Long time, no Posting!

Oh my goodness!  I'm still not used to this blog thing and have a hard time wrapping my mind around posting something at least every other day!  

Lots of things have happened in the last week or so.  We had Dan & Deb visit us (Cap'n Dan & Butterfly Lady, f/k/a Tweet) for a week to not only pick up their goodies, but to spend some time relaxing and not worrying about their motorhome's roof rebuild.   We had a lovely visit (I'm sure Dan & Deb were bored more times than not, as we still had work to do at the store, and geez, we DO live in the middle of nowhere!   Course, I'm hoping that the peace and quiet (at least while the kids were in school), helped them to relax a bit and enjoy their time up here in North Central Wisconsin.

Dan and Deb left on the 10th, and I had to immediately get started on packing the 5er for the 2007 Wisconsin Fall Rally at Indian Trails Campground in Pardeeville, Wisconsin (near Portage).   I was leaving on Thursday with Aaron and Abigail and Greg was coming down on Friday after the Homecoming game with Erica.    This was the very first time I drove the 5er without another adult present.   I was a touch nervous, to be sure.  As it turned out, the ride was quite uneventful.  I'm so used to driving the 5er anyway that it wasn't as big a deal as I thought.   Of course, the weather was good and little wind, so that helped.  When I pulled around the corner to our campsite, I found that our friends had everything all set for us!  Here's a pic of the traffic cones they had set out to outline our site!  



The two traffic cones that appear in the middle of the site are blocking the fire pit!   As usual, with our Wisconsin rallies, I managed to figure out a way to pull into the site, rather than back into it!  This makes about the 10th WI rally that we've managed to figure out a way to pull in, rather than back in!   It's too funny!  I've even managed to back OUT of our site every time as well!    

At this particular rally, it worked out quite nice, because pulling into the site meant that our awning was facing the communal fire pit, along with the two other folks lining the fire pit.  It was nice to not only not have to walk around the 5er to get to the fire, but to be able to keep an eye on whatever was going on outside our door (like cooking, etc.).    

Greg had to stay behind on Thursday because the Abbotsford Homecoming was on Friday and Erica was part of the flag brigade that performed with the high school band at halftime.   She didn't want to miss the show OR the rally, so we did the best we could to ensure that she was able to take part in both.

Since we've been home, things have been hectic.  I've had a lot to do at the store, and of course, with the holidays coming, there's even more to do.  I'm working on getting more gift baskets ready and creating new  ones as well.    

That's about all from the Mik Household these days!    A Day in the Life . . . not really too interesting, but it is what it is!     :D

10-03-07 Who Turned out the Lights?

YIKES!   Two hours into the workday, the lights fizzle and blink and then BAM!   NO POWER!    I look around, the entire mall is out.  OK, well, that's actually good, because it means it's not just our store, which would be REALLY bad!    After 20 minutes, I was outside looking around and talked with some folks who had just pulled into the parking lot.  They lived on the other side of town and their power was out, too.  Turns out the ENTIRE CITY OF ABBOTSFORD was without power!  Not only that, but the City of Colby was out, too!     We heard all kinds of things about what was wrong and when the power would be back and wasn't really expecting it to be back on anytime soon.  

Of course, that put me in a panic!  Being Monday, we had a LOT of orders to get out today, and I hadn't gotten anywhere near enough of them done by 11 a.m.!    As the best report we had was that it would be at least 2:30 before the power was back on, I decided to drive home with my laptop and the UPS printer to work on the orders from home.  I could at least input them into the computer (my laptop has a backup of our program) and print the packing slips.  We'd have to drive back to the store to pack everything up and weigh it and then go back home to print the labels and then back to the store to put them on all the packages, but you have to do what you have to do, right?  

A minor detail to insert here -- I had about 50 miles left that I could drive before running out of diesel!  With no power in the two closest towns, I couldn't fill up!       I was going to have Greg drive to Edgar (about 12 miles) to fill up my truck so I could keep going back and forth!   I'll have to be more careful not to get that low on fuel!  

About 7 minutes after getting back home, I got a call from a friend in town -- the power was back!     Pack everything up again and head back into town.  This time, I made sure to stop at the filling station to fill my truck up FIRST!   I wasn't taking a chance that the power being back was just a temporary thing!      

Had to get everything started up again and start all over.  Fortunately, the computer didn't get fried from the power outage (or possible surge), so everything was working fine (note to self:  buy a battery backup for the computer ASAP!).     About 45 minutes after getting going again, a gentleman comes in and says he has a delivery for us.  Oh MY, our cast iron is HERE from Camp Chef!   Oh, crap!  That's JUST what I need today!  You see, we don't have a loading dock at the store or even a doorway large enough to get a pallet into!   That means everything has to be unloaded by HAND and carried into the store!  The driver was able to get the two pallets of cast iron (all 2,198 pounds of it!) with the use of his lift gate and left them outside the back door for us.   Now, I'm looking at the sky and the weather report is not looking good -- rain appears to be coming!  YIKES!         

