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Oops I almost forgot, the reason for posting today. We've changed our shop Facebook page up a bit. It is now Horatio's Ribbons and Relics. You can keep up with our adventures there also.

Wow, it is almost time

Wow, it is almost time to close our doors. When I decided it was time to close it seemed so far away, but gulp, just two days and it is over. It hasn't helped that I missed opening two days last week while our oldest grandson was unexpectedly in the hospital with a virus attacking the lining of his heart, and two days this week for nose repair part three. The grandbabe is much better and safely home, and the nose repair went really well. Keeping him quiet for the required 24 hours after surgery has been more of a challenge than finding our way through Harborview and that place is a bit like a maze. I almost felt the need to drop bread crumbs to find my way back to the waiting room. So anyway Thursday and Friday are it and the shop is closed. Friday night and Saturday are packing days and the truck comes Sunday to move it all to storage. I'm going to putter for a couple of weeks at home. There's a couple of bedrooms to paint, and floors to wax and buff, and stuff to rearrange, then I'll be back at work on new projects for the September 1st bear show in Portland.

cleaning the back room

In an effort to be organized about closing the shop, I decided to tackle the back room first. I make a solemn vow here and now, If I ever have another store my back room will be neat and tidy....at all times. The things I have found. Oh my.....I am sorting things out into categories that will, I hope, work for me once we move things to storage. Boxes labeled props and table covers and Christmas are slowly filling up. Kind of sad, but I'm getting so excited...In addition to cleaning the back room I'm reorganizing the studio at home to fit all those boxes of ribbon, laces, trims and other fun stuff. They are not going to storage... Happy week to all...

Exciting News and New Doors to Open

Wow it has been a really long time. So long I had to look up my password. I do promise to do much better soon. Change is in the air at Horatio's!!!!! We are closing our store on July 20th. That's like a bit more than three weeks away. We are taking to the road for awhile. We will be at Crossroads Doll and Bear Show in Portland September 1st and at the Puyallup Fair grounds in mid October. We are also scheduled to do a couple of antique shows this fall.
I am so looking forward to lots more time in my studio. One of the reasons we opened the shop was so I could spend more time creating, but business kept getting in the way.How long before we open a new store? Well Kris and Amy of the former Country Store lasted five months before they opened Country Farm and Frills.I am giving myself a year. Kind of scary actually, I've spent the last 34 years working. That year is going to fly by then look out world here I come. I can take an art class and sew and make all these wonderful bears come out of my head. I can do anything.......
The one thing I will miss the most is my customers and friends for without you I would not have had these last eight wonderful years. So thank you all...
For those that keep remembering our son in your hearts and prayers thank you. He has another surgery on July 13th to repair the nerve damage so that he can taste and smell again. They are also going to do a bit of work on the airway so he can breath easier on that side and shore up the tip of his nose so it doesn't sag when he is old.Mentally and emotionally he is doing much better. The good days finally outnumber the bad.The cretin will be in jail until early September and I think that helps too.

Finally over

First up some apologies and thank yous to all my wonderful customers. It has been a really long year and almost a half that we have been on this legal roller coaster, and you all have been so patient with our closures and frustrations and still kept coming back. So thank you all so much. Words really can't express my feelings and thanks for your support.

Friday, the 30th of March, was sentencing day. I will tell you that I went to court with no expectations, but hope. I had hoped he would spend at least two years in prison. The reality was that a nose is only worth eight months in county jail, of which he will serve five. He also has a years probation and has to pay court costs and and my son's medical bills. The medical bills alone will keep him paying for years. As he was hand cuffed,and I will admit to really enjoying that part, and taken off to jail, he was still protesting it was self defense and not his fault.Somewhere along the way he never learned to accept responsibility for his actions.I only hope his five months seem really long to him that time travels slowly this spring and summer while he sits there and does his time. But the best part is this part of our journey is OVER!!!!!!!

Coming up soon is another surgery to hopefully, restore the nerve damage so our son  will regain his senses of taste and smell, and lose the horrid headaches that he has now. I am sure there will be more lesser procedures yet to come on the physical side of his journey, but I am hopeful this next surgery will be the last major event for him. Mentally and emotionally he continues to work with his doctors and eventually they expect him to find a place of piece there also. It just takes time. For my part I want his scars and memories to show him where he has been, but not dictate where he will end on his journey. He has the chance to grab at new opportunities and choices. That is my prayer that he will grab for these new choices and adventures as he heals and let go of all the rest of what led him on this journey. A good first step,  to me, is he is using his design skills to redesign the yard of his 100 year old rental house.His landlord told him to go for it and so this sad little yard has had a major demolition and he is almost ready to begin putting it back together. I'm laughing at him as the rain slows down his projects outside just like the rest of us who want to play in our yards.

The shop. Well to be honest over the last months I didn't really care to much about what happened there or if I would even keep it open. So now I have to decide and begin my own journey. I will say it felt really good to be there Saturday and to go junking Saturday morning, even though I didn't find a thing, so now it is time to pull up my big girl panties and get to work For the first time in months a have a desire to pull out materials and begin creating. I think I'll start by cleaning my studio so I have room to work. Happy spring break to all and may that bunny bring you much chocolate. The bear and the human

Finally

It has finally happened. We have a jury and trial begins tomorrow. Of course when it rains it pours and today my son found out he has yet another operation to endure to further repair his nose and the nerve damage. If only the cops had gone to the bar and found his missing piece of nose....What's done is done and upward we go. So the shop will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. I'll be at the trial for my child and having a civics lesson on government in the bargain.

Postponed again

It seems like that's all I'm saying. We are patiently, or not, waiting for the trial to begin of the person who attacked our son. We think wow the subpenas are out, it's really going to happen then on the day it is to begin the phone call that says nope not this week. Continued again.This has been going on since October, but shhhh we aren't suppose to talk about the trial. The thing is it wrecks chaos on my store hours. Once again we were looking good for this week, but not now after all. So we will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. We have some fun new things coming in right now so stop in and say hello. We are tentatively scheduled to go to trial next week again. I will believe it when they start jury selection, but I will post next weeks hours here. Peace to all