Many different hats...

I had to apologize to my husband this morning.  I had been very short with him both last night and this morning.  I tried to blame my being a meany on PMS, but after digging a little deeper, I knew that I was letting some resentment build up in me.... Opening a business is definitely work, but now we've hit a new level of work.  Knowing there is less than 2 wks till our soft open, we are kicking into overdrive.  I pretty much drove yesterday. All day.  With only short spurts of being some where for a few minutes.  That really tired me out, not only physically, but knowing that gas is almost $4 a gallon, tires me out as well. Then coming home to cook dinner.... I was just out of energy.  I was becoming resentful that I had to buy so much gas, I have to take 2 trips a day to the town our business is in (until school is out for my son) which is about an hour round trip.  Hubby is so focused, rightly so, on getting the business going, that he hasn't been as helpful as he had been with the house (he normally has kitchen clean up)  Money is just squeaky tight.... the grass/weeds are getting higher, the bath tub is getting dirtier....   Bills need to be paid..... I have a lot of hats to wear right now, and it's just getting tiring and at times frustrating.

But, this morning, I apologized to my husband.  He can't be distracted from what he needs to do because I'm getting a little tired.  I need to remember to be that good, supportive wife that he needs right now in his life.  He's visiting with some buddies tonight for "guys night", which means he'll be leaving the store early tonight.... Which means for me to take things a little slower today.  I'm finishing a full pot of tea before leaving today.  I'm taking time to get my thoughts on this blog.  I'm regrouping so I can be the wife he needs and so I can be the mom my son needs. 

When wearing so many different hats, you need to take some time to sort them out.  How about you?  What do you need to do when you are feeling overwhelmed?  Are you like me and become short and impatient with your loved ones?  Do you have to tell yourself to knock it off and chill out?  What works for you? 

Until next time friends!

Kitty news and an update.....

Well hello there.... glad you stopped by!  An update on my girl DiDi, I took her to the vet and she's doing pretty well for as old as she is... and once I figure out how to put pictures on this blog, I will certainly show you what this little lady looks like.  He did add meds for her bad knees and her teeth.  She is not allowed to be put under for a teeth cleaning, so we have to give meds once a month for a week to keep bacteria under control. 

An update on where we stand in our business.  We are about 2 weeks from opening.  We are getting in inventory and getting down to the nitty gritty of putting the inventory in our computer system.  We originally decided to be closed 2 days a week, but we recently decided to be open 7 days a week.  We are going to watch pockets of time and see if we need to be opened.  We don't want to risk losing possible business from the start though. 

I realize that I haven't told you anything about what our business is or what it's called.  We, unfortunately, have learned a lesson recently in the consequences of "loose lips", so for now, it will just be a mystery. 

Financially, we are hanging in there.  We have made a pretty substantial transfer from our savings to checking account.  And NO, I'm not looking forward to sending the government a good chunk of that money.  But, what can ya do. 

I've realized that we are kinda at odds about our lifestyle..... we are very into taking care of ourselves, not being into consumerism,  ya know ..... not workin' for the man kinda stuff!  BUT..... thanks to hubby, we are very techy savvy.... hubby keeps us up to date on the latest and greatest gadgets and techy stuff.... ( you can tell how well versed I am with this stuff!)  so we're kinda old meets new.... old fashioned meets fashion forward..... we're not into consumerism, but we're going to be selling stuff.... ya see where I'm going with this???  Trust me though, once I can tell you what our business actually is, it will make sense with our lifestyle. 

On the homefront, since it's been so warm, I've planted some seeds and already have some lettuce coming up, my kitties are good.... my indoor outdoor kitties are being held inside full time right now due to a certain aggressive tom cat that beats up my kids every chance he gets.  I love kitties, but this guy, he's just (excuse my french) an asshole.  Plain and simple.  But again, what can ya do?

We're getting used to our new schedule, but I'm still trying to figure out when I can do my canning.  I may just have to compromise this year. 

Any way reader, thanks so much for coming by.... I will post again soon.

As little as a puff in my hand....

I have a dear friend, I consider her my daughter, my first born in fact.  She's my sweet kitty Di-Di.  She is 16 1/2 yrs old.  We got her even before we got married all the way back in 1995.... we married in 96- wow and we're still together!  I've seen her tough through some hard times... there was the loss of her first sibling Cosa, they loved each other and she looked for him after he had to be put down because he had leukemia.... late stages and no medicine was helping him.  Then, there was the whole question of did she contract leukemia, since she had been living, loving and sharing her life with a leukemia positive kitty.  Nope.  She was negative.  She has been with us through 2 moves, a new baby, deaths in the family and joyous celebrations.  Now my girl is older, more frail, but she still has a lot of life to her.  She loves to go outside on warm days and feel the sun and sniff the air. Today I'm taking her to the vet to get a check up..... she was diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardio Myopathy  3 yrs ago.... enlarged heart for short.... she's been on meds ever since.... she needs a check up so we can get her another prescription.  I know she's old.  I know that this season with her by my side is slowly coming to an end.  I just love her and appreciate knowing she's by my side for now, enjoying a good nap. It's hard to believe that when we brought her home on that chilly night, she was just a little puff in my husbands hand. 