I called Greg about 8 times before he finally answered his phone (he was in the shower, getting ready to come in), and had him bring a tarp from home to cover the pallets.   Fortunately, it didn't rain!  

When Greg got to the store, I had just finished printing out all the orders.   We were able to get started on all the packing.  He's doing much better on packing them, and is double and triple checking everything!   If he has a question, he asks me now, instead of guessing, so we're working quite well together and not having any more problems, which is a huge relief to both of us!  

When UPS showed up, I was still printing out the labels, but Lee (our UPS driver) started loading up the packages that were done, and Greg and I were able to keep up with getting them printed and the labels on the packages without him having to wait for us.   As Greg said, it was like doing "wind sprints" to get all that work done in such a short amount of time!  

In between all of this, I called both the high school and the elementary school and asked them to have Aaron and Abby get off the school bus at the store so they could help us unload the two pallets of cast iron.  Fortunately, they were both in good moods and didn't mind helping!  

There's lots of work left to do today, but I wanted to at least get an update on today here as it's been a while since I wrote anything.    

I think I'm going to sleep good tonight!    

Godspeed!

Julie

PS, we still don't know what happened with the power, and as usual, the local Wausau TV news stations ignored us (you would think that two entire towns being in a blackout would be newsworthy, but not according to Wausau!).    I'm sure we'll find out when our little local paper comes out on Wednesday!

Executive Decisions . . .

Well, the camping "season" is slowing down around here now and weekends are not what they used to be at the store.  We felt that it would be good for us to have some time off and get some work done at home during this "down" time, so we've decided to close on Saturdays and Sundays until November.   That's just our Abbotsford, WI store, the internet store is open for business 24/7!   It seemed like a great weight was lifted off me when we made that decision.   We've worked 7 days a week for 2-1/2 years and our house shows that we've not been able to do all we want to do.  Of course, the kids have helped us and do a lot of work, but still and all, they're kids and just don't do things the way WE do!  

Although we were "closed" today, Greg and I were both in the store getting the orders ready to go out tomorrow.   Normally I do all the weekend orders on Monday (which makes Mondays very busy), but I have to go to the doctor tomorrow morning, so we decided it would be easier to go in today and get a bunch of them done.    

The doctor's appointment is not mine, though.  We're finally going to find out what's wrong with my dad.  Remember earlier in the month he was in the hospital for a week?  Well, tomorrow, we're going to get the results of his bone marrow biopsy.  We'll be seeing the hematologist, so it seems prudent that I be there, especially considering all the things we've gone through with Greg.  Hematology is so closely related to oncology and not knowing what's up with dad, well . . . it seems the right thing to do.

To get back to the store being closed . . .  it's funny how we always took weekends for granted in the past.  It was always a given that weekends were off-days.  When you own a retail store, that's just not the case and we've worked weekends since we opened in June, 2005.   Today, I returned to the world of domesticity!    

After spending a good amount of time reading the latest Harry Potter book (I read it in 1-1/4 days), I dusted the living room (and got rid of all the cobwebs!), dusted our bedroom, which hadn't been done in too long (oh, those cobwebs are gone, too), and vacuumed our room, even though Greg vacuumed yesterday, and then to rid of all the cobwebs in the upstairs hall and stairwell!

Not only that, but I gave Maddie a BATH!   You know, there's nothing more pathetic than a German Shepherd in the tub getting bathed when she doesn't want to!   She looked so pathetic that I felt sorry for her, but that didn't stop me from washing her up good!    

Getting back to being a mom and taking care of a household . . . it's a GOOD thing!

Godspeed All!

Julie

Julie, the Goat Herder!

Busy day today!   Had an appointment in Marshfield, so Greg had to open the store.  I didn't get in there until noon, but then had to leave at 3 so I could get home to make an AWESOME spaghetti dinner for tonight!   Not only does dinner have meatballs (homemade), but also Italian sausage and, just for Greg, I added a pork hock to it!!!!  

When I left Marshfield, as I had groceries, I stopped at home first.  Of course, Rudy was out of the pen!  She's just a little escape artist and is the most "athletic" of all the goats!  As I was putting the groceries away, I let Maddie out and then went to get Rudy back in the goat pen.   She did NOT want to go back in the pen!   Most times, they're still afraid of Maddie, even though she doesn't bother them.  Well, this time, Rudy let Maddie right up next to her and even though it appeared she wanted to "butt" Maddie, she just stood there with the other goats watching from the other side of the fence.  Maddie and Rudy ended up with their noses together and turned their heads in a way that it almost looked like they were hugging!  It was SO cute!   As much of a pain in the butt they can be, it's really great to have them!  

