Living With Yarn...

Where is the Sign?

Happy 4th of July!   I have been meaning to post new "in-progress" pictures all week.  I'm hiding out in my office at home while everyone else is doing yard work.  Music to our neighbors ears - believe me.  With all this rain, our lawn grows at quite a pace.   Add in the fact that this year we went with a let's just skip the mulching strategy and well, they have some work in front  of them this morning. 

So, I have pics and then the answer to the question we get everyday ~ "Where is the Sign?" ~

 

Ta da!  A real classroom complete with whiteboard.    This is the 2nd floor classroom and I just love how it came out.

 

And you said you like cozy, right?  The seating area is coming along.    Its cozy, but I  sat and knit in every spot to get a feel for things.   There are actually two groupings of seats.  This larger one in the picture and then a smaller grouping not shown here.  We have plans f or one more seating area on the 1st floor, but that requires some remodeling.  My man, David, has very carefully mentioned that project is going to wait until fall.   

 

The main floor is starting to look like home.   We are planning  to re-open on Wed,  7/8.   We will no doubt be a work in progress for quite some time.  I am completely overwhelmed with how to set up the smaller shop, etc.  We will slowly start bringing in yarn.  Folks have been calling for help & classes so we have decided to open and just roll with things.

Another view of the first floor.

And now the answer to the question on everyone's mind...Where is the Sign?

 

There it is.  Sitting in a room.  Completely useless & doing absolutely nothing.  I know.  It should be hanging outside like a good little sign.   Due to some additional paperwork, rules, whatever, we are still waiting for permission to hang the sucker.   Currently, there is a sign on the outside of the house that reads, "All About you."    It is a sign from a previous hair salon tenant.   I promised myself  this move would not get to me.   Life is too short.  If I don't get the go ahead to hang the sign soon, I can be flexible.   We've already got a sign up there, right?   A yarn shop called, "All About You"...it  could work.  

Honestly, I have enjoyed my  time off.    It has been the first real time away from the shop in 5 years.  Things with the relocation have been slow going and I have found the time away has been good..healthy.   Haven't knit much - just dishcloths.  Haven't looked for patterns, projects, etc.   I have been reading, and enjoying lots of non-yarn related activities.   I almost wondered when I would get fired up to get back.   And then it started.  I was looking for yarn a customer emailed me about.  There I was staring down a bin of yarn.  This wasn't even new stuff.  Just a bin of lovely leftover yarn from the shop.   And I felt...happy.

I was sorting paperwork and files from the shop and I stumbled upon a basket full of color cards for ordering.   Before I knew it, I was hunting for a pencil.   I needed to make a list of colors for the new shop.   So, its time.   The yarn is calling...  

Tip for the Day...

As I mentioned ever so briefly a couple of weeks back, I joined weight watchers on line. 

  My goal is to look as amazing as some of the  ladies  who come into the shop.  They are all doing WW and look fabulous.  Oh - you know who you are!   I have never  done an actual "program"  to lose weight.  But with my 50th birthday hanging out there, it was time.

So, I mentioned I had joined.  Then I studied the whole points thing.  Then I got into the habit of logging my meals, etc and adding up points.  And then, as you might recall, I had some concerns about the robustness of the weight watchers website.   I was being very good about logging my points but I was planning a move, getting kids through the end of the school year and the rest.   I felt I needed certain things and the fact that these things totaled 630 points a day just could not be helped.

Since I knew my food consumption wasn't going to change anytime soon, I worried about crashing the Weight Watchers  website.   I mean  did they honestly stress test the thing before they rolled it out?   I have had some experience  with new system roll outs and,well, we'll just leave it at that...Did they consider the person who would join on her 49th birthday with the best of intentions and then stress eat her way through  the next 4 weeks?   And while the exercise thing got off to a roaring start, pinched nerves have a way of slamming on the breaks when it comes to activity points.    

