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Not much time lately

Haven't had any time to write in this thing...really!!  My folks flew in on Wednesday and it has been pretty much non-stop ever since. I have been their chauffeur pretty much the whole time, not that I mind. Really only been on the internet long enough to read my email and check out another sheltie that we'd like to adopt from sheltie rescue. :)

Picked up the folks at the airport after their flight arrived a half hour late which put us right in the thick of rush hour that we crawled in for a while until we got further north on I-35 .    They like their hotel okay except they heard a lot of noise one night which sometimes can't be avoided.  Offered to let them stay at my sister's or my house (although we only have a 'single' bed in the one bedroom that is my daughter's who is away at college).  I don't mind the hotel thing except that they can't get anywhere unless I pick them up :). I've shown them downtown Georgetown, the local country club, Sun City, WOOD STOCK and places like that.  I told them how much the deer hang around all the time and they hadn't seen any until last night when we were coming back from a dance show at the highschool that my other daughter was in.  I saw one on the side of the road and slowed down to a crawl so they could see it. 

Oh yes the dance show was good although Stacey was only in one number that only went about a minute and a half!    She looked very pretty and is really happy that she made the school's dance team.  I'm glad too because I knew she missed dance and although she has a dance class in her regular school schedule, it is not the level that a dance studio is and I'm sure she knows how to do everything that is taught during class.

My folks did find, put an offer in, counter-offer a few times, and got under agreement a house right up the street from us which will make it really convenient if they need me for something.  I can be there in less than 5 minutes via car (and can walk it in about 15 I think).  Hopefully all will go smoothly in the selling of their house and buying of this one.  It is still a little up in the air as to whether or not my sis and I are flying out to help them by driving their car out here.  Mom didn't like the turbulence with flying and did mention maybe she'd rather ride back with us. Dad said he wouldn't mind driving but he didn't think mom would be able to sit that long.  ...so who knows.

Well I just got a call from them and need to hop in the shower before I pick them up today. Other than that there isn't a whole lot new going on. Took off work Wed half day and all of Thurs/Friday. Got 3 new files overnighted to me for my side biz - ugh-  Now I feel like I am behind the 8 ball with work. Maybe my sis can take them back to the airport tomorrow so I don't lose 2 hours.

 

 

Poppin in

Just sneaking in here mid-day Tuesday to write a few lines. I am glad my folks are coming to town tomorrow as I could use the break from work.  My home office is looking bad again from having too many papers all over the place.  I'm going to try to straighten it up a bit this afternoon.  Trying to decide if I want any OT tonight if offered.  I still have some tidying up to do before they come. Although they are not staying here so it doesn't have to be perfect.

My sister and I were talking on the phone this morning about where they may live and she thinks it would be nice if they lived somewhere halfway between us two.  I prefer them being only a mile or 2 away for convenience sake but we'll see where they choose to live. I just hope they find an house they like in one short weekend!  I know I did but it wasn't one that my realtor or sister scoured the internet to find, we just happened to be driving by it.

It is raining out today but that is okay, at least there is no hail/lightning or tornado warnings. This reminds me more of the weather in PA.

Back to work for now.

 

The day of rest..NOT

Well although I was always taught that Sunday was to be the day of rest, I worked today! If it wasn't my mortgage work, it was laundry. But I got all the work done and laundry only have 1 small load to be TOTALLY caught up with laundry and that is a rare thing for me!  My family is thanking me for having shirts they can wear again that they haven't worn in a month!

Drove around the area to look for houses for my folks to look at when they come out this week.  There are a few around that I think they'd like, but only they can judge what they'll like. It will be nice to see them again!  It has been since last August right before we moved here.

My one daughter had her boyfriend visiting this afternoon. He is a nice boy and I do let them hang out in her bedroom with the door open of course! My parents would never even consider this when I was a kid, but I trust her and I did go upstairs to check on the laundry at times too. Poor guy just had is wisdom teeth out and he is still a bit swollen but at least that is a once and done thing.

I was really excited today because hub called me and told me I sold some Lavender Love today at our store Wood Stock !

 

I was thrilled to hear that as he was concerned about mixing wood art with a few things that I sell.  It is a good thing that I did get a sale!  Too bad I wasn't there to see it but I had to work on files today. 

