Winter Holiday

I'm on vacation this week. It's rather nice; lounging in new flannel pajamas until lunch, playing with the kids and their haul and STILL eating way too much. What more can I ask for?

The Power of Paint

Here in the Northwest, we are still recovering from a MASSIVE power outage that occured last week. Reports are now saying that 1.5 million households were without power. It was kinda stormy.

This is something I wouldn't have been able to guess:
People will come into a paint store looking to buy product - even if there is no electricity in that store! Not only that, but they will try to choose paint colors in the dark.

Our Bellevue store was only down for a day, luckily, but even so, we had a smattering of traffic. To sell paint, you need electricity to tint and shake the stuff. On Friday (day of no power), we actually sold white primer and white paint - only color where you DON'T need power!

I don't know if they thought they might try and kill a few hours by painting at home, since there was nothing else to do.... but it was too cold even for that.

Our production factory flooded in a major way. There was nothing to do (besides unplug everything) except wait until the storm subsided. Water was literally GUSHING in from a drain spout. Water covered the complete basement floor. Thankfully, our finished goods are stored on palettes and raised shelves, they escaped unharmed.

Here is our factory clean-up crew - don't they look good in their matching rain boots?

Weekend Party Preparations

This Saturday is the Daly's Holiday Party. We are returning to Hale's Brewery in Fremont (yum!), and I am soooo behind! I am in charge of creating the annual slideshow. Nowadays, it's Powerpoint, but I think we will always call it the slideshow.

I get to create a story around all the different employee photos we've collected over the year. But I haven't really started yet - I am searching for a theme... Last year it was a tour of Dalysnorts School of Witchraft and Wizardry. This year??? Wish me luck!

My Brain Hurts

Christian and I took a reconnaissance trip across the lake (also known as "going to Bellevue") to research Storage solutions for a feature article coming up in January.

There is a lot out there. My brain hurts.

Amazing Lighting

Last night I held a movie fest (number in attendance, one) with my favorite Jane Austen film, Persuasion. It's a BBC production that was filmed at least 10 years ago and it's not like a Hollywood high budget affair by any means. The movie was filmed under natural light conditions - so the candlelight in the evening scenes was lit with those actual candles. Gorgeous!

It lent the film a real feeling of authenticity. And it confirms the fact that we ALL look good in candlelight!

I think "Persuasion" would make a great C2 paint color name. Hmmm... perhaps a flattering candlelight pink?

Getting Ready for the Holidays

I can't believe this.... I am actually considering purchasing 2 FAKE topiary-like pre-lit Christmas trees for the front porch! I have a tough time with artificial/fake/faux - whatever you want to call it, I like REAL.

But, these two 4' trees are kinda cool. Plus they'd dress up the front door. I'll let you know if I actually do it. It depends on how they look in the store.

Speaking of real - we purchased our two Christmas trees last weekend. One for the family room, stuffed with kid decorations and the other for the living room with all types of crystal ornaments, birds and ephemera.

Yes, I'm picky about the trees (is this really a shock?). They have to be noble fir, the boughs are strong and there is room for ornaments to dangle between branches. I am a white light or single colored light fan, the multiple-colored lights are a concession for the family room - but even I admit they add a festive air to the kid tree!

Let the season glow.