{The LiFe & Times of RaLphie the RodenT}

Once upon a time, in a lovely town in South Jersey, a young fieldmouse decided to go on an adventure into a nice, almost 100 year old house.  This was a great adventure since the large house had lots and lots of walls and closets and radiator connections to explore.  There even was a nice warm stove to crawl under and a turntable in a closet that held food!!!
Now the two ladies who resided in the house were not at all pleased with the mouse's {who became known as Ralphie} presence in their home.  For the longest time the ladies only saw evidence of Ralphie's existence and put up sonar devices in an attempt to convince him that he wasn't welcome.  Over time however, Ralphie became more daring----showing his nose and eventually his whole self to the ladies.
The ladies then declared war on Ralphie and the battle was on.  Traps were set in all the places were the ladies had seen Ralphie and he ignored them.  Obviously, he did not like the peanut butter that was left for him.  About once a week, the ladies would catch another glimse of him.  The ladies considered adding chocolate chips and/or mini marshmallows to the treats.

Then on Sunday, one of the ladies sealed up the opening to the water pipes in the bathroom closet{this was Ralphie's favorite spot to show his nose to the ladies} and the ladies could hear him inside the wall, probably wondering what happened to the hole.

When the ladies arrived home late on Sunday night, they could hear all these crunching sounds and soon found Ralphie in the large trashcan next to the buffet in the dining room trying desperately to "jump" out but not being strong enough to reach the top of the can.  The ladies saw this as their opportunity to get Ralphie out of the house.  After stuffing a bag of recycling on top of the can, it was whisked outside.  The recycling bag was removed and Ralphie continued trying to jump.  But a roller-coaster was his next adventure as the ladies used a broom to roll the can down the front steps.  Whether Ralphie flew out during the ride or took off immediately upon landing in the front yard, the ladies do not know.  Only that the trashcan was empty!!!

And while the ladies will remain vigilant, they hope that Ralphie has gone on to find another home {preferably one with a cat!} so that the ladies can live happily ever after!

Janet

{MonDaY MusinGs}

OK, so I missed Fabric Friday---actually it was a good day for fabric:  finished cutting for the Bauer Project, went to PMQG Sewing Night and of course, bought more fabric.  Such is the peril of having sewing nights in a variety of quilt stores in the greater Philadelphia area.  They all have very different inventories.


And now it's Monday night of what will be another LONG week----Thursday night is the store's annual physical inventory.  I feel like I can do this in my sleep with my hands tied behind my back but it's still a mandatory 12 hour shift from 4pm to 4am.  And then I'm back in at 4pm for a close on Friday!!  Fortunately, sale reset is going well for tonight and tomorrow.


Really enjoying this stretch of time with minimual evening meetings and events.  It's so nice to come home and not have to rush out again.  Feels like I can really work on projects and get things done---like finishing a very special quilt I'm helping a friend with, sorting slides to send in to be digitized into prints, cataloging my cookbook collection, and just sitting and reading.


Finally, some inspirational thoughts from yesterday's sermon.   We're in the middle of a long series on the life of Christ and yesterday we talked about how God's call is what gives us purpose in life and that call will be unique and different for each of us.  That God is intimately involved in relationship with the people He calls and that in following the call we often get in our own way.  Some real things to think about!!! 


More later,
Janet

{faBric friDaY--jan 20}

OK... i forgot about blogging until i got into bed last night....so let's talk fabric since it's Friday....most of you know i've had a love affair with fabric since i was a child....

today was my day off and i actually played with fabric! ... did some put away of stuff i've finished using and new stuff, checked out my "scrap bag swap" from guild on Tuesday and did some more cutting out on a very special quilt i'm making....

my fabric goals for 2012 are {to make at least 12 quilts} and {to make more garments} from my "garment fabric" stash....want to try and keep my stashes "under control" and actually use them instead of just lovingly caring for them.....

at our PMQG meeting this week we talked about and previewed favorite quilting blogs....{oH My GooDneSS}....i really hadn't gone looking for any of these and now i have this whole list of blogs of amazing modern quilting that i feel i need to check regularly....there has to be a fine line between finding all these great quilts to make and actually making them....

Janet

{ReNeW}

 i am in BIG trouble....all i want to do is play with fabric and paper.....and use my baking cookbooks.....

 i'm thinking it's a response to the stresses of work and the need to retreat to my creative space and {ReNeW}.......that's my word for 2012!!!!!

 and yes i'm going to attempt to blog again....i think i miss writing so i'll be musing about all my favorite things:   quilting, scrapbooking, baking, traveling, and books...and probably lots of thoughts from the week's sermon and Bible studies.......

 more tomorrow on the first Fabric Friday!

