DOUBLE NICKLES

I'm not quite sure I believe it really happened, but it looks like I did make it to 55 after all. Birthdays have always been such strange things to me. I always feel that I should be the one giving gifts instead of getting them. In fact there have been years when I have done that. I sort of want to thank those friends who have stuck it out with me. This year I just kept pretty quiet about it. Shmaryah of course knew and things got started as I was on my way out of the bank and my cell phone rang and he'd sent me a song. It was kind of cool. Then, Lavana arrived and showered me with hugs and kisses, and gave me a cool purple scarf. Later a cute girl came in with a bag full of purple things to buy a purple plant, and I made her show me what was in the bag. In the end it turned out that she's Ophir's (the kid we have working for us at the door store) girlfriend, and the purple things in the bag were for me! At around 1700 Shmaryah and Ophir arrived with purple balloons and gifts, all purple. There were several customers in the store and it was nice. They walked in singing Happy Birthday and the customers joined in. Red cheeks actually don't clash with purple scarves! I was a bit nervous that Orna might have arranged a surprise party for me because she kept asking when I'll get home. When I did get home, I walked in to purple balloons stuck on my propeller (ceiling fan) a card and package on the bed and a squeaky clean house. There were 2 pairs of purple socks in the package. All in all it was a great purple day. I guess I'm a bit odd in that I think it's great to get older. It means I'm still here and I really am having a good time in this life and the longer it is the happier I am.

On Tuesday we had a car parked outside the flower shop all day. Either court ordered or Social Security checking to see how much business the shop does and/or if I'm really a gimp. As things turned out not so much as single a customer came in, and anyone who sees me take those 4 steps from Harley to my chair can not doubt that I am in fact a gimp. The car was there again on Wednesday but the flower shop is closed on Wednesdays. It wasn't there yesterday and we had a great day that more than made up for Tuesday. Thank you Lord.

Unless something really catastrophic happens we are over the hump from the war and can start building up some cash reserves in both businesses. I'm optimistic because both are solid businesses. Things have been slow at the flower shop because people just don't have money to spend. The war emptied a lot of bank accounts and people just aren't spending. Doors are different because houses that are being built need doors, and lots of houses are being built in the area. People might not be buying the doors they'd hoped to buy, but they are buying, room doors too. Yup, things should be just fine in three months or so.