We had a wonderful day off work today. Mom and David made it down in good time yesterday. I took the afternoon off and we had lunch together, then went to the grocery store to buy stuff we needed to make homemade beef stew. We had a good time visiting in the afternoon and making supper. Then hubby made it home from work about 6:30 and we all had supper together. It was nice. Mom cleaned up the kitchen for me last night while John, David and I watched "Grey's Anatomy". John asked her what those two white holes in the kichen counter were (clean and empty sink) LOL.

We slept in this morning - until just after 7 a.m. Woohoo!!!! Then we had a leisurely morning. Mom and I fixed a breakfast of bacon and pancakes and we all sat down at the table together. Mom cleaned up the kitchen while I got dressed. Then we drove to Kolona and visited a cheese factory for fresh cheese curds (they squeak when you chew them) and an Amish grocery store. We circled around to the Amana colonies and went through the museum as well as a few shops and had dinner at a German restaurant. We stopped by the wool mill after dinner where I bought a new cardigan sweater and a stone that's supposed to clean pills and the like off old sweaters. Finally, we stopped off at the outlet mall on the way home. Mom and I hit several shops, and we helped David pick out some shirts and sweaters from the Eddie Bauer store. They will look so nice on him at work and the shirts have enough similar colors in them they will match either sweater. I love when clothes mix and match like that.

It's about 9:30 at night and both Mom and David are zonked out. We wore them out today. John is watching TV. Mom is behind me snoring in the bed. Tomorrow we are doing some site seeing and running around closer to home. It's supposed to rain, but the things we are planning on doing are mostly inside activities anyway.

Oh, and the most exciting news: John and I found out from #1 daughter yesterday that we are going to be grandparents again. Woohoo!!! They've been wanting this since they got married a little over a year ago. We are so excited for them and can't wait to hold another little one in our arms again. But I've got at least 7 more months to wait.

Finally, please pray for Missugs. She was in a terrible car accident on Wednesday afternoon and is in pretty rough shape.

I say, BRRRRRR. It's in the 30s as we wake up this morning. Cold weather is officially here. I bought 3 new pairs of slacks and 3 new blouses the other day. It was the last of the clothes money I had set aside out of our tax return. I got some of it on clearance, so I did good staying at $100. I didn't feel so bad about my $100 shoes after I managed to get 3 new professional outfits with the remaining money.

But we were talking about the cold. I brought up the clothes because I am glad that I now have more than one pair of slacks I can wear to work in the winter. I am usually a skirt girl because of my height, but at least my legs will be warm today. The high today is supposed to only get up to about 45. BRRRR. The had predicted snow flurries last night and for today as well. I don't know if it flurried overnight, but I forgot to park the car in the garage so I may have to do some scraping.

Guess I'd better get moving just in case I do have to scrape frost or light snow from my windshield.

My mom and brother will be here in one week. YIPPEEE!!!! I am taking off work early today to get the guest rooms set up for them. I still have a lot of boxes that have not been unpacked. I need to at least stash some of them up in the attic for now, but they need to be done so strategically so I can get out the Christmas decorations and stuff soon.

Hope everyone has a great day! STAY WARM!

It is supposed to hit 93 degrees here today. That's pretty warm for Iowa this time of year. We slept with the windows open last night and the fan on low. That felt great! I wish I could stay in bed a few more hours. Seems like a day to sleep in is in order, but I've got no time for one.

I have a follow-up exam today at the eye doctor. I went two weeks ago but was late for my appointment and didn't get dilated like I was supposed to. He gave me a pair of trial contact lenses, which have been ok some days and uncomfortable others. I have yet to keep them in overnight (they are extended wear). I did notice that they bother me less when I'm outdoors than when I'm inside, so dust must be part of the problem. I am to wear my contacts into the office but have to bring my glasses to wear home after he dilates my eyes. I'll get to come home wearing some of those stylish plastic sunglasses. We only live about 6 blocks from the eye doctor, so I'm just going to walk home after my appointment. I could go back to the office, but I believe I'm going to take this opportunity to come home early. He said I won't be able to see real well for a couple of hours after they dilate me anyway.

Only 2 weeks and 2 days before my mom and brother come to visit. I can hardly wait!!!! It's been a year since I've seen my mom, and longer than that since I saw David.

I feel good today. I feel like I've accomplished something. The day started out with Sunday school. I skipped church because John and I volunteered for a fundraiser for the local animal shelter and needed to be there before church would get out.