I went to the store and got a lot of things done that I've been wanting to do -- straightening the back rooms -- so I was happy.  I came back home 3 hours later, only to find ALL FOUR goats outside their pen happily munching on our TREES!   I wouldn't mind so much if they munched on all the weeds in our yard, but to be munching on our trees is just too much!    As I pulled into the driveway, they ran towards the barn, and then I honked at them and they were standing at the door to the barn.

Course, I still have to get them in the barn and in their pen!  Minor details, right?   They started to munch on the weeds around the barn, and of course, I couldn't tell them to stop!  Anything that's going to get rid of the weeds is a good thing, right?   After 30 minutes, it was time to go in.  I finally got them in the barn so they could climb into their pen and it was time to get dinner going!  

I got dinner going and made the meatballs and fried the sausage and got the pork hock boiling, so all's good!

OYE! What a day!

What a day today was!   As usual for a Monday, it was very busy at the store.  Mondays are always busy because we have orders from Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday (and Monday until 1 p.m.) to get out on Mondays.    Three and a half days' worth of orders are a lot to get out in one day.  Fortunately, Greg is coming in earlier now, which makes it a bit easier on me.  

The day was going OK until I received a call from a customer.  Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can't get it right and that seems to be the case with the orders that were confused on September 4th.  I had received the waffle irons back from the first customer on Wednesday and had immediately shipped out his pie irons.  When I received the second set of waffle irons back, I shipped another set of pie irons to what I thought was the second customer.  WRONG!  I was the one that processed the pie irons and it turns out I sent them to the FIRST guy once again!  He called me today to tell me that he received another e-mail from UPS that he was to receive another package, but that he didn't think he should.  I double-checked, and sure enough, I sent them to the wrong guy!  Sheesh!       I had to have UPS intercept that package and today, shipped out the pie irons to the right customer.    I'll be really happy when all this is behind us!  

Here's a funny one . . . the other day, my 16 year old, Aaron, said something about his friends saying I have the "coolest truck in town."!!!!    :D   :D   :D   OK, so I don't necessarily need someone to tell me something I already know, it's still cool to hear from others, even if they're under 18 years old!!        I asked Aaron what he meant and he said that his friends had commented on what a great truck I have, and when one of them dropped him off at our store, even drove around to the back to show his brother my truck!   :lol:   When I asked Aaron what was so special about my truck, he said "well, you've got, like, the second biggest truck there is!"     :D    Truth be told, there are more than two trucks that are bigger than mine (only three), but I'm not going to push the issue!  I think it's pretty cool that "Mickey's Mom" has the "coolest truck in town"!    :D    :D    :D

Now on to an irritating note and I'm going to jump on my soapbox!      Erica had a volleyball game at Spencer today.  Last year, when they played at Spencer, her jersey was stolen from out of her backpack in the girls' locker room.  We had to pay $15 to replace the jersey because the school did nothing when notified of the theft.  THIS time, Erica's camera was taken out of her bag and somehow broken (the screen is broke and pictures cannot be seen or transferred to the computer).  She had her camera tucked in between her jeans and inside her bag/backpack.   When the games were done, she found her backpack messed up and the camera was at the bottom of her bag.  She told the coach, but I don't think anything will come of it.  I've already prepared a letter to the school principal with copies to the Abbotsford schools.  I'm not sure it will do any good, but I have to do something.  These girls are forced to share a locker room and locks are NOT supplied for the visiting teams.  There is supposed to be a teacher "standing guard" outside the locker room, but if this is being done by the girls on a team, what good is that?   They need to have a SECURE place to store their stuff.   At most schools, they have separate locker rooms, so everything is secure.  At Spencer, they have to share a locker room because the boys have football practice, so are using their locker rooms (that's what they use for opposing teams up here in the middle of nowhere).  We'll have to wait and see what happens.  I can only hope that they will do the right thing, but am not holding my breath!  

I didn't get done the work I had planned on today, but I should have extra time tomorrow, unless something blows up!  Until then . . .

Godspeed,

Jule

Too Funny!

The most interesting thing to happen today was at about dusk.  Maddie (our dog) started going crazy, and the geese were honking and making all kinds of noise.  I looked out the kitchen window to see a van in the driveway, but no one coming to the front door.  I checked the kitchen/garage door and no one was at that door, either.  OK, so as the van was still there and the geese were still going nuts, I put my shoes on and went outside, only to find a man being held hostage between his van and the house by the Mik Geese!      :lol:


I went out into the garage and asked if I could help him.  Well, it turns out he was one of those guys selling "meat" and said he had some extra and was selling it at cost.  I told him that my husband is a meat cutter and I'm not allowed to buy any meat.  LOL  Ok, so that's a half-truth.  Greg is a former meat cutter, and of course, I can buy anything I want!   Still, it doesn't allow for argument when someone comes to the door selling meat!  

