The shop was so busy yesterday and today is no different. Phone calls and people here before 10 a.m. At least this forces me to get up and get dressed:) Although I am great in a bathrobe. (says I) I was able to pay most of the studio bills yesterday except for a few small ones the CC's and rent. I am excited as I finally got the chart at the side finished. It will show month to month how much progress we are making. Still have not put the CC debt there, too chicken.
I was able to get two Wedding dresses altered in addition to many other things done in the shop. D#2 cleaned both guest rooms and baths yesterday and she also vacuumed the whole house. What a nice girl she is sometimes. I still need to press one of the wedding dresses and I have several more things to do today. The laundry is quite backed up but I will do as much as I can while I sew. Everyone had leftovers for dinner last night and there is enough for dinner tonight also. Yeah, no work no waste.
Speaking of waste I mean waists, I only have 3 more pounds to lose to be back to my weight before I started on steroids this summer. I was only on them for 5 weeks but gained 17 lbs. On a shorty Mcshort short like me that is too much. But steroid weight is hard to take off. I went off them July 3rd. I am finally seeing results just this week. Frustratingly slow, just like my debt payoff.
Saga cont:
Now as excited as I was to finally have a home of my own and my own successful business, I was not happy. I at that time always though way to much about what other people think. The house was old, we had no money to fix it up and I was not happy with Hubby's poor pay. (I still am not happy with this) But to think that I was so excited just a year ago to get my own home and then to start my business and Hubby had a job! I mean a full time job. My problem was I was not grateful. All I could see is what I did not have. Not what I had. If I could go back 20 years and slap myself I would.
I received a call from the landlord of the strip mall where the original sewing shop was in business. He was evicting the couple because of the husbands behavior. When I was no longer there things became ugly really fast. I had taken the majority of their business with me. It was never my intent to hurt my friend, but I had to do what was right for me. (note to self, make employees sign a non compete agreement)
Within a month I had found a partner and moved my business into the mall. I was very busy. We decided to sell the house. It was getting to be too much debt and we wanted to get off the busy street we were on. Since we only paid $19,000 for the house we sold it for $47,500 a huge profit for 18 months time. We paid off all our loans and still had about $8,500.00 left to put on a newer better house. The funny thing was our town was very short on apartments and housing. We were forced to move into a tiny one bedroom apartment. We had to go to a laundry mat every week with clothes for 4 people one who worked outside all day. What a nightmare. But when I look back it was one of the happiest summers of my life. The kids had others to play with, the house was so small we had to push their mattress under the piano every morning. I took no toys to the house they all went in storage. The girls went with me to the shop and the toys and books were there. We also had money. I had never had that kind of money and freedom at my disposal. The house was easy to keep clean. We were never there and it was so small you just had to put things away. But I was having trouble keeping the shop picked up.
My partner was such a nice woman, she was very clean and vacuumed the shop and kept it up. I sewed more so it was an even trade. She did what she was good at and I produced. Unfortunately her husband was transferred to another city and I was on my own. We had found a very cute older home to buy and moved our family into an older Potlatch bunk house. These homes are all over our area. Owned by the Mill corporation they housed family's and loggers. These houses were moved by horses and placed on rock foundations. Ours was on a permanent foundation with a full basement. But it had not been changed since loggers had lived in it. It still had wide hardwood floors with horse shoe nails. There were cleat marks from cork boots in all the doors and on the floors. Men walking around the house with cleats on. I would kill my husband. Now again I had 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a front room, dining room, kitchen, family room, large laundry and storage room, tool room, and a huge screened in porch to take care of. I just could not do it. After the oldest left for school I would go to the shop, but things were falling apart.
We decided it was worth the money to put the youngest (3 at the time) with a sitter. I just could not keep up at the shop with her under my feet. I also could not keep up the house. I was up at 5 to coach a large dance team at the High School, I sewed all day and then family at night. The shop became increasingly messy. Sewing is messy, scraps thread, always taking out but I was never putting back. My house was worse. I would clean all day on Saturday and sometimes on Sunday. Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. I did not want my girls to grow up with a mother that screamed all the time, so I would usually leave the house with them and go shopping, spending money I did not have. I created a viscous cycle. Again I was not happy.
When you own a business people expect you to be there. I was so busy at the shop I had to hire help. When you hire help your help often make more than you do. I still had debts, and I had rent , taxes all the overhead. I realized at Christmas that I had to take my $100.00 gift from my dad to pay the rent for January at my shop and I knew that this could not continue. I could not be someplace 40 hours a week and not make a living. Between the sitter and I had hired a housekeeper and payroll I was not going to be able to control the amount of work that came into the shop. I also was not mature enough to handle the day in day out responsibilities of owning a business. Believe it or not I was lazy, I wanted some else to do the work. Again slap myself.
Cont:
I had better get busy. I just had the dryer go off and a bride just picked up her dress. I need to go steam the other one. I needs the money.
Out My Window: The truck is full of leave and garden bags. I need to go to the dump.. Hubby was upset that I did not go yesterday. But as you all know. I sat around eating bon bons and reading Harlequin Romances.
Have a great and productive day!
Kim
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