Monday, June 29, 2009

I'm getting into the swing of things again

My daughters talked me into going back to afternoon naps before work, due to what they refer to as my "bitchiness" and it has done wonders in my attitude adjustment. It was never more evident than last night when a woman rushed into the shop wearing sunglasses at 9:30 p.m. and asked, "do you sell sodas?" I frankly felt that her sunglasses were part of the problem, however it could be drugs, alcohol, or just plain stupidity. I started to direct her to the soda machines right outside or down to Thrashers at the end of the building...I mean this idiot actually had to go out of her way to come into the shop..we're not just sitting right on the boardwalk..we're part of the hotel. But this is so typical of what crap I have to endure during my daily shop sitting. Idiots, I'm telling you...my world is filled with this type of idiot. But, with the nap I'm becoming better at handling it. Instead of saying, "Look you stupid bitch, take off your frigging sunglasses and look around..so I look like I'd sell soda?"...no I simply said a polite, "No." I decided that directing her to the soda machines or to Thrashers just required more energy than I cared to exert. My final customer (and I'm using that term here loosely) stepped into my oasis and said, "Oh, I should never have walked in here...they will never get me out." I knew then that there was no need to exert any energy with this one either because I've never had one person make that statement that ever purchased anything. They love to talk about it, love to ask 50 million (and I do mean million) questions, but at the end it's always, "Well thanks so much I just love your shop." So I just looked at Sara and we kept on talking. In the end, she did what Sara refers to as the "Victory Lap" which mean they walk around the shop and then out the door without stopping to purchase one thing. She did manage to ask 3 questions which I couldn't of cared less about regarding the use of fibers for necklaces....really not my area of expertise and I won't bullshit if I'm not certain of the answer...so she left with no fanfare at all. That really ended my evening and I closed. Since Monday was my deadline for the "cough be gone" I went back on my NyQuil regimen on Saturday. I did get a good night's sleep (as good as I ever get) and for longer than normal and I don't think I coughed as much so I'm staying on this regimen...even if I become addicted (I don't take the liquid only the capulets) because at my age, who really gives a crap! And today I don't think I've coughed at all...whoppee...no doctor for me! I wasn't going to admit something that I'd done, but what the hell...I have no shame! Let me first say, I don't do Ebay normally because I waste too much time on it. But periodically I go on just to see if anyone has put a kits by designers I love on it...for instand Merry Cox. In fact, it was Merry Cox that got me in so much trouble. I went on before Lauren Sauer's class and typed in Merry Cox and pushed enter and low and behond 2 of her class kits came up. I was so excited, and while I knew I wouldn't be able to get them, I bid on them anyway, just to be part of the process. Actually what I was on ebay for was the oil can that goes with one of the pieces I was stitching. I had bid on the oil can previously and lost it, so I was back on to bid on another. While I was there, I thought I'd look to see about Merry Cox pieces. Anyway, I won the oil and when I went into my account it said I won 3 pieces. I thought, Uh, Oh, what the hell have I done. I recognized the oil can, but the other was from a "mountainbeads" or something like that and I thought, "Good, God, they will have to take my computer away from me since I'm now buying beads worth over $200." So I took a look at the bead company and it turned out to be the 2 Merry Cox pieces. While I was excited, I had only bid on them thinking someone would outbid me so I hadn't really even looked at which kits they were...but anyway, I got them and now they are added to my stash. So I went on a couple of weeks later since I was temporarily bored and for some reason typed in Just Nan. Now I had looked for over 3 years for Queen of the Needle needlecase and smalls but that was it from her and my dear friends Debbie L, and Phyllis Y., were able to locate the chart from the kit and gave it to me as a gift. So I didn't need the kit anymore, but low and behold, there it was. The