Janet

Lisa's Blocks

Fabric....then paper.....now fabric again!!! Seems like my creative world is shifting back toward fabrics, especially quilting fabrics, and I'm ReaLLy quite OK with that. And it's quite cool because a new quilting group has started, Philly Modern Quilt Guild. The group is only a couple of months old so we're really just figuring the whole thing out. More on that another day.

One of the cool things about our Nebraska scrapping friends is that they've all gotten into quilting. And they asked me to join this round of their virtual quilting bee. So I just finished my blocks for Lisa. Lots of fun, happy, modern fabrics, and very few rules!! Hope she likes them!!!

Off to find my collection of "food" prints to make potholders!

More later!

Janet

I'm BACK.....

I think I'm ready to starting blogging again. It's been on my "to do" list for weeks now but I feel like I need a place to write a bit and share photos and other stuff. Facebook's a blast, I love connecting with long lost acquaintances, but there's definitely more room here to ramble.

Working on this year's word: SIMPLIFY!!!!

We spend so much time, effort, and money collecting things and then have to spend way TOO much time managing the collection. So.......

----we purged a ton of scrapbook supplies we'll never use and made a sizable amount of store credit at a local scrapbook store's yard sale. YEA!!

----tried to sell some stuff on Saturday at the All-Town Yard Sale. Not so successful :( Lots of stuff to various donations and alot to the trash!

----purging my dressmaking fabric stash and other sewing/craft supplies for a fabric yard sale that Montgomery Co (PA) 4-H is having. Can't wait to donate this stuff to a GREAT cause!


If only the papers in the office were easily tamed!!

More later!!
Janet

One Little Word....

...I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and pick my word for the year. Actually, I was deciding between two... this year's word:

Create more quilts

Create more scrapbooks

Create meaningful relationships

Create a simplified lifestyle

Create a healther me

Create a deeper Christian walk

A photo or two of the outdoor lights:

Come visit me on Facebook!

Enjoy,

Janet

Back to the Normal Routine

It's Friday and it's back to the regular routine. We're both off from work so it's breakfast at the diner, stops at Target and Home Depot, and then on to the major project of unearthing the studio. Seriously, neither one of us has done much work up there since we came home from Becca's back in October {how SAD it that?}. My sewing area was a nightmare from making all those Christmas stockings and an apron; and there were containers and bags with embellishments and paper everywhere. I am happy to report that we didn't have to send out the Mounties to search for us and we have at least sorted everything either into a paper pile or a laundry basket which is now full of embellishments. The other thing that's overtaking our space is all those cool folders and boxes we've gotten at all those events x2. They are going to the basement since are cluttering the space big time. Still lots of work to do BUT we're making progress.

New Year's Day was lovely--the first time in years I actually took the day off! We went to the choir brunch/open house in the early part of the day then took some projects over to Mom and Dad's. Had a fire in the fireplace, cooked dinner, worked on the projects, and watched the bowl games {YEA, Nebraska; SORRY, Penn State}.

Back to organizing----

Enjoy,

Janet

It's New Year's Eve 2008....

....and what am I doing at 9:55 pm? Updating my blog after working until 7pm. As everyone knows, I'm NOT a party girl so why not try and get some stuff done???? I finally finished addressing Christmas cards this morning before going to work but need to get some more stamps on Friday since some are taking more than one. Thought I'd share some holiday photos: These are from Fellowship Alliance's Christmas cantata (also known as Marathon week). We sing Tuesday through Friday night to a packed house of about 650 per night. The choir also serves desserts and beverages before we go on to sing. For me, it's work all day, take my concert clothes with me, stop and get dinner for Sandy and I, eat dinner in her office at church, change to concert clothes, do the cantata, go home. Repeat 3 more times. It's a blast but exhausting!! Sandy shot the one of me with the dessert tray; the gentleman in the lower right is our choir director.

Some decoration shots. I built two really cool outdoor shelves that mount on our railings. I'll have to take some outdoor shots or wait till Sandy downloads hers. We also created a Christmas tree farm of 3 trees that we're really happy with. (Becca is rubbing off.) The "Seasons Greetings" is over the main street here in town. Our manger set is one that we bought in Israel about 15 years ago and is made of olive wood.