They had to consider a honeymoon period, right?   First you have to begin to think "points".    Then you have to get into the routine of tracking your points.  After all that, you  see how many points you have left for the week.   Well, the way I have always worked the weight thing is day by day.  If  I blew my calorie intake for a given day  well  then the diet just starts tomorrow.   And c'mon - if I am starting my diet tomorrow then I should  hurry up and eat tonight.   Right?

Take my past logic and apply it to points...If I already ate my points allowance through 4th of July weekend, then I am not losing any weight any time soon.   If I am not losing any weight then I might as well just eat.   But since I know at some point I will be out of the hole points wise, I want to continue to log points each day and get in the habit of tracking food.   This way I will be ready to roll when my profile says  I'm back in the game.   The fact that I enter in numbers that may be outside the parameters of their algorithms does worry me.   Sure hope their systems folks were thinking outside the box that day and considered champion, highly decorated, stress eaters people like me.  

After all that rambling, here is some solid information for you:   The points thing does work.   Well, you knew it would right?  I  mean anytime you put less food in your mouth, really wonderful things will happen to your butt.  That is a fact every woman knows. 

When I stayed within the numbers, I lost 2 pounds.   When I ate mexican food twice in one day, I gained it back.   I am getting the hang of the  system now.    And since it took me a few weeks to really  get it, I thought I would share.   Its not just about the number of points.  its about planning.  Its about thinking ahead  and sticking  to  a plan.   No sane woman would plan to eat tortillas for lunch right?  Well, sure  she would...but then you add in the goal: to still be able to see your toes by the time you are 50.   Then the  Math goes something like:  lunch+seeing toes = chimichanga salad.   

So if you are avoiding that bathing suit with as much enthusiasm as I am...oh who am I kidding?  I haven't put on a bathing suit in 3 years.   I basically avoid any piece of clothing that is missing arms or legs.   Yeah and  if you  find yourself  choosing  your social events based on what clothing you can still fit into, I highly recommend the planning thing.   Go ahead.  Join WW on line.   Sign up.  You can even have an off week or 2.  Its okay.   I stress tested it for you.  The site will still be there tomorrow.  :)

Honey, I'm Home!

After a week of packing up, tearing down and tossing out, it was moving day. We had to get all of the large, heavy stuff over to the Monroe Avenue location on Monday. It was hectic and hard to take pictures, but I did manage to put together a little video. This will give up an idea as to how things  went:

I do have to give Becker’s movers a big “High Five”. They were Great. Very, very fast.

 And as I watched David supervise the whole event, I was reminded of how amazing he is.   David is just the best.   He has endured the ups & DOWNS of owning a yarn shop.   He has weathered owning a retail business in this economy.   And he painted an entire shop/house while still working full time. Sure he forgets my birthday (Oh, not every year) and, well, he does hide toiletries.   Then there was that time he gave me a flannel nightgown with sheep all over it…

The truth is when you know someone for *gulp* 36 years (yes that’s true.  We met in middle school), there are a million ways they can let you down.   There are a million ways you can let each other down.  

 But this week, as we basically start our business all over again, I thought about what we sign up for when we marry.   Oh sure, we say its for better or for worse, but no one really thinks about the worse.   Worse is for other people.   Worse is not fun.   Worse makes us scared and needy.   The worst part about worse is it makes us start to think only of ourselves.   How could this happen to me.   How will I get through it.

Pinched nerves, shingles, a child with a bi-polar diagnosis, changing careers, starting a new business, cruddy economy, ten twenty extra pounds, too many bills, teenagers, really cruddy economy. These things make you long for getaway weekends, flowers, Godiva and a new dishwasher.   Then I realized today that perhaps the real present, the best gift anyone can give you is simply their presence.   Day in and day out.   Good times or bad.   They are there.   Because they said they would be.

Yup.   That’s what I thought about this week as I watched David reach for the drill and hang more slatboard.   Sometimes we see things and we realize that worse comes and goes, but the best is never far away.   It is there...Right along side of you.

