Last week was crazy. I worked around 90 hours including putting final touches on my coffee shop/cafe/antique store and then opened for business on Wednesday. It was flat-out busy from the moment we opened up which was hugely gratifying.

But I was still a bundle of raw nerves so I didn’t eat anything for 4 days. I’m not sure how I kept going but apparently Dr. Pepper was my energy source.

Then I caught an awful bad cold. So I’ve spent a couple of days trying to get some rest and recuperate. Since my business is only open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of each week, I have had three days in which to work on resting and getting over this cold. I feel better today for the first time in a week.

Our new espresso machine finally arrived also. We have it installed and ready to go. Our espresso machine’s name is Gloria and I will post pictures soon!

Now we are waiting for the sign to be delivered and hung on the front of the building. I ordered the sign over two months ago. They delivered it while I was on vacation (which I had asked them not to do) and it was made too short. So they took it back to correct that and I haven’t been able to get them to come install it since then. They’ve given me every excuse in the book to keep stalling me and I am quite angry about the delays. I was really disappointed to open my business with a sign on the building and if I have to order another sign from another sign-maker, then it will be delayed even further.

So that is my past week in a nutshell: work, sleep, work some more!

I have been so flat-out busy getting my new business ready to open. Opening date is tentatively set for February 22. But it is going so much easier for me now that the new general manager I have hired has started work. Her name is Cindy and she is a list-maker like I am. She has hit the ground running so to speak, and is taking care of many things on our to-do lists. So perhaps my blog posting can get back to a regular schedule.

Yesterday was mostly a day at home that included laundry, a walk in the woods, and watching Downton Abbey on PBS.

Also, reading. I have some books on my Life Bucket List that I would like to read in my lifetime. One of those is the collected works of Jane Austen. Yes yes, I know. I should have read Jane Austen long ago. But I didn’t. I’ve seen a couple of live theater productions of Emma and Pride & Prejudice. So right now I am reading Sense and Sensibility. The first 6 pages or so were excruciatingly boring to me and I almost gave up. But I persevered and it is much better.

And on my walk yesterday I snapped another picture of the main creek on our property as the sun was starting to go down:

I just have to tell this story about my mom.

Last night the moon was full and she woke sometime during the middle of the night to find the moon shining fully into her bedroom window.

And she immediately spotted two Klu Klux Klan men outside her window. She clearly saw their white pointy hats in the moonlight and was very frightened.

Her first thought was: “Now what did Sam do?” (Sam is her husband.) Apparently she never knows what he will do next.

She was paralyzed with fear and trying to figure out how to get to her pistol which is stored somewhere in her room.

Her heart was pounding and her mind was racing over how to get away without the KKK men seeing her moving around in her room.

Finally, she calmed down and woke up fully.

And realized that the two” KKK men” in the window was actually the curtains on her window and the bright moonlight shining through made it look like those pointy KKK hats.

I went on vacation for awhile and finally just made it back to the office late this week. Every time I go on vacation I have perfectly good intentions of posting on this blog at least a few times. But then I get so caught up in my vacation and travelling that I simply don’t post. Sorry all!

We took our yearly vacation at Disney World in January. This time we stayed at the Beach Club resort again. We had stayed there last year and loved the location next to Epcot. Here is a view from our hotel balcony:

You can see the Boardwalk hotel and Swan hotel across the lake. The Beach Club has an actual sandy beach with sea gulls. I’m not sure how Disney convinced sea gulls to come that far inland and hang out at a fake beach but it sure contributed to the beach scenery.

As usual we simply exhausted ourselves at Disney World. We got up early and stayed up late. We walked miles. We ate good food and this time, we even made ample use of the fabulous hotel swimming pool which included a sandy bottom pool and fun!!! waterslide. The weather was sunny and quite warm the week we were there. My mom went with us this time. That is her first visit to Disney World since 1979. She loved it!

And yes, I will post a few vacation pictures this week once I get sort of caught up on a few things around here.