Archive of Marcia's Musings June 16-22, 2003Sunday, June 22, 2003
I'm Tired
That about sums up my Sunday. After a bit of a sleep in and a laze about, I got ready for work. I showed up early because I wanted to look at patterns for next fall but, the store was swamped when I got there. I had two customers right off the bat and my co-worker was tied up, as well. The good news is that one machine got sold today and, frankly, I'm pretty sure that at least one other machine got sold, too.
I've just got to wait for the woman to come in, probably on Saturday of next week (yes, a change in my schedule), after the refinance of her home. She plans to buy a sewing machine with the money that she's getting from the re-fi. The second person was doing the same thing but I'm not sure about the third person-- she has to wrangle her sewing machine away from her daughter to use it so she's going to buy a better one for herself.
That was the first thirty minutes (3 customers!) and the rest of the day dragged on until about 5pm and then, of course, someone who wanted to buy a machine, after asking a gazillion questions at 5:55-6:10. I didn't get out "on time" needless to say (we close at 6pm when there aren't customers buying machines!).
I wear my leather tennis shoes on Sundays cuz I know that I'm going to spend way too much time standing up. Of course, the only place that the bursitis hurts is when I'm walking so I'm not sure that the shoes helped that much. Oh, well, I've got a doctor appointment with the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday-- we'll see what his take is on it then.
In the meantime, as usual, thanks for stopping by and have a great night!
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Update at 7:25pmHappy Summer . . .
. . . if you can find it!
Now, I shouldn't complain: its at least starting out to be a beautiful breezy, sunny day here in the DC area. It is, for the moment, pretending not to be a part of the subtropics by doing more of it's favorite thing: RAIN. Hopefully, it'll hold for awhile although it is supposed to rain this afternoon-- of course.
So far . . .
. . . I've done the one alteration that I had to do which was to modify the slits on a dress for a woman who works on my floor at the office. That done, I now get to move on to sewing my dress and jacket for the wedding outfit. I'm excited to see how this is going to go-- the colors are so vibrant, I can't wait to put it all together.
Okay, enough for now-- I'll be back later to fill in the rest of the day.
Have a good morning and afternoon!
Brian fixed the Acer, got a USB hub (I think that's what it is) and a 3-1/2" floppy and now I am really and truly set up for after surgery this summer! I'll be able to surf the net and post up here as well as get email cuz its got a wireless connection. He's going to make a hospital-type tray table for me so that we'll be able to use it later on in a den-like setting when we buy a house. He's such a clever guy, huh?
Good Progress
With the exception of the top-stitching and the hemming, the jacket for my outfit for the wedding is finished. The under-dress (purple tie-dyed knit fabric) will take less than an hour to sew and then, it too will only require hemming and top-stitching. Yes, I will take a picture of the outfit when its finished but I may not model it until later-- we'll see.
At any rate, I'm going to read for awhile-- its been so nice and cool downstairs but there's nothing but re-runs on television. Maybe a good movie . . . Yes, that could be the ticket!
Have a great evening and night!
Friday, June 20, 2003Work-at-Home Day
For the first time in a month or so, I worked from home. It was a busy-ish day but I only had one conference call with a customer. The work got done which is always the important thing, right?
Remember when I mentioned earlier in the week that I had a change of plan for the dress that I was going to make for the wedding this summer? Well, there was another change in plans, almost-- I ran out of fabric! I had bought the fabric well over a month ago and was scared to death it would be gone from the store but, thankfully, there was enough left to finish the dress!! Whew!!! That's a scary feeling!
The fabric stores are beginning to put out their fall fabrics-- and it is beautiful!! Man, I wish I had more time, ya know? This is just not very easy with everything that I've got to balance and juggle!!
Other than that, there isn't much going on-- I'm going to go read for a bit before going to sleep and hopefully, not sleep the whole day away tomorrow. I'll let you know if I succeed!!
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful evening and/or night!
Thursday, June 19, 2003Bummer!
My "record" is broken-- I didn't sell any sewing machines tonight. Well, I take that back: I sold one but the woman (who is buying it for her daughter) hasn't paid for it yet. Probably it'll be sold for real next week so, we'll see how it goeson Sunday.
Reading Frustration
No, not me but with some of my reps: they'll read a contract and then call me or email me and say "Does it really say this?" Well, let's see: the contract is written in English and, sure enough, those exact words are on the page. Must be that it means that, too, eh? What a novel concept! Words that say exactly what they mean-- WOW!!! Sure, go ahead and call me or email me so that I confirm what you've read on paper. That way, when you're right, you can say "I thought so" rather than "Marcia confirmed that for me".
Don't even get me started!!! This is one of the biggest wastes of time that I have right now!
Frustrating!!!!
