winding down

Won't be long now......tomorrow is the last day. The cooler is pretty much empty. Some of the displays are sold in the front room and folks will pick them up by the end of the week.
Sarah and Sandra went through all the Christmas items upstairs and got what they wanted.
My little brother Gary has a shop in Little Nashville (Brown County) and I will be at his store on Thursday and Friday setting up displays. The majority of my items will be placed in his shop for his customers to buy.
Another chapter of my life is coming to a close.
So if you don't have nothing to do tomorrow stop by Mountain Memories
for one last time...........

Finally Friday....

Finally it's Friday.....those are wonderful words to say and to hear.
Thomas and I don't have much planned for the next few days. I've been trying to get our new office ready. Started painting last night and hope to finish it this weekend. Maybe if all goes well we can move in the furniture and the rest of the stuff next weekend. At least that is our plan.
Only a few days left in the flower shop. I have gotten a lot of calls from my customers the past few days. They were a little worried as to who would take care of them and give them the outstanding service that they are accustomed to once I close the shop. I told them not to worry, I'm trying to stay local in hopes of another florist hiring me. Some folks said I should take orders from my home and just scale down and only do funerals and wire orders. Well, that's a thought. We'll see.......
Everyone one have an relaxing weekend...........

Busy Day....

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a very busy day. With the passing of Gerald "Red" Reynolds we were swamped. Crothersville needs more folks with the sincere quality's of "Big Red."
I started the day about 5am and headed to the flower market in Louisville. The phone started ringing as I walked in the door and didn't stop till about 6:30pm.
I called my friend, Linda Maxie and she came over and helped out. Later in the day Denise came by and gave us a helping hand. This was really a blessing cause school was out due to the storm and electric being out around town. I made my last delivery about 6:45pm.
Will I miss funeral work and being swamped....YES
When I opened my business 14 years ago I knew I wouldn't make tons of money. Being a florist is one of the most under-paid professions. We give so much away...and I'm not talking free product. It's the things that each one of use should be giving away daily. If I have to tell you what they are then you are not giving them away.........

getting blowed away...

Thomas and I was out running errands yesterday afternoon when the wind started getting really bad. We couldn't get thru the "S" curves on our way home. A transformer pole had snapped. So we took a short cut and came out by the New Hope Church. Then down by Swifty Farms there were phone lines down, we looked at each other and said at the same time we need to go check the store. Driving past my church, Uniontown Baptist, we lost two shutters and our speakers on the roof. Driving farther we saw trees down and siding off of houses. Sarah calls and says, there's no electric in town and that with the luck I had with my cooler freezing up I better go check things out. As we drive up we notice shingles loose and some siding on the eves were missing. I tracked down the siding
so that my cousin Steve can put it back. The shingles were just lifted up and that will be easy to fix.
As we head home we wonder whats going on there. I told Thomas now I know how people feel during storms as they head home--what will they find...will home still be there. As we pull in the lane we notice that the gravity wagon as moved about 40 yards and had been headed for the house when my Snowball bush stopped it. Whew!! Thomas notices shingles blowing up and coming lose (another job for Steve) and that the hog house roof is gone. Now this is a small house just big enough for our four pigs. Thomas built it with a flat roof that can be opened. The wind had lifted it up and laid it down in the hog lot. The hinges were still on the house with the screws still in tact. We chased down our down spouts and headed inside.
Being a Daddy's girl I headed up to Daddy's. He's already been on his roof trying to save his shingles. On the west side the shingles have just peeled back and he can't set still for worrying about roof damage. I explained that's why he has insurance. He wants me to phone Steve so that he can get on his work list. After a bit Daddy's says lets get on the roof, I have to keep them from peeling all the way back, or I'll loose my whole roof. So.....what do you think we did...there we were, both of us on the roof....wind blowing like crazy. There we set, I have my arm around Daddy telling him to stay low or we are both going down. After about 10 minutes he had one board nailed down and Daddy says OK lets get down. We wait for a pause in the wind and make our way down. As we were coming down Mom says, "You two are just plain crazy"....
Daddy's wants to come into town and check things out. Finally we make it back home and just wait for the wind to die down. After watching the news were blessed that we just had only minor damage.



.

frozen flowers

I felt pretty good when I left Friday evening. The casket spray was done and all the orders were designed and ready for delivery to Adams Funeral Home for Saturday afternoon.
As I set on the back porch before work I was glad I had the orders filled and that it was going to be a pretty smooth day.
I got to the shop, opened and did a bit of paper work and went to the cooler, opened the door and........I could not believe my eyes. I looked at the temperature gauge and it said 20 degrees.......Shit.... and then I lost it...all of my flowers were frozen. The water in the buckets were frozen. The lily's on the casket were frozen. My entire cooler was frozen over. Not just frozen but....FROZEN. Have you ever seen frozen flowers? They ain't pretty!!
I just stood there and cried and I got this knot in the bottom of my stomach. I pulled it together enough to call the flower market and said, please tell me you have"Stargazer Lily's" and Red Freedom Roses left.....Yes he did... so I gave him the rest of the order and he said he would have a driver up to me in about an hour.
I called Thomas and he came down and checked a few things out and my line had frozen during the night. He pushed a few buttons and turned a few knobs and looked at the outside unit and he said a few choice words.
As a florist you try to be prepared for anything but, you are never prepared for a frozen casket spray on the day of the viewing.
All the orders are now done and I'm ready to make my way to the funeral home. I took pictures of the mess so that I can turn them into the my insurance agent. I think I will keep a few for myself so that I can put them in my "Mountain Memories Memory Book"........

community support.....

I opened the Tribune today and was reading the articles about the Crothersville Sesquicentennial Queen pageant.
In the picture the two queens are holding arm bouquets of yellow roses....Hummm
This is the Crothersville Sesquicentennial and I own the only flower shop in town......I don't recall designing flowers for the queens......
The Sesquicentennial had no problem asking me for a money donation to support there cause. Don't you think they would want to support the business in town? Where did they order those flowers from?
I'm closing my business on September 23, and I know times are hard for everyone, especially family's. But when you see something like this it's just a slap in the face. Support your local business....Yea right!
Am I pissed....damn right I am.

How do you let go?

How do you let go of something that is part of you?
When is the best time to let go?
Can you let go and walk away?
We all have an inner circle of friends and then we have a inner circle of those friends. Those in my inner-inner circle know that I have been stressing for quite sometime. Stressing over the economy and how it's effected by floral business. I've had many sleepless nights. Setting in the swing on the back porch in the wee hours of the morning, setting at the kitchen table going over numbers time and time again.
We all are given a gift at birth. My gift was floral designing.
On more than one occasion I have spent the night in my shop designing flowers for a funeral and majority of the time the deceased was a very good friend. Each design had to be perfect. I thank Mark and Leslie for allowing me to place the flowers upon the casket. This lets me make sure that each flower is in it's proper place. So when the family views their loved one everything is perfect.
Over the years many of my customers have made me promise them that I will place flowers on their casket and they have told me in great detail what colors and which flowers they want. I will keep my promise.
I will stay in the floral business, I could end up working for another flower shop....working my 8/9 hour days and going home and let them stress about being the owner!!