The last quiet evening of July

Well here it is the last quiet evening of July. It’ll be August in an hour. Where the heck has the year gone? I really am amazed at how quickly time goes by these days.

So on the mall front, we’re just waiting on the contract/lease papers to come back from the mall big wig to Stacey. I’ll go sign them & we’ll be all set. After a couple more emails earlier this week, we got things straightened out. I pointed out a few things she could not ignore, & told me we could do it my way for this year. This year is all I’m asking for. We don’t know what next year brings, so I’m not gonna worry about it now.

Vacation. I got the tickets bought for the trip to FL. In the week we took to get things in order, the prices went up. Thankfully not over the money we got. I had to check carefully because several airlines now charge you extra to bring ANY bags with you. Pfft. I don’t think so. So I found some that only charge extra for the 2^nd checked bag. That should work for us. We fly out on Halloween in the evening. We’ll hop over to Seattle, kill about an hour, then catch a nice long flight to Atlanta. We’ll arrive in Pensacola at 9am Saturday morning. Should be cool. We’ll be there until the following Sunday morning. Then we leave FL at 9, get home to Wenatchee at 630. Fun. Hopefully it’ll be a good time.

For the first time in quite awhile, I’m not nervous about a show. I’m excited about it. I’ve never actually been to Ellensburg, so that should be cool too. I’d really like it if we can have the profits pay for dinner before we head home. That would be fun. I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the Etsy team people too. I spent Wednesday making a bunch of bookmarks. I finished up this morning then worked on some slight sign alterations. I’ll get them printed from Office Depot on Friday. Then I’ll get all my containers out, go thru them, see what needs to come, what stays, & get them packed to go.

We finally got my honey set up with a Yahoo messenger ID and a Gmail email address. Look out internet world here he comes! Until we get him a system built from the 3 towers we have, he’s using my laptop. He’s pretty happy.

Hmm .. what else? Guess my brain isn’t wrapping itself around much right now. So I’ll close for now, get this uploaded, & unwind a bit before bed.

What a fun & full weekend we had

What a fun & full weekend we had.

Friday evening we went over to our friend Joy’s house. She hosts a get together once ever other week or so for all us like minded folks who have felt kind of lost since our local Pagan store closed last year. We got to chat, visit, play show & tell… it was allot of fun. We watched a bit of The Secret & chatted briefly about what we watched. In all, it was a great evening. I now want to learn more about vortexes, RFID tags, & a few other things that slip my mind now (figures).

Saturday we did end up going to the falls. It was the 3 of us along with my girlfriend, her 3 kids and one of her girls, girlfriends. Was a long ride to get there, but so worth it. We all had a great time, broke the rules, took many pix & made a great day of it.

When we got home, Tim & I changed & headed over to Leah’s for a birthday party for her boys. We didn’t stay too long since we were both pretty worn out from the day. Was nice to go & relax a bit & visit tho.

Sunday we ended up going to Chelan. Chelan has a spiritual store called Spirals. We had talked about going when we were at Joy’s on Friday. Joy wanted to come along if we went. So did 2 of the other people there, whom we are friends with. So, a few phone calls after breakfast, & we were gathered & ready to go. It was a beautiful day to ride up there. It takes about 45 minutes riding along the river for most of the trip. We had a wonderful time browsing thru the store. Tim fell in love with the various singing bowls, as well as the drums & wind chimes. We both got our first pendulums. How totally cool to actually see it work in your own hands. I found a gorgeous necklace that was just perfect for me (only $10) too. Joy, Cliff & Krystal all enjoyed finding treasures to take home too.

Afterwards, we stopped at a fruit stand, then at the dam and finally at Krystal’s grandma’s house, before heading back home.

The Dam was a total impromptu stop. Joy mentioned she had never been there. So, we stopped for a short look-see. She enjoyed it. We’ll have to go again when we have more time & energy to enjoy it all more slowly. The gardens they have are so pretty & full this time of year.

Krystal’s Grandparents house. Wow. It was built back in maybe 1900 or so. Not past 1915 for sure. It is for sale, but in sad shape. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to take on the love work it would take to return it to all its glory while enjoying living there. Was awesome to be able to see it tho, & hear her tell stories of when she was growing up. I may have to have her take me back thru so I can take some pictures. There is a good chance it will get bulldozed instead of renovated by who ever buys the property.

After everyone left, we ate, & just relaxed. What a fun & full weekend. Monday turned out to be a good day too. I’ll write more on that after I sleep, it’s already almost 1230 now. *y*a*w*n* I think it’s time for bed.

