Quieter Days Ahead

Things have calmed down a bit at the store, and I now have time to catch my breath and get some other work done that I've been putting off during the busy holiday season -- like cleaning up the place!   Certainly, I had no chance to do any dusting or vacuuming, etc.  in the store this last month, so now's the time to get it done.

We decided that we need a real shredder at the store.  I had a little "personal" shredder that I'd use for stuff, but that's just not up to the job we need to do now.   I print out all our internet orders, both from our site and from Amazon, and there's no need to keep all that paperwork.   We have almost two full file drawers full of paperwork from this year's orders that we need to shred.  I'd burn up that little shredder in a half-hour if that's all we had to use.   When I went on-line to search for one, I finally found a great deal at Staples.  The only problem was that the billing address for our Discover card didn't seem to work properly!  The problem seems to be with the PO Box that we have for a billing address.  After spending 20 minutes trying to get it to work on-line, I called them to place the order.  Unfortunately, they had the same problem!       All I wanted was to order a stupid shredder!   Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper!  I finally pulled out the bill, and tried one more thing . . . I used ALL CAPS, and it worked!!  How stupid is THAT?!   Certainly something I'll remember, as this is not the first time I've had this very same problem with our Discover card.  
  
While I was trying to get all that worked out, my mother called with a problem.   :8_2_103:   They purchased a new, programmable thermostat, and when they opened it up, they discovered that the instructions were only in SPANISH!   OK, so I'm not going to go into what I think of THAT!    I had to go on-line and find the instructions and send the link to them, but their internet is so slow that they couldn't get the PDF file open!  Dad THINKS he has it all installed properly, and I suppose that if it's not, it's going to be cold in their house by morning and I'll be hearing from them again!  

Oh, did I mention that we woke to the smell of PROPANE in our house today?  We had to have our furnace looked at just a month or so ago because it wasn't working properly.   Turns out that the last time our furnace was blocked, they had to put a new pipe on, and because of the bend in the pipe, it became blocked again, but this time, the LP gas came through even though it wouldn't fire up.   It got down to about 60 degrees in the house, which wasn't too bad.  Fortunately, it was rather warm outside today (a balmy 28 or so), so the house didn't get too cold.  

I was talking to my mom about the problem and she couldn't understand why our CO detector didn't go off.  She was having a difficult time understanding the difference between carbon monoxide (CO)  and LP gas.  

I'm trying to figure out why we have an LP detector in our 5th wheel, but stick homes that use LP for heat, cooking and dryers don't have them.   I thought about that when we first moved up here and even mentioned it to my parents when we moved, but then promptly forgot about it.   It's now back at the forefront and is something I want to install near our furnace and near our dryer.   Those are the only two appliances that use LP, so I think that placing them in those areas is what we should do.  It's probably not a bad idea to get two more -- one for the lower level and one for the upper level -- so that we don't have to worry about this again.    

It would seem to be prudent that if a house is heated by LP gas that an LP gas detector should be installed in the home.   The odd thing is is that the best place to find one is from an RV dealer!    Guess I  know where to go to find one!   ;)  

Hope everyone is managing to stay warm!   Now that our furnace is fixed, we are!    

Julie

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas!   

It's hard to believe that today is Christmas Day.  This whole year has gone so fast!     We were scheduled to go to Milwaukee on Sunday (12/23/07), but there was a big winter storm coming.  It was questionable whether or not we'd go.   When we woke up in the morning, we had about 8 inches of snow, and it was NOT done snowing!   Our driveway was one big drift and there was no way we were going anywhere until our neighbors plowed us out.   We decided that we'd wait and see what the weather would do.  We had planned to leave by noon, and at that point, said OK, we'll leave at half-time of the Packer game.   NO, it was NOT done snowing yet, but we figured it was now or never!  

Here's a couple of pics I took before we left:

This first one is looking out our patio doors:



This is looking out the front door:



And, the saddest pic of all . . .



We watched the radar and it looked like we'd be out of the snow by the time we hit Waupaca (about an hour and 15 minutes south of us).  Unfortunately, that was not to be.    The snow followed us the entire time.  We had near white out conditions quite a bit.  Sometimes they were caused by the blowing and drifting snow, and sometimes they were caused by the idiots that were passing cars on the left (unplowed) side of the highway.  Actually, the right side wasn't really plowed either, but with all the traffic, there was a "path" for everyone to follow.  

There were a LOT of cars on the road during Sunday's storm and quite often, we just followed the vehicle in front of us.  Most times, I was only driving about 40-45 mph and drove the entire way in four wheel drive.  The kids were quite good, and actually stayed awake the entire drive!  Most times, after the first hour or two, they fall asleep.  I think they were as nervous as we were.  Course, they had some excitement, too, as they were keeping count of the number of vehicles that landed in the ditch!  LOL   OK, so that's not really funny, but if folks were prudent and cautious, they wouldn't end up in the ditch in the first place!  On the 230 mile drive, we counted 20 vehicles in the ditches.  One was a semi, and four vehicles had flipped.  "Stupid" hardly describes these folks!    

