Hiya

Good Monday morning to ya!  (Okay, I know it's *your* Wednesday morning, but it's *my* Monday morning.)

I spent much of my Saturday (your Monday - is everyone totally confused now?!) working here at home on a new website for a client.  The deadline we set is tomorrow (end of March), and I'll have a couple more hours to spend on it today.  Then I'll be ready to present it to the client and meet with her tomorrow.  I'm happy with the way it's shaping up.  Definitely a step up from her current site's design.


I know that it's natural for me to say that the (MY) new design is better than any old one, but that's not always true.  Case in point, I'll be starting a new one next week, and when I had my initial meeting with that client, I honestly told her, "I don't think I can make a new one look much better than your current one!"  But, it wasn't an updated look she's going for:  it's ease of use.  The way the current one is built, she can't even access it to make changes!

Many web designers do that on purpose so that THEY can always get the customer's business when it comes to changes / updates.  HOWEVER, what ends up happening is that the client DOESN'T bother them with those changes / updates (either because they're so minor and/or they don't want to suffer high fees for the edits) and just ends up getting more and more frustrated and unhappy.

The platform *I* use for designing the sites allows me to hand it over to the client once the guts of it have been built.  Then (if they wish), they can take over the administration of it.  Of course, if they WANT to keep me on retainer to make the edits, I'm more than happy to do that.  Just seems to be easier, on so many levels, to make the website user-friendly.  And that, in turn, makes customers happier, I think.


Geez, soapbox much?

I spent lots of saddle-time in the car yesterday.  Had a check-up with my shrink who informed me that I'm going to be one of the rare few who only need to check in with her annually . . . unless I "need" her before then, of course.  It gives me confidence and confirms my good / solid? mental state when that happens (especially given these last two - four weeks).  The same happened, years ago and following the realization that I couldn't have kids, when my once-a-week-for-a-year therapist (prescribed by above shrink) told me that I didn't need to reschedule for the following week.  I laughed and asked, "What, you think I'm cured?"  She, a relaxed Brit raised in Ireland, smiled her gentle smile and said, in her wonderful lilting tone, "Yes, luv, you are."  :)

So, three hours in the car down, and three hours in the car back.  Saw 3 adult bald eagles, 2 juveniles, and another which was either a huge hawk (I'm horrible at identifying them) or a small, immature baldy.  When I told my folks that last night while picking up the dogs, Mama Pea asked, tongue-in-cheek, "How did you know they were juveniles?"  Picking up her meaning, I responded, "'Cause they were drinking and smoking and flying recklessly."  Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Anyway, since I've been a Single here on the homestead, my big city trips have been more sensible:  either I'll schedule an overnight to get everything done (and not drive home in the wee hours of the morn', exhausted) or I'll make shorter trips.  Plus, with my folks being Maisy & Tucker's doggie day-care providers, I don't want to make the days too long for them (meaning my folks).  So, I only did minimal running around yesterday after my appointment, and got all the way home here to Swamp River Ridge at 6:00!

There was plenty of warm sunlight left, so, while I was out doing chores, I tackled the job of cleaning out the bee hive.  This winter was the first I'd tried to over-winter honey bees here, and it wasn't a successful venture.  The colony was alive and well during the mid-February thaw when I popped the hive open for a look-see but then the cold snaps following did 'em in.  They didn't starve to death:  there was still uncapped honey in 9 of the 20 frames.  They froze to death.

Bee keeping up here is a fairly losing prospect, but the rewards are so great that we keep at it.  The key is over-wintering.  And no one has discovered this key yet, unfortunately.  But, hopefully, with time and trial-and-errors, we'll* figure it out.  (Mind you, I really know NOTHING about bee keeping.  I just do what Papa Pea tells me to do!  But, I hope to gain knowledge & experience as the years pass and I keep at this new aspect of homesteading.)

* Year-before-last, a few folks got together and organized a very informal local bee association.  While the core group remains the same, more and more people show interest in joining each year.  Also, there's a new documentary coming out about the environmental importance of honey bees and the wide-ranging (world ranging!) Colony Collapse Disorder.  Anyway, go here to learn about the documentary, Queen of the Sun.

Now for some pictures.