Some other December memories: "Oscar" --Sandy's Harrods 2008 Christmas bear, afternoon tea at the Mulberry Tea House, a shot of some of the hundreds of Angel Tree gifts waiting to be distributed at church, The Cookie Files, and some of the many stockings I made to use as containers for homemade goodies. They were very well received!

Now it's on to new projects and new goals for 2009! Have a wonderful and blessed year!

Enjoy,

Janet

Black and White and Grey All Over

.... we have finally done it. Made all the arrangements and paid the deposit and now our house is a beautiful shade of granite grey with white trim and black shutters. And it's almost done. We contacted with a local company to have the house covered in vinyl siding---in the long run, definitely the smartest thing to do. Maintenance free, energy efficient, and a great curb appeal investment. Actually a single contractor is working on our house and he lives about two blocks down our street! His craftsmanship and attention to detail is superb. We'll still have some work to do when he's finished like painting the doors, the basement window frames and the ornamental trimwork (which is staying pink) and replacing the porch railings with vinyl coated ones. But all that will probably have to wait until it gets warm again since the paint won't cure properly in these temperatures. Some photos of the house in progress.

In other news, it's December and that means Shimelle's "Journal Your Christmas". OK so I'm still working on Christmas 2007. I'm beginning again with 2008. Hopefully I'll get some pages done to share BEFORE the temperature reaches 80.

Wishing I could have been in Omaha for the past 10 days or so--wanted so badly to be there for Becca and the emotional roller coaster she and Scott have been on and to share Katie and Garrett's joy as they became husband and wife! But for Black Friday, Thanksgiving, and absolutely rotten airfares we were SO there!

Off to the studio to work for a while. I'm tired of cleaning in preparation for decorating!

Enjoy,

Janet

Purple

NOT blue...NOT red

A moderate Republican or a conservative Democrat

This was the hardest election I've ever had to vote in. I read alot. Did my homework. In both candidates I saw strengths and weaknesses, traits to admire, areas of concern. But in the end, I made my choice, pulled the lever (oops, that dates me doesn't it????) and did my civic duty as an American.

And now as Americans, we need to join together to solve the challenges that face our country and our world. And remember whether you're blue, red, or purple -----

GOD IS IN CONTROL!!!

And a reminder from I Timothy 2:1-3 : 1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior.

Thanks to Becca, Kelly, Chiara, Kathy N. and Ali for their blog posts about the election. I've loved reading the varying points of view and the conclusions that no matter what we need to respect the office of the President and work together for the common good.

Enjoy,

Janet

The photo: Portland Head Lighthouse, ME --September 2008.

A Day at the Zoo...

.... is a lovely thing and yesterday we took along Sandy's girlfriend, her husband, and their almost 4-year old son. Dad and son had never been to the Philadelphia Zoo before, so we had a grand time checking out all the animals. It's so much fun to go with little kids---their awe, wonder, amazement and curiosity about the animals is SO great. So here's some of my favorites from the day; loving the long lens for these kinds of shots!

Actually think I'm going to the studio to do some scrapping, then eventually to Joann's to pick up a few things, and sometime after 8pm we'll figure out what to do for dinner!

Enjoy,

Janet

Back from Becca's

We had such a good time at Crop for a Cause!!! And it's SOOOOO good to see all our Nebraska friends!

Got picked up at 4:50 am {otherwise known as O-dark-50} and were checked in and through security by 5:45am for our 6:30 am flight. Had to pay to check luggage which is a real bummer since we thought we had checked Northwest's baggage policy BEFORE we booked the tix. Slept part of the way to Minneapolis, had a great breakfast at Ike's in the airport, and then it was on to Omaha. We first went to the Quilted Moose in Gretna, then to find our hotel and check in. Decided we needed a nap before heading to the church to help out. Got to the church about 4:30. Lots of fun catching up with everyone and checking out the garage sale. Ended up with a box full of stuff to purchase; dinner was homemade soup and pumpkin bars for dessert.



It's Saturday!!! Time to crop and shop and chat and eat! We actually got pages done! We took the page swap from Scrap Etc. and that made the whole process easier for extra paper, embellishments, etc. We shared a table with Nancy and her friend Julie and got to sit next to the "Bagels". Had a great time talking with Kelly, her sister Tami, Becky N., Lisa {aka Glue}, and Denise. And we got to eat Becca's mom's cinnamon rolls and pie! We were all cleaned up and out by 9:30 and went back to Becca's until after midnight.




