thanksgiving trip

david and i are in Indiana this week. we were supposed to drive out yesterday, leave at 7 am and drive the 10 hrs. we've been planning on it for a while...well, things didn't exactly turn out the way we hoped. you see, i worked at the cafe monday, and dave worked at the country club. well, since weather is a very important factor at the golf club, they have a radar that shows weather and storm systems. on my way home from work and last minute shopping, around 4 pm, dave calls me and tells me there is a huge storm heading straight for us. he described it as a wall extending from Louisiana horizontally up to us. we were going to get hit with most likely snow sometime tues. morning. our solution? pack and leave that night. let me tell you...it's not the most pleasant thing to get up at 5:30 am, work 8 hrs., come home and do ALL of the packing, eat a quick dinner, do the dishes (since we'll be gone for 6 days) and then pack the car and be on the road at 9:30 pm with 10 hrs. of driving ahead of you!! but we felt there wasn't much option, according to the weather. we stopped at the cafe on the way out and stocked up on coffee (free coffee is always the best! just thought i'd gloat about that) and away we were! david is an amazing man. he drove the whole way! and we made it in 9 hrs! unfortunately, all of the panera bread's were closed so we couldn't refuel our coffee mugs, but somehow, the LORD kept us awake and energized the whole trip! i slept for about 1 1/2 hrs. around 4 am and we pulled in just before 7. we slept alot yesterday! today is much better...it's snowing here! the first snow we've seen! there's about 1-2 in. on the ground, enough to make it look beautifully white! david is out getting a hair cut from his sister, deb. she has a job at a local salon after working her way through beauty school. anna, his other sister, is here with sandy (dave's mom) baking lots of pies and cookies for tomorrow's feast! i suppose i should go help out...it's so wonderful to be here with family! i hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! enjoy your families and eat lots of turkey!

this week

this week has been a challenging one. david worked monday at the golf course, but because of the bad and cold weather, did not work tuesday, wednesday, thursday or today. in one sense, it's been really nice for him to have so much time off. i worked monday-wednesday, so tuesday and wednesday he came down to the cafe and spent the whole day there reading, studying and journaling. i must confess i've been a little jealous. on the other hand, when he doesn't work, he doesn't get a paycheck! on wednesday, he accidentally set the alarm for p.m. instead of a.m. i was supposed to be at work at 6:30 a.m. but was woken up at 7 by the phone! thankfully my dad wasn't upset. i was an hour late to work, but he knows that accidents happen and they are infrequent indeed! david was very sweet...he felt so bad that he brought me a beautiful red gerbera daisy to cheer me up! we have an awesome little florist's shop next door to us and we like to give each other business. the day ended up being a good one. anyway, back to the financial thing...david has been great with our budget, it's so nice to not have to worry about that. i trust his judgment and he handles our finances wonderfully! he's in the process of trying to find a new job, but that has been difficult since the country club hasn't officially closed. he can't get a new one if the old one isn't done. he still has the roadhouse job, but there is no garaunteed money, so how do set a budget on that?
anyway...God will provide, we feel very confident about that.

on an exciting note, we are going to IN for thanksgiving. we're leaving tuesday and staying until sunday. i can't wait!!! i love his family so much. it's such a wonderful relief to have in-laws that are so much fun to be with! it will be a good vacation for us.
i hope you are all having a good weekend! i miss you all and think of you often. until next time...

work and shopping

well, it's been a while. i figured out how to put links on my page,
although, as you can see, i still have some technical problems.
any advice would be welcomed!
life has been stop and go lately. i've been working monday-wednesday, then thursday and friday off, then work again saturday night. i guess it's been good. work is work.
my day consists of baking for the cafe, preparing the soups for the lunch rush, sometimes shopping at target, sam's club, or michael's for the cafe. i always enjoy getting paid to shop!

www.teaforte.com

today, november 11, marks the 3rd year of business for our cafe.
it's hard to believe it's been that long! now that the colder weather is setting in, we've been getting busier and busier. we've started carrying some unique retail items, such as organic chocolate, vegan bars, a specialty tea in pyramid shaped silk tea bags,
tea cups and saucers, and a couple of other things. we're hoping that the Christmas season will boost our retail sales.

other than work, david and i received a wonderful gift in the mail the other day. someone from IN that he knows sent us a very very
belated wedding card and gift. in it was a gift card to Bed Bath and
Beyond for $100!!!!!! talk about shopping spree! we went out last night and wandered around the store about 2 times before putting anything in the cart, then after trying out every single massage chair they had set out, started figuring out what we were going to get! i picked out a few kitchen items, a great-smelling yankee candle, some card games for our long Indiana trips, a canvas hanging sweater storage thing for the closet and a few other random things. the weird thing was that it was HARD trying to find $100 worth of stuff! you'd think it would be the complete opposite! i don't know what it was, but it was alot more difficult than it should've been! oh well, it was still a blast, and we enjoyed it, b/c we know that won't be happening anytime soon again!

well, i think it is about that time. gotta jet. hope you have a great weekend! love to you all.