Just a little of where I have been....

  
 I have been M.I.A.  & before I start posting Christmas & all that goes with that, I will show you just a little of what I have been up to....
  The week before Thanksgiving I flew to Dallas. I go there 4 - 5 times a year to work.
And I need to explain the "work" I don't actually get paid in cash... BUT BOY do we work!!
                                           

         See these nice women all lined up. They are waiting to get in.


    It is kind of a long story, so I will try & give the short version. I have a friend in Dallas who is a clothing designer & manufacturer. And she is not small potatoes... she is HUGE.
 She started a small company years ago to put her husband thru seminary, now she has 4 of her own labels, owns maybe another 4, her clothing is in lots of small upscale boutiques, she designs a large line for Dillards, she does a lot of Coldwater Creek, does some for Nordstrom's ..... & lots & lots more.   Anyways 4 - 5 times a year they have warehouse sales in Dallas, & a few girlfriends & I fly in.  And we work the sale.  And work is not even the word for it... we bust ourselves for 3 days straight.  And they pay us in clothing.    How COOL is that??? !!!!!! 

                                                                             
                                                                      

                               (all pics just before the customers attack)

        Women stand in line to get in... there are great deals... $300 coats for $50. ,  $150 tops for $20.... Each sale is just a season behind, this sale was fall clothing.        
     At each sale, there will be 15,000 - 20,000 pieces of clothing. & I tell you the truth, I probably handle them all at least 2 - 3 times. We spend each day from before 7 until maybe 9 at night, hanging them back up, waiting on customers, picking them off the floor, squeezing thru the mobs & the racks to hang them back where they belong.
  But I can tell you this after the fact. It is great fun. (don't ask me while I am at it, it would be a different answer : )  And truthfully, each time I book a ticket to go again, hubby says to me, "I thought you said that you were never doing that again" : ) 
  ...MEN... they just don't get it... it is like child-birth, you forget until you are in the middle of it again, or the pain just after : ) 
  But my 2 good friends from Colorado, fly in. I come in from Michigan, & then the Texas girlfriends.... and we sort of have a big slumber party for 4 days in the guest house.  We take things back that we might like & at night, we all try on for each other.... that part is great for a lot of laughs. 
   I met all these great friends more than 20 yrs. ago, thru ministry & I am extremely blessed to have them all in my life.  The work is hard, but good, but the friends I have made & met thru this have added so much to my life.  
  The clothes don't hurt either & my family will plan that is what they will get for all occasions.. Christmas is coming : ) In fact they give me specifics on what they are in need of : )

                                   (one of the dressing rooms)     
                   
   I always come home extremely tired & I could write a book on flying these days... This past trip alone, in one day I was asked 3 times to get off a plane for mechanical issues, I was re-booked 4 times, took a bump, my luggage did not follow....  BUT.....I will forget that next time I book my ticket to go again....
   Now on to Christmas.... had the flu all week.... so now to get at it.....