What Now?

I have a dear friend that posted recently, wondering "what now" for her life. She and her husband are in the same phase of life as us. Except... her husband is battling cancer and while we don't have that same trial in our life, everything else is about the same. Old enough to retire, all of the kids are out of the house. (oops, some of the kids moved back into the house. hehe) But retirement is just around the corner. So "what now"? We have a couple of projects in the works, but I thought if I described my birthday Saturday to you- you would get a good glimpse into our life. On most Saturdays, mom and I both work at my store. Ron usually plays basketball in the morning and then does "whatever" in the afternoon. Yesterday, mom and I did go to work after I put dinner in the crockpot. However, Ron didn't go to basketball because he needed to help two people move all of their belongings into storage. He went and rented a U Haul truck and headed to the first house. He and several other men (including Daniel) spent all day packing, loading, hauling, and unloading. In fact they didn't even get to the second place- they are having to go do that one today. When mom and I got home from work, dinner was mostly ready, but after Ron got home he spent a little while working on the sink in the upstairs bathroom. (Luckily he was able to find Ashley's ring in the "curve of the pipe" under the sink.) So dinner was alittle late. After we ate, Ron went with me back to my store, because I had forgotten something that I needed for tomorrow. (In about an hour I am leaving to drive to Dallas to go to the bridal market there tomorrow morning) My birthday dessert last night was an ice cream pie, that mom bought. So... the moral of this whole story is that whatever we thought was "normal" here is not normal any more. hehe
But as far as "what now"- we'll just have to see what happens, we never know what is the next curve in the road of life. We can make our plans and our projects but those things might get slightly altered according to a "bump in the road". hehe In the mean time we will enjoy our kids, our grand kids, and each other, and do whatever is asked of us. Gotta go...I'm headed to Dallas.

Coming to Texas

The Petes are moving to Texas. Daniel, Jaden, and Hailey arrived at our house today. In fact by now the U Haul truck is probably unloaded. Ashley, Mason, and I are still in Utah, but flying to Houston on Wednesday. New baby- new school- new adventure!!!

 

 

 

A Birth Day...

for Mason Isaac Pete- August 27, 2012

7 lbs 13 oz and 22 inches

Born at 10:54 am

Homecoming at The Silver Hanger

I realized that I haven't posted very much about my store and that still pretty much consumes my life. Since it is back-to-school time, that means it is "Homecoming dress season" for us. Most girls here in Texas are looking for a short, inexpensive dress. We have tried to have selections in various categories- plus size, modest, and contemporary. We have some cute accessories and we have custom made jackets. We had a pretty good "Spring prom/bridal season", through April. Then we have had a funny, slower than normal summer. May, June, and July our sales have dropped off more than usual, but now we are having a better August than normal. (But normal for August is very low- so to be doing better than normal for August, may not be saying much :) We are doing pretty well with our contemporary market- our modest market is very disappointing. This will be our last Homecoming season- we will be closing out that department by Christmas. I have some amazing ladies that work at my store. Most of my "high school girls" have moved or are off to college. I have a new college girl ready for Saturday hours this fall and for Spring. I have a lady that works on Fridays. She has a very flexible schedule, she can usually fill in last minute if someone is sick or has another appointment and she speaks both Spanish and English.  I have a lady that works there full time. (full time there is still only 31 hours a week) She has done amazing things for our website, email advertising, FB advertising, inventory reports and she has great customer service skills. Mom works there a couple days a week and is still our executive secretary. I show up occasionally. (hehe)

During the next 9 months we will be closing out various departments. I have a friend in Bartlesville who keeps talking about how her life is changing. Yep, me too. It's almost time to move into a new season of life.

PS- I almost forgot to mention, we have had some cute girls model dresses for us. The pictures at the top of my post just went out on Face Book. (While a couple of the pics. are supplied by our vendors, the rest of them are our own local girls.) 

Shout out... Thank you... to Madelaine and Kyna.

Empty Spaces

Two completely empty closets.

One completely empty bedroom. We have two new twin size beds coming for that room. Not sure if the dark purple curtains are staying or going.

One ALMOST empty bedroom. It still has a bed, a rocker, and two nightstands in it, but some of those items could go to the storage unit, if they are not needed.  

Oh yeah...and a baby bed for Mason :)

Tell him that we are ready- he can arrive any day now.

So here is the rest of the story. As soon as Mason is born, Ashley, Daniel, and the kids are moving in with us. Now you know why I have been creating empty space. The baby due date is Aug. 24, but they are hoping he will arrive this week, so they can travel by the end of the month. Since the whole schedule is still unpredictable we have no details on exactly when and how they are moving. But, we are almost ready here. We won't discuss what my back porch and garage look like at this point, but if I still have another week, I'll be able to take care of those :)

Romney and Ryan. Perfect.

Press the Purge Button

This was a week of purging for me :) It took me several days to purge my stomach bug. (I'm still not exactly right from that yet- worst "sick" I've ever had) It took me several days to purge the laundry, clutter and germs from my house. Then the real purging began on STUFF. On my point-of-sale software at my store, there is one page where it asks you if you want to "purge the entire list". You can then "check" the entire list with just one click and then with just one more click the "entire list" will be gone. I need a button like that at my house :) Basically the time has come to whittle down to "only the necessary" stuff. Some stuff stays, some goes to a storage unit, and some goes somewhere else! I'm not exactly sure of some of those destinations at this point, but soon those will be discovered. I already found a home for a bed today. I am going to hit this hard for a couple of weeks. Stay tuned... sooner or later, we will all appreciate this. (And the key word here is "sooner":)

PS- Mike and his family made it to California and are settling into a new house there. He has some pics. on his blog. Looks awesome. And the best part is, it is in the good ole USA :)
Annie and her family are visiting relatives in Oklahoma this week. They will be back in CA by Aug. 20. What a long road trip Annie and the boys will have had traveling for 2 months :)
Our house is quiet... for now.