So after working until the wee hours, going home feeling like I threw my back
out and stressing about cash flow, I’m back, I’m coffeed, and I’m looking up.
Notice that I did not say things were looking up. Nope, just me. I’m the only
optimistic thing in this room. My parentals, God love them, came and helped me
package last night. We made a SERIOUS dent. Every single order from now till
October 1 is stacked, noted for reorder or replacement needed, and organized
across the lovely zebra print carpet. Sheer organization has helped to eliminate
some of the stress factor, I’m sure. I’m really thinking that until this whole
NY thing is over they should really keep me off the streets.

Do you ever just have those discouraging days? After not being able to sleep
last night, to not being able to get up this morning, to not being able to
seemingly get stuff done that most people would consider basic customer service,
to not being able to afford to get my hair highlighted and going without a
manicure or a pedicure for the better part of 6 months. I can’t do this. I can’t
keep hours that are longer than Starbucks. How do people pay to have cute toile
draperies and wood floors refinished? I can’t even afford to pay my doctors
bills. Disheartening, I’m sorry. But if I’m ever anyone famous, nobody can say I
didn’t starve to get there.

It’s way too late for me to be working. I’m tired, I’m cranky, and I want to go
home. Today nearly qualified as a disaster. The orders continue to pour
themselves in, I continue to get up each morning and drag my coffee-ed self to
Starbucks, and lately, I’ve set into the regimine a cream-cheese danish.
Healthy, I know. Anyway, I got some of the scrapbook stuff taken care of, even
though I still need to place a major order for supplies, and I met with my
sister to pick out a friends’ wedding gift. Stuff that needed to be done.
However, I would like someone to tell me why phone companies seem to be so
imcompetent. Monday the Cox dude came out to fix Donna’s line, and in doing so,
seems to have destroyed mine. I can recieve calls forwarded to my cell phone,
but beyond that, they can’t seem to even get their little selves over here to
look at the phone. I haven’t heard from them since Monday either. To boot that,
I’m trying to get last minute details taken care of to GET to New York (like
hotel, what I’m going to cover the floor of my booth in, literature,
designs)–you know, the stuff that makes my company run? And I don’t have a
PHONE to do it. I really and truly could give Cox a smaking, were they all
capable of standing in my office at this very moment. Corporate America, kiss
this.

Every body needs a blog. It’s the best, freest therapy in the world. And I
swear, there are days when I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t stop and read
someone else’s or vent in mine. This morning I discovered that PLAIN OLD FOLDING
CHAIRS rent for $85 in New York. Fugettaboudit. Not gonna spend 85 smackers per
chair on 4 chairs. Nor will I spend 185 bucks on a table. This put me into a
whirlwind on shipping charges, tablecloths, and ballroom chair hunt-down. To top
this off, I’ve got to finish two custom proofs, overnight some stuff to D.C.,
and SOMEHOW crank out some Christmas designs. Oh, and get the reprint images to
the printer. And pack some more orders. It’s not a bad day, just a day in need
of caffenation.

In the midst of this insanity I call life, I found time to grab a creamcheese
danish and venti, non-fat, iced, mocha-mint latte this morning. Savory. I’m
currently in the process of cleaning off my desk, the phone has also rung a
couple of times this morning, and I got some checks in the mail yesterday, as
well as a slew of orders last night, thank the Lord. I’ve decided the them for
New York is going to be–DRUMROLL, Kevmo, please–PINK! Shocker! I knew you all
would never guess! Pink walls, pink invitations, pink dress with pink suit
jacket, pink purses, PINK!! I’m going to start putting together all my little
sketches into new designs–my favorite part of this whole craziness.