I put a bungee on the sunflower seed can last night, but, as you can see, it did no good.

Raccoon, 1 / Chicken Mama, 0.  I'll devise a better plan to foil him/her tonight.

The view of downtown from my office building door.

This will be just the second but last picture for today.  I've spent too much time here on my arse and need to get ON WITH IT!  I took the above on Sunday.  Still lots of dirty snow in town although it's melting every day.  Here at Swamp River Ridge, there's still TONS of snow!  Heck, my folks (who live just outside of town) even have grass showing!  It will be WEEKS before that happens here!  I'll take some pictures outside today to show you that Old Man Winter is still holding strong.  :)

So Much Time!

I know no one's going to believe the title of this post, but, honestly, I didn't quite know what to do with myself tonight!  Now that a few things are shifting around at work . . . and I have the information finished in order to print commission checks for June . . . I didn't have to work until the wee hours tonight!  Matter of fact, I left at (gasp!) 8:30!  8:30?!!  It was still light out!  

Dad met me in town and helped me unload some larger things that I'd brought from home in the truck for my new office space (from which I'm currently writing, thank you very much).  Then, he & I rendezvoused at Mom & Dad's house.  I grabbed a beer from their refrig, a pair of gloves from Dad and headed back outside to load the truck up with a heap of scrap lumber that I'd been "storing" in their back yard for the last several weeks.  After doing his final chores of the day, Dad came out to help me finish the loading . . . and none too soon since the skeeters came out juuuust as we were finishing.  After a short visit with them back inside, it was back into town for me to deal with the things we'd unloaded here at my office.

"My office."  Ohhh, that has a nice ring to it!  Even tho I probably haven't even spent 10 hours here yet, every time I AM here, I feel better and better about the space.  I think it will be a GOOD fit.  I never seem to have a computer, my camera, and the camera's USB cable in the same spot at the same time anymore, but pictures ARE soon to come.  I promise.

You might notice that I sound a lot happier, my load quite a bit lighter as I write tonight.  The reasons are two-fold.  One, the dear friend (deer friend?) who I'd gone 'round with about my recent (complaining) posts and I talked again yesterday.  I had some things that I had to get off my chest and we both tried to explain our positions a little more.  Eventually, the dead horse was beaten to a bloody pulp, but I did feel better.  And, while I'm not sure she felt "better", I know she's glad that *I* felt better!

Secondly, I'm precipitating (oooooh, good word!) some changes at work.  The boss lady and I went to lunch today and had a good, albeit still a bit ambiguous, talk about it.  I'll write about that elsewhere so that I can protect the innocent, and all that rot.  But, in short, I finally told her that I just can't do it (or, more to the point, TRY to do it) all anymore.  Manage the new space / business, that is.  I see it as divided into two main jobs:  the schmoozing, the meeting with vendors, the dealing with employees, blah, blah, blah and (the other half) all the deskwork, paperwork, forms, finances, etc.  And, because we "manage" in two such very different styles (neither better nor worse than the other), I choose Door #2.  So, we're going to make some changes and see how it plays out.  Stay tuned.  I'll fill you in as I can.

Okay, I still have to drive home, so I'm off.  Sorry for the lack of pictures lately, but we're gettin' there . . . !  Thanks for listening . . . and putting up with me while I got my mojo back.  ;) 

Much to Celebrate!

Good morning!  I have much to celebrate, but no time to spend doing it . . . at least, not until the holiday weekend is over!  Still, here's the good news:  I paid my first month's rent & picked the keys up yesterday to my NEW OFFICE & GALLERY IN TOWN!!!!  Whoo-hoooooo!  Can you believe it?!  

The landlord says that the space is 300 square feet, but I think it's way more than that - it will be interesting to actually measure it.  The anteroom is the larger of the two, and I will use that as the gallery.  There are no windows in it, but that's okay because I was actually worried about sunshine bleaching out any of my prints and canvases that I display there.  The inner, smaller room has a nice, albeit small (but large enough to open & put a plant in) southeast-facing window.  And, the neighborhood, just a block up from the main drag and yet still zoned Commercial (it was grandfathered in) is a nice one for walking the dogs.  Unfortunately, Maisy & Tucker can't come inside with me . . . but considering all the other positive characteristics this particular space offered, I couldn't say no just because of that.

