our current location has been so good for us that moving elsewhere made no sense.  The bosses looked at another, much larger bay 2 doors down and in spite of it being more money, decided to lease it.  Only someone else got there before us.  Long story short after several weeks of stress, ups and downs, thinking things were going to work out and then having a wrench thrown in the mix,  my boss and dude reached an agreement and he is moving out.  In fact, he should be out after this weekend.  The majority  is already packed up!  However, I won't feel completely comfortable and at ease until November when the original lease expires and the bosses have signed a new one.  So if you think about it over the next couple of months send up a quick prayer that all goes well.  It's going to be a great thing for the shop to have the vacuums out of there and we can't wait to paint and make it all purty!  It was hard to do anything with 50 vacuums all over the place!  Not to mention bags, and belts of every shape and size known to man!   It's going to be a ton of work getting it all fixed up but I'm so excited about the possibilities ahead of us!!

What are your plans for this holiday weekend?  I was going to clean my house some but Dan has grounded me to the chair.  I had to go to the Dr. this week because I started experiencing pain in my left Achilles tendon.  That's right, the supposedly good ankle! It was a very familiar pain.  Diagnosis:  Achilles Tendonitis and Plantar Fasciitis most likely caused from wearing that dang boot.

So I am now having physical therapy on both feet/ankles and they will re-evaluate when I go back in 3 weeks.  Not much they can do for the left one without messing up the right one.  So I guess the 3 inches of dust are going to have to stay right where they are for now and as for me....I'll be in my chair stitching on Elizabeth while watching HGTV.  Things could be worse!

Take care till next time!

Julie