Slept in on Sunday {at least for us}, met Becca for lunch, and then hit Archivers, Hancocks, and another quilt shop they recommended before heading back to the airport. Our bags just made it on weight. On the way back we changed in Detroit---had some serious hiking to do between gates. Grabbed some cinnamon buns to eat on the plane since it had been a long time since lunch and even longer until breakfast! Got back to Philly at 11:00pm and home before midnight.

Monday was a long day----worked 7am until 12:45pm then back for 7pm until 12:15am. Gotta love inventory!

Enjoy,

Janet

Jury Duty

What could be more exciting than spending quality time in beautiful downtown Camden at the Hall of Justice???? Could it be all the morning talk shows and the soap operas??? There was a time when I enjoying watching all that stuff --- now I'm glad I'm at work during the day!


Anyway my day went something like this:

• 8:13 am -Arrive at courthouse, go through security, get scanned in the jury assembly


• 8:47 am -Announcements about jury service and a 15 minute video about what a juror does, etc.


• 9:10 am -THE Waiting begins--I read magazines, did Kakuro puzzles, did some stuff for work


• 12:10 pm -"We're not going to need to call anyone before lunch. You're free until 1:30 pm."


• Enjoy lunch in the courtyard in front of the courthouse.


• 1:32 pm- A group of about 35 are sent upstairs to a courtroom for a civil case. The rest of us are roll called. WAITING around resumes. I write some journaling copy for last year's Christmas journal.


• 2:35 pm-"We need to send another group upstairs." Palatable groans. "Just kidding-- you're free to go. The county thanks you for your service."


• 2:40 pm - Pick up letter for employer verifying service. Can't be called for another 3 years. I'll get a $5 check in the mail.

Getting ready to head to Omaha early Friday morning!!

Enjoy,
Janet

I am {NOT} a Jet-setter....

it just seems that way. My vice: airline tickets. I can only go so long without needing to go somewhere to see someone or something. Could this be GYPSY blood??????

Anyway, after returning from our NE weekend, the everyday rat race {which the rats are winning, by the way} took over and work and church activities filled up the time and one week ran into the next. But we were playing around online one night and found great fares to both Atlanta and Omaha!

We went to Atlanta to support Abany's big idea, Brown Linen Market. Since we hadn't seen her in quite a while {she never made it up while her brother was in Audi school} , we really felt we needed to go down and encourage and help her in whatever way we could. She was SO excited that we were coming and of course, Claudia was thrilled!!! And it ended up being a real God-thing since about a week before we were scheduled to get there Claudia's mom went home to be with the Lord and the memorial service was scheduled while we were there.

My job for the Market---key lime tarts, lots of them. And help in the kitchen. I ended up being a sous chef for one of Abany's friends who was making all the hors d'oerves and running the wine-tasting.

Brown Linen was actually a gently-used clothing boutique set up on the main floor of the house several of her friends rent in Atlanta. For $25, you got 3 pieces of clothing, the food, the wine-tasting and the live jazz. All the clothes were donations from friends and lots of her friends were there to help and shop!

TOP ROW: Tart shells for the key lime tarts, the kitchen in the house where Market was held, doing my thing---making everything in the kitchen look like Martha Stewart on a Waffle House budget, during the Market.

MIDDLE ROW: The main room of the house set for Market, Abany with flowers her girlfriends brought her, Jared, Abany at the memorial service in their backyard for Grandma.

BOTTOM ROW: Claudia and Abany at the end of the service, the Collingswood bonfire and reception for 100 years of football.

The first weekend in October was the BIG Collingswood 100 years of HS Football event. Can we say poorly organized???? They invited everyone--past players, band, color guard, cheerleaders, etc.--- for a march-along parade on Friday night to the HS where there was a bonfire and refreshments in the cafetorium, then a big reception/luncheon before the game on Saturday afternoon. OK, the parade: kinda silly, the bonfire: where was the band and the pep rally part??, the refreshments--sandwiches at 8pm???. The reception/lunch on Saturday was good and we did get a personal tour of the new addition built to link the middle school and high school. Unfortunately, they kept moving the game time back so I had to go to work before the game ever started and we're going to miss "band night" because we'll be in Omaha.

So, tomorrow I have jury duty. It's off to the hall of justice in beautiful downtown Camden. I'm packing my bag full of magazines to read and puzzles to do. And lunch and snacks.

Enjoy,

Janet

Time in New England....

and other places, many other places have made me a BAD blogger. But I'm back!!!!! Anyway, some more photos of some of our fun adventures. In August, we spent Sandy's birthday weekend as well as another one at the Pocono house. So quiet, so peaceful, so much scrapbooking time. It's a weekend crop for FREE and Mom does the cooking {well I HAVE to bake}. We loaded down the car and actually left a bunch of stuff there for the 2 weeks between trips.