So here we are....

Ok, so here we are.  Our goal is to open our store on April 7th.  We have the fixtures up and inventory in... now we just have all the little details to take care of.  We still have to buy a few things and get all the inventory in the computer.  We have had a major blow to our finances by having to pay some unexpected taxes.  We have the money, but it will definitely cut back the amount of time we can go without a paycheck.  So cross your fingers that this business starts strong and continues to grow.  We are well under budget for store start up, so if we need to, we can draw a small check a month.  We have cut back our household budget as far as we can. 

Looks like there won't be any entries on the cool places to eat. 

My sister in law did our logo and it's amazing.  I hope she doesn't mind being paid in food! :) 

Our family came last night and it was exciting to show everyone what we have done.  AND we have our first real competitor who is trying to throw a monkey wrench into our plans....
details to come.....

See you next time!

Making it happen.

Hubby and I have been working hard to get our store in order.  We have had a couple obstacles to over come, but we are figuring it out and moving along.  Our finances are tight and we are officially not eating out at restaurants! :0  So, it may be a while before I tell you about any cool restaurants.  It will be tough, but we should be able to open in 3 weeks.  We're so excited.  I'm scared.  I'm excited.  I'm scared. I'm excited!  When I get like this I try to remember the saying I heard somewhere that says Courage is doing something even if you are afraid of it.  Or something like that.... Anyway, sorry to ramble but we are.... making it happen.

See you next time!

Starting over...

Have I mentioned that I'm 40?  Yep, the big 4-0.... I've been pretty spoiled by my husband over the years.  We've been married for almost 16 years and have been together for nearly 18 years.  We both worked  until our son came along 5 years into our marriage and then luckily I was able to come home to be with my son full time when he was born.  I was home for 8 years.  We had been in and out of debt during our marriage, but like I told you the last time, we finally paid all that off last year. Well now we are starting over.  My husband says that his resume was looking like a list of things he didn't like to do.  He was miserable in his job and I was miserable being away from them on the weekends to work my part time job.  I had a great job don't get me wrong, but I never got to spend an entire day with them. One day a month, that was it.  Last year was the first and only time I had ever missed being with them on easter and mother's day.  Talk about suuuucccckkkk.  I hated being away from my guys!  Anyway, (I'm getting off topic)  Starting over. Right.
Long story short, we have walked to an edge together and have jumped.  We got an investor, quit our jobs and are starting our own business.  Even though it has been stressful both financially and mentally, it's a good stress.  It's a "hey look at us we're doing this!" kinda stress.  It's a freeing stress.  Our son is 10, hubby is 45 and I'm 40.... we're going to enjoy our lives, even if this business is a total flop, at least we had the guts to give it a try.  Now, I'm not gonna say that I was all for this 100% from the beginning.  I like security.  I like a regular paycheck and I'm a nerd when it comes to budgeting ( it's like a hobby- seriously.  Weird. I know.) But, getting up everyday, looking at my husband and working together, figuring things out and making this business happen, it's awesome.   We have looked into each others eyes, stepped off the edge holding hands and are waiting to see where we land.  As long as I'm still looking into his eyes when we do finally land, it will be the perfect spot. 

See you next time!

The Nutshell

I figure that if anyone wants to walk along this blog with me, you should probably know a little bit about me.  First of all, I'm a wife, a mom to one little guy and most recently, a business owner.  I'm not a soccer mom, we're kinda different from most folks.  We just recently paid off all of our debt except for our house.  We're pretty thrifty and we are bored in malls.  We do this for the freedom that we have from the money we save.  We wouldn't have been able to start our own business had we not paid off that debt. We try to find used items whenever possible, not only for the savings, but also because it gives new life to items that would otherwise been thrown away.  I do however, love to spend money on quality items like good food, tea and coffees.  I'm not a total tightwad! :)  Food.  Yep, I would consider food a hobby.  I love all things food and you will probably find many entries about places that I liked or hated.  Another thing..... I like cats.  A lot..... but not to the point where I'm the crazy cat lady.  I am responsible, but I have been known to win the trust of a cat and have her/him spayed or neutered.  I love all things home.  Not Martha Stewart home, homestead type.... I love canning and learning old fashioned skills and my dream is to be able to actually have a little homestead.   Well, that's me in a nutshell.  See you next time!

Jumping back in....

I had a few posts up on this blog, but for whatever reason, I deleted all of them.  I remember getting discouraged because no one, it seemed, was reading them and I was checking all the time to see where the people were that actually did come to my page and read them. 

But now, I've come to a point where I don't care if anyone really reads this.  I enjoy just getting my thoughts out there and it's just fun to record a very fun time in my life.  This will be a way to celebrate what I have been so very blessed with. 

My dear sister in law, Heather, has encouraged me to get back on the blogging track.  She didn't literally say "hey Kim, get back to blogging!", but she has her own blog and has made a new commitment to create new entries more often.  Her entries got me thinking about all the cool stuff  I'm experiencing and how it would be fun to just write.  Get it all out there.... just for fun....

If you do read and join me on my journey, I appreciate it..... I'm not the best writer, but I'm real.  This is me.

This is Kim.  Homemaker Kim. 

See you next time!