Sunday, November 29, 2009

Another successful year at Festival of Trees!

This is one of my favorite events every year and this year was no exception. We met some great people and enjoyed the people watching during the 4 hour event. The fundraising this year is for a new Hospice House and the event was well attended and well funded. Our little contribution makes a difference and this is the time of year to remember that.
Now that the fun of that event is over I'm heading back to the studio and the hustle and bustle of our wonderful business. I'm sure there will be an update on that soon!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Giving Thanks

I have seen so many FB status updates about what people are thankful for this week. Seemed strange to me until I realized that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!?!?! I'm sorry, what now?
So the leisurely approach to my "to-do" list just went out the window. Here is a sample of what I'm attempting to get done in the next 5 days.
~Call the electrician to fix the bathroom light fixture which has been on the fritz for weeks and we are just now getting around to doing something about it.
~Clean out the garage enough that Mike can get his boxes of stuff out for the annual fundraiser he is the finance chair for. (Notice I did not say finish the job - think more of a path to through our personal crap to get to his work crap that is buried in there somewhere)
~Move back the piles of crap to expose the washer and dryer and get caught up on laundry
~Plan and shop for our part of the Thanksgiving meal at GG and Papa's house
~Spend an afternoon with my dad and his wife so they can see Courtney - done!
~Get Courtney's bedroom ready for Mike's mom who is visiting for a week
~Attend Mike's work party but leave early so we can make it to Courtney's Fall Harvest Party at school - Not going, decided to just do the fun school party instead!!!
~Get a haircut? This is a big maybe. Might be more like me hacking at my hair in the bathroom. - done!
~Finish the staff schedule for the studio
~Get an email ready to send to all our customers letting them know about our Black Friday Sale - delegated, so done!
~Clear the pile of clean laundry off the top of the dresser and actually get it put away. I know the pair of pants I'm missing are somewhere in that pile.
~Pick up my mother-in-law at the airport
~Spend a morning in Kindergarten being the helper parent

And I'm a little tired just thinking about all of that. So now I'm heading to Dutch Brothers to get some energy. It's gonna be a great day!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Exercise Overload

So this weekend I started walking again. And for a nice easy introduction to exercise decided to tackle a 4 mile hike. Now granted it was all flat, so no real incline was involved. But this body has not experienced any exercise since P.E. was mandatory in high school! Needless to say I was a little tired when it was all said and done. And thank goodness for my walking partner or I would have given up and gone home. After a short rest period, basically me passed out on the couch for the next 2 hours, it was time to go to work. The studio is in that pre-holiday state where it seems to get busier every day. So my Saturday evening included a busy studio, not an empty table in the joint, two parties and loading one kiln. After 6 hours of being on my feet and busy I was getting a little cranky! My darling husband did come and help out for the last hour thank goodness. It was pretty much home to bed after that day of madness.
Fade into the next morning.... and it truly was a fade in....took quite the negotiating skills to get my body out of bed. And what is on the agenda for this blustery Sunday morning? Cleaning gutters and stacking wood at the grandparents house. Mind you, my grandparents have about 6 acres of property and are 79 and 82. Thankfully Mike is happy to help and we try and get up to their house once a month or so and help out with whatever they need done. So Mike worked on cleaning the gutters and Courtney and I cleaned out the barn (no actual animals anymore, mostly storage for the various family members and the studio). We packed up a few display pieces to take to the studio and put more things away that needed a home in the barn. After this project we stacked two cords of wood in the wood barn and loaded a truck full to bring down to the house. We filled up the wood stack at the house and got everything covered back up. Finally it was time to call it a day and go in for some of GG's stew and biscuits. I tried to convince the family that if you are supposed to get 20 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 times a week that I had, in two days, exercised enough for the rest of the year. They didn't buy it. I'm going to keep working that angle. At least until next weekend when it's time to walk the trails again.
And now I will stop wining about my excessive exercise this weekend and get back to work. Have you ever noticed how you feel better after you complain for a minute? Thanks for letting me complain! :)

Friday, November 6, 2009

Halloween Fun

Yes I know it has been a week since Halloween. But this picture is SO cute I wanted to share. Better late than never right? Our great friends have an annual Halloween Party and pumpkin patch. It is something we look forward to every year. Hard to believe we have been 5 years in a row!
Courtney had a great time on Halloween. We spent some time at a friends house handing out candy and had a really fun time. We did not get many trick-or-treaters at our house however and consequently we still have candy in the bowl. I'm not sure why I pretend I have any willpower. I finally gave up and ate almost every Milky Way in the bowl. And when Courtney asked me where the candy went., I blamed her dad.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Kindergarten is a vacuum!

So here it is November already and I'm realizing that Kindergarten is a vacuum. It sucked up all of our time during the fall. Maybe it's just me but the addition of only two more days of school as week makes our schedule twice as busy. Both Courtney and I are enjoying the new friends and activities. The "school" aspect is so different from preschool. And yes. I did cry most of the first week. Court did great! Her mom was a mess.

So it's a few weeks in and just when we think we have a handle on things our whole house gets sick. It was awful! Between the three of us we missed almost two weeks of school/work. We did play a lot of legos and UNO though. Now it's November and the beginning of the holidays. Will we ever get caught up? Family is coming for thanksgiving. Mike is working what we hope is his last year at the Festival of Trees. I am hiring new staff, training the group, placing orders and generally going a little bit crazy every day. But hey, it's Wednesday, what else did I have to do today anyway?