I'm hoping to get out of work early enough tonight to go spend some 1-1 time in there, just sitting and soaking it in.  If I do, I'll surely take pictures . . . even tho there's not much to see right now.

But, finally, my own PROFESSIONAL business space!!!!

Me So . . . Tired

Uuuuuggggh.  I.  Am.  So.  Tired.  

I left work early last night (8:00?) - the first night I've ever left during daylight!  It felt so strange closing the building up:  I felt like I couldn't do my normal "check" of everything ("any lights left on?", etc.) because all was still light and bright.  Still, after getting a load at the dairy farm, dropping my closing employee off at home, and having a visit with Bundle of Joy's mama (who, even tho it was after 9:00 by the time I arrived, had dinner waiting for me!) . . . I didn't get home 'til close to midnight.  And then, the phone woke me up this morning:  my opening employee couldn't get into the building because the girl who had the key and was going to meet her down there to open up WASN'T there, nor was she answering her phone.  Sigh.  But, the boss lady returns from her vacation on Thursday and so, hopefully, most of those after-hours calls will revert to her again.


Time sheets were due in yesterday, and I worked just over 100 hours this last 2-week time period.  Of course, that doesn't include all the time that I'm actually AT work because, if someone comes in to visit me or a similar situation happens when I can't actively do anything FOR work, I deduct it from the day's hours.  For example, after running to Mama Pea's & Farmer Roy's for dinner Saturday night (yummy pizza, Mom!), I returned to work at 8:00 PM to get some paperwork done.  A friend, whose husband had just announced his affair and need to end their marriage that morning, came knocking at 8:30 . . . and we talked until after 10:30.  It would be interesting to know how many hours were actually SPENT inside that building!  Gak.

I asked my mom to put an ad on the local Internet server for me yesterday, asking about potential rental space in town for me to get the graphic & web design and photography businesses physically established.  I'd exhausted all the potential avenues of rental that we (Mom & Dad & I) had come up with, so it was time to "get the word out".  There's one possible space opening on August 1st, but they have been getting $500/month for it.  Too much for me.  Someone e-mailed right away yesterday in response to the ad about a loft he had overlooking the harbor.  I responded immediately, asking for details . . . but I haven't heard anything more.  I'll keep ya posted.

Around Swamp River Ridge, the front yard is being reclaimed by Mother Nature.  She's a good gardener!  The term 'abandoned house' pops into my mind each time I look at it from the yard.  And, the grass along the driveway needs to be mowed, and the poultry and their house need a HUGE amount of attention, and I haven't checked the batteries in an age, and, and, and . . . .

I had to take some time this AM to get cottage cheese made & delivered (so I'm going into work later).  So, I have to finish that & wash eggs for delivery . . . plus try to get some grass cut before I leave (ha!).


Thanks for letting me whine & complain.  SOME day, I'll get to talk about being a lady homesteader again instead of just a work-a-day drudge.  :)

Home

I feel like I'm Ali Baba and surrounded by the gold and gems of the secret cave, but I don't know which piece to pick up first.  I'm surrounded by things that I want to grab, want to DO all at once . . . but I don't know where to start.  In other words, I am home for two days.  Two.  Whole.  Days!  I haven't that luxury since May 24th & 25th!

The talk with my wise mama (and another that followed with both her & Dad) that I alluded to earlier has resulted in this:  I need my own store-front . . . well, office, really . . . in town.  In supporting myself financially, what is it that I really WANT to spend those hours doing?  The answer is my photography & photographic notecard business.  Both locally and online.  What's the second-best way to support myself financially?  My graphic & web design business.


Now, I've been trying to get the 1st business up and going from home since March of '07.  The graphic & web design business has been hovering over the ground for about 2 years, I'm guessing.  And, as much as I believe that I CAN overcome my personal obstacles because working (at those jobs) from home is SUCH an ideal situation . . . I can't.  I just DON'T have the self-discipline.  I need to GO somewhere to work on those things.  Have a space where it can all be spread out all the time.  And, yes, I could convert one of the rooms here in the house to be my studio, but the fact is that I like each of the rooms just as they are (if they were CLEAN - ha!) . . . and my office (room) isn't large enough.  


