There was a small stack of mail on my desk when I got back to work, and I finally had a chance to go through it yesterday afternoon.  One of the cards was from a familiar face . . . You might remember Barbara Walborn from three years ago when her husband Tom gave...

I am back at work today, but I won’t kid you – to paraphrase W.C. Fields, “On the whole, I’d rather be in Florida.”  Since I’m not, on Saturday evening I planned the next best thing – a trip to Arizona to see my parents in about five weeks.  I’ll go hiking...

We are home.  You haven’t truly experienced a drive to and from Florida until you’ve made the trip  in a box truck – just ask Ryan.  I have a hydraulic driver’s seat, so I don’t endure the bumps and jolts of the interstate like someone on the passenger...

It is the rarest of occasions when the pace of my life slows down.  I can still remember the first time Ryan realized that I am a different person when I am on vacation and the rush of work and responsibilities of home aren’t pressing on me.  Since I travel...

I think I have learned something over the past three days here in Florida – no one is ever satisfied with the weather they have.  Seriously – never have so many griped so much about 60 degrees and mist.  There are areas of the population these days where a...

I saw Melinda Doster at the Lawrenceville, GA show yesterday.  For the first time in nearly 15 years, she came as a customer – she doesn’t have the stamina yet for a full day at work, much less at a show.  So poor Mitra was chained to the demo table at...

For our friends in Atlanta -- you have to grab humor where you can find it today! I have to go to ATL from the Gwinnett Fairgrounds on Sunday evening, so I MapQuested it this morning to see if there was a better route than the one I usually take.  This is a...

This morning, I made a decision that I have never made in 55+ years on this planet – I am staying home.  We had more snow last night – only three or four inches, but the winds have whipped up and it’s blowing all over the place.  To top it off, I have been...

If you’ve noticed that I haven’t had much to say this month, there’s a reason – my fingers are frozen.  The temps have been below zero at least five or six mornings already in January (as I type this, it’s –2 outside).  I will never get used to it, but I...

I have spent most of my work time the past few weeks (and a lot of time that was supposed to be free time) putting new items on our site, and getting others ready so I could make them visible on our site (by stepping away from my cash register in Texas and pushing the...