Hello Again!  We've been out and about quite a bit this week!  On Friday we went up to Port Williams with Brandon and Jo to pick up some ceramic molds that a lady was selling (For my crazy, fantasy pottery studio) and to check out a new restaurant that just opened up there.  We got the molds just fine, after a few scenic detours, but couldn't get into the restaurant, unless we wanted to wait 50 minutes.  Oh well, we'll try again later.  We went to the same old pub we always go to, instead, and it was good, as usual.

On Saturday we went down to Halifax to see Mom and Errol.  That was really nice, although it was a very short visit!  Hopefully we'll see them again next weekend.  

Since then we've been working a lot.  I thought I would put up some pics of the place I work, just for fun.  This is the new CNC that is going to change some things about the way we build:

And these are some cabinets we just finished for a kitchen.  

On Tuesday night, it was movie night again.  Jo and I went for a walk along the boardwalk first, so she could check out her spiffy new binoculars that actually take photos somehow.  

And then through the park, which is always pretty.  

It's  like Spring happened overnight here - suddenly it's warm and light and bright and wonderful.  There's no blossoms out yet, but I do have plenty of blossoms happening inside, as my forsythia branches are bursting with yellow flowers.  Hooray!

Last night I attended a Marketing Meeting by Keeping Lau, which I found very interesting.  It gave me lots to think about, in terms of where I want the business to head, and what I want to focus on in the future.  As I was saying to Jai, my first goal was just to get enough work to keep busy.  First mission accomplished!  Now I need to start narrowing my focus and getting smart about it.  I think for the next couple of months, once I have finished all the current orders, I am going to only make books for a while.  I'll eventually spread out again, and expand the line, but I want to see what the production could be like.  I think there's a lot of potential with the books that I haven't explored because I've been too busy making a million other things.   I would love to hear any opinions or thoughts that anyone out there has on this.  Right now I am trying to be anything to anyone, and that's no way to run a business.  Speaking of business...the box came back!  

This is one of those nightmare moments that you try and think could never actually happen.  The doorbell rang, and it was a courier asking me to sign for a package.  So I did, and he came around the corner lugging a huge box.  "What's in that?" I asked, oh so innocently.  "I don't know," he said, "it says it's a return."  (This is the moment when I should be waking up.)

My coffee tables got returned at the border, because the girl they were being sent to was out of town for a couple of days, and they couldn't reach her to get her social security number.  Don't ask me why they would need/want a person's social security number written on the packing slip, but apparently they do.  So that's the other thing that has been occupying my entire week - repeated phone calls to various people in UPS, US Customs, and the UPS Store.  Blech!  

And the last piece of news (the one I know my Mom has been waiting for!) is that I got my haircut yesterday.  Here's a before pic:

And the after:

I went to one of the ladies here in town, and she charged me $9.00 for this cut.  I think I must have looked shocked, because she said, "I guess that's a little less than what you're used to paying in the city."  Um...yeah.  

Anyway, hope you all are well, and enjoying your spring as much as we plan to!  Every day we go out in the garden to check on the progress, and say "Not long now..."