I need to have SET HOURS in my studio / store-front.  I need to be able to tell clients / customers WHERE they can meet with me.  WHERE we can go over, in person, what they want done regarding a website.  WHERE they can see some of my photography and choose which images they'd like me to make into cards.  I have my cards in two business in town, but I'm not keeping either of those stocked properly . . . or with timely inventory.  For example, the flower shop wants Father's Day cards.  Father's Day is 4 days away.  Do I have any of them in there?  Nope.  There's an art gallery in town that wants to carry my cards.  I think this last winter was the 2nd that I'd promised the owner to present them to her quarterly-meeting juried committee.  And I still haven't done it.


I'm in danger of losing a website client right now because I can't commit definite hours each week to the work.  At the moment, I'm sure she doesn't find me very dependable.  I've already done about half the work for her new & improved website . . . hours which I won't bill her for until the job is complete . . . but if I don't finish the job (or, more to the point, she finds someone who WILL right NOW)?  Well, I can kiss those couple of hundred dineros (already spent in hours) away.

So!  Here's my plan:  these past couple of days, since the night of my revelation, I have been shopping around town for office space.  I tell them that I'll be a good financial bet since, as a renter, I'll hardly ever BE there (to begin with), and I'll rarely (if EVER) be there at night . . . thus using the barest of utilities, etc., etc.  I've had 4 strike-outs so far, but one of those folks have a possibility opening August 1st.  I really need to get into something before then, though.  Like, next week, if possible!  Today, I'll be on to the 5th in my line of options.


Okay.  In all its jumbled ramblings, I'm gonna post this w/o further ado (or proof-reading).  I fix any errors later.  :)  I'm pooped.

Thanks, Mama!

Following an introspective dinner with my mama last night, the proverbial light bulb popped on in my head as soon as I hit the pillow.  Soon, I was calculating in my head, and mentally scanning potential storefront / office space rentals in town.  I've sent an e-mail off to a good friend / realtor this AM already, and I'm excited to hear back from him.

Stay tuned!  I've gotta run off to work, but I'll give you more of my business plan later today, if possible. 

It's Time

I got here, to work, at 10:00 this morning.  Now, it's 10:00 again.  Time to go home, I think, yes?  (Thanks for pulling me out of here & buying me dinner tonight, Mommy!)

Mi Vida Loca

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures from where I'm living work.

This is my daily view.  We've constructed my office behind a high screen in lieu of walls.  Hey, I guess that's kind of like a . . . (gasp) . . . cubicle!

I got an unexpected pressie from my boss lady yesterday!  She calls them my "signing bonus".  ;)  Now, if that isn't just the SWEETEST thing!  She's discovered that I looooove shoes.  And, a bonus to having an "outside job" now is that I finally have a place to wear all the cute ones that have been stockpiling these last several years.  (Hmmm, maybe I should do a shoe-a-day post?)

Finally, the poor dogs:  they eat at least one meal a day at work.  Strangely enough, though, they are not very comfortable inside.  Well, Maisy's not, anyway, but she's ALWAYS been the neurotic one.  (Tucker couldn't care less.)  When I bring them in after-hours, she just whines and whines at the door and then runs right over to the car when I let them out.  Poor thing.  :(  Maybe I'll bring a bone for her to chew on the next time I work late.  Fortunately, I'm able to park the car just outside the back door, and can visit them & let them out several times a day.  Still, I feel like a negligent mother.  Sigh.  How must you REAL working single mothers feel?!

"My girl" arrived "home" - to her first pad as a graduated, adult woman (the bunkhouse of her brother's home / Bundle of Joy's folks) - on Monday, set up her digs yesterday, and starts work for the boss lady today.  Even though she won't be working for me (rats!), it will be great to be in the same building.  And, eventually, I'm hoping we can coordinate our schedules for at least some of the time and carpool.  Here she is with her mama at her high school graduation on May 23rd.

Okay, that's it!  I'll update the critter sightings (top of side-bar), and then I'm on with the day.  Make it a good one on your end!

