Friday, April 22, 2022

Friday, Staying on track

 

Just trying to keep it real here and it is hard.  My goal today is to get the shop organized as far as what is next. What is next?

I know I need to pull another wedding dress.  I did complete one yesterday and have another almost done just waiting for bride to try on today. 

Then there are a couple of piles I need to complete and a couple of dresses to get done. Just found 4 mechanics jumpsuits that need the sleeves shortened behind a wedding dress.  Things get hidden in the shop let me tell you. Also, a couple of pairs of pants that were buried. Other than that, it is just wedding dresses, to start and call on people.

I have to really pay attention, so nothing slips through the cracks.  I don't want a phone call that something is due out and I am in St. Louis. That would be a nightmare. I also have another bride and her bridesmaid due in later today.

It is all the details of leaving that get to me.  Such as, do I have enough of all my prescriptions? No!  So, hurry and order and make sure you pick them up.  Then cash and money and a Wedding card and grab the flower tools, picks, wire, cutters, tape, so I don't have to buy there. Should I take enough of my really good baking coco with to do a cake? Are the clothes I am going to wear clean and ready? Did I pack the phone charger and the fit bit charger?  Does hubs know where everything is he will need to do his own cooking? Last time I left him he had never used our dryer and was confused how to start it.

Just had a bride leave and so glad I tried the dress on before I started the hem as I only have to hem a small turn over.  Then that is done after pressing.  Yippee!  When you cut a large amount off a heavy fabric dress, it actually makes the fabric pull up and shrink.  So, I always cut them 2 inches longer and sure enough if I had cut where the length was marked it would have been too short.  In less than a 1/2 hour that dress will be done.

By the way the grocery adds this week were crap.  Last week as it was Easter, we had some good loss leaders.  Now it is back to Kim buying nothing. We are going to our elderly friend's house tonight to play dominoes.  I am taking pizza, as I can get a gluten free pizza for her and then regular for us.  Also, we will have ice cream and candy for dessert, and she is making coleslaw. They asked me last time we were there, how I would find time to come and have dinner and play games when I was so busy?

My reply?  You could work all the time but taking a break and having some fun helps you to be more productive.  I really believe this.  What do you guys think?  Sure I could sew into the evening like I do many nights, but just knowing I get to relax and have fun spurs me on to get things done today.

My friend's husband is 94 and sharp as a tack.  But he is not very mobile anymore and is on oxygen 24 hrs a day and also has a catheter. I made bags to cover his catheter bag so he could come to church. They used to come to our house, but we have to go there now.  In the summer when the weather is nice, they can come over as we eat and play outside.  We just set up a table and move the large shade umbrella to cover us.

Last year on our anniversary we called another older couple that we would go to dinner with periodically to join us at an Italian restaurant, for Chicken parm. It was their favorite.  But the husband (Weld) again was not as mobile as he was before COVID, and he said he just could not do it.  So, I suggested I pick up dinner for the four of us along with Creme brule' (I smashed the spelling).  I just so clearly remember him saying, "You would do that?"  I did think on the way over to their house that we were going to be eating over $100.00 worth of good food out of Styrofoam, but when we got to the house Peggy (the wife) had the table set with china, it was just beautiful, and we transferred the dinner, and we had such a wonderful time and a long visit.  Weld passed last Fall and I have always been grateful that we did this.  I did not get to go to the funeral, as Signe' wanted to go and she and Hub's went and I watched Kelsa.  Never put off seeing friends and doing things because of inconvenience,  You never know when you will see them again in this life.

I am getting really excited to see my Sissie.  It is less than a week and we will be together.  The next big trip will be to join the girls in the Fall. Well, I had better get to work, as no one seems to want to do it for me.

By the way hubs is out putting up a clothesline for me.  I have always wanted one and finally I get one.   I can hang things in the hot sun and I love sheets dried outside.  The only things I will dry now will be towels, and jeans. We have a secluded small part of our side yard that is perfect for a clothesline.  Full hot sun and privacy.  Hubs would not put a clothesline at our old house because the neighbors could see in and he did not want his undies to be on display for the neighbor hood. Really ?  Men!