Life ramblings, again

Funny how fast life changes. Didn’t I just recently say that? Well, here we go again.

Tim came home Thursday & said there will be no swing shift, for now. Just when both of us had made peace with the fall out it would present. So, never mind. Right. Guess it’s a good thing tho, in the big picture. One crisis averted.

So then comes all the mall stuff. I made brief mention of it. Tuesday Connie & I got to see the inside of the store at the mall that we hoped to turn into our own store for the holidays. We want to open a all hand crafted, made local store. Most of the people participating will be people who also have a shop & sell on Etsy. The thought of Wenatchee Valley Etsy was born.

I talked with the Asst. Mgr for the mall, Stacey. We know each other now, from the “crafters corners” the past 2 years. I asked how much the store would be to rent, for either a month, or 6 weeks. She asked how many people I was thinking, I told her possibly 4 or 5, maybe more, depending on a price. So she quotes me a price of $1500. Insurance & power included, for a full 6 weeks. Wonderful. I began to get in contact with people. We all figured, the more people we have, the less per person it would be. In total, it looked like we’d have 7 of us.

Now, our plans for the store, which I made very clear to Stacey from the get go, was to not have individual marked off space, but intermingled displays, like any other retail store. In the “crafters corner” we all had our own 10x20 area. This is definitely not the case with our plans.

So all of a sudden Stacey tells me I can only have 5 people. That makes it 300 each, which was keeping it fair for the others. Well, the “others” are all a part of the “crafters corner”. We are not. I tried to tell her that telling me I could only have 5 people was like telling any other tenant how many suppliers they could have in their store. All she could come back with is that it wasn’t fair to the others. It’s not my fault! We came up with this idea on our own.

We were going back & forth via email yesterday. We left it unsettled, as she is out of the office today. Come Monday tho, we have got to find a way to settle this.

What else?

I’m playing hooky from the market this Saturday. We’re going to go out & get away for a day. We’ll be taking Connie & friends, but it will still be nice. About an hour or so away from here is a waterfall. Snoqualmie Falls. I’m looking forward to it. I hope I can do justice in pictures like other photographers have.

Saturday evening we have the opportunity to go to a party. Not sure if we’ll go or not, as Connie was kind of not invited. So, we’ll see.

Last night (Thursday) I finally got to spend some time with an old friend, Leah. Someone who we all thought had become a horrible person, thanks to someone else. Wow, the pull some people can have on others is amazing. I was one of them who got pulled in. I'm still not sure I understand it all, but anyway. I’m so glad I got to clear the air with her and begin to mend fences. It was good. I had intended to stay for maybe 2 hours, as I knew she had to get to bed. I got there just after 8 & it was after 1130 I think when I finally left.

So the work news started out bad & fixed itself. The mall thing started out great & is running into brick walls. Mending fences with a friend. Working on another line of bookmarks. Being excited about the show next weekend. Feeling close to my honey. With good thoughts, I hope everything works out for the best.

Oh yeah… our November vacation. Almost forgot to mention that. Another one of those things that we had planned for one way, that’s turning out to be another way. Sigh. But I think we both will be okay with it. Guess we kinda have to be.

We had planned to have this be a true vacation. We’d stay in a motel, rent a car, & be free to do what we want. Sounds doable right? Wrong. Tim’s mom & step dad had offered, way back when we first mentioned this, to pay or help pay for our tickets down there. Awesome. That meant our savings would go further. Well, with that said, it was made known that since they were pretty much footing the airfare bill, they expected us to stay with them. After all, they hadn’t made the trip out here this year, so they wanted to be able to see as much of Tim (& *gasp* me) as possible. We made mention that if we had planned to stay with anyone, it probably would have been Tim’s dad, since Tim had not seen him at all since we moved up here. Well that didn’t fly with his mom. Neither did staying in a motel. She said that if we’re going to go somewhere where there is family, it’s just not right to stay in a motel. Then the sob story of Chief’s (Tim’s step dad) health got thrown in. No telling how much longer he’ll be around. We’ve been hearing this for over 3 years now but anyways … It would mean so much to him just to know we were sleeping in the same house. So, of course, we had to give in. We’d never hear the end of it if we didn’t agree. Dammit. Sleeping at my in-laws was not even on the list of things to do on my vacation. Tim said the same thing. But he’s such an easy going, pleasing guy… he just goes with it. Ok. Whatever.

So, once we know money is there we’ll buy the tickets. We’ll be leaving here on Halloween, and returning the following Sunday. This week was chosen to make it easier to get the mall store going & open earlier. So, I may wait a week to buy the tickets to see if the mall thing can be ironed out first. If it turns out it wont work, we may move the vacation to a week later.

Ok, I think that’s all the thoughts I wanted to get out. You get a cookie if you’ve read all this.

Just when you think life is good ...

Funny how life can change in an instant. Just when you think life is going along just fine, wham.

I should elaborate.

Life has been going along the past few weeks on fairly positive notes, with a few kinks here & there. It seemed the kinks were nothing any of us couldn’t handle.

I’ve mentioned how I feel like the red headed step child when it comes to the market. Well, Saturday things went rather well on a personal note at the market. No, I didn’t have anything cool like record sales. I did get some of my new bookmarks made. I even sold one. Got many compliments on them as well. My day was good for a few reasons. I saw the cold shoulder I was getting from “them” but it didn’t matter. I was in a fantastic mood for no particular reason. To start the day, I located my assigned spot, which was on the opposite side of the row from normal. Wow. I wanna be on this side always. The energy on this side felt so much better. A record number of people came into my space. People noticed, commented on & asked questions about my coasters. I sold 2 smaller sale prints, one new book mark and 8 of the other ones! It only amounted to $36, but I was happy. Along with the sales, came some nice conversation, visiting with my market neighbor who turns out we have allot in common, some friends came to hang out, the sun was shining… a good day. Money wise it still wasn’t worth my time, but all the rest more than made up for things.

One of the things I got to talking about with my neighbor there was the idea of having our own store at the mall for the holidays. All Etsy crafters. She loved the idea. Mention was made to another fellow Etsy crafter who also sells at the market. She loved the idea too. Both are ready to take part, give the time required and the money. Things were ready for me to move forward with. This felt great since Connie & I had sat & brain stormed about the thought of this last week. We talked about details, big things, options, everything.

After the market, we (me, Tim & Connie) went to a newly discovered, small, hippie vintage clothing store. We brought along 2 of the friends who had spent time with us at the market. It was fun. I didn’t buy anything, but Connie & one of the girls we brought did.

So … I had a wonderful weekend. Saturday evening was … Oh My Goddess good.

I spent allot of time recently thinking about how things have been going. I was looking forward to talking to the people at the mall. I was happy to have such a positive response to my new book marks. I was making new connections in various things. Life was good. We’ve even been thinking about truly checking into the house next to our friend that has been empty & for sale for quite some time. He seems to feel he has some connections that may help us out.

Today was a good day too. I was again in a good mood for no particular reason. Things were going well. Life was good for the most part. Connie & I went & ran some errands this morning before heading to the mall to meet with Stacey. We got to go in & see the space, walk thru it, & ask questions. It looked like everything was falling into place & going to work out well.

We came home, relaxed a bit & I headed out to water the plants. Moved a few from the too sunny back deck area back to the side & front where the rest of the potted plants were. Cleaned up some that were dying, in hopes that they are salvageable. Got the hose out & watered the heck out of everything. Connie came out & helped to get the huge hollyhocks cut back. We have a bunch of seeds saved for next year when hopefully we have our own yard to plant them in. We have plenty to even share with friends. This is the only way our big ass trash receptacle ever gets full. We put bunches of stalks in there. So in cleaning everything up, we found that there are new shoots coming up!! YAY!! What a fun surprise. We cleaned things up so that some of the self seeded sunflowers could have room to grow.

Then as we were cleaning up … Tim came home. Our lives were about to change. Fast.

After the typical Hi honey I’m home stuff… he asks me how I’d feel about him working a swing shift. Possibly from like 2 to 10. Sounded good to me. But … what about all the overtime?? No more. No more overtime. Gone. 3 months before we were ready. We knew that come late fall, the overtime would pretty much disappear until spring. But we had plans in place for that. By the time the OT went away, the mall money would cover it. Then income tax time comes to help us thru till the OT kicks back in. Well. Guess not.

I’m kind of in shock. I haven’t spoken more than a few words all evening. To anyone. I know it’s not his fault. Whether he went to swing shift or not, the overtime was going away. Now, they are trying this out to see how it works. Neither of us can see any reason why it won’t work. They have some huge jobs that need to be done so they are hiring 3 new guys and splitting everyone up into 2 shifts. I asked if he asked for a raise since he was the one out of the group who was turning his life upside down with the shift change. He said he hadn’t asked. I said he should. So he says he will. He even felt it was worth a shot to ask. Even a $2 an hour raise won’t make up for the OT he’s been getting but it would help make the transition a bit easier. We’ll see.