Makin' Memories

This past week, we attended Isabelle's  3rd grade graduation ceremony:

It was a big day as we said our good-byes to elementary school.   Next stop:  4th grade!

I am a big baby when it comes to milestones like births, graduations, the beginning and the end of the school year, etc.   I used to go out of my way to mark these occasions  for  the kids.   I wanted to  make these moments stand out and become wonderful memories of growing up.  

 I used to take the last day of school off and pick the kids up at dismissal time.  We would drive right to the toy store and stock up on summer necessities: Hoola hoops, big plastic bouncy balls and squirt guns.  Not  rinky dink  little guns that spit out a few drops.  No - we went all out.  We bought  the super deluxe power soakers.   These are the guns with a second reserve in case you run out of H2O in mid-battle.   We'd stock up and then head home to engage the neighborhood.

Well, after a few summers of  this, I  realized I had to shift gears.    Walking out my front door at the wrong  moment meant I could end up as the unwitting participant in an impromptu  wet T-shirt contest.   At best, I'd spend the rest of the day wiping mascara off my face and  explaining to the mail man that  I didn't pee my pants -  really -  it  is  just  my kids idea of funny.

One year,  I   showed  up on the last day with a balloon bouquet.   Each of the kids would take a balloon and make a wish.    Their friends would gather around and watch the balloons float off into the distance.   The kids liked it, I stayed nice & dry all summer.  It was one of those win-win deals and it became a  tradition every year.  

Then there was that one year.  The year that will go down in the memory hall of fame.   The kids laugh and I cringe at the very mention of it.   That year, I didn't take the day off.   I was running late and  had to pick up the balloons and get to school all within a 30 minute window.    Luckily, the schools were right next to each other separated by a wide gully.

 I got to school  late, running with my balloon bouquet in tow.   I could see Izzy in the distance waiting at the door.  I knew I needed to get her,  but Gigi was getting dismissed in just a minute or two.    I was forced to make one of those split second mom decisions.   Go for the youngest first, grab her and then  run over to the middle  school to  meet up with Gigi.   We could  launch the balloons  once we were all together.    Right.  Sounds good.  

I decided the fastest way to reach Izzy was to cut across the  gully.    The fact it had rained the night before escaped me.    I was like a mother bear focused on her cub.  I had balloons and it was the end of the school year.  We were going to make some memories gosh darn it.     And I took off down the hill.   There I was  running down the grassy slope,  waving to Izzy,  bright pink and purple helium balloons bobbing in the air above my head.   It was like I had a great big neon arrow over my head  saying "Here I am - Izzy's Mom." 

Yes and now that I had called enough attention to myself, I took that last fateful step.    It  was one of those slow motion moments where you know something bad is about to happen and you are praying its just nothing too huge.  My moment went something like this:  slippery wet grass, losing my footing completely,  both feet go out from under me at at  a 90 degree angle,  and I try to break my fall with my hands.    I scream just to ensure I have caught the attention of every parent  or child within  a 2 miles radius.   And  I land.  A hard, deliberate,  gravity acknowledging thud to the ground.   Instinctively, my hands move in to cushion my fall.     

 "POP, POP, POP, POP."    This is the sound of your butt landing  on  a combination of wet grass and 3/4 of a balloon bouquet.   

It took me a moment to process  the scene.  Oh- wow- this is embarrassing.  I just wiped out in front of two heavily populated schools...Bummer....  Oh who cares -   I am here to make memories.  It's about the kids and the end of the school year.  And I have 2 balloons left!.

I pulled myself up and made my way over to Izzy's school.     As  we walked back across the gully to the middle school, I heard a bunch of giggles.  Then Isabelle herself burst into laughter..."Mom.  Mom...MOM you have to stop."   "What Honey.  What is it?"   "Mom, your butt is WET.  Soaking WET!".

 In my quest to create lasting memories for my children, I failed to notice the extremely wet ground had left its mark.    I reached behind to gauge the size & scope of the damage.   While  I was weighing out how big of a deal this really was,  Izzy educated me:   

 "Mom - you can not go over there."   

