They multiply when I'm not home

Rubber stamps in my house are like rabbits.

They seem to multiply when I'm not home (that shouldn't be a surprise since I'm out buying them) but seriously the ones at home are multiplying even when I am out of the house. I just found two plastic shoe boxes filled with more stamps. Yep, just when I thought I had corralled them all up into the cabinet downstairs the wild stallion ones came out of hiding. The two shoe boxes were under my antique dressing table. For those of you who know me you probably think, "why does she have a dressing table?". I know, I know, I don't wear make-up very often so why do I have a dressing table.

Well, like I said it's antique. I bought it over 10 years ago at a town auction. I can't even remember what town it was. I was dating a guy named Tom and he had relatives that lived in this town, somewhere down south in Illinois. Maybe around Peoria? All I remember was that it was a good 1-1/2 to 2 hour drive from his house in Tinley Park. We went down to "the town" with his mother on a Saturday. Everyone brings what they want to auction off to a park / parking lot near the train depot. You walk around and check out all the stuff and you find out the number of the item and when it will be auctioned off. Well, I was the top bidder for the dressing table. It needed a bit of work which my brother Rick did as Christmas present for me that year. He had to secure some wobbly joints and make a brace to hold the tri-fold mirror. He also repaired one of the legs and I just love it. It has two drawers and a small shelf in the middle that holds a mirroed tray with all of my perfume bottles and stuff. Tom bid and won a wooden table top thread holder with a frosted glass door. Quite unusual and the shelves have little spindles to hold the spool of thread. Right up my alley and I love him for that lovely gift.

I digress, back to the stamps. Since my room is still in chaos and I am trying desperately to get organized things began to find their way onto and below the dressing table. Well, low and behold as I was checking for punches (as that is the next group of craft items to be rounded up and put in one location) I found the two shoe boxes under the dressing table back up against the wall behind the chair (yes I found a cute iron dressing table chair on an e-bay auction with a padded seat {covered in a shabby chic fabric} to go very nicely with my table). I just hope that these are the last of the stamps or I'm going to need a bigger basement. Hopefully the punches will be a much easier group to organize.

Who said this organization stuff was good?

Moving Along

The paper is coming along nicely. My partner is beginning to see the big picture and is slowly providing me with his data to help the paper along. Now if I could only find a good source on the web to get the industry averages. Anyone have any ideas?

Crazy Busy

Wow, there are not enough hours in the day.

Things at work are CRAZY.

My assistant had sudden gall bladder surgery last week and if everything goes well will be back in the office on 12/11. In the interim I have to the tasks that she completes for me as well as my normal daily activities.

Our receptionist broke her ankle over the Thanksgiving holiday and will be needing time off to see doctors and such. Bad thing is that my assistant is her back up so now I will have to pitch in on the phones while she is at lunch or at the doctor.

Now on to school.
The last day of school and our final exam is 12/9. YEAH!!!
However, between now and then I have a project that is due.
My partner, Stink Boy (see previous posts).
The project consists of getting the financial data for the last 5 years for a company.
We were assigned McDonald's by the professor and have to pick one more company (Wendy's) from the industry.
Armed with the financial data, we are to compute various ratios and compare them to each other and to the industry as a whole. We then have to comment on the results and draw up conclusions. We also should "spice" up the report with charts and tables, a company background, some thoughts on whether we would invest in the company based on our findings and of course a bibliography of where we got our data.
Stink Boy HAS NOT even started his portion of the project.
This project is worth 20% of our grade.
I am freaking out and have agreed to write the paper but I need his data.
I volunteered to write the paper because I have an A going in this class and don't want the results of this project to pull my grade down.

Like I said it's CRAZY BUSY!

Stamp Crazy

I am a rubber stamp whore!
Yep, I own way tooooooo many stamps.
While gathering my stamp sets from Stampin Up and the single ones purchased from various craft stores I have managed to fill a 5' x 3' x 1' cabinet in the new craft room / office in my basement.
YOWZA!!!
At least now with a nice work area and all of the stamps in one central place I will be able to be more creative and productive. After all, I still have my Christmas cards to make.
Next step, consolidate all of my punches into one place in the new craft room.
I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Progress has been made

Progress on the office / craft room is moving along quite well.
Over the weekend I managed to get the computer downstairs, the printer and the new chair from the office. I hooked it all up and the remote connection to Comcast is working well. I don't have as strong a signal as I did when it was up on the main floor near the other computer but so far I haven't been kicked off. I also set up a CD player / radio and have music to keep me hopping. I brought down my sewing machine and serger and all of this fits on the desk. I LOVE having a place to work and craft and not have to pack it all up because the space also functions as something else. I love that my table in the dining room (the only table for eating since my kitchen is too small to hold a table) is free and clear (well almost free and clear) I have papers and craft stuff on it. I spent many hours downstairs this weekend going through Rubbermaid containers and making bags of stuff for the Salvation Army. One has even made it out to my trunk for drop off. I hope to do that tonight on the way home from work.

