I Have Been Open Seventeen Minutes
I have been open exactly seventeen minutes on this Sunday morning. Not a single soul has popped in for a look. Someday I'm going to look at these sleepy days at Dustpan Alley and I'm going to remember them fondly (because, naturally, once everyone finds out about us they will flock to our store in droves!). Normally I would be a tiny bit anxious about the lack of living souls coming into my building, but today I confess to bliss. I am escaping a household full of chaos. One of my best friends in the world is here with her two gorgeous children. So there are three kids, two crazy adults, a puppy with big teeth and claws with a penchant for incessant sustanance scrounging, five hens, and a cranky old cat all clashing together fifteen blocks from here, and I am sitting quietly enjoying a latte in complete peace. Honestly, life is wonderful.
All my life I have been striving to achieve my dreams, always working my ass off to get one step closer. I have daydreamed away so many hours of my life imagining what the perfect life would be like, and how to get it, I don't know if I ever really thought I'd get there. I know I never became a famous chainsmoking fashion designer or a whiskey slugging tortured poet, but I have always imagined having my own little store. This dream was always the less glamorous but most enduring of my daydreams. And here I am. Living it. So does the daydreaming end here? What do I fill dazy warm late afternoon hours with when I'm not cooking, cleaning, playing with Max, paying bills, working in the store, sewing, watering the yard, playing with the dog, or doing laundry poorly? Is there anything left to strive for? There is always more to strive for. (I have replaced my dream of becoming a famous chainsmoking fashion designer with the dream of getting my laundry whites actually white.) The day I stop striving is the day I lay down and die. It's in my DNA to reach ever farther. But for starters, it would be a major achievement to make money with our store. I'm not aiming for millions (though I don't have any moral issues with making millions), I just want to make enough to pay our bills and pay off our debts.
So come on in everyone! I have the secret to happiness and I'll tell you what it is...come into my store and let's chat and smell soaps, try lotions on, and dress up to clean our homes because there's no time like now to feel pretty while caring for the place that gives us sanctuary from other people's madness. I can't promise to make cleaning fun (though, honestly, there's no reason why it shouldn't be), but I have cleaning products that will make your house smell so good (without trashing your health or the environment) that you'll never want to leave it.
All my life I have been striving to achieve my dreams, always working my ass off to get one step closer. I have daydreamed away so many hours of my life imagining what the perfect life would be like, and how to get it, I don't know if I ever really thought I'd get there. I know I never became a famous chainsmoking fashion designer or a whiskey slugging tortured poet, but I have always imagined having my own little store. This dream was always the less glamorous but most enduring of my daydreams. And here I am. Living it. So does the daydreaming end here? What do I fill dazy warm late afternoon hours with when I'm not cooking, cleaning, playing with Max, paying bills, working in the store, sewing, watering the yard, playing with the dog, or doing laundry poorly? Is there anything left to strive for? There is always more to strive for. (I have replaced my dream of becoming a famous chainsmoking fashion designer with the dream of getting my laundry whites actually white.) The day I stop striving is the day I lay down and die. It's in my DNA to reach ever farther. But for starters, it would be a major achievement to make money with our store. I'm not aiming for millions (though I don't have any moral issues with making millions), I just want to make enough to pay our bills and pay off our debts.
So come on in everyone! I have the secret to happiness and I'll tell you what it is...come into my store and let's chat and smell soaps, try lotions on, and dress up to clean our homes because there's no time like now to feel pretty while caring for the place that gives us sanctuary from other people's madness. I can't promise to make cleaning fun (though, honestly, there's no reason why it shouldn't be), but I have cleaning products that will make your house smell so good (without trashing your health or the environment) that you'll never want to leave it.
*LATER*
A friend from Santa Rosa, en route to Washington, just spent an hour and a half in my shop. It's wonderful to have friends come by, it makes our shop feel so much more alive. She bought presents for her family from us too. I would never ask my friends to spend money shopping in my store, because being an Avon lady has never been in my plan, but I have to say it feels good when your friends and family support your business. Dang, I told her to pick out a sachet because she spent over $20.00, but I don't think she did. I'll have to find out.
In Dustpan Alley news: we are having a promotion right now...if you spend $20.00 or more you get a free lemon verbena sachet. While supplies last. I made them all myself and they smell heavenly!
In Dustpan Alley news: we are having a promotion right now...if you spend $20.00 or more you get a free lemon verbena sachet. While supplies last. I made them all myself and they smell heavenly!