Not a very bright morning. I feel VERY overextended. I called my bookkeeper at
8:30 last night, right on time for my weekly freak-out. She ever so patiently
answered my call, my annoying questions, and proceed to pacify my concerns with
promises of a financial plan. I hope she doesn’t give up halfway through. This
morning, visions of French chairs and floral-printed-silks danced in my
head…someday, I’ll have the house on the hill and the in-the-black pocketbook.
Off to see the printer, then my friend Carrie, then help Kelly get her tax #,
then, maybe, I’ll have time to come back here and pack a few boxes and pay a few
bills with some money that doesn’t exist.

I think I’m going to have to become one of those bloggers who saves deep
thoughts for a blog once every 1.5 weeks. There is so much going on. I worked on
the house all weekend long; we stripped neon yellow paint (and orange, blue,
green, white, taupe and brown paint) off of the kitchen cabinets. Today is big
trash pick-up day, which couldn’t have timed itself better, as we hauled rolls
of grody carpet and and old dryer to the curb. I moved my sofa, TV cabinet into
the green room, and bought an antique dressing table at an estate sale on
Saturday and lugged that into my bedroom. It finally feels sorta like a house,
minus decent flooring, but I’m just happy with the progress. On the agenda
today: finish up as much custom work as possible, move on to organizing for New
York and shipping as many orders as possible. When that’s done, sit down in an
exhausted moment and try to pull some new designs from you-know-where. Thank
goodness I paid the reps last week, their checks go out today, and I only have
two bills left to pay this month: house and rent. Sales are up, are continuing
to go up, and hopefully I’ll be out of this cash crunch by the end of the year.
[deep breath]. Carry on, fellow bloggers.

Omigosh. I have to apologize/confess…I haven’t read a single blog beside’s
Ash’s this week. Things have been all too insane to come close to a relaxed
moment. I’m full swing into another hectic morning; I can’t seemed to understand
the definition of the word “no”. So sad. Anyway, happy Thursday to all. D and I
are probably going to swing by WD Saturday night if possible…

Just so you know. Little or nothing delights me in life as much as something
Kate Spade. Lo and behold, I clicked over to their website today for a little
inspiration and what unfolded before me was the most fascinating land of
branding, ingenious design, wit and elegance I’ve ever behold. It’s enough to
make a girl go breathless.

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what
it says: “this collection will be seriously to increase this dangerous tendency,
and” 2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
Leftover chicken bites from County Line. 3: What is the last thing you watched
on TV? Meet the Press at 3 o’clock this morning. 4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what
the time is: 12.45? 5: Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?: 12.41 6:
With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?: The server. Jennifer
pulling packing tape off the roll. My typing. 7: When did you last step outside?
What were you doing?: This morning, just got out of the car and walked into the
office. 8: Before you came to this website, what did you look at?: My website.
9: What are you wearing?: Black capri pants, pink sweater, black flat sandals.
10: Did you dream last night?: Yes. See previous blog entry. 11: When did you
last laugh?: When Drew told me Phil’s mother in law jumped out of her car in the
middle of an intersection, ran around to the trunk to put something in it, and
realized she locked herself out of the car, and at this moment, the car is still
sitting in the middle of an Edmond intersection, still running. 12: What is on
the walls of the room you are in?: Yellow paint. 13: Seen anything weird
lately?: Define weird. 14(a): What book are you currently reading?: Make a Name
for Yourself, by Robin Fisher Roffers. 15: What is the last film you saw?: The
Patriot, on TV last night. 16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what
would you buy first?: A good credit report. 17: Tell me something about you that
I don’t know: Um, that they say if you read 7 books on a subject then you’re an
expert? 18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt
or politics, what would you do?: “Legalize marijuana The world would be a
much happier place.” Ash said it first, but I couldn’t agree more. 19: Do you
like to dance?: Only when very tipsy. 20: What is the last thing you ate or
drank? Chicken bites and Dr. Pepper. 21(a): Imagine your first child is a girl,
what do you call her?: Langley 21(b): Imagine your first child is a boy, what do
you call him?: Andrew 22: Would you ever consider living abroad?: Yep. A year in
France.