This Too Shall Pass!!

Look's like a professional boxer here. My poor baby! *~!#~% Baseball! Can we go home now???!

This is Ian with his sweet post op nurse. Back from bathroom run.

Time for popsicles for that scratchy throat. They put a tube down his throat to administer anesthesia.

Back from recovery and waking up. He will have this little nose cast for a week.

What a cut up he is! He's pretty good at stand up too!

Peace!! In good spirits in spite of it all.

Being wheeled out to surgery. What a trooper.

Here we are on the way to Baylor Hospital. Most of the swelling has gone down, believe it or not!

Alot has happened since my last post that preceeded my May Saturday sale. The Thursday before my May sale my HD informed me of a 20% pay cut for everyone at the firm where he works. Ouch... that's gonna hurt. Much stress and care and worry has gone into figuring out how to make ends meet with this major reduction in income. Many calls to creditors, stopping bill pay and automatic withdrawals etc. Not much you can cut out when you are already living pay check to pay check is there? Quarter of the way through daughters braces. Stuck in a Disney timeshare that you can't even use for vacation now because there is no extra money for vacation. Need I go on? The last time we went through this was back after the 9/11 bombing. It took about 9 months to get back to normal. "HD" is an Architect at the firm where he works. Lucky he still has a job...I know!!! It has taken many hours figuring out a new budget. Some creditors will work with you... some will not. Some get down right ugly when you ask if they can temporarily reduce a payment amount. Wonder what they would do if you told them nothing and just stopped paying!!! One of them, when I told them that there were 5 in my household...exclaimed ARE THEY ALL WORKING!!??? I informed her that some of them were school age children!!! I promptly hung up after telling her I would pay what I can when I can!! She really got my goat!!! I'm usually much nicer than that and she brought out the B#!~!!! in me. (Beast) What did you think I said! No - that would be her! Don't they know that it is our preference to pay what we owe!!! They act as if you have some control over it. This economy is driving people to act and do things that they wouldn't normally do! Something's gotta give.

Well, we've gotten through this before and we'll get through it again. Maybe tomorrow I will have shop pics to post. But for now this is what is on my mind. A friend once gave me a book when my father was dieing with bone cancer. It was called "When bad things happen to good people" I wish that I had actually read the whole thing before I passed it on to another person that I thought needed it more than me. It is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel but I know that this too shall pass!

P.S. I can't wait to talk to the sweet lady at Cap1 so I can tell her about my son's surgery and ER and Anesthesia, etc, etc, bills that will come flowing in soon. Geez I guess I'll have even less to pay them. Maybe that will get her goat!!

I know... TMI...but this is the only therapy I can afford right now!!!

This is Ian, my youngest of 4 children. He recently joined his first baseball league. They tell us what a natural talent he is to the game! They can't believe that this is his first time on a team. He plays second base, shortstop and recently was added as pitcher. Cool huh? So first let me say how time consuming it is to get him to practice, sometimes three times a week and sometimes 3 games in a week, but worth it because he is loving it.

The next pictures are not so pretty or cute. You see, Thursday of last week he had a game. He is to be to the games 30 minutes early to warm up. Understandable and needed! For the sake of the game here is my play by play in order to arrive.

Close out and lock up the shop at 5:00, run to the train station, pick up HD, drive to the field on the other side of Haltom City at the Recreation Center. Oh, can't forget to pack his uniform and bag and put it in the Yukon before I leave for shop in am!!! Piece of cake - we got there on this paticular game day 15 minutes early. He proceeds to warm up with the team, we walk to the bleachers and sit, waiting for the game to begin. A few minutes later we notice that we don't see him over there and begin to wonder where he is. About 30 seconds later there is one of the guys helping coach saying: Mom & Dad come here...I think he broke his nose!!! Seems he lost sight of the baseball due to the bright sun in the sky and met the ball up close and personal at the tip of his nose as he peered up at it! They said he never even cried. So after a trip that evening and the results that we received on Tuesday, Doc J had determined that his nasal bone is displace and the septum deviated. Surgery to correct on Friday! Well that was today, bright and early.

I Believe in "Yesterday"!!