Black Friday

I have to confess that I was part of the throng that was out on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
I did however sleep in (7:00am) and did not go to a store until after 12:00 (noon). I made out the list of places where I wanted to stop and after my manicure I went shopping.

I managed to find the items that I needed at Big Lots, Toys R Us, and Walgreens.

I made a huge dent in my list and was quite pleased that I didn't run into hordes of frenzied shoppers. Instead, I was quite pleased at the speed with which I was able to get in and out of the stores and even had time to go to Archiver's which was strictly for myself and not anyone on my list. I was home before 4:00pm and even have some of the gifts wrapped with ribbons and bows. I just need to make the gift tags and they will be set to go under the tree. (when I get the tree up).

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know that this post is late but I hope that everyone gobbled until they wobbled.

My Thanksgiving was very nice.
Very relaxing and quiet.
Cooked our turkey breast and all the trimmings and had our feast at 6:00pm.
I planned very well this year and had just the right amount of leftovers. Not too little and not too much.

Hope you all had a great day and were thankful for the blessings in your life as I am for mine.

What happened to Thanksgiving

Am I the only one that is noticing that we are beginning to lose Thanksgiving?
I have been noticing that every since Halloween was over Christmas filled the stores.
I have seen three Christmas trees, lit in people's windows and some yard decorations already in place.

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I am even guilty of listening to Chirstmas songs on my way home after work, but the trees already up and LIT! I can understand if you are going out of town and want to get the tree up and decorated so that when you return the house is decorated. However, should you really be turning the lights on?

Call me a fuddy duddy, but I want to see my Thanksgiving decorations up and enjoyed before changing to Christmas.

Intruder

I should have done what I said I was going to do on Saturday.

I have been fighting a cold and after school on Saturday I dropped some rubber stamps at Simone's house and said I was going home. Armed with my bottle of vitamin water (a get well gift from Simone) I started out for home. As I was driving I changed my mind and decided to go to the office and get a bank reconciliation done. So I jumped on the expressway, stopped and got some lunch a block away from the office and arrived in the office at 11:30am. If I come into the office on Saturday I am usually the only one here and that is how I like it because there are no distractions. No people, no phones just me and my CD player and I can produce work much faster this way. This Saturday did not turn out that way. I arrived at the office, unlocked the main door, shut off the alarm and locked the main door again. Unlocked my office and turned on the light, put my lunch and purse down on top of the desk, opened the second door to my office, walked through the conference room and left our company offices via the side door in the conference room to go to the ladies room across the hall. We often do this during the week, open the side door, manually change the lock to the unlocked position and close the door. We use the ladies room and then enter via that side door and change the lock to the locked position and it is secure from the outside. Well, as I was washing my hands I heard a door in the hallway close. Thinking this was odd since the business across the hall from our side door was closed and their door does not shut the way our door does I became suspicious that someone had just walked into our office via the side door that I had just left unlocked. I left the ladies room, walked across the hall (adrenaline pumping madly in my body) and walked through the office on guard to find an intruder. Good thing I was prepared because when I walked in the other door in my office (my office has two entrances, one near my desk and one on the other side of the room) there was a man standing in front of my desk. FREAK OUT!!!!! My heart was beating at 240 and how I pulled off the bravado that I was soon going to display I have no idea. Again, it must have been the adrenaline and the fact that I had my suspicions because if I had walked in on this guy completely unaware I would have panicked and not have kept my cool. Since he was across the room I said very loudly and with force "May I help you?", to which he responded "Where am I?", I said "Where are you, what do you mean?" "What do you want?" Here is the part that in afterthought I shouldn't have done. I walked over to my desk and looked inside my purse and saw that my wallet was still in there. I then proceeded to pick up my purse the whole time looking at this guy and telling him that he was in the wrong office. He said that he was looking for a dentist and gave me a name that I did not recognize. I told him that he had to leave and told him to follow me (follow me, I should never have turned my back on this guy, what was I thinking?) He followed me the whole time talking weirdly. He was saying something about he was mental or something, all I know is that I wanted him out of the office and in the hallway. I managed to do that, saw him walk down the hall to the directory and the elevator and then I locked the door. I looked through my wallet and everything was in there, driver's license, insurance card, credit cards, Jewel and Dominick's cards, checks were in sequence... Everything seemed to be in order except for the $2.00 that I had from my lunch. I started out the day with $8.00. My lunch cost $6.35. I remember taking the $8 from my wallet and started to give the clerk seven when I said that I had the .35 cents. I took the $2 and just stuffed them in my purse knowing that I would put them in my wallet when I got to the office. Well "Stranger Danger" took my $2.00.