 "Well, how will I get Gigi?  How will I give her a balloon?"

 "I don't know but you  CAN'T go over there. "  

Well, okay I was  pretty wet.    We needed a plan.  Izzy would walk ahead of me.   As soon  as we got close enough, I  would  lean up  against the far side of the building.  Izzy would walk over, get Genevieve and bring her to me.   We would stay put until everyone left, launch our balloons and be on our way.   Perfect.  We could do this.

All went fine up until the part where Izzy gets Genevieve and brings her over.   Things played out like this:

Genevieve:  "Mom- what are you doing over there?  Bring my balloons over here so everyone can watch."

I wave her over.  Smile sweetly and wave again.

 Genevieve:  Mom- C'mon.  Did Izzy leave a pink balloon for me?"

Izzy then tugged at Genevieve's sleeve, got her to bend down and whispered into her ear.

  Genevieve's eyes got really wide.  She started to giggle and then began laughing quite loudly.

Genevieve:  "You guys.  Check it out.  Look at my mom's butt!  She is soaking WET.  Yeah and she crushed the balloons on her way down.  Popped them right on the hill!   Mom- turn around.   Let's SEE!!!"  

So as  memories go, that was a winning year.    All I have to do is mention the words  balloon bouquet  and the laughter immediately follows~"Yeah and remember how wet her rear end was?  And she fell down the hill popping the balloons with her butt.   I think like a million people saw her.  Yeah and those poor balloons ...they  just didn't have a chance!" 

Seeing Stars...

We closed up the shop Wednesday night and already it feels a little weird.   I am so used to turning over that "open" sign and seeing everyone.   I do, on the other hand, have loads of work to do and lots of packing.    I will most likely be blogging my heart out over the next week or so just to keep in touch.  I have a great end of school year post to share...just need to finish it and yesterday I wasn't feeling particularly funny.

I woke up on Day 1 of our  transition to the new shop, went to  lift my head and  literally saw stars.  Not just a few sparkling little flecks of light- I was seeing an entire milky way every time I lifted my head off the pillow.   Wow.  This was not what I expected.  I eventually got up and fell  right to the floor.   I could tell I had pinched about a dozen nerves  or at least that is what it felt like.   I had to call David  just to get me up.

Now, I love my husband, but what is it about men?   They are amazing when the hot water heater blows up.  Cool as a cucumber when the car won't start in the middle of the expressway.  But when it comes to  the your wife is on the floor and  needs assistance  scenario, they stand back as if  they might catch something  if they get too close. 

David's  first reaction was, "Well you need to get up off the floor."  

I explain I would but I can not move.    I take a deep breath.   He's what I've got to work with so maybe I just need to share a little more..."I'm unable to use the right  side of my body." 

He isn't budging.  Huh.  Maybe I need to give him a landmark  or something.  "Everything from the right side of my nose on down is stuck.  "

"Oh.  Okay. Well you just slept on something wrong."  Comfortable with his diagnosis he goes on to treatment.  " You need to get on the bed." 

Now,  He picks me up like a bag of concrete and swings me into the bed.  Not that I was expecting to be lifted up  like a bride crossing the threshold, but...

Well, anyway, in one sweeping motion, he PLOPS  me onto  the bed.   I am now lying on the bed    right side down thank you very much.   The milky way  I was seeing earlier has now turned into a full fledged view of the heavens.   "No. No. No.  I can't be on this side.  Please.  Dear God."  

He quickly directs me.  "Well just turnover."   Turnover.  Why didn't I think of that.  Oh- yeah because  I'll go into cardiac arrest  just from the  pain alone. 

  And this is how day 1 of my new life started.    I have this theory that big things in your  life happen for a reason,  but little crud is just the randomness of the universe.   Some things just happen.    Even when things go badly, there does seems to be an order to it.    So, by design, we have to react to what we're given.    Big life changers and small annoying things like pinched nerves all need to be dealt with.   How we react is the measure of who we are and what we stand for. 