While some may consider us foolish for driving in the storm, we took our time and knew it was going to be a very long drive.  What normally takes 3-1/2 to 4 hours took us a total of SIX hours.   We found out from friends that left the next morning, that the roads weren't much better, and may even have been worse.  At least while we were driving, we were in snow, so I had some traction.  By the next morning, the roads were covered more with ice than snow (we had rain all day Saturday, so that's understandable).   I would MUCH rather drive in snow than ice!    

So, we made it to Milwaukee and my dear sister, Linda, had a cocktail waiting for my outstretched hand when we walked through the door!   ;)

We had a great time with my family, and this morning, stopped to visit with Greg's sister and her husband and family.  Danny makes the BEST Belgian waffles, and the kids always look forward to them, so we had a lovely late breakfast of homemade waffles.  We spent some time chatting and opening gifts to each other.  While it was a really short visit (just a couple hours), we were happy to at least have the time to stop and see them.  Living up here, we don't get to see Greg's sister much anymore, so any chance we have, and especially at Christmas, we try to stop and visit!  

We made it home in our usual four hours and the drive was quite uneventful, thank goodness!  Our neighbors plowed us out while we were gone and also took care of the chickens, duck, geese and goats.   We are very lucky to have such wonderful neighbors!  Now, I just have to figure out what I'm going to bake for Jim for plowing us out!  

After unpacking everything, we finally had time to open our own gifts.  The kids had fun, and of course, the house is a mess, but that's OK.  We're all happy and healthy and that's the most important thing!    

One thing Abby wanted was a Matchbox-type racetrack.  I managed to find a great one on Amazon and got a really good deal.  We put the track together, and it turns out it needs FOUR "D" batteries!  Who'd have thunk it!  Well, no D cells at home, but we have a BUNCH at the store.  So, yes indeed, you guessed it, Greg drove to our own store to buy some batteries!     When they got back and we put the batteries in, everything worked great!  Abby was thrilled!   The funniest thing was that the cats went bonkers over it!   All three cats were sitting in "pounce" mode watching the cars fly on the racetrack!   Mitzi pounced the most (she's our mouser), so that made sense!  It was VERY funny to watch all three of them with the heads spinning, watching the cars!  

Maddie (our shepherd) is right now sleeping in our bed.  She's exhausted.   She spent most of the last two days outside running and chasing my sister's dog, Otis.  Otis is just a year old, so is full of energy!  Poor Maddie had more exercise these last two days than she's had in the last two months!  

Aaron's busy on their computer putting music on his phone and playing with the new toys he received from his aunts and nana and papa.   Erica's upstairs painting her nails or putting make-up on, or some such thing!  She received a bunch of make-up and nail polish and also a lighted make-up mirror and a hand mirror!  Yea!  That means she's not going to be stealing MY mirror any more!    

So, that's pretty much it from the Mik Family for the last couple of days!  We hope that all our friends and family had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!    

Julie

Busiest Day of the Year for Us!

What a day!  

Today was pretty much the last day that packages could still be shipped via UPS "ground" and still make it to their destinations in time for Christmas.  That made it our busiest day of the year!   Saturday, Erica spent the day at the store with me, wrapping gifts for our family (I certainly don't have time to do it, and she was happy to take over that responsibility and see what everyone else was getting!).  She even wrapped a few of her own gifts that I had in boxes already!   :D

Once she was done with that, she helped me to pack orders.  Greg dropped Aaron off on his way to work and he helped us to finish up some of our orders and get some other work done in the store.  We packed over 50 orders on Saturday and after that, I had a bunch of gift boxes to make that had been ordered by a friend on another forum.  While the store closes at 5 on Saturdays, we didn't leave until about 7 p.m. and then I had a couple hours worth of work to finish up at home, along with getting dinner done, etc.  

We also had a local business owner stop in and order a bunch of gift boxes that I have to put together.   I'm trying to figure out when I'm going to have the time to do that, and right now am planning on doing that tomorrow night so they can go out Wednesday.  They're all local, so with UPS delivery, they'll all arrive the next day, so I have a little bit of leeway in getting them out.    Many of our local business owners do their best to shop locally and help the Abbotsford economy.  We really appreciate it when they think of us!  

Sunday, it was Abby's turn to help me at the store!  She got to wrap a few more gifts, and even picked out a couple gifts from the other stores in the mall.  Once that was done, she helped me pack over 50 more orders.  Once again, we left late.  

I had just ordered more boxes for shipping our hot dog forks and marshmallow trees on Friday, to be delivered on Monday, and with the sudden influx of Gift Box orders, it turns out I didn't have enough boxes or packing peanuts to ship them!  Thank goodness the company I buy all that from is just over in Eagan, MN, so I ordered them today and they'll be here tomorrow.  I can't wait to see what 24 cubic feet of packing peanuts looks like!  LOL  

We try to recycle boxes, as often as possible, and I get them from Dollar General next door to us quite often.   I'm always digging around in their back room and taking boxes before they put them in the recycling dumpster.  I don't know what I'd do without them!   Greg has also been bringing me boxes from County Market, as it's just been crazy and difficult to keep up with.  

Why am I telling you about the boxes?  Well, it's kind of funny!  

I had a call from a customer this morning stating that although UPS claims to have delivered his waffle iron to him, he couldn't find it anywhere.   The really sad part about this is that it was left on the front steps of a CHURCH!    Can you imagine someone stealing a package from a CHURCH?   Oh yea, going straight to hell for THAT one!  

I told the customer that I'd ship him another waffle iron today and file a claim with UPS.  No need for him to wait for UPS to do their thing.  I'll ship it today so he has it in time for Christmas.  He was thrilled with my response, as Amazon and UPS both were less then helpful.

I promptly filed a claim with UPS and was preparing to ship a new waffle iron to him when he called back.   The package had been found.  Apparently, an employee had found the box and because it said it was "perishable", they put it in the fridge!!!   :lol:      I'm thinking that I should maybe invest in a good magic marker to cross out that sort of stuff on boxes that I recycle!   LOL

We ended up with another new record today -- shipping out a total of  160  packages!   Those included the ones from Saturday and Sunday that we packed up earlier, and then today's orders.   Mom came in to help today, which was wonderful.  She worked hard and we had a good time.  I'm sure she's tired.    

The girls came to the store after school and helped me with some other things we had to finish up, and we finally left at 6:45, but not to go home!  We had to go to Erica's Christmas concert at the high school, so we didn't get home until about 8:45 p.m.   The concert was wonderful and we enjoyed it.  One thing I really enjoy about living in the "middle of nowhere" is that when the kids have a Christmas concert, we don't hear only "holiday" songs, but were treated to beautiful old favorites like Silent Night, O Holy Night (my
FAVORITE Christmas song) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, etc.  In essence, the concert covers a big genre of music from classic Christmas songs, to newer holiday songs like "Christmas Shoes".  Really a fabulous concert and collection of music.  

We heard everything from the 6th grade band, the middle school choir, the two high school choirs, the show choir (FABULOUS dance & song routines!) and the middle and high school bands.  

Sorry this is so long!  Not sure who will read all the way through, but if you did, THANK YOU!  It's now way past my bedtime, and I'm exhausted.  

Take care, everyone!

Julie

New Store RECORDS!

We ended up shipping out 117 packages on Monday!  That was a new record  -- but it was a "weekend" record, rather than a one day record (it included orders from late Friday, Saturday, Sunday and early Monday).     Our previous record was 77, so we've certainly grown!   We spent quite a bit of time packaging orders over the weekend, so it wasn't difficult to do.  

Our UPS driver had a delivery for us in the morning and asked "how's it look back there" -- meaning how much did we have packed already.  It old him about 70, and that there were at least 30 more to come.    About 1 p.m., he showed up (with his "helper" that he gets at this time of year) to pick up what we had done already.    He had some extra time and room in the truck at that point, so, knowing how much we had (and the variety of box sizes), he decided to stop and get what was ready.     When Lee came to pick up our packages today, he said he had over 1,000 packages in his truck when he finally got back to the UPS facility on Monday!  WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!      These UPS guys work so hard during the holidays.  They have to deliver all the business orders in the morning and then deliver the residential orders and in-between, after 3 p.m., they have to make all their regular pick-ups from stores like ours, and then continue with their residential deliveries.   Lee said he didn't get back to the UPS facility until about 8:30 last night.    They have to keep working until all their stuff is delivered, so they have a LOT of overtime at this time of year!  

We're fortunate that we have such a GREAT driver!   Lee's always in a great mood, and he's always willing to come back if I'm not done or ready for him.  We are VERY lucky to have him for our UPS driver!  He makes it so easy to work with UPS to get all our packages out the door.  

Today, I went in at 8 a.m., as I've been doing for the last two weeks.  In the past, my one day record for packing and shipping orders was about 40, which is up from 32, last year.   Today, I packed and shipped 64 orders!!!!!! Holy cats!  I NEVER thought I'd be able to get that many orders done in one day!  

