The store: B-u-s-y. Any of you that have worked in retail know how dynamic this field is, and I'm still doing most of the work by myself. Now, this isn't to downplay the help of Windy, my sidekick/therapist/Auntie/sales assistant and Carol, my very part-time personal assistant - they are both amazingly helpful. However, the major stuff like purchasing, budgeting, scheduling, visual, maintenance (think plungers - yes, plungers), inventory, sales and not to mention working the store close to 60 hours/week....all of those things still need to be done by me. And that 60 hours doesn't include the HOURS of research and what-not that I do at home until the wee hours...if I want to get real about it, I probably work 100+ hours per week, and that's no exaggeration. Yikes. Doing the math on those hours just gave me (more than) a little agita and made me realize it's time for some more delegation. (Sidenote - Agita is one of my favorite words, but most Minnesotans don't know it. You can find the definition here.)
The line: Market was awesome in every way. We picked up some accounts, learned a TON and made some great contacts. Going into more detail on this could take up paragraphs, so I'll leave it at that. I know that's a little anti-climactic, but we'll all be ok. This, however, is what our booth looked like!
This is Colin and I at Ceasars - I know it's SUPER blurry, but it is literally the only picture we took while we were there:
I'm wearing Custo and 6" sparkle stilettos, and he's wearing jeans and a Yankees hat. Gotta love it!
Personal: We. Are. Finally. Moving. Yay! The kids will finally be in their own rooms (and own bathrooms!) and we will be on a much quieter street so playing and riding bikes won't be quite so complicated and limited only to the backyard.
Jax (aka butters) is absolutely hilarious and is quite adamant that he knows how to talk. He CAN shake his head yes and no finally, which any Mom knows is a huge help to figuring out their little toddler-brains, but we're pretty limited on the vocab right now. His favorite words are "no" and "mine" - imagine that. He has about 20 or so other words that are clear, and the rest is just gibberish. I have to say, I'm a huge fan of gibberish. When a toddler just jabber-jabber-jabbers and looks you right in the eyes like you know exactly what they're talking about? Not too many things cuter than that. Definitely enough to give you the warm fuzzies.
Logan started school again, but at his age they just kind of get right back into the swing of things. His case manager says he's doing well, and I even got a cute little note back last week saying he had a great day. He initially didn't take well to the idea of moving as he has to switch schools, but he's coming around quickly. I think the idea of barricading his brother out of his room is unfortunately what is most appealing...but whatever works I guess.
I titled this post "just thankful" for a reason. With work and the kids it's easy for me to get so busy that I forget to slow down and appreciate everything I have. I think sometimes we all need a reminder to take a minute, look around and thank God for everything we have. I am not a highly religious person, but I am spiritual, and I read something yesterday that reminded me that the most important thing today is not how much I sell at the store, or what store picks up my line, or what kind of car I drive, or how big my house is. It's the people around me that matter - those are the only things that aren't replaceable. So today, I am thankful for my beautiful, precocious children, and all the other people in my life that are amazing in some way or another. Click here to read what I read, but I'll warn you, there will be tears. If you read further into her blog though, you'll see that she really is a remarkable woman with a huge amount of courage that has taken the worst scenario possible and tried to help others...major kudos to her.
