Yesterday

Okay, so yesterday I had the priveledge of taking my seventeen year old sister in law's senior portraits. It reminded me of many things. 1. I need to think younger. Gabbi was so free and just seemed to be having so much fun. I didn't have to coach her and I barely ever had to tell her how to pose. 2. I want to live in the country. Sheila and Roy truely have found a little patch of Heaven out in Pilet Mound. 3. I have to take more pictures---it is MY art. 4. I love God's creation more and more. I just enjoyed the fresh air, the excercise (walking back and forth all over their property) and just being with a really fun kid.

All thanks to God who gives us exactly what we need at exactly the right time. And, as a ps, I even got to talk to my other favorite teenager on the way out to the farm. Jessieh, I am very proud of you. Gab, thanks for the fun. I love you crazy beautiful teenagers!

Someday!

So i think someday is here! I have been saying that "someday-this" "someday-that" and I think that it is finally here. More on this later.

Red Velvet

So, i am on my way to make some red velvet cake. I have no time to blog today:) More later

the perfect meringue

So, today was a weird day. I had ample opportunity to sit. Which normally I would beat myself up over but today I have been enjoying it. I needed to rest today. I have been going non stop and wearing myself out. When I get home from work (usually around 6:30 by the time I am done with shopping and the bank) I am too pooped to pop. I put this picture up here to show that life is like a good piece of lemon meringue pie. Flaky-crusted-mouth-puckering-sweet-tart-light-fluffy-with a smooth finish. I gotta make this pie again soon.

Temporarily Disconnected

So today I had a group of 11 elderly people come in for lunch. I made tuna and egg salad sandwiches, broccoli/pea/cauliflower salad, and apple kuchen. I am just going to be honest, usually, I have a very hard time with older folks. I find them crotchety and demanding. These people were far from that. They were the nicest older folks I have had the pleasure of serving in a very long time. I think it is funny how we tend to always think the worst. I was expecting quite the run-a-round from them, and instead, it was completely delightful. I sure am glad that God doesn't judge me by my outside appearance. I pray that I can stop doing that. You know, one thing I have really been learning is that we are all works in progress. We are not going to all like each other, or be best friends, but we can learn to co-exist. Remembering that we are unlovely sometimes too! In the movie What About Bob? Bob says to Anna, "If I find someone who I don't think likes me, I just treat them like they are a telephone, and i say, this one's just temporarily disconnected." Wise advice.

church

So today is Sunday. For almost three months now, Adam and I have not gone to a traditional church service. It has been an odd transition for us. Especially after spending the last eight years thinking we were sinning by not going on a Sunday morning to service. Today we met Neal and Haylee and Maddy at the coffee shop at nine fifteen ish. We drank coffee and ate donuts, sang, Adam shared what the Lord had shown him yesterday about growing up in the Lord instead of always drinking milk, you know, eating actual food instead of the same old stuff day after day after day. Hebrews chapter five if you are interested in following up with this. We shared talked, and then we prayed. Have you ever listened to a child pray? It is priceless. Maddy prayed that God would touch the kids in the trailer court where they live and help them to know that they shouldn't swear, even when they get mad, she said it was not the right decision to swear:) Haylee prayed that God would keep helping her with her attitudes which she thinks are getting better! I want to keep learning from them. At one point, Haylee looked at me and whispered, "this is fun". I think it is because they actually felt like they were contributing to the time we shared in fellowship. Thank you God for Sundays! May there be many more lessons to come.

Can we USE our inside voice please?

No, I am not talking about the voices in your head or the Holy Spirit .......I mean come on, WHEN YOU ARE IN A PUBLIC PLACE, DON'T RAISE YOUR VOICE UNLESS IT IS TO STOP SOMEONE FROM EATING POISON OR TRIPPING OVER SOMETHING! Yesterday I had this guy in here who was talking to one other person, he was so loud, I could hear every word he was saying even though I was in the backroom. Okay, there were other people in the store too, so after about 15 minutes, I just said, "Could you just use your inside voice?" He seemed mad and embarrassed. But I was nice about it so that is going to have to be something he deals with. Also this morning we had a group of lively men who met for a Bible study, one of the guys was SO loud that I almost said the same thing to him but one of the other guys in the group actually said, "okay I think we need to quiet down." Right before he was told to bring his voice down, I mumbled under my breath, "Hello, can we USE our inside voice please?"--notice the stress on USE, and think Chandler Bing from FRIENDS.

Okay, so we are getting ready for the farmers market. It is very overwhelming, but very exciting. I have been making these amazing cinnamon twists lately. They are too good to be true. I actually said to Laura yesterday, "I think I am in love with myself:)"--

Which leads me to my sobering thought of the day, Narc ism. So I have concluded that we as humans, are all very selfish people. We do things, say things, blah, blah, blah..........with us in mind. (most of the time) When people cut us off on the highway, we get mad because it has inconvenienced us. Yes, I know, "they could have killed us!" Is often something that goes through our heads, but in essence, we really just are mad because we someone didn't do something our way. How many times do we say, "I hope they get pulled over the way they drive?" What are we really saying? I can't wait till they get punished! As Christians I think we do that all too often too. "Well, just wait till that liberal so and so faces God at the end of his life." Don't lie to yourself, we have all thought it at some point. First of all, it is okay to be liberal:) It is okay to be conservative:) I think I will call myself a revolutionary liberservative a with a smidge of armpit shavin hippy thrown in for good measure! Second of all, why do we want people to "pay" for what they have done wrong? We need to start giving people a little slack and remembering that, at times, we are all pains in the buttocks of humanity. We are all sinners saved ONLY by grace. Next time someone cuts you off or drives like a maniac who has had 2- large-quad-shot-iced-soy-lattes-with half shots of vanilla and almond-shaken-not-stirred, pray that they will slow down and that they won't kill anyone, and then thank God for the angel (s) that were surrounding you in your car.