The day was not without it's adventure, though!   As I started packing up orders, I realized that I didn't have enough paper to pack all the orders we have!   OMG!  What now??????????   I called Greg and told him to get me some paper!  I need paper!   He called the local newspaper (TP Printing) and they gave us a roll of unprinted newspaper (thank you, Carol!), and then he went to County Market and talked to folks there and got a bunch more paper, along with extra grocery store flyers that they didn't need any more.  In other words, Greg was my HERO today!    

I must say that we have some of the BEST suppliers there are!  On Monday, I had to call and order moreCrystal Color Sticks and Cones.   The company is just about 200 miles north of us, but they are VERY busy making and packing wreaths at this time of year.   I wasn't expecting them quite so quickly, but they showed up today!  Thank goodness!  

I also had to order more marshmallow forks, hot dog forks, waffle irons, etc.   I called on Monday and told them I need them last week.   They're such a fabulous company and fairly close to us -- just south of Chicago, but it usually takes at least two days to get the products to us.  Well, as I was working on orders, the buzzer on the back door rang, and it was the semi with my pallet of forks, waffle irons and pie irons!  How cool is that!    

I just LOVE these companies we deal with!  They are absolutely AWESOME!  Course, it helps that they're family owned, just like us, and really care about their customers!    Dealing with companies like Rome Industries and Winter Woods makes it so much easier to do what we do!  

I'm pooped, to say the least.   I can't remember EVER working so hard in my life!  BUT, I've never felt so good or been so happy, either!  I LOVE what we're doing and will happily work like this every single day to make our store a success!     Please be sure to spread the word!  We happily pack every single order ourselves and everyone is treated to PERSONAL service from our family.     We're not Camping World, and don't ever want to be.  We enjoy being a "mom and pop" business!  

Hope everyone is safe from the storms (they've missed us completely) and has power and everything else they need this time of year!

Julie

Scooping Up Chickens!

Normally, on Sunday's, we don't open until noon, but as has been the norm these last two weeks, I went in early as I had a LOT of work to do thanks to all the on-line holiday shoppers out there!  I really must say THANK YOU to all who have ordered from us!    We appreciate your business more than you know!

Greg brought Aaron and Erica in to help me (and himself, of course!), before Aaron and Greg had to go to work.   Erica stayed with me to finish packing up all the orders.  We also had to make some Dip Gift Sets.  OK, well, not just  some, but THIRTY of them!  So, once we had all the orders done, we went to town making the dip gifts.  The mall closes at 5 p.m. on Sundays, and so do we.  However, Erica and I were there until 6:30 so we could get everything done.

Once we stopped at the grocery store to get stuff for dinner (tacos), we had to pick Abby up from her friends' house where she spent the last two days playing and riding snowmobiles.

I suppose by now you're wondering about the title to this entry . . . well here's the reason.  Aaron went out to take care of the animals and decided to let the chickens out today, even though it's entirely too cold and they don't like the snow.  They won't walk on it if they don't absolutely have to, and I can't blame them, as they have NO insulation on their feet.   Well, as I was pulling into the driveway, I noticed something under the 5er.  I shined my lights on it, and it turns out it's a chicken!   Oh, and not ONE, but TWO chickens!   Granted their coop isn't exactly toasty in this cold weather, but it protects them from the wind and there are two heat lamps in there, along with their food and water.  We lose a chicken or two every winter, but it's almost always because they didn't get into the coop for the night and they died of exposure.   Well, Abby and I had to CRAWL under the camper to get at the two hens that were there!  Because I left my truck lights on so WE could see, the chickens could also see, and were NOT pleased with us trying to grab them!  

We DID end up getting both hens and did a quick check under the deck and around the coop, and a head count tells us that all the chickens are back where they belong.  I must say, that was the first time I ever crawled underneath the camper in the dark, in winter!  

That's about it.  Nothing much more going on around here!  Oh, I have to mention here . . . I'm getting more ornaments in the store!  I ordered them last night and hope to have them before the end of the week!  Anyone looking for RV ornaments, keep checking our store site as once they come in, I'll immediately have them available!   If anyone would like to "pre" order them, go ahead and do so and I'll ship them immediately once they come in!  

Well, it's after 9 and I need to eat dinner, so I guess that's it for now!  

Stay warm everyone!

Julie

I'm TICKED!

When I was packing up orders today, I had one for the last travel trailer ornament and when I went to get it (it was hanging in the front of the store), it was GONE!   I looked EVERYWHERE for that ornament and it's nowhere to be found!  If I had accidentally "oversold" them, my inventory would have said "-1" instead of "0" for how many we had left.  There's only ONE answer to why I didn't have one to ship.  It was STOLEN!      

