Presidential Visit

Yesterday was an interesting day. I headed out for a much needed massage appointment in the afternoon. The President of the United States came to town at about the same time I headed out. Needless to say they were all roads closed off and I could not cross the one intersection closest to the salon. I sat in traffic for just a few minutes and there went the Presidential motorcade. About a block in front of me. I thought that was pretty cool but inconvenient. So I get to my appointment about 5 minutes late, not a big deal since my massage therapist, Denise knew what was going on. Great massage. But now the parking lot is closed again, I can't get out. So Denise and I walked out to the corner and watched the proceedings. Took them about 15-20 minutes to go by, again very cool. Unfortunately all I could think about were how many people had been inconvenienced, the amount of money it cost to put on the visit and all of the work and trouble for something that just didn't seem that important to me. People on our side of the street were not allowed to cross over to get their kids from the daycare, contract workers at the plant the President visited had to take the day off without pay, many of the hair dressers at the salon had cancelled their afternoon appointments, streets were closed, air traffic was delayed and rerouted and there had to have been several hundred police officers involved in the procession alone! And the thing I noticed the most was that as he drove by only a small group of about 4 or 5 clapped and cheered, everyone else was very quiet. There were very few flags, no posters or signs, I think it was more people like me who kind of got stuck in the mess and decided to watch. All for a 45 minute speech. My boss was invited along with our council members and Mayor. The top photo was her view. She was not sure she would go since she is also not a huge fan, but we talked about it and decided it was a once in a lifetime opportunity if nothing else.My brother in law was called in to help guard Air Force One, which is cool, but again, was it really necessary or worth it. Not in my book.

The creativity is flowing!

I have been in a very creative mood lately. The list of things I want to do keeps getting longer and longer. The kiln is running for the third day in a row. I had a few custom requests and I hate having those hanging over my head, so I try to get those done first. Right now there are two picture frames, two bottles, a cross and 12 night lights melting away. Can't wait to see how they come out tomorrow! These photos are from the last go around.

New Year, New Ideas.

I am amazed at how quickly time flies by. We are already 12 days into the new year and I feel like I am behind already! I had thought January would be a little slow for the glass business. After all, the holidays are over and people tend to minimize their shopping to make up for what they did in December. Evidently this is not going to be the case this year. My main gallery and main store both put in requests for items. It is a great way to start of the new year. It did start me thinking though. If this is the way things are going to be for a while, then I need to rethink my day to day routine. I just don't have time to accomplish everything I need to and be happy, healthy and sane. I work at the DCCP about 25 hours a week and I am putting in about that many hours at home on glass a lot of the time. That's a 50 hour work week not counting laundry, vacuuming, bathrooms, dusting, yard work, etc. It's just not working for me and the family doesn't seem to understand I can't do it all. So I have decided to find a cleaning lady to come in at least once a month to help me from getting so far behind. I did not want to spend the money since I do try to live frugally as much as I can and it seems like a silly expense, but I'm going crazy trying to keep up. So that's my new idea. Not sure how it will work out, but I am going to give it a shot.

Trying Something New

I have decided to try something new with the business. I have opened an Etsy shop. It will have a limited stock of unique items. I plan to start with just the night lights and see how it goes. I may move on to some larger items shortly. Although business has been very good, I don't like having all of my work in one or two places. If something happens to any of them it would take a big chunk out of my business. So, I decided to try Etsy. Friends have had good luck with it and the investment is pretty minimal. Over time I would like to expand into new areas and this could be a great option for doing that.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlassMelts

I am also anxious to get started on some new things for the new year. First things first though. A major clean up of my studio area is in order. With as crazy as things get in December, only the bare minimum of organization and cleaning up went on. That's my goal for tomorrow. Clean the studio!

Merry Christmas!

Tonight we are heading over to my mom and dad's for Christmas Eve dinner. Ricky worked today so we are waiting for him to come home first. I am really looking forward to getting together. It's usually so much fun. Dad will have a fire lit in the fireplace which is so special. We have a gas fireplace and although very convenient and easy is just not the same as a real, log fire. It is kind of weird not cooking anymore. We do Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad's and Christmas Day at Shenta and Scott's. Scott makes the best prime rib dinner. It makes for a very relaxing couple of days and I still get left overs! I even managed to get a nap in today. The neighbor brought over a great plate of cookies so we have sweets to share and I bought a maple, walnut, cinnamon pull apart for breakfast. I am feeling very well taken care of and blessed this year again. It's been a good one.

Happy 20th Anniversary!

Shenta and Scott celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary today. A lot has happened in the last 20 years. We celebrated Max's adoption anniversary on Monday. Miss hurricane Tola arrived almost two years ago now and I think they are pretty grateful for everything. Congratulations are in order.

Someone send out a memo?

We laughed so hard when we got into work today. This is at least the 4th or 5th time we have managed to dress almost exactly alike. This was not planned in any way. There are only 4 of us that work in the office and our 4th person is out of town until January 5th. So I guess we are all on the same wavelength somehow, because we keep doing this. Last week is was red sweater and black pants day and often we do black and white dresses that are similar. Too funny. They are a great group of girls and I am so happy to have such a great environment to work in!