At some point I may stop my ramblings, or maybe it will be a never ending process that doesn't end till Jesus comes back for us..................anyway

till tomorrow,
Eve

Another Day, Another 10 bucks..........

Okay, on the retail front today I had a lady that was a real doozie. I have to say though that I think I may have scored a major victory in the calm department with this one. I had a witness, Sharon who thought that I handled it all quite well considering the circumstances.
Lady: i will have a 16 oz iced soy chai blended
Me: I'm sorry I can't make that
Lady: Okay then, can I get a blended 16oz mocha with some white thrown in it?
Me: Sure that will be $4.08.
I then ring her up and take payment. BTW, when she said---"with some white thrown in there" that was code for, "I want white chocolate too, but I don't want to pay extra for it." I charged her for it. I have to.

Lady: Um, so my drink is $5.00?
Me: Let me check, the total was $4.08 you had a 16oz blended mocha with an extra shot of white chocolate, so with tax, that is $4.08.
Lady: So, this is why I wouldn't stop here, I can't see spending $5.00 on a small drink.
Me: Did you want your money back ma'am? I'd be happy to refund it.---with God and Sharon as my witness, I was very sincere with what I said.
Lady: Well, no, I just can't see spending that. I mean, at Java, I would have gotten a large for that.
Me: Are you sure you don't want your money back ma'am?
Lady: No, not if you can make it quickly, I am on my way to Hayfield.

I then proceeded to make her drink and say thank you as I handed it to her. OKAY, FOR THE RECORD, I LOOKED IT UP AND JAVA DETOURS SAME DRINK WITH THE SAME AMMOUNT OF SHOTS AND FLAVORS WOULD BE $4.24...............................NOW THAT WAS THEIR PRICE LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS NOW AS I DO KNOW THAT ALL THE PLACES IN TOWN RAISED PRICES THIS YEAR. Rant over:) i am glad I didn't try to correct her, it wouldn't have mattered. Maybe she was just having a bad day.

Ah the joy of retail.

Anyway i feel like that was a growing experience. i don't need to correct everyone. i just need to give them what they order and love them. One day, this will come naturally for me.

Had some nice new customers today. Denise and her kids--really nice kids, Joy, and Patty, i think they will all be back.


More tomorrow,
Eve

The Very First Rant

So here we go again, in a feeble attempt to blog. What is blogging all about anyway? Basically it is our deep-rooted desire to be heard I guess. Hopefully this will keep the very few of you that ever read this updated on our lives and maybe offer a bit of humor along the way. So we have owned a coffee and tea house for the past year. In that time, we have seen a lot of strange things. I have had someone come in my store to poop in my toilet without buying anything, and then call to complain that i was rude to him because I told him the toilet was for customer use only, I have seen at least 3 people ALMOST every single day come in "just to check us out," I AM SORRY, IF IT SAYS COFFEE AND TEA HOUSE ON THE SIGN, WE HAVE COFFEE AND TEA-----BUY SOMETHING ALREADY! I have seen moms let their children have scones on my beautiful couch, and not clean up after them. I AM SORRY, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? WHERE DO THESE PEOPLE COME FROM? CAN i COME TO THEIR HOUSE AND LET A 2 YEAR OLD HAVE A SCONE AND CRUMBLE IT ALL OVER THE PLACE AND THEN NOT CLEAN IT UP ?? On the bright side, i have a new mom who comes with 3 really great kids, one on the way too, who actually offers to clean up after her children, which of course I don't let her do, because she is totally genuine and I appreciate the fact that she really does not want to leave the place a pit. Her name is Jodi and she is a jem. Thank you Jodi! I have had more advice thrown at me than i can even count. "You guys should sell sandwiches, have you ever thought about soups? You should really advertise. You should market these people. You should. You should.........ENOUGH ALREADY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS, BUT PLEASE, PRAY FOR US INSTEAD, THE SUGGESTIONS ARE MAKING OUR HEADS HURT! I think my favorite is the salesmen and women. They come in and want you to buy something, but they don't buy anything from you. A word to the wise, if you want to sell someone something, BUY SOMETHING. We have taken to only entertaining offers from those who have actually cared to support us. I will try to think of some other good remembrances over the next couple of weeks to catch you up on the past year.
In the meantime, we are going to be down at the farmers market peddling coffee, cold brew, tea, and iced tea starting this Saturday. I hope you are all having a fantastic time in this short life we have. Last week we really contemplated closing the store. Our sales are slow and far from paying the bills. We pray, ask God for guidance, and wait. One day that started out particularly frustrating led me to Bible Gateway.com where the verse of the day was Ephesians 3:20-21---paraphrased it said, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine........" And I thought, okay God, I will keep going and trust you. I mean IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN WE CAN ASK OR IMAGINE, come on, that has got to be one God we can trust, believe in, hope in! Being a store owner is great practice in trying to love people. It show us just how much we really can't do it on our own strength, we have to rely on Jesus.
PS. drop any prayer requests you have on the comment section, when I am done ranting, I will lift you up. and then repent for the ranting.....................
much love,
Eve