Another Big Day for Stockings! IKEA, Felt, And The End of the Driveway Saga?

Finding it difficult to dig in the Frozen Ground!

This morning started off with the promise of light at the end of the tunnel.   Namely:  The construction guys came back for their stuff.

It was ironic that the soil was so rock-hard frozen that they literally could not get the dig into it.  They tried ( and kinda failed) to smooth out the mounds of dirt still adorning the landscape.   All of it was set up more solidly than the concrete they poured three days ago!   

IKEA furniture?   When did we order this?

The guy was cool though.  I talked to him on our way out to the street...where we were forced to park our cars....for an entire two weeks.   But I tried not to dampen his spirits with my complaints.   He was nice enough to inform me that they were done and would come back in the Spring to "finish the landscaping."   I'm "OK" with it as long as they do not tear up any more driveways in the process. 

Cheryl did not run today...choosing instead to focus our energies on catching up a few stockings.  It was terribly cold today and she needed a day off anyway.  What better time to divert that extra energy and time to the stocking shop!   

Felt, Buttons, And "other" things.

We arrived home to see that IKEA furniture had been delivered.   It was a good thing the driveway was finished,  or else the poor guy would have had to lug all that junk down the 1/4 mile of driveway...In the COLD! 

My button collection....replenished!

About a half an hour later,  UPS arrived delivering felt, buttons, and numerous other things Cheryl has been ordering behind my back.  The UPS guy is a trooper!   He has been having to make all of these deliveries following the same procedure we have....  Namely:  Walking down the entire driveway while the truck remains parked on the street.  Several times he has had to deliver even larger boxes!  We'll have to give him an extra special Christmas treat this year.  

And then on to stockings.  40 total today!  I forgot we did 36 yesterday.   40 seems a lot like 36...but it is currently 10:15 P.M. and Cheryl is still packing things up. And we did not run today....so I'm not sure if the time is the same. 

Hiro, the "Unwilling" Shop Cat!

Hiro,  the "conscripted" shop cat,  sometimes tries to help.   Sometimes he almost seems to care.

He's trying to go outside, not inspecting.

He looks so bored....And not very helpful. 

 But his unwillingness to do the things that shop cats are meant to do is always obvious.   I remember Red and Rashe....  Oh! Those awesome shop cats! I miss them so....  especially on long days like today. 

So another mountain of stockings for us....and now we are down to only 49 open orders!   However,  many of those orders are of 4 stockings....  so that might still be a serious effort.  We shall see.

And to Celebrate our achievement?   The Calling IPA from Boulevard Brewing Co.  I really like their Wheat Beer and I have been enjoying these special season limited releases.   I have yet to try the sour ale ( probably will not.) and their special Dark beer.   But who knows.  We have not been in the spirits section in a while.   And with Wisconsin beer on the Horizon,  it is possible I might miss out on any new seasonal beers.   But we shall see how it goes.  

Hope everyone is staying warm   Lots to blog about at the moment....and A motivated, unemployed writer at the ready.  It makes for longer blog posts, I guess. Thanks for reading and stopping in.  

When Living the Dream Seems Like a Nightmare

The other day, one of our neighbors said that working from home must be awesome!   And wondered how she could do it.  

I warned her not to try it....  half in jest...  Half serious!

I'm not sure what is happening this year, but we seem to be swamped!

Cheryl is giddy from lack of sleep!

Normally this is a good thing,  however we have not had a break in over a week now.  Today we sewed up another 40 stockings and the list of orders continues to grow instead of diminish.  Add in that the quitting time for each day continues to be pushed back.   Right  now it is almost 10:00 P.M.  and Cheryl continues to pack things up.

Snow covers the driveway..

Ah, but listen to me....complaining that sales are "too good!" for our own well being....  Most Etsy people would probably love to have this problem. But as the grind begins to wear on your body and mind....  sometimes you think that this will be the last year ...again.  I believe we say this will be the last time we do this every year!


As Cheryl nearly causes a disaster by packing up the wrong stocking...I'm reminded of the other news that happened today.   Namely...it snowed!

And the concrete

And the HUGE hole that still needs fixing

As if predicting that the driveway guys were waiting for the weather to become more festive,   the driveway is now buried under three to four inches of thick, sloppy, wet snow.  I'm sure it will only Add to the concrete dry time and make it "just that much more inconvenient" for us.

Not to mention the snow made driving to Iowa City  tons of fun.   Don't get me wrong,  Subie loves the snow!   But driving in slush is still unnerving for me because I would loath slipping off the road out in the middle of farm land.  Not only would it hurt my pride,  and Subie's....But it would take away valuable time that needs to be spent on Stocking orders!

Babe and Prince pogo for treats. 

I know more pet names than residents.

