November 2

Thank you for the comments and the well wishes left yesterday. One post-Halloween memory I want to share with you, which surfaced as I read Natasha's comment about walking around the neighborhood looking at Halloween decor...before we lived in California, we lived in Minnesota. DH and I worked for my family's company, which was a competitor of Party City. My position was Public Relations/Marketing/Advertising...and I was the Party Planner Expert who would be interviewed on the local tv talk shows explaining and showing how to throw a party with a budget. One of the things that I would have fun doing is decorating my house up for Halloween...complete with the gravestones in the front yard, the skeltons dancing around a caldron, ghosts in the trees and the fog machine going. Several times one of the local tv crews would come to my house a week before halloween and we would do several segment from there (yes, I did that remote reporting from my house with the ear piece in my ear, answering questions from the reporters who were back at the studio). It was definitely a fun chapter of my life...doesn't life seem to have chapters like that? Anyway...thank you Natasha, for allowing that memory escape from the depths of my mind! :)

Yesterday morning, before the boys even got up, I went over to *The Business*. It was fun to use the key and let myself in, for now it is feeling a little more like it is really ours. I didn't stay very long, for with the boys off of school there were things that I wanted to do with them, but I did stay long enough to meet the remaining employees (the ones who weren't there on Saturday when DH and I went over to introduce ourselves). The previous owner took me through some of his daily routines, basically prepping for when the 1st shift came in to do the prepping and creating of the fruit bouquets. When the staff came in, watching them prep the fruit was like watching a well choregraphed dance. Within an hour fruit was cut, fruit was dipped, and baskets were ready to be assembled. I was able to see the magic of how one was created before I had to leave to take Robert to his ortho appointment. We are very fortunate to be taking over a very well run business!

The ortho was quick, so as we made our way home we got a few mundane errands ran - gas for the car and groceries for the house (boy do we go through milk in this house hold...I just purchased 4 gallons on Friday and we were down to our last one on Sunday evening-maybe we should have bought a dairy farm). For the rest of the day, I just hung with the boys at home until it was time to drive down to the rink.

Both boys had practice tonight down in San Jose...but due to the timing of their practices it was a late night. Robert's practice started at 5:30/ended at 6:45 and was at the HP Pavilion, which is where the NHL Sharks place. Since our club has an affiliation with the organization, each of the Jr. Shark teams get some ice time there to practice on during the season with the BIG Sharks are traveling.

Robert (the orange jersey in the middle) leading stretching exercises

While Robert was on the ice, Matthew and I sat in the stands to watch. Matthew ate his dinner, which we packed up from home, while I got in some cross stitching. It was just enough time to get the roof finished on the house of Family Sampler...

From a far, the roof looks good...but if you were to look close up, not all of the X's are laying straight, especially the lighter brownish color of the roof. On one hand it give the roof a texture look, but then there is a part of me that feels disappointed. I was too lazy to get out my laying tool, but tried a few techniques to keep it smooth...but I guess it just doesn't look "perfect". I know, I know, perfect is in the eye of the beholder and I should just let it go and move on...which is what I will be doing.

Anyway...after Robert got off the ice, Matthew & I packed up our stuff - we left HP Pavilion as soon as Robert came out of the dressing room and headed down to the SharksIce facility where the boys normally practice - and where Matthew had his team practice from 7:45-9pm. While he was on the ice, Robert and I worked out in the fitness room that overlooks the particular rink that Matthew's team was practicing on. You couldn't ask for a better set up...doing a 60 minute walk/jog on the treadmill while watching your kid's hockey practice! It made the rest of the evening go pretty fast and before you knew it we were pulling into our garage around 10pm...and after a quick unpaking of the hockey bags and showering the boys and I were in bed by 10:45pm.

It was a good day - and DH sounded like he had a good day down in SoCal at his in-store training...but I think that he might have been jealous that I was the first one in "our" store and not him. But as soon as he returns from training, with all of his skills and knowledge of *The Business*, he will be in that store a lot!

Today...the agenda says: "Back to school for the boys and back to work for me, with hockey practice in the evening for Matthew only". So, until tomorrow...

Take care and remember...
Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa