DEFINE SUBLIMATE!

Okey, dokey, the holidays are over. A new year has begun and I started things out right this year by rearranging the entire bookstore on my days off. Actually, it was kind of an example of a small task that snowballed, turning me into an avalanche of activity - kind of like crossing OCD with ADHD. No, it wasn't too much caffeine! You all KNOW I'm a barista and a high caffeine tolerance comes with the territory. I think maybe it was my mom's intensive housekeeping gene kicking in a few decades late. Yeah, that's it. Maybe.

First I decided to stop procrastinating and defrost the freezer on my small refrigerator or the door wasn't going to close. Then I figured I might as well tackle the big one as well. Thinking about how inconvenient it was in the back room, it dawned on me I'd be getting less exercise if that fridge was closer to the sink in the middle room. Hmmm, but if I move THAT, where am I going to put the antique desk that occupies that space? The next thing I knew I'd drafted my husband and our friend Kevin to move refrigerator, bookshelves, desk, table & chairs - everything but the proverbial kitchen sink - into new positions. That's after I removed all the books from the designated shelves to lighten the load. Delores the mannequin & the chair she was sitting in got moved into temporary storage & the place looked like it had been tossed. I turned off the lights, locked the door & went home.

Move the clock forward 3 days (and how I wish I could really do that). Everything is put away. Furniture sits in new and interesting places and somehow the room has grown. Now customers walk into a more open, welcoming space. Coffee drinkers can pull an interesting book off the shelves & sit down with an espresso. Friends can visit & chat more comfortably and the entire ambiance has changed. It was charming before, but crowded (I thought of it as cozy). Now the lighting seems brighter and magic has happened: there's much more space. There is room for more books now, even though I re-shelved all that I had removed. I must have done a better job of organizing and consolidating this time because there are now FOUR EMPTY SHELVES that I could have sworn were filled to overflowing before. Not sure how that happened. I'm a better organizer than I realized (she said proudly, patting herself on the back).

Spring cleaning? Think I'll skip it this year, or maybe that's exactly what I was doing, if a little early. Maybe my unconscious self is taking its cues from our weather. Winter & Summer are confused, so why not Spring? Whatever. The only problem on my horizon is that I still have end of the year bookkeeping tasks to do.

Aha! Eureka! That's exactly what this binge of activity was really all about - I'm avoiding doing the work to get ready for taxes! Well, duh! I wasn't really energized to improve my surroundings, I was just procrastinating again! Oh well, I have plenty of space now. Think I'll sit down at the table in my newly organized shop & have a cup of coffee while I force myself to at least consider doing my taxes - soon. Or maybe tomorrow.

AND A MERRY HO, HO, HO!

The Christmas shopping is almost done now, and either you've baked or not, decorated or not, and are ready (or not) to celebrate Christmas, the birthday of the son-god, Mithra, Winter Solstice, Saturnalia or Festivas. I was a little slow getting into the spirit this year at home, surrounded as I am every day at work by all of the Christmas merchandise on display in the store. I was kind of over decorated there, LOL. But now that Christmas is actually here I am ready! Ready to celebrate, that is.

The tree is trimmed, the lights hung & there are sugar cookies, nut crescents & 2 kinds of thumbprint cookies for snacking (thanks entirely to Houlton Bakery). Ready for company? Not so much. I have done, let's see, oh - ZERO baking myself.

I did, however, do something exceedingly rare and wonderful over the last few days. Drum roll please - - - Yes a miracle has occurred! I've cleaned all of the collected mail, bills & paperwork off of the dining room table! Rejoice! You can actually see the surface of the table, or as my husband did last night, run your hand across the wood grain & feel the smooth emptiness. Rejoice! And to those of you who doubted, repent your disbelief and lack of faith!

I'm not sure the table will stay that way for long, in fact, with tax time fast approaching I seriously doubt it. Even so, we'll enjoy it while we can. Maybe we'll even be able to share a meal together, seated at the table like civilized folks, instead of juggling plates & trying not to spill on the unpaid bills. Yup, I think we'll try it. Right now, while we can still see the festive centerpiece and candles in the center.

And to those of you who are better organized than I, you cannot know the joy I feel when I look at my newly empty table. Truly a Christmas miracle! But what you CAN do is have a Very Merry Christmas, each and every one of you. Word for Word will be closed from Saturday through Tuesday while we, too, celebrate the season with our family.

