Sunday, May 27, 2007

moving day

Well I am proud to say that I got the key to my new store Thursday night and everything is in it's place. Tina has been working with me tirelessly. We worked all week at work, then were at my store till after 10:30 both Thursday and Friday.
Yesterday morning we picked up the UHaul rental truck at 7 am. I drove it and felt so butch!! No offense to anyone, I have gay friends! We loaded 3 rooms, including my longarm machine which is a hug job-in 1 hour. We unloaded and spent the rest of the day working like mad. A few friends showed up and lended a hand. There was a lot of assembling. Tina spent many hours logging in inventory and vendors and printing barcodes, then tagging merchandise. Other people stopped in to be nosy I guess. One friend brought others who wanted to peek at the stuff. It's very frustrating trying to get things in place and done when people want a tour. I was so happy when everyone left and it was just Tina and I. I put the merchandise out; I like that part-making it look nice and putting my touch on it. It was so quiet and peaceful; the most peace I had in a week. We made an early night last night and left after 9.
I went to church this morning and headed right to the store after mass. I was there before 10. Tina had some things to do so I got a few things done and tried my hand at entering inventory. I should learn to use the system after all! Another quilting pal stopped by in the afternoon to help. It was a quiet day doing things that just take time to do. I expect more deliveries this week. I will be on my own Tuesday and Wednesday, then Tina is off the end of the week to finish up what we can.
I brought my travel sewing machine and sewed a quick 'curtain' for the utility sink area. That's the most I have sewed in months! I expect to be down to the store by 8 am, probably sooner tomorrow. Good thing I have my mom to run errands.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

the sign

I passed by the store today because I was in PA this morning. I wouldn't normally pass by it in my daily travels. But soon I will! The sides of the old sign are gone so that means they are putting my name and number on! Something also caught my eye and I hit the brakes and did a u-turn. The lettering on the door is done. It brought tears to my eyes and I smiled all the way home!

here I am

They changed the blogger account thing awhile ago and I had the hardest time getting switched over, but finally here I am. Soooooooooo much is going on. My official last day of work is June 4th. Then the store opens June 5th.
Utah was great. Tina and I went to Quilt Market. We saw over 500 vendors, ordered fabric and took 7 classes. We went from 6am to 8 pm. It was exhausting but we learned so much. The only thing we saw of Utah was the cab ride back and forth each day from the hotel to the convention center, but the mountains were beautiful.
I paid an extra week of rent so I get the key the 24th. Then on the 26th I rented a moving truck and some friends will help move my machine and what products I have received.
It is like Christmas here. I have had the first shipments delivered to the house since no one would be at the store to get them and we didn't want to wait until June. I need the products to open! I ordered the computer Monday and it arrived Wednesday. Last night the door bell rang at 6 pm and it was UPS with 7 boxes of fabric. Those boxes are over 60 pounds each. The guy puts them in the front room and I had to take them out to a storage area later. There are some things in the front room too heavy to move. I knew we'd have stuff piled everywhere! I liked getting the books this week, I flipped through all of them!
I need my 'thinking time' to decide about classes and a newsletter, but there is no time for that yet. I will be using a Point of Sale system so inputting all that inventory will be time consuming. I'm not that computer literate and Tina is worried she will let me down. We'll see what happens!