We survived

The online show was a blast. I met quite a few new shops, my inventory mostly held, and I really enjoyed the busyness for the week. I'm also really enjoying the peacefulness of this week. It's the calm after the storm and I even read a book! I just finished up "Against All Odds" by Irene Hannon. It was a very fast read and kept me wanting to turn the pages. I love books like that! With the weather turning colder I hopped back on the treadmill and consider this to be my reading time. Christian fiction is a venue that I enjoy and I especially enjoy the mysteries and thrillers.

The chimney is being cleaned out right now so we will be able to use the wood burning stove this year for heat. I haven't used a fireplace in at least eight years and am looking forward to how cozy it makes the house and how much it will save on the heating bill this year. The neighbors took down some dead trees a couple of months ago and let us have the wood if we hauled it off.

Stitching time has been non-existent. I need to stitch up an ornament for the EGA exchange and I might cheat and bring in the one that was in the Just Cross Stitch ornament preview issue. As much as I'd love to keep it on our tree I honestly doubt I'll have time to stitch and finish an ornament before the exchange on December 1st. I have been making oodles of marking pins and needle threaders to get inventory back up to reasonable levels. Those have been fantastic sellers in the past month, they're great Christmas gifts, and the shops are really stocking up.

The reading program for the munchkin has been going well. She is a lover of books and I want to encourage that as much as possible. We bumped her back a level on the reading lessons and are working on building her confidence. The lessons are a bit easy, letter sounds, letter shapes, and rhyming words, but she is hungry to work on it each day and it's good reinforcement. We still encourage her to read each day with us, but it's not as structured as the original curriculum.

Now it's time to get dinner going and make sure the chimney sweep is still safe on the roof.