Felice Navidad!

CHANGING IT UP!

OKAY, I give up - I'll give the new and earlier hours a shot. Word for Word Books & Espresso will now be open TWO HOURS EARLIER each morning, to accommodate coffee drinkers who need their caffeine before noon (I confess, I'm one of them).

I've heard your requests and am willing to give it a go. Henceforth and from tomorrow forward on each Wednesday through Saturday I'll be opening at 10AM. Sundays I'll still be opening at noon. Rob & I still need our lazy Sunday mornings together. There's nothing better than sleeping late, sitting around sharing a pot of good coffee and catching up on the week together. Oh, except maybe accommodating my customers' need for a little espresso jump start.

Remember, that sweet jolt will now be available from 10AM on, Wednesday through Saturday and at noon on Sunday. Books,of course, will be sold as well (but you already knew that, right?).

And for a limited time (the Christmas Season, that is) we are also offering a large inventory of reasonably priced and very crafty craft and decorative items to put you in the Christmas spirit or to gift your friends.

Please join me tomorrow morning to launch the new AM hours at the shop. There will be a reward - Christmas sugar cookies and ginger thins for as long as they hold out. And if you're quick enough there may even be a Mexican wedding cake left. Napkins are available for any powdered sugar explosions and espresso drinks are always made to order with your satisfaction guaranteed.

Christmas on the River

Word for Word is all about Christmas right now. Not only are there books, coffee & scintillating conversations to be found, but the whole place looks a little like Santa's workshop. Thanks, Kevin, for the marvelous holiday inventory. I'm not even going to bother putting up more than a few lights & maybe a garland or two. With all of the festive merchandise even Santa would have few complaints about the decor. My display window looks amazing and the response from customers has been great - hard to resist crafty Christmas stuff at bargain prices. Local bazaars beware! You have competition this year.

Tomorrow a group of us plan to decorate one of the empty storefronts in town - the "Old J.C.Penney's Building", more recently known as Antique St. Helens. It's sad to see so many empty storefronts in Olde Towne. Seemed like every time I turn around there's another empty space. The economy has not recovered as well as we'd hoped and sometimes merchants have had to cut their losses. This year we're fighting the emptiness, filling up those empty spaces with the Spirit of Christmas. In December when we have the tree lighting in the Courthouse Plaza and the Christmas Ships appear to cruise up and down the river we'll be ready. Businesses and buildings will be dressed in their best - trimmed with lights & greens and little vignettes, celebrating Christmas in style and showing off our Christmas Canes.

The Christmas Ships will be here at 6PM on December 11th. Come to St. Helens for the Christmas Tree lighting, watch the Ships, enjoy dinner at one of our fine restaurants, shop and celebrate Christmas on the River. See you then!

Just Another Lazy Sunday

Or maybe not. Although there are practically no people on the street in Olde Towne today I've managed to keep busy. My window is decorated for Thanksgiving, but I'm thinking Christmas: Everything Christmas (the theme of the Olde Towne Christmas festivities this year). Following on the heels of the success we had with our Halloween Scarecrows, displayed by merchants & individuals all over town, we are planning a similar display of Christmas decorations that I've been told to stop referring to as "Christmas on a Stick". Instead we'll be calling the decorating campaign "Christmas Canes". Yes, much nicer. Christmas Canes are an inexpensive, easy way to decorate the streets of St. Helens and this will be the first year of what is hoped will be an annual holiday decorating event.

All of our budgets are shrinking, whether public or private, so this is a way to keep costs low and still display our Christmas spirit. If participants are half as creative as they were with the Halloweentowne Scarecrows we will see an amazing variety of Christmas Canes popping up all over town. Can't wait to see what people come up with.

3 people so far have tried the idea out, making prototypes of the Christmas Canes to see how long it took and how expensive it was. The conclusion was A) not long - maybe an hour, and B) Very inexpensive - you can just recycle old decorations for the most part. Stop in at Word for Word to see the Christmas Cane that Byron Ohler made. OK, so his may have taken a little longer to make, but that's because he has a reputation to uphold. Byron is responsible for creating the giant lit-up pumpkin we had in the Courthouse Plaza during this year's Halloweentowne festivities, which was a reproduction of the one that sat in the same, exact place during the filming of the movie Halloweentown. Clever examples of Christmas Canes were also made by Doug Boyes, owner of Wild Currant Catering and Tiffany Smith, owner of the Dockside Stead & Pasta. We took pictures and will have them available as examples, but I am not sure when that will happen. Stay tuned.

