Tuesday, April 1, 2014

April 1, 2014

It Was a Great Day, No Fooling!
Tuesday,  April 1, 2014



April Fool's Day is not a favorite of mine.  I don't really like practical jokes.  On April 1st most years when I was growing up, my dad would wake us up to tell us it was snowing.  In our foggy heads as we awakened, we would believe him for a couple of minutes.  I saw a few April Fool's jokes on Facebook today, but that is about all.

This posting will cover yesterday and today.  Not a lot went on yesterday of interst.  Ron had let me sleep late.  I didn't get to the office until a little after 10:00 but then he was out on jobs for a bit and when he was in the office he was working at his desk leaving the customers to me most of the time.  He was trying to wrap up some jobs for the end of the month. 

He did let me leave early so I went by the same place where the Roseate Spoonbills have been hanging out.  The sun was shining brightly which made for good photo lighting, but the wind was again blowing hard.  I got a few shots and then ran errands before heading home.  I had my choice of leftovers for supper and had a quiet evening because Ron stayed and worked very late again to prepare an order that was to be picked up today, and as often happens, they didn't show up to get it today.  They will, but I don't know when.

I have mentioned often that I have trouble hearing on the phone so Ron has to handle many of my calls.  He had to spend a long time on the phone with the company that handles the credit card charges that we take from customers.  One transaction had not gone through and it took them a long time to figure it out.  I was so glad he was handling the call.  They had him unplugging the machine, rebooting it, and an assortment of other things. 

During the evening, in my sewing room, I did a little more rearranging to get ready to start a new quilt.  I did get started, cutting out several blocks and getting seven of them laid out.  This is very different from most of my work and I asked Ron tonight what he thought.  After pondering it for a while, he finally said, "It isn't as splashy as most of yours.  It looks expensive."  I am not sure if I will tell him how perceptive he is.

I was up late working on the quilt and then had nightmares.  I have not had any bad dreams in a long time, but have the last two nights.  I can't think of anything to attribute it to, but I hope they go away.  They are too realistic.

This morning I got up more or less on time.  I got a few things done before going to the office.  It is the first of the month and that is my busy time at the office.  I do our bookkeeping and billing so it was time to prepare statements for the customers.  I think I have mentioned, or you may have figured out, our business has suffered from the many times we had to be out of the office last year with our assortment of medical needs.  This past month (March) was a good month!  Praise God!  Of course, I just need for the customers to pay those bills I will mail out tomorrow, but it was a good month.  Every month when our accountant returns our papers, he attaches a note saying he hopes we get better soon.  He sees what the health issues have done to the business.  But you do what you have to do and we had to take care of the health issues.

Much of my day was spent on all that paper work.  There were a couple of bookkeeping issues that taxed my brain.  I had trouble figuring out how to record a couple of strange transactions.  They were taken care of in the ledger and posting, but I didn't know how to be sure the accountant understood what happened.  Then as often happens, after I had all the reports printed, Ron showed up with a bill he forgot to turn in, so I had to take care of it and reprint everything.  As long as it is additional bills for the customers, he can keep bringing them to me.

Ron was out just about all afternoon.  He took his mother to the doctor right after lunch for a checkup on the cataract surgery she had recently.  She is doing very well.  She is delighted that she can see so well.  All afternoon I was swamped with customers.  They weren't making major purchases, but there was a constant flow, often with several waiting for me to finish with other customers.  There are certain types of customers who go in cycles that are kind of predictable.  Right now, one of those is the Winter Tourists who are getting ready to head home but want to leave keys with someone so they can check on things while they are away.  I had five of those in a row this afternoon and all were older women alone.  Each was a delight to visit with. 

One of the Winter Texan ladies is from Michigan and back home they raise cherries!  I love cherries.  On a couple of vacations, we have picked cherries and those are treasured memories.  She said they still have 9 feet of snow at home.  One lady was from Pennsylvania (unlike most of the Winter Texans who are from due north of Texas.  She said it is warming up a little at her place.  Another was from Canada and she said it is still very cold at home, but they can only have a 6 month visa to stay in the U.S.  I love to chat with them and find out where they are from and what they do back home.  Some are completely retired, but many do some type of farming and just can't work outside in the winter, so they come enjoy the sunshine. 

One of the ladies stayed for a long time asking about my hearing.  When she came in at the end of the season last year it was when I was deaf and she had talked to Ron and he had told her about me losing my hearing.  She wanted to know all about it and was delighted that I could hear.  I gave her a couple of cards with my blog address so she could share them with relatives who are hard of hearing.  A little later in the afternoon another customer stayed for a long time to talk about my Cochlear Implant.  Her mother-in-law and my mom are good friends, so she had heard all about my loss from her mother-in-law (a very sweet lady).  She also took one of the cards to pass on.

We all know people who struggle to hear.  Some just need a normal hearing aid and the motivation to wear it!  Others may need to investigate the Cochlear Implant.  Only those with very severe hearing loss qualify for the Cochlear Implant, but for those who do, it is a blessing!  Don't hesitate to pass on this blog address to any friends or relatives you have who may need help with their hearing.

When I finally locked the shop door it was almost 15 minutes past closing, (due to a customer who came in at closing time), I stayed for almost an hour working on the last of the end of month bookkeeping and then printed out some tax information Ron needed.  He stays busy doing the taxes for other family members and ours come last.  
When I left there, I took some of Jim's laundry by my mom's house.  I think he ran out of time to pick it up at the cleaners before he left town last week.  He will be back.  So I took it over there and watered some plants while I was there.  The next couple of days are supposed to be hot.  When I passed the spot for the Roseate Spoonbills, only a couple were out there.  Maybe they are also heading north.

Ron was home when I arrived and was eating leftovers for his supper, so I guess I better go get myself some supper and then get back to work on the quilt that is in progress.

2 comments:

  1. Glad Ron can't remember how many bags he carried to the car last November!

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    1. Ha, ha! We did load him down didn't we. Or was it just me? Actually I don't think I bought any of the fabric for this quilt this year in Houston, it was the previous 3 years.

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