Snowflakes, Cold Days, Warm Bed!

It was a Big Day yesterday!   It was one of those days where everything happens at once after a long dry spell of nothingness.  Like a torrential downpour of rain after a long drought.  But first…let start with the suspenseful lead up….     

After the Christmas Rush and New Year holidays were over,  Cheryl and I have been going through a “rest and recovery” phase.  We occasionally have to do a few stockings and have been planning our next move on where Allenbrite wants to take us.  You know:  Planning new designs, planning strategery, re-organizing the shop.    Things like that.  We managed to sort out all of the snowflake buttons!   No mean feat!  It took us several days to get the five sizes separated and organized so they can fit in the closet in a neatly manner.  The mountain pictured here on the table was only one of FOUR mountains.   There simply was not enough room on the table to dump them all out at once.  However, in the end,  we managed to get them to all fit in the closet.   Hurray!

And then there is the weather!     The past several days have been ‘record setting’ in the temperature department.   I never thought I would see a day in Iowa where the temp dropped to the point where coffee would freeze before it hit the ground.  Well,  actually,  it was Not that cold, but CLOSE.   It managed to drop to –19 with a wind chill of –38. Pretty cold!   However,   you could only throw up a small amount for the “disappearing coffee” trick to work properly.  Cheryl managed to catch a little of it with the camera. 

The temps are still pretty low here.   I plan on enjoying many warm beverages while wearing my new Christmas Sweaters.   Chicks dig sweaters I guess.   So Cheryl says, anyway. 

And then there was the UPS delivery!   Christmas comes two week after Christmas.   But it is all good.  We have been waiting for the mattress from Select comfort to come before setting up our new bed from IKEA.    Our “Old” platform bed was small,  cheap, and falling apart after only three years.   It was only a temporary solution anyway to get us off the ground that first year.  The “OLD” select comfort mattress was a shadow of its former self as we had to disassemble it to fit in the car so we could make the move.   Long story short ( because you can always read the 2010 July-December logs on this blog) they were little more than air mattresses.   We slept of those things for three years…..( BACK ACHES! Punctures,  and numerous other issues)   It was time for a new Bed set up! 

We decided for a Queen sized bed this time.   The price difference was minimal and when you have to share the bed with two cats,  things begin to get crowded.  We knew this could be an issue as the ROOM was not very large to begin with.   But we still have about 8 inches of space between the foot of the bed and the dresser.  I guess I would rather have enough room ON  the bed instead of beside it,  so my feet won’t hang over the edge like before. 

With the Bed assembled,  we had to put the mattress together.   It was fairly easy to do, contrary to what the instructions suggested.  Perhaps it is because Cheryl and I are Pros, ( having done this before) or perhaps it is because we are college educated.   Or perhaps it is because Cheryl and I are usually broke  and had to learn how to do things with out paid assistance.  Whatever the reason,   we had everything line up almost perfectly.  The bed is roomy,  tall, long and soft.   Even the cats give it their seal of approval as they now have a place to run under ( the bed is off the floor unlike the platform bed.     

And now it is on to the next big thing…..The embroidery Machine.   I don’t know if I will even open up the package today yet.  I want to have a clear afternoon where I can read over the manual and watch the videos before I try it out. I still have some origami I have to fold up and we still have the occasional stocking request.   Hopefully I will blog more about the Machine as I unlock the secrets and learn the ropes.   We shall see