So now with "Stranger Danger" out of the office I'm beginning to freak out. So who do I call? My sister Cindy, she is strong she will talk to me while I walk around the office to make sure that no one else is here. (STUPID!!!!!) Not only is that whole scenario wrong in hindsight, my sister Cindy LIVES IN CALIFORNIA!! So, stupid me is walking around the office with a pair of scissors and my cell phone with Cindy on the other end. Thankfully, no one was hiding and my sister convinced me to call the police. I got the general Morton Grove police department number from information, called and explained what had happened and my concern that this person was walking around in the building. The police arrived in about 5 minutes and I met the first officer at the front door. He asked me what happened and I told him, gave him the description of "Stranger Danger" 5'10", about 180-200lbs, white, tan down type coat, very short blondish hair, and that was about it. I couldn't remember if he had jeans or other style pants. Couldn't quite tell if he had an accent. Just that he talked like he was either mentally ill or on drugs. He just kept asking where he was. That isn't the usual demeanor of a robber but maybe he was putting on an act because I didn't seem to be upset on the outside that I found him in the office near my purse. In hindsight I know that I did quite a few things wrong and that is what is haunting me for the last two night. The fact that the second officer searched the whole office with his gun drawn is one of the haunting things. I searched with SCISSORS!! I have awoken in the middle of the night and keep playing worse case scenarios in my head. That is what is making me still freak out. I should take the advice of my brother Rick and just be thankful that it turned out the way that it did, know that I am safe and not to dwell on the worst case scenarios.

As it turns out, shortly after the police left, around 12:15pm a co-worker calls the office and I tell him what had just happened. He must have been concerned with the way that I sounded and called one of the owners. He was on his way to Midway airport to drop off his wife and said that he would stop by the office on his way home. He did show up just before 2:00pm and it was a good thing because by then the adrenaline had left my body and the freak out had begun. I really had to go to the ladies room but was afraid to leave the office. I was able to use the ladies room and he walked me to my car and the ordeal was over.

Geez, if I had just gone home like I had told my friend I was going to do.

Best part of the whole story.
"Stranger Danger" must have scared the germs out of my system (along with the vitamin water that Simone gave me) because I feel much better and never came down with a full fledged cold.

So to all the women that read this blog, please be aware while out and about. Keep yourself safe as we enter this holiday season and we are out shopping, be alert to the people around you in the mall, at the checkout when you have your wallet out, in the parking lot... Be safe, please!!!!

Better than expected

Saturday arrived and it was the day that we were to receive the results of our second Finance exam. I felt confident that I had passed but wasn't sure if I had done as well as my first test (90%). I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see that my score on the second exam was a 95%. This takes tons of pressure off of me for the departmental cumulative final exam. WHEW! I just have to dig down and start my project and get a good grade on the project and paper. Stink Boy is my partner so I want to make sure that we do well.

Side note: I hope that the Karma train does not come around and bite me, but my hopes that Stink Boy would fail test two and drop the class came partially true. Stink Boy did fail the second test (55%) but it is too late for him to drop. Perhaps if I help him with his part of the project it will reverse the bad Karma from wishing that he fail. I sure hope so!!!

Gray

Gray, gray, GO AWAY!!
Fall is usually a season that I enjoy, and for the most part I have enjoyed this fall. The color of the leaves were spectacular and we had quite a few warm days. Lately, however the days have been nothing but overcast and GRAY!!! Very icky. I would like to see some sunshine and smiles on people. Have you every noticed that when it is gray or rainy that very few people smile? Myself included. I am guilty of not smiling when it is gray. So today, I am going to make a concentrated effort to smile whenever possible (without causing myself to look like some demented freak). So, go out there and SMILE!!!!