Tonight was recap night on Desperate Housewives and Greys Anatomy but I watched Greys anyway.  I need my Sunday dose of Mr McDreamy, although Merediths dogs' vet is hopefully going to strike up something with her and become a regular. There would be no complaints from me if that happens. Besides McDreamy is trying to work things out with his wife so Meredith might as well find some fresh blood. :)

Well I am going to scout around realtor.com a little then hit the sack.

Friday Evening

It was a beautiful day out today compared to yesterday and it was tough to be in the work mood this afternoon. I played fetch with Molly for a little while out back and enjoyed it for a bit. She really loves to chase a ball and bring it back to me. She always drops it then runs ahead to try to be close to it and catch it on the first bounce in the air! She'd probably be good at agility but I don't know the first thing about finding out how to do it, where to go, etc. Not to mention the fact that she is not very social with other dogs.  She really can be aggressive with the snipping and barking.  In fact yesterday when we were walking the dogs a dog we had never seen came barreling up to us and Stacey noticed.  I didn't know if it was going to be friendly or not so I picked up Molly mostly to protect her.  Turns out the dog did not attack but didn't walk away right away either. S/he wanted to say hi to my dogs and visit but Molly was barking and scratching me to death.  We got the other dog to actually 'stay' - should have thought of that sooner and then I put Molly down.  She really scratched up my neck, arm and stomach with all her flailing!   So she wouldn't be socialized enough to even do agility.  I know I could take an obedience class with her although she CAN SIT and stay for a while as she has done that many times, but it is just the money and the time element, neither of which I have much to spare right now.

Thankfully I have OT I can work this weekend.  The store was slow this week and although I'm going in tomorrow with hub and hope we sell something, it'd be nice if things picked up a little bit more. Still doing okay considering we just opened April 1st and have more advertising in the works. 

Well the folks are coming out here Wednesday to look into getting a home near us. That will be really nice for them to be close by in case they need me and my mom can finally get away from the cold winters!  I think they will like it here.

My brother's birthday was today and I did remember as I always do and sent him an E-card.  He is 53 today. Time does seem to get away from us...

 

Stopping by Quickly

Yesterday was scary but also a bit comical to me.  From about 2:30pm on, there were t-storm and hail warnings throughout the rest of the day. Hub called me to recommend that I put my little wind up car ('95 Honda Civic) in the garage so that it didn't get pulverized by any hail that may come through.  I did put it in the garage and we did get hit with hail for a few minutes which looked really odd on the street. It was about pea size which around here is 'nothing'!  Last night the news footage showed an Outlet Mall in the San Marcos area that got hit with baseball sized hail and there were about a thousand vehicles with body damage and windshields that were not made to withstand baseball size hail coming down from the sky at who know what speed?  Hm...perhaps a question for that science guy.

Okay, now for the comical part.  Every time I stopped working because I finally gave it up and shut down my computer, the storm would seem to pass.  Then just when I thought it was safe and I was about 10 minutes into my work, it would start lightning again and I had to shut it down again.  This happened another 3 times when I finally gave up around 8:30pm and gave my computer the biggest break ever ~ shutting it completely off for the night!   

If computers had feelings I'm sure it would have been shocked at that!  Well I better get to work. I'll write later on if I get the chance. TGIF!

Been a while

Okay, so it has been a while since I've written.  I had every intention of catching this thing up last night, but we had some pretty bad thunderstorms here and I had to shut everything down for a while.  Then I tried to finish up some mortgage work but the cable internet was down.  Was about to give up after 11:30 because the screens move so slowly when I'm on dial up...but cable came back up and got it all done, even though it was after midnight when I got to bed.

They say everything is bigger in Texas and so are the storms!  Not regular rain storms with passing lightning and thunder.  These storms roll through with a vengence!  There are usually strong winds, tornado warnings and hail of all different sizes during these storms.  The sky looked so ominous last night too. The clouds were sort of a burnt orange color at the rim and really dark above it.  Shudder!!  But I still  love it here!  The mild/warm weather can't be beat, even though we had some record breaking heat the last few days.

I have a new business - yes ANOTHER one!  Well actually two!  Okay I know I'm nuts.  The one evolved from a place where we are purchasing some wood items wholesale for selling at our store Wood Stock.  The gal that owns the company was offering to make websites for any owner who wanted to get in on a $50 deal!  So I took it because I can always add another website to my DianeStJames Main one.  My business name is a website I've had but haven't really done much with lately and actually let it lapse but I grabbed it up again. This is my webstore with all the products that I sell - Diane's Domestic Shoppe    Feel free to stop in and SHOP!

