As you know, shopping is my hobby, so it may come as a suprise that I’ve actually just placed an on-line order for some Christmas gifts.  I’ve never done this before, as I adore wandering the aisles of stores, peering at items, and wondering if anyone really wants this piece of junk to put on a shelf.

However, as that pesky little thing called time seems to be in short supply right now, I have no time for speculative tours through stores.  As much as I’d like to touch items before buying, the items I ordered are largely electronic in nature.  Hence I actually don’t need to, nor do I even want to.  It’s all strange stuff for the kids, so who would know what it is, even if held and examined.

Now that’s saved me a bunch of time, though of course it’s warmed up the credit card for the season.  Although sometimes when one is weighing sanity against a few dollars, sanity, or vanity will quite often win.  Though I’m broke, I’ve booked a Botox treatment for my forehead because I simply can’t take it any longer.

The lack of time issue is my own fault because I’m such a poor manager of time due to being a very impulsive person.  The other day while driving I was making mental lists of all the errands and things I had to do, when the Art Knapps sign caught my eye: It’s Time to Plant Spring Bulbs!

I thought to myself, they’re absolutely right, pulled into the parking lot and went into the store.  My goodness there are a lot of early, mid and late spring tulip bulbs from which to choose these days!  I loaded up on lots of each, and then headed home to start the driveway garden preparation.

I felt kind of bad, thinking about all of the work I had told myself I’d do, but then I thought what the hey.  It was a sunny and lovely day, and I enjoyed the project immensely.  Once I’d dug out the too-large heliopsis (false sunflower), I added peat moss and Ogo Grow to the soil, then put in the bulbs.  Now I can’t wait until spring to see the show of tulips I only envision in my mind’s eye.

Flowers make me so much happier than some people do.  I don’t want to speak negatively of people, but my God I’ve been tested recently.  You’ll recall I’ve been trying to get the Lions Club to try my product.  Their newsletter-writer put an article about my products in their monthly bulletin and e mailed it to all the clubs. 

I phoned one of the members and asked if they now wanted to test my product, in light of the newsletter’s article.  He was like, “Newsletter? Article?”  and I realized I have a tough demographic to work with here.  However, equally as tough is trying to pin the stores down on when they wish to order.  It’s kind of embarrassing as customers e mail and phone me asking, “When will your fruitcakes be in the stores?” and I’m like, “I don’t know.”

But like some kind of lunatic, I just keep baking away, praying for the God of Fruitcake Sales to help me.  One of these days, my big break’s gonna come, and then you’ll all be like, “I knew her when.”