I'm sure that whoever stole the ornament doesn't read my blog, but if you do, this message is for you!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that ornament looks lovely on your tree!  Obviously, you needed that ornament more than the person who actually PAID FOR IT you creep!    I'm thoroughly disgusted by your behavior and pray you never darken our doorways again!  
As Corporal Klinger would say:  "I hope the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits!"

Now that I have that off my chest, I feel better.  Well, not really.  I'm still REALLY ticked!  I'm ticked that some creep had the nerve to steal something from us, and I'm ticked that the creep has made me feel this way!  I was in a GREAT mood today and was happily filling orders until the last one, when I discovered the stolen ornament.   I'm not going to let this fester, but I DID have to get it out.    Thanks.

OK, on to better things!   I've been putting in so many hours at the store that I don't have time to do my OWN holiday shopping!  Seeing as I don't have to pack any orders up tomorrow, I'm going to spend some time shopping on-line and ordering my OWN gifts!   I'm kind of pleased at the thought of someone else having to pack up MY orders and shipping them to me!  LOL  

Yesterday, Greg went to check on the sump pump in the basement, and it turns out it's fried!   Apparently, the hose outside froze up, so the pump kept trying to pump and couldn't do anything.  Fortunately he caught it before anything flooded downstairs, but he had to get a new sump pump.  Not only that, but he had to go into the backyard into the snow and get a new hose out there that won't freeze up -- one of those big black 3" around plastic ones, instead of the smaller 1-1/2 inch flexible blue ones that we normally use.   So, there's more money down the drain (literally)!   Like I said, at least the basement didn't flood!    

It's gotten very cold here, and we've had more snow in the last few days and there's more in the forecast, so we're pretty much assured of a white Christmas.  This weekend is going to have some of the coldest temps of the year, with wind chills well below zero most of the night.    One of the lights in the chicken coop is burned out, so I have to get another one tomorrow.  With this cold weather, they really need that extra light in there.  

Our newest addition, Quagmire the Duck, is doing fine.  She makes herself a nice little nest in the chicken coop, although I don't think she's happy about the cold temps!     She doesn't even know that she's the "Queen of the Coop" as Aaron calls her!   She's bigger than all the chickens, so they let her do what she wants.  If she wants water, she gets it.  If she wants food, she gets it!  LOL    She's very sweet and wouldn't "peck" at the chickens, but the chickens don't know that, so they give deference to her!   LOL     We haven't been able to let them out since all the snows came, as it's just too cold out and they won't walk in the snow anyway.  However, the one day we DID let them out, when Erica went to put them away (about 4 p.m.), a bunch of the chickens were hiding underneath our deck.  Not only that, but Quagmire was there, too!    ;)   Apparently, she just followed the chickens and did what they do!    About 30 minutes later, they all walked back to the coop and Erica was able to close them up.

So, that's all that's been going on here lately.    Hope everyone's well and ready for the holidays!

Julie

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Remember my rant about the company I ordered boxes from?  How they canceled my order, blah, blah, blah?  Well, I got a phone call from them yesterday, saying that one of their trucks was MISSING and so they were calling folks who MAY have had an order on that truck!  HUH????  Well, seeing as I hadn't received a check yet, or a credit to my account, I gave it to the woman who called me with both barrels!    What do you mean, my order was LOST?  YOU PEOPLE TOLD ME IT WAS CANCELED?  Oh, and by the way, WHERE IS MY MONEY???????  It's been about 20 days since my order and you people stole my money!   The woman looked into it and called me back with a tracking number for the check that was going to be sent NEXT DAY AIR.  Lo and behold, I actually GOT the check today!  So, that's one problem solved!  I will NEVER order from that company again.  The small amount of savings is not worth the trouble they cause!  

We had quite a bit of snow the other day -- about 10 inches.  Of course, our driveway was one huge drift about 2 feet deep!   Fortunately, our neighbors plowed us out!   Unfortunately, the snow came on the 1st, which was supposed to be the day of the Christmas Parade in Abbotsford!    The parade doesn't start until 7:30 p.m. and by then it was so bad outside, there was no way we were going to make it there.  When I left our store at 4:30 (I closed early), it took me 30 minutes for the 8 mile drive home!   The snow kept coming, and the roads were getting worse and worse.  Erica was really upset because she was supposed to do her flag routine, but when I talked with the band leader, she said the girls couldn't do their routine in that kind of snow and wind anyway.  Not only that, but the bands were not going to be able to play either because of the weather.  So, all that time getting up early and practicing for nothing.   Such a shame!  

My days at the store are starting earlier and earlier and ending later and later.  Christmas shopping has really picked up!  We hit a new record for packages on Monday!  We shipped EIGHTY packages!   With all the time left before Christmas, I'm thinking we may surpass that record, too!    It's exhausting, because I don't have Greg to help me because he's busy at the grocery store.  Next year, we'll probably have to hire someone to help, but that' s a good thing!  