bid was at $51.00 so I put in $75 and went on about my business. The next day when I went to do mail, I saw that I lost the bid...which didn't surprise me, but for some reason I was compelled to bit higher, so I put in $125, which was automatically rejected since someone else had bid higher than that. Now I was getting pissed off...after all, at least give me a couple of hours before rejecting me...so I put in $175.oo thinking no one would bid any higher, after all it's just a kit. Well, when the bidding hit $250, Sara came to me and said, "Mom remember the Queen of the needle kit you wanted so much and Debbie and Phyllis gave you the chart?" I said, "Yes," and then she says, "You are never going to believe this but someone has bid $250 on that kit on Ebay." I just looked at her with shame in my eyes and said, "I knew it was I." She just looked horrified and said, "Mom you already have the chart, what the hell are you doing." I then said, "I don't know...it's become some sort of one up man's ship, I can't believe someone keeps raising the bids and now it's become a case of I'm going to get this no matter what." Sara then tried to remind me of all the money we are spending because of the elevator incident...$40,000 for new freight lift...fines, fines from OSHA over $10,000...but this had become bigger than that. Someone was going against me and I couldn't stand it. So I now had to have this kit. On the last day I still had the highest bid of $300 (yes, I said, $300)...but I still wasn't confident. We all knew that at 4:15 when this auction ended every computer would be turned to Ebay to see the results...but I had to go to Walmart around 2:30 and worried that at the last seconds I would lose the bid. So Vernon said, "You have to figure out how much this is worth to you...how much are you willing to spend and then put that figure in." As I told him I didn't want to bid $300, but I just knew in the last seconds they were going to try to grab it. So...and I'm embarrassed to say it, but I put $500 in the bid and went to Walmart. When I got back I was in time to watch what happened....at 12 seconds before the auction ended the person bidding against me put in $415.00 so I was smiling and shouting, "I knew they'd try that, but why would they go from $300 to $415 in one movement?" And then they tried $425.00 but ran out of time. So whoppee...I claimed it for $427.00. And they shipped it for free (glad I got a little extra with this one). Anyway, I was thrilled as Sara kept saying, "But Mom, you already had the chart and you spent $427.00. What the hell were you thinking." Let me just say, I was drunk with Ebay. I kid Vernon all the time because he orders from here continually. I will now try to stay away from it because like my $272 lobster, I am now saying, "O.K. I'm not going to order that which I normally would order, and that brings the cost of the Just Nan piece to..." Sara says I can't rationalize like that, but I'm going to until this makes sense to me. I can't stand losing and can't afford to win. But I will cherish this piece whether I stitch it or not...simply because I paid so much more for it. Now I wasn't going back on Ebay, but Sara did the next week and there was another Queen of the Needle kit. People, please stop putting these things up. I started bidding on that one as well, but for an entire different reason. I bid up to $300 just to raise the bid...after all, why should I pay $427 and the next person gets it for $100. Sara kept saying, but Mom, what if you win...you will have spent $300 more dollars. You know you just can't be rational in the heat of battle. But I did say, "Don't worry, the person that kept upping the bid on me will be bidding up to $425 like they did last time. I won't go higher than $300." Truth be told, they didn't have to go higher because they outbid me at $300 and I didn't look back. I didn't want to spend another $300 so I ended it. I'm not expelled from Ebay...or at least until I can rationalize that I got a deal. So far I haven't paid for 2 kits which I would have purchased normally so in my mind the $427 is now down to $282. Before I get done rationalizing, I'll have the cost down to $50 and then I can go back on ebay to see what's new. Stitching is my drug of choice....and I can't stop myself. Well, I've got to get back to Jamboree brochures, which are going out today.

Talk to you later.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Just Shoot Me already!