The store was a sponsor of the event. We stayed up late last night tying dog treats to a postcard that said "No bones about it... Doty Computers has the best service around." On the other side was a coupon for 10% off a print job between now and the end of November, plus an offer for us to make a 10% donation to the shelter. I was really pleased with how cute they turned out. We also had to hang our own banner at the picnic shelter. I wanted to hang it between poles, telling my husband the weight of the banner would pull down enough on the rope to keep it up there, but he didn't like that idea. He didn't think it would be high enough, so we ended up throwing the rope over the rafters (his idea). As we tightened the rope, it scraped across the top of that wood pulling down a load of bird crap. It was sticky like tar and so gross. We couldn't find any soap in the bathrooms at the park so we drove home to wash our hands, with me palming the steering wheel so not to touch it with my sticky fingers. It was soooo gross. We now have to figure out how to clean the banner that we just spent $150. The rope we threw in the trash.

After we got home, I finished laundry, changed the sheets on the bed, did about a week's worth of dishes (2 sinksful), made a nice supper, watched The Amazing Race AND baked cookies for my hubby. I am ready to hit the hay as soon as I put the cooled cookies in a canister. I like the feeling of satisfaction I am going to bed with. OH, and I got the boxes cleared off the mud porch so we can move a shelf unit back in there tomorrow to store canisters and bigger appliances like crock pots on, stuff that is too big to fit in the cupboard.

Praise God for good days!

So much for employees working out. I had one of them tell me a couple nights ago that she got offered another job for more pay closer to home. It was a no brainer for her to accept it, but it still stinks that I am losing her. She was working out so well, too. It just sucks. So, now I am back to trying to hire two, instead of just one. I think I'm going to try to hire them from closer to the other store. Last time I was advertising for people who could work out of both stores, but the 25-mile drive does seem to be an issue, and it will only become worse the closer we get into winter.

Speaking of winter, it got cold here the past couple of nights. I woke up freezing this morning, thankful that John was cuddling. He only cuddles like that because he's cold, and usually it makes me sweaty. Not this morning! I was leaning into the cuddle BIG TIME.

The maple tree in my front yard is starting to turn red. It should be ablaze with color by the time my mom and brother get here in a few weeks. I was still able to arrange the schedule so I can take off a couple of days when they get here, so I'll be able to soak in the visit.

I'm super tired, so I think I'll head to bed. I put in a 13-hour day today, but made a couple hundred extra dollars by staying open late for some people. This weekend I will be volunteering my time at a fun dog/owner event at the park, called M.A.D.W.A.G. It stands for Mahaska Area Dog Walk and Games and raises money for the local animal shelter. We are sponsors of the event, and I volunteered to help out.

I went by the shelter today to drop off an advertising banner and made the mistake of playing with some of the animals. I saw half a dozen cats I wanted to take home with me, plus a couple of sweet dobermans.

I just heard on the news that researchers have discovered Viagra works in helping treat schizophrenia because it blocks some kind of brain receptors. Does this mean we'll have crazy people walking around with erections?

On the home front, new employees seem to be working out well. I've put both of them through the classroom-type training and have just had one of them in the retail environment so far. She's doing great, I think. I look forward to when I can schedule them solo. The one woman I worked with yesterday came to us from a national chain competitor, so she's familiar with the lingo and whatnot. I'm thinking she'll be doing fine on her own sometime next week. I work with the other woman this afternoon.

I need to get up to the office. I had two print jobs come in yesterday afternoon, and I still have't done the parts ordering for the week. I'll be working in our Knoxville store the rest of this week, training these folks in a little bit slower retail environment. One thing I like about working in Knoxville is that I can listen to the Christian radio station on my way there and I get about a half hour of praise and positive messages in while I'm driving there. The station doesn't come in inside either store.

Hope everyone has a great week! My mom and brother will be here in 4 weeks. I'm so excited! I've got lots of work to do to get my house in order before they do, though. We have lived here two months and still have unpacked boxes all over the place. Luckily, once I get these new folks trained in, I should be able to take off work a day or so to focus on some this stuff.

Two new hires started yesterday - WOOHOO!!! This essentially doubles my staff from what it was six months ago, and hopefully will relieve some of the stress I've been feeling lately. I'll have a few weeks of training them, and then hopefully they'll be able to fly on their own for a bit.

I've been trememdously stressed the past week or so as deadlines for taxes and stuff have come up and more people have been out of the office due to family emergencies. The day I told John that I was about to have a breakdown if any more bad things happened, I was sitting in my office working when the hymn, "Softly and Tenderly" came to my mind. At first I was just humming and didn't even realize what I was humming, then the words to the chorus came to my mind and I sang them out loud, finally making up my own words that I thought sounded right. I was surprised to realize that it helped to comfort me and then it dawned on me THAT was God helping to care for my needs. I haven't heard that hymn in ages, and suddenly I'm singing it.

This morning I was in the shower and started humming what I can remember of "Trust and Obey." God is good as he watches out for me.

Gotta get a move on. I have to update the point-of-sale software on one of the computers in my office and get my desk cleaned off a bit so the two new hires can each have their own screen as they go through a training conference call this morning with the POS software people.

There is a silver lining appearing on the edges of the dark clouds in my world!

~*~ ... E D I T ... ~*~

Sunday was Chris and Sarah's first wedding anniversary (Sarah is oldest daughter). It's hard to believe it's been a year since they've been married already. They sure are a cute couple. A week or so ago she sent around one of those "Getting to Know You" e-mail surveys. You could just tell she's a woman in love with answers to questions like "What's your favorite smell? My husband," and "What's your favorite sound? The door opening as my husband gets home from work." Awww. How romantic!

You've heard of new math. Let me share with you my shoe math.

We recently received our tax return. Ours takes a while because of the whole injured spouse thing. John's ex gets his share for back child support. In the meantime, I have to wait on my share until the IRS figures out for sure what goes to the ex and what comes back to us.

Anyway, I've been needing a new pair of black dress shoes. My old black flats have gotten smelly and nothing I do to them helps anymore, so I threw them in the trash. Wal-Mart's got nothing cute in my size (and their shoes never last anyway) so I go to the "real" shoe store in town. Any of the shoes I've ever bought there tend to last for years anyway, so it's a good investment. I figure I'm going to pay $30-50 for a pair of shoes, but it will be worth it if they last as long as the last pair I had purchased there (which I still own, BTW).

So, I go into the shoe store and explain to the salesman that I need a dress shoe in a 9 or 9 1/2 that I can wear with or without pantyhose. I hate pantyhose so I'd like something I can get by without wearing them if I can. The heal can't be more than 2" because my old broken ankle can't handle the height anymore. He finds me a cute pair of sling pumps that I try on but the toe is kind of pointed and I need the 9 1/2. Of course, they don't have that one in 9 1/2 (as my luck always goes). BUT, while I'm sitting in the chair waiting as he's looking for the 9 1/2, right next to me are these adorable leather Tsongas. I try on the size 9 that's on display and my foot is loving the feel of the leather. I look at the price tag, $90. No way am I spending $90 on a pair of shoes. But they feel so good and they are so cute. How often do you find cute shoes that are comfortable too?

The salesman continues to look for another pair of shoes for me that are similar to the ones I tried on that didn't quite fit. In the meantime, I find another cute pair of flats on the clearance table for $10. They are cute, too, but a little too dressy for casual stuff, and not nearly as stylish nor as comfortable as the Tsongas. But the Tsongas are $90. So then it dawns on me - I can handle spending $50 a pair for good shoes. You take the $90 shoes and you and the $10 shoes (which were marked down from $60) and they average out to $50 a pair. I walked out of the store with both pairs.

I've worn my Tsongas for two days now. I just love them! Mine look just like the ones above, except they are black.

I am shocked and saddened by the news that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, is dead at the age of 44. My heart goes out to his wife Terri and their two young children, Bindi Sue, 8, and Bob, 2.

Having lost my dad suddenly and at a young age, I feel great empathy for what they are dealing with at the moment. My mom raised 6 kids by herself after my dad died. While five of us have fond memories of our dad, my baby brother, who was six weeks old when dad died of a sudden and massive heart attack, never knew him at all. It's so sad. I have literally shed tears for this family, which we came to know over the past several years as they've shown us the great wonders of wildlife on earth.

In Memory of
Stephen Robert Irwin
"The Crocodile Hunter"
1962-2006

I am alive and well. Tired, but well. The same cannot be said for the rest of my staff, which is why I am so tired. I've been working at the Knoxville store all week because we have a staff member who has been ill with a virus that's zapping all her energy. I get finished running the store here, then I head over to Oskaloosa to do graphics work and stay caught up on it.

I had an interesting thought today while I was telling John I was done doing something on the computer. It's funny how some of the things some teachers say stick with you throughout life. My high school Spanish teacher, Leska Ellwell, used to hate the word done. If you would say something like, "Miss Ellwell, I'm done." She would playfully flip out saying, "What? Are you a potato? Our food is done, people are finished. Are you finished Susanna?" And of course, the student would sheepishly say, "Yes, I'm finished." "Then you may go," she'd say. She was a hoot.

Miss Ellwell always used to say I was going to be the next Barbara Walters, to which I would correct her and say I didn't like Barbara Walters, I wanted to be an investigative reporter like Geraldo Rivera. Those were in the days when Geraldo Rivera worked for 20/20 in the same sense John Stossel does now. He was always doing undercover work to rat out companies that cheated their clients or their employees or something like that. I wanted to be Geraldo Rivera! Of course, that's before he started getting more tabloid-ish and definitely before his Al Capone's Vault fiasco.