I still have to figure out a way to get my own Christmas shopping done, and I'll have to work on that this weekend.  I've a feeling I'll be finishing most of that on-line myself!  I ended up doing that last year, too, and it worked out great!  

We're expecting a couple more inches of snow tomorrow, and with the cold temps we've been having (brrrrrrrr, it's cold outside!), it's appears we're pretty much guaranteed a white Christmas!  

Hope everyone's doing well and staying warm!  

Julie

Scary Day at the Store!

Haven't written in a couple days, so will probably jumble a few things here, but it's an update, nonetheless!  

Yesterday, a very sweet little old lady came into the store (she's at least 85 if she's a day!) and has been in our store a couple of times.  She's just the sweetest lady and always picks out a gift for me to ship to her son.   Well, this time, she was walking up and down the aisles searching for her gift (I was working on the computer at the checkout counter), and as she got to the front of the aisle, right in front of me, she FELL!      Scared the HELL out of me and I damn near jumped over the counter to get to her!  Fortunately, she was fine and didn't get hurt, although she could have, very easily, as she fell right next to the end cap of that row and could have easily whacked her head, which would have required stitches!  She said that her ankle gave out and it happens occasionally, but hasn't happened in quite some time.  Sure scared the daylights out of me and took a while for my heart to stop racing!  

Monday was just a CRAZY day!    We had a boatload of orders to get out that we had been working on all weekend, and had a bunch left over from Friday because the day after Thanksgiving is a UPS holiday!  Betcha didn't know that!  Certainly, we didn't!    Because of the issues I had previously with the box supplier, I had to wait until Monday to get the boxes we needed to ship all our Hot Dog Forks and Marshmallow Trees.  Once Lee (our UPS driver) came in at 10 a.m. with the boxes and our bulk crystal cones, I had a LOT of work to do!  I've learned that to make things go faster for me, I do certain things all at once (kind of like an assembly line).  That meant taping up 12 hot dog boxes so I could start to fill the orders.    Not only did I have to finish up all those orders, but I had additional orders from Monday that had to go out!  

Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I had to drive 50 miles to the Clark County Humane Society to drop Mitzi off to get fixed and I had to be there between 12:30 and 3 p.m.!   Greg had to see the chiropractor at 1:30, so had to wait for him to get back from that and then drive to Neillsville with Mitzi!  OYE!  Greg was supposed to work at 3 p.m., but he had to stay at the store until I got back from dropping Mitzi off, which was after 4 p.m.   Not much we could do about that!  

The reason we took Mitzi to the Humane Society was that they have a special program to spay and neuter pets and only charge $40!   You can't beat that price, so if you have a pet that needs to be fixed, be sure to look into your local humane society and see if they can help you!    She handled the surgery on Tuesday just fine and I was able to bring her back home today.  I made Greg go and pick her up because I just didn't have two extra hours to drive to Neillsville and back today.   She's obviously sore, but the only thing we notice is that she's walking up and down the stairs much slower than normal, but she'll be fine in a day or two!    

I always feel so sorry for our pets when they have some sort of surgery!  They're taken to a strange place, put in a cage, and then when it's time for surgery, they're handled by strangers, (I'm sure they're as kind and gentle as can be!), and put under . . . then they wake up, groggy and in pain and have no idea why!   Poor things!  We're only doing what's best for them and of course I know that, but it still must be very hard on them.  

Not much else happening here.  We're VERY busy at the store, with the holiday shopping beginning, so I've been going in at 8 a.m., instead of 9, to get a head start on things as there's a LOT to do right now.  I thought I'd have Greg to help this year during the Holiday season, but now that he's managing full-time at the grocery store, I don't have that.   What I'm probably going to end up doing is having the kids come to the store after school to help me start packing up the orders that will go out the NEXT day.  I'm sure my mom will come in and help again, too, like she did last year.  

As much work as it is, I'd NEVER complain!    I absolutely LOVE being so busy, and this is only the beginning!

Julie

Christmas Shopping has BEGUN!

WOW!  Folks have started their on-line shopping EARLY this year!   Judging from the amount of orders we have pouring in, as compared to last year, folks are really planning early when it comes to on-line shopping!     We have a HUGE pile of orders to go out already tomorrow and have a boatload more to do on Monday.  I'm still waiting for my boxes to come in for the hot dog forks and marshmallow trees, which are scheduled to come in tomorrow morning.  I'm also supposed to get my crystal sticks and cones tomorrow, so that I can get those orders out as well.  

Not only do I have a boatload of orders to get out tomorrow, and sticks and cones to bag and pack up, but I have to find time to take Mitzi to Neillsville between 12:30 and 3 p.m. tomorrow to get her fixed.    The vet wanted about $300 to do the dirty deed, so I called the Clark County Humane Society and they only want $40!  WOWWWWWWWWWWWW  Can't beat that price!  

