Preparations almost finished!

The tree is decorated and so is the house. 3 of 4 cookies are finished and the last one is ready to be rolled, baked and decorated today. Gifts are all purchased and await wrapping. I need to make cranberry bread for Sunday family dinner. And Kattie requested a batch of Molasses cookies for Paul, so I'll do those tomorrow. And catch up on the lanundry, too. The cards will have to wait until next week when I will have more time. ~ As for the business, I need to finish my bookkeeping and figure my sales tax and file my return on the 31st. And I have several items to photograph and add to the website, not that anyone is buying anything from it, but it puts on a show. And then get to work on 2025 inventory. And take the new Pfaff to Tyler for service. ~ We had a heat pump installed this past Monday. Garrett's firn (Breathable Home) did the work and I was impressed with their work and work ethics. Nice guys who were professional in their manners and cleaned up scrupulously after themselves. So far it has made the living room more comfortable. I'm looking forward to the summer most, though. ~ Even though he doesn't take office for another month, Trump is creating chaos already. The House had worked out a compromise bill to extend funding the government for the next X days but President Musk torpedoed it with a single post on his bullhorn. The replacement bill stripped some necesssary funding for chidhood cancer research and other things and also did not pass. Musk of course is blaming the Democrats, most of whom did not support this mess. In actuality, many Republicans did not either and since they are the majority now, it's on them, despite the efforts to own the libs. And old Elon claims the replacement ideas were not his but Trump's. I see a crack in the armor already. Perhaps we can rid ourselves of this power-hungry ketamine-fueled demon sooner than later. We certainly don't need yet another agent of chaos in DC. ~ I attended a memorial service on Wednesday for Lil Stresser, who was one of the ladies of Ladies' Weekend fame at the Lowe's camp on East Grand Lake. A lovely, caring woman who will be missed. It was a warm ceremony with rememberances from family and a guitar solo from a grandson. Gabriella was there with a group of CODA chorus members who performed. Lil was a member of that group and also the Winthrop Handbell Ringers with Ginny Foster. It made me reflect on all the people we;ve lost this year - Ginny, Veloice Huck, the Puglieses, my brother John, Bob Bragg. Bob's service is the 29th. ~ Brenda and I checked out the monthly offerings at the Freckles Salvage Vault this past Sunday. Not impressed but perhaps it was more fully stocked on Saturday. Just seemed to be a bunch of yard sale/flea market finds. The permanenet store has more interesting offerings and I did buy 2 ornaments for the tree. But that was it. It was good to see Jeff Toothaker, former UMC treassurer out there selling his wife's books.