So as I am not very crafty, more comfortable with words than paint & glue, my job was to put together & distribute press releases and instructions for merchants or individuals wanting to participate in displaying Christmas Canes or featuring an item in the I Spy Christmas contest. I'm safer doing something with words, as words rarely result in cut fingers or tangled knots (that would be my version of knitting).

I hope that everyone else in town enjoys Christmas as much I do and that our Christmas Cane campaign to decorate will be popular. Maybe it will help us focus on enjoying the beauty and fun of the season at a time when many of us are trying to economize. We can all use a little diversion from worrying about the economy. This year instead of spending a lot of money on a ready-made Christmas let's try something different. What do you say we all join together in decorating the streets of St. Helens with our Christmas Canes? Remember, this year it's all about EVERYTHING CHRISTMAS! And I'll try really hard to produce my own Christmas Cane - hopefully without gluing my fingers together.

On a Wet Sunday

The heavens have opened and there's a river running down 1st Street - the water has overflowed the curbs (not a great feat as they are very low) & the sidewalks have a current. Does this mean the end of our Indian Summer?

It was chilly enough late yesterday to start me thinking about replacing the piece of plastic that I attached last year to block cold air trying to creep under the gap between the bottom of the door & the floor. The weather-ban made it warmer in here, but opening the door was a challenge - for each and every customer struggling with it. And this winter I am serving espresso, so they'll be juggling more than just books when they attempt to leave. If you drop a few books, no problem. If you drop a latte though, that's a mess. As for the back door? Nobody really notices my blocking the cold air with a rolled up blanket - as long as it's neatly rolled.

Today I'm weathering the wet chill with a bowl of cowboy beans & a caramel cinnamon latte. Coffee tends to make everything better, in my opinion. The cowboy beans are actually a potluck item for later - to accompany a showing of Blazing Saddles. I've only seen the movie about 40 times or so, but never with this particular group of friends and never in Hi Def Blue Ray (spell-check please?). Should be interesting.

All the Halloween decorations are put away now, except Delores. She's the mannequin I used as the witch in my Halloween window. Presently she is in charge of the reading room, sitting on an overstuffed chair with a book propped up on her lap. I was out of storage room so just tried to make her blend. Hope she doesn't frighten anyone - she is wearing kind of a scary bad wig. I might have to drop in at Jilly's & pick up something a bit more attractive - that or a hat. Hmmm. Maybe I need a new hat as well. It IS RAINING, after all.

Moving On

Hope you had a chance to attend HalloweenTowne last Saturday - it was a blast! I really enjoyed seeing the entire Olde Towne area filled with people in costume, families & individuals enjoying the event. I'd say there were probably more than 1,000 people down here that day. The entire day was filled with activities: vendors, the Little Spooks Parade,with probably 400 costumed kids streaming down 1st Street then trick-or-treating their way around town; the campaigning & voting for Mayor of Halloweentown, with a last minute mutiny by the Pirates, who decided to run their own candidate; and the successful attempt to win a place in the Guiness Book of World Records for the most costumed people at a Halloween Gathering. Yes, we did it, even if we only held the title for one day before we were bested. The scarecrows all over town were amazing! Such creativity, and new ones kept popping up daily. What? You didn't make it down here? Well that is just sad. You missed a heckuva celebration. Maybe next year.

Between now and then, though, you might want to start giving a thought to the Christmas celebration we'll be planning next. We'll all be enjoying our Thanksgiving, but in the back of our minds we'll be thinking about what kind of a Christmas decorations we can display this year - something along the lines of our community scarecrows - something that will line the streets, brighten the holiday season and not break the bank. I've seen your creativity at work now, so I KNOW you will join me! None of us has a lot of money to spend, so what can we do that will be inexpensive and striking? Don't answer that question now, but give it some thought. And don't be surprised if you see me around, asking each of you to participate - and you know I will, LOL. I'll be seeing you!