Oh, I forgot to mention what happened the other day!   The "Alternative" High School here in Abbostford offers classes on everything from scrapbooking to picture taking.   One of the teachers at the Alternative School asked me if I'd be interested in presenting a class on Dutch Oven Cooking!    WOW!!!!!!!!!!  I was shocked and amazed and scared and thrilled all at once!  

Of course, I'm going to do it, as folks have said time and again I should do exactly that!  While I don't have any experience in teaching, I DO talk about Dutch oven cooking all the time to our customers and friends in campgrounds when we're out there.     I'm still trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, and it's going to take some time to figure it all out, but I think this is a GREAT thing to do to help promote our store and the joys of Dutch oven cooking!  

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend and didn't get stuck in any airports or bad weather!      

God Bless!

Julie

Thanksgiving Day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  

                

Of course, our store was closed today, but that didn't mean there was no work to do!  Poor Greg had to work at County Market from 6 a.m. (open) to 2 p.m. (close) today.  He had a rough day, to be sure.   Once he closed, he drove home to watch the end of the Packer game and then drove the 40 miles to my parents house to meet up with me and the kids. 

The kids and I left around 11 a.m. to go to mom and dad's house as mom needed some help with dinner (not much!), and I had some work to do on their computer (install a new sound card and "GoToMyPC" so I can access her computer when she has problems).   We also had to go through all the ads for shopping Friday morning. 

Mom had just about everything ready for dinner, so there wasn't much to do that way and we did end up having a FABULOUS meal consisting of a beautifully cooked and browned turkey, stuffing, sweet/sour cabbage, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, gravy, 7 layer salad, dinner rolls and of course, pumpkin pie!     Mom makes everything from scratch, including the raisin stuffing, which of course, is my favorite part of the meal!  As usual, mom stole the tail and none of us got to have any!      I think that's the whole reason she won't let me have Thanksgiving -- she wants the turkey tail!   :D

Greg made it to mom's house about 3:30 and my brother and his wife, Annie, showed up about 4.  They had already eaten at Annie's family, so they just came over to visit (although Johnny did manage to choke down some of mom's food!)  :lol:   

We had a lot of fun visiting, and I must say, my kids did a great job helping to clean everything up!   We've discovered that the best thing in the world to do is to place a foil pan inside the turkey pan and there's next to no clean-up from the cooking of the big bird!    The rest cleans up rather quickly when you have a bunch of folks helping out and we were able to get everything done by 7:30.

Aaron and Abby stayed with my parents so they could go out hunting in the morning.    Greg followed me and Erica rode with me and we a nice talk talk on the 40 mile drive home.    At 13, she's at that awkward stage of not quite being a kid, and not quite being an adult, although she thinks she knows everything and should be able to do anything she wants!   

We were fortunate on the drive home that no deer jumped out in front of us!    Of course, Greg and Erica ate their pumpkin pie when they got home.  I was too tired . . . . I checked the forums and my mail and went to bed! 

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and was able to spend time with the folks they want to!  If you were stuck with family/folks you don't particularly care for, well, sorry to hear that!   BUT, it's better than being all alone or relying on a soup kitchen to feed you! 

God Bless!

Julie

Supplier Frustrations!

11-21-07 seemed to be the day to be frustrated with a bunch of suppliers!  I had placed an order with one that claimed to ship within a day on 11-16-07.  I expected it to be shipped on the 19th, which would have made delivery on the 21st.  Not so.  The items weren't even shipped until the 21st, so because of the holiday, I'm not getting them until the 27th.    

Next, I had ordered some special boxes that we need t ship our Super Duty Wiener Forks and some tubes that we need to ship our Marshmallow Extension Fork on November 12.   I paid with an E-check, as they offer an extra discount for that.  By the 21st, they're STILL not received, so I make a phone call.  First person says she has to call me back after checking with the shipping department.  Six hours later, no call, so I call again, only to discover that the items on backorder.    Now, I was able to order these on-line without anything showing they were NOT immediately available.  OK, I can deal with that, BUT, they TOOK THE MONEY OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCOUNT EVEN THOUGH THEY COULDN'T SHIP THEM!       Not only that, but after TAKING my MONEY, they decided to CANCEL my order!   Now, because I paid with an e-check, they cannot just credit my account, but they have to mail me a check!    Why they can't just credit my account, I have no clue.  

What really gets to me is that they did all of this WITHOUT TELLING ME!  All of a sudden, I would have just received a check in the mail with no explanation!  Why the hell didn't they call me to tell me they didn't have my items in stock and couldn't ship them to me.   Not only that, but they TOOK MY MONEY knowing full well that they had NOTHING TO SHIP to me!  