Wednesday Night

11:55 PM – Wednesday, May 19, 2010

How does one parlay a good work ethic with leaving work to live your life, i.e. tend your homestead? What I mean to say is . . . my folks, in huge part during the years that we were a family restaurant family, taught me a strong work ethic. So, now that I’m back out in The Real World as a Working Girl . . . and the business days are filled with random phone calls, unscheduled visits from vendors, and running in twelve different directions at once . . . how do you get anything done? It isn’t until business calls cease at 5:00 and foot traffic starts quieting down . . . and even the boss lady heads home . . . that I feel like I can actually make any progress on what I’d hoped to accomplish that day. So, case in point, I stayed and worked until 9:30 tonight because I felt like I had to. And I didn’t even make a dent in the proverbial pile.

I’ve discovered that the only way I “get anything done” (paperwork or thinking / studying / planning-wise) is to work here from home. Here there are no interruptions. But, now that I talk it out, I guess that the flip side to that is that neither am I in-office and AVAILABLE for all those (necessary) things that prevent me from (everybody all together, now) getting anything done! And, the problem, of course, is the timeline. We’re supposed to open for business on June 14th. Oi. Vey. Here I am, writing contracts and having meetings with renters when that sort of thing should have been taken care of WEEKS ago. I should be starting to worry about the scheduling . . . and, instead, monthly rental rates and commission percentages still haven’t been “signed on the dotted line” . . . for ANY of the five (minimum!) renters I’ll have. I did overhear the boss lady saying to a visiting friend today, “I should have hired Weslie a month ago.” Yup. I could have used those extra 30 days!

Even as I’m only just now getting my desk set up, I’m already beginning to wonder if I need to move it to the side room right away. I feel crowded where I am AND I just don’t think I’m out of the fray enough to REALLY be able to work. Hmmm. My option is really dark & disgusting (literally, not figuratively) at the moment, but maybe I can make it work. I’ll take a look tomorrow. Plus, that space is just storage right now (not making any money), and the area where my desk (table) is could be used for a small retail area.

BUT, there IS more to life than that, SO . . . !

I finally, after wanting to get there for the last SEVERAL days, got back into the flower shop this morning for a comprehensive inventory and restock of the cards I have there. There are 48 spaces, and if I keep 5 of each design, that will amount to 240 cards in stock at any one given time. I don’t have it that full right now (not 5 of each design), and I want them to all, eventually, be pre-printed ones (sympathy, get well, happy anniversary, blah, blah, blah). Right now, I only have 51 pre-printed cards stocked. The remainders are blank. So, that’s my other primary on-going project until I have it finished & a back-lay put by. Slow but sure, slow but sure. The owner mentioned this morning that she thinks she’s sold 8 or 10 . . . and that’s 8 or 10 more than I was selling w/o having a rack in there!  I want / need to get some ‘Congratulations’ and/or ‘Bon Voyage’ ones in next week in preparation for graduation. Then comes Father’s Day and weddings, and, and, and . . . . But, I really do enjoy doing those. (Guess what the dining room table is covered with right now?)

Oh, as my bladder demands one more quick stop before I shut my eyes for the night, I am reminded: I got up at 4:38 (I made a point of looking at the clock) this morning to go potty, and I didn’t have to turn on a light! It was THAT light out already! And we’re still a month away from the solstice!!! INSANE!

Okay, I’ll post this in the morning when I can plug in the Ethernet cable. A new wireless modem is on its way, though, thanks to Tom!

P.S. (Thursday morning.) In the light of day, no, I won’t try to move my “space” (at work) right now. I’ll work with it and see what happens.

P.P.S. I saw two hummers at the feeder already this morning!!

Sunday Night

It’s Sunday night, and I’m in bed in the dark, laptop propped up by my knees.  The window is open, and I can hear the spring peepers chirping out their song in the warm night air (it’s still 60 degrees).  From downstairs, I just heard Maisy growl at . . . ??? . . . something that went bump in the night.  Tucker has WAY better hearing than she, though, so if he didn’t hear anything worrisome, it’s not an issue.  She’s been “off” all day though, anyway – driving me just a leetle bit batty!  But, after all, she is the neurotic one in the family.