Well then.   I am pretty much out of commission.    Could be a bummer but here is my reaction..." I CAN'T do laundry.  I  CAN NOT do dishes.  I NEED to rest.  I must relax and take it easy.   A couple of   glasses of   Chardonnay   during  Good Morning America  Oprah  are  allowed given the situation. "   

Truth is, I am a bit better today.   I can move around more and do a few things.  But  no one needs to know just yet... right? :)

Countdown to Craziness

It was GREAT fun seeing everyone on Saturday.   And now we are in the final days at our current location.    You can still stop by Tuesday 6/16 from 10-6 and  Wednesday, 6-17  10-8.    The moving sale is in its final days.   There are still deals to be found.   We are determined not to move any yarn so it all MUST go.

Looking Back...

This week we are still here, open and selling stuff.   I am also busy clearing out files and packing the office.  Looking at the older website pictures is so much fun.  You forget how much time has passed.  I took a quick minute to put together a  short video.   This is part  of  my "Good bye Titus Ave"  thing I will be doing over the next week.  

Anyway, the remodeling shots are the before pics at Titus Ave.  Its amazing to see the transition from what it was to the beautiful space we have enjoyed the past few years...

I'm Getting a Little Emotional Now...

I opened the sweetest card on Saturday from a customer - Doreen - wishing us luck on the move.    There have been cards, loads of emails and visits from people we have not seen in so, so long.  All wishing us well & excited about our move.   We appreciate everyone's kindness as we end this chapter and start a new one. 

Oh - And- thanks to everyone who asked about David and his case of the shingles.   He is doing pretty well thus far.  He was able to make more progress on the 1st floor:

 

 

We actually begin painting the 2nd floor this week.  Yahoo!   It looks like we will close  on Titus Avenue as of  Thursday 6/18.  We are tentatively looking at opening on Monroe  Ave,  Tuesday 6/23.   

Our moving sale continues with our 99 cent balls of yarn, etc.   All this packing is making life just a wee bit emotional for me.   There are so many memories here.   And as we all know, customers aren't just customers when you mix in yarn and needles.  We have been surrounded by so many amazing people, so many wonderful friends and supporters all these years.   Just stumbling upon a ball of yarn will remind me of the first sweater a customer knit.  Or I will pick up the pattern we used to get  a button band  just right  on that  sweater knit for a great  grandchild.   There is the swatch Cynthia knit before her family  moved back to California.  An incredible woman, mother of 2,  one being a special needs child.  She always told the funniest stories on the planet.  Her outlook, her sense of humor and her  ability to take each day just as it was handed to her left us humbled & inspired.    There are so many swatches like hers, so many strangers who became family, so many stories I forgot I even knew until I started packing. 

I am reminded today of how special this time has been.   How letting go of  it will be tough...happy and sad...bittersweet.     I am working on a couple of  "goodbye" surprises as we wind things down.   Should be fun...stay tuned!

A Birthday, A Setback & Plan B

Well,we made it through the 8th grade dinner dance weekend.  And I celebrated my birthday.   I tried something different this year.   I scheduled a physical, joined weight watchers online and sent for information on a cycling club.  All on my 49th birthday.  Pretty ambitious stuff, right?  Well I really, really want to be in shape for my 50th.  And I figure with my track record, it is going to take me a whole year.

So, I was feeling all successful and goal oriented with visions of weight loss &  buff  Michelle Obama  arms when life just had to step in.   We are just weeks away from opening in our  new location and David comes down with *gulp* shingles.   Shingles.   Are you kidding  me?   So now my world consists of  a moving sale, renovations, a dishwasher that  we discovered  is beyond repair, and a   sick husband.    And let's face it - husbands are not good sick people.   They simply are not. 