The other new biz I got into is MaddyMoo which sounds like a really funny name. The main reason I joined it is that it still has founding member positions which is always a good place to be and it has really unusual handbags and totes that I wanted to get a few and put in our store Wood Stock (in my display case). I will get one for me to use too (nothing like free advertising). And I'll add this store to my main website as well. Multiple streams of income is what it is all about!

Had another sale yesterday at the store- woo hoo!  Glad that there is starting to get some folks coming out so that hub feels like it is worth it going in.  He is doing his wood burnings out there too though, so it isn't like it is total wasted time. 

My oldest daughter really wants to go to PA this summer for the majority of the summer but I don't like the boarding arrangement. Tough love is really hard on a parent sometimes.  We try to do things in order to protect our children that they disagree with, especially when they turn 18.  There is still time for this to work out so that she can go see her friends and I can feel better about the who, what and where.

I better get to work now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny Saturday

My websites and emails finally came back on Friday afternoon. I had about 650 emails to my main email addy which means probably about 2000+ bounced.  I get a lot of emails and since it was down pretty much 2 days...ugh.  Hopefully nothing important was missed!  I had to unbounce myself from my yahoo groups and many of those bounced for sure!

I was surprised I wasn't asked to work some OT this weekend - but it was a nice break not having to think about doing some work on top of trying to do some house cleaning and work at the store.

Today we were all working at the store. It was a slow day but it could easily be due to the holiday too.  We had one sale - a nice bracelet :)    A nice man was buying it to give his wife for Easter.  Funny how Easter is to some folks.  When I was a kid Easter was about being reminded of Jesus who died for our sins and yes there was Easter candy galore and Easter egg hunts too.  But I don't recall adults buying for other adults. But hey, I'm not complaining!!  If someone wants to buy his wife a beautiful piece of jewelry for Easter - who am I to stop him! 

We did get visited by one man who has some wooden boxes in the store.  He brought a simple piece of wood that is actually a wine bottle holder.  It is different and we are definitely putting it out. I like how we keep getting a nice variety of things for the store.  Of course it is hard to sit there waiting for folks to come out. I don't know how hub does it every day!

We are closed tomorrow in observance of Easter - which is fine because I don't know how many people would come if we were open.  We are going to my sister's for dinner.  Unfortunately my oldest isn't going to make it home.  She is working a double shift.  I miss her (and I know her sister does too)!!

Okay well that 's all for now.

 

Still down

My websites and email are still down :(  Hope I am not losing too much business or important emails. It is really hard not having emails. I keep going in to check and remembering it is all down. I'm going to have to probably reactivate some yahoo groups with all the emails that have been bouncing.

Had lunch today with a gal from a mortgage insurance company. She was very nice and we had a nice lunch together. It was sort of like having lunch with a girl friend. We talked about things that were mostly not business related.  It was nice going out for lunch since I usually make lunch and eat it while I'm working here at my desk.

Ankle feels alot better tonight. We even walked the dogs.  It was pretty hot today and our old guy Reebok was really panting by the time we got home.  I felt bad for him, but he carries on so much when cars go by, he twirls and twirls and barks and tires himself out!  He is going to be 9 in a few months so he's getting up there although he's in good health :)

Not much else new. Tomorrow is Friday :)

 

Woeful Wednesday

Today I twisted my ankle.  It was a stupid thing but I guess my ankles were telling me it was about time for another ouch!  I used to sprain them both often when i was a kid but really haven't had a whole lot of trouble lately.  I fell down as quickly as I could to spare any major damage and it really isn't too swollen although I can't put all my weight on it. I iced it right away so that helped I think. It was funny with my foot up on the desk with ice on it, trying to finish up my work. LOL   Silly me!

More OT for work. Woo Hoo!  And a few more people came into the store today and really liked it and told Steve so. Now we need to get more folks in to actually BUY something! I think he may start chatting with folks so much that they don't really get in the buying mood but at least he is still upbeat and positive about it.

My websites and email have been down since noon. No doubt the server my webhost is using had some major issues today.  I had hoped it would be up by tonight as I don't want emails bouncing all over the place. But considering that I get thousands of emails a day, I'm sure there are some out there bouncing. I just hope I don't miss anything important.