Our Cat does not seem to enjoy the snow very much...but the neighbors dogs do not seem to mind at all.   I give them treats to keep them from barking at squirrels.  It works like a charm....except when they bark at me..thinking I am coming to give them treats.   Somethings simply can't be won.


Hope everyone else is braving the weather and the holiday season better.  If it snowed in your area,  well,  good luck with that.   Snow is fun for the holidays as long as you don't have to drive in it.  I'm sure there were other things I wanted to blog about today...but between the lack of sleep and the after action beer....I can't seem to remember what they were now.   Only 14 more days of this nightmare to go!

When Being To Good is a Bad Thing.

I'm talking about the Stockings, of course.   But more specifically...me!   I know what you are thinking.  "How can The Great Ethan Allen be to good at Anything?"   It's true...sometimes I even impress myself ( which is rare...) but today I discovered that my customer service skills bring in to many NEW orders!   I shall explain.

My entire job today was to tell people we were not going to be able to do their custom stockings.   My flair with prose seems to have magically swept up a number of people...because upon delivering the bad news,  they not only thanked me.... but then proceeded to order several stockings for their family....and THEN told me that they did not mind when Fido and Felix's stockings were made, because they were pets and would not notice that Christmas was over.  From Doom and Despair to even MORE SALES!

Of course,  this action gets me fired again.

Apparently.... My sales pitches are causing us to fall even further behind.   And Cheryl is more interested in getting us caught up rather than making promises for the new year.     Ah well,   who wants all that money anyway?  I guess I'll have to focus my writing elsewhere and keep my talents hidden....again.

Drive way BEFORE 

Drive way NOW

In other parts of history....I have located the blog post about the driveway fiasco in 2011!  Notice the concrete before and after.  It is reassuring that the guys are taking the weekend off.  You would think that they would embrace the extra days of Concrete drying that could happen over the weekend.   Ah well, I guess they don't live here so it is not really a priority.

Drive way NOW

Drive way BEFORE

I guess we are currently doing better than last year...which is not saying much.   Last year as almost as bad as 2012!  My hope is that all of this additional work and headache is actually worth it in the end.   We do have Boston coming up and Cheryl does not want to work at a job this summer (we shall see about that,  not that I want to either!)  So fingers crossed that Hard work actually pays off.   Because....from my limited experience,  it rarely balances out for the effort invested.

before signing off,  A few customers have blessed us with their stockings and how we managed to ...somehow,  make the season a little more festive for them...  enjoy!

More Stockings...More Driveway..Trouble.

 So we finally are caught up to Most of Monday's orders.   Meaning:  if it was ordered on Monday,  it will go out tomorrow....Most of them anyway.   I guess there are a few orders still holding back, but tomorrow is another day.

Speaking of tomorrows,   We have been kicking out 35-40 stockings each day for the entire week and they continue to come in.   This is without Cheryl answering any conversations with customers.   We have been finishing so late and burned out, that Cheryl has only enough time to glance over for "problems" before clicking out and heading to bed.     For that reason...I have volunteered my creative writing skills to help out in the customer service department.

Cheryl Grudgingly relinquishes control.

I know,  I know.  Cheryl is taking a BIG RISK in allowing me to have any contact with any customer.  But this only demonstrates how desperate she has become to accept my offer.   Besides,  How bad can it get for me to get fired?  😇

Cheryl packs up while I answer questions...Maybe. 

With all those orders and the shortening of the days,  things are getting plenty stressful.   And as with all things Allenbrite....When things begin to get out of hand...time to add even MORE stress to the mix.   Enter:   THE DRIVEWAY.





I know that only an crazy person would attempt pouring concrete in December....  well guess where we are!

Dear Allenbrite:   Prepare for Turmoil!

The "city" of Wellman, who has spent the better part of the stocking season "fixing" things,  ( by first breaking them,  then fixing....only to break them again!) still has to fix the huge mound of dirt they left two weeks ago.   However,  fixing that would not inconvenience Team Allenbrite.   Soooo...  Let's work on that broken Driveway!

Wonder if his part will get fully fixed?

At least there is no snow!

We have been informed that it will take at least 5 days before we can enter our parking lot again.  And to top things off,  The guys pouring the concrete are NOT the same guys who tore it up...SO  they are leaving off the tail end of the driveway.

Another 40 stocking day!  

Looks like some parts are MISSING!

  A full section seems to be missing!   Perhaps ( and this is VERY optimistic)  They will pour another section after this one sets up.   We shall see.  Because carrying 30-40 packages across the neighbor's lawn to our car is SO much fun in the cold.

I'm in charge of Important things!

Well,  Time to hit those conversations and ruin everyone's Christmas.    Or maybe things could actually go well and I might gain additional sales.   Yeah...probably the first scenario.  At least Cheryl will not have to deal with it.   Wish me luck!