While this may put us behind a bit, David has managed to complete several rooms on the 1st floor:

 

I'm knitting up a storm for the new location.   Haven't even posted anything yarn related on the blog as I want everything about the Monroe Avenue shop to be *new*.

Move and Shingles aside, I do have a little something entertaining to post...First, everyone has been asking for a new picture of Harley:

 

He's getting big.   And his latest thing is to take his toys and find a spot along the  top of the couch cushions:

 

And before you wonder what kind of a household I run where dogs are allowed all over the furniture, I can explain.  When it comes to living with 4 dogs and 4 kids, you have to have a long term strategy.  Someday, we will own the gorgeous Stickley mission furniture I have coveted since my early 30s.    Someday is defined as the point in time where all of our children are out of the house with no  chance of wandering back here to live.   Until that time, I have a furniture buying philosophy that has 3 core principles:

1. Buy furniture that is inexpensive. 

2.  Buy furniture you hate.  (If its also uncomfortable, this is a bonus)

3.  Buy furniture that doesn't match.

The logic here is that once the furniture is delivered , there is a window of  only  3- 4 minutes where it will still be showroom quality.    Smitten with the fabric of that new love seat?   Bad idea.  There is a glob of silly putty with new furniture radar lurking in your future.    Better to buy the ugly stuff .    Hideous  is even better.   The goal here is to witness the first kethcup stain with no emotional response what so ever.    This concept  is quite liberating actually.  Magic marker on the arm rest.  So what?  New puppy thinks the leg of the recliner is a fancy new chew toy.  Oh, well. 

Now, I know there is a whole school of thought on how to discipline kids & puppies.   You teach them to respect furniture, eat only in the kitchen and all the rest.  Well, it has been my experience when you are outnumbered by both kids and puppies its important to have a Plan B.   Hateful recliners and mismatched chairs are all part of  my Plan B. 

At any rate, back to Harley.  He loves playing on top of the couch...until he loses his toy:

 

Hence the need for Plan B.  :)

A Dress for Genevieve...

This past Friday night was Genevieve's 8th grade dinner dance.    Many, many individuals who traveled in & out of the shop this Spring know the dress shopping story...

First, I just really didn't give it much thought.  It wasn't prom.  It wasn't Senior ball.  It was the dinner dance.  Then I was reminded this is Genevieve we're talking about.   The girl who at 9 years old knew she wanted to attend the Fashion Institute for college.  The only one of my children who was working a deal at age 10 with our hair dresser to slip in some highlights for the summer.     And so I should have known, the dress for the dinner dance would be a very big deal.  

We made all the rounds - JC Penney, Macy's, Marshall's TJ Maxx, etc. etc.  And since I work Saturdays, David stepped in  going to several malls locally.   Nothing.  Perhaps the problem was Genevieve had been on the internet and had already found the perfect dress.   Nothing seemed to come close.   Whatever it was, when a very tired David arrived home a few weeks ago  spouting  terms like silhouette and  bust line, I knew it was time to surrender.   And when he recovered  enough from  another day of Rue 21, Charlotte Russe, Express and even Lord & Taylor   and said, "I don't care how much it costs - order that dress," I agreed.

Then came the dance.  And as we stood there taking pictures , it suddenly all seemed worth it.   Somehow, when we weren't looking, our  little Gigi  grew up:

 

 

Sometimes all it takes is a moment of awareness.   A minute of slowing down and taking a real look at your child for it all to come together.   Being the 3rd of 4 children means Gigi often lives in the shadow of  two anything but dull older kids while tolerating the never- quiet- for- a- moment  younger 9 year old.    Its not  an easy place to be.   It can make for very tough living at times.   Yet as we stood there Friday evening snapping pictures and allowing the time to be all about Genevieve, we realized  special people can make even the hardest of situations work.    We knew it as we looked at our sweet, smart, funny Genevieve  standing tall and  certain.   Her quiet strength and confidence  giving us a glimpse into everything she will become.    There she stood.  Our Genevieve.  Capturing our hearts all over again.