Tomorrow is my exercise day but I think I'm going to have to pass. No running on this ankle for a few days. Hopefully I can drive around with it okay. It is my right ankle (of course). Well it wouldn't matter too much if it was left anyway since I drive a stick shift.

Off to watch David Letterman and hit the sack.

 

Monday Monday...can't trust that day..

Oh yes, the Mamas and Papas...now I'm really dating myself aren't I?  It was a bad news / good news sort of day.

Well my hub got a speeding ticket last week and I found out today it is a lot of money! So...hopefully that won't happen again. It really hurts both of us when he gets a ticket because it all comes out of the same pot and there is a chance the insurance will go up too.   :(

Now some good news! One of my daughters came home from school and annouced that she was picked Student of the Week!! This is a big deal considering there are over 600 in her class!  She got a free t-shirt, pen and some really neat coupons for some freebies like miniature golf and donut holes! Makes me really proud that she is so well liked by her teachers!

Had a parents meeting tonight for the school dance team she is on and didn't get home until after 8:30PM. I had some OT to do but now some more bad news...the website I needed to get in to work was down and I tried and tried until after 10:00PM to get in but to no avail.

The good news is tomorrow is another day and I'm going to get up early to see if I can do some before the actual work day starts. Hey at least they can't say I don't try! 

Made shrimp alfredo tonight and it turned out really well, considering I substituted spagetting for fettucini. Yum.

 

 

 

Suddenly Sunday

Okay Friday came fast but Sunday came faster!  Probably because I spent most of the day working at WOOD STOCK yesterday.  We did get one sale (to someone we knew) but it still counts as a sale! :)  All in all a boring day for moi but you never know when we may get a group of folks in there and hub would have too much to handle.  There were two older women who came in and by the look on their faces you'd think someone had tortured them to come to our store!  Maybe they always have a permanent scowl on their faces but oh well - in and out. They did each take one of Steve's business cards though so maybe something will come of it. Maybe they'll run back to their coffee clutch gals and tell them about the wonderful store they saw and they all just HAVE to come back and shop!    Always got to stay optimistic.

I was reading one of the newsletters I get Tips for Extraordinary Living and in it he wrote this which is apparently a quote from somewhere "It's been said that time is the only resource any of us truly have, and once it's gone, it's gone forever."  He was referring to folks who work too much and don't take time out to relax.  But I actually thought of something completely different than that.   What that meant to me is that we all have at least one thing in common from the day we are born, and that is time. We all have the same 24 hours a day to do with it what we want.  Sometimes folks ask me (when I tell them all that I do and how many businesses I run or at least have) how do I do it all?  If only they had the time! 

We all have the same amount of time and how we handle that time is what makes all the difference.  How many people spend too many hours watching TV, or checking their email (I plead guilty to this), or whatever and at the end of the day what have they really accomplished that they wanted to accomplish that day? Nothing!  Of course if you don't have any ambitions in life then that is no big deal.  But I like to have(even if it isn't in writing) a life plan...where I want to be in such and such time. 

For at least the last two years I knew I wanted to move to a warmer place to live and really strive to work at home again where I could feel so much more independent and rely on MYSELF for the multi-tasking efforts I know I can do.  If I'm stuck in an office job I have to adhere to all the office rules not to mention wasting time driving to and from - and around here it would probably take me at least 45 minutes one way no matter where I worked.

I also wanted to work smarter so that I worked less and could drink in all this wonderful climate I now experience.  Well the first few goals have been met. We moved to a warmer climate where I know I won't have to shovel snow, and I work at home again. Woo hoo! 

I'll have to see how I can do things smarter to get to the third goal.  When bills, kids in college and life in general costs money though it is hard to think of ways to cut back on the work without contemplating a direct relationship to it will do to the income.   

I'll get off my soapbox about all this now but I just cringe sometimes when I hear folks complaining about not having time - yes you DO!!  It is the same 24 hours that I have. Now go make the most of it! Wow, maybe I should create an article out of this.

Speaking of working too much, I have some OT mortgage work to do today so I'm not sure about going out to the store.  I told hub I'd call him later to see if he needed me there.  He can keep himself busy by wood burning another piece of art, but I'm rather bored. No cable internet out there either or I would bring my laptop and do SOMETHING.

Another gorgeous day out, definitely a MUST PLAY GUITAR on the porch day!

me

Friday Finally?

Actually I was surprised that it was Friday. It just felt more like Thursday to me, but no complaints here! I have been working some OT which is nice since the money goes out as fast as it comes in...but I'm sure that is how it is with most people.  