I'm telling you, my frustration with people is getting into overload territory. First, of all...if you haven't stayed with us for upteen years nor do you shop in the shops, then I beg you don't come by to say hello while I'm working. It's happened for the past 2 nights. For some reason these women are not happy unless they have come into the shop to tell me hi, how long it's been since they last stayed at the hotel...probably 20 years, drag out their pictures of their grandchildren and then tell what has happened in their lives for the last 20 years. I DON"T GIVE A DAMN...and then to add insult to injury they get in the way of the stitchers trying to get their supplies. Honestly, if I have to speak to one more person who doesn't stitch I swear I'm going to hit them...sock them...oh, hell I'm carrying the taser and doing what anyone else would do....I'm putting them down! I think perhaps I'm becoming unbalanced...due to age perhaps, or perhaps lack of sleep...hell I can't even blame the high school seniors this week.. crap and I love to blame them for everything. O.K., my day has gotten increasingly better. The girls are insisting that I start taking naps again for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Apparently they feel that lack of sleep is making me cranky. So today, I went into one of the apartments, in which Sara had already turned on the a/c in anticipation of my arrival, and took the prerequisite nap. I did feel better when I emerged to work the shop. I felt refreshed and ready to take on any asshole who might find the shop. Sara served my favorite summer dinner...corn on the cob and tomatoes (at least that's all I eat), and I was in hog heaven. At least I was until the corn and tomatoes collided in my stomach and the run to the bathroom began, but even that didn't get me down. I've come to expect that marathon. So I'm sitting here thinking that I might just get through the evening with a smile on my face when she walked in, looked around and said, "Do you sell curtains?" People...I'm a needlework store...do you see a curtain? Do you see fabric? What the hell is wrong with you? While I find her and the jackass FedEx delivery person hard to take, I've still got a smile on my face and I'm still pleasant..well as pleasant as I ever get. Now about the Fedex jackass. First he never come in that he hasn't knocked over something...the last time he broken a display and he always just looks at us and says, "sorry" like my children use to when they so weren't sorry. But today he comes in and the foreign student comes to me and says, "There is someone with boxes to deliver" so I look behind her and there is the jackass. I give him my "you asshole" look and he says, "I just wanted to see if you were open." It's summer asshole...take a guess! It wasn't raining, it was sunny and bright...if we're not open now when are we going to be open. So I said, "Obviously we are open." Then he loads up his hand truck and tries once more to break a display however, I've got his number and I stand in front of the display so he can't. But somehow he managed to knock stuff over and break one of the pegs off a thread rack...no big deal there, but it's like he has no personal responsibility. Jackass...How the hell did this guy get a job delivering anything. When he realized he wasn't going to get the handtruck around the display he just dropped it...and then asked "did anything break"...who knows what broke in the 5 cartons that had "Fragile" written on each one. Honestly...it's beyond me. I haven't had my nap today since IRS and Md. State Comptrollers office was playing ping pong with me..literally for at least 4 hours. IRS and I have been fighting over the same issue since April 2008. I've been in contact with the State Comprollers office who says IRS doesn't know what they're talking about and the State was not going to entertain their request. Finally IRS put a lien on my Bank account (oh, my God!!!!) so of course now I'm fighting mad. I got a supervisor today with the state and told her I was caught inbetween a "pissing" contest and I was getting burned and someone needed to stop and consider me. She found 6 different numbers which I was suppose to call to try to resolve this issue since she also said IRS has nothing to do with State (I willing to agree now someone call IRS and tell them! I finally called Donald, who of course was out of his office but I left word with him knowing I'd never hear from him...and imagine my surprise when 15 minutes he called back, said he understood what I was asking for and would see that I got it in the next couple of days. O.K. it took 4 hours but I might be progressing after 15 months of correspondence and phone calls. I'll let you know...meanwhile I've got a $9000 lien again my bank account. Yeah, I'm just having the best week ever. I did take my pictures over to the framers today and I was exceptionally pleased with that trip. Can't wait to get them back and show you. I finished my time on Candi's piece and have gone back to stitching on mine. I'm almost done with the Rose Sampler pouch and will then go back to my beloved stockings. I've got one more of the April stockings and then will begin on May's. I still love them, I just got a bit behind. As more charts are coming in, I'm losing focus...they are like shiny objects beckoning to me and I am having a really hard time resisting the new stuff. Thankfully Shiela F. and Trudy E. sent me the cutest tote so I've got a new tote to load up....that should take me about 15 minutes. Thanks Girls...Love it! Debbie B. and Dina have been in every night since they arrived on Saturday...searching and searching for that special something. They are purchasing one thing every day instead of starting a bag and paying at the end. It makes it seem like they are spending less (anything we can do to fool ourselves and our husbands is O.K.). It's so good to see true stitchers...Thank you God...

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Tinker Bell is alive and walking around Ocean City...

Or at least someone who wants to be Tinkerbell. Yesterday, as promised, I worked all day to get my desk cleaned off...well, it didn't get cleaned off exactly, but I made headway and thought I'd leave the rest for Sunday. So I stroll in today, went into the shops and did tickets for Connie and Pat and thought to myself...they're going to be busy today, and then went into the office to do payroll. After looking at the schedule, I realized Connie had taken herself off the schedule today and I wasn't aware of that so of course at 9:30 a.m. I'm cursing like a sailor because I will have to help ticket and price (that's too labor intensive for me). But I got payroll done and leaped at the chance to help (you have a mental picture of me leaping I'm sure.) Anyway, Candi W. came down to stitch and I enlisted her help in pricing and we were whizzing through it when a man (at least I think it was) came in to ask for eyelash yarn. I swear if Pat hadn't waited on him I would never have made it. He looked like a reject from the 60's. He had on the typical Hawaiian shirt and I suppose he had shorts on but you could barely see them under his shirt. But what unnerved me was his head. He had grayish shoulder length hair which he wore straight with a very colorful 1 1/2" band encirling his head which I found so distracting I just sat there and prayed Pat would wait on him. I never got this far, but Pat says he had a handlebar mustache which he had finely curled at the ends. But what he asked for was long eyelash yarn. Pat showed him what eyelash yarns we have and he proceeded to tell her what he wanted it for. Apparently he had just seen a Tinkerbell movie in which she comes on the screen initially in a bubble and lands on a leaf. Inside the bubble she is wearing a furry white sweater and he wanted to make an adult size of that sweater. What amazed me even more was Candi and Orla (our Irish student) never looked at him like he was different from anyone else walking around. Anyway, Pat and I are trying to figure out who will be wearing an adult size of the Tinkerbell sweater...and pretty sure he'll be making it for himself though. Well it was a wonderful distraction for Pat and I (it doesn't take much to distract from the job at hand here.) So now I'm working the 10-whatever shift in Salty Yarns...I'm sure I'll find many things to take home...like the new Blue Ribbon charts...Love Them! There is really so much on the rack that I love I could be in serious trouble left alone here. I'm going to have to carry a second tote bag to get it all home. Good news....In my never ending quest to put stuff away, I'm am continually losing things. I put a 10 yd. roll of Shirtex away never to be found again, and while Pat was moving boxes around in her never ending quest to find space to put items, she found my roll of skirtex...whoppee!!! Now I'll find a new hiding space...opps, I mean I'll put it where I can find it...at home. The only problem now is I've lost some money. Hid it from Michael only to find that I have also hid it from myself. Sara and Mary have begun proceeding to have me committed so I'm searching very hard to find the money...so far no success. You know I'll find it when I stop searching so I'm stopping the search now. I can also tell you now, without hesitation, I am truthfully too old to be dealing with the public. Or is it that the public is getting more difficult to deal with. We sell a one size (and don't I love that since none of those fit me) tee-shirt for sleeping or whatever with Emerson pictures on them. They are seriously popular since they are so funny, and we have 2 hanging up to show the size. So...when I went over to Sea Trader just now a woman of foreign extraction asked me if I could help her. I guess the girl sitting behind the counter staring at the computer was too busy, so of course I said "certainly." That was probably my first mistake...because she then says, "is the shirt there the same one that is in this bag?" The shirts are sold in white Jersey bags with the picture on the front of which saying is on it. So I said, "Yes." She then said, "Why are they so big..don't you have anything smaller." O.K, I'm sorry I walked over to Sea Trader at this point, but said, "They come as one size only, I'm sorry but that is the only size." Then she says, "Can I take it out of the bag to see how big it is, and what is on it." O.K., now she's just pissing me off so I said, "You can see the size of the shirt here .. pointing to the one hanging over her head...and you can see what is on the shirt as it is the same as the picture on the bag you are holding. (Once out of the bag you can never get them back in the bag correctly..hence I don't want to take it out of the friggin bag..). Then I come over to Salty Yarns where a woman has been walking around for 1 hour and asks me what she can do with a bell pull pattern. Apparently at her house she already has approx. 100 bellpulls but likes the birds and wants me to help make something else. While I would like to tell her what she could do with the birds, I hesitate...and then make a suggest that is more friendly. But she won't let up...now it's what size should she do and how big are the birds going to be...and on and on and on. This might seem like innocent questions except...the birds are already stitched and on display in the size of fabric she has chosen. So just go look at the model which she was carrying around I might add. Honestly...I do feel perhaps they've let the mentally challenged out for a bus ride to Ocean City. I'm becoming a little challenged myself here. I need a real stitcher to walk in...but from the looks of this crowd they are few and far between. Where are my peeps when I need them? I've got a head ache...I'm going to sit and contemplate my reason for existing. Talk to you later.

Friday, June 19, 2009

I had a dream......

Yes, I actually thought today was going to be a very productive day. I walked out of the house and it was sunny, bright, and cool, although promising to be hotter. I just knew things were looking up. I also knew today was a day where I would only be working in the office...no shop for me today (which considering my attitude was probably a good thing.) So I sat at my desk and decided today was the day...clean it off day...but then I went through the mail Mary dumped off and there were 3 magazines...so I picked up the most important one...People ... and began reading. Well by the time I got done reading it cover to cover plus ads (anything to waste time) it was lunch time. So we ordered out and then lunch took another hour...yes I was moving at a snail's pace. Sara looked at me at one point and said, "I thought you were going to get work done?" Traitor...she's suppose to cover for me. But after lunch I decided to get down to business...but then I realized I forgot to order new croc sandals so of course I had to do that immediately, the old ones were so loose I kept tripping when wearing them. But the minute that was done I was back on track, until I read my e-mails and remembered I was suppose to be finding something on the internet. I did get more of the Jamboree brochures printed so they will be going out this week...I'm thinking tomorrow will be the day I get all the work done. My computer is trying to die on me and I'm now forced to use that little button to move the cursor and I hate that. I'm a mouse girl, so that's slowing things up considerably. I did get 2 checks printed and I got the junk mail thrown away, but that's been my progress. Because then I had a class I was required to take, regarding the proper use of fire extinquishers for our Osha problem. The lady came down from Baltimore and we (all management personel..in other words, Sara, Vernon, Mary, Brian and yours truly) gathered in one of the apartments, watched the video and then took a test. I made sure I sat near enough to the table to see what the questions were so I was well prepared to answer any and all questions. Can't understand how I still got some wrong...but since we graded our own papers...so of course, no one failed. Sara had the nerve to write that she got 10/10...when I saw her erasing more than once when the answers were being read. I didn't give them any count on my answers...I mean really what's the point. So we all passed and are now able to use a fire extinquisher...although I've used one in the past, now I can really use one correctly...that is if I can remember what she said. I am 61 after all...you really can't expect much out of me. My brain cells are fried, and it isn't helping that I'm dealing with some complete idiots down here. Notice I said some...I don't want to give the impression that everyone is an idiot...because that's not the case...I think it's everyone I don't know is an idiot. I'm just thankful I'm not in the shop for the next 2 days and can get over the trials of putting up with cell phone users and gum smackers. Honestly I had to listen to some innane cell phone conversation from some woman who had no volume control for her mouth. I don't care where you stood...all you could hear was her talking to her daughter who apparently had the good sense to stay home in the city and not come here with her mother, although by what her mother was saying to her apparently she didn't have the sense to come in out of the rain. My God, I had to hear what her mother left her to eat, messages regarding the pets, the next door neighbor...why the hell did the woman leave home. What in God's name did these people do before there were cell phones? Crap, as everyone knows...I rarely even answer mine. If I don't recognize the number you don't stand a chance in hell of me picking it up. I believe I've gotten a bit off track.... anyway, after the class it was 4:00p.m. so I thought, O.K. now I'll really sit down and get some work done. But now my mouse wouldn't work and I hate using that little button in the center...so now it's taking much longer and I'm not enjoying this at all, so I went to the front hotel computer and played games...there was simply no choice. Then it was dinner, so I turned my computer off hoping that when it rebooted it would have healed itself. After taking as long as I could for dinner I returned to really get some work done. The problem still exists, so now I'm blogging, but I swear tomorrow is the day. I'm bringing my lap top from home...I'm going to load the necessary programs into it and be back in business. In the meantime...it's just too labor intensive to work on this computer so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a great weekend...and don't forget it's Father's Day on Sunday.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I may not make it through the summer...

I'm in the shop...of course...as our night shifts have begun, so 5 nights a week I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to play with next. Tonight apparently, it's the computer. But I haven't been here 45 minutes and they are driving me crazy. The worst part is...I am not good any more at hiding what I'm thinking. Let me just say, if you walk in a store..look around. If it's a needlework shop, easily identifiable, look around to see if you can answer your own question. A woman just walked in the door, walked over to the counter and said, "Do you have counted cross stitch". She had to pass 3 racks filled with it to get to me, along with the models hanging all over God's Green Acre...and yet, still asked that question. I have always said there are no stupid questions...well no there aren't, but I have to also say there are just a lot of stupid people...and most of them find their way into my shop. I sat there a few minutes looking at her to see if she would like to reconsider the question. After a few seconds of staring at her I could see there was no one home so I said, "95% of what we sell is counted cross stitch." What I was thinking however, was "Look Bitch if you aren't smart enough to recognize it chances are good you won't be able to do it." But I refrained, perhaps I can continue working here after all. I've already had the family with the little kids who tried on glasses while the mother said, "Don't touch anything." Exactly what does that statement mean to people. I want to yell, "Get your friggin hands off the glasses," but as you well know, I'm just too much of a lady. I should be yelling at the parents who believe that saying that phrase is all they have to do. Oh, my God...I'm just too old to be dealing with customers....so if you come in please excuse my attitude and have patience with me. Pretend I'm your child. Frankly the week hasn't been that bad. This is our 3rd week of June Bugs...however, the 2nd of the really bad weeks, however, combined with the firemen's convention it really doesn't seem as bad this year. Of course I had at least 30 of them singing Karoke at the bus stop outside my window last night...it was a lovely serenade if it was noon, but at 11:00...it's time to shut the hell up, good Lord I look forward to October. But as I was saying, there are not as many people here as normal, so things are still slow enough I get to close early...last night 9:00 p.m. Oh, that reminds me...do you think it's rude if you ask what time we close, I say we close at 9:00 p.m., but then say, "But you are welcome to shop as late as you'd like because once you are in, you are in." Now she came in at 8:45. Her husband was thrilled that she wouldn't have long, and she shopped until 9:30 p.m. and came up to the counter with a $7 chart. Now, I meant what I said, once you are in you are in. But if I had been that woman, and could see I wasn't going to spend much, I would have come back the next day...not kept us here for 30 minutes after closing to purchase a chart. Of course I've had them keep me for an hour and purchase nothing, but I think it's rude. My time isn't worth much but I'd like to think that's it worth more than $7.00. But I'm just happy she left at 9:30...well somewhat happy...it would have been better if she left at 9:00. I still have the hacking cough...Sara, Vernon and Mary held an intervention today to get me to go to the doctors. I don't care how annoying it is to them, I'm not going! Greg told me he had the cough for 6 weeks after he was feeling all right...I'm going along with that. It has gotten better, but Lord I'll be glad when it's done. To add to my misery, OSHA finally sent me their report and my fine of $11,000...don't you love it. I've hired a safety consultant who deals with OSHA and accidents and he's going to the hearing with us. He looked at the report and even though he's been doing this for years and years, he said he didn't know where this guy came up with some of the stuff he cited...wouldn't you know! So off to Easton we'll be going to fight to get the fines reduced. I realize I deserve a fine for infractions, but honestly this is ridiculous. What I love is this...the freight elevator use to be inspected, but I never showed them the last inspection certificate when they were here, because frankly I just wasn't thinking (I know you are amazed I'd admit that.) I told them the freight elevator was grandfathered so the inspectors finally stopped coming. They kept acting like that wasn't possible. While our guy was here today and he was asking questions about the inspection and how long ago it was and we were throwing out dates. I then remembered we use to tape the certificates on the inside of the cabinet doors in the office and low and behold there was our last inspection certificate from 1990. Our man thinks that is a significant piece of information to take and is certain it will have a bearing on the fine. And folks, that's why if you visit my office (which I don't want anyone to do out of embarrassment), and it looks like a God awful mess (which it is), it looks that way because I keep all information...somewhere. I've got tax records going back to 1988 because IRS came after me once for tax records that went back 12 years and I was told I could throw them out aftere 10 and did and I ended up paying a fine and penalty. Well, no more buddy...I'll keep the paperwork forever, even if we can't move around it. I'm sick of paying IRS anything, let alone penalty & interest. You don't want to get me started on taxes. Our local children are out of school finally, this was the first day of no school for Michael and he slept in until 7:00 and by 8:30 he was bored. Yes, I have a feeling this is going to be a long summer. Solomon has pink eye so Mary has kept him home from school, but Sara asked if Brian could keep him at home so he didn't pass it along to Michael. Since we've been around him all weekend I just feel that he would have passed it on by now, but why take a chance. His stepsister, Anya, has been here for 2 weeks. I took her to Walmart to get her a doll and you wouldn't believe what we came home with. But after buying her what she wanted I said, "Now I have to pick up a couple of things for me" to which this 4 year old answered, "Maybe you could come back some other time because I want to go home." 4 years old people....she's as cute as she can be, but honestly..the world does not revolve around you Anya. But she's just too cute and too funny to get mad at. Gosh, it's 7:30 p.m. and it's like I'm the last living soul in town...no one is in the shop and haven't been for probably 15 minutes...I think I should close up shop and go home while the gettin' is good. The weather here sucks...all week it's been overcast and threating rain, but hasn't rain yet. And the temperature is hovering in the 60's. I'm usually thrilled when this happens during June Bug weeks, but I hate for the firemen to have this kind of weather. They deserve sunshine. O.K., now it's Thursday and I still haven't posted this blog. If I keep this up I'll have to try to get a book deal on it. So tonight I'm posting. I've had a strange kind of day. It was pouring when I woke up and the forecast was for rain all day (and yet once again they were wrong), so I loaded my portable DVD player in my bag along with some DVD's and my stitching and thought I'd have a grand ole day watching movies and stitching...and still be at work. Of course, the rain stopped, and while it was overcast, it wasn't bad out so people kept coming into the store. I thought I was having a rain day and ended up working a double shift..(I knew that was going to happen but I was hoping the rain would bring it down to one shift). Sara told the foreign worker that works Sea Trader that she didn't need to come in at 4 since we thought we were closing and then we got busy around 3 so she had to come over and 4 and now she's working the 4p.m. - whenever shift with me. I did get through 3 movies and am half way done on my Rose Sampler Pouch so I'm thrilled with what I got done, however, I've had more gum chopping adults in here than I care to count. What the hell is it with people who chomp gum. Are they deaf? Can they not hear themselves. One woman had master the talking while still chomping, popping bubbles and slurping all at the same time. One woman was with a group of 3 other women...were they deaf too? Am I the only one it bothers? God almighty...if you chew gum keep your damn mother shut, don't blow bubbles and for God's sake don't come near me. It's almost too much for me to handle...I've got a taser now you know...you might want to keep your distance. Sara just informed me it's started to rain...whoppee...we're out early...ahhh, yes, I love working...when it's 10-4....10-10 is a bitch. I've got to close but I'm going to spend the next few days getting the web site updated so you may or may not hear from me again tomorrow.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Not a good beginning to my day....

After spending a wonderful day with Candi W. and Linda W. talking in the shop and then the evening chatting with Lauren Sauer, who taught this past weekend, and Debbie L. and Phyllis Y., I went home on a high Sunday night. I turned on the T.V., got myself a soda, and just vegged out. I must have fallen asleep (which is often my routine) and the next thing I heard was a loud, and I mean a pounding noise on my door. I thought it was just the ignorant June Bugs looking for a party so I really ignored it...after all it was after midnight. But they would not go away and moved on to the window over my head. Since they could see my head, the T.V. was on, I still just sat there but was thinking I might actually have to rise off the sofa and go to the door. Then I heard the sound I never like hearing, "Ocean City Police!"(Not that this is a sound I hear a lot, but I have heard it before so now I cringe) So of course, I arose like the wind, went to the door and outside of my place it was a mass of police cars and a big white van turned sideways in the street. Of course a neighbor was among the crowd gathered like it was a social event.."Hi Sally". What the hell...after midnight and police presence everywhere and he's "Hi Sally'ing" me. What twilight zone have I entered. The Barney Fife policeman asks if I know who owns the building, and of course I look at him like he's just landed in a space ship and said, "I do." And he then says, "Well, I'm afraid that white van was stolen and the kid drove it into your building...the good news (like there could possibly be any at that point) is that it just took out one post which stopped the van from ramming the side of the building. That was great news except for one thing...it was a support beam for the stairway going up to Mary's apartment. Yes, folks that's the first thing to greet me on what is officially my birthday. God, it can only go up from here. I hate these friggin kids...if yours if down here I'm sorry but I am sick of putting up with their crap every year. I can't put anything on my porch because they steal anything not nailed down, and now this. And I have 2 more weeks of this nightmare. So far at the hotel, Vernon had to call the police on Saturday night as the kids next door at the Paradise Hotel were throwing furniture off the 4th floor balcony onto the parking lot. Last night before I left Vernon passed me carrying a bucket of sudsy water and when I asked him what he was doing he said, "Some kid just pee'd on the porch of 811 (one of our apartments), with the tenants of the apartment next to it sitting there not 12 feet away watching. This is the 2nd time one of the kids too drunk to realize he wasn't at the Paradise Hotel, tried to enter one of our apartments. We have a nice family staying in that apartment so you can only imagine what they are thinking. Frankly I can't imagine why any decent people would even subject themselves to Ocean City during Junebug month. It's horrendous. Good Lord, beam me up Scottie. Other than that the weekend was a success. We were busier than usual on Lauren's weekend so the hotel was filled with families, but we managed to stake out our claim on the comfortable chairs in the lobby and stitch late into the evening. This is always such a lovely weekend because Lauren stitches with the ladies well into the night, and helps them with their projects long after the class is over. We love our Lauren and her projects. We've already got the "Red Bag" which is next years project so everyone can get this one pre-stitched long before the class. And the stitchers threw me a birthday party on Sunday....and I got presents...whoppee!!!! They always treat me so well, and have never forgotten my birthday. I didn't intend to have a retreat during my birthday but it certainly worked out to my advantage. It is now Wednesday and I'm at my usual spot...my desk trying to do anything but work. I did want to give you the update on the support post for the stairway which the Junebug took out Sunday night. Vernon and Brian went up on Monday and were able to put the support post back and get it bolted in so we are back in business. But it's not like we have nothing else to do here. But we are just a few days away from having this crew go home and the 2nd rowdy week with not only June Bugs but firemen as well. But we are grateful for our firemen so we don't care if they raise a little hell...they aren't stealing our furniture or running into our buildings. Friday I start my 10-10 shifts in Salty Yarns...ugh!!! Oh, My God, I can't believe I have to work nights again...wasn't it just a year ago I was doing this? I'm telling you...this summer is kicking me in the ass. Fortunately few of the tenants know who I am anymore and I am able to hide from the ones who would recognize me. There was a woman at the desk looking for me and I was sitting right in the inner office in front of the window where she could have seen me, and as soon as I heard Mary say she didn't know where I was I slowly sunk down in the chair. I had to question myself...I'm slowly going to the floor so she won't see sudden movement, at 61 to hide from an old tenant? What the hell is wrong with me? But you can be assured when she actually returns to the desk to inquire again, I'll be back down on the floor hiding. Update on the Smith Island Cakes. We had an Oreo cookie Smith Island and it was delicious. I'm not fond of Oreo's which is not to say that if I saw a bag here I wouldn't eat them...and I mean the entire bag. But I don't buy them, except the mint ones which I then dip in chocolate for holidays. O.K., I guess that means I buy them, but I'm still not fond. However I tasted this cake (O.K., I believe when you take an entire slice and a big one at that perhaps it's more than a taste...but for now let's call it a taste) and it was fabulous with a capital "F". Oh mercy, it was just too good for words. I can't wait for my next taste of a Smith Island, but Sara as usual has us on a summer diet and the only thing I'm losing is my mind. I usually get Mary (who is my co-conspirator) to get me A Stand lunches with French Fries for good luck. Yes, I have my own diet going on...the Seafood diet...if I see food I eat it. Anyway, I'm bidding on something on ebay and I'm in a bidding war so I have to go. This could get ugly. Have a great day stitchers and keep those needles moving. Oh, yea, if you have a senior student down here in Ocean City, please call them and tell them to leave 8-11th street off their reign of terror...Vernon is dusting off the tazer and I'm going to learn how to use it. Thanks for the assist.