Right now I’m ever so thankful we have Connie here to help. Without her help, within a month we’d be up shit creek, without any paddles.

I know something has to change. I just have to figure out what & how. How do I find work that’s temporary … since the beginning of November we are supposed to go on vacation to Florida, and then I’m supposed to do the mall? So I look for something and say I just need something from now till the end of October.

One thought is to actively pursue the Leavenworth Art in the Park. But I don’t have enough stock to get started right now. And obviously, don’t have the money this moment to make more stock. This rock & hard place crap is getting old.

Somehow, this has happened for a reason. Somehow, we’ll make it thru this too. I’m just not sure how right now.

Thoughts on Whole Living

When you indulge, stop to savor every taste.

Each day has its small successes – take time to celebrate them.

Beauty reflects self care. Let yourself glow.

I guess this would be some good stuff to listen to. Today, I have not listened at all.

Monday again already?

Wow… I’m really slacking. I don’t even know what to write or where to start. I just figured it’s about time I write a little something.

**And just after I wrote that, the man came home. I had figured I had at least 20 minutes before he got home. Was nice to see him a few minutes early. So now we’ve showered & had dinner. Wrestling is on the TV. He’s relaxing with an iced coffee & watching it. I’m back here where I can just glance over & catch a bit here & there. Another 40 minutes & he’ll be off to bed.

I’ve had a fairly busy day today. I spent well over an hour this morning vacuuming. No, our place is not that big. We have one of those bagless vacs. Well, apparently I’ve neglected the floors a bit too long. I had to stop & empty the cup numerous times. I’d see how full the cup was, empty it and go vacuum over the area again. I went over the living area 4 times, the entry way 3 times, the hallway twice, and our bedroom & bath area 2+ times. Teach me to let the vacuuming go. I swept the kitchen too & stuck the rugs in the wash. I spent some time going thru our rather large closet in the bedroom too. I packed up some winter stuff. I pulled out & rearranged boxes to make more room. Even added a couple things to the yardsale box. So now I have a place to store some more packed boxes. I don’t have any more packed yet, but at least now I have a place to put them when I do. I like that.

As for the past week that I haven’t written about … I don’t know what to say. Guess I’ll leave it alone for now. Even market politics suck.

Last week Office Depot had a sale on their color copies. .29 instead of .49 each sheet. Add .06 for each sheet of card stock & I was on my way to get some book marks printed. I also had a coupon for 15% off my print order. Well, I made 30 book marks. I got 20 of each one printed. They came out fabulous. I am happy with them for sure. I didn’t get them cut & laminated in time for the market on Saturday tho. I did make a sneak peak folder thing so people could see what was coming. Cute & clever idea… but only a couple people stopped to look. No matter. The fact anyone looked made me happy. I’ll be working on cutting them apart & laminating them this week. I hope to at least have a few ready for Saturday.

Proud to be an American

Got this in an email from a friend. Had to share .. made me LOL .. out loud even !!

A recent study conducted by Harvard University found that

the average American walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study by the American Medical Association found that

Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year.

This means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles per gallon.

Kind of makes you proud to be an American.

Notes from the Universe

Just look to those who already possess as you wish to possess or who've already achieved as you wish to achieve, Nicole, and ask yourself whether or not they have some special gift that you do not have? If they have more angels working on their behalf? If they're any more loved than you are now loved? If they have suffered more, worked harder, or waited longer than you? If I would permit them to be "luckier" or have it easier than you? And you will see, after careful consideration, that their success depended upon none of these things. It arrived simply because they expected it to arrive, and then they lived their life accordingly.

Boom, there it is -
The Universe

Even tho I get these 5 days a week, sometimes, they just hit ya. They make more sense. The light goes on. The wonder is there. I think today's was one of those. So I just expect to make money, sell my photography, have all the money we need, and live that way. If I can believe that ...

Thoughts on Whole Living

Be straightforward. An honest response often trumps a clever one.

Discover new ways to share the things you love.

Worry breeds anxiety; intuition invites calm.

To read these really makes ya think. I often wonder how different our world would be if more people stopped to think.

Monday ramblings

Six days since I wrote. Again. I think about it all the time, yet always find myself distracted & then the day is gone.

