Happy New Year

It's been a while, eh? Sorry I've been out-of-touch, although, I'm sure you haven't even had time to notice. We're all so busy this time of year.

It's a great time of year around the King house. As many of you know, my sister, Kendall, and her family live here in Clarksville; but my other sister, Nikki, and her family live in Manassas, VA. It's become a tradition for their family to travel to TN the day after Christmas and spend a week with us.

This year (or "last year") they arrived early Saturday morning--around 2 a.m. We've had a lot of fun, done a lot of cooking and eating; talking, planning and playing. It's been wonderful having the families together, with the obvious and personally felt absence of Darren.

We did other stuff, but these are the pics I have. Nikki is the picture taker.

He was having fun--really. This was before I sang.

Unfortunately, I need to be a the shop today--so I'll miss our last day together. Always, this is when I think of all the things I wanted to do or discuss while they're here and wish for more days together. (YIPPEE! They stayed one more night--all I had to do was sing like Phil Collins and Bill was putty in my hands!)

Okay--it looks like I may have been having the most fun.

They've been a huge help while here. At the last minute, I decided to have some insulation and a vapor barrier installed under the house (as well as the attic), which meant taking out more stuff than you can imagine which we've stored under the house--then putting back when they were done. They did so without being asked and I am so grateful.

This insulation went in a little differently than I thought it would. They took out all of our old insulation which was installed under the floor boards. They laid vapor barrier on the ground. Then they sprayed the exterior walls of foundation with a cellulose insulation, but nothing under the floorboards. Seems odd, but they say it'll work and it's guaranteed. We've had some cold days, but nothing like the serious cold of last month. It does feel warmer in the house--I don't even have my slipper or a blanket as I sit here--which hasn't been the case since November. We'll see.It all started because of the freezing cold floor at the shop. I have nothing under the shop and feel the cold like you wouldn't believe. The problem is the shop is about 150 feet long. The trap door to get under the building is at the rear--in my storage room. The crawl space is about 18" deep. I feel bad even asking them to do this, but they say they will. A vapor barrier and the rolled insulation for this location. The incentives--a $490 electric bill and aching joints! So, I'll let them crawl under there and gladly pay them for their services. This is truly the

As far as what's going on at Hodgepodge, we've got stuff on sale. The "extra 10% off of clearance" is over, but we've cleared-out a lot and will be adding more to the clearance section. We'll keep the Christmas sale stuff available for one more week--some will go to permanent markdowns. The sale details: 50% off of ornaments or tree decor; 30% off of Christmas accents and florals.

Okay--gotta get his posted. Kept planning to add pics. Nikki and the fam left today. Sad.

I'm probably closed tomorrow. "Probably" because we're attempting the insulation installation tomorrow--don't know if it'll interfere with "normal business operations." Stay tuned.Happy, Happy New Year!

Thanks for your indulgence.

Paige