He looked at the geese and commented on them, and I mentioned how they're better than a guard dog!   I mentioned that he should be careful, because Larry was looking like he was going to attack.  He told me that he's been "chased by every animal known to man" and that geese don't bother him.  Mind you, he's saying this while keeping VERY close eye on the geese!    He then VERY SLOWLY started backing up to get back into the van.   Meanwhile, his partner is sitting in the van watching all this.   I went up to the geese and told them that "it's OK" and "shushed" them and they actually listened!   You could tell from the look on the driver's face that he was amazed!   I was, too, as they NEVER listen!  LOL  At least I didn't look like a completely crazy lady!  

Anyway, that's our funny story for the day!   As much of a pain in the butt the geese may be, they ARE good for some things -- especially getting rid of salesmen!!   :lol:  :D

Godspeed,

Julie

A Day to Remember . . .

Six years ago, I never thought anything like the attacks would or COULD happen in our country.  What a sad day for our country to have to remember.  So many innocent lives lost.  And for what reason?  Our American way of life has not changed.   Al Queda has not taken over the U.S. and forced all women to wear burkas and everyone to convert to radical Islam and Bin Laden is living the life of a jackal, hiding in caves like the coward he is.   I pray for the day when our soldiers find him and greet him the way they did Saddam .  . . "Greetings from President Bush!"  How awesome was that!    He is getting bold with the new videos he is releasing.   In my heart of hearts, I pray he is becoming careless and we will hear the words we have longed to hear for six long years .  .  . WE HAVE HIM!   But I digress. 

Six years ago, I was still working for a lawyer in Hales Corners.  I was driving to work when I heard on the radio that the top floors of one of the trade towers was on fire.  At that point, they (the radio DJ's) didn't know it was from an airplane that crashed into the first tower.  Shortly after getting to work, we heard it was an airplane, and then of course, the world watched in horror as the second plane hit.  Not much work got done that day, as I spent most of it watching the TV in the office downstairs and listening to updates on the radio.    I couldn't wait to get home and hug my husband and children.

Aaron was in 5th grade at the time and came home with a note from school.  The school decided to NOT tell anyone but the 5th graders what had happened, leaving it up to parents to tell their kids.  Of course, it was difficult for them to understand.  Abby was just a baby, at 4 years old, so she doesn't remember any of that day.  Erica doesn't remember much, as she was only 7, but I remember sitting down with her and talking with her and trying to answer questions like:  "Mommy, why do people want to kill us."   I didn't have the answer then, and I don't have the answer now. 

The unending news coverage was difficult to watch, but something that we couldn't turn away from.   The patriotism and togetherness that our country displayed back then was incredible.  The number of flags flown made me proud.   I wish we had that same sense of patriotism and togetherness now that we did then.  We need to find a way to bring this country back together and have everyone working together towards a common goal.  Peace in the world would be wonderful, but I lost my rose-colored glasses a long time ago, so I doubt that's ever going to happen. 

What I do know is that:

• We are blessed to live in the most fabulous country in the world where damned near anything is possible!
• We have the greatest men and women in our armed services (including my nephews), who are willing to lay down their lives for us to be able to continue our way of life and gives us the opportunity to do the things we do.  
• I am blessed to have three wonderful, beautiful children, especially when it was doubtful we'd have more than one!  
• I am blessed to have a husband who has gone to hell and back with his health.  We were taught humility and how to ask for help and to learn what it really means to be scared and to put the utmost faith in another human being (the doctors) and praying that God has given them the knowledge and compassion needed to pull us all through the darkest days.
• I am blessed to be able to live in the "middle of nowhere" with my family close by, and of course the dog, cats, chickens, geese & goats!  What a treat it is to have all of them surrounding me!
• I am blessed to have wonderful, caring friends who will go out of their way to help when asked, and especially when not asked!
• I am blessed to have the opportunity to travel this fabulous and gorgeous country of ours in the various campers we've had over the years and
• I am blessed to be living the American dream of owning our own business with all the trials and tribulations that entails.

I'm sure there's more, but I must say this . . . I know I am very blessed and thank God every day for all the blessings He has bestowed on us.

I hope anyone reading this can take a moment to step back and think about all the things in their lives that make them truly blessed -- the good and the bad, because truly, as one who has had to deal not once, but twice, with the demon of cancer (Greg's) and the trip to hell and back with his bone marrow transplant, I can tell you, we are truly blessed to have made it through and be where we are today. 

Godspeed,

Julie