The weekend in between was a choir-sing weekend {Saturday night @6pm, Sunday morning @ 8, 9:30 and 11:15 am} and the Schroeder cousins reunion. Mom and her cousins, at least most of them, get together once a year since all their parents, the Schroeder brothers and sisters, are all gone now. The next generation isn't generally there unless their parent is the organizer which Mom was this year, but Sandy and I always get an invite since I have become the keeper of the family genealogy. That's the cousins and their spouses in the upper left photo.



After the excitement of getting to Alaska and the whole "we've been in all 50 states" thing, we got to thinking and remembering when we'd been to this state and that state, we then we ran into a problem. We couldn't remember being in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine so we decided that a weekend in New England was ABSOLUTELY necessary. So we zipped off on a Friday morning to Manchester, NH and spent the weekend driving through the states and hitting some highlights.



The photos: TOP ROW: The King Arthur Flour Baker's Store in Norwich, VT; me in the seat of honor in the lobby, the Cabot Cheese visitors center--lots of fun including a tour of the factory and cheese tasting.

MIDDLE ROW: Famous Perry Sisters Ice Cream--the newest Ben and Jerry's flavor! -- again a tour of the factory and ice cream samples, the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe (we didn't stay here but as a Sound of Music junkie we had to check it out!), a traditional New England covered bridge, a really cool pool about 5 minutes back a walking trail in Franconia Notch State Park.

We drove down to Lake Winnepasaukee and had lunch in a great turkey restaurant and hit Keepsake Quilting. The weather then got very cloudy and more dismal so no great lake shots, in fact the lake and the sky all blended together. By the time we got to Biddeford, ME it was foggy and raining. YUK!!!!

BOTTOM ROW: Portland Head Lighthouse--the traditional Maine coast shot, Walker Point at Kennebunkport {yes, this is the Bush family vacation house}, Nubble Lighthouse.

Found all kinds of great local restaurants, and lots of great backroads for scenery.

The last picture, the Scrap Etc. Pink, Brown and Teal Quilt finally finished and mailed off to its proud owner.

Coming next: off to Atlanta!

Enjoy,
Janet

Alaska Adventure

Somewhere the month of July has gone by and I've not even managed to post about our wonderful adventure to Alaska and of course, completing the 50 states by 50 challenge!!!

The cruise was absolutely wonderful---I see cruising alot more in my future! Loved all the fun things we did, especially the Musher Camp where we rode wheeled dog sleds and the Yukon Jeep Adventure with its spectacular scenery!!!! Our ship even got within about 600 ft. of Dawes Glacier---that was awesome! Spent time in Seattle, at Mt. Rainier, saw Mt. St. Helens. Toured the Oregon Coast, Portland, went to Mt. Hood, drove along the Columbia River Gorge. I've added a few photos of the 1200+ I took (loving the new camera and Photoshop!); if you'd like the link to all of my photos as well as Sandy's, let us know!

Since we got home, let's see, our aunt and uncle stopped for a visit over the 4th of July, we're taking a Beth Moore bible study on Tuesday nights at church, the choir and the worship department had picnics, an American friend who lives in Japan came for dinner. Work has been a little crazy---I moved the entire department around, lost two staff members, had two others transfer into music + vacations and sick people. And Sandy and I are on a cleaning binge--I mean SERIOUS cleaning---we're going room by room and decluttering and purging junk. Why oh why do we keep some of this stuff???????

I promise I'll try to be better! Mayber I'll post some more pictures tomorrow. I'm on myway back to work to close the store. The joys of being the manager!

Enjoy!

Janet

Sewing like Mad

There's something about getting ready for vacation that makes me want to sew new clothes. And I have a whole stack in various stages of construction for our upcoming cruise. Only two weeks until we leave for Seattle and our cruise to Alaska! And so much to do! Outfits to finish, shoes to buy, misc. stuff to collect------you know the drill.

Last Saturday, Sandy and I took a photography class in the city. It was considered intermediate and designed for people with digital SLRs who wanted to know how to use them better. It was a great class, only 5 students, and a combo of actually going out and shooting and lecture/discussion. Now I have a whole list of photo accessories to buy before vacation. But I also feel a whole lot more comfortable with alot of the settings and have some great ideas to try!

This photo's by our class instructor, Rick Wright.

Back to work for me---need to put the travel planner together, fix some jewelry, etc.