I worked Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this past week, and yesterday was the open house for this new business I’m (assistant) managing.  We held a pie social from 10:00 – 2:00, and for 95% of the time, it was just me out there, slingin’ slices o’ pie and hot coffee.  The boss lady was short-staffed due to it being prom, so she couldn’t leave the clothing shop. 

I’d forgotten how exhausting that exhaustion feels.  ;)  I felt like I was back in the days of the family-owned restaurant after a super busy summer day.  Last night, even tho I was so tired that I couldn’t think straight, I didn’t sleep well.  TOO tired, I guess, and probably not enough wind-down time.  Hmph.  Murphy’s Law strikes again.

The Partridge Rock chicks that were hatched around April 5^th got to explore outside of their brooder for the first time today!  They’re 6 weeks old now and big enough that I’m not too terribly worried about them getting picked on by the big, bossy geese.  Besides, that Cuckoo Maran mama is still being every inch such a fantastic mother that I suspect that anyone who dared hassle one of her babies would have a helluva fight on their hands!  I am a little worried about the wily ravens, though.  Each spring, they and I battle to get to the goose and duck eggs (because they are oftentimes laid outside) first.  And, when we lived at Hastings-on-the-Lake, I did have problems with them killing a few of my pullets when they were much larger than these chicks.  But, I had to cut the apron strings at some point, so only time will tell how many of these babies I lose to predation or other dangers.  (And, yes, I kept forgetting my camera each time I went out today to check on them . . . duhhh!)

I got the lawn mower gassed up and started for the first time today.  I HATE sweating, so lawn mowing is not a favorite pastime . . . even tho freshly cut grass is one of my favorite smells AND I love seeing the progress that a sharp lawn mower blade makes.  And, of course, today was the warmest one so far this year.  Anyway, I attacked it in a couple of different spurts, and that helped.  And, it’s always more time-consuming, too, when I bag the clippings and haul them to the chickens . . . something I hate messing with, but I love the happiness and benefits that it brings to the poultry and so I do it . . . even though that tips the scales towards making lawn mowing even a little more bothersome.  (And to think that I had a lawn care business for about 30 seconds back in my early 20s!  Hahahahahahahahahahaha!  Although, my business name WAS great:  Mother Earth’s Daughter.)

Rather than it being an annoyance, I was looking forward to my new, self-imposed bedtime tonight!  I think, I hope this is going to work out well.  I NEED the sleep and it’s just so nice to have a concrete END to the day’s work.  So, off I go to dreamland.  I’ll post this tomorrow (Monday) morning when I can hook up to the Ethernet cable in the kitchen* . . . while eating the zucchini bread that I can still smell, it having come fresh out of the oven only within the last hour.

*  I guess I forgot to mention, didn’t I, one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much lately (the other is the simple lack of time)?  The wireless modem on my laptop died.  So, no writing and blog posting in the sunroom, in the library, or here in bed . . . my three most favorite places to do so.  In time, that will get fixed, tho, too.  G’night.  10:48 PM / 16 May 2010

Workin' 9 to 5

Yeah, well, anyone who knows me realizes that it's probably more like noon - 8:00, but you get the drift.  ;)

It's been an uber-busy few days, and I'm a little cloudy on what day of the week it actually is right now.  What I DO know is that the Open House for this new business that I'm assistant manager for begins in 9 hours and 40 minutes.  Open House and Pie Social.  And we can't get the commercial coffee pot to work.  Not without being hard-wired to a water line, anyhow.  And considering the fact that we don't even have hot water in the BUILDING, this is one of the lesser issues.  For the moment, anyhow.

I can't even think what to write, I'm so tired.  I'm just biding my time, staying up . . . waiting for the printer to finish printing the brochures that we'll hand out tomorrow.  The boss and Tom (who I hired to install some Ethernet cables & outlets) and two of our "girls" (high school girls who will work for us this summer) and I worked our tukhusses off from about 3:00 until 8:30 tonight, trying to get the place presentable.  And holey-moley, Rocky, but that place is filthy!  90 years of use plus recent renovation = lots of dirt, dust, and grime.  The carpenters only pulled out this morning, and they'll be back again on Monday to finish some small, final projects.  We've told the vendors that they can begin working in their spaces on the 1st . . . which just made me realize that all the work that the artisans' co-op did today was a bit HASTY on their part!  Hmph?!