Was I irritated -- just a tad!    

I found another supplier for our boxes, etc. that is just over the border in Minnesota.  When I've ordered from them in the past, I get everything the next day, and I was DESPERATE for these boxes as I had nothing to ship the forks in.   I ordered them on Wednesday, thinking that they'd be delivered on Friday and I can pack up orders the day after Thanksgiving and we'd be good to go.  

WRONG!    Did you know that the Friday after Thanksgiving is a UPS holiday?  No?  NEITHER DID I!         After our driver never showed up to pick up our outgoing packages, I called UPS to find out where our driver was.  Oh, gee, today is a UPS holiday and only next day air is being picked up!     You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard THAT!     All kinds of businesses and delivery services have to work the next day (including DHL, who made a delivery to us today), but NOT UPS!  

When I asked if I could pick up the SEVEN packages that are waiting to be delivered to me on Monday, I was told that Monday's deliveries are all locked up on trucks, so I can't even come and get them!  

VERY frustrating, to say the least!  

Sorry that I sort of combined Wednesday and today, but things kind of flowed together!  

Hope your days are better and you don't have the frustrations I've been encountering recently!

Julie

It's a GIRL! . . . . err, DUCK, that is!

This past weekend, my nephews, KJ and Lucas came to visit, but they had ulterior motives!   Luke bought himself a white duck in the spring and once the cold weather started rolling around, they realized they had no way to keep it over the winter!  Well, gee . . . who do you suppose would be willing to take a duck and not eat it?  You guessed it!  Aunti Julie!   

So, yes, we have a duck.  Her name is Quagmire (yes, she's a she -- as she's laying eggs almost daily right now!).

Here's a couple pics:

She's really a sweet thing, and VERY friendly!  She'll follow you around and quacks a LOT!   She seems to be getting along with the chickens just fine, and because she's not used to the area, we've been keeping her in the chicken coop for now.  She needs to learn where "home" is and the best way to do that is to keep her in the coop for a few days before letting her out. 

I've also been worried that she doesn't know her boundaries (she's never really been "free range" like our chickens) and I would certainly hate to have anything happen to her if she were to waddle over to the road! 

The kids are home for the rest of the week, so they'll have to keep an eye on her until she learns our yard.  I'm hoping that she'll just follow the chickens or geese around, but having never had a duck before, I just don't know.   I would be heartbroken, as would Luke, if anything happened to her. 

As for the store, it's obvious that the holidays are on their way!   Our orders have picked up already, so that means that next month is going to be crazy busy!    That's a GOOD thing!  I'll NEVER complain about being busy!   The kids are a big help at this time of year, even if they grumble about having to help out.   I could never do everything alone, and with Greg working full-time, he doesn't have the time or energy to help out at the store. 

We'll be closed on Thursday and spending most of the day with my parents, while Aaron, my dad and brother all go out hunting.  Greg of course, has to work, but only until 2 p.m., so he'll be able to join us for dinner. 

Friday will be spent shopping with my mom, as we've done every year (except last year) for the last 18 years.  We always look forward to shopping on Black Friday and mom is excited to be going again, after not going last year.  Unfortunately, Greg is scheduled to work 6 p.m. to midnight at County Market, so will end up working from 9 a.m. to midnight, as he has to work our store prior to working at County Market!  He's going to be exhausted on Saturday, to be sure! 

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that Aaron gets a deer in these next couple of days!  He's just itching to get one! 

Hope everyone who is traveling stays safe and all have a FABULOUS Thanksgiving!  I know ours will be great! 

Godspeed, 

Julie

PS, Abby's head is healing just fine and there's barely a mark there now!

Opening Day ~~ Deer Season

Aaron left yesterday to spend the weekend with my parents as today is OPENING DAY of deer season!  For those that aren't from this area, deer season is practically a sacred holiday!  Kids are even excused from school if they're going hunting!  

For at least the last five years, they've gotten NOTHING!  Aaron has been rather bummed out by that, to be sure.   Well, this time, my brother, Johnny, managed to find them some private land to hunt on.   Yippee!    

At 8:30 this morning, my mom called -- THEY GOT ONE!!!!    

I talked to Aaron a little while after that.  Turns out just after walking into the woods, Johnny saw it and shot!    I'm bummed that Aaron didn't get it, but that's OK.  This was his first experience with gutting one, so he still has something to talk about!  They continued hunting for a while and may go back out this afternoon.  They have a bunch of tags to fill up and Aaron is bound and determined to shoot one himself!  

Here's a picture of the deer Aaron sent me from his phone:




I'm so glad he had his phone with him and could take pics and send them to me!   How cool is that!

Doing the Happy Dance here!  

            


Julie