I've Got The Bug

I could tell about a week ago that I was coming down with something unusual. I was thinking about putting away the Christmas decorations- I decided rather than just stashing them away- I wanted to put them away "right". Wrap each ornament or decoration- throw away the things I never use any more and do a neat job of packing and putting boxes in the attic. That was the beginning of trouble- now I have the urge to clean out the attic, clean off my desk, sort out photographs, clean out closets, and get rid of clutter. Yeah, I've got the bug. And one thing leads to another- when I'm trying to clean off my desk...I realize I need to clean out a closet or a cabinet so I have a new place to put the "stuff" I really need to keep :) While I have part of the house very clean and uncluttered, other parts are piled with stuff waiting for a place to go. Sam- watch out if I actually get to the attic- you have a house and you are within driving distance for stuff to end up with you :) I'll bet I "run out of gas" on this whole cleaning thing before I get to
the garage- but who knows maybe I'll last that long :) I love having things uncluttered- in fact I think I drive Ron and mom crazy putting things away. (We'll see if I make Sam and Audrey crazy even trying to come up with an uncluttered website.) I'm going to enjoy my uncluttered kitchen, hallway, and living room for a few more days and then I'm getting the Valentine decorations out :) I got some cute red Christmas garland for 80% off that looks great with my Valentine decorations! The bug spreads you know...When I'm not at home cleaning out the house- I'm at the store cleaning it out. I have a closet there that definantly needs attention :)

After Christmas Sales

Ashley has already put in her order for me to make Christmas stockings for them for next year. Any one else want stockings? The Christmas fabric would be on sale right now. In fact my best after Christmas advice is to take advantage of the sales and buy wrapping paper, decorations, cards, and ornaments for next year. The only problem right now is... the good stuff is gone. You need to go just a day or two after Christmas when the selection is still good. The only advantage now is ... whatever is left might be 70-90% off rather than 50% off.

My Christmas decorations consist of lots of "Santa Claus- Christmasy stuff" and also some winter "snow man stuff". I usually put it all out before Christmas and then after Christmas just put away the "Santa Claus-Christmasy stuff". It made sense living in Oklahoma or Colorado to keep out the snow man decorations until the end of January- but I just can't do that here in Texas. Snowman decorations and 70-80 degree weather just don't go together :)

My Real Baby

Even though I had a post describing Ashley as my baby... my real baby is a place called The Silver Hanger- 2700 square feet of dresses. That is what occupies my time 24/6- the store is closed on Sunday and Monday, but I'm usually there on Mondays- never on Sunday. Without going into alot of detail- we opened the store about 4 years ago. I can say that it actually looks like a real store now. I was looking at some pictures when we first opened and thinking- "we've come a long way baby"! The only pictures that I could find quickly to post are a couple of old advertisements. (I will post some other pics. later- I will go take some new ones next week) Both of these old ads have the store hours as Saturday only and week days by appointment. I had to gradually work my way into a Tuesday through Saturday schedule. It was quite an adjustment for me to go from no work to full time work :) The reason I wanted to do this post today is because its a new year. The way things were looking in November- I wasn't sure if the store would survive the economic situation- some how we managed to hang in there for November and December, and things will pick up in January. I'm hoping to have my first profitable year for 2009. My "honey do man" gave me his whole first day of 2009. I needed some things done at the store- he thought it would only take part of the day- but it took the whole thing. He put up some new dress racks for me. He would have rather been working on his garden but he sacrificed for me :) The girls won't believe this-- but we had lunch at MacDonalds, at Wal Mart, on our second trip there to get screws and other hardware to solve the various problems of attaching the dress racks to the wall. Nothing is ever as simple as you think :) So... I'm sure there will be more Silver Hanger posts to come- and thank you to my "honey do man"- he knows that ILHLT :)

Back Home and Back to Work

Some of us are back home and back to work. Others of us are back home and sleeping in! We had a great Christmas together. As much fun as it was to be together, in some ways its good to be home and getting some rest from all of the stresses of traveling. We are so very grateful for our family and for the good relationships that we have with each other. It's amazing to watch our family grow. Now that Audrey and Sam are engaged the circle is almost complete. In fact the best part of the baby blessing for Owen was to see the priesthood circle of our family! (We look forward to a time when Mike and Carrie and Nicholas can also be with us)

Christmas Update

Ron, mom, and I arrived in Stillwater, OK on Monday evening. We stopped in Dallas on the way to take a tour of JCPenney corp. to see where Audrey works. We also took one picture of the burb near Leona TX- when the 200,000 miles rolled over. If, I post that picture, Ron wants to know which old girl has more miles- me or the burb? :) Of course it's me :) (The burb only represents miles on ONE car, that I have driven to death. There have been others.)
Any way...back to Christmas-
Sam and Audrey arrived on Wednesday evening. Christmas morning was just for Jared and Nathan. Christmas afternoon, Micah, Alison, Daniel, Ashley, and Jaden all arrived. We never told Nathan and Jared that Jaden was coming. And Jaden knew he was going on a trip but he didn't know where. SURPRISE- three boys together. Christmas evening we had a huge dinner, round two of gifts and our family Christmas story/singing. Now we are hanging around- all of us at Annie's house. Good thing, our kids all like each other and enjoy each others company. Tomorrow we will all go to church- Alex will bless Owen at sacrament meeting, since most of our family is here. Sunday evening and then Monday morning we will start heading home. We should have Owen sufficiently spoiled by then :)

This and That

I got started decorating and then got busy with other things. So ... no lights in the yard, not much decor inside either. My trees look much nicer in person than the photos. I don't have time for any other explaination. Ron almost has the car loaded- so we are about to leave for Stillwater, Ok. We will be back after Christmas- it should be a great week!

We are headed off to Oklahoma today. Before we even make it to Dallas, my suburban will turn over 200,000 miles. Ron was suggesting we might have a celebration when that happens. But, probably we will just watch it roll over and say- look at that :) Then we will be praying like crazy that it makes the trip and back okay! This picture was a few years ago. It has more wear and tear now, some things are just getting worn out on it and Ron thinks its a truck to haul lumber in :) I'm hoping that the 'car maker crisis' will get to the point where they are giving away suburbans- then I'll get a new one. Until that happens we will probably drive this one until it dies :) (Thanks Karen - this has been a great car!)

O K Simms

No pictures yet, but we have a name- Owen Knight Simms.

Annie and Owen will go home on Friday. Audrey is there now with Nathan and Jared, but after she leaves later today- Alex has a schedule that he needs to stick to for "when and where" the boys will be for tonight, tomorrow and Friday :)