New Hook
Yes, thanks to Barbara Thompson and our fateful trip (because of the parking ticket) to the Baltimore mystery book store, I am now completely hooked. I tried reading a different book but just couldn't get into it-- nope, I had to start another mystery! So, now I'm working on "This Pen For Hire" by Laura Levine. A fast read but well written-- easy to understand and move with the characters and story.
My Harry Potter book was shipped today-- two days before the release date!! I've also got "Living History" by Hillary Rodham Clinton which I will probably hold off from reading until my trip to California OR recuperation after the surgery. I have ordered the second book in the series about computers from Donna Andrews and the second book from Laura Levine, as well-- I'm telling you: completely hooked!
Lots to read-- I like that!! So I'm going to go do some of that reading thing!
Have a great evening!
Wednesday, June 18, 2003Problem Solved
At least for the time being, the problem that Brian mentioned on his page this morning has been resolved. That would be the problem of having a laptop for me to use with my sewing software so that I can figure out that stuff as well as keep in touch with the world this summer after my surgery. I wrote an email to a friend of mine in the IT department at my company about getting a loaner for the summer to use on the first floor of our house since I won't be able to take the stairs for a few weeks. He could sympathize but we're short on loaners so they can't give one out to me. Okay, fine-- I've got 15gigs of empty space on my laptop, can I put my software on there? Well, he'll deny it if asked but yes, I can put the software on the computer as long as I promise to de-install it when I go back to work.
Whew!! That's a relief!! I didn't want a bigger laptop than I could handle and I didn't want to be out of communication with folks for long periods of time. Knowing that I can use my computer to learn the sewing and embroidery software that I have will make my life a whole lot simpler. That helps a lot and, even though its a back-handed permission, Sean will back me up if questioned.
Sally's Wanting
Not that its anything new, but Sally is wanting some attention. I went to dinner tonight with my friend, Shelley, and didn't get home until 9:45-- women can talk, ya know. I didn't expect to be that late and had wanted to spend some time with Sally and Brian tonight but, am now limited because of the lateness of our dinner. Oh, well-- it was a fun time well spent so I'm glad we went BUT, I'm going to have to go play with Sally for a bit.
Thanks for stopping by-- I appreciate the emails and the patronage. Take care of yourselves and have a good night!
Tuesday, June 17, 2003Five for Five!!
Yep and no one is more surprised than me!! This one is credited to my co-worker though because it was the sale of a serger-- our top end serger, as a matter of fact. Since I've never had time to have my serger classes, I'm not as familiar with them as I'd like soooo, it helped a lot having her there tonight.
No, I do not expect this to keep up but it sure is fun while it lasts!!
In the meantime, my feet hurt tonight because of all the standing that I did during the evening-- very little sitting. My knee hurts but then what else is new? Yep, my point exactly.
Work is Busier
The main job is getting busier but then we are in a quarter-end month. At one point, I had a conference call going and two people messaging me at the same time-- lots of fun!!! I've now told John about the impending surgery and the expected time out of work. He's concerned but understanding which is always nice.
Sally needs some attention so I'm going to go snuggle with her.
Thanks for stopping by, as always and have a great evening!
Monday, June 16, 2003Halfway Thru!!
Here we are, halfway through June and what do we have to show for it? About 10 more inches of rain (but then, I'm only guessing-- I'm sure I'm not too far off!) and a couple of blossoms on the green beans. Of course, the problem is that pesky squirrel in the garden bed this evening-- I'm a little worried what he's going to do with the zucchini and green beans and tomatoes. Man, there are a lot of thos pesky squirrels around here, too. The rabbits seem to be plentiful as well. Considering that we're not "in the country", I'm surprised at the amount of wildlife there is around here!
Work was Work
I finished up putting all of the bits away tonight with a couple of exceptions and then, started laying out the dress that I'm making for me to wear to my nephew's wedding. Slight change of plans there-- I bought the fabric before I had the pattern so I guessed and, apparently, came up short-- well, I didn't want to come up that short so I'm changing the dress that I'm making. It is still a loose fitting dress with a light-weight jacket over-top so that I won't be too cold in air conditioning or too uncomfortable in a dress that's too snug after the surgery.
Interesting comment: except for a check of email after I got home from physical therapy and came upstairs to change my clothes, I haven't been back upstairs. Its now nearly 10pm and I haven't been up here at all tonight-- I've been occupied sewing, that's for sure though-- tons-o-fun!!!
Not to put a hex on me . . .
. . . but do you realize that I've been back to work at the sewing store for four days and have sold four machines? Hmm, is that a pattern developing?? I hope so but its hard to say at this point. All I know is that I enjoy selling sewing machines and it wouldn't be the same if it were software.
It isn't a hex or a curse cuz Tuesdays are notoriously slow-- I don't expect I'll sell anything tomorrow night. At least I've paid for the software that I bought on Friday with those commissions!!
'Nuf of this nonsense-- hope you had a good Monday and have an even better evening!
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