Ten Good Things Not Quite Weekly

Hard to believe it’s already been more than a week since my last "ten good things." I’m determined to keep this up…mostly because I’m afraid that if I don’t, I’ll just throw my hands up and go down for the third time. I need to focus on the good things, even though my natural tendency is to obsess about the bad. So, for at least the next however-long-it-takes-to-write-this, I’m going to dwell in the Land of Good Vibrations…

I’m back. The Land of Good Vibrations is apparently a truly effective narcotic. This is the third time I’ve revisited this post, and I’m determined to finish it this time. Last night, I made the attempt propped up on pillows in my bed at the end of a particularly frustrating thirteen-hour day. Needless to say, I didn’t get very far. So now, it’s the middle of the afternoon and I’m sitting in a chair. But I guess that doesn’t mean anything when you’re as many sleep-hours in arrears as I am. At any rate, I’m going to try to get all the way through it this time…

1. As the weather has become more bearable, and there is actually light in the sky when I am home on some days, I’ve been able to make a few trips out into the yard to see what’s shaking among the flora and fauna for which I have absolutely no time anymore. I was completely bummed when my japanese irises didn’t come up this year. For the past four years, they’ve been the first to wave their brave little petals above the heavy frost of Oregon January. But my neglect of the garden since last summer must have done them in… It felt like spring wasn’t going to happen at all, since I didn’t even see any spikes of crocus out in the fountain garden. Then I followed Ms Dog outside on Sunday, and there woven up through the course mat of creeping thyme were the sleepy little purple heads of my crocuses. I think our icebox weather this winter just set them back a couple of weeks…
2. On Saturday, the husband finally pulled down the outdoor Christmas lights. Mind you, we don’t just have inconspicuous little rows of colored lights on the eaves which obligingly disappear into the background when they are unplugged. We have swags, and bows, and snowflakes, and even a Christmas tree and rope-light packages that have been squatting on the front deck since just after Thanksgiving. So, just because we had unplugged them didn’t mean the house lookedany less laughably out-of-season in the daylight. Only eight more months before we have to worry about putting them up again…
3. Though February 14th of this year didn’t have me rolling in romance, it did turn out to be a relatively decent business day at the café. We did quite a nice little dinner, and I think people were impressed and will, hopefully, be back.
4. We finally got around to doing some "competition shopping" this past weekend. I honestly was afraid I would be totally disheartened by the glorious offerings of other local restaurateurs. As it turned out, I realize that Old Town Café does not fair too badly in comparison to the competition. In fact, I think we can hold our own against any one of them. That is indeed a load off my mind…
5. We had our first employee meeting since divesting ourselves of much of the dead weight at the café. I spent an entire day writing a five-page outline of what I wanted to say. And I talked almost non-stop for an hour and a half. That doesn’t seem like a good thing…but I have noticed all of my better employees really making an effort to act on the things brought up at the meeting, and that IS a good thing.
6. This weekend my sister and I will be traveling to Newport to do our first Café de la Rue event of the season. Gonna break out the pocket sandwiches and the napoleons and all that stuff. I NEED the time away from the restaurant (I will be gone for four days….!) and we need the cash flow. And so far, all the prep has gone smoothly enough, considering we really do not have enough hours in the day to run one business, much less two…
7. Every year about this time, I finally put away all my Christmas cd’s (I have a hard time going "cold turkey" after Christmas. It’s usually at least the end of January by the time I unload the last ones out of my cd players and reload them with non-seasonal music.) But once I start listening to my "other" music, I realize all over again how much I like…the music I like.
8. Silly me, I bought a plant! Husband dragged me over to the coast to visit the winter version of the Tillamook farmers’ market and of course there was someone selling nursery stock. And of course I can’t pass up a new and different kind of scented geranium. So I have already started the cycle of plants-in-pots sitting on my front deck waiting to be planted. As if I’m going to have the time or the energy to address that activity this summer. Oh, well…old habits die hard…
9. Though I still miss Spritie terribly, I have been able to put my sadness aside and enjoy the antics of the other animals. For a little while there, I couldn’t look at any of them without my eyes welling up with tears. But as the days go by, I’m beginning to be able to enjoy their individual personalities again. And I really think they are doing their best to cheer me up…

and….

10. I MADE IT THROUGH ANOTHER WEEK!!!

(That last one may be cheating, but it really IS a good thing. I continue to amaze myself with my capacity to deal with CRAP!!!!!)

There it is! And now I’m sure there’s something else in dire need of my attention….

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