Happy New Year!

I can't believe that today is the last day of this year all ready. If I can get thru the next month or two I'll be able to get some rest and the store will look wonderful in time for Inventory in Feb. We are doing the fabric mark downs on the Calico wall today and getting a good bit of the fabric move done as well. Lots of calico on clearance and then half off will be hard to resist! But I don't have anytime to sew or craft anymore so I should resist... will see if mind or will wins on this one.

Better get the day started.

Flu Bug and family loss issues

I have several gals ill with this years cruddy flu and then one gal just lost her father. It's going to be another ruff week but thankfully Shannon is jumping on board quickly and is becoming a BIG help. Lenora is ill with THE CRUD! So she will be out sick for another day or two if not more. Hopefully if it's longer than a couple days she will go to the Dr. If we can get thru this next month it will be smooth sailing from then on... I hope - KNOCKING ON WOOD! We have Inventory in February and we are also supposed to be "model STore" perfect by Feb. 1 - we are getting there but there is still a LOT to do! Sometimes I get to wondering "what on EARTH are you doing being a store manager"! Oh well - most days I LOVE it and enjoy the work; more than anything I need some time off to regroup and rest and then my energy will be back again. Scott has been so wonderfully - keeping the house up and bringing me meals at work when I can't leave the building. HE has become a real LAUNDRY KING! A better husband can NOT be found in my book. Greg is missing me and wants to go see a movie with me. I've got to get things settled at work so I can have some time with my family again. I so want to get up to our property and walk around a bit as well.

Time to get this day started - LOTS to do!

SO Tired!~

I would LOVE a couple days to just sleep and sleep! And this morning I have a horrible headache so I'm thinking I'm coming down with THE CRUD everyone else has had. But I have to work today and tomorrow and the next day. UGH! Things will get better! LOTS to do over the next month!
Becky

Surprises!

Last night I got this wonderful surprise at work! Adele and Tom sent me congratulatory flowers; aren't they lovely?!

Doing what it takes!

I put in a ton of hours last week and this week is looking just as bad. Hopefully by next week I will have another key holder or two in place so that I can have some hours at home to sleep and regroup. I plan to be at the store for opening and closing with my new key holders for 2 to 3 weeks to be sure they are trained and able to do everything with confidence. The store is looking so good and the customers are saying how nice everything looks. Draping fabric and doing recovery properly everyday is the key to keeping the store looking good. I've got to draw up maps on seasonal and floral and make up the next two weeks schedules today. LOTS to do! And lots of training to have those things done correctly. It's going to be exhausting but I will do what it takes to get everyone on the same page and there will be no excuses on not being trained. I need to work with everyone on fabric flow, colorization and draping. Luckily Christmas is nearly over so we will be slwoing down enough trafficwise so there will be time enough to train everyone. Better get ready for another day.

AGH!

I'm now the store manager! Not sure how that all happened but I believe I can do it. It's still scarey as hell but I want to do a good job. Now I just need to get enough key holders so that I don't have to work open to close everyday of the week. Hopefully I will have that situation remedied by Tuesday or Wednesday... I hope.

Rosemary tree

I wish I could remember whose blog I saw these on but was so excited to find this idea as I have a HUGE rosemary bush in the middle of my garden and am always looking for ways to use some of it up. SO.... if the owner of this idea pops in please post a reply to this message so people will know where I found this idea.

LIFE - Always changing!

None of us truly know what tomorrow will bring so the whole concept for living for today is sounding like a pretty good idea. I think a lot about future plans and then they get pushed aside as life takes over. It is so easy to loose yourself in a job or the mainstream consumerism that plagues our country. Scott and I so want to return to a simpilier way of living - smaller house, fewer things and more time together working on our land producing a majority of our food and making things with our hands. Striving for self sufficiency and growing old together. Going on hikes to interesting FREE parks like the Clay Pits not far from here where they used to pull clay to make bricks long ago. Peaceful places to sit and refleck all along the way. The photo above was taken there the last time we hiked around the clay pits. It's one of my favoite photos.

Something is up!

I think there is something going on at work that I don't know about but will know more soon if I'm picking up on things like I usually do. This next week I beleive there will be some changes in my life at work. But only time will tell what they are. Kinda scarey but I will survive it all.

Boy oh boy has it tuned C-O-L-D here; feels like upstate NY where I grew up and I have to be to work by 6 AM and it's 5:25 now so I better get dressed and start the truck up so my windows are cleared. Will write more this evening.

PROGRESS on Christmas

Well I got all our Christmas cards in the mail. Deep cleaned the hall bathroom that our son uses for the most part and it looks and smells a LOT better. I also got our laundry caught up and went grocery shopping. I even made a nice dinner last night and a batch of No-Bake Chocoalte-Oatmeal cookies. Scott was so happy! I still have a lot to do to be ready for Christmas but I am glad to say some things are completed.

It's back to work today! UGH! OH well! Life moves forward. I need to write my schedule down for next week. I get off at 4 this afternoon so I am hoping to get some presents made tonight. I need to write down all the employees names as well. BUSY BUSY!

Busy Day!

It's going to be a busy day today! I've got to do a deep clean on the house; laundry, grocery shopping, Christmas card writing and I need to get some gifts made as time is running out. Greg wants to go to the grocery store with me so that means I'll be buying more than I would without him but at least we will have things in the house that he will eat and he won't be calling me saying he is hungry! You'd think at 20 he'd be able to hunt his own food... LOL!

I also wanted to go out and do a bit more Christmas shopping without Scott or Greg tagging along as I can't buy things for them while they are there being noisey! Scott took a sick day yesterday hoping he would get to feeling better but last night he said he may have to go to the Dr to get over this one. Probably another sinus infection. He did heal well from the stitches incident and took the stitches out himself. It's a barely visible scar now.

Well writing on here isn't going to get my work done and I have to return to work tomorrow... better get BUSY!

WEE Morning Hours!

It's about 3:30 AM and I'm awake for some unexplanable reason; perhaps it has something to do with being so congested. I also went to bed at about 9 last night as I was beat from working 7 AM to 5 PM yesterday at the store. Was only supposed to be there until 2 but we were swamped and it was all new girls with Diann and I just couldn't leave her with that mess. Day before yesterday Tiff got hit by a car so I'll be covering her hours today so that she can recover. She was lucky and didn't get any broken bones but is brusied up pretty badly and has had difficulty in breathing. Hopefully nothing serious develops. I'm supposed to be off tomorrow and Wednesday but may have to go in and cover some of her hours; time will tell.

I need to get some Christmas gifts made and soon as there are only 21 more days until Christmas. YIKES! I have done some shopping but still have a ways to go. Greg has asked for some really expensive items this year and I am afraid they are just too far out of our budget unless I can locate them at closeout prises and then he may get just ONE item under the tree this year.

Scott called me a "blankey hog" last night and said I took all the covers and could he PLEASE have some back and since then I had been uncovered so who is the BLANKEY HOG!? My back is stiff from being exposed to cold air so I have the little space heater running next to me trying to warm up my back. Little Nickie has decided that I actually turned it on for him and he is curled up in front of it now. He has been sneezing the last couple days so I may have to take him to the vet Tuesday or Wednesday. Tesla has also let out a couple small sneezes so he may have caught it as well. Tara has been staying outside a LOT these days and only comes in to eat. I keep thinking with it getting colder she'd want to be indoors but not yet.

I guess I will try to get a little more sleep now.

UGH! Assigning registers today!

I was short in two drawers last night and will be assigning registers today to try to find the "problem". This happened the last time I closed as well and I'm sick of it! Time to weed someone out before loss prevention weeds me out for not finding the problem!