Okay, it's taken me about 1/2 an hour to write this much.  My brain is dead.

Stop by tomorrow.  I'll save a piece of pie.  :)

P.S.  Why do my night-owl tendencies never seem to kick in during situations like this???

Two Days at Home!

Hey ho!

(As opposed to "Hey, ho!" which has a different meaning ALL together!)  ;p

I worked my first day "in-office" on Wednesday, and I was, indeed, a bit anxiety-ridden as I drove into town!  But, I was swept so suddenly into meetings and "doings" the second I stepped in the door that I didn't have any more time to even think twice before locking up at 7:00 PM.  My boss, we'll call her Joy, was pretty relieved to be able to pass LOTS of tasks and to-dos onto me, I think.  Previous to now, she's been doing ALL this (general contracting for the remodeling, etc.) by herself . . . while running the clothing shop AND trying to balance her family life (hubby, daughter, and son)!  I haven't even had a chance to compile the hand-written notes that I took yet, but they filled at least 6 pages in a full-sized notebook.

The building that Joy owns is divided into 6 main parts (we'll say, for ease of description):  the clothing store, the current office & storage, the enclosed market space, a large (potential) office space area, a downtown loft, and a double-car garage.  I just deleted a big, long description of each of the spaces . . . realizing that Joy may not appreciate me sharing any/all of that information publicly.  Anyway, the point IS . . . there's oodles of space with lots of potential!

The main office space is located in a room behind the clothing store (which has been open for about a year . . . or maybe it's two?), but it's completely closed off from the rest of the building.  No interior windows.  So, rather than "officing" in there, I asked if I could set up shop in the market area . . . where I can both work at my desk and also keep an eye on the goings-on back there.  Eventually, I'll have an enclosed space that I can shut the door on, but, for now, I found a little out-of-the-way corner where I can put a desk.  I spent a little time working on that on Wednesday, but I accomplished no more than finding the spot and assembling a table there to use as my desk . . . only to later discover another table that will work better and which I'll trade this one out for.

A big (huge, actually!) advantage to this assistant managerial job is that a lot of it can be done on the phone or computer . . . from home!  And, realizing that I get NO work done (like that) when I'm in-office (at least not right now while everything's still being built and getting set up), I have even greater incentive to work here from home as much as I can.  For example, when I set aside 2 hours to do that work here at home, I sit down in front of the computer, set the timer for 120 minutes, and WORK solidly for those 2 hours.  That probably ain't EVER gonna happen when I'm "in-office"!  It's exciting to come into this job at this very early point, though - to have been there "from the ground, up"!

The open market area (enclosed in an old garage that reminds me of a small airplane hangar) is divided into 3 general spaces:  an artists' co-op, an antiques dealers' rental space, and the large open area which will include the coffee cart and the comfy seating.

This shot is taken from inside the antiques shop, looking thru the wall into the open, multi-use area.

In this one, I'm standing between the artisans' co-op (to the left) and the antiques dealers (on my right) looking towards the street entrance and the man door there.  In good weather, this door will be open as will the large garage door at the back of the building, creating a European-type open-air market.  (At least, that's what we're kinda going for.) 

Here, I'm standing at the man door looking down the entrance hall and into the building (yes, the floor is sloped).  The bright light is shining thru the open garage door at the other end of the space.  The horizontal log siding is what delineates the artisans' space.  The space isn't very deep, but it is very wide.


In this shot, the opposite end of the artisan's log-sided space is on my left.  The open garage door is behind me and to my right, and the framed space we're looking at will house the antiques dealers.  You can't tell from this picture, but the long wall cuts back on itself at a 45 degree angle right where the man in black is (Bundle of Joy's papa, coincidentally enough.  It's a small town!)  That's where my little space will be.

The clothing shop already boasts a very funky retro-feel to it (in decoration, not the stock), and we'll do the same out here which is RIGHT up my alley!  (And which explains the old signs.)

I'll sign off now as it's taken me about 2 hours to finish this post (?!!).  More later, I hope.