Yesterday I hoped to find time to do a new post with new shop pics...ran out of time...had a few Saturday appointments which ended up making for a busy day at Cottage Panache! That's a good thing when you have many interruptions...makes for a good day of business. Am still trying to figure out the correct formula for my hours of business and it seems...you can't please everyone! When my neighbor next door reported to me on the Tuesday after my Saturday Sale (If you read my last post, you will know why that on Monday, the day after my sale, I was too ill to attend my shop.) that two ladies came into her shop next door, whom she came from her back shop and inquired...may I help you? Said that they replied, no we're just looking...she said she next overheard one say "well, this is nothing like I expected, let's go! She assumed that they were looking for the antique shop and asked if that was the case! They replied..."no" and promptly left. Still, it left her believing that it was my shop they were looking for. Next she told me that another lady came into her shop and said..."I have been here four times and she is never here....I give up ....I'm done!" Did I mention, my neighbors shop is a sports shop?!! Why would they even walk in there if they were looking for antiques. My shop has it's own entrance! Sorry Shirley that they took the time to bother you with something you have no control over. I truly apologize if anyone should travel a distance and I am not open! That day my son came and put a sign on the door for me. That is all I could do as it was not planned closing! Some things are just totally out of your hands. I may not be in the shop due to extenuating circumstance such as an illness of a family member or myself . I am not able to afford an employee or have a store full of dealers that work for free! So please call ahead before you come. (817-595-4040) If I don't answer or call you back within 30 minutes or so, (I may be with a customer and feel it is rude to stop and answer in the middle of a transaction!) it may mean that I am not there. I have traveled out of town and found shops that I wanted to visit when they were not open. I make note of their hours and plan another visit when they are open, take down the phone number and call before I go. Now let me say, my hours ARE posted on my door, on my website, on my phone answering machine and if anyone should travel to my store and not look at the hours posted and make note of it, especially three or four times, I am sorry, I don't know what else I can do. My sign and website and phone all state that if you would like to make a special appointment on either Friday or Saturday when I am closed...I am serious about it and plan to accommodate all that I can. Yesterday I greeted four appointments and put out my open sign and greeted more new customers just passing by. One of my appointments had previously come to the shop when I was closed and even visited my website and came just to look in the window and see if it might be another venue for her to take her guest, she noted the appointment availability and called ahead for her and her guest to come and did so! It's was a joy meeting you, Kathy and Liz! Hope to see you often. Maybe in the future I will be able to afford an employee but just being in business for 15 going on 16 months, am not even paying myself anything yet! All of the shop owners out there, I know that most of you can understand where I am coming from. I had changed my hours of business from 6-7 days during the holiday season, to 4 days plus one Saturday Sale per month. It enables me to get out there and produce more inventory and have some time with my family on the weekends and to restock my sold inventory and bring more new treasures into the shop for my customers, whom I SO VERY MUCH APPRECIATE!! I would not still be in business without them. Many of them have followed me wherever I have gone! They are my real treasures! If anyone out there has a special formula - I sure wish you would share it! I get suggestions from people everyday, however everyone's situation in life can differ greatly. No one should begin to assume that what they do will work for everybody. I know that but am willing to take any new suggestions under my hat! All that said, my next post will be some shop pics! Sorry for the ramble and I know...TMI...AGAIN!!! Adieu, Maureen

Month of May to Honor Mother on her blessed day!

This is the front of my postcard for the May Sale at Cottage Panache. If you are on my mailing list you should expect it soon!

Cindy of Mama Mia Photography will be here on Saturday, May 9th at my Saturday Event shooting pics from 10:00 until 2:00! I only wish my Mother was still living so that I could have a portrait done with my daughter, Mom and myself! Maybe it's not too late for you.

I will feature a special sale for the day...on all gifts for Mom! Just tell me at check out..."it's for Mom" and I'll deduct 20% from the original price!

What? You have to buy your own Mother's Day gift for yourself?!!! That's okay...I won't tell if you don't tell!!! I've been there...done that!

I've found so many awesome treasures this past month. I wish I had more days to rummage through my stash in my spare room at home, the barn out back and the garage to which you can't even walk through. The good thing about covetting the treasures is that when you unpack them a second or third time...it's even more exciting. "Oh - I forgot about that!" and oooh...I know just what to do with that. It's hard to purge of ones treasure trove but I am trying my hardest! You know you can't keep it all.

www.cottagepanacheantiques.com

"Just Another Manic Monday"

This is a large painting on velvet from around the turn of the century. A once in a lifetime kind of find. I imagine that the owner of the sweet cottage was the painter. The photograph really doesn't do it justice. I purchased this at an Estate sale in the metroplex.

Trying to fill in the empty spots in time for my next Saturday Sale on May 9th. I can't decide if it's the wall decor or the furniture that it is getting harder and harder to come by at a fair price. It is difficult to be able to offer great items at a reasonable price if we have to pay a price that is too high. Here are a couple of recent finds. I can't decide whether I want to paint this frame or not! It seems that more often customers are requesting their items be unpainted. I love the character of this frame. The antiquey gold molding on the stained wood and with a couple of natural chips to boot! Many antiquers feel that a painted piece is a ruined piece. But when I am shopping I am drawn to the romantic hues of creams, taupes, pale blues, and the vintage pale pinks. Most of my shoppers are looking for that item that is pleasing to the eye rather than just a function. What we sell are items that talk to ones heart and memory. So I don't mind when someone comes into my shop just to browse and I hear them say...I remember when my Grandma had one of these in her house. If they find a good memory they are sure to come back again and again.

Ebony and Ivory Creates Harmony

I love cream and black together. Living together in harmony! I can't resist purchasing the creamy white domino with the black dots! I displayed them in this tall apothecary for sale at Cottage Panache. I have noticed that others are using the apothecary for displaying their treasures like Tiina from Dreamincream with her pretty lace & linens! It inspired me to show you my sales display of vintage domino!