Enjoy,

Janet

The BIG 5-0

That's right..... yesterday was my birthday and I'm now a card-carrying member of AARP. Don't laugh---now that Sandy doesn't get travel agent rates at least I can get mature traveler rates!!!!!

Actually it's been a great birthday weekend and I didn't have to go to WORK!!! Friday was a really crappy weather day so after our regular breakfast at Ponzios we ran a couple of errands and then stayed in for the rest of the day. Did some sewing, did some scrapping, we checked out some details for our upcoming vacation, had hot roast beef sandwiches (leftovers from a previous dinner) and generally bummed around.

Yesterday, THE BIG DAY, started with the best cream doughnuts in the world from McMillians Bakery. I was planning on going and getting them myself because I wanted them but DS had the same idea that I would want them and insisted on going. Then Mom and I went to 4th Street to do some fabric shopping. I need to make a couple of formal things for the cruise and since I never wear anything that dressy, I'll have to get busy. Love the things I found; it was one of those days where the creativity was really flowing! And we met an longtime friend in one of the stores. We started working together probably 25 years ago and although she only lives about 4 miles away we rarely see each other. So that was really nice especially since her birthday was the day before.

We came home and picked up Sandy and then headed out to a tearoom we'd never tried before--The White Rabbit--in Woodstown. It was absolutely lovely with a great selection of teas and warm from the oven scones in a variety of flavors. A wonderful way to spend the afternoon! Then we had to decide what to do for dinner----a new Ruby Tuesdays has opened near us so that was the choice! Lovely dinner and double chocolate cake for dessert! Stopped at the big Joann's near there and picked up some much fabric for cruise wear. Then back to Mom and Dad's where Sandy pulled out a surprise---she secretly emailed alot of our scrapbook friends and asked them to send cards--to Mom and Dad's address--so I got a bunch to open and I understand there's more on the way!

Tonight we're going to our favorite Italian restaurant here in town to celebrate some more and then tomorrow night we're using our Cold Stone Creamery birthday coupons! Have to keep the party going especially since Mom's birthday is tomorrow!

The celebration will continue for at least another month since Claudia will be here the second week of June for Jared's graduation and we're going to go out--just the two of us---for the first time in years!!! Cheesecake Factory here we come! And then there's the cruise in 33 DAYS!!!

Now it's time for some serious sewing to get everything done!!!!

Just got the call that we're getting picked up in 15 minutes for dinner,

Enjoy,
Janet

P.S. I'll post some pictures later when Sandy downloads the ones from yesterday!

Other April Happenings

Seems like the couple of weeks before going away on vacation or to an event are always FULL of all kinds of things. April has been no expection! Like I said yesterday, my new camera arrived on April 3rd and I got a chance to test it out on Saturday when Sandy and I went to NYC for the day. Had a huge list of odds and ends and places to check out and ended up doing only a few things. Let's see: Mood Fabrics (yes, Project Runway fans, that Mood; it's a great fabric junkie's store); a nice walk up 7th Ave to Times Square; subway to Payards@ 73rd and Lexington for lunch; back to 49th and 6th for the Tartan Day Parade (unfortunately we managed to miss it---OOPS) then back to Times Square where we found M&M's World...how fun it that...we even mixed Scrap ETC M&M's for our secret sisters....and across the street, Hershey's World. Checked out the casting for Project Runway Season 5...no Tim Gunn or Heidi Klum sightings, only a long line of hopefuls waiting their turn outside the hotel in Times Square.



Sunday night was kind of a sad night but a fun party. If you've read my blog you may remember that my store manager and the district manager have had a terrible working relationship since day 1. He's wanted her to resign, she's had some health concerns, it's been BAD. Well, she made the tough decision to step down in early February and he convinced her to stay on until the beginning of April (managers' review cycle time). Everything was good until the last week when some real nastiness happened. Let's just say it didn't end well and the planned outcome didn't happen. And we are manager-less. We were all hoping that our assistant manager, Jeff would be promoted but alas, corporate politics has stepped in and squashed that idea.

Anyway, the staff had a surprise party for Yukie at one of the guy's house on Sunday night. Yes we surprised her and lots of current and former employees showed up.

IMHO, it really was the best decision for her--both health and happiness wise because the situation was not going to get any better and probably would have only gotten worse. They screwed her in the end but she'll be fine. Thanks for 10 great years Yukie!!! Enjoy your well deserved island getaway!!!

Back to getting dinner ready; then off for more cleaning, organizing, and purging in the studio!
Enjoy,
Janet