Last Tuesday Connie & I went back up to Chelan. This time we spent our time in a fun shop called Spirals, & then headed to the Wal-Mart Super Center. We don’t have one here in town. Over a hundred bucks later for each of us, we headed home. I did get a nice new pair of earrings and a nifty rock called Modavite. Oh the money I could have spent in Spirals. Wal-Mart… well, we split the bill since it was mostly food, & each of us spent about $100. Money sure goes quick these days.

I don’t recall what I did last Wednesday. That’s sad.

Last week on Thursday I got together with a friend for some girl time. We got to know each other a little more, which was nice. We learned we have more in common than either of us ever thought. Kinda cool.

Friday my honey had the day off. Nice. We ended up having to replace the starter on his car that morning. Finally, it runs right again. Then he worked on replacing the fuel hose on the bike. Oh what an ordeal buying that thing was. Installing it was easy in comparison. I had taken the formed hose down to the Honda shop. They couldn’t find the hose in their computers. We had tried ordering the 2 formed hoses that the computer showed, but they ended up being the wrong ones. We finally just got plain old bulk fuel hose & used that. Thankfully, it made the bends we needed it to make without a problem. So now the bike runs well again too.

Friday evening we went to a friends for a small BBQ party. Come fireworks time, we ended up along the river in a fairly decent spot to watch. Was nice, without crowds or traffic issues. Granted it would have been allot nicer if it had been just me & my man, but all in all, it was okay. We had our own fireworks Saturday night so that made up for it somewhat. J

Saturday morning Connie & I went to the market. We both sold almost the same amount. I was happy for her that she sold some of her wood burning stuff. I sold more cards(7) & book marks(4) than I have in quite awhile. Still only made like $34, but even that was better in relative terms than the whole Chelan weekend. And I had more people wander thru & look in the first 2 hours than I did all weekend in Chelan. Granted, we had a beautiful day weather wise too. In all, not a bad market. Not great or truly worth the time, but not bad.

After getting home & unloaded, we relaxed a bit. Connie headed off to work & we headed out to take some pictures & just be together. I took some of the dam, so I hope they came out decent. I haven’t looked yet. Bad huh?

Sunday Tim went off on a motorcycle ride. He figured he’d only be gone a couple hours. No biggie, we’d do something together when he got back. Well his 2 hours turned into 4 ½. He ended up visiting a bit longer than expected with a few artists we know up in Leavenworth. He had a good time tho, & that’s what matters. I just kinda hung out here & relaxed. After he got home we decided neither of us felt like cooking, so we went out to have Chinese. Then afterwards, we tried finding me a new bathing suit. Yeah, that was fun. Not. There’s nothing left. It’s only July & the suits along with all other summer things, are already on clearance & going fast. What the heck? Even some of the stores garden centers are clearing out stuff. Marketing people are crazy. Back to school stuff is on the shelves already. Sigh.

So there is a quick rundown of the past week. I spent some time today packing some boxes. No, we don’t have a move date yet. But some things we just don’t need out, so they can get packed now. I didn’t feel like sitting here all day so I figured I should be constructive. 9 various sized boxes later, I’m good. Almost all my nick knacks are packed. The photo albums are packed. The bar stuff, a few kitchen things, all packed. Hey it’s a start. A small one but a start.

Well, now it’s just about time for the man to get home. So a shower, and some dinner then relaxing & he’ll be off to bed just after 8. Not sure what I plan to do with the rest of my evening.

Thoughts on Whole Living

I missed a couple days with the holiday weekend.

Learning to let go begins with understanding why you’ve been hanging on.

Do more than understand stress reduction; put it into practice.

There’s no way to grow without taking a few risks.

Thoughts on Whole Living

Food has the power to transform. Choose yours intentionally.

Let your soul weigh in on your decisions.

Don’t rush positive change. The best kind comes gradually.

Thoughts on Whole Living

On the back page of each issue of Body & Soul, there is a list of thoughts. As I went thru my pile of issues, tearing out pages of things I wanted so I could recycle the rest, I kept allot of these thoughts. I'm going to share them a few at a time, hopefully, daily.

Don’t wait until you have no room left in your day to breathe; make space right now.

Anger has a way of evaporating in the face of compassion.

Find pleasure in the simplest tasks.

Could you live here?

I dont remember where I got the link, but this is cool. Check out the Moving Skyscraper. Not sure if I could actually live in one, but I sure would love to see one. Once you watch this short video, there are several others to see on the same subject. Pretty nifty ...