It's Wednesday Here

The one thing I love about winter - NO COCKROACHES!

Last night I was TRYING to have a special evening with K17, snuggled on the couch, watching 24, but solicitors kept calling! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Note to Intuit: I don't like calling your tech support and getting someone in India. First, I can't understand the people's accent. I spent about one-third of the four hours I was on the phone with you people saying, "I don't understand you." Second, I don't care about the weather in India or what time it is there - I just want someone to fix my Quick Books Point of Sale so that I can go back to work!

"Do you have a sledgehammer or a brick handy ?" — Top thing you don't want to hear from Tech Support.

Super Busy Saturday

Today has been a super busy day at the store. We've already done over 1,000 dollars. Makes up for yesterday which was horrible. We have had two customers come from the Austin area and one customer call from the Dallas area who is planning to come soon to put her books on consignment.

Things I could have sold today: record books, Brownie sashes, Alpha Omega Science 9th grade set, a lesson plan book with a manly cover.

Things I undersold today: a pocket chart that rang up over 20 dollars but was priced at 9.90. :o(

Things I wish I had sold today: a Saxon Dive Advanced Math DIVE CD, everything on the 50% off table.

The bad news from last week: My computer was full of viruses and had to be restored. Was blessed in the fact that I only lost my homeschool folder, which can be redone quite easily, about 3 hours worth of work.

The good news from last week: R got a promotion! Woohoo! Way to go, R!

Well, we are ready for the big PUSH to save the store. We got a new open sign that says O-P-E-N, OPEN, OPEN, OPEN, OPEN. Looks great. Ran off 50 brochures at $1.38 each, credit applications, homeschooling flyers, and flyers for a workshop on Teaching Strategies that Work. Paid for a sign at a local high school softball field. Looking into getting pencils made with our name on them to pass out to schools. The Hershey's chocolate offered to our customers has been a real hit this week. We have received 13 internet orders this month, up from 4 last month! If you have any more suggestions on how we can save the store, please let me know. I feel like Kathleen Kelly in You've Got Mail.

I absolutely cannot stand the new format on the Well-Trained Mind boards; I am totally lost. Eek! I think that's the same format as my forums! I hope that Leigh Ann continues with the format she uses now.

Menu plans: tonight - meatballs, cream of mushroom and rice; sunday - i have no idea; monday - meatloaf

We don't have much in the way of a business strategy. Like no business plan. Which I say to torment all my friends who are VCs or MBAs. That's always entertaining. The deal is, it's a mixture of luck and persistence.Craig Newmark

Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing.Tony Blair

Mr. Bob

Mr. Bob was a wonderful man. Above is a picture of him and "Mimi." They had been together for six years. Mr. Bob had a great sense of humor, loved to eat good food, and took such good care of Mimi over the years. He fit so well into our family; we will miss him terribly.

Simply Saturday

Woohoo! Gas was down to $2.86 yesterday!

We had workshops scheduled for the morning. Only two people showed up, that after having sent out 600 e-mails and SETHSA having advertised!

For those of you who want to join my forums, they are up and running! Just go to www.love2learnstore.com and click on Discussion Forums. I would appreciate it if you would visit there once or twice even if you don't plan to stay. That will help them get started. There are already about 10 posts there.

The man we affectionately call "Mr. Bob" is in critical condition in the hospital after having what is suspected to be a major stroke. He is my 91 year old grandmother's boyfriend. They are going to take him off of life support today. We are all heartbroken. I will try to post a picture of him sometime soon.

My double spacing has not been working, so I apologize if this blog is difficult to read.

Nicknames

Missing some of my customers today made me realize that some of our customers now have nicknames. First, there is Mrs. Doubtfire, who bears a strange resemblance to Robin Williams in a dress. Then there is Mr. B, the first initial of his last name which I can never pronounce or remember. Then there is the Spoon Lady, so named because when her children were younger, she used to chase them around the store swatting them with a wooden spoon (which did no good). And then we also have the Lady-who's daughter the sink fell on-lady. We have several "We can do nothing right, who's going to talk to her on the phone this time" ladies.

Happy New Year!

Don't everyone rush over to our website and try to start talking on the forums. They're not functioning properly. We are going to start with four forums - Chit Chat, PreK-6th, 7th-12, and Special Needs. More forums will be added if need be.

Tonight after work we're going to go buy our temporary stamps so that tomorrow we can go LETTERBOXING!!! It will be so much fun to spend quality time with the family. We may even head up to Montgomery to find one (if I can talk R into it.)

I am trying to send out 600 emails about a workshop we are having next weekend, and Yahoo thinks I am spamming. I can only send out about 80 an hour.

School starts back up on Monday. I am anxious to see how K17 will do with work and school. I still need to get her history lessons typed up. Before you know it, it will be March and time to test them again. I'm already planning next year:

K17 - Algebra 2 or Consumer Math (Switched on Schoolhouse), Worldviews 1 (David Quine curriculum), Biology (hopefully, Apologia), Government (Land of Fair Play)/Economics (Whatever Happened to Penny Candy), Health (Alpha Omega)

K14 - Algebra 1 (Switched on Schoolhouse), Worldviews 1 (David Quine curriculum), Biology (hopefully, Apologia), Study of the Constitution (Story of the Constitution), French or Spanish

I also want to teach both girls to cook and about the election process, as K17 will be voting in the general election next year. Yikes! K17 helped make stew the other night and K14 made chicken and dumplings. I'm afraid we did not mix the batter well enough and the dumplings came out bitter. Oh, well, that's how you learn to cook!

Well, I've been here two hours and just found out my closed sign was up. Duh! Time for more caffeine!

Oprah Winfrey: Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.

Anonymous: A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other.

Letterboxing

Me and the family have taken up a new hobby - "letterboxing." We found two boxes on Sunday but didn't have stamps. Going to Hobby Lobby tonight to buy temporary stamps until we can design our own. For more information on letterboxing, go to www.letterboxing.org.

K17 and I finished Season 5 of 24; now on to Season 6.

K14 got another babysitting job, this time with an actual baby. She doesn't know how to change a diaper so we are going to practice with an American Girl doll and a dishcloth.