"no it wasn't the dog"

The big bad shredder jumped out and ate our fly-swatter today.
Scared Lance half to death in the process.
All I can say is that Gamma is blameless on this one... I was at work, the kids were here picking up the mail and checking the computer.
In case you are wondering,yes the shredder does still work,( the swatter does not.)

Nativities

I had the last three days off of work this week. ( working this weekend instead for one of the ladies)
so I spent that last three days working on some nativity sets. One is a full set with all the animals, and the other two are just Mary ,Joseph and baby.
Haven't done these for years but thought I might do a couple of sets this year to sell. We'll see. Oh and I picked me up a shop vacuum/air cleaner... makes it a joy to power carve these.
this is what I have done so far.

quotes from a shoe store.

"God's in his Heaven Things are good here on earth. I woke up this morning on this side of the dirt."....(Leona --a favorite customer )

"Busy bees"

Each year you can tell that spring has finally arrived when the box elder bushes start to bloom. They have a definite smell to them, and when you are near them you can here a buzzing noise. You don't want to get too close though because they are just swarming with bees.
Last week we had a couple of nice days followed by lots of rain since, now the wind is blowing which is no surprise. We are so ready for spring here, how about you.

Taking Chance

The other day, my husband was switching channels and came in at the end of a movie with Kevin Bacon in it. He watched the last 10 minutes of it which was enough that we really wanted to see it all the way through. The next night it came on and we got to watch it from the beginning. It is about a Lieutenant colonel who escorts a fallen soldier home. This is an HBO movie, which we tend to avoid because they usually are anti military ,but this was an exception. We both sat through this movie with a box of kleenex between us and sobbed all the way through it. It showed the respect that people gave him and the soldier all across the country. This man then wrote about it here.
It's called "Taking Chance" and if you get a chance to see this you won't regret it.

"Shoe store wisdom"

I work in an old fashioned shoe store that has been around for 56 years. We have a lot of regulars that come in quite often. Some come in weekly, monthly ,quarterly and at sale time. We have ladies that come in just to talk. (I am sure they are lonely).We have people who have moved away and are visiting come in because they remember coming in as a child.(As a kid my parents would take us to JC Penny's for shoes .I always wondered what was behind those curtains, now I know. Morris Goates used to sell us shoes there. ) At Christmastime we have even had people bring us gifts . Almost daily we get the gift of wisdom passed on so I thought I would pass some of what we hear at the store.

....Today's quote is: "Fair is a completion, Life wasn't meant to be be fair."
and: "Come what may and Love it." (Elder Wirthlin) this comes from a good talk that you can read here.
More to come later.

Still Organizing

My schedule has been backwards this week , I have had the last three days off and am working the next three instead. My boss is going to shoe market where they see the shoes for fall and pre-order most of them. , so I am covering her days.
I have intended to carve some nativities this week, but ended up doing some organizing of the shop. Went through papers I have had all over the shop and spent almost the whole day filing them away. Cleaned out and reorganized the desk as well. I may have to make a master list so I remember just what files I have,(maybe on the front of the drawers?) Now I can slowly go through the chip chat magazines and file away the ideas I want to remember.
It has been a long day ,but a productive one, and it feels good to have gotten this done.