Playing catch up

You know, I'm sure that soon I'll be able to actually catch my breath again - sometime after Jan 14 (last day of the PA Farm Show).

Meanwhile, first an update on Rudy. This is a picture of him "resting" between customers a couple of weeks ago. I think he was brooding about not being able to do his "job" properly! He still has a slight limp, but he's healing well.

We got the results back from the blood tests and, no, he doesn't have thyroid problems so he is staying on the weight loss diet the vet suggested. That should help everything.

I wish I had someone who would regulate my intake like we do his! I'd hate them, but it would be for the best. He seems to be adjusting and being the sweetie he is, apparently bears us no ill will.

Yesterday, while doing some Chritmas shopping, Tina insisted we pick up one of those Year-at-a-glance calenders. I don't mean to complain. After all, it was her present to the soap/tree/jewelry/publication studio! We always had one of these going at our herb shop and it was a godsend.

It is extremely helpful to have this on the wall to refer to when we start to make any plans. It shows any events, shows, deadlines, birthdays and holidays as we plan them so we always know when to panic!

It's nice for all of us since I often forget to mention some of this stuff to Bob or Rob so they can always check on what is coming up too.

Now, on to the preparations for the Farm Show. I think we're about "soaped out"! We have 5 shelving units full of soap. Some of our discontinued varieties are on the bottom shelves so they are a bit sparse, but we are loaded with everything else.

If we sell out, fine. If we don't, we'll have plenty of stock to take care of the new wholesale accounts we hope to pick up there along with our regular spring orders.

It's been interesting refining our new routine to produce more soap faster. We seem to have it down now and are looking forward to making soaps for the year. They are so much more uniform and will be easier to wrap (especially with the labels we are actually having preprinted for the first time!)

One more thing. I updated the soap page with new pictures of Blackberry & Sage and Apple Snap. The picture on the website are small, but I'm pretty pleased with them and thought I'd post them a bit bigger here.

The blackberries in the grocery store were gigantic and amazingly, Tina's sage was still it's summertime gray green so I'm really happy with the way we were able to display this soap.

The Apple Snap had to settle for an artificial apple - not that we don't have some real ones around here, but with the leaves and the basket, I love the homey look of the picture.

Even Bob said " wow" when he saw me open the pictures on Photoshop this morning.

Oh, and the poor glass torch just sits there forlornly waiting for me to find a minute for it again.

Well, I think I've caught up on most things and hope I can post a bit more regularly again after the show. Thanks for your patience!