Playing Hookie and thinking I should really be Painting!

The laundry was piling up and the messes were becoming permanent so I stayed home from the store today (Good Buy Con$ignment, Home Furnishings & Decor) to try and put things in order again. I got so much done this morning that I am thinking I will paint Sarah's room before the day is out (white ceiling, doors, trim, pink walls - just like she wants it) but I sat down to take a break and saw Studio 5. They had the neatest blogger on their show today, her name is Shan and her blog is called Design Gal & Her Handyman. She does a lot of thifting and turns her finds in to bonafide treasures! Here's a link: http://saltlakedesignergal.blogspot.com/

Check her out.

Come see me...

I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month!! We are finally open for business - but I am still putting price tags on some things. It's so much fun but also so much work, I'm kind of surprised but also rather pleased. Somebody should come and visit me. I'm there all the time. I guess I should say where "there" is?? Our store "Good Buy Con$ignment" is open. The address is 3245 West 7800 South, West Jordan, Utah 84088; due West of Macy's Grocery Store and the West Jordan Post Office (which is how most people find us - waiting to get out of the parking lot at one of these two places). Once I get all the prices on things (almost finished for now) I will start doing some actual advertising - I'm curious to see how that will affect traffic and workload. I didn't know I would have so much fun meeting new people; there are alot of really interesting people out there! In other, but related, news... we are due to get all our furniture out of our Cottonwood House by September 30th. The new owners (a young family with 2 small boys) is due to move in that day. We are really pleased that a young family is moving in. Should be really good for the neighborhood and for their family. We really loved living there while our children were little. Edgardo built an awesome swingset there when Jacob was 4, Sarah was 3, Daniel was 8 months old ("Baby Daniel" was his official name at that time - seriously - no one ever spoke to or of Daniel without the prefix "Baby") and Joshua was just a premonition. The swingset is still there today - 14 years later - and it's in just as good condition as it was the day it was built (thanks to new swings installed 2 years ago when we were remodeling so we could rent to vacationers). The buyers realtor was describing how the kids of the new owners just took over the swingset when they saw it - like it was magnetized - and how the young family has been at the house take pictures and driving by all the time. We are really pleased that they are so excited to live in a house that has such incredibly tender memories for our family. I can't believe what a weepy woman I am - sitting here crying over the memory of my babies on their swingset. Anyway... we're very happy that the new family is excited about living in our first home and wishing them just as much joy there as we had.

Some times you just hAVe to take time...

We have been trying to figure out how we could squeeze in some time with just our children. You know where they can't bring friends or cousins and they are forced to be together without anyone else more interesting to interact with. Anyway, we decided to spend this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday forcing them to spend time together and we were getting worried about how that would go. They're all old enough now to think that being together with just your parents and siblings is embarrassing and uncool not to mention boring and stupid. Anyway, we went to lunch and a movie and then made floats and sundaes and watched a Redbox at home that together that evening and everyone had a really good time. Then on Tuesday we went to Snowbird and bought their all day activity passes. The mechanical bull was down but we rode the Alpine Slide, Bungy trampoline, Ziprider, and the Tram before we were out of time and energy after we had lunch at Olive Garden. Today we are planning to take the kids to the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms together and then out to lunch. After that we've exhausted our brief window of time and we'll need to really focus on the house, yard, and business so we can be ready to host Amy's wedding reception this Saturday at our house and open the doors of our business to the public in about 2 weeks. I am so glad we are taking the time. Family should ALWAYS be a priority!!

Whelmed - Not overwhelmed, just whelmed...

I just checked and whelmed is a real word.  Anyway, we have one of our houses under contract and the other one is for sale - we plan to have it sold by the first part of October.  How you might say??  By dropping the price enough that someone will quickly buy it - that's what we did with the other one and it worked pretty good.  Prices are sure ugly.  Anyway, we will have a whole house of furniture from the first sale in August and we were debating what to do with all of it and decided that we would open a furniture consignment store.  We have an agreement in place to rent space at 3245 West 7800 South (due West of Macey's Grocery Store) in the space that used to be occupied by "TSI Outfitters."  We bought a straight box moving truck and ordered a point of sale system to keep track of everything and ring up sales and now we are seeking out consignments.  Only my hard drive exploded (not to worry it was covered by Apple Care and I didn't have to pay for it - just time spent no money changed hands) and then the battery on the new truck (new to us - it's used) had a bad cell in it and it went totally dead never to be charged again so we had to get that replaced - just $100 but it put us behind another day or so getting that taken done.  Then today, I went out and bought the point of sale system - should be here in about one week but the software is already down loaded so I can start learning how to use it and entering inventory and seller details right away - sticker shock.  Also we purchased a vinyl cutting machine that uses PC as it's computer of choice so we are deciding which computer to use to hook it up and then we have to learn to use the thing.  In all my spare time I have been applying for State business license, City business license, sign permits, sales and use taxpayer number, and employer identification numbers.  All the ducks are in a row but I am now waiting for the wheels of government to finishing grinding slowly and spit out the necessary numbers and licenses.  Good thing we got a deal on the rent for the first two months!!  Now if the sale of the house goes through smoothly - we had to replace the roof with a brand new one to continue with the contract but that's a whole other story - there will be one less thing to worry about and many more steps to take.  I did manage to get my website up and running for the new business.  Here is a link: Good Buy Con$ignment.  To sum up - this sounds like whining but it's just a touch of exhaustion.  Things are good - I'm happy.

Chocolate Eclairs

So I have been thinking about making chocolate eclairs for a couple of weeks and I finally did it.  Every other year or so I will make a couple batches and then the children descend en masse and gobble them up and then I don't need to make eclairs again for another year or two.  This time I filled them with a mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar, and cream - turned out really good - the shells didn't get soggy like they do sometimes with a custard filling.  Highly recommended!  Maybe I will have to make them every six months now??

Char You Rock!

     

     

No this is not a shameless bid to win a FREE subscription!  However, if it does the trick then good for me Whoo Hoo! Anyway,Char makes the coolest things ever... Monogrammed T-shirts, Wrap Dresses, Laundry Soap Containers,Freezer Jam, Artisanal Bread, iPod Valentines, Tie Dyed Easter Eggs,Juice Carton Wallets, New Ironing Board Covers - the list just keeps going on.  I used to think I was pretty crafty but cataloging the output that Char generates leaves me in the dust.  I want to nominate Char for the title "The Queen of Craft." You go girl!

           

20 Years - Happy Anniversary to Us!

Well that went by really fast... and that's all I really have to say about that!