I've decided my biggest pet peeve in relation to work is someone leaving me a voice mail to 'Call them back' and then I call them back and get THEIR voice mail!  If it is someone I like I just say "Tag you're it"!  If it is not I tell them to call me back and ask me what it is they want to know and so I can answer them in their voice mail because I HATE people that just say Call me!

I have some OT to work this weekend too but I'm still working out at the store. I like to see if folks come in. I want to steer them to some of MY things in the store.  Hub just sort of lets them look at things without saying some sort of sales pitch!  So it is going to be a work-filled weekend and unfortunately I also see the house getting grimy again-more work.  Maybe if the store does well, I can finally get someone in to clean the house again.  I really loved that back in PA. The gal didn't charge me and arm and a leg and we actually got to be friends too. I used to tease her about the fact that she'd have to come out and visit me so she could clean for me.  Of course I was kidding - well at least for the most part.

It was another gorgeous day out and I meant to play my guitar out on the back porch but never got around to it.  I did play ball with Molly like 3 times because I kept getting drawn outside by the beautiful full blue sky. I am so appreciative of the weather here after living in PA.  Weather there really sucked and I wish sometimes I would have moved here sooner. But the time wasn't right until last year.

Well I'll leave with this one request to anyone reading :) I want to build up my lavender love team. They are such wonderful products and only $25 to join!

Wow It\'s Wednesday!

Hump day already!  I got a nice surprising call from my folks this evening.  They are flying here the end of the month to look at houses! Woo hoo!  They have their home under agreement finally and hopefully nothing major will show up in the home inspection so that they can move the heck out here and stop freezing every winter!

Looking forward to seeing them again and hopefully they'll find something easily although I have been keeping my eye out for them quite a bit!  They are going to use the realtor I used Mike HIll who is a great guy and a great realtor!!

No sales yet at WOOD STOCK but we keep getting great wood artwork in and hub also picked up a long OPEN banner so that folks know we are open now.  We have some advertising starting up this weekend too which will help.  I'm going to help out again this weekend (as usual).

Not too bad work day for me and got some OT in as well. Gotta love that.

 

 

THURSDAY - Had to append to this that today Steve got 3 sales at  the store! Woo Hoo! I am so glad! We can frame our first dollar!

 

Tuesday ramblings

Thought I'd write on this thing before turning in for the night. Hub has been going to our store every day and even though he was going to be closed Mondays and Tuesdays we discussed the thought of being open 7 days a week. He was going to leave those two days for laminate installation jobs, but then why should he.  He doesn't have anything definite and there isn't any reason to keep going with that anyway in my opinion. Even though I totally believe in multiple streams of income, if there is a stream that hasn't been more of a trickle since we moved here I say let it dry up!

So I think that is what is going to happen.  We had another wood burning artist come today and bring some of her items. So cool to get so many artists in there!  Lots of talented folks in central Texas! :)  We have added some fragrance beads to my gift shop area as well.  They smell SO good!

Today I was actually offered some OT from my full-time job!  Woo hoo!  I don't mind making some extra money now since it will come in handy for just about anything!!

I had a phone consultation yesterday which was nice!  I just keep forgetting to put myself on available with keen.com.  I will try to do that every day now!  Although that was an appointment that was made (perhaps from my website).    Here's the link if anyone cares to talk to me about mortgage questions they have.

Off for the night.

 

Wood Stock Store rest of pictures

Hmm....okay it wouldn't take the rest of my pictures. Apparently not enough room on the blog.

But you get the idea :)  

Later.

 

New Pictures of STORE on Opening Day!!

Well okay we only had a few people come in to the store today but it was still a neat feeling finally being open!  Here are some pictures I took today! :)  Doesn't look like just an empty store anymore! :)  Had to put it in 2 posts.

 

 

 

 

Opening today! No Foolin' !!

The tables my husband has lovingly woodburned on were also

locally hand made!

 

Instead of writing in this blog I need to get dressed, and get to the

store for some flowers to put outside the entrance, do some banking

and get to the store.  It would be really nice to get SOMEBODY

to stop in today.  We didn't do any advertising yet (but I am going

to make up a flyer to post around).  There is a fair amount of 

Please wish us luck with this endeavor.
This is a giant leap for us!!

 

Diane St James

http://www.dianestjames.com