Well I am off to the Salt mines.

Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.

Kim 

23 comments:

  1. Good reminderd, Kim. You convinced me that I too often put off during people because I've worked a long day, or it means shuffling plans. But if people are important, it's important to put them first. I get it with you and your grands.

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    1. It is easy to get caught up in life and never slow down and see people. At least for me.

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  2. All work and no play.... nice you take some time to be with friends. YAY, on getting a clothesline!

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    1. I was so excited. Only I would be that excited about saving money.

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  3. Lol at the undies on display for the neighbours! Hint: everyone wears 'em! :) I grew up fairly poor and we had a giant clothesline that stretched from our sun-deck to the back corner of our big backyard. As soon as we had sun (even if it was freezing out), the clothes all went on it to dry to save money. I remember the towels freezing MANY times - OMG, so cold and stiff and rough! But I loved the smell of the sheets after drying in the sun. :) Good memories.

    Excited for you to be off to see family! I totally agree that you need down-time to relax and see people and play games and enjoy life - it DOES make you more productive, having had that break. How lovely that you had that special dinner before your friend passed. Aw.

    I always ask for hugs from my favourite coworkers and friends now. I will never take their presence for granted again.

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    1. Life is short and we need to be reminded. It is so easy at least for me to work, and work.

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  4. You are right, taking a bit of a break is the best way to get things done.

    God bless.

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    1. It truly is. Just a way to regenerate, and have some fun.

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  5. Nice post and all true.
    Debbie

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  6. Mama taught me to hang our panties on an inner line or the one facing the house so no one could see them. I don't remember hiding daddy's boxers. We only hid our panties so as not to entice men...lol...not that we were ashamed of them or embarrassed.

    When I was sewing like a fiend many hours a day, sometimes this one friend would call to see if I wanted to go out to eat lunch. I always stopped, got ready and went out for lunch. It was necessary to stop and enjoy life a bit.

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    1. You know that is a good idea. I would love to stop and go to lunch but then I miss clients.

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  7. We always have clothes lines here in New Zealand Kim ... lots of folk don't own dryers. Even if they have a small deck area - they still put up a line. We get hot summers so things dry real quick. And then in winter we use a clothes horse on a covered in area.
    I totally agree .. you should always take time out for the fun things as its what keeps you going. You are a good friend to have Kim. Wish I was there I could do some sewing for you.

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    1. I wish you could too! I would put you to work my friend.

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  8. Yes, always take time for friends. If we didn't have such high humidity most of the year, I would love to hang out clothes. Enjoy your trip to see your sissy!

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  9. I have always been about work/life balance. I take every chance I get to spend time with the people close to me. It's what life is all about. Work, etc. can all wait.
    Have a great weekend Kim!!

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    1. thanks Lori, we all need to be reminded. I have a tendency to always put work first.

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  10. My hubs won't let me hang the under things on the clothesline either. We have some creepy neighbors. I just run the drawers in the dryer and hang the bras inside like normal. I hang everything else outside when I can. I hope I'm able to this year, we have construction across the street that's making a total dirty mess of everything right now. It's supposed to be finished this spring, but of course they are behind.

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    1. Yikes, construction, the nemesis of Spring. Well I just got a good idea. As the clothesline is a square, hang the unmentionables inside and then other things outside! So you can't see what is on the inner lines of the clothesline.

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    2. That is a good idea. I've tried that. No go with hubby. My clothes line isn't square. It's home made. Its 5 foot wide by 15 foot long and has 4 regular lines with a 5th line of a coated swing set chain to put hangers on for shirts. Hanging on one end I have a hanging circle full of clothes pins suspended from metal shower curtain hooks for hanging socks. I can hide the unmentionables in all that, but he still doesn't want me to.

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  11. I have a grandson that just said that yesterday. He went to his cousin's birthday party for her 1 yr old daughter. It was a "just doing a pit stop" deal and he was going to a baby shower for a half brother on his Dad's side. He had came up here during the pandemic just because he didn't know if he would ever see us again. Him or us dying because of covid or accident. He is 23 and understands.

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    1. It is something I think we should all think about.

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