A Time For Everything

 

My annual trek to Omaha to see my family was good...

I took a different approach to the actual driving portion of the weekend which was to just not hurry. I really love the scenery of the mid-west corridor or this section of the fly-over states.

Farmers' fields in the plush bloom of being just about ready for harvest feeds my soul. The sky, usually a crisp blue, was blocked by hazy air most of the way this year due to heat and wildfires. But I hit a stretch of road and sky between Holton, Kansas and Nebraska City, NE with the clear blue that brings me so much joy. I rolled down all the windows and enjoyed the view along with the "cool"--only mid-80's that day!!

The actual visits are uncontrolled chaos. There are toddlers and elementary-aged kids along with young adults and, really, just A LOT of bodies in a very small space. My step-mom says next year we're dividing up the visits. Half the fam on Saturday, the half on Sunday. I am very okay with that. :0)

Mostly we sat around chit-chatting and getting caught up on one another's lives. And then there's always some delicious food. This year, spaghetti, pulled pork, and fajitas.

Also--my brother James arrived home from boot camp/tech school on Thursday evening. So the whole crew was there.

One of the highlights of my trip was visiting my dad's grave during daylight hours. I've always gone at 5am on my way out of town. This time I went Sunday morning around sunrise. And it was lovely and I'm doing that again next year.

Another bonus of going to the cemetery while it was light out was seeing deer, but more importantly, actually seeing the pinwheels I leave behind. As an extra special hello, there was a bit of a breeze, and I managed to catch the whirling pinwheels on video.

Hope your three-day weekend was relaxing.

And now that Labor Day is behind us, it's time to for me to get back to work and back on track with exercising and eating right and all the other things that have taken a back seat to surviving the heat.

Catch you Thursday!

 

Thank goodness it's Friday.

It's been a tough week and a tough month. Next month will be just as busy.

Am I ready? No.

Do I have a choice? No.

February, here I come...

New family member, Rayna, is settling in quite nicely. I thought she would miss her dad more, and if she saw him, she'd probably go crazy. I think the upgrade in her living conditions has made a difference in how she's handled the transition--she's not boxed up or sleeping 18 to 20 hours of the day. Yep... she was in her box when her dad was at work and since he works overnight, he'd sleep during the day, so Rayna was sleeping with him.

Here, while she is alone for many hours during the day, she's not boxed up and can roam the house. She's well behaved and doesn't tear stuff up and she has toys. She's allowed on Sonshine's bed as far as furniture goes, and there are a couple of dog beds for her use. Our yard is about three times the size of her previous yard, so she can run and play and chase away all my wildlife. And when we're home we pay attention to her, talk to her, and play with her.

But she's technically, DD's dog. DD was told that if we agreed to give Rayna a new home, she would go with DD when she moves out. DD agreed. So Rayna is really just a temporary house guest. But it's nice to have a critter in the house again.

Oh, yeah, I was going to talk about our 4th of July--it was super crazy busy. And when I say the 4th, I really mean the 3rd and the 4th as that's when I'm there helping out. The selling season begins June 24th and ends midnight on the 4th....

So DD and I went down to the store Wednesday, the 3rd. It was 2:30ish by the time we arrived and had to pretty much jump right into the fray. DH had hired five other workers bees and they were busy selling, selling, selling. DD and I brought two more helpers besides ourselves.

By three p.m. we were all in and we didn't slow down until close to midnight, when we lock the doors for the night.

Our biggest competition used to be another indoor store just up the block on the corner, and because of the placement of the exit ramp, people would blow right by our store and see that one first. Then they'd stop in on their way back by and say, "I wish I had stopped here first, your prices are cheaper." ARGH!!

Two things conspired in our favor, beginning last season.

One: they guy on the corner had to sell quite a few of his stores after the fireworks ban (as opposed to a burn ban, though those were in effect too) in 2010. He buys/bought his inventory straight from China. Because of the ban no one could sell, and subsequently he didn't make the money needed either to pay off what he owed for inventory or to buy more inventory for the next season. The chances of the ban were very high and we bought only what we could pay for out of pocket and we buy locally. The other guy, however, has to buy nine months in advance. No way to know about a ban that far out.

Now I'm not happy for his unfortunate circumstance, I'm really not, but I can't help be glad for our change of same.

Two: because of all the road construction around the state and the fact that I-35, right off of which our store is located, is being widened, the exit was moved a mile or so south from its original location.
This means potential customers are going much slower by the time they reach us and can actually see us.

Last Christmas was our first season without competition. In addition, DH rented the billboard space right above the exit *and* took out a half page ad in the Thrift Nickel. We doubled our best Christmas season. Fast forward to 4th of July where we generally do 2/3 more business than at Christmas. Yikes!

Okay, I'm getting tired of my topic now, and I bet you are too, so let me just say there were people in the store on the 4th from about 9am until midnight. We had (and I'm not exaggerating) a 30 to 45 SECOND respite at about 11:30ish (pm). The remaining customer walked out and I looked at someone and said, "Can you believe there's no one in the store." And not but a moment later another customer walked in, and we had at least one customer in the store until midnight.

HOLY SMOKES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best summer season ever. And last season we were able to pay off the person we bought the store from, so that huge expense is finally gone!

If only we could use our profits for getting out of debt, however, we're being audited, so we need to save it all in case we have to pay. Ugh! But watch out next season! We'll be well on our way to becoming debt free!!


Here are some of our helpers: