It's here...it's finally here....

The 2009 Just Cross Stitch ornaments magazine hit the shop today and what a wonderful magazine it is. While it has tons of ornaments, this year it also has a Scissors safe by Rae Iverson and a Christmas Joy Needlebook by Louise Henderson. The ornaments are the stars of this show and they are a feast for the eyes. I tried to pick my favorite and just could not. I love many of them from our favorite designers...so make sure you get your copy. Other than that it's been a wash out down here. We've had rain off and on for the last 3 days, and today it is pouring. The poor visitors who came into town last weekend have not seen the sun since they've been here. They are getting a bit grumpy from it and I'm loving it because not only have the temps gone down but....I get to go home early. Yes, two nights ago I was home by 4:30...last night by 8:30 and today I think I'm sneaking out at 4:00...whoppee! I need the break. Yesterday I worked morning in the shop along with Pat and we decided there had to be a full moon. People were nuts. One of the first women to come into the shop carrying our "green bag" which is always a bad sign, pulled an open kit out of the bag and said, "I hope you can help me. We purchased this kit in here the other night and my friend can't do it, so we want to return it." I look at the bag it came in and it's torn to hell of course, so I said, "I'm sorry, but you've torn open the bag. Once they are torn open like that we can't sell them therefore we can't take them back." To which this brain trust said,"but everything is here." "yes, I said, I'm sure it is, but that isn't the problem...the problem is that the kit is torn open, I can't sell a kit that you had to tear open." To which the Brain Trust said, "You could take it" indicating that I could take the tape and run it over the top of the kit and tape it to the other side. Can you picture it? I was by this time ready to move on, clearly she was not...so I said again, "I'm sorry but no one is going to buy a kit that has been torn open and taped." And yet this idiot wasn't giving up..."But the yarn is all here." "Yes I said, I'm sure it is...but again, it's been torn open and can't be returned." So she goes over to the rack where she picked this up and came back and said, "There are other kits over there in zip top bags." "Yes," I said, because the manufacturers put them in them. The manufacture of this kit uses the sealed bags. And I don't have bags for these in the shop...I'm sorry, you may not return it. Why don't you find a friend who doesn't counted cross stitch and ask them to do it for you." With that she and the friend flounced out of the shop to go bother someone else. You know...the kit was a birth announcement which sold for $16.00. Now I'm not saying any of us want to lose $16.00, and you all know I will fight you to the ground for 25 cents, so I don't take this lightly. But if you purchase something, rip off the packaging, what am I suppose to do with that. Is it my responsibility to get bags and put it in a new package...and how do I know you haven't lost a part of it, or used some of the floss. People are always misplacing charts or threads from a kit and coming to me to get replacements which if I can I always try to assist with this. The return policy states that opened kits, floss, charts are not returnable. Why do some people feel it's alright for a policy to be in place but they get to ignore it? People this crap wears me out. The day ended with a woman coming in with 2 different shoes on, and a sock on one foot only. Pat and Renee studied her for some time and tried to come up with a reason why this was happening. I frankly didn't give a damn. I say let her wear whatever she wants. In the end Renee had to ask or she wouldn't be able to sleep. And there was a perfectly good reason...she had an artificial heal and ankle and had to keep the sock on because of that. The shoe on the one foot was for comfort and the other because of necessity. Mystery solved and the end of our day. Going home early was like a snow day for me. I got there and flitted from one thing to another too excited to really get anything done. I finally had to sit myself down and give me a stern lecture, at which point I did do some laundry and wash some dishes and start bringing order out of kaos...of course that lasted only about 1/2 hour and then I felt that I deserved some stitching time and finished one of the Halloween stockings. We now have 6 done (I say we because Phyllis let me use 4 of hers so we would have a decent display for Jamboree). Jamboree...oh, it's exciting. Oops...got to go...time to close the shop...yippee...I get to go home I think...oh, no I don't Sara has to go to open house at school...O.K. I take back the whoppee...but I do get to go home as soon as she returns...o.k., a little whoppee. Talk to you later.