At a loss

Well, the last of my three craft fairs for 2006 was completed this past Saturday. Resurrection High School (my alma mater) was a success. I had a table alone so my overhead was larger than at the previous shows. I was happy that I did make a profit so I went X-mas shopping yesterday and got that money put to what it was intended for and not spent willy-nilly on nonsense.

I must give a million thanks to my cousin Fran who came and set up my booth while I sat through a lecture and a test at school. Thanks go out to my brother Rick for bringing my wares to the space, setting up the table and the wire lazy susan rack display. Thanks also to Simone for making sure that things were merchandised well.

I was actually at a loss yesterday evening without a project that had to be completed by a certain deadline. What an odd feeling. That will be short lived as I have a paper to write and a presentation to prepare before the end of school which is just about a month away. Not to mention designing, making, and addressing my Christmas cards.

The desk/table has been put together and placed where I want it downstairs. Now I just have to wait for Rick to get me electric in that area and then my dining room table will be free of my computer. Since I don't have an eat in kitchen this is my kitchen/dining room table and not that Rick or I ever sit down at the table for a meal it would be nice to have space to sit down and write or craft something at that table.

I am also very excited that I will have a space to set up my sewing machine and serger. I won't have to put away either machine after use and will get many more projects done knowing that I can go downstairs and sit for 15 minutes and sew. No more wasted time setting up and taking down the machines. YEAH!!!!

Simone and I are planning on doing a fair in March and I want to sew some toddler sundresses and short sets for that fair. Along with BBQ aprons. Thinking of doins some counted cross-stitch and of course cards for Mom's day, Dad's day, graduation...

I'm tired!

Well, craft fair #2 was a success. I made my money back for the cost of the table and then some. Yesterday's sales were slow for our table as well as for the show in general. All in all, it was a good show and I would like to do it again next year. My table-mate Simone did well too. She got two orders for products that she was selling. So we both had a successful craft fair and now have one more to go.

This weekend was so busy with school, the craft fair, my cousin Fran's 50th birthday dinner & laundry that I feel asleep very early last night. Guess my old body just said "hey chick whatcha doing to me, I need rest". I woke up early this morning feeling better and ready to tackle the pile of work on my desk and the burden of reading four chapters in my textbook before this Saturday's exam. Why do I always do this, I always say that I'm going to read the chapter either before or during the time that we are covering the material and it never happens? I am chalking it up to part lazy and part too busy. So because of this I will be trying to read the chapters and do some sample problems all before my test on Saturday.

I have a TON of work on my desk so I will have to update more on this site after I get some of it done. Just wanted to update after the weekend. Have a great day!

Catch up

My worst case scenario happened on Saturday.

The only craft fair that I signed up for by myself (11/11) is now the day of my second exam at school. Luckily, with the promise of major favors in the future my cousin Fran or her husband Steve will do the set-up and will "man" or "woman" the table until I get there. My brother Rick is a go to get the table, displays and crafts to the space for the set-up.

Got together with my sister, brother-in-law, two cousins and their spouses for our monthly poker game. I can't remember when the last time I saw a penny on the table during this "penny poker" game. I was up at one point in the night but ended up losing only 75 cents. Not bad for a night of fun, laughter, food & drink.

My study buddy has already (on Monday) asked me for the homework that was assigned during class on Saturday. The scary thing, he was there when we were told what problems to do. He then proceeded to ask me if I had done the homework yet. Geez, I having enough of a challenge making sure that I pass this class, I don't need the extra pressure of seeing that he passes too. (Yep, I'm riding a broom today and it's the day AFTER Halloween)

Halloween was fun. We went through just about 3 bags of candy. Some of the costumes were soooo cute and scary! Gidget (my 8 month old chihuahua puppy) was a bumble bee. She did not have a problem with the costume as she wears a little t-shirt when she goes to the forest every morning with her "Uncle" Rick. Harley (my 8 year old black lab) was a clown. She didn't want to wear the hat but was content to have the ruffled collar on. Both of my girls would answer the door with me and everyone thought that they were cute. A few times Gidget thought that she was going to go trick or treating with the kids but came back when I called her and told her that she needed to stay home.

Tonight after work I am going to the home of one of the owners of the company where I work. She has the MOST BEAUTIFUL irises and wants to thin them out. She is going to give me some of the 3ft. high white ones. It ought to be quite the adventure for the two of us in what I am assuming will be the dark digging up and splitting the plants. I then will have to go home and either put them in the garage to be planted tomorrow night or plant them when I get home.

Only ONE more day until my weekend. I have Friday off as a vacation day!

Hope everyone is doing well and you are not sick of Halloween candy.