It’s really quite simple. I’ve been living at the store. Not QUITE literally, but I’m pretty borderline. We now have a full fridge and freezer, a BBQ, Rice Cooker, Crock Pot, Hot Water Pot, and a big utility sink to wash dishes in. Which means that yes – I can stop eating at Jack in the Box! WOOHOO! I’ve already done BBQ Chicken, which was fantastic. With the pans I’ve got, I’m planning on Beef Stroganoff sometime soon – maybe even this weekend.

Speaking of, this weekend is a big party at the store – should be huge, and a lot of fun. Even if it DOES drain the energy out of my body.

I actually took a weekend off, recently. Janene’s birthday weekend, actually. Saturday we went to an antique show at Craven Farm in Snohomish. Then we visited two different Barnes & Noble stores, Main Stree Yarns in Mill Creek, and then we finished the day with dinner at Fred’s Rivertown Alehouse (Philly Cheesesteak…mmmm…..) and movies at home. Sunday we went up to Whidbey Island, where we ate at Knead and Feed, waded out to our hips in the bay at Double Bluff Beach (and saw some crabs that were quite large), did some shopping in Coupeville, hung out and watched the sunset at Ebey’s Landing, and then drove home. It was a fun weekend!

We hit Sumner the following Saturday on our way down to Don & Esther’s house for a working weekend. Sumner was a blast – it was fun to see the “competition” and chat with the other store owners, and Janene found a stack of magazines for $0.50 / ea at Whistle Stop Antique Mall.
I got a lot done that weekend in Union, too – worked on the Country Pleasures website, which is really almost done; also worked on theweedpatchstore.com – which is up and running, and the ecom storefront is really close. It’s got a blog now, which I’ll HAVE to update regularly, so if you care keep an eye there (although it’ll be all store stuff….). Janene made an amazing pillow and a crocheted pumpkin for the newsletter crafts; I finished the newsletter and got it off to the printer, too – October’s newsletter is just gonna be amazing.

Anyway, I just got the Constant Contact email stuff working for the store and sent out our first “working” eNews – it’s really interesting to watch the stats. I can see who opened the email, what they clicked on, etc. Very cool!

Now I’m uploading photos to theweedpatchstore.com to beef up the photo gallery, while I’m working on more projects than I can count. That said, I’ve gotta crash soon – it’s gonna be a LONG weekend.